"Oh, you Dotty Rose!" cried Jack Norris, as he caught Dotty's dancing black eyes, "I might have known you were at the head of this!"
"No more than Dolly Fayre," cried Dotty, "and all the rest of us. Are you hungry, boys?"
"Are we hungry? We should smile! We've been hungry all the while!" came in chorus from the famished tramps.
"Would you care to come to lunch with us?" said Dolly, her blue eyes dancing as she put the question.
"Would we care to!" and Jack grinned at her. "We're hungry enough to eat you girls; but, alas! kind ladies, we're obliged to regret your invitation as we're not in proper society garb."
Suddenly the boys became aware of their flannel shirts and old hats and general fishermanlike appearance.
"We'll forgive that for once," cried Dotty; "we'll pretend we're a rescue party and you're a lot of starving soldiers, so we won't mind your tattered uniforms."
"Rescue party!" cried Bob; "I like that! Aren't you the sly ones who raided our commissariat department? Own up, now!"
"What makes you think so?" And Edith Holmes looked the picture of injured innocence.
"Oh, yes! 'What makes us think so!' What makes us think that's our coffee boiling in our coffee pot! Fair ladies, we invite you to lunch with us, on our coffee and our bacon and eggs. And if you'll wait a few minutes, we'll cook our trout for you."