told the girls what happened the night before.

"Not a word. They didn't ask me."

"Humph!" The boy was puzzled.

At noon they took another tack.

"I forgot to tell you that Mamie sent her regards to you and Katy,"
Ernest remarked casually.

"She said she was sorry you didn't come, too," added Sherm.

Jane lifted her eyebrows at Katy. Katy shook her head.

"By the way, Sis, I forgot to tell you that Captain Clarke invited us
all to come over to supper to-morrow night. He said to tell you he
appreciated that bread very much. And while I think of it, if you can
spare a little of your valuable time, I'd thank you to rip that
stitching out of our clothes. I want to wear mine to the Captain's."

"All right, we'll rip out the stitching if you'll bake us a batch of
bread as good as the one you took."

"Not much, Mary Ann! We took the bread to the Captain, all right."

"Yes, but we only intended to send one loaf--and, besides, you made us a
lot of trouble."

"Mother, haven't the girls got to take out that stitching?"

"I think Jane's proposition is a fair one, Ernest," observed Dr. Morton
dryly.

The boys retired to their room early that night where they worked most
industriously with scissors and penknife and clothes brush. They had
paid a hurried visit to Chicken Little's room when they first came
upstairs. This visit did much to sweeten their hour of labor.

The girls were spending the evening at Frank's. They were late in
getting home. The night was hot and they hated to go to bed until it
began to cool off. Dr. and Mrs. Morton were sitting on the front porch.

"Go to bed, children. Father was just starting over to call you." Mrs.
Morton kissed them each goodnight.

Dr. and Mrs. Morton followed them in and had barely settled themselves
for the night, when an unearthly shriek rent the air, followed by
another and yet another.

"What in thunder are those children up to now?" Dr. Morton spoke in the
tone of one who considered that patience had ceased to be a virtue.

"O Mother, come quick--there's snakes or frogs or something in our bed
and we haven't any light!"

Mrs. Morton hurriedly lit a lamp and went to the rescue, followed by the
doctor armed with a stick.

Holding the lamp aloft they went into the room, the three girls, who had
retired in a panic to the head of the stairs, bringing up the rear. Katy
had scrambled into bed and out again in haste, dragging the coverlet and
sheet half off on the f