ger you, Lieutenant Jimmy, a torpedo boat full of the same kind
of candy that you sent us at the end of our second houseboat holiday,
that if you come down to this dock one year from to-day you will see our
yacht, which Captain Jules has named 'The Little Captain,' paying her
respects to the Statue of Liberty. Come, let's go and make Father and
Captain Jules convince him, Phil," proposed Madge, hugging Phyllis close
to her, as if the thought of being parted from her for so long as one
year was not to be borne.

"I'll take that wager, Miss Morton," replied Lieutenant Jimmy jokingly,
"because I would be so awfully glad to have to pay it."

"Madge simply must come back on time, Lieutenant Jimmy," whispered Phil,
nodding her head mysteriously toward a young woman and a man. "It's a
state secret, and I ought not to tell you, but Miss Jenny Ann and Mr.
Theodore Brown, the artist, are to be married a year from this fall. We
must all be at the wedding. Miss Jenny Ann couldn't possibly be married
unless every one of the 'Mates of the Merry Maid' were there. If we can
arrange it, Miss Jenny Ann is going to be married on the houseboat. Won't
it be the greatest fun?"

For the moment Phil was so cheered at the thought of another houseboat
reunion, though a whole twelve months off, that she forgot that her best
beloved Madge was to leave in another half-hour for her trip around the
world.

Phyllis and Lieutenant Jimmy were standing a little behind Madge. David
Brewster stopped to talk to Mrs. Curtis and Tom.

At the far end of the dock Captain Jules Fontaine was giving some orders
to four sailors who formed the entire crew of his new yacht, for the old
pearl diver was to pilot his own boat, which was to sail under Captain
Morton's orders. The beautiful little yacht was Captain Jules's own
property. The old man had made a comfortable fortune in his life in the
tropics, but he had little use for it, and no desire, except to make
Madge and her father happy. The little captain's love for the water was
what endeared her most to the old sailor. He could not be happy away from
the sea and he couldn't be happy away from Madge and Captain Morton. The
fortunate girl's two fathers had discussed very seriously Madge's own
proposal to come to keep house for them at "The Anchorage." Both men knew
that she could not settle down at their lonely little house far up the
bay and several miles from the nearest town, which was Cape May.
Wonderful as