Archie reined up at the sight of the group around the bars.
“Hello, you fellows!” he called. “Thought you were off for all day. Get your pails filled so soon? What! no berries!”
The children glanced shamefacedly at each other.
“Cricket fell in the brook,” began one.
“And we lost our way,” said another.
“And we ate our dinner, and lost our supper,” said a third.
“And we saw a big, black snake chewing up a little bird—”
“And we were all afraid and ran,” confessed Cricket.
“Not afraid!” cried Phil, valiantly. “The girls ran, Arch, and we fellows had to run after them to tell them there wasn’t any danger. But we lost all our supper, running,” he added hastily, to prevent contradiction to his first statement.
“And then—well,” finished Eunice, in a burst of honesty, “we thought it was supper-time, Archie; we really did, and Thomas says it’s only ten o’clock in the morning!”