The glasses were promptly produced from Nancy's suitcase.
"Do you think," Billie continued, "that I could climb one of those pine trees? I believe if I could get to one of the upper branches, I could see for miles around the country. I might even see the Comet."
"You know Miss Campbell would never consent, Billie," Nancy objected, "even if you could shin up that slippery pine tree."
"Just you engage Cousin Helen in conversation for five minutes and I'll engage to do the rest. It's really a matter of costume, anyhow."
So saying, Billie calmly slipped off her corduroy skirt and coat, revealing herself in pongee bloomers and a pongee blouse. Then she kicked off her russet leather pumps and hung the long strap of the field glasses over her shoulder.
The tree she had chosen to climb was the tallest one in the group, and, as is the case with pine trees, it had not put forth any substantial limbs until more than half-way up. But the trunk was scarred and corrugated with the marks of former limbs that had died, and Billie used these as footholds as she shinned up the tree.
Nancy had not attempted to engage Miss Campbell in conversation. She stood rooted to the spot, fascinated while Billie worked her way up and finally swung herself into a fork where the big stone pine divided and became as two trees. Then, choosing the next largest branch, she climbed on as nimbly as a sailor in the rigging of a ship. Nancy admired her friend's graceful and agile figure, and occasionally through the foliage, she caught glimpses of Billie's earnest face. Her gray eyes were filled with the fire of her resolution, and her mouth, in which sweetness and determination were blended, was closed tightly. Not a lock of her fine light brown hair had been disturbed by the climb and the two side rolls were as smooth and glossy as silk.
All this while Miss Campbell and the others had been busy storing away the breakfast dishes which could not under any circumstances be washed. It was various degrees between seven and half-past by the several watches in the party and the sun had mounted the Eastern heavens and was shedding its glory over the great plain.
"Someone must surely be coming this way soon----" Miss Campbell was saying when a jolly voice singing an Irish song broke in on the silence.