“Well, what do you know about that?” wondered the captain. “Tell us how you did it?”
“A little bird told me,” chuckled Jane. The girls burst into a merry peal of laughter.
CHAPTER XVI—A TREAT THAT WAS NOT A TREAT
“Never mind. We won’t be as mean as you are,” declared Sam, springing up. “We will return good for evil.”
“Did you see the three bulls?” interrupted Jane. “I knew you would cross that orchard and I was afraid you’d meet them.”
“We did,” answered Miss Elting.
“What’s that?” The captain was interested instantly. “You say you met the bulls?”
“Yes. I might as well tell you,” explained Miss Elting. “You think we weren’t able to keep the pace we set for ourselves. I don’t want my girls to rest under that imputation, for I believe that they can completely outdistance you boys. We did meet the three bulls. Yes, they treed us. We were all up in apple trees when you boys passed singing ‘Forty-nine Blue Bottles.’”
Some one laughed. The captain frowned at the boy who had done so.
“You let us pass, and never called us to come to your assistance?” he demanded.