e on! Come on!" he cried as he neared the group, towards which he
ceased to run, the better to catch his breath and yell. "There's hell
a-poppin' in the boarding-house! You've got to come!"

He surged up the last remaining ascent at a lively stride.

"What's the matter? What in the world are you drivin' at?" demanded
Mrs. Dick. "Hold your tongue long enough to tell me what's the matter."

"It's the _chink_!" exploded Billy pantingly. "They tried to run him
off the place! He's locked the kitchen and gone to throwin' out hot
water and Chinese language like a fire-engine on a drunk. And now
they're all a-packin' up to quit the house, and you won't have a
doggone boarder left, fer they won't eat Chinese chuck!"

"What?" said Van drawlingly, "refuse to eat Algy's confections?--a
crowd like that? By all the culinary gods of Worcestershire and
mustard, they'll eat out of Algy's hand."

He dived inside the tent, caught up his gun, and was strapping it on
before Mrs. Dick could catch her breath to utter a word of her wrath.

"Well," said Gettysburg dubiously, "I hate trouble on an empty stomach,
but----"

"You stay in camp till you hear the dinner bell," Van interrupted.
"This game is mine and Mrs. Dick's. You'll get there in time for
dessert."

He did not wait for Mrs. Dick. He started at a pace that none could
follow. Mrs. Dick began to run at his heels, calling instructions as
she went.

"Be careful of the crock'ry, Van! The stove's bran'-new! I'd hate to
have you break the chairs! And don't forgit Miss Kent!"

Old Billy Stitts had remained with the others at the camp.

"Ain't she the female woman?" he said. "Ain't she just about it?"

No one answered. The three old cronies were watching Van as he went.

Van, for his part, heard nothing of what Mrs. Dick was saying, except
the name "Miss Kent." He had not forgotten for a moment that Beth was
at the seat of war, or that he would perhaps be wiser by far never to
behold her again. He was speeding there despite all he felt at what
she had done, for she might be involved in trouble at the house,
and--at least she was a woman.

He arrived in the midst of a newly concerted plan on the part of
lodgers and strangers combined to smoke Algy out of the kitchen. They
had broken windows, overturned the furniture, and worked up a lively
humor. Algy had exhausted his supply of hot water, but not his supply
of language. It seemed as if the stream of Orien