"Don't go too far," Mrs. Ford called after them, and two bare gleaming arms waved back at her.
The hours that followed were just one long delight, and the girls looked surprised and a little abused when Mrs. Ford reluctantly called them in.
"Why, it can't be more than eleven," protested Grace.
"And we haven't seen the water for, oh, ages," added Mollie.
"Please, can't we have half an hour more?" Amy added.
Mrs. Ford looked smilingly from one to the other and then at Betty.
"Well, haven't you any petition to make?" she asked of the latter.
"I was thinking," said Betty squinting up at the sun, "that Grace was wrong when she said it wasn't more than eleven. It seems to me to be after twelve."
"It is," said Mrs. Ford firmly. "Quarter past."
"Well, let's go!" cried Betty, starting toward the bluff. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starving to death."