The Spelunker Who Had Chiroptophobia

What self-respecting young lady would not like to be up to her waist in soupy, smelly bat dung after falling off a cliff in the dark of a cave? This Young Adult novella about three female scout cavers breaks all the gender rules. The heroine and her two proteges go where no scouts have gone and blaze a trail toward a spelunking merit badge. They make weird discoveries deep underground and become adept at investigating formerly unknown places. Diamondback rattlesnakes, gila monsters and spiders as large as small puppies do not frighten them. Bats are a special problem, though, as they prefer fly into a girl’s hair. Struggle as they may to achieve their goal of a merit badge, the forces of scouting tradition are, for now at least, too strong to overcome. Still, they gain recognition and respect for their achievements. The older mentoring young woman receives an invitation she cannot refuse, and her whole world turns upside down.