“All right; perhaps we can arrange a tennis tournament after we get to Silvertown. We’ll see. But not for a prize! Now will you run out and collect the papers, for the girls will ruin their eyes if they work any longer.”
The next morning was spent in practicing with their canoes. They tried landing them, pushing them off, upsetting them, and righting them again, until, at eleven o’clock, Miss Phillips blew the whistle as a signal to begin the test.
“I’ll take Frieda first,” she said, “so that she can get dinner.”
Frieda, Ruth, Marjorie, Ethel, and Frances all tried the practical part of the test and, to all appearances, were successful. Miss Phillips refused, however, to tell them the results until that evening.
Soon after the noon meal, their things were packed again, and they paddled all afternoon. At five o’clock they reached their campsite.
“I do hope you aren’t going to be too tired for the scout meeting, this evening,” said Miss Phillips. “For I have a surprise for you. Something you will like!”
Three hours later, when the tired girls gathered around the camp fire, their faces were alight with anticipation. They enjoyed going over the brief, familiar ceremony at the opening; it gave them a new thrill to repeat the pledge, the laws, and the motto, and to sing the Star-Spangled Banner.
Miss Phillips gave a formal report of the money spent, and Frieda told what supplies she had on hand. Having dismissed the business, the captain reached into her pocket, and drew out a white envelope.
“Five Girl Scouts have passed the Sailor test, and are to receive merit-badges. I have the pleasure to present these badges tonight. Will the following girls please come forward: Marjorie Wilkinson, Frieda Hammer, Ruth Henry, Ethel Todd, and Frances Wright? The girls all did creditably, ranking in the order in which I have named them.”
It had never occurred to any of the girls that they might actually receive their merit badges on the trip, and the surprise was delightful. For every Girl Scout knows what a thrill it brings to sew an additional badge on the sleeve of her uniform, particularly when there are not many there already.
The lucky ones therefore jumped up happily and rushed forward, almost forgetting, in their haste, to give the captain the customary salute.