ugh somebody else mought think by
yer way that ye warn't. My name's Kate Kenyon, an' I live down toward
ther cove. I don't feel like fishin' arter this, an' ef you-uns is goin'
that way, I'll go 'long with ye."

She picked up her pole, hooked up the line, and prepared to accompany
them.

They were pleased to have her as a companion. Indeed, Frank was more
than pleased, for he saw in this girl a singular character. Illiterate
though she seemed, she was pretty, vivacious, and so bright that it was
plain education and refinement would make her most fascinating and
brilliant.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

FRANK AND KATE.

The boys did not get to Cranston's Cove that night, for Kate Kenyon
invited them to stop and take supper at her home, and they did so.

Kate's home was much like the rough cabins of other mountain folks,
except that flowering vines had been trained to run up the sides and
over the door, while two large bushes were loaded with roses in front of
the house.

Kate's mother was in the doorway as they approached. She was a tall,
angular woman, with a stolid, expressionless face.

"Har, mammy, is some fellers I brung ter see ye," said this girl. "This
un is Mr. Merriwell, an' that un is Mr. Mulloy."

The boys lifted their hats, and bowed to the woman as if she were a
society queen. She nodded and stared.

"What be you-uns doin' 'round these parts?" she asked, pointedly.

Frank explained, seeing a look of suspicion and distrust deepening in
her face as he spoke.

"Huah!" she grunted, when he had finished. "An' what do you-uns want o'
me?"

"Your daughter invited us to call and take supper," said Frank, coolly.

"I ain't uster cookin' flip-flaps fer city chaps, an' I don't b'lieve
you kin eat the kind o' fodder we-uns is uster."

The boys hastened to assure her that they would be delighted to eat the
plainest of food, and their eagerness brought a merry laugh from the
lips of the girl.

"You-uns is consid'ble amusin'," she said. "You is powerful perlite. I
asked 'em to come, mammy. It's no more'n fair pay fer what they done fer
me."

Then she explained how she had been caught and held by the rocks, and
how the boys had seen her from the mountain road and come to her
rescue.

The mother's face did not soften a bit as she listened, but, when Kate
had finished, she said:

"They're yore comp'ny. Ask 'em in."

So the boys were asked into the cabin, and Kate herself prepared supper.

It was a pla