“We didn’t have time to signal,” Veve insisted. “Honest!”
“That’s so,” added Connie earnestly. “Until the last minute, we didn’t think the crazy quilt was in the camp. Then we finally saw it inside a tent.”
“Juan was standing right beside us,” Eileen explained. “If we had signaled, he would have thought it strange.”
“I think the girls did very well,” Mrs. Webber ended the discussion. “Matters have been handled perfectly—much better perhaps than if we all had gone to the camp.”
Taking the quilt and the gifts with them, the Brownies returned to the orchard. By this time it was too late to do any more picking.
In fact, as they gathered up their belongings to leave, Mr. Hooper told them that they would not need to come the following day, which was Saturday.
“I expect the Mexican crew to move in here early tomorrow,” he explained. “They should finish up at Wingate’s place long before lunch and then pick my orchard. Otherwise, I never could save my fruit. It has been ripening so fast that the cannery soon will start rejecting.”
“Will you lose any of the fruit?” Veve asked the orchard owner.
“Not if the Mexicans move in here on schedule tomorrow,” Mr. Hooper replied. He glanced thoughtfully at the sky. “The only thing that worries me is the weather. If it should rain—”
“Why, the sun is shining,” Eileen observed. “It doesn’t look a bit like rain.”