road, save that Cora got a puncture, and Jack and the
other boys had no little difficulty in getting off an old shoe that had
not been removed in some time.

A little later something went wrong with the carbureter on the car of
the twins. The boys took turns trying to adjust it, as they were far
from a garage. It was Norton who discovered the trouble--a simple enough
matter--and remedied it.

"Doesn't that entitle me to a rebate of punishment?" he asked of Belle.

"I'll see," she answered, but her glance was not as stern as it had been,
and she ventured to smile a little.

With the offending placard removed, the cars proceeded onward again. They
had planned to take the trip leisurely, and to stop over night at another
hotel. The day following that would bring them to Sandy Point Cove in
good time to settle the bungalows before dark.

"We're going to the theatre to-night," Jack announced, shortly after the
arrival in Duncan, where they were to spend the night. He had gone out
after reaching the hotel, and purchased the seats for a popular comedy
then running.

"Oh, are we?" asked Cora with a lifting of her eyebrows, a signal, that
had Jack but known it, meant more than he suspected. "That's awfully nice
of you, really."

"It's a fine show," declared Norton. "A friend of mine saw it in New York."

"What time are we to be ready?" asked Belle, with a look at Cora.

"It begins at eight, if you start now putting on your hats you'll be ready
in time, it's only a little after six," remarked Ed.

"Smart!" exclaimed Bess. "We can be ready as soon as you!"

After supper--or dinner whichever you prefer to call it--the boys went to
their rooms to get ready for the little theatre party. The girls, with
much whispering and not a little laughter proceeded, apparently, with the
same object.

But a little later the motor maids, accompanied by their chaperone, Mrs.
Fordam, slipped down a rear stairway, out into the ladies' parlor of
the hotel, and thence into two big limousine cars that awaited them. The
girls had on semi-evening dress, with some flimsy chiffon veils over
their heads in place of hats, which might account for the speed with
which they got ready.

"Isn't it nice we met those boys!" exclaimed Eline.

"They came just in time to make it possible for us to retaliate," remarked
Cora. "And our boys need a lesson."

In the somewhat luxurious autos that had drawn up in front of the
hotel were four young men in ev