"We surely did," retorted Susie Sharp.
"Didn't we say we would do so? And doesn't all this stuff prove
it?"
"Then you paid the farmer for it," guessed Tom Reade wisely.
"We didn't do any such thing," Miss Sharp insisted. "Did we,
girls?"
Seven other young feminine heads shook in vigorous denial.
"We didn't pay the farmer, and we didn't make any arrangement
with him," said Laura quietly, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
"We simply drove out along the road until we came to the field,
and-----"
"-----Ravaged it," supplemented Belle Meade demurely. "We went
through that field like war, famine and pestilence combined!"
"Hurry!" called Susie peremptorily.
So the boys made haste with the vegetables and fruit, transferring
everything to the bow of the launch, where it was neatly stacked.
"What do you think of that?" Tom demanded of Dick in a whisper
at the first opportunity.
"The girls are chaffing us," Dick answered knowingly. "Stole
the stuff, did they? That is, stole it in earnest? Nonsense!
They're too nice girls for that! But I guess even nice girls,
like some decent fellows, find enjoyment, once in a while, in
making believe they are doing something desperate. Of course
they didn't really steal this stuff."
"If they did," muttered Tom, "they'd be the kind of girls we wouldn't
want to know."
"It's all right," Dick assured him. "Sooner or later the truth
of this joke of theirs will all come out.
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