own to a most heart-breaking
luncheon.

"Such an expanse of table and so little on it I never saw before,"
grumbled Heavy, in a glum aside. "How long do you suppose we would exist
on these rations?"

"We're not dead yet," said Ruth, cheerfully, "so you needn't become a
'gloom.'"

"Jen ought to live on past meals--like a camel existing on its hump,"
declared Madge.

"I'm no camel," retorted the plump one, instantly. "And a meal to
me--after it has been digested--is nothing more than a beautiful dream;
and you can bet that I never gained my avoirdupois by dreaming!"

Mrs. Tingley beckoned to Ruth after dinner. Together they went into the
general room, where there was a huge fire of logs. Mr. Preston, the
foreman, was there.

"I have been making inquiries," the lady explained to Ruth, "and I find
that this Rufus Blent has not a very enviable reputation. At least, he is
considered, locally, a sharper."

"Is this the girl who is interested in Jerry?" asked the foreman. "Well!
he ought to be all right if she sticks up for him."

"I believe his story is true," Ruth said, shaking her head.

"And if that's so, then the boss hasn't got a clear title to Cliff
Island--eh?" returned the big foreman, smiling at her quizzically.

"That isn't Mr. Tingley's fault," cried Ruth, quickly.

"He'd be the one to suffer, however, if it should be proved that old Pete
Tilton had any vested right in the island," said Preston. "You can bet
Blent is sharp enough to have covered his tracks if he has done anything
foxy. He was never caught yet in any legal tangle."

"Oh, I hope Mr. Tingley won't have trouble up here," declared Mrs.
Tingley, quite disturbed.

Ruth felt rather embarrassed. As much as she was interested in Jerry
Sheming, she did not like to think she was stirring up trouble for her
school-mate's father. Just then the outer door of the inn opened and a man
entered, stamping the snow from his boots upon the wire mat.

"S-s-t!" said Preston, his eyes twinkling. "Here's Rufus Blent himself."

It seemed that Mrs. Tingley had never seen the real estate man and she was
quite as much interested as Ruth in making his acquaintance. They both
eyed him with growing disapproval as the old man finished freeing his
feet of the clinging snow and then charged at Preston from across the big
room.

"I say! I say, you, Preston!" he snarled. "Have you done what I tol' you?
Have you got that Jerry Sheming off the island? He'd never oughte