rs gave a few details concerning
the conflagration aboard the steam yacht.

"And to think those poor people had to jump overboard!" came from
Jessie, sympathetically. "Oh, Dave, wasn't that dreadful!"

"Jessie, you ought to have seen Dave playing the really-and-truly hero
act!" burst out Ben.

"Now, Ben, quit it!" interrupted Dave.

"Not much, Dave! You deserve some credit, and I want the girls to know
what a real, genuine, dyed-in-the-wool hero you are."

"What did he do, Ben?" asked Laura.

"He jumped into the briny deep, and rescued the beautiful heroine of the
moving-picture company," was the answer. "Oh, you just ought to have
seen it, Jessie. The poor girl was going down for the last time when
Dave, with a do-or-die look on his handsome face, leaped into the flying
spume, and struck out boldly----"

"Ben, will you please stop?" pleaded Dave. "I never heard such foolish
talk before in my life!"

"But he did jump overboard, and he did save the girl," broke in Phil.
"If he hadn't gone after her she might have drowned."

"Who was she?" asked Laura; while Jessie, wide-eyed, showed her
interest.

"The leading lady of the film company--a Miss Della Ford," answered the
shipowner's son. "A mighty nice young lady, too--real stylish--golden-brown
hair, dreamy brown eyes, and all that sort of thing, you know."

"Oh, Dave, that was splendid of you to save her from drowning!" said
Jessie.

"Indeed it was!" added Ben. "And she was mighty grateful, too," he went
on. "She grabbed Dave's hands for all she was worth, and, at one time, I
thought she was going to throw her arms right around his neck."

"Oh, Ben!"

"Well, it seemed that way to me, anyway--and she was a stunning looking
girl, too, I can tell you!"

"She was not going to do anything of the kind, Jessie! Don't pay any
attention to him," broke in Dave, and now his face was decidedly red.
"Come on! Let's get into the auto and get to the house; I'm hungry," and
he started to help the two girls into the tonneau of the automobile.

"We'll have to hear more of this later on," said Dunston Porter, as he
started the car.

"Yes, I'd like to hear more about Miss Ford," added Jessie, in a
somewhat uncertain tone.

CHAPTER V

DAVE AT HOME

Mirror Lake was a beautiful sheet of water nestling among the mountains
of the Upper Adirondacks of New York State. At the lower end of the
lake, where there was a well-defined trail running to several
fashionabl