"Get ready!" he called again to Tavia, who now seemed to regard the whole thing as a joke, and was smiling broadly.
"Don't move a step!" called Alice, while Miss Ellis looked on helplessly.
"Now, that settles it," cried out the squire, red with anger. "I'll take you, too. Come right along here!"
Alice shot a meaning look at Miss Ellis and stepped out.
"Come, Tavia," she said, "the more the merrier. Girls we will be back in time for the picnic," and, taking the "cue" from Alice, Tavia also stepped out, and with her, marched off behind the squire.
CHAPTER XIII
A QUEER PICNIC
And that was to be picnic day!
A queer holiday, indeed, with two girls taken from the classroom—arrested!
Yes, that was what it amounted to, in spite of the jolly way Tavia and Alice trooped off, making "faces" and doing fancy "steps" back of the squire.