she made up her mind to find some way to provide for her
quaint little Fairy Godmother.

The morning after Madge's disquieting talk with Mrs. Curtis the four
girls and Tania wandered up the bay to spend the morning in the woods
near the water. Phyllis carried a book that she meant to read aloud,
Madge a box of luncheon, and Eleanor and Lillian their sewing. Tania
skipped along with her hand in Madge's. John had promised to join them
later in the day if he returned in time from his trip on the water.

The girls settled themselves under some trees whence they could command a
view of the land and the bay. Madge lay down in the soft grass and rested
her head in her hands. She meant to listen to Phil's reading, not to
puzzle over her own worries. Phil's book gave a thrilling account of the
early days in the Delaware Bay, when it was the favorite cruising place
for pirates. It was rather hard to believe, when the girls gazed out on
the smooth, blue water, that it had once been the scene of so many fierce
adventures with pirates. Once a crew of seventy men, belonging to the
famous Captain Kidd, had actually sailed up the Delaware Bay and
frightened the people of Philadelphia.

Madge had forgotten to listen. She could hear Phil's voice, but not her
words. The history of piracy, of course, was very thrilling, but Madge
did not see how any long-ago dead and buried pirates or their hidden
treasures could help her out of her present difficulties. She stood in
need of real riches.

A sailboat dipped across the horizon and headed for the landing not far
from where the girls were sitting, but no one of them noticed it.

"Look ahoy! look ahoy!" a friendly voice cried out from across the
water.

Phyllis closed her book with a snap, Lillian and Eleanor dropped their
sewing, Tania ran to the water's edge, and Madge sat up.

It was Captain Jules who had hailed them.

"Well, my hearties, is this a summer camp?" demanded the old sailor as
his boat came near the land. "I have been all the way to the houseboat to
find you. I have something to show you." Captain Jules's broad face shone
with good humor. He was clad in his weather-beaten tarpaulins, and on his
shoulder perched the monkey.

Madge covered the sides of her curly head with her hands. "Please don't
let the monkey pull my hair this morning," she pleaded as the captain
came up.

He tossed the monkey over to Tania, who cuddled it affectionately in her
arms, and began talkin