himself.

She didn't answer then, but later she whispered: "Because the Captain--I
didn't want him praising me that way!"

Noon found them fifteen miles from home with a bag of six snipe and ten
prairie chickens, and appetites that fairly clamored. Frank found an
ideal camping place in a grove of walnut trees beside a small creek.

"I camped here once two years ago and there's a fine spring somewhere
near. Come along, Katie, we'll go hunt it. Ernest, picket the
horses--there's oats under the back seat. And Sherm, if you'll just
start a fire for the coffee."

Marian and Alice spread the luncheon out on a long tablecloth laid over
the dust robes on the ground. Gertie and Chicken Little fed the little
grouse with some moistened bread crumbs, finding it difficult at first
to induce them to eat. But they would swallow, when the girls pried open
their tiny beaks and stuck a crumb inside. Captain Clarke showed them
how, and patiently helped them until each tiny craw was at least partly
filled.

Marian and Alice watched him furtively.

"He is gentle as a woman," Alice whispered, "and his face lights up
wonderfully when he smiles, though it is stern usually."

"Yes, I can see now why Jane is so fascinated. Do you know his smile is
very much like Sherm's? See--no, just wait a minute. Now--watch his
upper lip--his mouth twists crooked exactly like Sherm's. Chicken Little
spoke of his baby's picture having the same smile." Marian dropped her
eyes hastily as the Captain chanced to turn in their direction.

"I imagine lots of people have that kind of a smile only we never
noticed them," replied Alice.

"Of course, I didn't mean to suggest anything. Will you cut the lemon
cake?"

After the luncheon was eaten, the shady grove tempted them to linger on
with its woodsy coolness. The younger folk dragging the Captain, a
willing victim, along with them, went off on an exploring expedition
while the others stretched out luxuriously on the coarse grass that grew
rank along the slope.

It was four o'clock before they could tear themselves away for the
homeward ride.

"You'd better hurry," Frank called to the stragglers, "it will be almost
dark before we get home even if we don't stop to shoot."

They picked up a few quail on the divide soon after they started, but
their zest for the sport seemed to have waned. Chicken Little declined
to try any further.

"I know, it's the baby grouse," said Katy.

"Yes," said Captain Cla