o me. I believe Captain Smith would help me if he could."

"But suppose he's gone to sea again?"

"That's quite likely. I've thought of that too. Well, I mean to go to
some of the shipping offices, and see if they'll give me a post on a
South African liner as assistant stewardess. Don't look so frightfully
aghast! It's work I could do very well, though it wouldn't be pleasant.
I've travelled so much about the world that I'm absolutely at home on
board ship. I know all the ins and outs of voyaging, and I'm a splendid
sailor, never seasick in the least. I could make myself most uncommonly
useful. I'd buy a packet of hairpins and tuck up my hair so that I'd
look much older, and I believe they'd engage me, because it's so
difficult sometimes to meet with assistant stewardesses. I'm nearly
fifteen now, and I'd rather earn my own living like that than stay here
at Briarcroft on Poppie's charity. American and Colonial girls are never
ashamed to work. When I get out to Cape Town, I'll go to the
headmistress of the school where I stopped three months. She was a
trump, and I believe she'd help me to find Dad."

So bold a plan almost took Meg's breath away, yet its ambitious daring
appealed strongly to her schoolgirl imagination. She had absolutely no
knowledge of the world, and the scheme which an older person would have
instantly vetoed sounded to her inexperienced young ears not only
perfectly feasible, but delightfully enterprising and romantic. She
entered into it with enthusiasm, absolutely certain that anything that
Gipsy proposed must be right. Having worshipped her friend for so long,
she could not believe her idol's judgment would be at fault.

"I'll tell you what we'll do!" she exclaimed. "Let's change dresses!
Then if Poppie tries to follow you, it will throw her off the scent.
Mine's longer than yours, too, so it will be better for a stewardess."

"Won't they notice it in school? It might give the thing away,"
hesitated Gipsy.

"It's Drawing the whole afternoon with Mr. Cobb, and he won't know the
difference. Quick, or somebody may be coming! Take my hat too. I'll get
yours out of the cupboard, or go home without one. None of the girls
would tell, and I'll dodge mistresses."

It did not take very long for the pair to effect an exchange of
costumes. They were soon arrayed in each other's dresses, an arrangement
which was certainly more to Gipsy's advantage than Meg's. They knew
there was no time to be lost, so,