They were nearing their destination when Anne suddenly exclaimed:  “Look, girls.  Some one is over at the old house.  I just saw a man go around the corner!”

The girls looked quickly in the direction of the house.  Just then a figure appeared, stared at the approaching girls and began waving his hat wildly, at the same time doing a sort of war dance.

“It’s another lunatic,” screamed Jessica.  “Run, girls, run!”

“Run nothing,” exclaimed Nora.  “Don’t you know Reddy Brooks when you see him?  Just wait until I get near enough to tell him that you mistook him for a lunatic.  Hurrah!  David and Hippy are with him.”

“Well, well, well!” exclaimed Hippy as the girls approached.  “Here is Mrs. Harlowe’s little girl and some of her juvenile friends.  I’m very glad to see so many Oakdale children out to-day.”

“How dare you take possession of the very spot we had our eye on?” asked Grace, as she shook hands with David.

“I came over to try my bird before I have it sent home for the winter,” replied David.  “I was just locking up.”

“And the exhibition is all over,” cried Grace in a disappointed tone.  “I’m so sorry.  You see, I still have a hankering for aeroplanes.”

“There wasn’t any exhibition, after all,” said David.  “It wouldn’t fly worth a cent to-day.  I shall have to give it a complete overhauling when I get it back to my workshop.  What are you girls doing out this way?”

“Oh, we just came out to walk, because it was too nice to stay indoors,” said Anne.  “And now we are particularly glad we came.”

“Not half as glad as I am,” replied David, looking at her with a smile.

“Speaking of walking,” remarked Hippy, “I have decided to go in for a little on my own account.  Object, to become a light weight.  Is there any one who will encourage me in this laudable resolution, and beguile me while I go ‘galumphing’ over the ground?”

“Oh, I know something that would be perfectly fine!” exclaimed Nora, hopping about in excitement.

“Watch her,” cried Hippy.  “She is about to have a conniption.  She always has them when an idea hits her.  I’ve known her for years and——­”

“Make him stop,” appealed Nora to David and Reddy, “or I won’t tell any of you a single thing.”

“I’ll desist, merely to please the Irish lady, not because I’m afraid of you two long, slim persons,” said Hippy, cleverly dodging both David and Reddy.

“Suppose we go on a walking expedition,” said Nora.  “We can start early some Saturday morning, with enough lunch to last us all day, and walk to the other side of Upton Wood and back.  My sister would be glad to go with us, so that will settle the matter of having an older person along.  We can have the whole day in the woods, and the walk will do us all good.  We won’t have many more chances, either, for winter will be upon us before we know it.  It’s a shame to waste such perfect days as these.”