"Paper-chasing," said Jill. "Aren't they stupid, this hot afternoon?"
"But I hope they have not gone far?"
"I don't know. The last time I did it, I was the hare, and I climbed a wall, and fell through a greenhouse the other side, and I was ill for three weeks; the gardener said I might have killed myself."
This was hardly comforting. Miss Webb looked anxiously out of the window.
"If they do not come soon, we must go and look for them. I hope they have not gone outside the grounds!"
"Oh, they mayn't be back till bed-time," said Jill.
"You ought not to have let Bumps go," said Miss Webb sharply. "She is far too small. You ought to have looked after her better!"
Jill did not appear moved in the slightest. She ate her tea and wondered at Miss Webb's concern; but as time went on, and there was no sign of the hare or hound, she began to share Miss Webb's anxiety.
"I'll go and look for them."
Out she ran, and Annie was made to accompany her. They followed the paper down the drive out into the road and across two fields, then it went through a farm-yard up into a loft, down again, and out at a small back gate. The farmer's wife came out and said she had seen both the children, for Bumps had tumbled down in the yard and grazed her knees.