"Not only let him carry water for the elephant but gave him a ticket for doing it," the nearest one was saying to the other three. "Had it with him when he got back. I saw it myself. He lemme take it in my hand. A blue ticket."
"Right past the circus grounds, tents and all," from the second little boy as their car came in sight of the beflagged tent city. "I'll betcher they're gettin' ready for the parade right now!"
Four glittering, turbaned beings appeared around a tent, each leading a plumed and caparisoned horse to a place before a gilded and high-throned edifice. "Didn't I tell you they were?" bitterly. A band crashed.
The heads of St. Simeon's Sunday school, regardless of danger, craned out as one. The more venturesome left their seats.
St. Simeon's chartered cars rolled inexorably by. Heads came in. The venturesome returned to their places.
"What is there to a picnic anyhow?" from the third little boy. "Nothin' at all but what you eat."
Albert Eddie staggered under the weight of the basket when in time the car stopped on the track along the dusty road outside Mr. Denby's grove. But then one out of every two persons descending from the several cars was similarly staggering under the weight of a basket.
Sarah and Maud, with Emmy Lou led by either hand between them, followed Albert Eddie with their own. After which, St. Simeon's, having brought all baskets to a common center beneath a tree in the neighborhood of the ice-water barrel, went off and left them.
"I'm going with a little girl who asked me," Maud told Sarah. "We won't go too far or the mother of the little pigs will chase us."
"Albert Eddie, I told the ladies that you would get the wood for a fire so we can put the coffee on," said Sarah. "When you come back from that you can take the bucket and bring us the ice-water from the barrel for the lemonade."