"There's no boy at Uncle William's;" said Bert. "Of course Nan will have Dorothy, but I'll have to look around for a chum, I suppose."
"Oh, you'll find lots of boys at the beach," said Harry. "And to think of the fun at the ocean! Mother says we will go to the shore next summer."
"I wish you were going with us," said Bert politely.
"Maybe you will come down for a day while we are there," suggested Nan. "Aunt Emily isn't just exactly your aunt, because she's mamma's sister, and it's papa who is Uncle Daniel's brother. But the Minturns, Aunt Emily's folks, you know, have been up here and are all like real cousins."
"We're going away!" exclaimed Freddie, joining the others just then. "Mamma says I can stick my toes in the water till the crabs bite me, but I'm going to have a fishhook and catch them first."
"Are you going to take Snoop?" Harry asked his little cousin.
"Yep," replied the youngster. "He knows how to go on trains now."
"Dorothy has a pair of donkeys," Nan told them, "and a cart we can go riding in every day."
"I'll be the driver," announced Freddie. "And I suppose you'll have a sailboat, Bert!" said Harry.
"Not in the ocean," said nervous little Flossie, who had been listening all the time and never said a word until she thought there was some danger coming.