call it. He's
a prisoner on the _Arthur B. Grover_, only he doesn't know it. I
mobilized that outfit thinking we might need some help up here and
incidentally to keep Eliphalet where I could put my hand on him; but the
whole thing's complicated, Archie. It's far more of a mess than I
expected."

He found a smooth patch of sand and with a stick drew a number of
diagrams, carefully effacing them after they had served his purpose.

"Humph! This is no time for weakening! Over there, Archie,"--he pointed
toward Heart o' Dreams--"are the two finest women in the world. We're
going to stand by them no matter whose head gets cracked."

He spoke lightly, but his brow clouded. It was evident that something of
unhappy augury had been, revealed in his last appeal to the heavens.

"I want to be alone for a while," he said brusquely, "I'll turn up at
supper time."

II

At the supper table a new direction was given to Archie's thoughts, for
a time at least. Fortunately his nerves had grown accustomed to shocks
and he was only dazed now by the intrusion of a new figure on the scene.
The Governor and Congdon were already at the table when he reached the
dining-room. Mrs. Leary had referred to an assistant she was expecting
on the afternoon train, and as Archie appeared at the door a neatly
attired waitress walked sedately before him to his place.

Sally Walker had faded in a long perspective of crowding memories. He
never expected to see Sally again, but if the girl who stood by his
chair was not Sally she was her twin. He sank into his seat, watching
her out of the corner of his eye as she passed through the swing door
with a flutter of her snowy apron. He replied feebly to the Governor's
bantering salutation and nervously played with his fork. The Governor
was soaring and Archie's bewilderment was evidently affording him secret
delight.

Sally was not merely a past mistress of dissimulation; she was the
undisputed reigning queen in that realm. She served the table with a
strictly professional air, in no way betraying the fact that two of the
guests had lately enjoyed the hospitality of her father's house or that
she had beguiled one of them by the grossest misrepresentations to
assist her to elope.

"There's custard and apple," she recited finally, "or you may have wheat
cakes with syrup," and as Archie covertly met her eyes she winked, a
wink not sly or vulgar but a wink expressive of mischief on a holiday
and quite cont