Russ, Rose and the others played about the house and yard for a while, Russ putting some “improvements” as he called them, on his water wheel, and Rose helping Norah bake a cake.
Then Laddie and Violet, who had been playing with Mun Bun and Margy in the swing under the tree, came to the house asking:
“Can’t we go to the woods and have a picnic?”
“Oh, we couldn’t have a picnic without mother,” objected Rose.
“Just a little one,” begged Violet. “Couldn’t you give us a few cookies, or something like that, Norah? We could go off to the woods, near the place where we picked the wild flowers, and eat there.”
“Yes, you may do that,” Norah agreed, for she liked the children to have fun. “You had better go with them, though, Rose and Russ,” said the faithful cook.
“Oh, yes, we’ll go,” promised Rose.
A little later, with small boxes and baskets of a simple lunch, the six little Bunkers set off for the woods once more. They were laughing, singing, and shouting, having a fine time, and they had no idea that there would be trouble.
Russ found a place where a little spring bubbled up, and it was decided they would eat their lunch there when the time came, as, from past experience, Russ knew the children would be thirsty as soon as they had eaten. And nothing so spoils a picnic in the woods as not being able to get a drink of water when you need it.
Rose and Russ put the lunch away on top of a stump and then the smaller children began playing about under the trees. Rose had brought along a partly finished dress for one of her dolls, and she was sewing on this, while Russ cut a stick and began to make a whistle.