CHAPTER I

A CHALLENGE.

Marjorie Wilkinson and Lily Andrews sauntered down the hall of the dormitory towards their rooms, humming tunes and dragging their hockey sticks along the floor behind them. They were enjoying a particularly jubilant mood, for their team had just been victorious; the sophomores of Turner College had succeeded in defeating the juniors in a closely contested game of hockey. And Marjorie and Lily both played on the team.

As they paused at the door of their sitting-room, Florence Evans, a member of the old senior patrol of Pansy Troop of Girls Scouts, and now a freshman at college, came out to meet them. She had run in for news of the game, and finding the girls away, had decided to await their return.

Who won? she demanded, without any ceremony.

We did! announced Lily, triumphantly. Naturally—with such a captain! She nodded proudly towards Marjorie.

Congratulations! cried Florence, seizing both girls by the hands and leading them back to the room. Now—tell me all about it!

Marjorie had scarcely begun her account of the thrilling match when she was interrupted by the abrupt entrance of Alice Endicott, another freshman who had been a Girl Scout of the same troop, looking as if she carried the most startling news in the world. Naturally vivacious, her cheeks glowed and her eyes shone with even greater brilliancy than usual. The girls stopped talking instantly, aware that her excitement was not due to any event so ordinary as a hockey game.

Girls! she flung out. Guess what?

What? they all demanded at once.

Alice waved an open letter before their eyes.

The most magnificent thing has happened—

To you? interrupted Florence, who always wanted to be explicit.

To us—all of us—of the senior patrol. A plan for this summer!

The scouts aren’t to get together again, are they? cried Marjorie, jumping up and going over towards Alice, as if she wanted at a single glance to learn the contents of that mysterious letter.

Have you found a baby, or only a boot-legger? asked Lily, laughingly. Because it’s too late to get our tea-house back again, after the money’s all spent!

Neither of those things, replied Alice. Only a rich relation.

Why the only? inquired Florence. I think that’s almost enough. But tell us about it. How does it concern us?

Just wait till you hear! laughed Alice, turning to her letter again.

Well, do let us hear! begged Lily, impatiently. We’re waiting.

Alice seated herself upon the couch and paused a moment before she started upon her explanation, as if to make the situation more dramatic. At last she began.

Of course you know our family are all in modest circumstances, but it seems that there is this one wealthy relative—an elderly, maiden aunt on my father’s side. I have never seen her, because she has lived in California during all of my life, but naturally I had heard of her before. She never took any interest in us, however, and always said she was going to leave all of her money to her two nephews whom she is raising.

Well, I hardly thought she knew of my existence, when suddenly, out of a clear sky, I got this letter from her with its thrilling proposition. She must have learned somewhere of the work we did last summer, and of our reason for doing it, and she was impressed. She evidently never knew any Girl Scouts before, or in fact any girls who were interested in anything so worth while as a sick mother or a tea-house. So, lo and behold, she writes to me and tells me she wants to make my acquaintance—and not only mine, but that of the whole patrol!

But we can’t go out west, Alice! interrupted Marjorie, jumping at her meaning. We couldn’t possibly afford it.

No, added Florence, I was thinking of looking for a job for the summer.

Wait till you hear the rest of it! said Alice. We won’t need any money. Aunt Emeline is offering to pay all our expenses, if we motor to California!

Motor! repeated Marjorie. We girls? By ourselves—?

No; we may, in fact, we must have a chaperone.

It would be a wonderful thing to do! exclaimed Florence, contrasting the pleasures of such a delightful excursion with the routine duties of an office position, such as she had planned for herself. But is it possible?

Why not? demanded Alice. Lots of girls have done it before—I’ve even read accounts of their trips in the magazines, telling all about what to take, and how much it costs.

But they are always older girls than we are! objected Lily.

Girl Scouts can do anything any other girls can do! asserted Marjorie with pride. I’m sure we could make the trip. Now, tell me again, please, Alice: just which of us are invited?

All the girls who took part in last summer’s work at the tea-house, replied Alice. That means us four, Daisy Gravers, Ethel Todd, Marie Louise Harris—and—Doris and Mae if they want to.

If they want to is good! laughed Marjorie. Imagine those two brides leaving their husbands for a two months’ trip!

Of course you could hardly expect Mae to, admitted Alice; she’s quite too recent a bride. But Doris will have been married a year.

But she and Roger are just as spoony as ever! interrupted Lily. No, I’m afraid we can’t count on them. But the other three girls probably will.

To continue, said Alice: you know that I told you my aunt is queer—a little off we always considered her. Well, she goes on to add that we must make the trip inside of six weeks, follow the Lincoln Highway, not spend more than a certain sum of money she is depositing in my name, and—the last is worst of all—

What? demanded two or three of the scouts at once.

We are not to accept help of any men along the way!

The girls all burst out laughing immediately at the absurdity of such a suggestion. Yet there was not one among them who doubted that she could fulfill the conditions.

And what happens if we do take assistance? asked Florence, when the merriment had subsided. Do we have to pay for our own trip?

No, but the guilty girls have to go home, replied Alice.

Can’t you just see us dropping one by one by the wayside remarked Lily, because we accept masculine chivalry. Really, it will be hard—

Oh, we can do it! said Marjorie, with her usual assurance. She put down her hockey stick and went over to the tea-table to make tea. The subject was too interesting to allow her guests to depart.

Tell us more, urged Florence.

The best is yet to come, said Alice, her eyes sparkling with pleasure, because of the further revelation she was about to make. There is a reward at the end!

A reward! repeated Marjorie. As if the trip itself weren’t enough—

Yes, this is the marvellous part. If we fulfill all the conditions, and reach Aunt Emeline’s house by midnight of August first, each girl is to receive a brand-new runabout, for her very own!

What? What? demanded all the girls at the same time, unable to believe their ears.

Shall we accept the offer? continued Alice.

Shall we? cried Florence. As if there were any doubt! She jumped up and gave Alice an ecstatic little squeeze.

The other girls were just as enthusiastic, and they discussed the affair from every angle, while they drank Marjorie’s tea and nibbled at some nabiscoes which Lily produced from her cake box. When they came to the selection of a chaperone, they were all unanimous in their desire to have Mrs. Remington.

But would she leave her husband for such a long time? asked Lily, doubtfully.

It wouldn’t be a question of leaving him, answered Marjorie. Because he has to go to some sort of Boy Scout camp this summer for the months of July and August—she told me about it in her last letter. So she might be very glad of the invitation.

Then that settles that, said Alice. Marj, will you write immediately?

I certainly will, and I’ll write home for permission for myself at the same time.

Marj! exclaimed Lily, suddenly. What about the Hadleys? Didn’t you promise that you’d go to the seashore—?

Marjorie blushed, remembering the time she had told John Hadley that she would spend her vacation with him and his mother, and had disappointed him to go on the ranch. Luckily, however, no definite plans had been agreed upon as yet for this summer.

No, thank goodness I didn’t promise, she replied. But, she added teasingly, how can you ever exist all that time without seeing Dick Roberts?

Her room-mate only laughed good-naturedly at the thrust; she was used to being taunted about the frequency of this young man’s visits.

I can get along very well without any young man, she replied, boastfully. I’m not Doris—or Mae Van Horn!

Mae Melville, you mean, corrected Alice, for they all had difficulty in calling the girl by her new name, of which she had been in possession only a month. Wasn’t it funny, she added, that Mae caught Doris’s bouquet at the wedding, and sure enough was the first to get married! Just as if there were something to the old superstition after all!

It was, and it wasn’t, odd, reasoned Marjorie; because after all it was very natural for Doris and Mae to be the first girls married from our patrol. They didn’t have so much to keep them occupied as we college girls have—and they had more time to think about such things.

Implying, remarked Florence, that if you weren’t busy here, you’d be marrying John Hadley, and Lily, Dick Roberts, and—

That will do, Flos! remonstrated Marjorie. You don’t have to apply every generalization personally. But, seriously, it is a fact that college girls usually marry later in life than those who just stay at home like Doris.

But Mae didn’t stay home! She had a job.

Now don’t let’s have an argument on a college girl’s chances versus those of a business woman! protested Lily. And by the way, wasn’t it too bad that we couldn’t any of us be at Mae’s wedding to see who would catch the bride’s bouquet! We won’t know who will be the next victim!

Maybe we’ll all be old maids, laughed Marjorie. At any rate, I don’t think any of us will be running off soon, since we’re all six in college. And that reminds me, haven’t we four been mean to go on talking about this marvellous proposition, and not make any attempt to go get Daisy—

I’ll go for her this instant! volunteered Alice, jumping immediately to her feet. It is a shame—

She was off in a moment, skipping down the hall like a happy child.

It was not long before she returned with Daisy Gravers, another Girl Scout of the patrol, and the subject was discussed all over again with a thoroughness that omitted no details. The girls’ only regret was that Ethel Todd, a junior at Bryn Mawr, could not be present to hear all about it.

I’ll write to her, said Alice. Then, if we can all six go—and Mrs. Remington—

And maybe Marie Louise, put in Daisy.

We’ll need several cars, concluded Lily, who always did things sumptuously.

Two ought to be enough, said Florence. But say, girls, why couldn’t we leave our planning until Doris’s house-party? Then we’ll all be together, and will know definitely whether or not we can go.

But the boys will be such an interruption! sighed Lily. You can’t get a thing done with them around.

Oh, we’ll shut them out of our conferences, announced Marjorie, coolly. We must accustom ourselves to getting along without the opposite sex if we are to make a success of our trip.

And yet it is a pity, remarked Alice, after all they did for us last summer at the tea-house!

Yes, maybe if it weren’t for them we wouldn’t have become famous and received this scrumptious invitation, surmised Daisy.

What I can’t understand, mused Florence, who had been carefully considering every aspect of the offer, is why your aunt should want us to make the trip independent of all masculine assistance. Especially when, as you say, Alice, she shows such preference for her two nephews.

Oh, it’s just an idea of hers—a notion that she’s taken, I suppose, replied Alice. When you’re awfully rich and awfully old, you sometimes do crazy things just for the novelty of it.

My, what a philosopher you are! joked Florence. You sound as if you had been both old and rich!

My theory, put in Marjorie, is that it has something to do with the nephews. She has probably boasted of our work last summer, and perhaps the boys belittled it. So I think this might be a kind of wager.

That sounds plausible! exclaimed Lily. Well, let’s do all in our power to make the old lady win.

And yet, interposed Florence, she may be on the other side, hoping we don’t live up to the conditions. It would certainly be cheaper for her if we fell down—

Girls, I think you’re all wrong, said Daisy. I think she is just a lovely old lady, who has read about our work, and wants to reward us. But she thinks we’ll appreciate our cars more if we earn them, and that’s the reason she put on all these conditions.

Come, we’re not getting anywhere! interrupted Florence, and the time’s passing. A glance at her watch assured her that the supper hour was imminent.

Meet here day after tomorrow, suggested Marjorie, as the girls rose to take their leave; and try to have your parents’ permission by then.

We’ll have it! cried two or three of the girls. We wouldn’t miss this chance for the world!