y, out through the Narrows and so on out to sea passed the
_Tarsus_, carrying the moving picture players. The day was cold, and a
storm threatened, but soon the frigid winter of the North would be left
behind. This was a comforting thought to all, though Alice declared that
she liked cold weather best.

Mr. Towne came up on deck, again faultlessly attired. His unexpected bath
had not harmed him, in spite of the fact that it was cold, for he had at
once taken warm drinks, and been put to bed, for a time, in hot blankets.

He could talk of nothing, however, save the fact that he was to be shown
in the wet clothing he so despised.

"It is a shame!" he declared. "If I could find that film I would destroy
it myself."

"It is safely put away," laughed Russ.

The day passed, and evening came. On through the darkness forged the
_Tarsus_, while about her were the flashing beams from lighthouses, or
the bobbing signal lamps from other ships.

Ruth and Alice were in their stateroom, talking together before retiring.
Alice had that day's paper and was idly glancing over it. She yawned
sleepily, when an item suddenly caught her eye.

"Oh, dear!" she exclaimed. "That must be dreadful!"

"What is it?" asked Ruth, who was letting down her long hair.

"Why here's an item from some place in Florida. It says that two girls
went out in a motor boat, to gather specimens of rare swamp flowers, and
have not been heard of since. It is feared they may have been upset and
drowned, or that alligators attacked them. Oh, how dreadful!"

"Don't let Mr. Sneed hear about that," cautioned Ruth. "Where in Florida
was it?"

"The item is dated from Winterhaven, but it says that the girls started
from some place near Lake Kissimmee."

"Oh!" cried Ruth, pausing with the comb half way through a thick strand
of hair, "suppose it should be those two girls we met?"

"I don't imagine it could be," reasoned Alice. "They did not look like
girls who would be bold enough to go off after swamp blooms. But think of
the poor girls, whoever they are, out all alone at night, with maybe
alligators around their boat! Oh, I hope we don't have to go too far into
the wilds."

"We may," remarked Ruth, uneasily, as she reached for the paper to read
for herself the disquieting item.

CHAPTER IV

FIRE ON BOARD

Ruth sat for some moments in silence after she had read in the paper the
short account of the missing girls. She had come to a pause in arrang