"And without your lunch?" cried Mrs. MacCall.
Ruth had no thought for lunch, and Luke denied all desire for the midday meal. "Come on!" he prophesied boldly, "we'll find those kids before we eat."
"Oh!" sighed Agnes, "I wish Neale O'Neil had not gone fishing. Then he could have chased around in the automobile and found those naughty children in a hurry."
"He would not know where to look for them any more than we do," her sister said. "All ready, Luke."
They set off briskly for the other side of town. Luke said:
"Wish I knew how to run an auto myself. That's going to be my very next addition to the sum of my knowledge. I could have taken you out in your car myself."
"Not without a license in this county," said Ruth. "And we'll do very well. I hope nothing has happened to these children."
"Of course nothing has," he said comfortingly. "That is, nothing that a little soap and water and a spanking won't cure."
"No. Dot has never been punished in that way."
"But Sammy has—oft and again," chuckled Luke. "And of course he is to blame for this escapade."