"And so is the bungalow--and the Cove," sighed Ruth.
"And we're going to have a scrumptious time here!" declared Agnes.
Tess and Dot were frankly sleepy, and Lucy begged the privilege of seeing them to bed.
"That's real kind of you, I'm sure, Lute," said Agnes.
"Don't you praise her," sniffed Carrie. "I know Lute. She's sleepy, herself. You won't see her downstairs again to-night."
"I don't care," yawned Lucy Poole, following Tess and Dot. "I sleep so slowly that it takes a long time for me to get a good night's rest."
"Well! of all things!" ejaculated Carrie, as her cousin departed, following the two smaller girls. "What do you know about _that_?"
"Almost as stupid as the inhabitants of London," chuckled Agnes.
"What do you mean by that, Ag?" demanded Ann Presby. "The people of London aren't any more stupid than those of other cities, are they?"
"I don't know," returned Agnes; "but the book says 'the population of London is very dense.'"
"Fine! fine!" cried Carrie Poole, laughing. "Oh! these 'literal' folk. You know, my Grandfather Poole has an awfully bald head. He was telling us once that in some famous battle of the Civil War in which he took part, his head was grazed by a bullet. My little brother Jimmy stared at his head thoughtfully for a minute, and then he said:
"'My, Grandpa, there's not much grazing up there now, is there?'"
These stories began the evening. Everybody had some story or joke to relate, and finally the girls began to guess riddles. Somebody propounded the old one about the wind: "What is it that goes all around the house and yet makes no tracks?" and Agnes had a new answer for it:
"Germs!" she shouted. "You know, Miss Georgiana gave us a lecture about them, and I bet we're just surrounded by deadly bacilli right now."
"Those aren't germs--they're mosquitos, Ag!" laughed Pearl, slapping vigorously at one of the pests. "Pleasant Cove isn't entirely free from them."
"And they are presenting their bills pretty lively, too," yawned Ruth. "The bedrooms are screened. I believe we'd all better seek the haven of bed unless we want to be splotchy to-morrow from mosquito bites."
In the morning the older girls divided the housework between them, and so got it all done in short order. The baggage had come up from the station the evening before, and they unpacked.