Food, Fun, and Camping

What better way to spend a holiday than to enjoy a cookout? Here is an excerpt from pages 78-80 of The Secret of Camp Pioneer, from the Girl Scouts Mystery Series by Virginia Fairfax:

When all of the girls had arrived at this spot, Captain Mac gave the signal for silence. 

"We're going to have a meal that you can prepare very quickly," she began. "The chief dish is galloping guinea pigs. That's right, girls, laugh! That's a funny name for a dish, but it tastes as good as it sounds. The Cardinals are to be the wood-gatherers, the Whippoorwills the fire-builders; the Owls are to make the galloping guinea pigs, while the Bluebirds are to get long, green, sweet-gum sticks for the guinea pigs to ride on. Let's see how quickly and well we can prepare our first meal." 

With much chattering and laughter, the girls set to work at their different tasks. As there were several piles of dry branches at the foot of the hill, the girls soon had their wood gathered and the fire built. While they were waiting for the fire to make a bed of hot coals suitable for cooking, several of them roamed about, exploring the knoll. 

In the meantime, the Owls were being initiated into the mysteries of the galloping guinea pigs. Bubbling over with curiosity, they circled around the food, peering at the boxes of bacon, the yellow triangles of cheese, and the lettuce and rolls, which Lu had brought out. All-interest, they watched Captain Mac deftly demonstrate the method of making this dish. Having cut a piece of cheese into cubes, she took a cube, wrapped a piece of bacon around it and fastened it securely with a small sliver of green wood. "This wood is sweet gum," she explained, "because it will not spoil the flavor of the food as pine and some other kinds of wood will. As soon as the Bluebirds bring the long sticks, I'll push the sharpened end of a stick into this cheese and bacon—or pig—and then it will be ready to cook. When the bacon is done, open up a roll, slip in a piece of lettuce and the pig—and you know what to do next." 

"I'll say we do!" exclaimed Hilda. "Let's hurry and do it."