The Lieutenant, a tall, pretty girl of nineteen, then commanded, "Corporals from Patrols!" and the three Corporals stepped forward two paces, made two right turns, and stood facing the center of the patrol.

The Corporals then snapped out together, "Attention! Right Dress!" after which they faced left, took two paces, made right turn, right face, and looked critically down the line to see that it was perfectly straight.

After two short left steps to straighten the rear line, they faced right, took four paces forward, and with two right turns got back in position facing patrol and called the command "Front! Count off!"

The Corporals then one after the other called the roll of her Patrol, and finishing that, turned and reported to the Lieutenant that the Patrol was formed, after which they returned to their places in the ranks, and the Lieutenant, saluting the Captain, reported, "Captain, the Company is formed."

Inspection then followed. Each girl, saluting, stepped forward and her hair, teeth, hands, nails, shoes and general appearance was scrutinized.

Elise watched all this with great interest, interest which deepened as the Captain commanded "Color guard, march!" and three girls stepped from the ranks and stood side by side for a moment, then at a word of command marched to the flag. There they saluted and marched back; when the Captain and the Lieutenant faced about, and the Captain in her silvery voice said:

"The Flag of your Country; pledge allegiance!"

With one voice the girls united in the beautiful pledge to the flag, "I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Elise looked at the silken folds of the glorious red, white and blue with tears in her eyes. How glad she was to make that pledge! Had not that flag, the flag that was now her own, floated over the sh.e.l.l-racked fields of France? Oh, she _loved_ it!

The color guard returned, and the fresh young voices rose in the first verse of America.

"Scouts, your promise!" said the Captain.

"To do my duty to G.o.d and to my country.

To help other people at all times.

To obey the laws of the Scouts."

the voices rang out.

"The laws!" said the Captain.

Again the chorus of girls repeated:

A Girl Scout's honor is to be trusted.

A Girl Scout is loyal.

A Girl Scout's duty is to be useful, and help others.

A Girl Scout is a friend to all, and a sister to every other Girl Scout.

A Girl Scout is courteous.

A Girl Scout keeps herself pure.

A Girl Scout is a friend to animals.

A Girl Scout obeys orders.

A Girl Scout is cheerful.

A Girl Scout is thrifty.

"Dismissed!" said the little Captain and, breaking ranks, the girls went to their seats where they sat talking in low tones until the sharp sound of the Lieutenant's whistle called them to attention again.

"Now I do come," said Elise to herself, and her heart commenced to hammer in quite an alarming fashion. But it was not quite time for her to rise. Looking at Rosanna, she saw her give a slight shake of the head, and Elise leaned back in her seat while all the business of the meeting was settled and plans made for some aid for a poor family living near.

One thing Elise noticed particularly. The girls present were widely different in looks, and Elise with her delicate perceptions saw plainly that they belonged in widely differing cla.s.ses, so called. A few of the girls, Rosanna among them, had the carefully cared for and delicately nurtured look of the very rich. More were like Helen, clean, carefully groomed and almost precise in her dress and accessories. Others were very evidently poor, with rough little hands that already told the story of hard work and few toilet creams. But whoever they were, they saw no difference in each other. They were Girl Scouts in the fullest and best sense of the word: sisters pledged to each other, and living up to that pledge in all earnestness and honor.

Elise, waiting for her summons to go forward, and understanding nothing of the business that was going on, threw her thoughts backward. She saw herself the idolized child of the gay, rich young couple in the great chateau, where long painted lines of powdered and frilled and armor-clad ancestors looked down at her from the long galleries, and where dozens of willing servants danced to do her bidding. Then the picture changed, and with the roll of drums and the thunder of cannon she saw the hated foe march across her land, destroying as they came. Father, mother, grandmother, home, riches; all went down as under a devouring tide. Then the promises of her Monsieur Bob, and after long, long weary days spent with the ladies of the Red Cross came the journey into the Unknown, that trip across an ocean that was to forever separate her from a past that was too terrible for a little girl to have known.

To have found refuge in Mrs. Hargrave's tender arms, to have won such love and such friends--to be able to be a Girl Scout--

Elise turned her eyes, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with sudden tears, to the flag.

"Never, _never_ will I zem disappoint!" she whispered tenderly, using as best she could the unfamiliar words of her adopted tongue.

CHAPTER IX

At last Elise saw the Captain glance in her direction as the whistle blew once more for attention and the Captain commanded, "Fall in!" A look of serious interest appeared on the faces of the girls as they formed in a horseshoe, the Captain and the Lieutenant standing in the gap and the American flag spread out before them.

Elise, with Helen beside her, walked to a place just inside the circle and stood facing the Captain. In the Lieutenant's hands were the staff and hat, the shoulder knot, badge and neckerchief of the Tenderfoot Elise.

She could not refrain from a glance at them. How she had longed to wear all those things; the insignia of everything she had learned to admire and look up to in the girls of America!

"Salute!" said the Captain.

All saluted Elise, who stood waiting for some order, she did not know what.

"Forward!" said the Captain to Helen, and the two girls stepped to the center.

Regarding Elise with a long, careful glance, and speaking carefully, so the little French girl should miss nothing of the full meaning of her words, the Captain asked:

"Do you know what your _honor_ means?"

"Yess," said Elise, finding her voice after what seemed to her an endless time. "Yess, it does mean that always I shall be trusted to be faithful and true and honorable."

"Can I trust you," asked the Captain, "on your honor, to be loyal to G.o.d and your country, to help other people at all times, and to obey the Scout Law?"

Elise, coached by Helen and Rosanna, made the half salute in unison with the whole company, as she answered, "I do promise on my honor to be loyal to G.o.d and my country, to help other people at all times and to obey the Scout Law."

"I trust you on your honor to keep this promise," answered the Captain.

The circle of girls listened with respectful and solemn interest. Well they realized that the vow being given was not an empty or idle one.

They knew that it entailed hard work, self-denial, and many hardships.

Yet they gloried in it, and silently renewed their own vows as they heard the Tenderfoot make her promises.

"Invest!" came the Captain's next order.

Stepping forward, the Lieutenant gave Elise her staff, and put the hat, handkerchief and knot on her, and smiled as Elise said, "I thank you!"

in her pretty way.

Then, at a whispered word, she marched up the line to the Captain who pinned on her trefoil badge and explained that it was an emblem of her Scout "life." If for any misbehavior, the trefoil or "life" must be taken away from her, she would become a dead Scout for the time the Captain ordered and for that time in disgrace.

The new Scout was then initiated into all the secret pa.s.swords, a proceeding which filled Elise with despair; she felt that she would never be able to remember the queer words and phrases.

Then with the ceremony of marching back to their proper patrols the ceremony was over, and in a moment the formal meeting was dismissed.