aid 'Good night' I had to wait a long time for his answer. But I'd
like you to meet him and help cheer him up; so please let me introduce
him, if there's a chance, and do be nice to him."

"I declare," cried Patsy, laughing, "Myrtle has assumed an air of
proprietorship over the Sad One already."

"She has a right to, for she saved his life," said Beth.

"Three times," Myrtle added proudly. "He told me so himself."

Uncle John heard the story of Myrtle's adventure with considerable
surprise, and he too expressed a wish to aid her in winning Mr. Jones
from his melancholy mood.

"Every man is queer in one way or another," said he, "and I'd say the
women were, too, if you females were not listening. I also imagine a
very rich man has the right to be eccentric, if it pleases him."

"Is Mr. Jones rich, then?" inquired Beth.

"According to the landlord he's rich as Croesus. Made his money in
mining--manipulating stocks, I suppose. But evidently his wealth
hasn't been a comfort to him, or he wouldn't want to shuffle off his
mortal coil and leave it behind"

They did not see the object of this conversation before leaving for
the trip to Point Loma--a promontory that juts out far into the
Pacific. It is reached by a superb macadamized boulevard, which passes
down the north edge of the promontory, rounds the corner where stands
the lighthouse, and comes back along the southern edge, all the time a
hundred feet or more in elevation above the ocean.

The view from the Point is unsurpassed. Wampus stopped his car beside
a handsomely appointed automobile that was just then deserted.

"Some one is here before us," remarked Patsy. "But that is not
strange. The wonder is that crowds are not here perpetually."

"It is said," related the Major, who had really begun to enjoy
California, "that the view from this Point includes more varied
scenery than any other that is known in the world. Here we see the
grand San Bernardino range of mountains; the Spanish Bight on the
Mexican shore; the pretty city of San Diego climbing its hills, with
the placid bay in front, where float the warships of the Pacific
Squadron; the broad stretch of orange and lemon groves, hedged with
towering palm trees; Santa Catalina and the Coronado Islands; the blue
Pacific rolling in front and rugged Loma with its rocky cliffs behind.
What more could we ask to see from any one viewpoint?"

"Don't forget the monster hotel, with its hundred towers and gables,