times the
girls had hard work making anything out of it. However, this much was
clear: Miss Arbuckle intended to leave Molata Friday night--and this was
Friday night--and would probably be at Lighthouse Island Saturday
morning. And to-morrow was Saturday!

"She says," Billie finished, her voice trembling with excitement, "that
the reason she didn't write to us before was because she was out of town
and didn't receive my letter for almost a week after it reached Three
Towers Hall. She says----"

"Oh, who cares about that?" cried Laura impatiently. "The main thing is
that she will be here to-morrow."

"Only a little over twelve hours to wait."

The girls did not sleep very well that night, and they were up and
dressed and at the dock almost an hour before the steamer was due.

They were so nervous that they could not stand still, and it was just as
well that the _Mary Ann_ was a little early that morning, or the dock
would have been worn out completely, Connie declared.

"Oh, Billie, suppose she doesn't come?" whispered Vi as the boat slid
into the dock. "Suppose----"

"No suppose about it," Billie whispered back joyfully. "Look, Vi! There
she is."

"But who is the man with her?" cried Laura suddenly, as Miss Arbuckle
waved to them from the upper deck and then started down the narrow
winding stairway, followed by a tall, rather stoop-shouldered man who
seemed to the girls to have something vaguely familiar about him.

"He may not be with her," Billie answered. But suddenly she gasped. Miss
Arbuckle had stepped upon the dock with hands outstretched to the girls,
and as the tall man followed her Billie got her first full look at his
face.

It was Hugo Billings, the mysterious maker of fern baskets whom they had
found in his hut in the woods!

As for the man, he seemed as much astonished as the girls, and he stood
staring at them and they at him while Miss Arbuckle looked from one to
the other in amazement.

"What's the matter?" she cried. "Hugo, have you met the girls before?"

"Why, why yes," stammered the man, a smile touching his lips.

"You see we were lost in the woods and he very kindly showed us the way
out," said Billie, finding her voice at last.

"Oh," said Miss Arbuckle.

Then she introduced her companion to the girls as "my brother" and once
more the girls thought they must be losing their minds. But this time
Miss Arbuckle did not seem to notice their bewilderment, for her whole
mind was on