on the truck a basket carefully
packed with a large bottle of fresh milk, a good provision of bread
and butter, a fine cut of home-made cake, and three splendid apple
turnovers. Could anything be nicer? The sun was shining, as it was right
he should shine on so happy a little party, as they made their way up
the sloping field, through a little white gate opening on to a narrow
path skirting the foot of the hill, where the bracken grew in wild
luxuriance, and the tall trees overhead made a pleasant shade down to
the little beck, whose chatter could be faintly heard. And so peaceful
and sheltered was the place, that, as the children passed along,
bright-eyed rabbits stopped to peep at them ere they scudded away, and
the birds hopped fearlessly across the path, nay, the squirrels even,
sitting comfortably among the branches, glanced down at the three little
figures without disturbing themselves, and an old owl blinked at them
patronisingly from his hole in an ancient tree-trunk. And by and by as
the path grew more rugged, Polly was deputed to carry the basket, for
fear of accidents, for Cissy pulling in front and Ted pushing and
guiding behind, found it as much as they could do to get the truck
along. How they meant to bring it back when loaded with branches I don't
know, and as things turned out, the question did not arise. The truck
and the basket and the children reached their destination safely; they
chose a nice little grassy corner under a tree very near the entrance
to the big wood, and after a _very_ short interval of rest from the
fatigues of their journey, it was suggested by one and agreed to by all
that even if it were rather too early for real luncheon or dinner time,
there was no reason why, if they felt hungry, they should not unpack the
basket and eat! No sooner said than done.

"We shall work at gathering wood all the better after we've had some
refreshment," observed Ted sagely, and the little girls were quite of
his opinion. And the rabbits and the owls and the squirrels must, I
think, have been much amused at the quaint little party, the spice cake
and apple-turnover collation that took place under the old tree, and at
the merry words and ringing laughter that echoed through the forest.

An hour or so later, the children's mother, with an after-thought of
possible risk to them from the damp ground, made her way along the path
and soon discovered the little group. She had brought with her a large
waterp