had passed. Then back to the wall he
sprang, where he chattered as if scolding the little girls who had
disturbed his solitude. It may be that, instead, he was talking to
himself, and telling what charming little girls they were.

A long way from the hotel they passed Jack Tiverton, with a number of
other boys who were staying at a hotel a few miles distant from the
Cleverton.

They were all somewhat larger than Jack, and he thought it fine to be
with them.

He had met them at a ball game three weeks before, and he had been very
busy holding their acquaintance ever since.

"We're going to catch the echo, and keep it, too!" shouted Jack.

"It's mocking you now," said Dorothy, with a laugh.

"I know it," said Jack, "but we'll catch it, and fasten it so it can't
get away."

"_How_ will you fasten an echo?" Nancy asked, turning, and looking over
her shoulder as the little phaeton sped past.

"Trust us to find a way!" cried Jack, and the others laughed as if they
already knew exactly how to do it.

They left the road, and, vaulting over the wall, crossed the open
field, singing a gay, rollicking song as they went.

"They just _say_ they're going hunting for the echo," said Dorothy, "and
they say it for fun, but I wonder where they are going, and what they
truly are going to do."

The groom, riding nearer, touched his hat.

"Please, Miss Dorothy, I heard the lads saying that there's an old house
over near that mountain, where a hermit lived years ago, and they're off
to find it if they can."

"Then why didn't they say so, instead of telling such a tale about
catching the echo?" Dorothy asked.

"They were saying that they wanted to find the hut, and hunt in it, and
around it ter find things the old fellow may have hidden. They feared
you or Miss Nancy might tell some other lad. They're wanting it all to
themselves."

Having told this bit of information, the groom allowed the carriage to
pass him, and once more rode behind it.

The two little girls talked of the long tramp that the boys would have
before they would find the hermit's hut.

"And perhaps they won't find it at all, after all their hunting," said
Nancy.

"Well, I hope they will," said Dorothy, "because it's so horrid to hunt
and hunt, for nothing."

"Oh, look!" she cried a moment later. "See the lovely mosses! Let's take
some back to mamma and Aunt Charlotte."

They were, indeed, beautiful. There was green moss that looked like
velvet, an