g could ever spring any more.

'Well, I'm glad I didn't kill the Russian,' confessed Willie. 'And it
did seem all too easy as we had thought of it. I suppose the battle and
all that was only a dream.'

'But I believed we were geniuses,' owned Ella, with a little blush; and
then Father laughed. Oh, how he laughed!

THE GIANT OF THE TREASURE CAVES.

(_Continued from page 115._)

CHAPTER VII.

Georgie listened to Estelle's reading till the low murmur, blending with
the drowsy hum of the insects, the occasional twitter of a bird, and the
warm fragrance of the pines, lulled him to sleep. Estelle read on till
the story was finished; then sat gazing up into the green foliage above
her. She was thinking that she was not unlike the girl in the story; her
father was away, her mother was dead, and though she lived among those
who loved her, would any such terrible things befall her as had happened
to the heroine of the tale? Her thoughts wandered to the father in that
far-off land, and the mother who had died when she was too young to
remember her, but whose sweet face and sweeter memory would always be
sacred to the little girl she had left behind her. She could almost hear
herself say, as once in the days long, long ago--

'Do you like the name of Estelle, father? It sounds very French, but it
was mother's.'

'It is the sweetest name on earth to me, my darling. Be what your mother
was, as sweet, as loving, as unselfish, and you will be worthy of her
name.'

Had there really been a voice speaking to her? Estelle sat up,
listening. Her heart beat, though she smiled that the fancy should have
come. Her father was so far away. She longed to be with him again; but
she had plenty to do to learn all he desired, before he came back, and
after that the happy days at Lynwood could begin again. Suddenly, the
grating of the door into the ruin startled her. Bootles sat up and
snuffed the air, moved uneasily, and got up to stretch himself. Then he
lazily stalked away to the steps, flopping down them as if too weary to
walk properly. At the bottom, however, he suddenly roused himself. A cat
was creeping stealthily across the open glade. Estelle saw it too, and
sprang up in her nervous dislike to seeing creatures hunted. But Bootles
had at once given chase. He could be heard yelping as he bounded after
the animal, till both disappeared in the deep undergrowth. For a time
the sound of the pursuit grew more and more distant, th