"He'll get us wet!" exclaimed Mrs. Slater. "Down, Sandy! Down!" she
commanded.

Instantly the dog stopped and began to shake himself vigorously, sending
the water in a shower from his shaggy coat.

"Oh, he minded you! He's your dog all right, isn't he?" cried Bunny.

"Yes, he's my Sandy," answered Harry. "He always minds sometimes."

At the sound of his young master's voice the dog, with another joyful
bark, again leaped forward. He had stopped to get rid of as much of the
water as possible, but a moment later he was jumping and tumbling about
Harry and Mrs. Slater, while the little boy, caring not at all about the
dog's damp coat, was hugging his pet.

"Oh, Sandy! Sandy! I'm so glad you came back!" cried Harry.

"Is it really your dog?" asked Mrs. Brown of her friend.

"Yes," answered Mrs. Slater. "Oh, do be quiet, you crazy animal," she
said, as he leaped up and tried to put his tongue on her face.

"He wants to kiss you," said Sue.

Then the dog turned to Sue, and he really did "kiss" her, for Sue was
sitting down and the dog easily reached her tanned cheeks with his red
tongue.

"Be careful," warned Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, Sandy is gentle and loves children," said Harry's mother. "But I
fancy that young man in the boat wants some explanation," she went on.
"Though, since we have told him this is Christmas Tree Cove, he must
have guessed that we are the people to whom the dog belongs."

The man in the boat had stopped his engine, and the craft was now
grounded in the sand not far from where the picnic was being held. A
four-pronged anchor was tossed out to prevent the motor boat from
drifting away, and then the young man came up the beach. He was smiling
pleasantly, and as he took off his cap and bowed to the ladies he said:

"Davy Jones seems to have found out where he belongs all right. I
presume this is Harry Slater," he went on, looking at the boy around
whom the dog was leaping.

"Yes," answered Mrs. Slater. "And this is Mr. Ravenwood?"

"Yes," was the reply. "I called the dog Davy Jones, for he seemed to
love the sea, and I didn't know what his right name was. He is evidently
yours."

"Sandy belongs to us," returned Mrs. Slater. "It is all rather a strange
story from the time Sandy ran away from us until we found your box and
learned that you had our dog. But there is a stranger part to it still,
it seems, if what Bunny and Sue think proves to be true."

"What is that?" asked Mr. Ravenwood.

T