“By jinks! I s’pose that’s so. But I’ll drive around to old man Higgins and tell him yer camping there—jest ter see what he’ll say.”
Neale told Mrs. Heard this, and the chaperone decided to send a note to the owner of the place, requesting permission to remain at the abandoned farm and offering to pay for the accommodation if the owner so desired.
The party was quite settled in the camping place by this time.
“We really are Gypsies,” Mrs. Heard said. “And I never in my life saw children so delighted as these of ours are at the present time. Goodness! they will never want to live properly again.”
It was not alone the little folks who fully enjoyed the situation. Ruth found a big, clean galvanized iron pail and proceeded to wash all the clothes that did not need starch and a hot iron. She had filled a long line before Neale returned from Hickton.
After the noon meal Neale went to work on the stolen car. He made an important discovery in a very short time. There was absolutely nothing the matter with Mr. Collinger’s car, though there was no gasoline in the tank!
“I wonder if those fellows found it out before they abandoned it here?” Mrs. Heard queried.
“Well, if they went away just to get some gas for it, they’ve been gone a long time,” giggled Agnes. “But Neale might have saved himself the walk to Hickton if he’d found this out last night.”
“Oh, yes; if the rabbit hadn’t stopped to take a nap he’d have won the race over Mr. Tortoise,” retorted Neale. “We know all about those might-have-beens.”
“But—really—I wonder,” said the chaperone slowly.