always my fault. But we are going
to have a perfectly glorious time this summer, aren't we? Just think,
next year Phil and I shall be nineteen and nearly old ladies."

"I wonder if anything special is going to happen to us this holiday?"
pondered Phil, crunching away on her third cake.

"Something special always does happen to us," declared Lillian. "Let's go
to bed now, because, if we are going to row up the bay in the morning to
explore the shore, we shall have to get up early to put the 'Merry Maid'
in order. We must be regular old Cape May inhabitants by the time that
Mrs. Curtis and Tom arrive."

Next morning bad news came to the crew of the little houseboat. Mrs.
Curtis had been called to Chicago by the illness of her brother, and Tom
had gone with her. They did not know how soon they would be able to come
on to Cape May; but within a very few days Philip Holt, the goody-goody
young man who was one of Mrs. Curtis's special favorites, would come on
to Cape May, and Mrs. Curtis hoped that the girls would see that he had a
good time.

Neither Madge, Phil, Lillian nor Eleanor felt particularly pleased at
this information. But Tania, who was the only one of the party that knew
the young man well, burst unexpectedly into a flood of tears, the cause
of which she obstinately refused to explain.

CHAPTER VII

CAPTAIN JULES, DEEP SEA DIVER

The "Water Witch" rocked lazily on the breast of the waves, awaiting the
coming of the four girls, who had planned to row up the bay on a voyage
of discovery. They were not much interested in staying about among the
Cape May cottagers, after the conversation which they had innocently
overheard from the deck of the launch the night before. Of course, if
Mrs. Curtis and Tom had come on to Cape May at once to occupy their
cottage, as they had expected to do, all would have been well. The four
young women and their chaperon would have been immediately introduced to
the society of the Cape. However, the girls were not repining at their
lack of society. They had each other; there was the old town of Cape May
to be explored with the great ocean on one side and Delaware Bay on the
other.

"Do be careful, children," called Miss Jenny Ann warningly as the girls
arranged themselves for a row in their skiff. "In all our experience on
the water I never saw so many yachts and pleasure boats as there are on
these waters. If you don't keep a sharp lookout one of the larger boats
may r