"We came to take pictures," she announced. "We want to see if the bridge suits us."
"Don't you believe her, Mr. O'Neil," said Natalie. "Dan told us you were working too hard, so Eliza insisted on taking you in hand. I'm here merely in the office of chaperon and common scold. You HAVE been overdoing. You're positively haggard."
Gray nodded. "He won't mind me. I hope you'll abuse him well. Go at him hammer and tongs."
Ignoring Murray's smiling assertion that he was the only man in camp who really suffered from idleness, the girls pulled him about and examined him critically, then fell to discussing him as if he were not present.
"He's worn to the bone," said Eliza.
"Did you ever see anything like his wrinkles? He looks like a dried apple," Natalie declared.
"Dan says he doesn't eat."
"Probably he's too busy to chew his food. We'll make him Fletcherize—"
"And eat soup. Then we'll mend his underclothes. I'll warrant he doesn't dress properly."
"How much sleep does he get?" Natalie queried of the physician.