"But what? We only brought flour and bacon," laughed Amy.
"How would a fine juicy steak taste about this time?" asked Mrs. Vernon, winking at her old scouts. They knew what she meant.
"Oh, 'Home and Mother'!" sighed Judith, rolling her eyes heavenward.
Every one laughed, but the Captain added: "I really mean it! We may as well stop now to cook that steak as to keep on in a half-fainting condition."
"But, Verny! We didn't bring one bit of meat to camp, and the butcher drives his rounds once a week," cried Amy.
"We'll just hunt around and chop down a steak," suggested Mrs. Vernon. "Who wants to go with me to find the wooden animal that grows a steak ready-made?"
Of course, they all went, except Julie and Joan who remained to build a fire and start the bacon sizzling in the tiny pan. A scout-twist of flour and water was kneaded by Joan and put to bake near the fire, and then the girls sat and waited for the others to return.
The Captain blazed a way slowly into the forest wilderness, peering under bushes and wherever a tree had been cut down on its stump of a trunk she always looked eagerly. After about ten minutes' search she saw what she wanted.
"Ah! Here it is a porterhouse, this time."
The new members saw a great chestnut stump, its jagged spears of wood protesting against its untimely end. But all over the trunk grew fungi some larger, some smaller, and all of the same flat horizontal shape, like a huge palm-leaf. These were carefully removed and handed to the girls to carry.
"What are they for?" asked Judith, looking at the red juice that ran over her fingers when she took the fungus.
"That's your steak think it is too big for one?"
"The what?" exclaimed the other new members, skeptically.
"Beefsteak mushroom finest steaks ever tasted," came reassuringly from the Captain. "The ones growing on a chestnut stump are always the sweetest, but the chestnut trees are disappearing so fast that soon we will have no such mushrooms from them."
When they had gathered enough steaks for that meal, they returned to the clearing where Julie and Joan awaited them. On the way back, Mrs. Vernon showed the scouts the earmarks of the
beefsteak mushroom.
"When I cut these from the tree they bled exactly as flesh will bleed when it is cut. Now turn them over and you will see on the under side that they have veins of red. That is the life-sap. We will broil or cook them exactly as if they were steaks and then you shall judge of their flavor."
"Isn't it thrilling to think that man can go right into any wilderness and, without carrying food, clothing, or shelter, live with what Nature provides," remarked Judith.
"Yes, and without paying the outrageous prices charged at the present time for actual necessities," replied the Captain.
The bread-twist was baked, and when the steaks were washed and sliced, Mrs. Vernon dropped them into the hot fat tried out from the bacon. Immediately the smell of frying steak made every scout smack her lips in anticipation.
"If we weren't sure of such a fine dinner awaiting us, I would have had a few of you girls gather young bracken for a fresh green vegetable to eat with our steak. But we must not stop and enjoy too much by the wayside," said the Captain.
There was a liberal slice of steak for each one and the girls pronounced the taste of it delicious.
"And so tender, too! I never had such a juicy bit of meat," said Hester.
Having refreshed themselves considerably, with the fun of finding the mushrooms and cooking them, to say nothing of eating them, also, the scouts continued the hike along the trail. Just as they reached the crest of the mountain, Julie came suddenly upon a fawn, standing in the shadow of a tree; it was watching these queer two-legged creatures.
It is hard to say which was most surprised, Julie or the deer, but the fawn recovered first and bounded away through the forest.
"Oh, shucks! There we've gone and left that camera home again!" cried Julie, stamping her foot angrily.
"Wouldn't that have made the most wonderful picture!" added Judith.
"No use crying now, but, for goodness sake! Julie, remember to bring it next time," said Joan.
"Let every one remember the last thing to do when we start anywhere, every one is to say to herself: 'Remember the Maine !' then we will surely take the camera," giggled Julie.
The scouts now began descending the other side of the crest, and found a better trail than on the side they came up. So, being able to go faster, they soon reached a lovely camp-site, where the voices of several boys announced that Grey Fox Camp was reached.
"We were just being sworn in as deputies to go out and hunt for strayed or stolen scouts," called Mr. Gilroy, jocularly, as the girls picked their way down from the great rocks that formed a wall back of the camp-ground; then he introduced the two Troops to each other.
"You told us it was about a two-hours' hike!" said Ruth, shaking her head at Mr. Gilroy, as if in despair of saving his soul.