remarked reflectively, "that one of you had only one
eye, and a scar that ran the length of his cheek. It shows that even if
I'm not as young as I was, my imagination is still active. But you had
packs on your backs. What has become of the clubs and packs?"

Graham explained that they had taken rooms at a farmhouse a little way
down the road, and had left their belongings there. "We're out for a
long tramp," Graham explained. "We mean to make several stops of a few
days each, and we didn't know any better place to begin than right
here."

"Are you staying with Mrs. Cole?" asked Peggy, and Graham shook his
head. "No, the name wasn't Cole. It was--let's see."

Jack Rynson helped him out. "Snooks, I believe."

"That's it, Mrs. Snooks," agreed Graham, and then looked about him
astonished, for the entire company, including Aunt Abigail, was helpless
with laughter.

"She'll borrow your walking stick for a clothes pole," said Peggy, when
she was able to speak, "and your pack for a footstool. She'll borrow
everything you've got, and then be provoked because you haven't more."

It is a question whether anybody would have thought of supper if it had
not been for Dorothy, who retired into a corner to weep. Questioned
regarding her tears, she replied that she wanted her mother. "Homesick,"
some one said significantly.

"Hungry!" cried Peggy, with one of her flashes of intuition. "And what
wonder! Just look at the clock! Girls, let's see how quick we can get
something ready."

The meal though less ambitious than that which Peggy had originally
planned, was satisfying. And it was not till the next day that the girls
learned that the two young men who did such abundant justice to the
bounty of Dolittle Cottage, had eaten another supper at Mrs. Snooks, a
little over an hour earlier.

CHAPTER VIII

HOBO TO THE RESCUE

Life at Dolittle Cottage had been anything but uneventful, even before
the arrival of Graham and his friend. But it must be confessed that the
presence of the two young men added appreciably to the agreeable
excitements and diversions of the days. For upwards of twenty-four hours
the girls had maintained the superiority of first arrivals, and then to
their surprise, found the tables turned and that they were being
introduced to spots whose charms they had never discovered, and to
pleasures as yet untried.

Jerry Morton bringing his fish as usual, looked askance at the two young
fellows, taking their