“Merrily in this Council Ring,
Dancing gayly as we sing,
What will this umbrella bring
When we change to hippety-hop
And our Chief calls out to stop?”
“We can dance any step we like, but the moment I call out ‘Change!’ you all have to change your steps to a hippety-hop step; then when Zan calls out ‘Stop’ you have to stop short where you are. I will call a name from my list and whoever is opposite that name removes it from the umbrella. If it happens to belong to the one removing it from the stick, well and good, but if the one who opens it is not the owner, she holds it up to view and calls out the name of the owner. At the same time she starts to run around the ring on the outside, and the owner to whom the package belongs must catch her. If she has not caught her in three rounds about the ring, the hunter pays a forfeit to secure the prize. At the end of our game we will redeem the forfeits.”
“What an original game!” exclaimed May.
“But so childish!” complained Eleanor.
“Pity we haven’t more of the simple childlike pleasures,” added Mrs. Baker, who had overheard the remark.
“Now then, girls—ready?” called the Guide, ignoring the criticism from Eleanor.
“Yes—all ready!” called most of the girls.
The umbrella was given a swift twirl and it spun around while the girls sang the rollicking verse, but Zan forgot to call “Change,” so they concluded the song and the umbrella still whirled, the paper packages flying out to the extreme end of the strings.
Everyone jeered at Zan for forgetting to call, and she promised to do better next time. “I only did it that time to give you girls practise,” said she, laughingly.
The chorus of denials might have deafened everyone had not the Guide shouted: “Now, once again, girls! If Zan makes a second mistake she pays two forfeits!”