he white riding sail of the lightship
on No Man's Shoal.

They came down after an hour, wind-blown, the taste of salt on their
lips, and delighted with the view. They found the ugly, hairy man sitting
on the doorstep, listening with a scowl and a grin to Mercy's sharp
speeches.

"I don't know what brought you back here to the light, Jack Crab, at
this time of day," said Mother Purling. "You ain't wanted."

"I likes to see comp'ny, too, _I_ do," growled the man.

"Well, these girls ain't your company," returned the old woman. "Now!
get up and be off. Get out of the way."

Crab rose, surlily enough, but his sharp eyes sought Nita. He looked her
all over, as though she were some strange object that he had never seen
before.

"So you air the gal they brought ashore off the lumber schooner last
night?" he asked her.

"Yes, I am," she returned, flatly.

"You ain't got no folks around here; hev ye?" he continued.

"No, I haven't."

"What's your name?"

"Puddin' Tame!" retorted Mercy, breaking in, in her shrill way. "And
she lives in the lane, and her number's cucumber! There now! do you know
all you want to know, Hardshell?"

Crab growled something under his breath and went off in a hangdog way.

"That's a bad man," said Mercy, with confidence. "And he's much
interested in you, Miss Nita Anonymous. Do you know why?"

"I'm sure I don't," replied Nita, laughing quite as sharply as
before, but helping the lame girl to the buckboard with kindliness.

"You look out for him, then," said Mercy, warningly. "He's a
hardshell crab, all right. And either he thinks he knows you, or he's
got something in his mind that don't mean good to you."

But only Ruth heard this. The others were bidding Mother Purling good-bye.

CHAPTER XIV

THE TRAGIC INCIDENT IN A FISHING EXCURSION

The boys had returned when the party drove back to the bungalow from
the lighthouse. A lighthouse might be interesting, and it was fine to
see twenty-odd miles to the No Man's Shoal, and Mother Purling might be
a _dear_--but the girls hadn't done anything, and the boys had. They had
fished for halibut and had caught a sixty-five-pound one. Bobbins had
got it on his hook; but it took all three of them, with the boatkeeper's
advice, to get the big, flapping fish over the side.

They had part of that fish for supper. Heavy was enraptured, and the
other girls had a saltwater appetite that made them enjoy the fish, too.
It was decided to try