“It’s enough to scare anybody to death,” proclaimed the minister’s daughter. “I’m going to scream for father.”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind!” her friend declared. “Shrieking about this will do no good, and may do harm. Can’t you see——”
“Not much, with all this smoke in my eyes,” grumbled Nell.
“Don’t be a goose! If we yell, everybody will come running, and will get excited when they see the smoke.”
“But, Jess,” Nell said very sensibly, “all the time we delay the fire is gathering headway.”
“If it is a fire.”
“Goodness me! Where there’s so much smoke there must be fire. How you talk!”
“I don’t want to be shown up as a ‘fraid cat and a killjoy,” cried Jessie. “The boys are always laughing at us, anyway, because we get scared at little things: mice, and falling overboard, and a puff of wind. I am deadly sick of hearing: ‘Isn’t that just like a girl?’ So there!”
“Well, for pity’s sake!” gasped the clergyman’s daughter. “That is just like a girl! Afraid of what boys will say of one! Not me!”
“Girls ought to be just as fearless as boys, and have as much initiative. Now, Nell Stanley, suppose Darry and Burd were shut up in this stateroom under these circumstances. What do you suppose they would do?”