t
interrupted the musician. They could not distinguish the words, but the
speaker was evidently annoyed by the music, for it stopped, and then,
for a few minutes, there was an argument in which the voices of two men
rose shrilly.

"Well, I guess the concert is over," said Dolly, getting up. "Who wants
a drink? I'm thirsty."

"So am I!" came in chorus from half a dozen of those who were sitting on
the sands.

"Serve you right if you all had to go after your own water," said Dolly.
"But I'm feeling nice to-night. I guess it's the music. Come on,
Bessie--feel like taking a little walk with me?"

"I don't mind," said Bessie, rising, and stretching her arms
luxuriously. "Where are you going?"

"Up the bluff first, to get a pail of water from that spring. After
that--well, we'll see."

"Just like Jack and Jill," said Bessie, as they trudged up the path,
carrying a pail between them.

"I hope we won't be like them and fall down," said Dolly. "I suppose I'd
be Jack--and I don't want to break my crown."

"It's an easy path. I guess we're safe enough," said Bessie. "It really
hardly seems worth while to fix up that pipe-line Miss Eleanor spoke
about."

"Oh, you'll find it's worth while, Bessie. The salt air makes everyone
terribly thirsty, and after you've climbed this path a few times it
won't seem so easy to be running up and down all the time. There are so
many other things to do here that it's a pity to waste time doing the
same thing over and over again when you don't really need to."

"I suppose that's so, too. It's always foolish to do work that you don't
need to do--I mean that can be done in some easier way. If your time's
worth anything at all, you can find some better use for it."

"That's what I say! It would be foolish and wasteful to set a hundred
men to digging when one steam shovel will do the work better and quicker
than they can. And it's the same way with this water here. If we can put
up a pipe in about an hour that will save two or three hours of chasing
every day, whenever water is needed, it must be sensible to do it."

They got the water down without any mishap, however, and it was eagerly
welcomed.

"It's good water," said Margery. "But not as good as the water at Long
Lake and in the mountains."

"That's the best water in the world, Margery," said Eleanor. "This is
cold, though, and it's perfectly healthy. And, after all, that is as
much as we can expect. Are you and Bessie going for a