Perhaps their hard little hearts would have softened a little if they could have known how their rudeness hurt and disappointed Miss Prince, and how lonely she felt without her own friendly Cubs. But she didn’t let them see; she was always cheerful and patient.
A week passed like this, and Miss Prince, who had been determined not to give in, began to despair. Being kind to them was no use; punishing them was no use. Their grandfather was furious, and told Miss Prince that he saw she could not manage them. A friend of his had told him Miss Prince could manage forty fierce Wolf Cubs, and he had said she would easily be able to tame three little boys, however wild. But she had failed; it was not much use to go on trying. Then Miss Prince got a brilliant idea.
“Mr. Ogden,” she said, “I think I know a way in which those boys could be altogether changed and made into really good little chaps.”
Mr. Ogden grunted like a cross bear. “Do you?” he said. “I don’t.”
“Will you give a trial to my plan?” said Miss Prince.
“I’ll try anything under the sun,” said Mr. Ogden. “What’s your plan?”
“It is to let me write and engage a boy I know, named Danny Moore, to come and act as companion to the boys, and their own groom. Jones, tells me he needs help with their ponies, and is too old to go out riding with them much longer. This boy is a Patrol-leader in the Scouts. I have known him ever since he was quite a little chap. He is a splendid leader, and can manage the most difficult boys and turn them into good Scouts. He has a good knowledge of horses too. I know he would come at once if I wrote to him, and if it’s possible to do anything with your grandsons, Danny will do it.”
“Do as you like,” said Mr. Ogden sourly. “I wash my hands of the whole business.”
That night Miss Prince posted a letter to Danny. In it she told him of the almost hopeless job she had got—of taming three perfect little terrors. She asked him to come and turn them into Wolf Cubs for her. She told him to bring his uniform, and that she would tell him the plan she had made for the way he was first to see them when he arrived.
Danny answered that he would be there in three days, and Miss Prince’s hopes began to rise.