Akina propped up the tent pole while Jada secured the ties. Their tent was almost assembled. The girls tried to hurry. They could hear the other scouts heading down to the lake already. They had fallen behind pitching their tent when they accidentally turned the instruction picture upside down. But their troop leader told them to keep trying, they could do it. And they had.

Finally the tent was ready. Akina changed into her swimsuit and Jada grabbed her towel. Swimming time! When they reached the lake they realized it wasn’t just for swimming. There were also canoes and kayaks that the scouts could take out onto the water. The girls watched as the other scouts paddled across to the island in the middle of the lake. They turned to the boathouse to join them. But there were no boats left.

“Ahh!” wailed Akina. “What do we do now? It’s too far to swim to the island.”

“I guess we just swim here by the shore,” said Jada.

“But I want to go to the island with everyone else,” Akina said.

“Me too,” Jada nodded.

The girls flopped down in the sand. They laid there for awhile until they heard the voice of their troop leader calling back towards them. But she was too far away, and they couldn’t hear her words.

“What do you think she’s saying?” asked Akina.

“I don’t know,” said Jada. “But it’s probably what she always says.”

“You can do it!” both girls chorused together. That is indeed what their troop leader always said.

“Do you think it’s true?” asked Akina.

“I don’t know,” said Jada. “But we might as well try.”

They girls thought for awhile. They remembered that they had earned a badge last year for building a raft. “Do you think we can find the stuff around here?” asked Akina. Then they giggled. They knew what their troop leader would say to that.

Akina started searching for narrow tree limbs that had fallen on the ground. She found enough to make a good start on the raft. Meanwhile, Jada found some twine in the boathouse that they could use to lash the limbs together. There wasn’t quite enough, but there were some sturdy reeds on the side of the lake that would work too.

Akina and Jada worked hard building their raft. They were hot and tired, but excited too. When they finished, they pushed it into the water. Would it float?

It did! They pushed off and started towards the island, paddling with their hands. They tipped a few times, but that was ok. Sometimes they just swam next to the raft, using it to keep afloat and climbing on when they got too tired.

Finally they washed up onto the island. The other scouts were there, clapping and cheering for them. “I told you you could do it,” said their troop leader with a wink. And they could.