"Tell them I 'll be out after I 've put the bread to rise and cleared up; but be sure and tell them not to do anything till I come."
"Yes," cried Hazel, joyfully, skipping through the woodshed and encountering Chi with a bag of seed-beans.
"Where you goin', Lady-bird?" (This was Chi's name for her from the first day.) "Seems to me you 're gettin' over the ground pretty fast."
"The Buds" (for so Hazel had nicknamed the children) "are going to have a meeting somewhere of the N.B.B.O.O. Society, and I'm to be initiated, Chi. What does that mean?"
"Initiated, hey? Into a secret society? Well, that depends.--Sometimes it means being tossed sky-high in a blanket, and then again you 're dropped lower than the bottomless pit; and you can't most always tell beforehand which way you 're goin'."
Hazel's face fairly lost the rich color she had gained in the past month. This was more than she had bargained for.
"Oh, Chi! They would n't do such things to me!" she exclaimed in dismay.
"Well, no--I don't know as they 'd carry it that far; but those children mean mischief every time."
"But they would n't hurt me, Chi. They would n't be as mean as that; besides, Rose wouldn't let them."
"Well, I don't know as she would. But children are children, and Rose ain't grown any wings yet."