tley, who, on account of his weight, panted somewhat
as he ran.

"Did---these---young men frighten---you so badly---that you---made
such a commotion---and caused me nearly to breathe---my last in
running to---your aid?" demanded the good doctor gaspingly, his
eyes twinkling.

"No, sir; we came, like yourself, when we heard the girls scream,"
Dick Prescott explained.

Then, amid much talking, and with as many as three people speaking
at once, the story was quickly recounted for Dr. Bentley.

"We've seen the fellow before," Dick explained, "but he always
fakes alarm and vanishes. We call him our man of mystery---the
Man with the Haunting Face."

"Some poor, simple-minded fellow," suggested Dr. Bentley. "Probably
one whose mild mania leads him to prefer to live in the woods,
a regular hermit. My dears, I'm surprised that any of you should
be so easily startled and make such noisy testimony to your alarm."

"I'm indignant with myself now---when there are men standing by,"
laughed Belle. "But I wish you had seen that man's strange face,
Doctor."

"I would like to see it, and punch it, too!" muttered Dave.

"Not a bit of it!" objected Dr. Bentley heartily. "No doubt the
poor fellow is sadly afflicted mentally. He's what the Arabs
call a 'simple,' and the Arabs have a beautiful faith that all
'simples' are under the direct protection of Allah. So, woe to
him who offends one of Allah's 'simples.'"

"How do you boys come to be here?" asked Laura.

"I might ask the same question of your party," smiled Dick. "As
for us, we are away on a vacation fishing and camping trip."

"I knew you were going away," said Dr. Bentley, "but I didn't
know just where. We are touring again, in my seven-passenger
car. We are headed for the St. Clair Lake House, eight miles
below here. But the roads are so bad that the chauffeur said
it would take us more than an hour to get through. So I proposed
to Mrs. Bentley and the girls that we leave the car at the road
and cross over here to have our luncheon on the shore of this
second lake. I have been here before, and remember it as a beautiful
spot. Mrs. Bentley and the girls started on ahead, and I brought
up the rear with the baskets of food. But they got further ahead
of me than I thought. Now I must go back after the baskets, which
I set down before I started to run here. Greg, will you go back
with me and help me bring the baskets?"

Greg at once accompanied the physi