"Sick of your bargain?" asked Mr. Black.
The four girls shook their heads emphatically.
"Hard work?"
Four heads bobbed up and down.
"Well," said Mr. Black, encouragingly, "you've made considerable headway today."
"Where are you putting the weeds?" asked the president of the Village Improvement Society.
"On the back porch in a piano box," said Bettie. "We had a big pile of them last night, but they shrank like everything before morning. If they do that every time, it won't be necessary for Mabel to jump on them to press them down."
"Let me know when you have a wagon load," said Mr. Black. "I'll have them hauled away for you."
For the rest of the week the girls worked early and late. They began almost at daylight, and the mosquitoes found them still digging at dusk.
By Thursday night, only scattered patches of weeds remained. The little diggers could hardly tear themselves away when they could no longer find the weeds because of the gathering darkness. Now that the task was so nearly completed it seemed such a waste of time to eat and sleep.