three o'clock before
`` Too far to go before lunch , '' Mrs. Irving said . The party spent the rest of the time until one o'clock visiting the wharf and roaming the country in the immediate vicinity of the pretty bungalow . True to her promise , Betty turned out at the appointed time a panful of the most appetizing biscuits , and let it be said here that the boys did them full justice -- to say nothing of the girls . It was well on toward three o'clock before the girls had changed their morning middies and skirts for dainty afternoon dresses , and had made all other necessary preparations for a trip to town . Mrs. Irving declined to go , saying she wished to write letters . It was in the best of spirits that the party of young people stood on the end of the dock , waiting to hail the little steamer as it chug-chugged its way from the summer colony at the far end of Pine Island to the mainland . When finally it did come in sight , the girls and the boys found themselves convulsed with laughter .