“Are you hurt, dear?” cried Harriet, springing over to her companion.
“Hurt? I gueth I am. Don’t you thee, I’ve thkinned my nothe. Oh, I withh I were home!”
“No, you don’t. Think what a lot of fun you are having,” comforted Harriet. “There! You are all right now.”
“Am I all right?”
“Of course you are.”
“All right, if you thay tho,” nodded Tommy, gathering up her pack and moving away with Harriet Burrell’s arm about her. Miss Elting and the other girls had started for the clump of trees. Arriving, they quickly flung down their packs. The guardian began hunting for water. She found a stream of cold water just inside the clump of trees beyond the field, as she had anticipated. The greenness of the foliage about the spot had told her that water was near. In other parts of the valley the leaves were turning. There was a strong suggestion of Autumn in the air, which at night was crisp and bracing, though the days thus far on their long tramp, had been unusually warm for so late in the Fall.
It was Harriet’s duty to build the fire. She went about this task at once. There was some difficulty in finding wood that would burn. After searching she found some pieces of old fence rails. These were of pine, and as they were too long for a fire over which to cook food, Harriet got out her hatchet and began to chop them into smaller pieces. It was a hard task to chop through a rail, sharp though the hatchet was. However, within fifteen minutes, the girl had accomplished the task and the fire was burning.
“I am afraid I can’t promise a great variety or quantity of edibles for supper,” announced Miss Elting, “though what there is to eat will be appetizing.”
“If there is enough, it will answer,” Margery declared.
“Enough?” repeated Tommy wisely. “Buthter, you thurely ought to diet—a girl ath thtout ath you are.”