"
"All right," nodded Dicky, and Roger knew that he would keep his word,
for that is a part of the training of a soldier's son.
The experiences of the afternoon were not yet ended. The arrow episode
over the children looked about for other amusement. They drifted away
from the group still gathered about the embers of the dying fire and
made their way among the bushes standing uncut on the edge of the new
clearing. Once in a while their laughter was borne on the breeze. It
was a long time before any one thought of seeing what they were doing.
Then Ethel Brown rose and sauntered in the direction whence the sounds
came.
"With Dicky in the lead," she thought, "it's just as well to keep an
eye on them."
As she approached the woods she saw the little army of rompered
youngsters, each armed with a switch, and each doing his best to strike
something high over his head. They all stood with their eager faces
looking upward and their arms working busily with what muscle the
summer had given them. Leaves were falling from the bushes and the
lower branches of the saplings that were struck by their rods, and it
was evident that they were causing great destruction to the foliage,
whatever the real object of their attack.
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