ly I
didn't want him to go hungry, and I know the appetites of my friends."

"Speak for yourself, if you please!" chided Mollie. "You eat as much as
any of us."

"I wonder if those two suspicious characters Mr. Hammond spoke of could
be the ones who followed us in the boat?" asked Amy, to change the
subject.

"They _could_ have been," remarked Grace, "but I wouldn't want to think
so."

"Why not?" asked Mollie.

"Because it would show that they were still following us."

"Perhaps it was unwise that I told them where we were from," said Betty,
"but I did it for the best. I didn't want them to think that we had no
friends near at hand."

"Of course," rejoined Amy. "You meant it all right. And they may not
have been the same ones at all. Mr. Hammond did not say they made
inquiries for us, or for that poor young fellow. What was it they called
him--'The Duck?'"

"'Loon--loon!'" corrected Betty, with a laugh.

"Well, I knew it was some kind of a bird," asserted Amy. "I wonder why
they called him that?"

"A loon is supposed to be a crazy sort of a bird," went on Betty, "and,
come to think of it, that poor chap didn't look very bright. Maybe he
was half-witted, and that's why they called him The Loon."

"Well, he knew enough to shoot the manatee, and get our boat for us,"
defended Grace. "I don't think he was very stupid."

"Oh, I don't mean it that way," said Betty quickly. "I only suggested
that perhaps those mean men--I'm sure they were mean--might have called
him that to suit their own purposes. But I think we are well rid of
them, anyhow. Here comes Mr. Hammond, and that must be Tom with him,"
and she indicated two figures approaching.

"Oh, are you going to call him Tom?" gasped Grace.

"I don't see why not," was the calm answer. "He looks just like the sort
of a nice young chap whom one would call Tom."

"Betty Nelson!" cried Mollie. "I'm going to tell----"

"Hush!" commanded the Little Captain, quickly. "I haven't done it yet."

Mr. Hammond presented the young man, who seemed quite at his ease under
the scrutiny of four pairs of eyes--pretty eyes, all of them, too.

"You needn't worry when Tom is along," said the overseer with a laugh,
as he named each of the girls in turn. "Now go off and have a good time.
I depend on you, Tom, to bring them safely back."

"I will, Mr. Hammond. Are you ready, young ladies?" and he smiled at
them.

The girls started for the boat, into which a colored boy had al