dy!" she screamed, and, forgetful of
the lectures she had received on comporting herself with dignity and
restraint, Crazy Jane threw herself--hurled herself, in fact--into the
arms of Contractor McCarthy. Now, a camp chair is never any too
substantial. The one on which Mr. McCarthy was sitting was no
exception to the rule. It collapsed under the force of Crazy Jane's
projectile-like force. Mr. McCarthy, in attempting to save himself
from going down with it, lurched sideways. In doing so he bumped
heavily against the Chief Guardian, and with a sharp little cry from
the latter, the three went down in a confused heap.

CHAPTER XV

TOMMY MAKES A DISCOVERY

A dozen girls sprang forward to the assistance of the unfortunate
trio, but Harriet was ahead of them. She grasped the Chief Guardian
under the arms and lifted her to her feet, then taking a hand of Mr.
McCarthy pulled him up with disconcerting suddenness. He looked dazed
and a little sheepish.

"It's that mad girl Jane of mine," he explained.

Mrs. Livingston's face was flushed, her eyes snapped; then her angry
expression softened and she burst out laughing.

"O Jane, Jane! You will be the undoing of all of us before you have
done."

Jane, with her hair disheveled, stood ruefully surveying the scene.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Livingston, that you went over. I didn't want to make
you fall down, but I just had to show Daddy how glad I was to see
him."

"You showed me all right, young lady. Lucky, for us all that we had
soft ground under us. Mrs. Livingston, I suppose you'll be telling me
to take this mad-cap daughter of mine home with me. I shouldn't blame
you if you did, and I don't think I'd cry over it, for I want her. No,
I don't mean that--"

"Daddy!" rebuked Jane.

"I mean that she is better off here, and you are doing her a heap of
good, Mrs. Livingston, even if she did give way to one of her old fits
of violence just now."

"Certainly not, Mr. McCarthy," answered the Chief Guardian promptly.
"We all love Jane. She is a splendid girl and we should miss her. I
certainly did miss her last summer, and now I should miss her more
than ever. I hope we shall have her with us for many summers; then one
of these days, when she is older, she, too, will have a camp of girls
to look after."

"I feel very thorry for the camp," broke in Tommy.

"You will have to buy a new camp stool, Daddy," reminded Jane. "I'm
glad I'm not so stout that I break up the furnit