and inspecting the camp which had been laid
out in preparation for them.

"Real army tents, with regular floors and cots, these are," said
Eleanor. "Sleeping on the ground wouldn't be very wise here. And there's
no use taking chances. I'm responsible to the mothers and fathers of all
you girls, after all, and I'm bound to see that you go home better than
when you started, instead of worse."

"I think they're fine," said Margery. "Oh, I do love the seashore! How
long shall we stay, Miss Eleanor?"

"I don't know," said the Guardian, a shade of doubt darkening her eyes.
"You know, Margery"--she spoke in a low tone--"that seems to depend
partly on things we can't really control. There seems to me to be
something really quite desperate about the way Mr. Holmes and his
friends are going for Bessie and Zara.

"Maybe they will make trouble for us here. It is rather isolated, you
know, and I can't help remembering that we're on the coast, and that a
few miles away the coast is that of Bessie's state--the state she
mustn't be in."

"That's so," said Margery, gravely. "You mean that if they managed to
get hold of Bessie or Zara, and took them out to sea and then landed
them in that state they'd be able to hold them there?"

"It worries me, Margery. The trouble is, you see, that once they're in
that state, it doesn't matter how they were taken there, but they can be
held. If Zara's father gets free, why, he would be able to get her back,
I suppose. Mr. Jamieson says so. But there's no one with a better right
to Bessie, so far as we know. I'm really more worried about her than
about Zara."

"We'll all be careful," promised Margery, with fire in her eye. "And I
guess they'll have to be pretty smart to find any way of getting her
away from us. I'll talk to the girls, and I'll try to be watching myself
all the time."

"I'm hungry," announced Dolly. "Just as hungry as a bear! Can't we have
supper pretty soon, Miss Eleanor?"

"Supper?" scoffed Miss Eleanor. "Why, we haven't had our dinner yet! But
we'll have that just as soon as it's cooked. I've just been waiting for
someone to say they were hungry. Dolly, you're elected cook. Since
you're the hungry one, you can cook the dinner."

"I certainly will! I'll get it all the sooner that way. May I pick out
who's to help me, Miss Eleanor?"

"That's the rule. You certainly can."

"Then I pick out all the girls," announced Dolly. "Every one of you--and
no shirking, mind!"

Sh