"We'll give you one of the hampers," offered Mrs. Ford, but Mollie gasped in dismay.
"Oh, please don't," she begged. "Don't you see—there are only two of them to our three. And you want to give them half the lunch!"
They laughed at her, and Betty offered a solution.
"Far be it from us to rob you, Honey," she said soothingly. "We'll sit right here on this rock—"
"Oh, goodness! who cares where we sit as long as we get something," groaned Grace. "Mollie, I'm dying."
"Well as long as you die out there it's all right," retorted Mollie unfeelingly. Nevertheless, she handed the sufferer a ham sandwich and a hard boiled egg, which the latter came as near to grabbing as her good breeding would permit.
However, when they had finished the lunch, burned up what odds and ends remained, and had once more started on their way, they found that the shadow of unhappiness which the excitement of the race had almost banished, was returning again.
In front with Betty, Grace sighed so dolefully that the Little Captain looked at her inquiringly, an action which almost brought about a collision with a tree by the wayside.
"Betty, what are you doing?"
"Trying to kill us," replied Betty serenely. "And if you give any more sighs like that, I'll do it."