e men,
turning to Gerald, who was sitting by with a thoughtful face.

'I'm going into the army, I think,' answered Gerald; 'but I don't know
if I can pass the exams. They're very difficult, but I'm going to try.'

'Here are the gentlemen coming back again,' said Jim.

'Then we'll leave you now,' said Allan; 'but we'll see you again in the
afternoon.'

'Right you are, sir,' replied Jim; 'we'll send a boat to fetch you.'

'You are lucky,' said Marjorie to the boys. 'How I wish we could go
too. Do you think they meant to invite us?'

Allan looked doubtful.

'I don't know,' he said. 'I don't think they thought of it. But I
daresay they would be glad to see you if you came.'

'It's no good, I'm afraid,' answered Marjorie; 'I'd have to ask Mother
and she'd be sure to say no. But there is the boat going away, and
listen, isn't that the horn?'

They hearkened for a moment, and it was unmistakably the old ram's horn
which was sounded at Ardnavoir to summon those at a distance when any
notable event was about to take place.

'I wonder what it can be,' said Tricksy, as they scampered in the
direction of the mansion-house; 'do you think it can have anything to
do with the _Heroic_, Allan?'

Mrs. Stewart was in the doorway.

'We are invited to luncheon on board the _Heroic_,' she announced.
'The officers have signalled to ask Dr. and Mrs. MacGregor to come too,
and we have telephoned to say that Marjorie can get ready here, if Mrs.
MacGregor will bring her things with her.'

The young people did not look so pleased as Mrs. Stewart had
anticipated.

'How many of us are asked, Mummie?' inquired Tricksy.

'As many as care to come,' answered Mrs. Stewart. 'The boys may come
too if they like.'

All the boys looked unwilling.

'Don't you want to go?' asked Mrs. Stewart in surprise.

'Yes, Mother,' answered Allan; 'but the men have invited us already.'

'And would you rather go with them?'

The boys' faces showed that they would, and Mrs. Stewart gave
permission with a laugh.

Tricksy sidled up to her mother.

'Mummie, don't you think that Marjorie and I could go too?' she asked.

'No, I am quite sure that it wouldn't do,' replied Mrs. Stewart; and
the girls looked disappointed.

'You had better go upstairs and begin to get ready,' said Mrs. Stewart.
'Marjorie can brush her hair'--looking dubiously at the tangled mass of
curls, in which bits of grass and heather had become intermixed, 'and
perhaps by