“Only seven,” said Helen. “Winnie, you’ll never hear the last of this.”
“Well, Mrs. Bryan, I’ve found some work to do that will earn money,” said Winona, hastily changing the subject. “Florence and I went up to the Scouts’ camp, and Mr. Gedney gave us the boys’ mending to do. He said you were to put a price on it for us.”
“Twenty to twenty-five cents an hour,” supplied Mrs. Bryan promptly. “You’d better have some of the other girls help you, too, dear, for there’s enough work there to take up a good deal of your time for three or four days, and you don’t come camping to turn yourself into a sewing-girl, even for the good of the camp.”
“Very well,” said Winona. “Who hasn’t picked out any special work to do yet?”
“Nataly Lee,” said someone.
“Neither have I,” said Elizabeth. “I’ll help, too.”
A half-dozen of them went off to a sunny spot, produced a large alarm-clock to time themselves by, and put in two hours of work immediately. That is, all but Nataly. She got tired at the end of one hour, and went off, she said, to lie down. The others got the mending almost done, for many hands make light work. Then they piled up the basket again, and went back to camp. It was Winona’s turn to get supper that night.
“There ought to be about four dollars’ worth of work in that basket,” said Helen thoughtfully when they all met at supper.
“It’s probably more than we’ll have next time,” said Winona. “But anyway, it’s a steady income. Let’s hope they’ll be kind, and wear big, awful holes in everything they have.”
“They will, unless they’ve had a change of heart since last week,” said Louise.