ain,
and found no entrance. All the best of Susie--the real, comfortable
Susie--brimming over with a love that was almost motherly, was in the
kind, quivering face she bent over Dick as he held out his tired arms.

In a minute she was down beside him, stroking and folding him close, till
his sobbing breaths were stifled on her shoulder.

"Oh, do come on, Susie!" said the twins; "we can't stay another minute.
If you won't leave him you'll be caught, and you will never be allowed to
play with us again."

Susie looked up, bewildered, into the twins' anxious faces. What did it
matter if she were caught, or blamed, or punished? The idea of leaving
Dick, even to make a sensational rescue, never entered her head for a
minute. _Leave him_, frightened and alone, out on the dark rocks! As she
had herself said, such a little while ago, "not for a king's ransom." She
only wanted the twins to go and leave her in peace, and so she told them
with that plainness of speech which to Susie seemed to suit the occasion.
"Please, please go," she said. "I can carry him quite well after he has
rested a little bit."

"You will be found out," said the twins warningly.

"Oh, it doesn't matter," said Susie.

"It seemed to matter a good deal a little while ago," said Dot
resentfully.

"Nothing matters now," said Susie, "except to get Dick home."

"Well, you can't rest long," said Dash, "because the tide's coming in."

Susie looked vaguely at the island behind her, with the waves splashing
against its sides, and then at the glistening rocks that made rough
stepping-stones to land. She had no idea about the tides; she only knew
that on some days the rocks showed more above the water than on others,
but there were always rocks. She shook her head impatiently.

"I know all about the tide," she said. "I am perfectly certain I can get
home all right."

"Oh, you're always perfectly certain," said Dot.

"So I am," said Susie.

"Well, good-night," said Dash. "Don't fiddle about too long with Dick,
that's all."

"Good-night," said Susie cheerfully.

She saw the two active figures leaping away into the twilight, splashing
from rock to rock, till they became gray and indistinct like moving
shadows. She felt suddenly chilled and lonely, and the silence and gloom
enveloped them--a forlorn little group in the midst of the growing dark.

"Dickie," said Susie presently, "we must start back before it gets any
darker. I think it's going to pour. I