"It isn"t a very well marked trail. Neither of the trails to the peak is, for that matter. And the pathfinders, if they find they"re in any danger of making a wrong turn, must make a sign for us who follow. That might easily save us a good many minutes in getting there. So you see it isn"t quite as easy as you thought. Now, I"ll call for volunteers. Who wants to join the pathfinders?"
Every girl there put up her hand at once, amid a chorus of laughs and jesting remarks.
"Heavens! Well, you can"t all be pathfinders, or there"d be no one to carry the dinner! We"ll have to figure out some way of picking out two, because that"s all there can be."
"We might draw lots," said Margery.
"I don"t like that idea much," said Eleanor. "If you"re all so anxious to go, we ought to make it a reward of some sort--a prize. It"s too bad I didn"t think of it earlier, because then we could have had a really good compet.i.tion."
She frowned thoughtfully for a moment.
"I know what we"ll do," she said. "There are just eight of you, and we"ll divide all the dishes from breakfast into eight even piles. We can do that easily. Then you shall all start together--"
"Oh, that"s good!" said Dolly. "And the ones who finish first will be pathfinders?"
"Yes, those who finish first, and put their dishes away properly, Dolly--not just finish washing and drying. I"ll be the judge. Come on, Margery, we"ll arrange the piles."
So the arrangements were made, and then, with each girl standing over her own pile of dishes, they waited eagerly for the word.
"I"ll start you," laughed Eleanor. "Now, are you ready? Take dishes--wash!"
And at once there was a great splashing and commotion. But Eleanor broke in with a laugh.
"Time!" she called. "Stop washing""
Everyone stopped, and looked at her curiously.
"Here"s a rule," she said. "I only just thought of it. Anyone who breaks a dish is out of the race, even if she finishes five minutes ahead of the next girl. Understand?"
"Yes," they cried.
"All right. Dolly, you kept on washing for nearly half a minute after the others had stopped. When I give them the word to start again, don"t you do it. I"ll give you a starting signal of your own. You, too, Mary King! I"ll call your names when you two are to start."
Then they bent to their piles again, and waited for Eleanor"s "Ready? Wash!"
Dolly and Mary King, forced to restore the time they had unwittingly stolen from the others, waited as patiently as they could until they heard "Now, Dolly!" and after a moment more, "All right, Mary!"
"Oh, this is fine sport!" cried Dolly, washing with an energy she had never displayed before. "I think we ought to have races like this ever so often. They"re much better fun than most of the games we play!"
"Anything that makes you act as if you liked work is a fine little idea, Dolly," said Margery. "But I haven"t got time to talk--I"ve got to wash. I never thought anyone could wash dishes as fast as you"re doing it!"
"I"m in practice," laughed Dolly. "I hate them so, that I"m always trying to get them done just as quickly as I can."
And a moment later Dolly, to the general surprise, had put away her last dish, an easy winner.
It was plain to her in a moment that the struggle, now that she was out of it, would be between Margery and Bessie. They had finished washing almost at the same moment, with Margery perhaps a couple of spoons ahead.
"Hurry, Bessie, do hurry!" pleaded Dolly. "We"ve done so much together up here, we ought to be pathfinders together, too. Can"t I help her, Miss Eleanor?"
"No, that wouldn"t be fair, Dolly," laughed Eleanor. "Each one has got to win or lose on her own merits in this race."
Bessie smiled as she heard Dolly"s impulsive appeal. She wanted to win, too, because it was impossible for her to engage in any contest without wanting to come out ahead, or as far ahead as she could. This time, of course, second place was all she could hope for, but she was not one of those people who, if the chief prize is beyond their reach, relax their efforts to do as well as they can.
As she finished wiping each dish dry she arranged it, stacking her dishes in order of their size, so that they could all be carried easily to the tent where they were to be laid away.
Margery, on the other hand, grew nervous as she neared the end. Once a plate slipped through her hand, but, fortunately, her cry of dismay as it fell was premature, for it did not break. But she was putting her dishes down anywhere, without regard for their size or for convenience in carrying them, and as a result, though she had finished the actual drying nearly a minute before Bessie, she was still frantically gathering her piled dishes together in her arms when Bessie wiped the last spoon.
Then, without haste, Bessie picked up her whole pile, and, starting before Margery, walked carefully over to the tent. She put away her last dish before Margery was half done, and the contest was over.
"Go on, girls!" cried Eleanor, as she saw that interest was slackening with the choice of the second pathfinder. "You don"t want to be last, do you? I should think you"d all want to avoid that!"
The reminder was enough, and the others were soon busily finishing their tasks. Zara was fourth, right after Margery, and then there was a wild scramble among the last four. They finished almost together, and Eleanor, with a laugh, had to declare that there was a tie for sixth, seventh and eighth places.
"So no one was really last!" she declared, merrily. "My, but that was good fun! It certainly was, if you enjoyed racing half as much as I did watching you! It"s a pity we never thought of that before."
"I"ll beat you next time, you two!" vowed the panting Margery, shaking her first in mock anger at Bessie and Dolly. "More haste, less speed! That"s what beat me! But I"ll know better next time."
"We"ll have a team race some time," said Eleanor. "Two teams of four--that ought to be good fun. Oh, there are lots of ways of having a good time if you only think of them!"
Then she clapped her hands as a sign for attention.
"Now we"ve got to take our fun for the rest of the day more seriously," she said. "You girls will have to take your fire-making sticks, and an old blanket. You understand how to make smoke signals, don"t you?"
"Yes, indeed!" cried Dolly and Bessie, in one breath.
"All right, then. How will you make signs to show us which way to go?"
"With a hatchet. We"ll blaze the trees," suggested Bessie. "Then you"ll be sure to see it. There"s no way that a sign like that can be blown away, or get moved by accident. With the thin end of the blaze in the direction you are to take, if there"s a choice."
"All right. Hatchet, old blanket, fire-making sticks. You"d better carry water bottles, for you"ll be thirsty on the way."
"Why, we"ll find plenty of water. There must be springs!" Dolly protested.
"Undoubtedly; but you don"t know just where they are, and you"d waste time looking for them. If you have your water bottles, with a little bit of lemon juice in the water, you can have a drink wherever you like."
"I like the taste of lemon juice, too."
"It isn"t only because you like it that it"s a good thing to have it, but it will quench your thirst better than plain water, and it will make your water last better, too, because you don"t need to drink so much of it."
"It"s fine if you"re hot, too," said Margery, approvingly. "A little lemon water will cool you off better than half a dozen of those ice-cream sodas you"re so fond of, Dolly."
Dolly made a face at her.
"I think it"s mean of you to tease me about soda when you know I can"t have it, no matter how much I want it," she said. "But I don"t care, really. I wouldn"t have an ice-cream soda now, if I had a pocket full of money and I could get one by going across the street!"
Eleanor smiled at her.
"What a reckless promise! Only you know you are perfectly safe," she said, half mockingly.
"I really mean it," protested Dolly. "I"m going to swear off--for a long time, anyhow. Bessie and Zara and I are going to try to get enough honor beads to be Fire-Makers as soon as we get back to the city, and that"s one of the ways I"m going to try."
"Then you"ve started already?" said Eleanor.
"No, not yet," said Dolly. "I"m going to wait--"
A shout of laughter interrupted her.
"Oh, yes, we know! Until you have just one or two last ones--"
Dolly flushed dangerously for a moment. But her new control over herself, that she was fighting so hard to maintain, saved her from the sharp reply that was on her tongue.
"You might let me finish," she said. "If I swore off now I suppose the time while we"re here would count toward an honor bead, but what"s the use of swearing off something I can"t get, anyhow? I"m going to swear off the first time I see a soda fountain!"
"Good for you, Dolly!" exclaimed Eleanor, heartily. "That"s the right spirit."
CHAPTER IX.
THE PATHFINDERS.
It did not take the two pathfinders long to get so far ahead of the main party that they were out of sight and almost out of hearing. The girls who carried the necessary provisions and utensils, however, made their way light by singing Camp Fire songs as they walked, and their voices echoed through the woods.
"This is great! Oh, I love it!" said Dolly, happily. "I"m so glad you beat Margery, Bessie!"
"I thought you liked Margery, Dolly?"
"I do, but you"re my very dearest chum, Bessie! I think Margery"s great, but she is just a little bit superior, sometimes. I expect I deserve it when she gives me a lecture, but I like you because you don"t preach, though you"re just as good as she is any day in the week!"
"I"ll probably lecture you some time, Dolly, if I think you need it."
"Go ahead! I don"t mind when you do it, or if you do it. I don"t know why, but it"s the same way with Miss Eleanor. She"s scolded me sometimes, but she isn"t a bit like my Aunt Mabel, or the teachers at school."
"How do you mean? They"re kind to you, I suppose? It isn"t that that makes the difference?"
"No. I don"t just know what it is, except that she makes me feel as if I had made her unhappy, and they always talk just as if they thought it was their duty."
"It probably is, Dolly. You ought to have had the sort of scoldings I used to get from Maw Hoover! Then you"d know what a real scolding is like."
"Oh, I just hate that woman, Bessie, for the way she treated you. Don"t you hate her, too?"
"I don"t know. I used to, but I"m sort of sorry for her, Dolly."
"I don"t see why!"
"Well, since I"ve been away from the farm, I"ve seen that she didn"t have a very much better time than I did. She had to work all day long, and she never got much pleasure."
"That wasn"t any excuse for her treating you so badly."
"I think maybe it was, Dolly. I suppose she was nervous, like a whole lot of other women, and she had to have something to wear herself out on. She took things out on me. I"m beginning to think that maybe she wasn"t really mad at me when she acted like that. I believe she used to get so upset about things that she had to sort of kick out at whatever was nearest--and it happened to be me."
"Well, I hate her, just the same! You can forgive her if you like, but I"m not going to!"
"It"s a good thing she never did anything to you, Dolly. If you hate her like that when you"ve never even seen her, what would you do if you had some real reason for it?"
Dolly laughed.
"I suppose I am silly," she said, "but I can"t help it. I just feel that way, that"s all. Do you know what I wish, Bessie?"
"Nothing dreadful, I hope, Dolly."
"She"d think it was, I"m sure--spiteful old cat! I wish you"d find out all about your father and mother, and that they"d not be lost any more."
"Oh, Dolly, so do I! But that wouldn"t seem dreadful to Mrs. Hoover, I"m sure. I think she"d be glad enough."
"Let me finish. I wish you"d find them or that they"d find you, and turn out to be ever so rich. They might, you know. It might all be a mistake, or an accident, or something."
"I wouldn"t care if they weren"t rich, Dolly, if only I knew what had become of them, and why they had to leave me there all that time with the Hoovers."
"I just know there"s some good reason, Bessie. You"re so nice that you"re bound to be happy some time. Of course you"d like to have your father and mother, whether they were rich or not. But wouldn"t it be great if they really were rich?"
"I don"t know. I don"t know what it"s like to be rich, Dolly."
"Oh, you could do all sorts of things! You could make them take you back to Hedgeville in an automobile, just for one thing."
"There are lots and lots of places I"d rather go to, Dolly."
"Oh, yes, of course! But think of how everyone would stare at you, and how envious they would be! I bet they"d be sorry then that they weren"t nice to you."
Bessie smiled wistfully at the fantastic idea Dolly"s lively brain had conjured up.
"It would be fun," she sighed. "They did tease me dreadfully, some of the girls. You see, the Hoovers didn"t have so very much money, and my clothes were mostly old things that Maw made over to fit me when she was through with them."
"You could go back in better dresses than any of those Hedgeville girls ever even saw, Bessie. And just think of how that horrid Jake Hoover would feel then."
"Oh, well, there"s no use thinking about it, Dolly. It won"t ever happen. So I shan"t be disappointed, anyhow."
"Well, it might happen and I think it"s simply great to dream about things that might happen to you. It doesn"t do any harm, and it"s awfully good fun."
"You do the dreaming, Dolly, and tell me about your dreams. You can do it better than I could. I"m no good at dreaming that way at all."
"All right, that"s a bargain. And right now I guess we"d better stop thinking about dreams and attend to pathfinding. Here"s a turn. Which way ought we to go?"
"Straight ahead, I"m sure," said Bessie. "See how the trail narrows in the other direction, and it doesn"t look as if it had ever been made like the main trail. It"s more as if people had just broken through one after another, until a sort of trail was made."