"Did we, girls ?" Seven other young feminine heads shook in vigorous denial.
"We didn't pay the farmer, and we didn't make any arrangement with him," said Laura quietly, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
"We simply drove out along the road until we came to the field, and-----" "-- ---Ravaged it," supplemented Belle Meade demurely.

"We went through that field like war, famine and pestilence combined!" "Hurry!" called Susie peremptorily.
So the boys made haste with the vegetables and fruit, transferring everything to the bow of the launch, where it was neatly stacked.
"What do you think of that ?" Tom demanded of Dick in a whisper at the first opportunity.
"The girls are chaffing us," Dick answered knowingly.

"Stole the stuff, did they?
That is, stole it in earnest?
Nonsense! They're too nice girls for that! But I guess even nice girls, like some decent fellows, find enjoyment, once in a while, in making believe they are doing something desperate.

Of course they didn't really steal this stuff." "If they did," muttered Tom, "they'd be the kind of girls we wouldn't want to know." "It's all right," Dick assured him.

"Sooner or later the truth of this joke of theirs will all come out.