ntly run dusty hands across her
forehead several times--had come to the door of the storage-room. At the
sight of Rupert she flushed and made a hurried attempt at smoothing her
hair.

"I--" she began, when Ricky interrupted her.

"Charity is helping us, which is more than we can say of you. Go back to
your old den and hibernate. And then you can't look down that long nose
of yours when we turn up the papers that'll save us from the poorhouse."

"That's telling him," Val murmured approvingly as he fanned himself with
one of the cleaner cloths. "But perhaps we had better explain. You see,
Satan went hunting and found work for idle hands," and he told the tale
of the sliding panel behind the bed.

When he had finished, Rupert laughed. "So you are still determined on
treasure hunting, are you? Well, if it will keep you out of mischief, go
to it."

"Rupert," Ricky faced him squarely, "don't be utterly insufferable.
If you had one drop of hot blood in you, you'd be just as thrilled
as we are. Just because you've been around and around the world until
you got dizzy or something, you needn't stand there with that
'See-the-little-children-play' smirk on your face. You don't really care
whether we lose Pirate's Haven or not, do you?"

Rupert straightened and the color crept up across his high cheek-bones.
His mouth opened and then he closed it again without speaking the words
he had intended, closed with a firmness which tightened his lips into a
straight line.

"Don't stand there and glower at me," Ricky went on. "Why don't you say
what you were going to? I'm just about tired of this world-weary
attitude--"

"Ricky!" Val clapped his black hand over her mouth and turned to
Charity. "Please excuse the fireworks. They are not usual, I assure
you."

"Let me go!" Ricky twisted out of his grip. "I don't care if Charity
does hear. She ought to know what we're really like!"

"Speak for yourself, my pet." The red had faded from Rupert's face. "You
do have a nice little habit of speaking your mind, don't you? But on
this occasion I believe you're at least eight-tenths right. I have been
neglecting my opportunities. Suppose you let me get at that box, Val.
And look here, if you are going to unpack these, why not move them down
to the end of the hall and turn them out on a sheet?"

Charity and Ricky suddenly disappeared back into the room and were very
busy whenever Rupert crossed their line of vision, but Val was heartily
gl