et _too_ much time for these little things."

The protest was weak enough, and weakly uttered. Until the moment of
embarking on this expedition Tilda had been throughout their wanderings
always and consciously the leader--her will the stronger, her's to
initiate and to guide. But now he stuck his hands deeper into his
pockets.

"That's all very well," he replied; "but you can't get to Miss Sally's
to-day. So who's unpractical now? Let's find the cave first, and have
breakfast; and then, if you're tired of exploring, you can sit on
cushions all day, and read your book and learn how to be a princess--
which is ever so much higher than an ordinary lady."

"Cave? _Wot_ cave? _Wot_ breakfast? _Wot_ cushions? Oh, I do
believe, Arthur Miles, you've gone stark starin' mad!"

"Why," he reasoned with her, "on a seashore like this there are bound to
be caves; the only trouble will be to find the right one. And as for
breakfast, it was you that talked about it just now."

His persistence, his gentleness, the careful lucidity of his craze drove
her fairly beside herself.

"Oh," she cried again, "if you ain't mad, then I must be, or elst I'm
sickenin' for it! It don't much matter, any'ow. We got to starve 'ere
an' die, an' the sooner the better."

She walked across the beach to a smooth slab of rock and seated herself
sullenly, with her eyes on the distant mainland. They were misty with
tears of anger, of despair. But he could not see them, for she had
resolutely turned her back on him. Had she broken down--had she uttered
one sob even--the boy would have run to her side. As it was, he gazed
at her sorrowfully. . . . She had lost her temper again, and it spoiled
everything. But the spell of the Island was on him. Above, in the
sunlight, the green gully wound upward and inland, inviting him; and
here on the shingle at his feet sat 'Dolph and looked up at him, with
eyes that appealed for a ramble. The dog's teeth chattered, and small
suppressed noises worked in his throat.

"Very well," called the boy, "I am going, and you can sit there or
follow, as you like."

He swung on his heel and set forth, 'Dolph scampering ahead and barking
so wildly that the noise of it scared the birds again in flock after
flock from their ledges.

On the ridge the boy halted for a moment and looked down. But Tilda sat
stubbornly on her rock, still with her back turned.

She had pulled out her book, the _Lady's Vade-Mecum_, bu