ouldn't it be great to catch sight of that
eagle?"

"An eagle?" repeated Agnes, in doubt. "Do you suppose there really is an
eagle so near to civilization?"

"You don't call Mrs. Lycurgus really civilized?" chuckled Neale. "And
the Billets and Bob Buckham are the nearest neighbors for some miles to
his eagleship, in all probability."

"I suppose it is lonely up here," admitted Ruth.

"This is a hilly country. There are plenty of wild spots back on the
high ground, within a very few miles of this spot, where eagles might
nest."

"An eagle's eyrie!" said Agnes, musingly. "And maybe eaglets in it."

"Like Mrs. Severn wears on her hat," said Dot, suddenly breaking in.

"What! Eaglets on her hat?" cried Agnes.

"Eaglets to trim hats with?" chuckled Neale. "That is a new style, for
fair."

"Oh, dear me," said Ruth, with a sigh. "The child means aigrets. Though
I am sorry if Mrs. Severn is cruel enough to follow such a fashion.
That's a different kind of bird, honey."

"Anyway, there will not be young eagles at this time of year, I guess,"
Neale added.

"How would we ever climb up to an eyrie?" Tess asked. "They are in very
inaccessible places."

"As inac--accessible," asked Dot, stumbling over the big word, "as Mrs.
MacCall's highest preserve shelf?"

"Quite," laughed Ruth.

The road through which they now drove was really "woodsy." The leaves
were changing from green to gold, for the sap was receding into the
boles and roots of the trees. The leaves seemed to be putting on their
bravest colors as though to flout Jack Frost.

Squirrels darted away, chattering and scolding, as the party advanced.
These little fellows seemed to suspect that the woods were to be raided
and some of the nuts, which they considered their own lawful plunder,
taken away.

The Corner House girls, with their boy friend, did indeed find a goodly
store of nuts. They camped in a pretty glade, where there was a spring,
and tethered the horses where they could crop some sweet clover. And
Neale built a real Gypsy fire, being careful that it should do no
damage; and three stout stakes were set up over the blaze, a pot hung
from their apex, and the tea made.

And the chestnuts! how they rained down when Neale climbed up the trees
and swung himself out upon the branches, shaking them vigorously. The
glossy brown nuts came out of their prickly nests in a hurry and were
scattered widely on the leaf-carpeted ground.

Sometimes they came do