ost or
inconvenience. Why, within a month this whole continent will be involved
in war. There are people now besieging the booking offices by the
hundreds who would be glad and thankful to find room in the steerage. If
we had not started when we did, we would be among them."

Lucile shivered. "Oh, Dad, it does make the thought of home seem good,"
she said.

Their ship was to sail at nine o'clock the following morning, and long
before the appointed time the girls were up and ready for the voyage.

"What a difference!" mused Lucile, looking wistfully out upon a dreary,
leaden prospect. "Even the weather seems to be in sympathy with the
country's trouble."

Jessie adjusted her hat soberly and thoughtfully before she spoke. "Yes,"
she said, at last, "one day it's all sunshine and happiness, and the
next--oh, girls, I'm absolutely miserable!"

"What good does that do?" queried Evelyn, snapping her bag shut with an
air of finality. "Besides, you're only breaking one of the camp-fire's
strictest laws, you know."

"Yes; that sounds all right, but it's pretty hard to be cheerful when
everything's going wrong," said Jessie, pessimistically. "I don't notice
that anybody looks particularly happy these days, anyway."

"That's no reason why we shouldn't be the exception," said Lucile,
shaking off the weight of depression with an effort and smiling bravely.
"You never know what you can do till you try."

"Miss Howland always used to say that. We'll see her and the girls soon,
anyway, and that's one big consolation," said Jessie, brightening
perceptibly.

"Somewhere the sun is shining," began Lucile.

"Somewhere the world is gay," added Jessie.

Evelyn flung her arms about her friends. "Somewhere the bells are
chiming----"

"And that's in the U. S. A.," finished Lucile, and they went down
laughing.

Mr. Payton met them at the foot of the stairs, and the frown on his
anxious face turned to a smile as he heard the merry laughter.

"It does me good just to look at you," he said, sincerely.

It was their third night out. In accordance with the strict orders of the
captain, there were no lights on board, for there might be hostile
warcraft lurking near. So the ship stole silently as a ghost through the
mists that shrouded her.

Lucile, Jack and Evelyn were leaning against the rail, talking in subdued
tones, awed by the grandeur of the drama being enacted before their
eyes.

"Your uncle says that people farther inland