p. What has happened
since we cannot tell."

The girls then related the experiences of the morning, at which both
Uncle John and Arthur looked solemn and uncomfortable. But Louise
said calmly:

"I think Patsy was quite right. I wouldn't have dared such a thing
myself, but I'm sure that boy needed a square meal more than anything. If
he dies, that breakfast has merely hastened his end; but if he doesn't
die it will do him good."

"There's another possibility," remarked Uncle John. "He may be suffering
agonies with no one to help him."

Patsy's face was white as chalk. The last hour or two had brought her
considerable anxiety and her uncle's horrible suggestion quite unnerved
her. She stole away to the office and inquired the number of Mr. Jones'
room. It was on the ground floor and easily reached by a passage. The
girl tiptoed up to the door and putting her ear to the panel listened
intently. A moment later a smile broke over her face; she chuckled
delightedly and then turned and ran buck to her friends.

"He's snoring like a walrus!" she cried triumphantly.

"Are you sure they are not groans?" asked Arthur.

"Pah! Can't I recognize a snore when I hear it? And I'll bet it's the
first sound sleep he's had in a month."

Mr. Merrick and Arthur went to the door of the boy's room to satisfy
themselves that Patsy was not mistaken, and the regularity of the sounds
quickly convinced them the girl was right. So they had a merry party at
luncheon, calling Patsy "Doctor" with grave deference and telling her she
had probably saved the life of A. Jones for a second time.

"And now," proposed Uncle John, when the repast was over, "let us drive
down to the sea and have a look at that beautiful launch that came in
yesterday. Everyone is talking about it and they say it belongs to some
foreign prince."

So they motored to Santa Monica and spent the afternoon on the sands,
watching the bathers and admiring the graceful outlines of the big yacht
lying at anchor a half mile from the shore. The boat was something of a
mystery to everybody. It was named the "Arabella" and had come from
Hawaii via San Francisco; but what it was doing here and who the owner
might be were questions no one seemed able to answer. Rumor had it that
a Japanese prince had come in it to inspect the coast line, but newspaper
reporters were forbidden to scale the side and no satisfaction was given
their eager questioning by the bluff old captain who commande