Leaving Miss Gordon and Eileen behind, the other Brownies rode back to the Hooper orchard.
“We will have to pick fast now,” Connie urged her companions. “We’ve lost so much time.”
“But our mothers have been working while we were away,” declared Sunny cheerfully. “That will help.”
Veve picked a full bucket of cherries and took it to the shed for weighing. While she was there Connie came in with her brimming pail.
“Oh, there’s that old trunk!” Veve exclaimed as her gaze fell upon it. “I was going to look through it and forgot!”
“Why don’t we do it now?” proposed Connie. “That is, if Mr. Hooper doesn’t mind.”
“I don’t,” the orchard owner replied. “Not if you don’t take too long at the job. I want to get those cherries picked.”
“It won’t take us hardly a jiffy,” Veve declared. “Not with two of us to work.”
The trunk was an old-fashioned affair with a rounding top. An old rug had been thrown over the cover to protect it from dust.
Veve pulled off the covering and unfastened the rusty clasps which held down the lid. Cap, deeply interested, trotted over to watch.