“Oh, yes,” insisted Vevi. “Connie saw him too. We shouted to him to wait, but he wouldn’t.”
“Now how do you suppose that door came open?” the captain muttered, talking to himself. “I must look into it right away.”
The path had become very steep. Vevi and Connie had to step carefully not to slide and fall.
“Doesn’t anyone live at the little ship house?” Vevi asked as she paused an instant to catch her breath.
“Not any more.”
“It’s such a darling little house,” sighed Connie. “I wish the Brownie Scouts could hold meetings there.”
“And who are the Brownie Scouts?” inquired the old captain.
Vevi and Connie told him about the Rosedale Troop and of the good times they were having at the beach.
“We have Brownie songs and we do useful things,” Connie explained proudly. “We have a secret slogan too—its initials are HOP.”
Now Vevi and Connie both knew that the initials HOP stood for “Help Other People.” Because it was a secret, they could not tell the captain.