eir spirits were now restored to normal. To
celebrate the occasion, Mr. Merrick proposed to take them all into Los
Angeles to dine at a "swell restaurant" before returning to Hollywood.

This little event, in conjunction with the afternoon's adventure, made
them all more intimate, so that when they finally reached home and
separated for the night they felt like old friends rather than recent
acquaintances.

CHAPTER VI

A. JONES

There was work for the Stanton girls at the "film factory," as they
called it, next morning, so they had left the hotel before Mr. Merrick's
party assembled at the breakfast table.

"I must telephone the Santa Monica hospital and find out how our patient
is," remarked Uncle John, when the meal was over; but presently he
returned from the telephone booth with a puzzled expression upon his
face. "A. Jones has disappeared!" he announced.

"Disappeared! What do you mean, Uncle?" asked Beth.

"He woke early and declared he was himself again, paid his bill, said
'good morning' to the hospital superintendent and walked away. He
wouldn't answer questions, but kept asking them. The nurse showed him the
book with the record of how he was saved, but she couldn't induce him to
say who he was, where he came from nor where he was going. Seems a little
queer, doesn't it?"

They all confessed that it did.

"However," said Patsy Doyle, "I'm glad he recovered, and I'm sure Maud
will be when she hears the news. The boy has a perfect right to keep his
own counsel, but he might have had the grace to tell us what that initial
'A.' stands for, and where on earth Sangoa is."

"I've been inquiring about Sangoa," announced Arthur, just then joining
the group, "and no one seems wiser than we are. There's no record of such
a town or state in Mexico, or in the United States--so far as I can
discover. The clerk has sent for a map of Alaska, and perhaps we'll find
Sangoa there."

"What does it matter?" inquired Louise.

"Why, we don't like to be stumped," asserted Patsy, "that's all. Here is
a young man from Sangoa, and--"

"Really," interrupted Beth, who was gazing through the window, "I believe
here _is_ the young man from Sangoa!"

"Where?" they all cried, crowding forward to look.

"Coming up the walk. See! Isn't that the same mysterious individual whose
life Maud saved?"

"That's the identical mystery," declared Uncle John. "I suppose he has
come here to look us up and thank us."

"Then, fo