ou're sure you're not offended at what I said?" asked Gladys, still
full of misgiving that she had been too frank.

"Not in the least," answered Katherine. "But say, would you mind writing
out what you told me? I'll never remember it if you don't. You write it
out and I'll tack it up and check off the items as I dress."

"All right," said Gladys, laughing. "I'll do that and if it works I'll
get out a book, 'How to Be Neat, in one Volume.' And now let's start the
fire. I see the bold fishermen are coming in."

Aunt Clara came up triumphantly swinging her string of fish; she had
caught five. The Captain had two and several of the others had one
apiece.

"How many did you catch, Anthony?" asked Katherine.

"None," replied Anthony, "but I'd have caught more than any of them if
I'd had a good rod," and he swished Uncle Teddy's best rod around
disdainfully.

"I don't doubt it," said Katherine.

Beside the fried fish there was tomato soup for supper. It was Mrs.
Evans' prize recipe and one of the favorite camp dishes. Nobody could
make tomato soup which quite equalled hers, in the opinion of the family
on Ellen's Isle. It didn't make any difference where she made it, up in
the kitchen tent on the gasoline stove or down on the beach, as now,
over an open fire.

"Nothing ever tasted so good," sighed Sahwah rapturously, dipping her
spoon diligently into the big tin cup in which her soup was served.

"_I_ like more pepper in mine," said Anthony, adding a touch from
the pepper pot, which stood on the ground beside him.

The rest made no comments. They were too busy.

"Slim," said Sahwah suspiciously, when her cup was empty, "just how much
soup have you eaten?"

"Four cupfuls," replied Slim.

"Mercy!" cried Aunt Clara. "That's more than a quart. It's a wonder you
didn't burst! I never saw a boy with such a capacity!"

"Ho, that's nothing," said Anthony. "I could eat twice as much, just as
easy."

"Let's see you do it!" said Slim suddenly.

Anthony looked rather taken aback.

"Yes," said Uncle Teddy, "let's see you do it. Make good your boast.
We're not in the habit of saying things around here that we can't back
up. Twice four cups is eight. You've had one; that leaves seven. We
challenge you to drink seven cups of soup. You've either got to drink
them or do anything else Slim tells you to do. Slim, what's the
alternative?"

"Eat soap," said Slim promptly.

Katherine grinned appreciatively at him. "Do you he