e," persisted Dickinson. "Do you
know where Johnson's dock is?"

The guardian hesitated. She was regarding the man with some suspicion.

"It's at the foot of the second street beyond, down that way. I'll have
the boat down there in a couple of hours. I've got to get a motor boat,
or something of the sort to tow it down. It probably will leak some, not
having been in the water this season until yesterday. You had better go
over to the hotel and get your dinner. I'll come up and let you know
when the scow is ready. Go right over and make yourself at home. I'll do
the best I can. Bert's an old friend of mine."

Dickinson hurried away, without further words. The girls looked at each
other and laughed.

"Well, if Dee Dickinson is a friend of your brother, I must say I don't
admire your brother's friends," declared Harriet.

"That ith what I thay," agreed Grace Thompson.

"Tommy, you shouldn't have said that," reproved Hazel Holland.

"She didn't. Harriet said it," retorted Margery.

"Buster is right," laughed Jane McCarthy. "Come on, girls! Let's go to
dinner, as the shifty-eyed gentleman advised. I hope it is dinner. I
never could get used to luncheon in the middle of the day when Nature
intended that a girl should have a full meal of the real food. Where is
the old hotel?"

"I don't know, Jane. There is something strange about this affair. I am
sure that Bert must have known what he was about, or he wouldn't have
sent me the message he did. However, we shall see. There is no need to
borrow trouble. We shall know how to deal with it when we meet it face
to face. Let's go and look for this hotel that our friend, Mr. Dee, has
recommended."

Getting into the automobile Jane started her car, and they drove through
the town in search of the hotel, which they found after a few inquiries.
The prosperous village of Wantagh was located on the shore of Lake
Winnipesaukee. It was there that Miss Elting's brother had begun to
practice law, but after one year's practice in the little village had
listened to the call of the West. He had left in Wantagh the old scow,
dignified by the name of "houseboat" to which was attached the further
title of "Red Rover." It was in this lumbering craft that Miss Elting
and her young friends, the Meadow-Brook Girls, had planned to spend part
of their summer vacation. Their meeting with Dickinson, in whose care
the boat had been left, was quite discouraging. Dee was not a
prepossessing fellow