The girls went out at a side door, and joined the boys, who were
busily at work cleaning their guns on the broad western porch.

'How are you coming on?' questioned Polly.

'Oh, finely,' answered Jack, who always constituted himself chief
spokesman, unless driven from the rostrum by some one possessed of a
nimbler tongue. 'I only hope your feminine togs are in half as good
order.'

'We take no baggage to speak of,' said Bell, loftily. 'Papa has cut
us down to the very last notch, and says the law allows very few
pounds on this trip.'

'The less the better,' quoth Geoff, cheerily; 'then you'll have to
polish up your mental jewels.'

'Which you consider imitation, I suppose,' sniffed Polly.

'Perish the thought!' cried Jack. 'But, speaking of mental jewels,
you should see the arrangements Geoff has made for polishing his. He
has actually stuck in six large volumes, any one of which would be a
remedy for sleeplessness. What are you going to study, Miss Pol-y-
on-o-mous Oliver?'

'Now, Jack, let us decide at once whether you intend to be respectful
or not. I don't propose to expose myself to your nonsense for two
months unless you make me good promises.'

'Why, that wasn't disrespectful. It is my newest word, and it simply