"Yes, for our lunch. At first we weren't going to take anything but the
hen, but Chips said he liked ham and eggs better'n anything, so we decided
to take it."

Another pause; then Mr. Ford said: "You both look tired, haven't you had
enough of it? I'm going home now."

"No, no," asserted the boys.

"And have you thought of your mothers, whom you didn't even kiss good-by?"

Johnnie stood on one leg and twisted the other foot around it, after his
manner when troubled.

"I thought you knew, Johnnie, that nothing ever turns out right when you
undertake it without first consulting mother."

"I wish now I'd kissed mine good-by," observed Friday thoughtfully.

"Come, we'll go back together," said Mr. Ford quietly, moving off as he
spoke, "and we will see what Mrs. Wood and mother have to say on the
subject."

Johnnie and Chips followed slowly. "Father," said the former emphatically,
"I can't be happy without being wrecked, and I do hope mother won't
object."

His father made no reply to this, and three quarters of an hour afterward
the children jumped out of the buggy into their mothers' arms, and as they
still clung to their lunch, the ham and the hen came in for a share of the
embracing, which the hen objected to seriously, never having been hugged
before this eventful day.

"Never mind, mother," said Johnnie patronizingly, "father'll tell you all
about it while I go and put Speckle in a safe place." So the boys went, and
Mr. Ford seated himself in an armchair, and related the events of the
afternoon to the ladies, adding some advice as to the manner of making the
boys see the folly of their undertaking.

Mrs. Wood and Chips took tea at the Fords' that evening, and the boys, once
delivered from the necessity of keeping their secret, rattled on
incessantly of their plans; talked so much and so fast, in fact, that their
parents were not obliged to say anything, which was a great convenience, as
they had nothing they wished to say just then. It had been a mild first of
April, and after supper the little company sat out on the piazza for a
time.

"As Johnnie and Chips will be obliged to spend so many nights out of doors
on their way to Lake Michigan, it will be an excellent plan to begin
immediately," said Mr. Ford. "You'll like to spend the night out here, of
course, boys. To be sure, it will be a good deal more comfortable than the
road, still you can judge by it how such a life will suit you."

Johnnie looked