the supports of the buoy-line were all
restored. Then the rope was stretched from stake to stake and wooden
buoys attached as before.

The work was speedily performed and then the girls all had a good swim.
When they returned to their camp, it was lunch time and the "gastronomic
committee," as Harriet, the "walking dictionary," had dubbed the
commissary department, got busy. During the meal, which they ate on a
"newspaper tablecloth," picnic-style, the subject of organized
self-protection against further depredations was discussed.

"I believe we ought to establish a relief watch system to be kept up all
night every night as long as there seems to be any danger of our being
molested by prowlers like those who paid us a visit last night," Estelle
announced.

"What would we do if we caught anybody at any mischief?" asked Azalia.

"We'd sail right into 'em and give 'em Hail Columbia," declared Hazel
like a vigilance committee chairman.

"Yes, we'd pull their hair," said Marie Crismore.

"And scratch their eyes out," Ernestine chimed in.

"And boo-shoo 'em away," added Julietta Hyde.

"I'm positively ashamed of you for talking that way," Miss Ladd
interposed. "You're laughing at yourselves because you are girls. Now,
you ought not to do that, even in fun. How many of you can do some real
boys' stunts just as well as the boys can?"

"I can swim half a mile," announced Hazel.

"I can do a fly-away from the horizontal bar," declared Violet Munday.

"I can run a hundred-yard dash in thirteen seconds," said Ernestine;
"and that's better than lots of boys can do it."

"I can throw a ball like a boy," said Helen Nash.

"So can I"--this from Marion Stanlock.

"Oh, several of us can do that," Katherine declared. "We've played ball
with the boys. But now you're getting close to what I was driving at.
We'll proceed to gather a supply of ammunition."

"Ammunition!" several exclaimed.

"Surely," Katherine replied. "We'll get it down on the beach."

"Oh, I get you," said Estelle. "You mean----"

"Rocks," cried Marie, getting the word in ahead of Estelle.

"That's it," Katherine admitted. "We'll shower rocks at anybody that
makes us any more trouble."

"Very ingenious," Miss Ladd said approvingly. "If those persons who
visited us last night come again, they'll get a warm reception."

"And a hard one," Marion supplemented.

"I have another idea," Helen announced, and everybody turned attention
to her. "I have so