ray in her
face, the surging breakers sometimes unexpectedly curling around her
rubber boots. There was a new and wonderful fascination to her in
examining this ancient wreckage, speculating on the contents of unopened
tins, and searching ever farther and farther along the shore for possible
treasure-trove of even greater interest or value.

"Why _shouldn't_ I find a chest of jewels or a barrel full of golden
coins or a pocket-book crammed with bills, Rags?" she demanded
whimsically of the jubilant dog. "I'm sure something of that kind must go
down with every ship, as well as all the rest of this stuff, and why
shouldn't we be lucky enough to find it?"

But Rags was busy investigating the contents of some doubtful-looking
tin, and had neither time nor inclination to respond, his own particular
quests being quite in another line and far more interesting to him!

So Leslie continued on her own way, absorbed in her own investigations
and thoughts. The affair of the previous night was still occupying a
large place in her mind. Nothing further had occurred, though she had
watched at her window for nearly an hour. Even Rags at length ceased to
exhibit signs of uneasiness, and she had gone to bed at last, feeling
that she must have been mistaken in imagining anything unusual.

The first thing she had done this morning after leaving the house was to
walk around Curlew's Nest, examining it carefully for any sign of
occupation. It was closed and shuttered, as tight as a drum, and she
could discern no slightest sign of a human being having been near it for
days. But still she could not rid her mind of the impression that there
had been _something_ last night out of the ordinary, or Rags would not
have behaved as he did. He was not the kind of dog that unnecessarily
excited himself about nothing. It was a little bit strange.

"Oh, dear! I beg your pardon! I'm awfully sorry!" exclaimed Leslie,
reeling backward from the shock of collision with some one she had
unseeingly bumped into as she plowed her way along, her head bent to the
wind, her eyes only on the beach at her feet. The person with whom she
had collided also recovered a lost balance and turned to looked at her.

Leslie beheld a figure slightly taller than herself, clothed in yellow
"slickers" and long rubber boots, a "sou'wester" pulled closely over
plump, rosy cheeks and big, inquiring blue eyes. For a moment she could
not for the life of her tell whether the figure