"But we'll manage
that all right. My friends and I will play waiters, and sit at
second table after the dishes have been washed."
"You won't have to," replied the cattle owner. "I have a folding
table and dishes in my wagon, and I'll send Bill Hopple after
'em."
So the tables were set under the shade of the trees, not far from
the campfire. The Sharps man came up, and was seated with Jim
and Bill. Everything being now cooked, the feast began.
"I've never had anything as wonderful as this happen to me before,"
cried Belle Meade, as she seated herself and looked over the two
tables with sparkling eyes. "Girls, we didn't look forward to
such a treat as this when we left Gridley this morning."
"You intended to look in on us, didn't you?" inquired Darry.
"Yes; but we brought our own luncheons," said Laura. "We didn't
expect you to do anything for us---unless you boys had happened
to catch a mess of fish."
"We were planning to go fishing this morning," Tom Reade explained,
"although we do not know whether the fishing near here amounts
to much. May I pass you some of this sirloin, Miss Marshall?"
Gay spirits ruled, as they usually do and always should when young
people are together out in the open, far from studies or from
any of the other cares of life.
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