“I don’t like to do that; I am afraid I might not keep my promise,” admitted Harriet, hanging her head.  “But I will promise to do the best I can and not to take any more chances than I have to.”

Jane awakened at this juncture and lay blinking at them for a moment, after which she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

“Good morning, Misses Owls.  Have you two been croaking there all night?”

“No, Jane, dear, we have not.  We have been conversing for the past ten or fifteen minutes.  Previous to that time I was peeping over the edge at Mr. Grubb, who is down there looking for Tommy’s blanket.  Still farther back than that I was sound asleep.  Miss Elting has been reading me a lecture.  It is your turn now.”

Margery sat up at this juncture.  She unrolled her blanket, flung it aside, and, going to the wall, sank down against it, resting her still heavy head in her hands.

“What’s the matter with you, Margery?” questioned Jane.

“Matter?” complained Buster.  “One might as well try to sleep in that boiler factory at Meadow-Brook as in this camp.”

“That’s so, Little Sunshine; I agree with you.  This is a dynamite as well as a boiler factory, with an explosion twice, every day and at least once in the night.”

“Dynamite?” piped Tommy.  “Where ith it?”

“There, you see!  You have awakened every one of us except Hazel,” complained Jane.  “Now, go on talking and you’ll waken her, too; then we’ll all be awake, and can think about cooking breakfast.”

“Jane McCarthy, you can talk more and say less than any person I ever knew,” exclaimed Margery petulantly.

“I agree with you, Little Sunshine.  I agree with every word you have said this morning, and I’m going to come right over there and kiss you for your sweetness.  Isn’t she good-natured, and so early in the morning, too?” laughed Jane, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

A shout of laughter greeted Crazy Jane’s naive words.  The shout awakened Hazel.  Margery dropped her hands from her face.  Her petulant mouth relaxed into an unwilling smile; then she burst out laughing.

“I thought I’d chase away that sour face,” teased Jane.

“I’ll look crosser than ever if you don’t stop,” threatened the stout girl.

One by one the girls went over to the rivulet and washed.  There was not much water to be had, but it made up in coldness what it lacked in quantity and freshened them greatly.  Harriet started to prepare the breakfast as soon as she had washed and dried her face and hands.  The dishes were set out on the granite shelf, and there, more than two thousand feet in the air, the Meadow-Brook Girls sat down to their morning meal.  Janus had not returned by the time they finished, but came in about half an hour later.  He had the blanket and the handle of the frying-pan that Tommy had dropped.  He said that was all there was left of the frying-pan.  He thought the handle might be useful somewhere, so had brought it back with him.