r so glad!"

"So they came to me, and asked me if I wouldn't be their Guardian. I
didn't want to at first--and then I was afraid I wouldn't be any good.
But I promised to talk to Mrs. Chester, and get her to suggest someone
who would do, and--"

"You needn't tell me the rest," laughed Eleanor. "I know just what
happened. Mrs. Chester just talked to you in that sweet, gentle way of
hers, and the first thing you knew you felt about as small as a pint of
peanuts, and as if refusing to do the work would be about as mean as
stealing sheep. Now, didn't you?"

Mary laughed a little ruefully.

"You're just right! That's exactly how it happened," she said. "She told
me that no one would be able to do as much with these girls as I could,
and then, when she had me feeling properly ashamed of myself, she turned
right around and began to make me see how much fun I would have out of
it myself. So I talked to Miss Halsted, and made her go to see Mrs.
Chester--and here we are!"

Suddenly Eleanor collapsed weakly against one of the empty packing boxes
that littered the place, and began to laugh.

"Oh, my dear," she exclaimed, "if you only knew the awful things we were
thinking about you before we knew who you were!"

"Why? Do you mean to say that you're snobbish, too, and didn't want
neighbors you didn't know? Like my girls at Lake Dean?"

"No, but we thought you might be kidnappers, or murderers, or fire-bugs,
like our last neighbors!"

"Eleanor! Are you crazy--and if you're not, what on earth are you
talking about?"

"I'm not as crazy as I seem to be, Mary. It's only fair to tell you now
that this beach may be a pretty troubled spot while we're here. We seem
to attract trouble just as a magnet attracts iron."

"I think you _are_ crazy, Nell. If you're not, won't you explain
what you mean?"

"Look at our camp over there, Mary. It's pretty solid and complete,
isn't it?"

"I only hope ours looks half as well."

"Well, this morning at sunrise there were just two tents standing.
Everything else had been burnt. And I was doing my best to get the
police or someone from Bay City to rescue two of my girls who were
prisoners on a yacht out there in the cove!"

Mary Turner appealed whimsically to Charlie Jamieson.

"Does she mean it, Charlie?" she begged. "Or is she just trying to
string me?"

"I'm afraid she means it, and I happen to know it's all true, Mary,"
said Charlie, enjoying her bewilderment. "But it's a long stor