half past twelve
Mary Jane had her own fork and her own sausage , just like the big girls and cooked her sausage without burning her fingers , which was lucky , as burns are no fun . How good those warm sausages did taste with the fine sandwiches and pickles and other goodies from home . But Ruth did n't eat a million after all -- she found three quite a-plenty ; if she 'd had more she could n't have eaten any cake and that _ would _ have been too bad ! By half past twelve , there was n't a scrap of anything left and every one was saying that they had had just exactly enough to eat . `` Then I suggest we shake our crumbs into the creek , '' said Mrs. Merrill , `` I know the minnows will enjoy them . Then you can fix the baskets ready for your posies and still have a good two hours left for picking . '' So the napkins were shaken out and the baskets arranged in neat order on the biggest rock and then every one ran in search of flowers .