unted to her cheeks, and her confusion
was plainly evident.

On the opposite side of the table Gallup nudged Teresa, who had been
placed at his left.

"Hey, Teresa," he whispered, "get onto Carker. Gol rap him! He's making
hay in a hurry."

"What ees eet you mean to make the hay?" questioned Teresa, puzzled. "To
me it seem that he make the love. He talk so verree low that nobody
except Juanita hear what he say, and Juanita she blush."

"That's right," chuckled Ephraim, "and, by Jim! Mrs. Morton is looking
daggers and hoss pistols."

Then he lifted his voice and addressed Carker.

"Hold on there, Greg!" he called. "You can't eat your soup with your
fork! Why don't you use a spoon?"

It was Carker's turn to be confused, but he forced a laugh.

"I have a lamentable habit of becoming abstracted in pleasant company,"
he said.

"Evidently you find your company extremely pleasant, Mr. Carker,"
observed Mrs. Morton, with a little toss of her head.

"Extremely is not quite the word, madam," he replied, with a bow.
"Absorbingly pleasant is far better."

CHAPTER XXII.

ANOTHER PILGRIM.

At intervals during the meal the sound of plaintive, doleful music
floated in through the open windows.

"Sounds like a baby squawking," observed Ephraim Gallup.

"Begobs! Oi thought it was some wan playing on bagpoipes," observed
Barney Mulloy. "Oi wonder whativer it can be, Oi dunno?"

Frank listened.

"To me it sounds like a cross between a clarinet, a flute, and a
piccolo," he smiled. "Some one is trying to furnish music for this
festive occasion."

He called one of the servants and asked her to find out the origin of
the peculiar doleful music.

In a few moments the girl returned and quietly explained that a
wandering musician had halted on the lawn and was performing on some
sort of a wind instrument.

"He's a bery funny-lookin' maan, Mr. Merriwell," grinned the girl. "He
suttinly am wearin' de oddest clo'es Ah eber seen. An' he's round an'
corperlous, wid de biggest fat cheeks when he blows, an' a yeller
mustache dat keeps wigwaggin' all de time."

Frank thrust his hand into his pocket, brought out a silver half dollar
and put it in the colored girl's palm.

"Give him this, Liza, and tell him to jog along," he said quietly.

But after Liza had performed the commission and returned to the dining
room the doleful notes of the wind instrument continued to float in
through the open windows.

"The wanderi