n the butt for his careless
pupils' pranks. His eccentricities, his absent-mindedness, and his
devotion to what Bobby called "the dead parts of speech" had made him
an object of the pupils' dislike and a subject for their wit.

Of course, they knew he was wonderfully well educated--that the depths
of Latin and Greek were easily plumbed by his thought. But respect for
a teacher's attainments does not always breed love for the
teacher--nor an appreciation of the said teacher's softer qualities,
either.

Laura had come to the conclusion that there must be a side to "Old
Dimple's" character that few of his pupils had surmised.

There was a bond between Professor Dimp and that mysterious young man
from Albany that Laura Belding did not understand. Yet she sought her
cot that night with a belief that the old gentleman was good and kind,
and that the accusation against his young companion must be very, very
wrong!

Could she have climbed a tree like Short and Long, Laura would have
gone to the top of one of the big oaks near the camp, the next
morning at daybreak. From that height she knew she could see most of
the open patches on the island, clear to the western end.

She was very curious as to whether Professor Dimp was still camping in
the little glade where she and her comrades had met him. And had the
young man returned from the north side of the lake where she had seen
him the day before?

Laura was an early riser, as ever, that morning. She was tempted,
before the camp was generally astir, to run out to the end of the
island and see if the Professor's camp were still established there.

But Professor Dimp had been so sharp with her and the other girls,
that Laura half feared to meet him. He was certainly a stern old
gentleman, and she remembered now that, from the time the girls of
Central High had decided to come here to Acorn Island to camp,
Professor Dimp had been quite put out about it.

"Why!" thought Laura, "he was planning to come here himself at that
time. He must have already arranged to meet the young man here. And he
considers us interlopers. It's very, very strange!"

Nor did Laura wish to discuss the affair with Jess or Bobby Hargrew.
She was afraid to tell anybody what she surmised about Professor
Dimp's companion.

It was after breakfast--which Liz served with all the spirit and
cheerfulness, so Bobby said, of an Egyptian mummy with the
mumps!--that they first spied the big barge coming from