Girl Scouts in Arizona and New Mexico

“Verny, haven’t you heard from Gilly since he wrote us that he was planning the trip to Arizona and New Mexico?” asked Juliet Lee, one of the girl scouts of Dandelion Troop.

“Only the telegram from Mr. Gilroy, which came yesterday, telling us that he had mailed a letter of particulars the day before. I did not expect to receive it from Denver in twenty-four hours’ time, you know,” was Mrs. Vernon’s smiling reply.

“No; but it ought to arrive to-night or to-morrow morning,” said Julie, meditatively.

“I hope we start right off, Verny. It would be dreadful if we had to lose a week of our summer’s vacation,” declared Elizabeth Lee, who was always known as “Betty” by her family and friends.

“Well, at least, we have our things all ready to pack the moment we find out when to start and where to meet Gilly,” remarked Joan Allison, one of the group of scouts that had spent the preceding summer, with Mr. Gilroy as their host, in the Rocky Mountains.

A mournful wail from Ruth Bentley, another girl in that group of mountain scouts, prevented Mrs. Vernon from speaking. “I’d so much rather go with you all and have the wonderful times you will have this summer, than have to accompany father and mother to Europe! If only Dad could see that I might be educated better on this scout tour than in Paris, he might change his mind. But he refuses to see!

Julie laughingly added: “Remember the biblical words, Ruth? ‘Eyes have they and they see not.’”

“Well, that’s Dad!” exclaimed Ruth.

“I am so thankful that I am able to go with you this summer that I am just keeping quiet and marking time. I feel as if I must wake up and find it all a dream, should I express my joy as fervently as I want to,” was Hester Wynant’s humorous declaration.

“We’re all glad with you, Hesty. While we were ‘doing the Rockies’ last summer, we often said how nice it would be to have had you there,” added Anne Bailey. “This year you might say as much of me.”

There were other girls in that scout meeting held at Mrs. Vernon’s home this first day of the summer vacation of the Elmertown school; but these girls, because they could not be with their chums on the southwestern tour, seemed too disconsolate to make any remarks about the proposed interesting trip.

It is taken for granted that the reader has heard of these girl scouts who, each summer after the closing of school, endeavor to visit a famous range of mountains, and thus became distinguished as the Mountain Scouts.

The first summer of their scoutdom they camped upon a ridge of the Blue Mountains in New Jersey. Here they acquired the knowledge, and tested their ability, to join the National Organization of Girl Scouts; later when they had two Patrols, according to rules, they were enrolled and became known as the Girl Scouts of Dandelion Troop.

It was during their first camping season that they went to Blue Beard’s cave, one of the local points of interest, and discovered a man who had been injured by two escaped convicts, who, after robbing him, managed to get away. The poor man was unconscious and would have died in that dark and seldom-visited cave on the top of the mountain had it not been for the timely assistance given him by the scouts and their Captain.

Back in the mountain camp Mr. Gilroy, the convalescing guest of Dandelion Patrol, explained how he came to visit Blue Beard’s cave that day. Thus the girls learned that he was a great admirer of scout work and had been a patron of the Boys’ Scout Organization. The junior scouts who had rescued him now decided to enlist his interests in the Girls’ Scout Organization, as well.

Mr. Gilroy continued his visit at the Dandelion Camp for a few days after he felt completely restored to normal strength, and, during this visit, became deeply interested in Mrs. Vernon’s plans and propositions for her girls. Because of the first aid rendered him in his hour of extremity, Mr. Gilroy insisted upon having the Scout Patrol visit his Adirondack Estate the following summer. To this unexpected proposition the girls gladly agreed, providing their parents and Mrs. Vernon would consent and advance the necessary money to defray the costs of the trip.