from bondage," laughed Gloriana, browning the
sugar for a caramel pudding, while Tabitha carefully concocted her best
layer cake. So busy were they that the morning flew by as on wings,
and before either was aware of the hour, a shrill blast of a whistle
proclaimed the approach of a locomotive.

"The train!" gasped Tabitha.

"And we haven't tidied the children up or changed our own dresses,"
mourned Gloriana.

"I intended to meet Miss Davis at the station, to be sure she came here
for dinner," wailed the other.

"It's too late now to do that, but we can make the youngsters a little
more presentable before the 'bus comes up from the depot," suggested
the younger girl.

"They certainly will need cleaning up by this time, I'll admit. Call
them, will you, please?"

Gloriana stepped to the door and yodelled shrilly, but there was no
answering trill, save the echo thrown back by the mountain peaks.

"Decamped again!" sighed Tabitha impatiently. "Did you ever see a
bunch of children who could do the disappearing act as quickly or as
completely as the tribe of McKittrick? If you will watch these
potatoes, I will go hunting. They were here only a few seconds ago,
seems to me."

Briskly she circled the house. Not a chick nor a child was anywhere in
evidence. Down to the boulder playhouse, up the trail to the summit,
but nowhere were the children to be found. Tabitha became alarmed.
What mischief had Billiard led them into now? He had been perfectly
angelic for twenty-four hours. It was time for another outbreak.

Shading her eyes with her hand, she anxiously surveyed the surrounding
hillsides, the gray flat below, the dingy station house, and presently
her sharp eyes espied a procession of lagging figures straggling down
the steps from the depot platform.

"Can it be--" she began. "Yes, I do believe it is! Horrors! Whatever
will Miss Davis say when she sees that bunch of dirty ragamuffins!
One, two, three, four--Billiard is lugging Janie pickaback, and Mercy
and Toady have made a chair for Rosslyn. Yes, that is my family!"

She turned to go back to the house, but another thought had suddenly
occurred to her. "Miss Davis! She's not with them. Can it be she
didn't come? Was Gloriana right after all? She surely would not let
the children plod home in the heat while she rode in the 'bus. No,
there are only eight people in that bunch and they are all children.
Oh, dear, suppose Glory's dream has come