allow to ourselves the unfortunate and
yet unmistakable fact that our idol has feet of clay; and so Isobel went
on from day to day blinding her eyes with her adoration for her
namesake, and investing Belle with a halo of virtues and attractions
which certainly did not exist except in her own imagination.

Apart from Belle, I think that among the various members of the Sea
Urchins' Club Isobel found the Chesters the most congenial. They had all
the dash and daring of the Rokebys without the over-boisterous manners
which characterized that rough-and-tumble family, whose friendship at
times was apt to prove a trifle wearing. Little Hilda had taken a great
affection for Isobel, and Charlie, since the adventure in the _Stormy
Petrel_, was disposed to consider her in the light of a chum, and to
cultivate her acquaintance. As knowing Isobel meant including Belle, the
four children therefore might often be found in each other's company,
and it was at Charlie's suggestion that they determined one afternoon to
pay a visit to a certain small island which lay a short distance along
the coast, at the other side of the rocky headland that jutted out at
the far side of the bay.

"I've not been close to," said Charlie, "but you can see it very well
from the top of the Scar. It looks a regular Robinson Crusoe desert
island kind of a place, just given up to sea-gulls and rabbits. I don't
believe a soul ever goes there."

"It would be grand if we were the first to set foot on it," said Isobel.
"It would be our own island, and we'd claim it in the name of the club,
like travellers do in Central Africa when they run up the Union Jack,
and then mark the place pink on the map, to show it's a British
possession."

"And then all the others could be settlers," added Hilda, "and we'd
light a fire and cook fish and have _such_ fun!"

"It would be exactly like the coral island in 'The Young Pioneers,'"
said Belle. "Perhaps I might become the queen, like the mysterious white
lady they found living among the natives, and have a throne made out of
sand and shells, and wear a garland of flowers for a crown."

"Oh, we won't go in for nonsense like that!" declared Charlie, who was
not romantic, and, moreover, enjoyed squashing Belle on occasion. "But
we might build a hut there, and rig up a sort of camp, and then, if the
whole lot of us came, we could have a regular ripping time. It's worth
while going to see, at any rate."

Armed with a mariner