"And happened to the boys, too," said Frank, "I understand that Tubby Blaisdell has put on ten additional pounds of flesh since yesterday morning."

"Now, Frank! how could he?" gasped Grace.

"n.o.body could be much fatter than Tubby already is," added Bess, laughing.

"You never know till you try," chided Mina. "You have put on some flesh yourself, Miss Lavine."

"Bah! they'll soon work it off of me when we're back in school," groaned Bessie. "That's the worst of a vacation--there's always work at the end of it."

"Lazy!" cried Percy. "I believe I'll _love_ study when I'm back to the 'scholastic grind.'"

"You can have my share," grumbled Bess. "But what about Tubby's additional avoirdupois, Frankie? He's as big as a haystack anyway."

"'All flesh is gra.s.s,' the Scriptures say, So Tubby B.'s a load of hay!"

chuckled Frank. "Is that it? And Tubby is all swelled up now--as big as a barrel."

"That's an awful fib, Frank," declared Mina. "He couldn't be."

"Well, Ferd says he _looks_ so. The boys found a b.u.mble bees' nest and Tubby didn't have any paddle to hit them with. So they all went for poor Tubby and they stung him so that his face is twice as big as usual--so Ferd says."

"Something is always happening to that boy," said Bess, laughing.

"Hullo! where have _you_ been, Wyn?"

Wyn came up from the sh.o.r.e. "I know where she's been," cried Frank. "She has been down there gloating!"

"Gloating?" repeated Percy.

"Over the boat. Is it all there, Wyn?"

The girls ran to the brow of the bank. There, floating off their beach, was a freshly painted motor boat, its bra.s.swork shining, and everything spick and span about it. A very commodious and handsome craft she was, with "Go-Ahead" painted on either side of her bow and on her stern-board.

"Oh, she's all there! n.o.body has run off with her in the night," laughed Wyn. "And Mr. Lavine couldn't have found a better boat if he had tried--Mr. Jarley says so."

"It was good of Dr. Shelton to sell the _Bright Eyes_ to father,"

said Bessie Lavine. "And they made a good job of it at the boatyard at the Forge."

"She's such a fine and roomy boat," declared Frankie. "We couldn't have expected such a big one, otherwise."

"And it's big enough for the Busters and Professor Skillings to sail home with us, too," said Percy. "Mr. Jarley is going to take charge of the boys' canoes, as well as ours, and ship them to us."

"Bully! An all-day cruise on the lake and then down the Wintinooski by moonlight to-night," sighed Wyn. "It will be just scrumptious!"

"Come, then, girls," warned Mrs. Havel. "We must strike camp. Everything must be rolled up and secured, ready for shipment on the bateau when it comes. I saw the sail of the bateau going past the point of Gannet Island early this morning. I expect the boys are all ready before this time."

"Let's wait for them," said the languid Bess. "What's the use of having boy friends if you don't make use of them?"

"Listen to her!" exclaimed Wyn, with scorn. "Depend upon the boys?

I--rather--guess--not!"

"Don't be so independent, Miss," returned Miss Lavine. "You'll be glad to have Davie at your beck and call again when we get back home."

Wyn laughed. "It's all right to have them within reach if need should arise----"

"Like a mouse, or a snake," put in Frank Cameron.

"Goodness!" drawled Grace. "After all the bugs, and worms, and caterpillars, and other monsters we have faced--alone and single-handed--here in the woods, I don't believe I'll _ever_ squeal if I put my hand upon a mouse in the pantry."

"Pshaw!" said Frank. "You only _think_ that. It's the frailties of the s.e.x we cannot get over. You all know very well that a boy with a teenty, tinty garter-snake on the end of a stick could chase this whole crowd either into the lake, or into hysterics."

"Shame!" cried Wyn. "That is rank treachery to the 'manhood' of us girls of the Go-Ahead Club."

"You are right, Wyn," agreed Mina. "Why, we none of us have any nerves now--but plenty of _nerve_, of course."

"Oh!" exclaimed Frank, starting back suddenly. "See that! Is it a spider over your head, Mina?"

Miss Everett uttered an ear-piercing shriek and sprang up, to run madly from the spot. Frank burst into laughter.

"How brave! Such nerve! My, my! we'll none of us ever be afraid again----"

They all pitched upon the joker, and Mrs. Havel had to come to her rescue with the reminder that time was flying.

"If you want to show the boys that you are really fit to camp out alone, get to work!" she commanded.

The next hour was a busy one for the Go-Aheads. But how much more handily they went about the striking of the tents than they had about raising them two months before!

Life in the open had really done wonders for the girls from Denton. They knew how to do things that they had never dreamed of doing at home. Most of them had learned how to swing an axe, although the boys had faithfully paid their forfeit by cutting the firewood for Green Knoll Camp all summer. The girls could use a hammer, too, and tie workman-like knots, and do a host of other things that had never come into their lives before.

"It is well to be sufficient unto one's self," Mrs. Havel told them. "A girl cannot always expect to find a boy at her beck and call. It is nice to be waited on by the male s.e.x--and it is good for boys to learn to attend properly upon their girl friends; it is better, however, to know how to accept favors gracefully from our boy friends, and yet not really _need_ their a.s.sistance."

So Green Knoll Camp presented a very orderly appearance when the boys and Professor Skillings appeared ahead of the bateau that was to take all their goods and chattels back to their home town.

"Goodness! aren't you girls smart?" cried Dave Shepard, the first ash.o.r.e. "Are you _all_ ready?"

"Every bit," declared Wyn.

"Then we can get off in the _Go-Ahead_ at once?"

"Right," declared Frank, laughing. "And as soon as you can teach Wyn and me how to manage the motor boat, we girls sha'n't need you boys at all."

"A fine lot of suffragettes you are going to make," growled Dave.

"No; we'll never be 'suffering-cats,' Davie," returned Frank, laughing.

"We don't need to. Let us alone for being able to get the best of you Busters whenever we want to."

"Isn't she right?" cried Ferdinand Roberts, admiringly. "You can't beat 'em!"

"No, you can't," snarled Tubby Blaisdell, very puffy about his face, and with a wry smile. "They even get the goats to help 'em."