“Agh! G’wan! Don’t Oi know this fam’ly? It’s foriver havin’ comp’ny an’ eatin’ me out av iverything Oi cook! It’s cook, cook, COOK aul the toime an’ niver a crumb to eat!” declared Maria.
“But just think, Maria, how soon this thing will have to stop. The high cost of livin’ and the laws made by the President won’t let us eat much anny more, an’ you’ll have an easy time, then,” said Mose, trying to placate the angry cook.
“An’ it’s good wages an’ plenty of my friends to visit me to tay,” said Maria, thoughtfully, so Mose knew he had won a different kind of battle than the one fought on the Flats with snow.
After a red-hot luncheon that partly thawed out the half-frozen warriors, Mrs. Remington asked if they would like to take a sleigh-ride in a great farmer’s sleigh that afternoon. The man called twice a week to deliver eggs, butter, and chickens from his farm some miles in the country, and would be glad to have the extra fee offered for driving a party of young folks on a joy-ride.
That evening was spent in quiet ways, as everyone felt weary and ready for bed the moment it could reasonably be suggested.
The rest of the visit was devoted to indoor pastimes, as a thaw set in and made the ground too wet and muddy for any games or fun on the lawn.
Then came the time for good-byes and the Woodcrafters were carried away, leaving a sense of loneliness with the family where they had had such a good time.
December came in with much wind and snow so that all hope of week-end camps was at low ebb. But the girls found plenty of work to do and the applicants for the second Band were ready to qualify, and attention had to be paid to this important matter.
Most of the girls applying for membership were so anxious to belong to Wako Tribe that it seemed hard to deny any one of them. But the rules in the Manual were to be followed and some had to be left out. Hence the choosing of the crowd of girls that had asked for admission was to be done by drawing lots.
The names of the girls were written on slips of paper and these were folded up into small cubes, then shaken well in a covered tin. The Guide drew forth the first ten papers and these were the ones drawn to form the second Band—Suwanee, it was called.