for them to come up.

"Goodness! I had no idea it was so enormous!" Evelyn was saying. "I'm
almost afraid of it."

"You'd better stick close to me," Jessie advised. "Then if we get lost,
we'll at least have company."

"Don't let's stand here, at any rate," Mrs. Payton broke in, impatiently.
"Our friends won't have a minute to look at our staterooms."

"We had to wait for the young folks, my dear," suggested Mr. Payton,
mildly, and then, as Lucile and Jack joined them, he hurried them before
him with scant ceremony. "We don't want to lose you," he explained, when
they laughingly protested.

And then, at last, they were on deck, where a steward relieved them of
their light luggage.

The girls tried to take in everything at once as they followed their
guide along the deck and down the cabin stairs, but they had at last to
give it up as a bad job.

"I feel as if I must be home in Burleigh, dreaming all this," said
Jessie. "I'm getting dizzy trying to take in all the new impressions."

"Stick close to me, then," Phil invited. "I'll be on deck when you
faint."

"Much good that will do Jessie when she is in the cabin," remarked
Evelyn, with scathing sarcasm.

"Oh-h!" groaned the boys in unison, and Jessie clapped her hands
delightedly, crying, "That's right, Evelyn; give it to them whenever you
can."

And then all nonsense stopped suddenly as the steward paused and, fitting
the key in the lock, disclosed the stateroom engaged for Mr. and Mrs.
Payton. They crowded into the room and the girls set about examining
everything without more ado.

"Oh, isn't it splendid?" cried Lucile. "You would never dream from the
looks of this room that we were on board ship. Why, it's just as complete
and comfortable as our rooms at home!"

"Pretty nifty," Phil agreed, as his glance traveled from the neat brass
bed to the dresser and the large, inviting chair.

"I hate to hurry you," said Mr. Payton, as he pulled out his watch, "but
as time waits for no man, we will have to hustle considerably if we
expect to see the other two rooms."

So, reluctant to leave secrets still to be discovered, yet anxious to see
their own room, the girls filed out, talking and laughing all at once,
till they reached a door a little further down the corridor, which Mr.
Payton designated as belonging to their stateroom.

While they waited it seemed to them that never before had simple tasks,
such as fitting a key into the lock, been performed with