longed to
some rich society folks who thought they owned the airth. I hid the
boat up the bay a piece. But don't you fret. I'll go git it and tote
it back in no time."

"I am so sorry," explained Madge prettily, ashamed of her bad temper
and how near she had come to displaying it. "I thought, of course, the
engineer who towed our boat out here from Baltimore had asked your
permission before he made a landing. I suppose he was in such a hurry
to get back to the city that he neglected it."

While the girls and their chaperon waited for the return of their
houseboat they ate an early luncheon out of the hampers that Phil and
Lillian had brought from their homes to provision the travelers for the
day.

The houseboat finally did appear, much as the girls had pictured her.
She was painted white, with a line of green showing just above the
water. The four rooms in the cabin, which was set well toward the
stern, opened into each other, and each room had a small door and
window facing on the deck. The two bedrooms had six berths set along
the walls. One room was intended for the kitchen and the fourth, which
was the largest, was to serve as the dining room, sitting room, work
and play room for the houseboat party on rainy days, when it was
impossible for them to be out on deck.

While the men were unloading the barrels and boxes on the boat the
girls ran in and out the doors of their cabin rooms like the figures in
a pantomime, bumping into each other and stumbling over things. Miss
Jones at last sent Eleanor and Lillian to the kitchen to drive nails
along the wall and to hang up their limited display of kitchen
utensils, while Phil and Madge helped with the unpacking. There was
one steamer chair, bought in honor of the chaperon, and a great many
sofa cushions, borrowed from their rooms at school, to be used as deck
furniture. A barrel of apples, a barrel of potatoes and two Virginia
hams were donations from the farm in Virginia. Mrs. Seldon, Lillian's
mother, had also sent a store of pickles and preserves.

Phil, too, had brought a big box from home, while Madge's own purchases
for the houseboat included a small table, five chairs, besides the
necessary china and some of the bedding. The rest of the outfit the
girls managed to secure from their own homes.

Miss Jones, Phil and Madge were industriously turning the berths into
beds when a sharp scream from Lillian, who was working in the kitchen,
filled them