The sun was beginning to set, but it would not really have been dark for some time, except that the western sky was filled with clouds that seemed to tell of a coming storm. So, really, it did appear as though night were at hand.
"I guess we'd better go," Ted said, with a look at the dark clouds.
"Come on, Hal. There's room for you, too, Mary, in the wagon."
"Can Nicknack pull us all?" Mary asked.
"I guess so. It's mostly down hill. Come on!"
The four children got into the goat-wagon, and if Nicknack minded the bigger load he did not show it, but trotted off rather fast. Perhaps he knew he was going home to his stable where he would have some sweet hay and oats to eat, and that was what made him so glad to hurry along.
The wagon was stopped near the Home long enough to let Hal get out, and a little later Mary was driven up to her gate. Then Ted and Jan, with the doll between them, drove on.
"Oh, Ted!" exclaimed his sister, "mother'll scold. We oughtn't to have stayed so late. It's past supper time!"
"We didn't mean to. Anyhow, I guess they'll give us something to eat.
Grandma baked cookies to-day and there'll be some left."
"I hope so," replied Jan with a sigh. "I'm hungry!"
They drove on in silence a little farther, and then, as they came to the top of a hill and could look down toward Star Island in the middle of Clover Lake, Ted suddenly called: