th a wagon for the trunks.
But the young people decided to walk. The Preston house was only two
miles away from the houseboat landing. Sam, the colored boy, who had
been Lillian's and Eleanor's original guide to the farm, had been
engaged to show them the way.

The houseboat party formed a gay procession. None of the four girls wore
hats. Lillian and Eleanor, who took some care of their complexions,
carried pink and blue parasols to match their linen gowns, but Madge and
Phil bared their heads to the sun, as did Harry Sears, Jack Bolling and
David.

Sam lugged a lunch basket, which Mrs. Preston had sent down to the
party; and David, who kept in the rear, carried a dress suit case that
had accidentally been left behind.

Most of the road ran past meadows and orchards, with few houses in
sight. The ripening fruits made the air heavy with their summer
sweetness. David was shy and silent, as usual, but the others were in
gay humor.

Beyond a broken-down rail fence Phil espied a tree laden with luscious
peaches. Farther on, past the orchard, she could just catch the outline
of a house.

"Let's get some fruit, Jack?" Phil suggested to Bolling, who was walking
with her. They both climbed over the fence.

"Wait a minute, everybody," Phil called. "Wouldn't you like to go up to
the old house back there to ask for some water. I am nearly dead, I am
so thirsty."

"Don't go in that thar place," Sam entreated, turning around suddenly,
his brown face ashen, "and don't eat them peaches. The house is a ha'nt
and them peaches is hoodooed."

Eleanor and Madge burst into peals of laughter. The other young people,
who were not Southerners, smiled and stared.

"What is a hoodoo, Sam?" Harry Sears, whose home was in Boston, inquired
teasingly.

Sam scratched his head. "I can't splain it," he announced. "But you'll
know a hoodoo all right if it gets hold of you. That young lady and
man'll sure have bad luck if they eat them peaches. Nobody'll touch 'em
around here."

"A hoodoo is a kind of wicked charm, like the evil eye, Harry," Madge
explained, her eyes twinkling. "All we Southerners believe in it, don't
we, Sam? Go and warn Miss Alden and Mr. Bolling, David. They must not
bring bad luck on themselves without knowing it." Madge had not meant to
order David Brewster to do what she wished; she merely requested him to
take her message, as she would any one of the other boys.

David looked stolidly ahead and made Madge no answer