s the case, I don't mind speaking to you about Jennie," went
on the girl. "You know, Jennie comes from New York City. And down there
she met Nappy Martell quite a few times, and they became well
acquainted. But Jennie's folks don't approve of him at all; and they
don't want her to go with him." And here Annie paused.

"And do you mean to say she does go with him, anyhow?" queried the
Rover boy.

"Yes. She goes out to meet him whenever she can get the chance," was
the reply. "You are sure you don't approve of him?"

"Not in the least. In fact, to tell the truth, we have no use for him
or the bunch he trains with."

"I see. Well, all of us think it is perfectly dreadful the way Jennie
accepts Martell's invitations. Of course, we don't want to tell on her,
either in school or to her folks, and yet none of us think it is
right."

"Does he take her out much?"

"Oh, as much as they dare to go. He takes her out sailing on the lake
and to the moving picture shows, and once they went off together on a
picnic to the Clearwater Country Club. The places were all right in
themselves, but I know Jennie's folks don't want her to be seen in the
company of Nappy Martell. He is so loud and forward."

"You can't tell us anything about Martell being loud and forward,"
answered Randy, readily. "We all know him to be a regular bully.
Besides that, when he isn't in uniform, he wears the loudest kind of
clothes--just as if he wanted to make an exhibition of himself."

"Jennie went out with him this afternoon," continued Annie. "Where they
went to, I do not know. But I think they hired a motor boat and went
across the lake."

"Does Martell know how to run a motor boat?"

"Oh, yes. He told Jennie that he owned a motor boat on the Hudson
River--a boat his father gave him for a birthday present."

Randy and the girl had dropped a little behind the others, who now
waited for them to come up.

"I think we had better be getting back," said Jack. "It isn't as clear
as it was before, and it is beginning to blow."

"Yes, we'll get back," returned Randy, with a look at the sky. He knew
that a blow on the lake might be no trifling matter.

On the way over to the island the sun had been clear and warm. Now,
however, it was hidden under a dark bank of clouds, which were coming
up quickly from the west. The wind was already blowing freely, and out
on the bosom of the lake the water was roughing up in tiny ripples.

"All aboard, everybody!"