, "I have a lovely invitation for you!"

"The Boy Scouts?" cried Ruth, joyfully.

"Not this time, Ruth. No--it's from Miss Martin's school. They want us
to visit them, I think to give a Scout demonstration. And then, I
believe, they intend to start a rival troop."

"I would love to see some other Girl Scouts," said Edith Evans. "Won't
it be great to have a sister troop!"

"Yes, indeed," agreed the Captain. "But I am not willing to take fifteen
Scouts--not even two patrols, you know--over there to demonstrate. I
asked Miss Watson, the gym teacher at Miss Martin's, to postpone the
invitation until after the first of November, when our reports come out
and the hockey team is chosen. That will give us an opportunity to fill
up our troop; indeed, I hope we have at least three, and maybe four full
patrols!"

"Do you really expect so many freshmen to meet the requirements,
Captain?" asked Frances.

"No, not only freshmen. I think some more upper classmen will
qualify--girls like Mae VanHorn, for instance, who just fell a trifle
short last year."

"Would it be possible, Captain," suggested Marjorie, shyly, "to make
Frieda a Girl Scout? Couldn't she be an honorary member, or something?"

But Miss Phillips wisely shook her head.

"No; in one respect, Ruth was right--we must not expect a lot from her
at first. Frieda Hammer is a girl who has never been taught right from
wrong, and we must go very slowly. If she proves worthy, perhaps we can
take her in later, although I would prefer to let her wait till she
passes our school examinations, and has a chance to enter just like any
other girl. We all appreciate things we have to work hard for, you
know!"

"We certainly do!" agreed Marjorie, emphatically; and Ruth, sensitive to
the reference, could not control the flush that spread over her face.

"And now for Scouting itself," concluded the Captain; "for we must not
neglect that. We shall probably go for a hike Saturday a week, if it is
clear, and then we are going to study definitely for our first-class
test. I made a big mistake when I thought you could pass it in two
weeks' time at camp. But then I was going by the old handbook, and in
the new one it is much more difficult; the signalling alone will
probably require two months' study. I am going to ask Mr. Remington, the
Boy Scoutmaster, to give the final test in the semaphore and Morse code,
and every other requirement must be passed with the same thoroughness.
If my