to-day, they've been trying to find what became of the blue rocks that
Trouble made into a playhouse."

"I took those rocks, I'm sorry to say," answered the ragged man. "I'm
sorry to have spoiled Trouble's playhouse. I wanted those pieces of
rock, for I thought perhaps they were all I would ever be able to get of
the fallen star."

"Was the blue rock really once a star?" asked Hal.

"Well, yes, a part of one, or at least part of a meteor, or shooting
star, as they are called. Now I'll tell you all that happened, and I'm
sorry if I have frightened you. My friend and I didn't mean to.

"Some time ago," went on Mr. Weston, "we heard about Star Island--this
place that was so named because it was said a big meteor had landed here
many years back. Professor Anderson and I decided to come here and see
if we could find it for the museum which is connected with the college
in which Anderson teaches.

"For we knew that, though most meteors are burned up as they shoot
through the air before they strike the earth, yet some come down in big
chunks, and we wanted such a one if we could get it. So we hunted for it
all over this island. We saw you, but you were never very near.
Sometimes we stayed in the cave at night, but usually went back to the
mainland. All the while we were hunting for the blue rocks, for that is
the color of this particular meteor.

"A few nights before you folks came here to camp, when we were digging
in the ground hoping to find what we wanted, our shovel must have
struck a piece of the meteor, for there was a flash of blue fire that
burned for quite a while."

"We saw it," cried Ted, "and we didn't know what it was!"

"Teddy and me--we saw it!" added Jan.

"Well, that was all of the meteor we could find for some time," went on
Mr. Weston. "And as that burned up--was consumed--we didn't have any.
Then, the other night through the bushes we happened to come upon some
blue stones, and I took them away.

"Then my friend and I hunted again to find the big piece of the fallen
star, but we could not come across it. I was about to give up, but now
we are all right. I am so glad! Can you take me to the big blue rock?"

"We will to-morrow," answered Hal. "It's too dark to find it now."

"You had better stay in our camp until morning," was Grandpa Martin's
kindly invitation, and Mr. Weston did so.

"This meteor is a good bit like a sulphur match," said Mr. Weston. "When
anything hard, like iron or steel,