ast, there would be no opportunity to
signal for help. A sudden realization of hunger drove her back to the
shack.

Ethel gathered sticks from the shore for the rusty ramshackle stove. She
lighted them with matches brought from the tender. Soon she had water
boiling for coffee, and presently, with the remnants left from Mrs.
Goodwin's supply, the girl was able to make a meal that seemed
wonderfully savory to her sharpened appetite.

As the day lengthened, Ethel's mind busied itself with the problem of
finding a means to signal her presence. There was always the possibility
of the physician's failure to reach his destination. Prudence demanded
that she herself should make every effort possible for relief. From her
reading, she remembered how shipwrecked castaways in similar plight had
used a shirt or any white garment as a flag of distress. She saw a
net-pole lying on the strand, which, she believed, she could drag to the
top of the sand dune, in spite of her ankle's weakness. Her muslin
petticoat would serve as the banner. The idea no sooner presented itself
than she proceeded to its execution. The moving and the erection of the
heavy pole taxed her strength to the utmost, but it was at last
accomplished, and its white flag fluttered bravely in the light breeze.
Ethel looked with pride on her achievement, and dared to believe that
her father, could he have seen her now, would have praised her courage
and resourcefulness. She felt oddly like a soldier who has scaled the
wall in the face of the enemy, and planted his flag in triumph on the
rampart--though hers was a flag of truce. She surveyed her work
complacently, though every muscle was aching from long-continued digging
in the shifting sand with her bare hands and the tramping it into
firmness about the pole.

When again she glanced out over the Sound, Ethel saw off to the
northward a small skiff sailing toward her. Even at this distance, she
was sure that it was approaching her refuge. It was evident that her
signal had been seen. She sat down, and stared eagerly. She felt
suddenly faint in the reaction of joy over the prospect of rescue. Then,
a minute later, the castaway was forgotten in the woman. She hastily
pulled her signal banner from the pole, wadded it under her arm, and
hurried down the dune to the hut. Having accomplished its extraordinary
purpose so valiantly, the white flag should now disappear to perform its
ordinary useful service.

[Illustration: