Failing to decide the question, he laid it before his sisters as they ate bread and milk for breakfast.
"I can't see any reason, except one, why we shouldn't all go," said Jess.
"What's that?" asked Henry.
"Well, you see there are four of us, and supposing grandfather is looking for us, it will be easier to find four than one."
"True," agreed Henry. "But supposing we went down the hill and through the streets two by two? And you took Watch?"
It was finally agreed that Henry and Benny would attract very little attention together; Violet and Jess would follow with the dog, who would trace Henry. And so they set out. They took down the clothesline and closed the car door. Everything instantly looked as lonesome as heart could wish. Even the merry little looked .
When the children arrived at the McAllister they soon saw that they were not the only workers. Two hired men and the young doctor himself were carrying ladders and baskets from the barn, and the Irish cook was bringing piles of square baskets from the house—the kind that strawberries are sold in.
"The girls can pick cherries as well as I can," said Henry, introducing his sisters. "Benny ought not to climb very tall trees, but we had to bring him."
"Benny can carry the baskets, perhaps," suggested the doctor, much amused. "You see, this is a cherry year, and we have to work quickly when we once begin. Perhaps he could fill the small baskets from the big ones."
It was a "cherry year," certainly. There were two varieties in the orchard, the pale yellow kind with a red cheek, and the deep ones which were just as red in the center as they were on the outside. The red ones were huge, bursting with juice, and the trees were full with the fruit. Even the air was perfumed.
It was a pretty sight that the doctor finally turned his back upon when he went on his calls. Henry, slim, tanned, and , picked rapidly from the tallest ladder in the largest tree. The two girls in their sensible bloomer suits could climb like cats. They leaned against the ladders easily about up, their short hair gleaming in the sun. Benny to and fro, waiting upon the busy pickers, his cheeks as red as the cherries themselves.
"Eat all you want," Dr. McAllister called back. They did not really obey this command, but occasionally a set of white teeth bit into one of the glorious oxhearts.
In less than an hour Benny had made five firm friends. The hired men joked with him, the cook petted him, the young doctor laughed at him delightedly, and sweet Mrs. McAllister fell in love with him. Finally he seated himself comfortably at her side under the trees and filled square boxes with great care under her direction.
"I never had such a cheerful crowd of cherry pickers before," Mrs. McAllister said at last. "I'd much rather stay out here than go into the house where it is cool."
Evidently Mary the cook felt the same way, for she kept coming to the orchard for some reason or other. When the doctor returned at lunch time his orchard was ringing with laughter, and good-natured barks from Watch who could not feel easy in his mind with his mistress so high up in a tree where he couldn't follow.
Dr. McAllister paused in the garage long enough to give a
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