in curtains hung at the tiny
cabin windows. Flowers encircled the decks and trailed over the sides
into the clear water. And on the deck of the little boat, lying or
sitting at their ease, she could see herself and her friends.

"Wake up, Phil! Come back to earth, please," teased Madge, giving her
usually sensible friend a sudden pinch. "I am going downstairs now to
ask Miss Tolliver if we can go into Baltimore day after to-morrow. We
must find our houseboat at once. School is so nearly over Miss
Tolliver will be sure to let us go."

"But the chaperon, Madge," reminded Eleanor. "We haven't decided on
one, you know."

"I have thought of a chaperon, if you girls are willing to have her,"
said Madge almost hesitatingly.

"Well," cried the other three voices in chorus, "who is it? Tell us
sometime to-day!"

"Miss Jones!" declared Madge, a note of defiance in her voice. "I'm
going to invite her now before I have time to change my mind. I'll
explain later." Springing from her chair, she ran from the room,
leaving her three friends to stare at each other in silent amazement.

CHAPTER III

THE SEARCH FOR A HOUSEBOAT

"Eleanor Butler, do hurry!" urged Madge two days later. "If we miss
the train, I feel I shall never forgive you." The two girls were
preparing for their trip to Baltimore.

"Let me alone, Madge," Eleanor returned. "If you will stay out of the
room for ten minutes, I promise to be ready. You've talked so much in
the last half hour that I haven't known what I was doing and I don't
know now. You had better make another call upon Miss Jones. She is
even more enthusiastic about your old houseboat scheme than you are."
Eleanor laughed as Madge disappeared in the direction of Miss Jones's
room.

"You must wish with all your heart that we shall find the houseboat
to-day, Miss Jones," declared Madge in her impulsive fashion. "You
see, everything depends on our not having to waste any time. The
sooner we find our boat, the sooner we can begin our delightful
vacation."

Miss Jones smiled. She was beginning to understand the impetuous Madge
better than she had ever dreamed of knowing her, and she was very
grateful for her invitation. Miss Jones was fairly well aware of how
much it had cost her pupil to ask her. "Yes, I shall be thinking of
you girls every minute," she declared. "Let me see. This is the
twenty-fifth of May. School will close in another week. You girls
wish to spen