Panting and laughing, she came to a standstill while the girls rushed past her.
"Come back here!" she cried, her voice choked with laughter. "There's no use of our being as silly as the sheep. Mrs. Irving will think we have deserted her."
So reluctantly the girls abandoned the chase and started back to rejoin their much relieved but slightly dazed chaperon.
"Now if we had only done that an hour ago," said Mollie, as they climbed back into the machines determined to make up for lost time, "we would have been that much nearer the lodge and--something to eat."
"Goodness, it will be almost dark when we get there now," wailed Grace, as she slipped into the seat beside Betty. "And we haven't had anything to eat since breakfast."
"What with highway robbers and sheep," laughed Betty, as she started the engine, "we shall be lucky if we get there at all."
"Oh, Betty, if you love me don't mention that awful highwayman again," begged Grace, looking uneasily into the shadows of the wood. "I don't want to have any more thrills like that as long as I live."
"Let's hope we won't," said Betty fervently.
"It's a pity there is no telephone along this road--we could notify the folks at Deepdale," remarked Mollie.
"Humph, if we did that they might get so scared that they'd send for us to come home," came from Amy.