intention of being mean to the six Busters.
The first pan of biscuit came out of the oven a golden brown. Grace and
Percy set them and the bowls of mush on the table, and handed around
other bowls and a pitcher of milk to the circle of boys, sitting
cross-legged on the ground like so many tailors.

There was honey for the biscuits, too, as well as golden butter--both
from Windmill Farm. The eggs were cooked just right, and there were
plenty of them. Crisp radishes and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes added
to the fare.

"Gee!" sighed Tubby, "doesn't it take girls to live _right_ in
camp? And look at those doughnuts."

"I fried them," cried Mina, proudly. "Mrs. Havel showed me how, though."

"Mrs. Havel, come over to Gannet Island and teach us how to cook," cried
Dave. "We don't have anything like this."

"Not a sweetie except what we buy at the Forge--and that's baker's
stuff," complained Tubby.

"Don't you think you boys had better be pretty good to us--if you want
to come to tea--or breakfast--once in a while?" asked Wyn, pointedly.

"Right!" declared Dave.

"Got us there," admitted Ferdinand.

"_I'll_ see that they behave themselves, Wyn," cried Tubby, with
great enthusiasm. "These fellows are too fresh, anyway----"

But at this the other boys rose up in their might and pitched upon
Master Blaisdell, rolling him over and over on the grass and making him
lose half of his last doughnut.

"Now, now, now!" cried Mrs. Havel. "This is no bear-garden. Try to
behave."

The boys began to laugh uproariously at this. "What do _you_ know
about a bear-garden, Grace?" Ferd demanded.

"And wasn't that growling of Dave's awe-inspiring?" cried another.

"And weren't _you_ scared, Frank Cameron?" suggested Tubby,
grinning hugely when his mates had let him up. "I never did know you
could run so fast."

"Why, pshaw!" responded Frank. "Did you boys really think you had scared
us with those moth-eaten old robes?"

"How ridiculous!" chimed in Bess. "A boy is usually a good deal of a
bear, I know; but he doesn't _look_ like one."

"And--and there haven't been any bears in this country for--for years,"
said Grace, though rather quaveringly.

"Say! what do you know about all this?" demanded Dave, of his mates.

"Do you girls mean to say that you weren't scared pretty near into
fits?" cried one lad.

"Did we act scared?" laughed Wyn. "I guess we fooled you a little, eh?"

"You're just as much mistaken," said Frank, "as