The girls were all gathered, looking anxiously down the street. When Blue Bonnet appeared in the snowiest of white sweaters and tam-o'-shanter, as jaunty and blooming as if she were out for an afternoon walk, they immediately protested.
"For ever more, why didn't you wear your old clothes, Blue Bonnet?" Kitty Clark inquired. "That sweater will be pot black before you go a mile, and you'll be as freckled as a turkey egg without some shade for your face."
"The sweater will wash, thank you, that's why I wore it, and I'm not the freckly kind."
The shot was unintentional, but Kitty colored to the roots of her red gold hair.
"That's the penalty you pay for having such a peach of a complexion," Blue Bonnet retorted, and the breach was healed.
At the end of the car line the hay-rack was waiting. The girls climbed on.
"Wait," Blue Bonnet shouted, jumping off quickly, "I almost forgot I want a picture of you."
While she adjusted the camera, the girls struck fantastic poses, Debby perching herself airily on the end gate of the wagon.
There was a warning cry from the girls, which the staid and sober farm horses misinterpreted. Off they started at a mad gallop, leaving the bewildered Debby a crumpled heap in the roadway.
She was on her feet before Blue Bonnet reached her, laughing and crying in a breath.
"How stupid," she panted. "I might have known that gate would fly open. I guess I'm not hurt any."
Blue Bonnet felt Debby's arms and limbs and made her stretch herself. Then they fell in each other's arms and laughed until they were weak and hysterical.
"It's a good thing the roads are a bit soft," Blue Bonnet assured her, when she could get her breath. "You're something of a sight with all that mud on you, but it broke your fall."
"Praise be!" Debby murmured, struggling to remove some of the dirt that insisted upon clinging to her skirts. "I'll take mud to a broken limb, any day."
The rest of the journey was made in safety. Once the wagon halted for Sarah Blake to change her seat. Sitting just over the wheel was not altogether desirable. Sarah's stomach rebelled. The whiteness of her lips spoke louder than words. Blue Bonnet changed places with her cheerfully, keeping strangely silent after the first half mile.