“I won’t—­really I won’t, Miss Eleanor,” said Dolly.  “I know I’ve shirked sometimes, but I’m not going to this time.  I’m going to work hard now to be a Fire Maker.  I think I’ve been a Wood Gatherer long enough, don’t, you?”

“You’ve served more time than is needed for promotion, Dolly.  It’s all up to you, as the boys say.  As soon as you win the honors you need you can be a Fire Maker.  You can have your new rank just as soon as you earn it.”

“Bessie and I are going to be made Fire Makers together, if we can, Miss Eleanor.  We talked that over the other day, at the farm, and I think well be ready at the first camp fire we have after we get home.”

“Well, you’ll please me very much if you do.  It’s time the other girls were getting up now—­we’ve got to cook breakfast now.  I’ll call them while you two build a fire—­there’s plenty of wood for to-day, piled up over there.”

As Dolly had said, with each girl doing her share, the work of the camp was light.  While some of the girls did the cooking, others prepared the “dining table”—­a smooth place on the ground—­and others pinned up the bottom flaps of; the tents, after turning out the bedding, so that the floors of the tents might be well aired.  And then they all sat down, happily and hungrily, to a breakfast that tasted just as good as had supper the night before.

“Can we swim in the lake, Miss Eleanor?” asked Margery Burton.

“If you want to,” said Eleanor, with a smile.  “It’s pretty cold water, though; a good deal colder than it was at the sea shore last year.  You see, this lake is fed by springs, and in the spring the ice melts, and the water in April and May is just like ice water.  But you’ll get used to it, if you only stay in a couple of minutes at first, and get accustomed to the chill gradually.  But remember the rule:  no one is ever to go unless I’m right at hand, and there must always be someone in a boat, ready to help if a girl gets a cramp or any other sort of trouble.”

“Oh, are there boats?” cried Dolly.  “That’s fine!  Where are they, Miss Eleanor?”

“You shall see them after we’ve cleared away the breakfast things and washed up.  But there’s a rule about the boats, too:  no one is to go out in them except in bathing suits.  And remember this, when you’re out on the lake.  It’s very narrow, and it looks very calm and safe, now.

“But at this time of the year there are often severe squalls up here, and they come over the hills so quickly that it’s easy to get caught unless you’re very careful.  I think there had better always be two girls in each boat.  We don’t want any accidents.”

“Can we go for walks through the woods, Miss Eleanor?”

“Oh, yes; that’s the most beautiful part of being up here.  But it’s easy to get lost.  When you start on a trail always stick to it.  Don’t be tempted to go off exploring.  I’m going to give you all some lessons in finding your way in the woods.  You know, the moss is always on the south side of a tree, and there are other ways of telling direction, by the leaves.  I expect you all to be regular woodsmen when we go away from here, and I’m sure you’ll learn things about the woods that will give you a good many pleasant times in the future”