Vi's wrist in hers and her eyes
were big and round as she looked from her to Laura.

"Suppose," she said in a whisper, "we should meet the Codfish!"

Vi shivered nervously, but it was Laura's turn to be cross.

"Don't be silly," she said. "Don't you know that the Codfish is safe in
jail, and has been there for a long time? Now who's making up something
to worry about, I'd like to know."

"But thieves do break out of jail," Billie insisted. "And the Codfish is
just the kind who would do it."

"Goodness, Billie, what an idea!" said Vi breathlessly. "I never even
thought about his escaping. And I suppose," she added, beginning to feel
deliciously goose-fleshy, "that we'd be the very first ones he'd go for.
Revenge, you know--that's what they are always after in the stories."

"I hate to interrupt you," Laura broke in as sarcastically as she could.
"But if you two want to stand there all day talking about the Codfish and
revenge, you can, but I'm going to find some way out of this place.
Goodness, I felt another drop. And there's another!"

"Well, you needn't count them," Billie remarked briskly, bringing an
hysterical giggle from Vi. "Come on, there must be a path of some kind
around here."

"I suppose there is, but if we can't find it, it won't do us much good,"
said Laura, looking about her helplessly.

"Well, we certainly won't find it by standing still," snapped Billie.
"Come on. I feel it in my bones that Three Towers is somewhere off in
this direction." And she led the way into the woods, the girls following
dispiritedly.

And while the three chums are searching for the path, the opportunity
will be taken to recount to new readers some of the adventures and queer
experiences the girls had had up to the present time.

In the first book of this series, entitled, "Billie Bradley and Her
Inheritance," Billie had been left an old homestead at Cherry Corners in
the upper part of New York State. The strange legacy had come to Billie
from an eccentric aunt, Beatrice Powerson, for whom Billie had been
named. For Billie's real name was not Billie at all, but Beatrice.

It will be remembered that the girls had decided to spend their vacation
there, and that the boys, Billie's brother Chetwood, Laura's brother
Teddy, and another boy, Ferd Stowing, had joined them there and that
queer and exciting adventures had followed.

The most wonderful thing of all had been the finding of the shabby old
trunk in the attic wh