if the snow stops so
that he can see his way."

"My! won't that be fun!" gasped Ann Hicks, who had overheard him.

She had begun to enjoy herself the minute she felt that they were in rough
country. Some of the girls wished they hadn't come. Ruth and Helen were
already outside, snowballing with the boys.

When Mrs. Tingley descended the car steps, ready to go to breakfast, her
other son appeared--a second Mercury.

"Mother, Mr. Preston is here. Says he'd like to see you."

Mr. Preston was the foreman to whom Jerry Sheming had been sent for a job.
Ruth, who overheard, remembered the man's name. Then she saw a man dressed
in Canadian knit cap, tall boots, and mackinaw, and carrying a huge
umbrella, with which he hurried forward to hold protectingly over Mrs.
Tingley's head.

"Glad to see you, ma'am," said the foreman. Ruth was passing them on her
way to the hotel when she heard something that stayed her progress. "Sorry
to trouble you. Mr. Tingley ain't coming up to-day?"

"Not until Christmas morning," replied the lady. "He cannot get away
before."

"Well, I'll have to discharge that Jerry Sheming. Too bad, too. He's a
worker, and well able to guide the boys and girls around the island--knows
it like a book."

"Why let him go, then?" asked the lady.

"Blent says he's dishonest. An' I seen him snooping around rather funny,
myself. Guess I'll have to fire him, Mis' Tingley."

CHAPTER XII

RUFUS BLENT'S LITTLE WAYS

The crowd waded through the soft snow to the inn. It was a small place,
patronized mainly by fishermen and hunters in the season. It was plain,
from the breakfast they served to the Tingley party, that if the
unexpected guests had to remain long, they would be starved to death.

"And all the 'big eats' over on the Island," wailed Heavy. "I could swim
there, I believe."

"I am afraid I could not allow you to do that," said Mrs. Tingley, shaking
her head. "It would be too absurd. We'd better take the train home again."

"Never!" chorused Belle and her brothers. "We must get to Cliff Island in
some way--by hook or by crook," added the girl, who had set her heart upon
this outing.

Ruth was rather serious this morning. She waited for a chance to speak
with Mrs. Tingley alone, and when it came, she blurted out what she wished
to say:

"Oh, Mrs. Tingley! I couldn't help hearing what that man said to you. Must
he discharge Jerry because Rufus Blent says so?"

"Why, my dear! Oh! I remem