A third search was no more successful than the 167previous ones had been. They were obliged to send the boys on without the bread.
Both Chicken Little and Gertie mourned, for they had combined forces in this baking and were immensely proud of their effort.
“We never can get it so nice again–I just know!”
Mrs. Morton had been studying. “You don’t suppose the boys could have meddled with it, do you?”
Katy looked up with a gleam in her eye. “They were laughing about something fit to kill just before supper and they wouldn’t tell what it was.”
“But why–I don’t see.” Mrs. Morton was puzzled.
“To tease the girls, possibly. But I don’t see how they could make away with four big loaves without being noticed.”
“If Ernest Morton took that bread, I’ll never forgive him as long as I live!” Chicken Little’s jaw set ominously. “You just watch me get even.”
“Come now, Chicken Little, we’re merely guessing the boys took it. Annie may have put it away in a new place, forgetting that you would want it to-night,” her father tried to pacify her.
Gertie didn’t say much, but it was plain that she sympathized with Jane. An hour later the three girls went out to the road to watch for the boys’ return. The lads were evidently taking their time. 168Nine o’clock came–half-past nine–still no boys! Mrs. Morton came out and sent the girls in to bed. They were just dropping off to sleep when the lads drove up.