"We'll begin now. This is Thursday, and that sale lasts only till Saturday. It might rain tomorrow, and 'sides, it _might_ take us more'n a day." "Well, suit yourselves," chuckled the man. "But be sure you do good work and don't eat up the berries." So the two small sisters were soon busily engaged in picking the luscious red fruit and packing it in quart boxes, while the sun poured mercilessly down upon them. But they pluckily stuck to their post until the day was done, trying to forget the heat and dust in planning their trip to the big city, which they had visited so seldom. However, two long, thankful sighs escaped their dry lips when at length Gail's horn tooted out the summons to the evening meal, and they hurried homeward as fast as their aching backs and tired feet would carry them, exultant though perspiring. "Gracious!" murmured Cherry plaintively, as she bathed her hot face at the pump, "I never knew before how many berries it took to make a quart." "It would take lots more if we were picking wild strawberries. They ain't bigger'n peas, but these are whoppers." "And covered thick with spiders--ugh! I feel them crawling all over me now. I believe I killed a million just this afternoon." Peace laughed. They didn't bother her. "Just s'posing those strawberries were bugs really, and when the hotel people ate them the bugs would bite. My, wouldn't you like to hear them holler?" "Why, Peace Greenfield!" cried Cherry in a shocked voice. "Well, Hope was reading yesterday about some place where snakes coil up and look just like springs of water, and when thirsty people bend over to drink, the snakes bite them. There _might_ be bugs somewhere that looked like strawberries so folks would try to eat them. Course I wouldn't want them to hurt the people bad--just enough to make them jump good." "I would rather have strawberries look like pennies--" "I'd rather have them _be_ pennies. Just think, if we could pick money off from strawberry vines! Everyone would start to raising strawberries, wouldn't they? And how rich we would be! Never mind, we picked ten boxes of berries this afternoon--that means a shoe apiece. We surely ought to get that many more by noon tomorrow. Let's begin early so's to pick as many as we can before it gets hot." So the morrow found them early in the field again, and by noon the second ten boxes were filled to the brim. "There!" breathed Cherry in relief, mopping her crimson face on her sleeve as she surveyed the fruit of their labor. "We are done. Now we can get our shoes all right tomorrow. Why, what are you doing, Peace? Are you crazy?" For Peace had snatched up some empty boxes from another crate and was making her way between the green rows again. "Nope," answered the perspiring little maid. "I am just going to pick some more."