"It was just to get back alive and, well, to God's country and you girls--to sit for hours, days if we could, where we could look at you and listen to you and not do a thing but just be happy. I wonder if you can understand that?"
"Of course, we can, Will!" cried Betty, impulsively reaching over and laying a hand on the boy's arm. "You have earned the right to sit and be amused, and we'll do it till you cry aloud for mercy. And you needn't tell us a single word about yourselves until you get good and ready."
"You're a brick, Betty," said Will warmly, laying his hand over her little one. "I might have known we could count on you."
"By the way," Roy broke in suddenly, his eye on the basket of eatables that the girls had prepared for their adventure, "what's in that hamper, anyway? If it's anything to eat, let's have it."
Betty pulled the basket over to her, lifted the cover and passed it over to the ravenous one.
"Eat while there is anything left," she commanded, adding with a chuckle: "Our adventure seems to be over for to-day, at least."
"Adventure?" repeated Frank inquiringly, as he reached for a sandwich.
"Yes," said Mollie, adding with a sigh: "And you boys had to come along just in time to spoil it all."