."

"Stop!" commanded Mollie. "We are a walking club, not a carriage or auto
club. We'll walk."

"Then let's put our principles into practice and start now," proposed
Grace. "We'll have a good incentive in the lunch at the end of this
tramp. Come on!"

There was nothing to do but retrace their steps. True, they might have
stopped at some wayside restaurant, but such places were not frequent,
and such as there were did not seem very inviting. And Aunt Sallie had
certainly put up a most delectable lunch.

The girls reached the spot where they had stopped for a rest, much sooner
than they had deemed it possible. Perhaps they walked faster than usual.
And, as they came in sight of the quiet little grassy spot, Mollie
exclaimed:

"Oh, girls, I see it. Just where I so stupidly left it; near that big
rock. Hurry before someone gets there ahead of us!"

They broke into a run, but a moment later Grace cried:

"Too late! That tramp has it!"

The girls stopped in dismay, as they saw a rather raggedly-dressed man
slink out from the shadow of a tree and pick up the lunch valise. He
stood regarding it curiously.

"Oh, dear!" cried Grace. "And I was so hungry!"

Betty strode forward. There was a look of determination on her face.
She spoke:

"Girls, I'm not going to let that tramp take our lovely lunch. Come on,
and I'll make him give it back!"

"Betty!" cried Amy. "You'd never dare!"

"I wouldn't? Watch me!"

The man was still standing there, looking at the valise as if in doubt
whether or not to open it. Betty with a glance at her chums walked on.
They followed.

"That--that's ours, if you please," said Betty. Her voice was weaker than
she had thought it would be, and quite wobbly, too. Her knees, she
confessed later, were in the same state. But she presented a brave front.
"That--that's our lunch," she added, swallowing a lump in her throat.

The man--he certainly looked like a tramp, as far as his clothes were
concerned, but his face was clean--turned toward the girls with a smile.

"Your lunch!" he exclaimed, and his voice was not unmusical, "how
fortunate!"

He did not say whether it was fortunate for them--or himself.

"We--we forgot it. We left it here," explained Mollie. "That is, I
left it here."

"That is--unfortunate," said the man. "It seems--it seems to be a fairly
substantial lunch," and he moved the bag up and down.

"It ought to be--for four of us," breathed Amy.

"Allow me," spoke the ma