“You’d get used to it.”
“Perhaps. Very well, if I call upon you for a recommendation I shall expect you to forward it promptly.”
“I’ll certainly do it,” responded the doctor heartily. “Such ability oughtn’t to be wasted. That is a very neat piece of work. If the wound was well washed I don’t think you will have any trouble with it, Hartley, for it was evidently a clean cut. We’ll stop at our place on the way home and I’ll give you something to ease it a little.” The finger was bound up again and the bandage neatly sewed on, Jo’s needle and thread again being called for, while every one agreed that such a little housewife as hers should be a necessary part of every camping outfit.
“That’ll be work for the next rainy day,” said Miss Helen.
“Then we must all make a journey to the country store for materials,” said Mary Lee.
“Good! It’ll be a fine excuse for going,” said Daniella. “We can all make a shopping trip to-morrow if nothing happens.”
Meanwhile Nan and her cavalier were ensconced in the quietest of nooks not far away. Here the stream narrowed so one could touch the trunks of the trees arching overhead. Wild little creatures rustled among the leaves on the ground, bounding away as the canoe softly crept up the small waterway. The birds, so wild as to have little fear, swung in the branches above or, with slanting wing, skimmed the surface of the water. One could see in the clear stream a wary fish suddenly darting away, and once a wild goose, paddling up-stream, arose with a cry and plunged into the deep forest. Except for the sounds of the woodland creatures the place was so still one could hear the fall of a leaf on the ripples below.
“Are you going to sketch?” asked Nan as her companion laid his box on the grass.
“If you will sit for me.”
“I? With all this loveliness about us?”