pine grove, where it was cool and darksome, and the ground was all
strewed with pine needles.

After half an hour's walk they passed out of the gloom of the pine
trees into a bright fresh beech wood. Here everything was light and
green; every here and there a sunbeam burst through the leafy
branches, and high above their heads a squirrel was leaping from
branch to branch.

The party came to a halt at a certain spot, over which the topmost
branches of ancient beech trees interwove a transparent canopy of
leaves. Elisabeth's mother opened one of the baskets, and an old
gentleman constituted himself quartermaster.

"Round me, all of you young people," he cried, "and attend carefully
to what I have to say to you. For lunch each one of you will now get
two dry rolls; the butter has been left behind at home. The extras
every one must find for himself. There are plenty of strawberries in
the wood--that is, for anyone who knows where to find them. Unless you
are sharp, you'll have to eat dry bread; that's the way of the world
all over. Do you understand what I say?"

"Yes, yes," cried the young folks.

"Yes, but look here," said the old gentleman, "I have not done yet. We
old folks have done enough roaming about in our time, and therefore we
will stay at home now, here, I mean, under these wide-spreading trees,
and we'll peel the potatoes and make a fire and lay the table, and by
twelve o'clock the eggs shall be boiled.