"Are they letters or documents?" asked Cleo.

"Little of both," replied the captain. "And this is my plan. You girls must know some organization that would just take this little responsibility off Dave's shoulders."

"Certainly," spoke up Louise. "The Girl Scouts have a very trustworthy headquarters, and if this particular piece of work was not ours we could very readily place it where it belongs."

"Exactly, just exactly. That's what I've been a-thinkin'," said the Captain.

"There are Children's Aids, Travellers' Aids and all sorts of legal aids for just such purposes," said Margaret, "and if we bring anything confidential to the secretary at our headquarters, you may rest assured it will be placed where it belongs."

"Now, isn't that fine!" exclaimed the old sailor. "But you are not goin' up to the city soon, I take it, and I've just got a notion I'd like them papers put in safer quarters. No tellin' when I may be transferred, and then I wouldn't have time to think of the little tin box. Could one of you take it now, and put it in your family safe?" he asked.

The girls looked at one another speculatively. No one was personally anxious to assume such a responsibility.

"Louise, your daddy is a lawyer. He would know all about a thing like that. You take it?" urged Margaret.

After some discussion Louise finally agreed to accept the charge and old Dave shuffled over to his cupboard, procured a rusty tin box, and placed it in the scout's hand.

"There," he said with a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to get rid of that. It was like the little bundle of letters tied with blue ribbon, that we read about in love stories—not much to the world, but a lot to the right girl," he orated.

Louise looked at the box almost reverently. Just as Dave had said "not much to the world but a lot to the right girl," she thought.

"All right, Captain," she said bravely. "I am sure, simple as this is it does mean something, and as you say, Kitty is not yet wise enough to appreciate her mother's letters. So I accept the charge, and you may call upon me to report at any time you choose."

"Now, if I'm sent over to the Hook, I won't have to move quite so much," said Dave with something like a chuckle, for the box was a very small article to worry about in event of an ordinary moving. "Also," he continued, "I'll feel Kitty is in good hands with this sort of—well, sort of claim on your friendship," he stammered. "You see, how wise I am, to link you together this way?"

It had been rather a serious half hour, and the True Treds were not prone to stay concentrated for any prolonged length of time. As it was, Isabel had been counting the blocks in the faded red table cover, and Helen was drawing pictures with a burnt match on the back of a marine magazine.

"Now, I've got some good news, after all the old mildewed stuff," said Captain Dave. "You have been wanting to see our men at drill. What would you say to coming down some morning soon—and—and——Wonder would I be spilling the beans if I told you a secret?" he broke off.

"Trust us to pick them up carefully if you do, Captain," volunteered Cleo.

"Well, here's the news," and he sank lower in his chair, dropped his head deeper on his shoulders, and seemed to assume the most secretive and confidential air. "Listen," he commanded. "The Boy Scouts are to have a wig wag trial. They may have been a little mite jealous of your reputation, or something like that, anyhow, they've fixed it up to do a grand stand stunt, and they've enlisted the Beach Patrol——"

"But we have been begging for that all summer," interrupted Grace immediately on the offensive.

"I recall that, and it's why I am spilling the beans. Why can't you all join in?"

"With the Boy Scouts?" It was Louise who spoke.

"Certainly," Margaret hurried to say. "Why not? They will enter us if we send an application. Oh, goody-good! Louise run right home with the tin box, lock it in the safe and come have a troop meeting," sang out Margaret.

"Don't have to say where you heard the news, do you?" asked the captain with a chuckle.

"Certainly not," declared Cleo. "Besides, we know exactly where we can verify it. Come on, girls. Let's interview the clerk at the landing soda fountain. You remember he told us he was a scout."

They all remembered, and ran thither forewith, as Grace would say.

"To think of the boys planning to outdo us in glory," Cleo reflected. "Well, we had better be busy, True Treds, and get ready to prove our mettle."

It was exciting even to anticipate, and that the Boy Scouts were going to considerable trouble in their preparations now dawned forcibly upon the girls.

"That's what all the wig wag practising has been for," Margaret declared. "I have seen the boys on the beach every morning so early. I'm sure they know the code backwards and forwards."

"Exactly," agreed Louise. "How many brought manuals?"

"I did," replied Julia, but it was a solo.

"Then, we will all have to look over your shoulder, Julia dear," said Cleo. "It would be dreadful if we missed a letter."

"How are we going to get in the contest though? That's what worries me," declared Helen.

"First, find out all about it," advised Cleo practically. "Then, follow the advice of our friend what's-his-name at the landing. Louise, be careful of Kitty's papers," she ordered. "Isn't it lovely to have won the confidence of Captain Dave?"

"Lovelier still to live up to it," replied Louise, in her best oratorical tone, "I would have preferred some one else to take the tin box, but since I have it, I suppose I'll have to sit up nights watching it," she deplored.

"Lucky it's only letters, and not deeds to some monarchy," put in Helen. "But count on all of us, Weasie dear, to stand by you in case of any safe-blowing at midnight."

"I'm so excited about the contest, I can almost forget Kitty and Luna Land," gurgled Margaret. They were running along the lakeside, up to the river landing, with the hope of gaining the boy's confidence over nut sundaes.

"He's there! That's lucky!" Helen said, sighting in the open pavilion, the desired Boy Scout, just in the act of sizzling a soda.

"And he has on a clean apron, a good sign," said Margaret under her breath.

Tables nearest the water and farthest from land (thus most secluded) were chosen, and favorite frappes were smilingly ordered.

"Listen to catch his name," whispered Cleo, but a call for "Tommie" voided the suggestion. Tommie fetched their sundaes in that miraculous way waiters have of carrying cup and saucers heaped up, just as jugglers catch them.

"Been practicin'?" inquired Grace glibly.

"What for?" asked Tommie, whisking his towel over the table.

"Why, for the contest," answered Grace, as if the whole world should know that.

"Oh, yes a little," admitted Tommie, gliding off to a new customer.

"Didn't notice that he waved any program," said Louise.

"Don't give up," Margaret encouraged. "I could manage another sundae."

"So could I if I had the price," said Helen dryly.

Cleo tapped on the table and Tommie sauntered back.

"Say Tommie, you know we are strangers here," she began adroitly, "and don't know a single Girl Scout in town, and we are supposed to keep up our activities. How do we get in the contest?"

"Who told you about it?" he asked, his face betraying the fatal boyish weakness of succumbing to girls' flattering attention.

"Why, folks are talking about it, of course," went on Cleo sweetly. "It promises to be a big event."

"Bet your life," and the secret spring had been tapped. "That will be some event. We wanted to flash a surprise, but you being Girl Scouts, I think you ought to be in it."

"Of course, we should," came a chorus.

"Tell you what I'll do. I'll propose it at to-night's meeting. I saw you girls save the Bentley chap, and I know you're game," he said stoutly, "so I don't see why not."

"Good for you, Tommie!" Helen wanted to cheer. "And when they put you up for office, just let the True Treds know."

"That's right, Tommie," Cleo assured the blushing boy. "We'll see you through."

And why shouldn't they? As Tommie said: "I don't see why not."



CHAPTER XVIII

THE WIG WAG RESCUE

"THEY'LL be sure to enjoy the shouting," Julia remarked, "but aside from that, I don't see what interest spectators can possibly work up in a wig wag contest."

"We almost agree with you, Julie," said Grace, "but don't you know everything, including bad weather, is interesting at the beach?"

"All right, scouty, I'm glad of it, for I think it is going to be simply great. And wasn't it splendid to get the sanction of headquarters?"

"Trust Cleo to take care of the official end," replied Grace. "Don't forget to-day is the day, and the pier is the place."

Signs of activity about the life saving station always gathered a crowd, and to-day the appearance of the men in uniform, pulling out the life lines, hoisting the buoys and running the life boat down to the water, drew more than the usual number of spectators.

It was Scout Day and everybody seemed to know it.

The boys having agreed to accept the challenge of the girls, in true scout chivalry, now offered the girls every possible courtesy, even to choice of place at which to stand for the wig wag try out.

It was arranged that Captain Dave's men were to row outside the fish nets, and wait there for their code to be waved to them for a "wreck off the hook." The exactness and quickness with which the message was waved was to be judged by a committee of citizens with the mayor as the honorary leader.

It had all been carefully planned as a summer attraction, and the scouts were to share in honors for their respective troops.

The blare of the firemen's band, affording more blare than music, proclaimed the time had come for a start, and the crack of Mayor Jones' revolver gave the signal for a race through the sand to gain places.

Cleo, Grace, Margaret and Louise won the post for True Treds, they having outdistanced the boys who were led by Tommie Johnson, and who was said to stumble purposely so that the girls might reach the pier first. However that might be, the True Treds liked Tommie, and he seemed to like them "pretty well," as Grace expressed it.

No chance for holding conversation as a contest preliminary, for the four scouts were scattered at regular distances over the five hundred foot pier, while the boys on the sand, were dotted at similar distances, each armed with the red and white signal flag.

An exhibition of signalling was first presented, and this evoked generous applause from the crowds that jammed the board walk. Naturally the girls from their platform on the pier, "looked the prettiest," but the way they flashed their code did not admit of any self consciousness on the score of looks.

In a brief interval Grace waved to Louise a message in the True Tred secret code, and this was taken up by Cleo and Margaret who relayed it to Helen and Julia in their positions on the beach.

"Grace says 'nervous,'" whispered Helen, "and she is never nervous. I wonder what she means?"

"Just joking, I guess. No, see they are sending 'a,' that's error, of course," replied Julia, holding her own flag up in the interrogatory slant.

But the signal for the second event precluded any possibility of following out the private messages and presently all were again wrapped in attention at the silent waving contest—that language of distance, copied from the trees, and fashioned from the winds.

"Look! Look!" gasped Julia. "Louise is waving danger! What can be the matter."

Frantically the little scout on the extreme end of the pier was spelling "danger," then shooting her flag out to demand "attention."

"Oh, it's some one on the water," whispered Helen, fearful of causing a panic in that crowd.

"And she is signalling the life boat," gasped Julia. "But how far is it away?"

Suddenly Louise was seen to throw her flag high in the air, and dive from the pier!

Shouts, screams, and yells rent the air!

"The boat, the guard, the life line!" the air itself seemed to form the words, but only that speck at the end of the pier could be seen now, bobbing up and down, then—yes—it was a little boat, a canoe! That was what the scout had dived for!

If ever they had occasion to summon and use courage, the scouts, both boys and girls, had need of it now. Along the boardwalk the excitement was so intense as to cause danger of children being trampled on, and in this emergency those Girl Scouts not on the pier helped the Boy Scouts in efforts to prevent disaster.

But it was that tiny spot on the water that held the crowd with a bated breath.

"She must drown! Oh, that lovely girl!" they were gasping.

"Louise won't drown," said Julia, her face white as the muslin in her flag.

"No, Weasie can swim," Helen assured her, holding her arm very tight, and begging comfort in the embrace.

"And we can't even get near her," moaned Julia, who just then had rescued a very little tot from a plunge down the high steps into the street.

"The line, the boat, they have her!" came another shout, and Julia wanted to sink on her knees.

"Oh, is the boat there? Can you see, Helen?" she begged.

"Yes, yes, it's the life boat, they have come! Didn't it seem an eternity?"

Instantly the accident occurred police officers had roped off the end of the pier to prevent any one rushing in, and now there stood at the steps the formidable ambulance.

"Oh, they must not take her to a hospital," wailed Helen. "Let us get to her, Julia. She will surely be all right in a little while."

"They are bringing them in a life boat," a gentlemen with marine glasses said. He had seen their distress and recognized their uniform.

"Oh, thank you, but how can we get to them?" begged Julia. "If only we could move through this awful crowd."

"I have a police whistle," he said. "I'll just blow it, and when the officer answers I'll explain. Remain quietly where you are."

The magic whistle shrilled its signal, and the crowd fell back, while the motorcycle officer answered. The gentleman quickly explained the situation, and the two girls climbed to the rear seat of the motor, where they clung, as the officer piloted them through the autos and street crowds up to the pier.

"They're in! They're in!" the people were now shouting. But Julia and Helen were almost afraid to look.

Leaving his motorcycle at the boardwalk, the officer led the girls down on the sands where the life boat had just made shore.

"Who—is—it, with her?" breathed Julia, for they could now see that Louise sat up in the boat and had some one in her arms.

"It's Kitty!" shouted Helen. "She jumped to save Kitty. Oh, Louise, you darling! You brave little True Tred!" she cried. "Let me get to her."

In another moment Julia and Helen were with Cleo and Margaret, who had easily climbed down the pier, and were there when the boat came in. Scarcely speaking, the little group waited for a space to reach the life boat.

Louise, dripping, and sobbing just a little, sat in the skiff—with the seemingly lifeless form of Kitty in her arms. Quickly as landing was made one of the life savers picked up the unconscious girl, and rushed off with her, while another attempted to lift Louise.

"Oh, I'm all right," she protested. "I don't need any help at all."

But Captain Dave was there and he took no such chance.

"Here, my girl," he commanded in a voice of the seas. "Lean on me and come up to the station. Come along," this to the other scouts, "and you young ones keep back there," to the boys.

Louise took a few steps, then faltered. As if expecting this the captain stooped and lifted her in his arms, and it was a sight to remember, to see that old sailor, trudge along through the sands with the little girl scout almost on his broad shoulders.

And the remainder of the True Tred Troop were pressing along at his heels.

"Keep back there, keep away," warned the kind officer to the surging crowd, for the unspoken admiration for the Girl Scouts was now mounting high.

Tommie Johnson was so proud of "his friends" that something like mutiny seemed imminent in the boys' ranks.

"I told you, I told you!" he kept repeating, quite as if he had foretold the entire occurrence, when he only really referred to the courage of the Girl Scouts.

Up in the life saving station guards vied with one another in making hot tea, and giving such administrations as might benefit Louise, while she waited a few moments before being permitted to get in any one of the many cars, offered to take her home.

"But I am really only wet now," she insisted finally, "and I want to get out of this heavy uniform."

Realizing her mother might have heard any of the possible wild rumors, Captain Dave helped her into Cleo's car and very proud indeed, was the old sailor, of the wig wag rescue.

"No surprise to me," he told his men. "Those girls have the grit many a boy might well boast of, and when I saw her drop from that pier I did not have to hold my breath. I knew she'd make it."

"But how did she see that speck of a canoe creep around the pier?" asked Jim Barstow, the oldest member of the crew next to Captain Dave.

"Maybe she felt it," said the captain. "'Taint likely much would happen to Kitty without that little girl feeling it." But his men knew nothing of the trust he was recalling, that might have formed the link of confidence between the scouts and Kitty Scuttle.

Elizabeth, wise little friend, had rushed from the pavilion to the home of Louise, to make sure no report of drowning should reach the ears of the anxious mother.

"It was the most glorious sight," Elizabeth was just insisting when Gerald drew up with the blue car, and Louise jumped out into her mother's arms.

"Up to the hospital, Jerry," ordered Cleo. "We must see how Kitty is."

Julia and Helen went with Cleo, and it was their uniform, as usual, that served as a pass, admitting them to the hospital.

Kitty had been revived, and was now becoming obstreperous, she insisted on going home, and was loudly declaring her Uncle Pete would die of fright, when he missed her and the canoe.

At the entrance of Cleo and Julia (Helen did not come in) Kitty all but bounced out of the little white bed, and then, when she could get her thin arms around Cleo's neck—then the tears fell.

"That will be good for her," said the nurse very quietly to Julia. "She has been so wrought up, the outburst will relieve the strain."

But how Kitty could cry! And how she did yell! Cleo patted her shoulders and soothed her with every sort of affectionate protestation, but all the girl seemed to want to do was cry, and cry she did for so long a time, the scouts felt more helpless with her than they had in the real critical stage of the emergency.

"You be good, Kitty," said Cleo finally. "And I'll go right up to the landing and shout for Uncle Pete. Then, when he comes over, I'll tell him all about it—that is how you are perfectly all right," she corrected herself. "If you are very quiet, and good, maybe the nurse will let me in again to tell you what he says."

"And do you think I'm going to stay in this horspittal all night?" protested Kitty. "Don't I know what they did to my mother."

This started another outburst, and seeing the hysterical child was not apt to soon be quieted, the nurse insisted on her swallowing a dose of bromide, and at that juncture the girls quietly stole from the bedside.

Gerald "dropped" Julia at her cottage, then Cleo and Helen were driven to the landing. No need to shout over to the island, for Uncle Pete stood there, on the narrow dock, watching the road with anxious eyes.

It was hard to assure him of Kitty's safety, and only his personal knowledge of the power of the scouts, gleaned from his own experience when they had rescued him some weeks before, did finally allay his fears. "We'll fetch her back, first thing in the morning," they promised, and then they watched the old man pull his oars with a weary stroke, toward the lonely little island, called Luna Land.



CHAPTER XIX

THE GLORIOUS AFTERMATH

THE wig wag contest had furnished enough excitement at Sea Crest to constitute a nine day's wonder. Nothing short of an uncanny power seemed attributed to the Girl Scout, who would risk her own life in a dive from that pier, when she saw a canoe upset beneath. The whole occurrence had been so spectacular that the publicity it provoked was widespread—every one was talking of the wig wag rescue.

"But, Weasie dear," cooed Grace, "what did it feel like to jump? Just tell us that and then we'll let you off."

Louise smiled wanly. Was it possible that any other question could be invented?

"It didn't exactly feel," she replied to Grace, "but I knew I had to do it. I had been watching the little speck of a boat as it took the rollers from the side, and I knew the next would toss it over. Then I saw Kitty—and I didn't think of the distance after that."

"You looked about as big as a fish hawk diving for his dinner," remarked Cleo, "and you nipped Kitty just as neatly as a hawk pecks his fish."

"I felt just like that—it is birdlike to dive from such a distance," Louise said, "and cutting through the air, free of everything—is—is wonderful."

"Even with the ocean as a backstop?" asked Helen shivering.

"Nice and soft," Louise said reflectively.

"But however did you hold on to Kitty, and cling to the canoe?" persisted Grace, in spite of the promise to cease questioning.

"I don't know. It was black for awhile, and I just struggled to keep up, and to keep Kitty up. She was too scared to help herself, and she had swallowed a lot of water. I guess I managed to cling to the canoe—Girls, you don't know what you can do until you have to," she finished.

It was still early, but the visit to Kitty at the hospital had to be made early, according to promise. Louise and Margaret were to go, and the other scouts, especially Julia and Grace, were going in the car as far as the village, to be picked up there by the girl's car on the way back.

They found the patient dressed, and being forcibly detained, as the nurse put it. In fact, Kitty had been dressed since day break, and nothing short of force did detain her.

"Good thing you come now," she greeted Margaret. "Oh, there's my life-saver. Hello, McGinty, how's the water to-day? I don't want to test it though," she shook her cropped head, and the girls noticed how much better that hair looked since its salt water shampoo.

"Don't hurry so, Kitty. You have plenty of time. Uncle Pete said he would be over at the landing at ten o'clock, and it's only nine now." Louise told her.

"No matter what time," she retorted, "it's next year to me. This place is haunted sure. I was fishin' with ghosts all night."

"That was your bromide," Margaret assured her. "You were so excited and hysterical you simply had to be quieted down. Do you feel all right?"

"Don't know as I feel at all," Kitty answered, jerking herself up to make sure she had not grown fins. "I never want to read that Jonah story again. But I knew it! I knew it!" and she chewed her lips in repressed bitterness.

"Knew what?" Louise asked.

"That the old monster ocean would try to swallow me," she replied. "Didn't I tell you I would never go on that water after what it done to me? But I did want to see that wig waggin' and I went out because—"

She stopped, and the sharp little black eyes were glistening.

"I know, Kitty. You wanted to see us beat the boys, didn't you?" asked Louise. "Well, we did it, and maybe if you hadn't—got spilled, I couldn't have won on the signalling. You see, the life boat was out there watching, and they caught my message, and just shot in—lucky for you and me."

"If I knowed Captain Dave's men were out there, I wouldn't have been so scared to death," Kitty said. "But anyhow, I'm goin' home," and she made for the door. "Good-by, nurse, you've been real good to me. I like your cookin' first rate, and I'll fetch you the first mess of clams I dig," she offered.

The nurse was amused and interested. Kitty had given her a new line on patients. From the time her wet clothes had been taken from her, Kitty had threatened to go out on the fire escape in the hospital robe, if they were not returned very early in the morning, and nurse knew very well, she intended to carry out the threat.

There was no bag or luggage to leave with Kitty, neither did she dally in her exit. Rather, she was in the car and waiting, before Margaret and Louise could possibly get down the stairs and reach the sidewalk.

"I love automobiles," said Kitty, as they climbed in, and Leonore touched the starter.

"Wish you would take a longer ride," Margaret remarked. "It would do you good."

"Can't, wish I could," the girl replied a bit wistfully. "Don't know what's happened since I've been away. Hope Bentley was there." Margaret then noticed an anxiety that seemed to make a woman out of the winsome child.

"You're not worrying about Uncle Pete?" asked Louise. "The girl said he was all right last evening."

"Oh no, it isn't Uncle Pete I'm worrying about," replied Kitty. But she did not attempt to explain further, and the girls noticed the omission.

Turning carefully into the little sand road that led to the landing, Leonore slowed down. A boy just stepped from the pavilion.

"Oh, there's Bentley!" shouted Kitty. "Hello, Ben!" she called waving frantically. No wonder she was so delighted, thought her companions. It was almost like coming back from the grave.

"Hello, Kitty," replied Bentley quickly as he could make out the figure in the back seat of the car. His face showed his pleasure. For Kitty to have been snatched from the waves, and then spend the night in the hospital, was really an occurrence.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," she rattled on. The "waits" were addressed one to Bentley and the other to Leonore. "I'm going over with Ben. Got your boat?"

"Yes, come on," called the boy, plainly glad to be of service to the heroine. "Uncle Pete is at the bend. I'll row you down to him."

"Hello, Bentley," Louise called out. "Haven't we had a great time?"

"I should say you had," he answered, cap in hand. "You're the life saver, aren't you?"

"She's it," sang out Margaret gleefully.

"Oh, say, girls" (now Bentley's bashfulness was threatening him), "did any of you lose a bag?"

For a moment neither Margaret nor Louise remembered Elizabeth's lost bag with the shoes and stockings on the beach. Then it flashed on Margaret—

"Oh, yes with some other things," she stammered. "You know, Louise, Elizabeth left her bag with the things on the beach, moonlight bathing night—"

"Yes, that's so," said Louise. "Why, Bentley? Did you find a bag?"

"No, but I saw one in a shop, and I thought it might belong to some one of you girls. What sort did you lose?"

Neither girl knew much about the lost bag, but Louise thought it might be a blue crochet.

"Yes, that's it," said Bentley. "It has a tassel on it and it's blue. I'll get it for you next time I go over to Jake's," he offered.

"Is it at Jake's?" exclaimed Kitty. "That's where I saw the dandy pumps with buckles on, and the swellest silk stockings. Louise, I'll get the bag for you, because I'm going over to Jake's to buy some of those things!"

"Oh," exclaimed Louise, in a gale of laughter. "Those are our pumps and stockings. They were taken off from the beach."

"You don't say?" and Kitty's tone allayed any possible suspicion. "That's just like Jake. Buys everything the boys offer, and no questions asked, just like they say in the papers. I tell you, I'll come around when I can," this rather dubiously, "and I'll get you girls, and we'll go and raid Jake. It'll do him good."

When she raced off with Bentley and Leonore turned toward the village the scouts were still shaking with laughter.

"We are to raid Jake's. Remember that," said Margaret.

"But we will surely have to make a contribution to Kitty," said Louise. "She has had her eye on your buckles, Maggie."

"Why didn't you see the patient all the way home?" asked Leonore, when they stopped for the other girls at the Post Office.

"Oh, why didn't we?" reiterated Louise. "Leonore, she lives on forbidden ground. We have had a glimpse of it and hope for more, but we have to bide-a-wee, don't we, Margaret? Get me a quart of those peaches," she called out to Cleo, who seemed spellbound before a fruit stand.

"And I want new apples," ordered Margaret. "Don't take any old cold storage stuff. I want new ones, if they do pizen me," she declared.

"How folks stare," whispered Louise. "I'll have to leave off this handy little uniform for a while."

"Not at all," protested Margaret. "We want folks to know who we are. I feel like giving the cheer this very minute."

But the return of the marketers forestalled any such danger. Apples and peaches, and even a big melon, were piled in the car by the boy from the Italian fruit stand, and then Cleo insisted on every one having a soda before going back to Ocean Avenue.

The drug store, where the best soda was served, filled many other civic needs than those of supplying sundaes and prescriptions. It also served as a town information bureau, and just now, while the girls were waiting for their order, a very pompous woman in the spickest, spannest white duck outfit, was asking questions from the prescription clerk.

The girls heard him mention "the Point" and at this they stopped talking to "listen in."

"But I must get my messages as quickly as they are received," said the white duck woman. "It is of the utmost importance."

"Wireless messages have to be relayed," explained the man, "and besides that, we can't always get a boat over to the place." His voice was vindictive.

"All right, but please be more careful," said the woman. "It is not a matter of money, you know."

"We only have one kind of charge," fired back the clerk rather angrily. "Our boys are paid for their time, and that's all we ask." He turned away to answer the telephone, and the haughty creature left the drug store. As she did she made no excuse for an impertinent survey of the girls, sipping their sodas.

"Know us the next time," said Cleo.

"Surely will," added Louise.

"And getting wireless messages for Luna Land! Now I'm all excited," and Margaret tried to make use of two drug store fans, one in each hand.

"It is flabbergasting," gulped Louise, finishing her soda. "That white duck reminds me of something."

"Of Kitty's nurse," Margaret exclaimed. "I think though, the wireless one has a crackle the hospital brand lacks. Kitty's nurse was quite noiseless."

"That one wasn't, though," declared Julia. "She had enough starch in that outfit to defy even the Sea Crest dampness. Perhaps that was the real idea. Come on, scouts. Do you recall Neal is to take us out in his new launch?"

"And did you hear he is going to call it the Treddie, after us?" added Grace.

"Yes, wanted to make it True Tred, but we told him that was copyrighted," explained Julia.

"Shall we dare ask for a trip to the Point?" inquired Helen. "That was the plan you know; first trip in the new launch."

"We'll see. But come on, do. Leonore, you are a dear, to take us all about, and listen to our prattle," Cleo told the capable driver who had long since finished her soda, and was waiting patiently for the younger girls.

"I like it," she replied with evident sincerity.

"You shall have a box of sunburn cream for that," sang out Louise. "What is your brand? Or would you rather have a talcum?"

Selecting from the bewildering display at the counter of summer toilet articles consumed still more time, until finally, realization that it was really lunch time, the fire bell announcing it, brought them all up sharply.

"Wish we had our slippers and pumps back," said Grace. "These emergency sneaks certainly look the part. When did Kitty say we were to raid Jake's?"

"No definite time was set, as they say about delayed scout meetings," replied Margaret, "but I could use my pretty buckled pumps this very afternoon."

"Wait a minute," Helen called to a news boy. "We want a paper!" They always seemed to want something when in town.

"Look! Look!" exclaimed Margaret, securing the sheet while some one else paid the boy. "We are all over the front page. Louise Hart, we will have to appoint a body guard for you, or the people will kidnap you. Just read this!"

"Oh, just listen," insisted Cleo. "It says the Sea Crest Life Savers are going to ask the naval authorities to acknowledge the brave act——"

But Louise had fallen back in a mock faint—The glory of the aftermath was getting a bit too thick for comfort.



CHAPTER XX

A REVELATION

"ANYWHERE you like, and the bottom, not the sky, is the limit." It was Neal, replying to the girls' request for a trip to the Point in the Treddie.

The party included Grace, Louise, Julia, Helen, Cleo, Isabel, Elizabeth and Corinne, the last named having run up from the Windward, to spend a few days with her school companions at Sea Crest.

"A regular excursion," said Elizabeth. "We should have brought eats."

"We may find them," suggested Neal, turning over his engine, whereat the Treddie chugged off.

"This may look like an excursion, girls," said Cleo, "but it feels like an expedition. I'm quivering with excitement."

"And I'm all goose flesh with apprehension," followed Louise. "How do we know what we are going to run into on Looney Land?"

"We don't. There would be no fun in it if we did," Grace told her. "I've come armed. If bears or lions howl at me they'll get ammonia from my tree," she rhymed, exhibiting Benny's water pistol.

"Spoof," Corinne exclaimed; "I thought we had wild terrors up at Windward, but we haven't come across bears nor injuns. Wish I had brought my illegal sling shot that I only use in self defense."

"Treddie can tread," remarked Isabel. "Who was it walked on the water?"

"Ancient or modern?" flipped Louise. "I'm busy thinking of walking on air just now."

"Which way do you want to go first?" asked Neal, turning a little from his steering wheel.

"To the Point," called Cleo.

"Thought we were sure, positive, no mistake, going to Looney Land this time," grumbled Julia.

"So we are but we will stop off at the Point, and feel the lay of the land first. We may get a line on the wild animals, you know."

"I like motor boating even better than sail boating, and I thought the Blowell was perfect." This was Cleo's comment on the Treddie's trip, as the launch skimmed over the river and bay, rejoicing in every wave presented to her bow.

"We won't get stuck on a sand bar, at any rate," reflected Louise. "This boat has power enough to push itself off."

"But we could get engine troubles," Neal warned. "Although I don't anticipate any such disaster. Which one of you girls lives in the Gordon house?" he asked presently.

"I do," said Grace. "Don't tell me they are coming back for anything?"

"No, not just that," replied Neal; "but Dick Gordon is my chum. He has been out with a yachting party all summer, the Altons of New York, you know, and I had a line from his last port. He will be back in about a week. I'm awfully anxious to see him. We have great times always, but he got in service, through the Canadian lines, and I got—left, so I haven't seen Dick since."

"They took very young boys in the Canadian service just before the armistice I know," said Cleo, "for my seventeen-year-old brother ran over there, and got the 'wings' the day before Peace Day."

"Yes, that is how Dick made it," explained Neal. "But now he's getting back, a little late but mighty welcome."

"I suppose he will want a look at his old room," said Grace. "It is just as he left it, I believe."

"Yes, Dick has a hobby for sea stuff, and his marine room was his pride. But he won't bother you folks any; he isn't that sort," said Neal.

"Now Grazie," teased Elizabeth, "look out for your window."

"Rather I'll leave a love note on the sill, like the lady-faire of old," retorted Grace. "At any rate he is apt to call on me."

"Here we are at the Point," called out Julia. "Don't fall overboard in landing."

"If you want to go in at the island, after you have looked around here, there is a perfect stone arch at the other end. I'll take you over that way, if you like. It's one of the prettiest spots around here," suggested Neal.

"Oh, yes, that will be splendid," Louise answered. "We have seen the island from two sides, and that must be at the extreme other end."

There was no visible apprehension expressed in the way the girls landed at the point, and if they experienced such emotion, it was thoroughly disguised, for as a troop they simply besieged the strip of land, with one grand, vigorous yell.

No Tenderfoots seemed included, but rather seasoned woodsmen; eager to climb, to beat down trails, "to confront the enemy" with open or closed fists—such daring indeed was manifested in their act of possession.

"I'm so glad we came in at this end," said Cleo. "With all that shouting the little woman at the ice cream stand might take fright and go. Then what would we do for eats?"

"Oh, there comes the carrier pigeon!" explained Grace. "Come on to the birches. See, he is going to land in there, same as he did before."

"Yes, that's Lovey," declared Cleo. "I'm so glad all the girls will have a chance to see him. Hurry, and don't make too much noise."

The graceful little gray dove was floating through the air, without a flutter of wing—just sailing on the breeze. Following Cleo's lead the girls made their way through the thicket, and presently were in the low, soft, velvety patch, the sort of maiden-hair grass that grows under the trees.

"Here we are," almost whispered Isabel, for the bird was about settled on a tuft of meadow grass.

"Oh, here's Kitty!" exclaimed Grace. "Kitty girl, what are you hiding from?"

And there, crouched at the foot of a tree was Kitty. She looked like nothing so much as a toad-stool, a bit of human fungus growth, at the foot of that gentle birch tree. Her knees drawn up, and bare feet hiding in her bedraggled gingham skirt, Kitty was truly a sorry looking figure.

"What is it?" asked Isabel. The girls had grouped themselves around in semi-circle, and even Lovey, the waiting messenger, was for the moment forgotten.

Kitty raised her head and confessed to a pair of very red eyes. Her lips were trembling and the little cords of her face twitching.

"I heard a racket, and thought she had sent them after me," stammered Kitty. "But it was only you," and just the glint of a smile played through her grief.

"Who was coming after you? Whom did you fear, Kitty? Tell us!" asked Louise, slipping down on the green, beside the crouching figure.

"Aunt Hannah. She came back from New York, and we didn't expect her. Somehow she found out about—about the accident, and she was furious."

"Your Aunt Hannah?" pressed Grace. The girls sensed tragedy now.

"Says she is, but she ain't, I'm going to ask Captain Dave for my papers and prove it." Kitty was recovering her courage, perhaps at the thought of battle.

Louise longed to throw her arms about the child and tell her that her precious papers were that very moment in the Hart family safe, but she knew the time had not come for the revelation.

"And she said she'd send them after me," moaned Kitty. "So I'm goin' to run away."

"Send whom after you?" followed Corinne.

"The reform school people, and I would be put behind bars for life." The sharp dark eyes gleamed until it seemed sparks would fly, but they were glints of pure terror, the girl was panic-stricken.

"Just don't you worry, Kitty. We'll stand by you, and you shall never be put in such a place," Julia assured her. "Have you forgotten Captain Dave?"

"No, but she is so much smarter than any one else. And I can't get off this Point without she sees me, and then she might send the police after me."

That the fearful threat had been held over poor Kitty's head was now easily guessed—perhaps this was why she had been so secretive about Luna Land?

"I'll run down to the dock and tell Neal to sail around the bay for a half hour," suggested Cleo. "Then, we can sit right down and talk things over with Kitty."

"And here is Lovey with a letter from Bentley," said Kitty, now turning to the pigeon that had been hopping about, and picking at invisible bugs. "Whatever would I have done without Bentley. Come, Lovey!"

Tame as a kitten the pigeon strutted up to Kitty's hand. She fondled it, gave it some crumbs from her pocket, then, from under the gray and white wing took the tiny quill that held the message.

Cleo had returned, and the girls looked on in wonder, while Kitty unrolled the little slip, and deciphered the message.

"Yes, she's over there yet, Bentley says. And Royal is crying for me." At this she threw up the tousled head and glared defiance.

"I'm going right back," she cried. "She shan't scare me off now. That's just what she wants to do. She wants to steal Royal away, but she shan't, she shan't!" and only a hold on Kitty's arm, made as the girls realized she was running off, held her for another moment.

"Who is Royal?" demanded Cleo. "Tell us! We must know."

"I can't tell you. I'm pledged not to, and don't you think I have to keep a pledge? Do I?" This last was almost an appeal.

"If it is a good pledge," answered Louise quickly.

"I don't know whether it is good or bad," said Kitty freeing herself, "but I know I must get to Royal."

"Can't we go with you?" asked Grace. "We are not afraid of any old Aunt Hannahs."

"Oh, no, no, please, not yet. That would be so much worse. I have to be so tricky to save Royal, and if she suspected me I would lose everything. Not that I care for her old hundred dollars now. I wouldn't even take it," she declared.

The girls were puzzled. Royal, it appeared, must be some child that Kitty was protecting, and this woman was holding a threatening club over Kitty's head.

"Are you positive we can't come right over there and fight things out for you, Kitty?" asked Grace with a brave voice. "We have been waiting around here all summer for that sort of thing."

"No, no," wailed the child, now running toward the little skiff which lay under the willow at the water's edge. "I'll call you if I get in trouble. See that high rock over on the far side of the island? Well, you can see that all the way from Sea Crest, and if you see a lantern hanging in that tree to-night, come. If it's day-time I'll put a white flag up, and the wind will wave it, but I don't believe she'll make trouble just now. All I was afraid of was being put away, and now I see why she said that. She just wanted me to run away. But I shan't. I'll stay, and I'll take care of little Royal."

She was gone. Her oars lapped the waves and sent back their brave message as she turned into the cove that faced Luna Land.

"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Cleo.

"I expected you to say something a little more original," remarked Grace. "But I don't quite blame you. It is bewildering."

"And Royal!" repeated Helen. "Royal made our signs and played with the little tools!"

"And signed his name Peter Pan," recalled Louise.

"Why should Kitty be watching a child with such a swell name?" queried Julia.

"Why all the other things?" replied Elizabeth.

"There's Neal's toot. We must go," announced Isabel.

"I wish we could circle around the island," suggested Cleo. "No harm in that, surely. Every one goes as they please on the bay."

"Grand idea!" exclaimed Helen. "Maybe we could see into the island from the boat. Come on. Hope Neal has some more time to spare."

The owner of the Treddie was glad to circle the little isle, and when all had jumped in the launch, the trip home began with that preliminary dash.

"I'll slow down so you can get a good look," Neal told them, and he understood enough about the interest in Luna Land to do his part.

All eyes were strained toward the shore.

"There's the pretty, rocky ledge Neal told us about," remarked Isabel. "Just see! It's like a movie rock. What a pretty arch it forms."

But even the natural beauty of the rocky alcove did not furnish the point of interest they searched for.

"Would you imagine that place hid human life?" said Cleo, a little disappointed. "Not even a tree branch moves."

"Dense foliage," added Grace. "It would be pretty hard to see anything through those trees."

The launch was covering the last strip of water that lapped the island. Every one seemed tense with an anxious sort of interest.

Suddenly Helen jumped up.

"Look," she called. "Over by the arch!"

"The white duck lady!" cried Cleo. "See, she is looking at us through glasses."

"Sit down Helen," ordered Grace. "Don't pretend we are interested, or she will know this launch."

They were not far from the shore, and it was easy to discern the figure on the rock, who evidently used the glasses to make sure of the faces in the launch.

"Maybe she's looking for her wireless," said Isabel.

"Well, I am doubly sorry for Kitty if that's Aunt Hannah," declared Julia, and then the Treddie left Luna Land behind.



CHAPTER XXI

ON LUNA LAND

GRACE tapped at the side window of the Log Cabin; she had climbed over the little stile-steps that mounted the fence between Rosabell and Cleo's cottage, and now she waited at the window for a sign of life within, for it was early, and summer folks could sleep late. Her round dimpled face was pressed to the pane with a rather serious look, and anyone might know to see her, that Grace was troubled.

Cleo answered the call, throwing open the latticed window, and almost kissing Grace in the act.

"Come in, Grazia. Why so early? Looking for the story book worm?" Cleo greeted.

"I'm glad you are not out—on the lake I mean," answered Grace. "I'll come around to the side porch, Cleo, I must talk with you."

On the big swing made of interlaced white birchwood, the two chums perched, and Grace promptly undertook to unburden her mind.

"Cleo dear," she said, "I am so worried about Kitty. How do we know but that woman may have locked her up, or something?"

"Strange, Grazia, I have been thinking just that myself. But how are we to find out without jeopardizing Kitty's interests? She begged us not to go over there."

"I know, Cleo, but I have a plan. You and I can go to the Point. We will ask Tommie Johnston to row us over. He would not be busy so early, and a row boat doesn't make any noise. Then, we can go over to the island, and just feel our way around."

"Splendid," agreed Cleo. "I'll be ready in a jiffy. Are you ready?"

"Just have to tell Benny I'm going up the river," replied Grace. "We can easily be back in an hour."

Tommie Johnston could go, and was glad to give the girls a sail in his freshly-painted boat, but he wagged his head seriously when Cleo said she had a message for Kitty, and was going to take it straight over to the island.

"Miss Morehouse is over there," he said in warning, "I saw her sailin' around in her hospital clothes yesterday."

"We don't mind. Is she Aunt Hannah?" Cleo asked.

"Yes, that's the dame. Miss Hannah Morehouse, boss of Looney Land," replied Tommie, "and you've got a lot of nerve to trespass on her territory. She's mighty strict."

"We are going to try it," insisted Grace, whereat Tommie pulled harder than ever on his oars.

They stopped at the Point but everything was quiet there, if the wildest chirping of birds, and fluttering of all feathered creatures be overlooked. Before the human world moves birds seem happiest, and surely wildest, so that on the dewy summer morning, Grace and Cleo stepped onto the Point and into a perfect medley of bird language.

"No one around here," commented Cleo. "Don't let us waste time."

They hurried back to Tommie's boat, just in time to see a launch cut by. In it was the white duck woman, Miss Hannah Morehouse.

"There she goes," said Tommie, with abroad and noisy grin. "You're in luck."

"And we are glad of it," admitted Cleo, popping into the boat.

"Which side shall we land at?" asked the boat man, as they brushed the sandy shore.

"We don't know," answered Cleo. "Which way do you think is best? We would like to get on a quiet end, not near the cottages, if there are any?" said Grace.

"Don't know much about it," said Tommie. "But I guess the far end is best—over by the Cave of the Winds," he finished, pointing his boat toward the rocky arch on the far side of the little island.

The two scouts stepped cautiously ashore. That end of the island was banked with huge rocks that shot up almost straight, forming a natural fort, with the rugged, artistic arch at its base. Under the arch Grace and Cleo felt their way, and their attention was almost immediately arrested by a series of the pasteboard cards, signed "Peter Pan."

"Little Royal's work," said Grace quietly. "Wonder if we shall see him?"

Up from the rocks a sparkling little stream played. Its origin was a spring under a hill, and as it trickled along, in the tender growth of green, the girls felt instinctively the beauty of the little spot so hidden and isolated from the inhabitants of Sea Crest.

"Lovely!" breathed Cleo. "Little Royal could hardly be lonely here."

"Oh, yes, he could," contradicted Grace. "A child wants more than scenery to play with."

They had gone but a short distance in the woods when something was heard threshing through the bushes.

"It's he," said Cleo, and she secretly hoped no armed caretaker might appear with the child.

A sudden swish, then from under a tangled elderberry bush there emerged a darling little boy. At the sight of the intruders he stood stock still in evident amazement.

"Oh, I knew you would come!" he exclaimed, clapping his little hands in glee. "I knew my letters would reach you! What are your names, fairies? Please tell me, and are we going right now to Mama?"

"How do you do, little boy," said Cleo. "Are you Royal?"

"Yes, I'm Royal, and I know who you are. I've been expecting you a very long time."

He came forward a little hesitatingly. Grace could not resist rushing up to him and throwing her arms about the pretty child.

"Oh, you perfectly darling little boy," she exclaimed. "We know who you are, for Kitty has told us," and she hugged him quite indecorously for a fairy.

He was so pretty. His light hair cropped at his ears did not succeed in preventing curls to tangle and his blue eyes were roguish as even a baby boy's should be. With these unerring features his color reflected the outdoor treatment, and his little form evinced unmistakably that quality for which we have no better term than "good breeding."

Cleo stooped to pay her homage, and when Grace released Royal she caught him up.

"Why do you want to go to mama?" she asked. "Where is mama?"

"Oh, far away, and she cannot get back till the Royal comes in. Her boat is Royal too," he said proudly.

"And who takes care of you?" pressed Grace, keeping in mind the prospect of almost any interruptions spoiling this valued confidence.

"Kitty-dear does. There is Hannah, of course, but I don't like her, and I do like Kitty-dear," he said, with a brave echo in his childish voice.

"And where do you live? Where is your house?" Cleo was peering through the trees, but could see no sign of anything like a dwelling.

"Oh, I haven't any house; I must live outdoors. Dr. Grant ordered it, and I must roll in the mud. But I get tired rolling, and there isn't any real mud here, except what Kitty-dear fetches in the boat. Then we make mud pies, and that's fun. But you are going to take me for a boat ride now, aren't you? I have wanted one for such a long time." His voice was wistful, and his blue eyes were fastened on the boat, that through the trees could be seen, rocking on the water's edge, where Tommie waited.

"Where is Kitty?" asked Cleo without answering the appeal for a long delayed boat ride.

"She's busy with Uncle Pete," replied Royal. "Hannah wants lots of things done when she comes, but sometimes she gives Kitty-dear money, then we have cookies, but we never dare tell Hannah, 'cause I'm not allowed cookies," he said with a cute twist of his yellow head. "But you are the fairies who took my letters, aren't you? I knew when they were gone from their letter boxes on the birch trees, that I would surely get an answer! And see, I was right!"

"I think I hear Kitty coming," said Grace. "Yes, here she is."

"Well, I never," called Kitty gleefully. "Look who blew in!"

"Hello, Kitty," called back Cleo, delighted to notice the high spirits Kitty flaunted. "We just did blow in from the bay to make a very early call. Hope we haven't interrupted any gardening?" This applied to Kitty's outfit, for she wore blue overalls, and a boy's cap, that looked better on her cropped head than could any other sort of hat, and her bare feet completed a really charming rustic picture.

"Gardening, you said it!" exclaimed Kitty in pardonable slang. "That's what I have to do when 'her nibs' is in town. But thank goodness she's out for the day, and may have to run up to the city" (this in a mocking tone). "I hope she does, and I hope she gets tripped up in the run so she can't get back for a while. What do you think of my little Royal? I call him little Boy Blue, and he calls me Bo Peep, don't we have good times, Roy?"

In answer the small boy rubbed his head against Kitty's overalls, like a fond little kitten.

"We felt we must see you, Kitty," said Cleo seriously, "and we'll have to talk fast, as we left home so early and have to get back. Tommie is in the boat, and he too, must get back to the landing. Kitty, are you all right? and is everything all right?"

"Pretty much," said Kitty with a little wink in Royal's direction. "I'm glad you came and would—you—like to see our lodgings?"

"I'm afraid we can't wait this time," said Grace thinking it would be like Brother Benny to raise a still alarm that Grace had gone to that Looney Land. "But we can come back again soon."

"You are going to take me with you," gleefully announced the boy making a start toward the rocky arch.

"Oh, Roy dear, you wouldn't leave Kitty," protested the little caretaker. "You know we are both going together—"

"But these are my fairies," and tears welled into the saucer blue eyes. "I can't—can't let them go away!" Two monster tears rolled right into the quivering lips.

Cleo and Grace felt very helpless in this sort of predicament. It was one thing to dive off piers, and fish boys or girls out of the depths, but how to bank a flood of baby tears?

Kitty knew. She took Royal in her arms and attempted to hoist him up a tree.

"Peter Pan," she said severely. "See that cloud floating by! That's our airship, and very, very soon I promise we shall go to mother's land—in our ship of love. You see, these are the messenger fairies (she did not know what truth she spoke,) and they will soon return," she finished grandly.

Grace and Cleo felt impelled to be fairies, and each raised fluttering arms, saved from comic effect by the love they betrayed in their smiling assent.

"Yes, we surely will come back very soon," declared Grace. "And Little Peter Pan, you may watch us from your tree. We have a power boat—and a row boat—you can tell us by a signal. When we come we will wave a blue flag—a light blue one, like a piece of the sky," finished Grace.

"All right," said the child, a little dolefully. "But I sat in the tree so often in my nighty, and Kitty-dear built steps so I could go up and down—" He paused, and bravely brushed away another big tear, with a motion that indicated dislike for feeble symbols.

"Well hurry," said Cleo, seizing the chance of escape. "Good-bye little Royal-Boy-Blue-Peter Pan," she said merrily. "And good-bye, Kitty. Send a letter by Lovey dove, or by Bentley, and we will answer promptly."

Kitty understood, and as they turned for a last look before stepping into Tommie's boat, they saw her holding Royal, as high on her shoulder as she could prop him; and he was wildly waving Kitty's blue cap.



CHAPTER XXII

A COMEDY OF THE ROCKS

"OH, I am so excited, Cleo. Everything is happening at once. The girls have been down to Captain Dave's and he was delighted with his pipe and things, and Neal seized the loving cup. Says it belongs to his club, the one Dick Gordon was in. And—" she paused for breath, Cleo jumped in the opening.

"Grazia, dear, don't choke. I am all of a flutter myself. Louise has had her father look over Kitty's papers, and it is almost too commonplace to tell, but it is just perfectly lovely, all the same. The name 'Schulkill' is on the deed to the property over at Luna Land, and the name Morehouse, that's the Aunt Hannah and Uncle Pete name, is only told of in Kitty's mother's letters. It will be very easy to establish Kitty's claim, Mr. Hart thinks, and Louise is so full of the news she wants to fly back to the island to tell Kitty without waiting for the message."

"I don't blame her. We hoped there would be one important paper in that packet, there always is, else why all the tin box care? But isn't it strange a man like benevolent old Captain Dave never suspected such a thing? Men just seem to think women carry tin boxes out of shipwrecks to take care of hair pins, and little things like that."

"I told the girls to wear their uniforms and Neal promised to take us all over this afternoon," Cleo continued. "Oh, Grace, I never quite expected so much excitement, but I must admit I love it," said the courageous scout.

How the True Treds congregated, ready for the sail over the bay in the valiant Treddie need not be told, for the very next noticeable thing was they were all together, and ready for a start, piling into the launch, like an encore to their previous excursion. Everybody chatted, and chinned, and giggled, and asked questions; and the sky blue flag Grace carried folded in her blouse caused no end of comment.

"Louise has had a double share of glory," said Helen, adding more to the share in her own tone of admiration. "She made a rescue, and found Kitty's deed to Luna Land."

"But the curtain is not rung down yet," Cleo reminded her. "No telling what may happen this very afternoon."

The boat clipped the waves so merrily the Point loomed in view almost before the girls realized they had entered the cove.

"There's Bentley!" called Grace. "See, he is just standing on the dock, and he has a suitcase. Turn in there a minute, Neal, please. We would speak to him."

Quickly as he spied the Treddie, Bentley waved his cap in signal for them to come in.

"There," added Cleo; "he has a message, I think. See, he has a paper in his hand."

"Don't get out," the boy called. "I'll throw it in," and wrapping a piece of paper weighted with a pebble, around the smaller slip, he easily tossed the message into Julia's lap.

"It's addressed to the scouts," said Louise. "You read it, Cleo."

The engine had not been turned off, so that it readily picked up speed again, as the girls waved gayly to Bentley. Cleo smoothed out the little note anxiously, and every one saw it was written on the old-time yellow paper. Cleo read aloud:

"Bentley is going home and I won't stay here any longer. Watch for my wig-wag signal from the stone arch, and come to rescue me and Royal. Must watch for chance. About three, maybe." It was signed "Kitty."

"Another wig-wag rescue," repeated Helen, fluttering with excitement. "Won't it be splendid to take them both away?"

"But what shall we do with them?" asked Isabel. "I know one doesn't dare take even a lost child indoors without danger of arrest."

"Then we'll keep them on the porch," replied Cleo crisply.

"And we can notify Captain Dave or even our police officer. Then there will be no possibility of complications," said Louise.

Another swing around the tail of the point, and Luna Land lay before them. All eyes were strained toward the rocky summit over the arch.

"I see her!" shouted Julia. "Remember I saw her first," and she stood to wave her camp hat in one hand and a handkerchief in the other.

"Yes," added Grace, throwing the blue cheesecloth to the breeze, "there they are!" Kitty was waving her white flag against the green foliage background. "Oh, Neal go in quickly. Some one may catch them before we can reach them."

Not another word was spoken until the launch scraped the rocks.

"Stay where you are!" called Kitty. "We have to jump."

"Why? They may be hurt," protested Elizabeth. But her companions had realized the situation. Kitty wanted to reach the launch from the secluded corner of the rock, and would not risk embarking from the natural landing, with its view all open.

"Can we take the canvas?" Isabel asked Neal. A nod of his head gave permission, and before he seemed to know just what they were going to do, four of the girls had leapt to land. Cleo and Helen then tossed the bundled piece of awning over the side of the Treddie, and safely ashore, then climbed out themselves, and, like the firemen under burning buildings, stood the True Treds, with that big piece of canvas stretched under the leafy peak of the rocky archway.

"Ready!" called out Kitty.

A firmer grasp was made at every holding point, and then—a gentle thud.

Little Royal bounced like a circus baby in the life net.

Quickly two girls lifted him out and turned down to the launch, while the others held the net for Kitty, who came in with a jump that brought the rescuers to their knees, stifling a gale of laughter.

"All right—no bones broken," gasped Kitty. "Hurry, they may be after us!"

Quickly they all scrambled in the launch, while little Royal was in Neal's arms.

"I knew it, I knew it," he kept repeating. "And this is just like daddy's little boat—"

"Girls!" exclaimed Kitty, "I found your slippers and stockings and the bag among Aunt Hannah's things. They're in my bag."

"Where is she?" Cleo asked, too impatient to wait for a more opportune moment.

"She came back ready to take Roy away," Kitty said defiantly. "But I wouldn't trust her. I found a lot of papers and wireless messages, and I wouldn't let her sneak off with Royal. I just made up my mind she couldn't scare me any more, and I'd go to Uncle Dave's, and tell him all about it."

"You are right," declared Louise. "I don't know very much about it, but it can do no harm for this little darling to leave that island. He was a regular prisoner there."

"You said it!" replied Kitty. "And having the poor angel roll in the mud to get strong! Then sleeping in a hut to be outdoors, when I know positive, his folks paid her thousands of dollars to keep their child in a delightful high-class retreat—where everything was perfect, but very costly."

"Oh, was that it?" asked Grace, looking at little Royal, as he helped steer the boat.

"Yes, and more," insisted Kitty, her cheeks flaming with excitement. "She promised me a hundred dollars if I would keep every one off the island and look out for Roy. I thought it was a lot, but what about her thousands? Then, when I got in the accident the other day, and she was afraid folks might come here to see if I had pneumonia, she changed her mind, and refused to give me any money. Now she is back, and I know Royal's folks will soon be in New York and I just wouldn't trust her with him any more. That's why I had to ask you to rescue us. And you did!"

In spite of her excitement she could laugh, and the humor presently became an acute infection for every one was shouting at the comedy of the rocks. And Kitty looked so funny. She was dressed up, had shoes and stockings on, and a "warmed over" hat, with pathetically drooping roses around it; and then the bag, with the long, lost slippers!

"Come to my house first," insisted Grace. "I'm nearest."

"I am to meet my friend this afternoon," said Neal, who was so busy with the boy and his engine he had never even heard the child's name mentioned. "He got in this morning after a stormy trip," went on the young man, "but his yacht, the Royal, made it all right, and Dick promised to be down late this afternoon."

"The Royal!" gasped Kitty, Grace and Louise.

"That's my yacht," sang out the boy gleefully. "Daddy and Mother and Ricky are coming home on the Royal!"

"Oh joy!" shouted Louise, while Kitty gasped.

"Do you mean to say the young man who runs the yacht is coming to see you?" She had seized Neal's shoulders as if to confront him with some horrible crime.

"Careful," he said with a laugh. "You'll steer us against the dock. Yes, Richard Gordon who runs the Alton's yacht, Royal, is my friend," he answered, beginning to sense the true meaning of the affair.

Five minutes later it was a queer little procession that wended the short way from the landing to Rosabell cottage.

"I would like you to have seen the old dump," said Kitty, referring to Luna Land, "but I'll never go back there while Hannah is around. It's only a couple of shacks. Nothing to see but Bentley's camp. You see," in answer to the unspoken inquiry, "Bentley is an awful smart boy, who had to be taken out of school. He has a nice, good-natured big brother, Roger, who came down here, rented land from Uncle Pete, and pitched a couple of tents on Luna Land. They were on the other side of the island, but Ben had the carrier pigeons and we made up all kinds of outdoor games and he let me use all the yellow paper I wanted. He's gone back home, all well and ready for High School." This last sentence seemed to evoke a sigh from Kitty.

"That was why he had his book always with him," said Cleo, and they turned the corner to Rosabell.



CHAPTER XXIII

SCOUTS EVERY ONE

"WE have company," said Grace, noticing rather resentfully, that a strange figure occupied a corner of her porch. "And it's a man!"

They were almost up to the steps. Evidently Mrs. Philow was very much interested with her guest, for she could be seen gesticulating earnestly.

The girls quickened their steps and as they approached the figure turned, caught sight of the party of scouts, and stood with his cap in hand.

"It's Ricky!" cried Royal, breaking away from Kitty's hold and running to the young man, who now stared in undisguised amazement.

"Royal!" he called in answer. "As I live, our own little Royal!"

"Well," gasped Neal, attempting to get his greeting in. "Isn't this rather a surprise?"

"I should say so," answered his friend. "However did our bonny boy turn up here? I have burned out my wireless trying to get a word about him. Mrs. Alton is almost ill again worrying. Where have you been?" He was looking over the child with a familiar and critical eye.

"I've been in the woods with Kitty, rolling in the mud and sleeping in a tree hammock," announced the boy proudly. "And, please, Ricky, I'm going to take Kitty home with me. She hasn't any nice girl's things in the woods."

Mrs. Philow and Leonore were standing waiting for an opportunity to extend hospitality.

"This young man just came to take a peek at his old room, Grace," the mother explained. "You see, he is the Mr. Gordon we have been hearing about, and now to think everybody knows everybody—"

Leonore was blushing prettily. Neal had stepped aside to speak with her. No doubt, he was praising the running of his launch, and inviting her to try it.

Kitty edged up to Royal and pinched his fat little leg. "You're not going to give me up, are you?" she said timidly.

"Nopy-nope!" answered Royal. "You must come too. Ricky, where is mother? Take me to her."

"I am going to do just that," replied the good-looking sailor.

"Oh, no, please don't," begged Kitty. "I couldn't let Roy go out of my sight—I wouldn't," she protested.

"But you may all come along. How would that be?" replied Richard Gordon. "My launch is lying at the pier, and the Royal is at anchor just over there."

"And is our big yacht out there?" asked the little boy.

"Surest thing," answered the yachtsman.

"But how do I know—know you are not a kidnapper?" Kitty stammered suddenly.

Every one laughed, but Kitty's distress was genuine.

"He is not a kidnapper, Kitty. He is my Ricky," said Royal. "Please hurry and take me to mother."

The girls were too surprised at the whole proceedings to venture any suggestion, but upon being pressed by Neal and Dick, it was arranged that all hands should take a flying trip out to the launch, and see Royal presented to his mother.

Kitty objected—said she was afraid of the ocean, and made other excuses, but when she finally realized that the little boy would be taken off without her if she did not go, she at last consented.

"Another excursion," called out Cleo. "Come on girls, the more the merrier," and chaperoned by Leonore, the party undertook that delightful sight—seeing a millionaire's yacht.

A more dramatic picture than Kitty on that wonderful yacht can scarcely be imagined. It was awe-inspiring to every one, but to this quaint, picturesque little figure, it was nothing short of marvellous. Once Royal saw the slender, dainty little woman, he called "Muzzer" there was no longer any doubt as to the genuineness of the claim, in Kitty's mind.

"Yep," she said. "That's the lady he talked about, that's his mother."

"And to think I would have sailed away again without my baby, but for you," said Mrs. Alton to Kitty. "How can I ever thank you?"

"I loved him, and we had good times," explained the girl, "but I would never have been brave enough to get away from Aunt Hannah but for these scouts. I'm going to be a Girl Scout as soon as I get in a higher grade," she said emphatically.

It was quite a task to decide what to do with Kitty. They finally arranged that the two young men, Neal and Dick, would run around to the island, and brave the fury of Miss Hannah Morehouse, in a manner calculated to quiet any possible objections on her part. In fact Royal's father sent a very strong message, charging her with misusing the funds given in her charge, to be expended for his little son.

"The whole proceeding is an outrage," declared the millionaire. "When the doctor ordered a sea voyage for my wife, and said it would be injurious to the child, this woman made plans to take the boy, live in the open, and roll in the mud and so forth."

"She did that all right," broke in Kitty.

"It seemed feasible," he continued, "and while she said it would be costly—that did not matter," turning to the group. "Why, I feel only the brave fight of this child has saved him for us. And I am not sure what course I shall pursue in dealing with Hannah Morehouse."

"Only Daddy!" begged the golden-haired boy, who clung to his mother, "please don't let her come around here. She's too mean to Kitty and me, and we don't ever want to see her again, do we Kitty-dear?"

"All ashore, who are going ashore!" called out Neal, and at that the happy party climbed back into the Runner, the auxiliary launch of the yacht, Royal, and in a few minutes were again at Sea Crest.

"And you can come back with me, Kitty," begged Julia. "I have a big house and you can have a room to yourself until you are ready to go to school as Mrs. Alton wishes to arrange."

"And Kitty," said Louise, when the bewildered child was quiet enough to listen, "you need not worry about the hundred dollars Miss Hannah refuses to pay you for you own a lot of property on Luna Land."

"Aunt Hannah's property!" she gasped. "I knew it. I'll run her off the place, but I'll build a nice little house for good old Uncle Pete."

"Here's your bag," said Grace; "don't lose it."

"Oh, wait, girls, sit down until I give you your stockings and things." They dropped down on the terrace, and she dragged the things from her bag. She drew a purse from the very bottom of the satchel, and looked around before she opened it.

"Now wait," she said again, biting her thin lips. Then she pulled out a piece of yellow paper from a rusty leather purse.

"Our fire-bug threat," exclaimed Louise. "How did you get that?"

"I wanted to tell you long ago, I was the Weasle, but it wasn't all my fault. Aunt Hannah said if I acted queer folks would shun me, and then I didn't have to worry so about hiding Royal.

"When I got started at it, it seemed like fun. I had no girl friends, and I liked to scare the others, so I used to fix fires on the beach, and let them get fanned into flames by the wind. But I never set fire to chicken coops, and those other places. I guess robbers did that. Then, as soon as you girls came around, and acted so brave about it, I saw it was more fun to have friends than to scare them off," she finished with an expression of genuine contrition.

"Well, it's all right now, Kitty, and you have been very brave to watch so faithfully over Royal. That was good scouting," said Isabel.

"But think of Louise saving my life from the pier?" she exclaimed.

"And what a fine moving picture we all made holding that life net for you this afternoon," Cleo reminded her, laughingly.

"I can't quite believe it about the papers," Kitty reflected aloud.

"The tin box is in my daddy's safe, but the deeds to Luna Land are being searched by lawyers," explained Louise.

"Suppose we stop at Captain Dave's and tell him all the news first," suggested Margaret.

"All agreed!" called Helen and it was almost sun down before the group in front of the station, with Kitty Schulkill as a centerpiece, disturbed the picture.

It was the end of a day, the end of a vacation, and is the end of our story, until we meet the happy little group in our next volume, to be called "THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP COMALONG."

THE END.



THE GIRL SCOUT SERIES

By LILIAN GARIS

12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid



The highest ideals of girlhood as advocated by the foremost organizations of America form the background for these stories and while unobtrusive there is a message in every volume.

1. THE GIRL SCOUT PIONEERS or Winning the First B. C.

A story of the True Tred Troop in a Pennsylvania town. Two runaway girls, who want to see the city, are reclaimed through troop influence. The story is correct in scout detail.

2. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE or Maid Mary's Awakening

The story of a timid little maid who is afraid to take part in other girls' activities, while working nobly alone for high ideals. How she was discovered by the Bellaire Troop and came into her own as "Maid Mary" makes a fascinating story.

3. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST or The Wig Wag Rescue

Luna Land, a little island by the sea, is wrapt in a mysterious seclusion, and Kitty Scuttle, a grotesque figure, succeeds in keeping all others at bay until the Girl Scouts come.

4. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP COMALONG or Peg of Tamarack Hills

The girls of Bobolink Troop spend their summer on the shores of Lake Hocomo. Their discovery of Peg, the mysterious rider, and the clearing up of her remarkable adventures afford a vigorous plot.

5. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT ROCKY LEDGE or Nora's Real Vacation

Nora Blair is the pampered daughter of a frivolous mother. Her dislike for the rugged life of Girl Scouts is eventually changed to appreciation, when the rescue of little Lucia, a woodland waif, becomes a problem for the girls to solve.

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Everybody Should Read

NOBODY'S GIRL

By HECTOR MALOT

NOBODY'S GIRL, published in France under the title "En Famille," follows "Nobody's Boy" as a companion juvenile story, and takes place with it as one of the supreme juvenile stories of the world. Like "Nobody's Boy" it was also crowned by the Academy, and that literary judgment has also been verified by the test of time.

Noble-minded little Perrine, left destitute and alone in the slums of Paris, must find her rich grandfather, several days' journey away, or no one knows what might happen to her. Even when she finds him, in the midst of his great factories, he may hate her because he had driven her father away from home and disinherited him. How she had the courage to go on and on until she reached Maraucourt, and obtained work in her grandfather's factory, and at last found a way into his heart, is through every step a story of the most absorbing interest to all lovers of childhood. She triumphs over all discomforts, perils and schemers with a firm faith in right things, and the perseverance of one unable to do wrong things. This disposition at last enables her to work great benefits for the people and ensures her the happiness of life lived at its best. This is one of the greatest of inspirational stories.

Loyal ideals, with their inspiring sentiments, are preserved through the most discouraging conditions. The building up of a little girl's life is made a fine example for every child.

12 mo. Illustrated. Beautiful cloth binding, stamped in gold with cover inlay and jacket in colors

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Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired. Varied hyphenation was retained, for example, bare-foot and barefoot and ball room and ball-room.

Page 52, "posible" changed to "possible" (possible to do so)

Page 83, "diectly" changed to "directly" (directly off the)

Page 112, "Captian" changed to "Captain" (The Captain shook)

Page 115, "realiable" changed to "reliable" (their reliable khaki)

Page 149, "you're" changed to "your" (Louise, your daddy)

Page 159, "towl" changed to "towel" (towel over the)

Page 177, "terrrors" changed to "terrors" (had wild terrors)

Page 188, "Luney" changed to "Looney" (boss of Looney)

Page 190, "It's" changed to "Its" (Its origin was a)

Page 192, "Hanorah" changed to "Hannah" (There is Hannah)

Page 197, "Teddie" changed to "Treddie" (the valiant Treddie)

THE END