mmer?
I'll try to assist Don in building a footstool for one of Penelope's
maids. I'm afraid I am no better carpenter than I am lecturer. Do you
understand what I have been trying to explain, Lance? We may talk the
question over together some other time."

Lance nodded.

"I think I do understand what it means in regard to the Scouts."

A moment he stood dreaming when the others went back to work. Beauty,
adventure, freedom, the Scouts were finding in the outdoors during the
weeks of their summer camp.

At present in front of the grove of trees Mrs. Phillips was starting a
rehearsal of the Greek dance that was to form a part of the coming
pageant.

Fascinated, Lance stood watching.

CHAPTER XVII

A CLASSIC REVIVAL

Only now and then does nature allow us a perfect thing.

The day of the presentation of the Greek poem of the Odyssey by the
Girl and Boy Scouts was a perfect day.

It occurred during the last week in August. Here at the fringe of the
deep woods the afternoon was like early September; there was more
color, more radiance than one associates with any other month of the
year.

Beyond the woods the wheat fields were golden, the final growth of the
summer gardens a riot of purple and rose and blue. The corn fields
having ripened, bent their green maturity to the breezes, the silk of
the corn tassels made valiant banners. In the forests the beech trees
showed bronze leaves amid the midsummer foliage, the sumach and the
woodbine were flaunting the scarlet signals of autumn.

Along the road leading from Westhaven to the site in the woods where
the Greek pageant would take place, from an early hour in the
afternoon motor cars moved back and forth.

The first cars transported the players and their costumes and such
odds and ends of scenery as had to be attended to at the last.

The same cars returned for the families and friends of the actors.
Every automobile and carriage the town could spare for the occasion
had been commandeered.

The interest the town of Westhaven and several neighboring villages
displayed in the Greek pageant was beyond the realms of possibility in
the original conception of the Girl and Boy Scouts.

But the summer was closing. In a short time a good many of the summer
residents would be returning to their city homes. The thought of a
final entertainment, a final memory of the summer days became
inspiring.

Moreover, a Greek pageant was unusual presented by groups of