The Girl Scout Pioneers

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The Girl Scout Pioneers, by Lillian C Garis

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Title: The Girl Scout Pioneers or Winning the First B. C.
Author: Lillian C Garis
Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5263] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 19, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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The Girl Scout Pioneers
or
Winning the First B. C.
By Lillian C. Garis
Author of "The Girl Scouts at Bellair," "The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest," etc.
Illustrated

CONTENTS
I. GIRLS AND GIRLS
II. WOODLAND THRILLS
III. A NOBLE DEED UNDONE
IV. PATHS DIVIDING
V. A FRIENDLY ENEMY
VI. A NOVEL JAIL
VII. TENDERFOOT ADVENTURES
VIII. CLUE TO THE MISSING
IX. TRIBUTE OP EOSES
X. TELLING SECRETS
XI. THE TANGLED WEB
XII. TESSIE
XIII. BROKEN FAITH
XIV. WOODLAND MAGIC
XV. VENTURE TROOP
XVI. MORE MYSTERIES
XVII. JACQUELINE
XVIII. DAISIES AND DANGEES
XIX. THE FLYING SQUADRON
XX. CLEO'S EXPERIMENT
XXI. FORGING AHEAD
XXII. THE WHIRLING MAY-POLE
XXIII. RAINBOW'S END
CHAPTER I
GIRLS AND GIRLS
It was much like a scene in a movie play. The shabby dark room lighted by a single oil lamp if any light could make its way through the badly smoked glass that served as a chimney, the broken chair, and the table piled high with what appeared to be rags, but which might have been intended for wearing apparel, the torn window curtain hanging so disconsolately from the broken cord it had one time proudly swung from, and the indescribable bed!
Like some sentinel watching the calamitous surroundings, a girl stood in the midst of this squalor, her bright golden hair and her pretty fair face, with its azure blue eyes, marking a pathetic contrast to all the sordid, dark detail of the ill-kept room. She took from the side pocket of her plaid skirt a bit of crumpled paper, and placing it directly under the lamp, followed its written lines. Having finished the reading, she carefully folded the worn slip again, and returned it to her pocket. Then she threw back her pretty head, and any frequenter of the screen world would have known instantly that the girl had decided--and further, that her decision required courage, and perhaps defiance.
With determination marking every move, she crossed to the tumbled bed, and stooping, dragged from beneath it a bag, the sort called "telescope," and used rarely now, even by the traveling salesman, who at one time found the sliding trunk so useful. It would "telescope," and being thus adjustable, lent its proportions to any sized burden imposed upon it. Into this the girl tossed a few articles selected from the rummage on the table, a pair of shoes gathered from more debris in a corner, and on top a sweater and skirt, taken from a peg on the door. All together this composed rather a pretentious assortment for the telescope.
But the girl did not jam down the cover in that "movie" way common to runaways, rather she paused, glanced furtively about the gloomy place, and finally taking a candle from a very high shelf, lighted the taper, evidently for some delicate task in the way of gathering up her very personal belongings.
In a remote corner of the room an upturned orange box served as sort of stand. The front was covered and festooned with a curtain, dexterously made of a bright skirt, hung over the sides, and draped from a knot at the top. The knot was drawn from the waist band of the skirt, and tied with the original string into a grotesque rosette. All over the box top were such articles as a girl might deem necessary in making a civilized toilette, except at the knot--where the table cover irradiated its fullness into really graceful folds, falling over the orange box-here, on account of the knob, no article was placed, and the rosette stood defiant over the whole surrounding.
The girl placed the candle on a spot made clear for that small round, tin stand, and then glancing anxiously