Presumably fed by that cloistered brooklet,
whose cell, far in, in an impenetrable
recess, no human foot had ever trod, the
lakelet had the floor to itself, so to speak
so that in places scouts with their lamps
and girls pairing off with their exploring
brothers, one piloting eye between them,
had difficulty in skirting it--without a
ducking.

"Whew! a ducking in the dark--a
cave-bath--horrible!" cried Pemrose.
"Oh, mer-rcy! what--what is it?"

"Bah! Only a garter snake--a pretty
fellow," laughed Studley, picking the slim,
striped thing up from a corner of the blind
lake where it was amphibiously basking,
and letting it curl around his khaki arm,
investigating the merit badges of the patrol
leader.

The green and red of the life-saver's
embroidered badge, the crossed flags ot the
expert signaler, the white plow of the
husbandman, they enlivened the gloom a
wee bit, winking up at the safety lamp%
[[162]]

p161 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p162w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p163

v?