The two girls stood huddled together now in hasty consultation. "We
didn't mean to be sculptures," spoke up Red, defending her brilliant
idea almost before she was aware. "There's nothing but stand-up slabs
here; we thought we'd look something like them."

"We were so frightened at the men," said Blue. They approached the fence
as they spoke.

"Those men wouldn't have done you one mite of harm," said the dentist,
looking down from a height of superior knowledge, "and if they had, I'd
have come and made a clearance double quick."

They did not believe his first assertion, and doubted his ability to
have thus routed the enemy, but Blue instinctively replied, "You see, we
didn't know you were here, or _of course_ we shouldn't have been
frightened."

"Beautiful evening, isn't it?" remarked the dentist.

"Yes, but I think perhaps,"--Red spoke doubtfully--"we ought to be going
home now."

She was a little mortified to find that he saw the full force of the
suggestion.

"Yes, I suppose your mother'll be looking for you."

They both explained, merely to set him right, that this would not be the
case, as they had started to Principal Trenholme's picnic.