“Maybe! That would be great!” cried Ted.
After the lunch, the little picnic party walked about in the woods, had a drink at a cool spring and then started to row back toward home with the fish they had caught. Hal was allowed to pull the oars part of the way. Ted tried it, but he was not as strong in his arms as was the lame boy, who was older than Ted and who showed that he did know something about handling a boat.
Some of the fish were given to Hal to have cooked at the Home, the superintendent promising that this would be done, and the rest were taken to Cherry Farm.
“Let’s go over and see how fast the cherries are getting ripe,” said Ted to Janet one day, about a week after the fishing party. “We can tell grandpa then, and he can get ready to sell ’em so he won’t lose his farm.”
“Is grandpa really going to lose the farm?” asked Janet of her mother.
“Well, we’re not sure yet,” was the answer. “He is working hard to get money to pay what he owes, and we are all helping him. But don’t you little tots worry about that.”
“Oh, we want to help, too!” declared Ted. “We’re going to help bring in the cherries when they’re ripe enough to sell. That’s where we’re going now—to look at them.”
“Well, be careful,” cautioned his mother. “Are you going in the goat wagon?”
“Yes. It’s such fun driving Nicknack,” replied Jan. “I can make him go as good as Ted, and even Trouble holds the reins sometimes.”
“Yes, he is a good goat,” said Mother Martin. “Well, drive along with you, if you’re going, but don’t eat any green cherries.”