“I mean what I say. She’s got a hired girl, hasn’t she?”

“Do you mean the maids? The servants?”

“No, I don’ mean no servants. I mean hired girls.”

“Well, yes, I suppose she has.”

“They have four servants—hired girls, I mean,” drawled Bob.

“Four, four? What’s yer ma do herself?”

“Oh, she’s busy all the time, too busy, my father thinks,” laughed Jock.

“Four hired girls! I swan, if that don’ beat all creation! What did ye want to come down here for then, I’d like to know? Eatin’ outdoors and sleepin’ on a cot when ye don’ have to; that beats me! Ye city folks must be a queer lot.”

“That’s just what we’re here for, Ethan. We came on purpose to get a taste of outdoor life.”