you can forgive us for this dreadful thing."

"Nothing of the sort!" laughed the stranger. "He hasn't harmed it a bit,
for it was only the head he had hold of. When it's washed and cooked,
that beauty will taste just as good as if it had never had the adventure.
My, but that's a fearsome animal of yours! I wouldn't want to tackle him.
But those English sheep-dogs are noted for being wonderful protectors and
very interesting pets besides."

And just to show that he bore Rags no malice, he picked up the board
which the dog had retrieved, and obligingly hurled it into the surf
again. Rags ecstatically pursued it once more, dropped it at the man's
feet, and begged for another opportunity. But just before it was launched
a third time, he spied a hermit-crab scuttling away almost under his
nose, forsook his latest diversion, and was off on another hunt.

The man laughed, dropped the wet, sandy board, dusted off his hands by
striking them together, picked up his fishing-kit, hung his camp-stool
over his arm, bade the girls good afternoon, and strode away.

They gazed after him a moment and were about to turn back toward their
own part of the beach, when Leslie suddenly seized Phyllis's arm in a
vice-like grip.

"Phyllis, Phyllis, don't think me crazy! Something has just come to me.
The way that man threw the board just now and dusted off his hands and
then walked away--was just--exactly like--the _man with the limp_ that
morning at dawn! The action was identical. I'm positive I'm not mistaken.
And he looks just like him, the same height and build and all, as he
walked away."

"But, my dear child, _he doesn't limp_!" cried Phyllis, conclusively. "So
you certainly are mistaken!"

"I know he doesn't, but I--don't care. He's the same one. I am absolutely
sure of it. Maybe he's all over the limp now."

But though Leslie was so certain, Phyllis remained unconvinced!

CHAPTER XV

OUT OF THE HURRICANE

With the fickleness of October weather (which is often as freakish as
that of April), the golden afternoon had turned cloudy and raw before the
girls returned home. By nightfall it was raining, and a rising, gusty
wind had ruffled the ocean into lumpy, foam-crested waves. At seven
o'clock the wind had increased to a heavy gale and was steadily growing
stronger. The threatened storm, as usual, filled Miss Marcia with nervous
forebodings, and even Leslie experie