“My bonny is over the ocean,” began Lilian, then with a sober look added, “They’ll all be over soon enough!”
Betty did not mind the teasing, but blew a kiss in fun out to the waves, and turned with the rest where the little river joined the lake. They picked their way along over wet sand and mud in places, as at times they were forced to ascend the bank.
“Here’s where the doughty Cathalina and Hilary rescued the sinking Isabel,” said Eloise, as they passed the famous spot. “More than once have I had it pointed out to me. In after years, when Isabel is famous for,—what are you going to be famous for, Isabel?”
“Debating in Congress,” replied Isabel without hesitation.
“All right,—in after years when the famous Senator Isabel Hunt startles the country with her eloquence, Greycliff will put a tablet here,——”
“And on it will be written,” continued Betty in grandiloquent style, “‘Saved for Greycliff and her country’!”
“Sh-sh!” whispered Isabel. “I saw something fly up stream, and I heard a spotted sandpiper call.”
The girls stopped to listen. The lyre-like notes of a red-winged blackbird came first to their ears, then a meadow lark sang from the fields behind Greycliff. A few grackles flew down to the river’s edge and walked in dignified fashion near the shallows.
“O, look!” exclaimed Cathalina, pointing to a little hollow ahead of them. “We shall find some anemones and bloodroot there I’m sure. Don’t you remember last year they were there, and just beyond is that lovely violet patch, if they are out yet.”
“Wait a minute, Cathalina,” said Hilary in a low tone, “what is that scratching away in those leaves? Could it be the ground robins?”