" said Tom soothingly. "We could not really be mad at
Ruth Fielding."

"Don't you feel that way yourself--the way she acts with Chess Copley?"

"I wouldn't mind punching 'Lasses' head," returned Tom. "But that's
different."

"Is that so? What do you know about their being out on the river together
right now? Humph!"

"Where have they gone?" asked her brother. "Why aren't you with them? Are
they alone?"

This brought out the full particulars of the affair, and Tom listened to
the end of a rather excited account of what had happened that
afternoon--both on the island where Helen and Ruth had been "marooned"
and here at the camp--together with the suspicions and curiosity about
the island which had been dubbed the Kingdom of Pipes. Nor did it lack
interest in Tom's ears in spite of his sister's rather excited way of
telling it.

"But look here," he asked. "Why didn't you go with Ruth and 'Lasses?"

"Humph! They didn't want me," sniffed Helen.

"Now, Helen, you know better. Ruth never slighted you in the world. I
know her better than that."

"Well, she makes too much of Chess Copley. She is always praising him up
to me. And I don't like it. I'll treat him just as I want to--so there!"

Tom looked rather sober at this. He hesitated a moment. He wanted to ask
his pettish sister a question, but evidently did not know how to go about
it.

"It can't be helped now, I suppose. They will be back after a while.
Where were they going besides to that crazy fellow's island?"

"Just there. That's all."

"Come on and watch me eat. I'm starved."

"Thanks! I watched the pythons fed at the zoo once," said Helen with
unwonted sharpness. "I will sit here till the scene of savagery is over.
You can come back."

"You are in a fine mood, I see," observed Tom, and went off chuckling.

Nevertheless, he was not feeling very happy himself over the thought that
Ruth and Chess Copley were out on the river together.

"Looks mighty fishy," muttered Tom Cameron. "I could punch 'Lasses' head,
the way I feel."

These thoughts seemed to take Tom's appetite away. To his sister's
surprise, he returned in a very few minutes to the front porch of the
bungalow.

"I told you that you had boa-constrictor habits," she gasped. "Why, Tom
Cameron! you must have swallowed your supper whole."

"I didn't swallow as much as I expected," returned the young man,
smiling. But he grew serious again. "How long was Chess going to stay out
in his boat?