“That would be lovely!” exclaimed Phoebe.
“Oh, yes,” said Jean, “and couldn’t we build a fire and have something the way we do at a beach party?”
“A fire would be a good idea, if it is in a safe place, but if you are going to see birds, you don’t want to carry much. All I have will go into my pocket. Have any of you field glasses, or even opera glasses?”
Nobody had, so far as these girls knew. “And, Miss Haynes, don’t you bother about any lunch,” said Jean. “If you let us go with you, we’ll take enough sandwiches for all of us,—please.”
“Very well. That is very nice of you. I am glad that we are having this warmer spell, but bundle up just the same, for there will be some breeze, at least near the lake. Do you ever have any snow in April?”
“Sometimes, but it usually does not stay so long. You speak as if you didn’t want any. Don’t you like winter fun any more?”
“I’m not too old yet, Phoebe,” laughed Miss Haynes, “but I want to get out as easily as possible during the spring migration of birds,—so I want a pleasant April and May.”
“We’ll do our best to get it for you, Miss Haynes,” declared Nan, rising with Jean, to go. You didn’t want a teacher to get tired of you, of course, and Miss Haynes was busy. Funny, she didn’t like tests, either, because you had to grade papers. Still, how would she find out who knew anything?
The girls hurried home to call up the rest of the S. P.’s and notify them of the hike. Leigh said that her father had a field glass. She would bring that. Mrs. French hunted up an old opera glass for Molly. Kinds of sandwiches were distributed according to the variety each was in the habit of making most successfully. Chocolate bars were bought, to be stowed in pockets.
Without something hot it would be a funny sort of a beach party, they thought. Accordingly local shops sold a few tin cups or those equally light. The girls would have cocoa.