“I’m supposed to be a little schoolgirl,” he said, “ridiculous as that may seem, and the teacher has commanded me to tell the story of the Battle of Marathon. This is the history class.
“The Ba-el of Marathon,” he began, in an absurd little girl’s voice, “the Ba-el of Marathon was a great ba-el. It happened in Greeth yearth and yearth ago. There were two sidths to the ba-el and they fo’t and fo’t and fo’t and ever tho many pe-pel wath killed and at lath the thide that had the moth men killed wath beaten an’ the other thide won, an’ that wath the end. I forget which wath the thide that won.”
A joyous laugh went up at this lucid and graphic account of the famous battle. But deeper and merrier was the laugh which mingled with it. The young people suddenly became aware that a stranger had joined their circle and was now leaning against a pine tree looking at the picnic party with an expression of intense amusement. He was a handsome man, rather past middle age, of medium height with a fine rugged face, bronzed with sun and wind, and quizzical, laughing, gray-blue eyes. He wore khaki trousers much the worse for wear. His rather large head with its iron-gray hair, slightly thin at the temples, was uncovered, and across the forehead was the red mark of a recent bruise or scar. He carried a rifle under one arm and a fishing rod under the other.
“I beg your pardon, young ladies,” he said. “I didn’t mean to intrude, but I was attracted by the appetizing fumes of your beefsteak and bacon. Not many visitors at Palm Beach are fond of Gypsy picnics like this. I was curious to see whom it could be.”
They knew, all of them, at once, that it was not a tramp who was speaking, in spite of his shabby old trousers and his collarless shirt.
Then Billie, looking at his face closely again, and the beautiful smile which now radiated it, rose rather shyly and said, somewhat to the surprise of her friends—
“Won’t you join us? We’ve brought lots of lunch, and I’m sure there is enough of Percy’s burgoo, or whatever it is, to feed a regiment.”
The stranger hesitated a moment, looking at the others.
“Do please,” echoed Nancy, always following the lead of Captain Billie.
“I hope you will,” added Percy, cordially, never behind in dispensing hospitality.