Mary Lee, with housewifely care, insisted that the remains of the feast should be packed away for future use and then while the older ladies rested under the shade of the trees, the younger ones declared for exploring the surroundings. They broke up into separate parties which went in different directions to meet later for the trip home.
Mr. Wells tossed his sketching kit into his canoe and looked a little hesitatingly at Nan. “I wonder if you’d care to go to the head of the pond,” he said. “A little way up a small stream that I know of it is very lovely.” Now was his chance to get a sketch of the girl who, in her big hat, short skirt, white jumper, with red handkerchief knotted around her throat, looked picturesque enough.
But when the opportunity was within her grasp Nan was shy. She turned to her mother. “Don’t you want me to read to you, mother?” she asked.
“Why, no, dear, not if you would like to go. I’m sure Mr. Wells will take good care of you and it isn’t far.”
“No, quite near,” Mr. Wells assured her, more eager because of the apparent reluctance. “It is just up there a little way. You could see the spot from here but for the foliage.”
Nan turned to Dr. Paul, who was waiting, too, for her decision. “What are you going to do?” she asked.
“Well, I haven’t quite made up my mind. Mary Lee, Miss Jo, Miss Daniella and Miss Glenn have gone off with Hartley and the Gordon boys, so if you go with Marc, I shall probably devote myself to the twins. No one ever lacks entertainment where Jack is.”
This decided Nan. Dr. Paul would see to it that the twins were not neglected, and brought face to face with the choice of going with the doctor instead of the artist she found she could not withstand the temptation of the latter’s invitation. She had not shown herself eager and that was a satisfaction. So she stepped into the canoe and they pushed off. The canoe moved up the pond and was presently lost to sight in the bending branches of green which hid the mouth of the little stream where the fishermen had found their trout.
Meanwhile the others had gone off in an opposite direction, to explore the further side of the pond and, if possible, to climb a giant rock upon whose top was the tall pine tree from which the eagle had flown. Eagle Rock they had dubbed this and found the climb to its top a difficult one, though equipped as they were, and with the help of the boys, the four girls managed to scale the height to find themselves overlooking farm lands in the valley beyond, and further away the Presidential range of the White Mountains towering above the lower peaks.
“It was worth coming for,” declared Daniella with glowing face, “though it was a hard climb.”