“There, there!” Natalie’s voice could be heard to murmur soothingly. “I won’t hurt you. Wait a minute now, and I’ll have it off you.”
“She talks as if it were a pussy cat,” whispered Alice.
There was a little squeal, a sort of grunt and then a hurried scurrying of feet over the boards.
“I fixed him!” exclaimed Natalie in triumph, as she came into the tent carrying her vase.
“However did you dare to it?” demanded Alice.
“Why, the raccoon couldn’t see me, so I just grabbed him by the tail in one hand, and took the vase in the other. Then I—well, I just pulled them apart.”
“Oh, dear!” laughed Marie. “Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” and she fell back on her cot in a paroxysm of laughter. “Oh, dear, girls! Hold me, some one!”
“What’s the matter now?” demanded Mabel.
“Oh, I just thought of the funniest thing!” and Marie redoubled her mirth.
“Be quiet!” commanded Mrs. Bonnell, and then she joined in the gale of laughter that now swept through the tent. “What is it, anyhow? Tell us and we’ll laugh with you.”