“I’ll kill them if I get sight of them!” screamed Ruth, with clenched hands, jumping up and down.
“Oh, if we only had that hunter’s gun!” added Joan.
“And shoot each other—no thank you!” declared Julie, in so matter-of-fact a tone that it did more to stop the howling than anything else. Even Mr. Gilroy felt like smiling, in spite of the troubles these innocent scouts had had thrust upon them.
“Verny, don’t you suppose those poor convicts have gone without food for so long that they had to take ours!” ventured Betty, kindly.
“Oh, oh! how can you pity them, Betty Lee!” cried Joan.
“Betty, if you don’t swear to avenge this outrage, I’ll spank you good and hard—so there!” threatened Julie, her eyes gleaming dangerously as she leaned towards poor Betty.
“I can’t swear, Julie, but I am sorry for two terribly wicked men who don’t know better than to hurt Mr. Gilroy and then ruin our lovely home. The food I s’pose they needed,” explained Betty, with more spirit than she had ever expressed in her life.
The scouts were so amazed at Betty’s self-defense that unconsciously they pardoned her charity towards the vagabonds.
“Besides, Verny, they couldn’t have carried the boxes very far, you know, when it took Hepsy and all of us to carry them in,” added Betty.
“And the furniture was awfully heavy, too,” said Ruth.