e in--"

"Thank you for coming, Soapy," interrupted Ruth. "It was very good of
you."

"Soapy" lingered at the door, fumbling his dilapidated hat. Mrs.
Spofford was staring speechlessly at her niece.

"I'd a little sooner you wouldn't say anything to A. A. about me
peaching on him," said "Soapy," somewhat nervously.

"I shall not 'peach' on you, Soapy," said the girl, a joyous smile
suddenly illuminating her face.

"Soapy" went out. As he closed the door, he said to himself: "Next time
you tell me to go to hell, Abe Landover, I guess you'd better furnish a
guide that knows the way."

As soon as the door was closed, Mrs. Spofford turned upon her radiant
niece.

"You are not such a fool as to believe that rascal's story, Ruth?"

"I believe every word of it!" cried the girl.

CHAPTER XII.

Sailors, sniffing the gale that night, shook their heads and said
there was snow on the tail of it. Morning found the ground mottled with
splashes of white and a fine, frost-like sleet blowing fitfully across
the plain. The ridge of trees over against the shore became vague and
shapeless beneath the filmy veil, while the sea out beyond the breakers
was clothed in a grey shroud, bleak and impenetrable.

Knapendyke was positive and reassuring in his contention that no great
amount of snow ever fell upon the island. While much of the vegetation
was of a character indigenous to the temperate zone, there was, he
pointed out, another type peculiar to tropical climates,--and although
the latter was of a singularly hardy nature, it was not calculated to
survive the rigours of a harsh, protracted winter.

"We'll have spells like this, off and on, just as they occasionally do
in Florida or Southern California, is the way I figure it out," he said
to the group of uneasy men who contemplated the embryonic blizzard with
alarm and misgiving. "Moreover, I believe the wet, cold season is a
short one here. The birds are content to stick it out. The fact there is
no migration is proof enough for me that the winter is never severe.
As the weather prognosticators say, look out for squalls, unsettled
weather, frost tonight, rising temperature tomorrow, rain the next
day, doctors' bills the end of the month. Avoid crowded street-cars,
passenger elevators and places of amusement. Take plenty of out-door
exercise and don't eat too many strawberries."

Children, on their way to school in the town hall, shouted with glee
as they romped