The two mothers had retired from the scene of the fray and with backs resting against two friendly trees were peacefully discoursing on household trials; there was no one to preach concerning indigestion, and the perils of rapid eating; hot and gasping from their previous trials, the competitors ran, twirled, hopped and gobbled, and finally subsided in paroxysms of laughter on the mossy bank. The sports were over; the prize had fallen to Russell, as every one had known from the start that it must inevitably do; he sat snoring with pride, waving aside Dan's inquiries as to the nature of his prize in a gentlemanly manner worthy of his reputation, until the two mothers, becoming conscious that the afternoon was passing away, rose heavily from their seats and announced that it was time to start on the second half of the day's expedition. The three-mile walk lay for three parts of the way through fields, which to the town-livers afforded a refreshing change from noisy and dusty streets, and when the little village was reached, "our old woman's cottage" was found to be as clean and neat and hospitably attractive as of yore. It was a tiny whitewashed cottage standing back from the lane in a garden bright with old-fashioned flowers, and the stone-floored kitchen boasted an old oak dresser and table which were the envy of all beholders. "They're always after it!" our old woman would announce, chuckling. "Titled gentry I've had, driving up in their own carriage, a-coaxing and wheedling so as never was. `_No_,' I says, `they was my mother's afore me, and her mother's afore that, and it's a poor tale if I can't have the pleasure of them while _I_ live! If it's waluable to you, it's waluable to me, too. That's only common sense...' And what's your fancy today, lovies? boiled eggs and buttered toast, same as afore?" Boiled eggs and buttered toast it was, despite the protests of the mothers, who thought that really, after such a lunch--! And after tea our old woman provided buttonholes for each member of the party, and hobbled to the gate to see them off, assuring them, as was her yearly custom, that "the gamekeepers was getting very crusty of late, but you leave the roots alone and nobody can't say nothing about a few bits of flowers." That yearly threat of the gamekeeper lent a _soupcon_ of excitement to the scramble over the sloping woods, which surrounded as an amphitheatre a deep green meadow through which meandered a tiny stream. At any moment, as it appeared, a stalwart figure in velveteen bearing a gun over his shoulder might appear round the trunk of a tree, demanding your licence or your life. It was interesting to discuss exactly what you would do or say under the circumstances, and the very worst thing in punishments which could possibly be your fate!