r a
half hour on the naughtiness of being stubborn, and the especial
naughtiness of not telling where Max went, and thus helping the
searchers to find him, she again flatly refused.

If it had been true honor in being determined to keep her promise that
made Gwen refuse, one could not but praise her courage, but her
impulse was wholly selfish.

Max had said that if he ever returned and found that she had told, he
would never speak to her again.

She valued Max's friendship above that of any of her playmates, and
she refused to tell where he went, because he had insisted.

* * * * *

There was great rejoicing at "The Syren's Cave."

The "coming in" of the ship that Captain Seaford had long been looking
for proved to be even more fortunate than he had dreamed.

Its cargo was indeed valuable, and as he obtained a much higher price
for it than he had expected, his kindly heart was filled with
gratefulness, and his eyes grew brighter, and he walked with a lighter
step.

Mrs. Seaford went about the little house, singing at her work, and
Sprite, happy, laughing Sprite, danced upon the beach, played in the
surf, or rocked in her boat, singing, always singing of the water
sprites, the mermen and mermaids of whom she never tired of hearing.

Princess Polly and Rose were both delighted when they heard of the
Seafords' good fortune, but of the disappearance of Max they had not
heard, because they had been away on a little ocean trip.

It happened, on the day that Max decided to run away, that no steamer
lay at the wharf, nor was there so much as a ship in sight.

There was, however, a coal barge, and Max, determined to go on that
very day, watched his chance, and at the first opportunity slipped
aboard, where in frantic haste he looked for a hiding place.

Steps approaching set him into panic, and an empty barrel standing in
a shadowy corner of the little cabin seemed his only refuge.

"There's only a few er these ol' pertaters, so I'll chuck 'em inter
this barrel in the cabin," shouted a gruff voice, and in they went
onto Max's head and shoulders. Not a sound did he make, although the
potatoes felt decidedly hard, and evidently had been thrown in with
none too gentle a hand.

It seemed to the boy in his cramped position as if the coal barge
would never start.

At twilight, however, he felt the motion, and knew that he was sailing
away from Cliffmore, the empty barge to return with