or use. We have sailed and paddled and motored.
Now I propose, sirs, that we tramp."

"Second the motion!" echoed Chester.

"What do you think of the idea, Alec?" asked Hugh, turning to their
young host. "Will your father think we are ungrateful guests if we
go off for a day or two so soon after the cruise?"

"We'll plan a trip," replied Alec readily, "and submit the scheme
to him to-night. If he has no objections, we will telephone Mark
and ask him to join us, and perhaps Norton can go along, too."

Alec's suggestion was carried out, and Mr. Sands not only approved
the plan but added interest to it by producing some excellent road
maps and proposing a tour of adventure.

"Suppose," said he, "instead of traveling as one company, you divide
your forces, three of you taking one route and three another to
your night's camping place. Here is a good spot to camp,"
indicating it on the map, "and I will send the machine there with
the essential supplies so that you can 'hike' without being heavily
burdened. How does that strike you?"

"As being far better than our first plan," applauded Billy.

The other boys agreed enthusiastically, and the details were promptly
arranged.

Early the next morning, as the arching sky and gray waters began to
take on a rosy glow from the approaching sunrise, the automobile shot
out of the driveway between the palms and down the shell road in the
direction of Red Key, carrying Alec and Chester to meet Mark Anderson.

The whir of the motor drowned the twitterings of the awakening birds,
but could not dull the fresh odor of the jasmine, nor the beauty of
the flowering vines and dew-wet hedges.

Even Chester was stirred by the "newness" of the whole world.

"Cripes, Alec, as Captain Vinton would say, this morning air and the
view are worth crawling out at an unearthly hour to enjoy!" he
exclaimed. "That ocean looks about a million miles wide, too; you
can't even tell where the sky begins."

"There is Mark!" was Chester's next comment as the machine swung
around a curve that had hidden an intersecting road.

"'Morning, Mark," called Alec in greeting as the two boys jumped out
of the car to join the waiting lad. "Now we're off!"

He turned to the chauffeur, assuring himself that the man understood
the directions for reaching their camp with supplies late that
afternoon, and then fell into step with the other scouts for their
all-day hike. Beneath their feet the broken shells o