And we were showing off to let the Captain hear how much we know,"
laughed Julie.

"Who can find The Lady in the Chair or The Guards?" asked Mr. Gilroy of
the scouts.

The girls eagerly sought for and described these groups, then their host
asked for the Seven Sisters and Demon's Eye. When they had answered
these, Ruth said:

"If the trees were not so thick I could show you Orion, Taurus, and lots
more, like the Lion, the Sickle, Canis Major, etc."

"Hoh! Some of those--and the Clown, the Ox-Driver, the Southern Cross,
and the Northern Cross--can't be seen at this time of year, Ruth," said
Julie.

Ruth frowned at the correction, but Mr. Gilroy quickly calmed the
troubled waters with praise for the girls.

"You scouts certainly know the stars better than the boys of Grey Fox
Troop. I should like to have the two Troops have a match game about the
stars, some time."

"Who are the Grey Fox boys, Mr. Gilroy?" asked Julie.

"Do you remember I told you, last summer, of some Boy Scouts who camped
in my woods every year? Well, four of those boys are here now. The rest
of the Troop are coming up in August, but these four have all summer to
camp in. I'm going to introduce you, soon."

"Verny, why can't we see all the stars all the year?" now asked Ruth.

"Because the earth turns on its axis, you know, so that certain planets
are out of sight for us, and are seen on the other side of the globe.
Then when the earth turns fully around we see them again."

"And the Pole Star is reckoned to be the center of the star-sky for all
the others to move about it. The Pole Star is always in the same fixed
place, so we can always locate it. But not so with the other stars,"
added Mr. Gilroy.

"I wish some one would tell us a story about the stars," Hester now
said.

"Who will tell one?" asked Mrs. Vernon.

"I know that Mizor and Alcor were used by the Turks in past days as a
test for eyesight. Soldiers who could not sight those two stars were
disqualified for fighting. But in these times I don't believe a little
thing like bad eyes will hold up a Turk from fighting!" said Julie,
comically.

Then Joan added: "The Pole Star and Ursa Major, or The Great Bear as it
is also called, form a shape like a wagon; so in olden times it was
called King Charles' Wain. Each star in this constellation is known by a
Greek letter. The two stars 'a' and 'b' are called the 'Pointers'
because they point to the Pole Star."

"Oh, I didn't mean l