constant stirring about as of lively preparation, together with noise
of hammering and sawing.

'If you were only going, Elsie, our cup of happiness would be full,'
sighed Bell.

'Not only would it be full, Bell, but it would be running over, and
we should positively stand in the slop,' said Polly. 'No, you
needn't frown at me, miss; that expression is borrowed from no less a
person than Sydney Smith.'

'Don't think any more about me,' smiled Elsie. 'Perhaps I can come
down in the course of the summer. I know it will be the happiest
time in the world, but I don't envy you a bit; in fact, I'm very glad
you're going, because you'll have such a lovely budget of adventures
to tell me when you come back.'

'When we come back, indeed!' exclaimed Bell. 'Why, we shall write
long round-robin letters every few days, and send them by the team.
Papa says Pancho will have to go over to the stage station at least
once a week for letters and any provisions we may need.'

'Oh, won't that be delightful,--almost as good as being there myself!
And, Margery dear, you must make them tell me every least little
thing that happens. You know they are such fly-aways that they'll
only write me when they learn to swim, or shoot a wildcat, or get
lost in the woods. I want to know all the stupid bits: what you
have for dinner, how and where you sleep, how your camp looks, what
you do from morning till night, and how Dicky behaves.'