e thing Mammy Laura loves to do, it's to
cook messes for me--and bring them to me. She's always been afraid that
my health was delicate and that I needed more nourishing food than the
rest of the family. Such custards! Um! um!"

"Do go down and see if there is anything left on the lunch counter,
boys," begged Helen, anxiously. "Otherwise we won't get Heavy home
alive."

"I _am_ a little bit hungry, having had no dinner," admitted the stout
girl, reflectively.

The boys went off, laughing. "She's so feeble!" cried Mary Cox,
pinching the stout girl. "We never should travel with her alone. There
ought to be a trained nurse and a physician along. I'm worried to death
about her----"

"Ouch! stop your pinching!" commanded Jennie, and rose up rather
suddenly, for her, to give chase to her tormentor.

The Fox was as quick as a cat, and Heavy was lubberly in her movements.
The lighter girl, laughing shrilly, ran forward and vaulted over the
low rail that separated the awning-covered upper deck from the unrailed
roof of the lower deck forward.

"You'd better come back from there!" Ruth cried, instantly. "It's
wet and slippery."

The Fox turned on her instantly, her face flushed and her eyes snapping.

"Mind your business, Miss!" she cried, stamping her foot. "I can look
out----"

Her foot slipped. Heavy thoughtlessly laughed. None of them really
thought of danger save Ruth. But Mary Cox lost her foothold, slid toward
the edge of the sloping deck, and the next instant, as the _Lanawaxa_
plunged a little sideways (for the sharp breeze had raised quite a
little sea) The Fox shot over the brink of the deck and, with a scream,
disappeared feet-first into the lake.

It all happened so quickly that nobody but the group of girls on the
forward deck had seen the accident. And Madge, Heavy and Helen were all
helpless--so frightened that they could only cry out.

"She can't swim!" gasped Helen. "She'll be drowned."

"The paddle-wheel will hit her!" added Madge.

"Oh! where are those useless boys?" demanded the stout girl. "They're
never around when they could be of use."

But Ruth said never a word. The emergency appealed to her quite as
seriously as it did to her friends. But she knew that if Mary Cox was
to be saved they must act at once.

She flung off her cap and light outside coat. She wore only canvas shoes,
and easily kicked them off and ran, in her stocking-feet, toward the
paddle-box. Onto this she climbed by th