en he touches the hook at all, you want
to grab him."

"Does it _hurt_ the fish to be caught?" asked Helen, curiously.

Phineas grinned. "I never axed 'em, ma'am," he said.

The _Miraflame_ carried them swiftly down the cove, or harbor, of
Sokennet and out past the light. The sea was comparatively calm, but
the surf roared against the rocks which hedged in the sand dunes north of
the harbor's mouth. It was in this direction that Phineas steered
the launch, and for ten miles the craft spun along at a pace that
delighted the whole party.

"We're just skimming the water!" cried Tom Cameron. "Oh, Nell! I'm
going to coax father till he buys one for us to use on the Lumano."

"I'll help tease," agreed his twin, her eyes sparkling.

Nita, the runaway, looked from brother to sister with sudden interest.
"Does your father give you everything you ask him for?" she demanded.

"Not much!" cried Tom. "But dear old dad is pretty easy with us
and--Mrs. Murchiston says--gives in to us too much."

"But, does he buy you such things as boats--right out--for you just to
play with?"

"Why, of course!" cried Tom.

"And I couldn't even have a piano," muttered Nita, turning away with a
shrug. "I told him he was a mean old hunks!"

"Whom did you say that to?" asked Ruth, quietly.

"Never you mind!" returned Nita, angrily. "But that's what he is."

Ruth treasured these observations of the runaway. She was piecing them
together, and although as yet it was a very patched bit of work, she was
slowly getting a better idea of who Nita was and her home surroundings.

Finally the _Miraflame_ ran in between a sheltering arm of rock and the
mainland. The sea was very still in here, the heave and surge of the
water only murmuring among the rocks. There was an old fishing dock at
which the motor boat was moored. Then everybody went ashore and Phineas
and Jack Crab pointed out the best fishing places along the rocks.

These were very rugged ledges, and the water sucked in among them, and
hissed, and chuckled, and made all sorts of gurgling sounds while the
tide rose. There were small caves and little coves and all manner of odd
hiding places in the rocks.

But the girls and boys were too much interested in the proposed fishing
to bother about anything else just then. Phineas placed Ruth on the
side of a round-topped boulder, where she stood on a very narrow ledge,
with a deep green pool at her feet. She was hidden from the other
fishers--