her place, and Frank Morton was to take them out to Duck Creek
some three miles away and call for them again after office hours in the
afternoon. The children were wild with excitement. Alice had fried
chicken before breakfast, and there had been such hunting for bags and
baskets that Frank said if they filled half of them, the horses wouldn't
be able to drag the crowd and their plunder home.

The old carriage fairly bristled with heads and waving arms as they
drove off. Chicken Little sat squeezed in with Katy, Sherm and Carol on
the back seat uncomfortable but happy. Even timid Gertie chattered in
her excitement.

The youngsters had dressed up especially for the occasion. Sherm was
resplendent in a scarlet and white baseball cap that set off his red
hair to advantage. Ernest took his straw hat because he said it shaded
his eyes, and much reading had made his eyes sensitive. Katy and Gertie,
just alike, were trim in blue gingham with smart little blue bows on
their flying pig-tails. And Jane was brown, hair, eyes, and tanned skin
as well as her dress, with a red coat like a frosted sumach leaf on top.
Carol felt quite grown up in an old hunting jacket of his father's. He
had stuck two homemade arrows in his belt as a final touch.

Duck Creek was ablaze with autumn leaves and the hazel thickets were
full of the tempting gray-brown clusters, though the nuts themselves
when cracked seemed a trifle green.

"They don't taste like the hazel nuts you buy," said Katy.

"'Cause they're not dry yet, Goosie." This from Sherman.

"Bet you never picked a hazel nut before!" put in Ernest.

"Well, I've been hickory-nutting three times, and I guess you've never
seen Niagara Falls and I have!" boasted Katy by way of keeping her
self-respect.

The children worked busily all morning only stopping now and then to
chase the squirrels who came scolding the intruders for taking their
winter stores. By noon Alice declared they had more nuts than they
could stow away in the old carriage, if they hoped to get in themselves.

Sherm and Gertie found a tempting persimmon tree and there were some
wry-looking faces till Alice showed them how to find the fruit the frost
had sweetened. After that the persimmons became immensely popular, and
dresses and jackets alike were liberally stained with the mushy orange
pulp to which samples of the picnic dinner were added later. They spread
their feast out in the sunshine, using the sacks of nuts for