“Tommy, have you been walking in your sleep?” demanded Miss Elting.

“Yeth, I’ve been walking, I gueth.  Excuthe me, Buthter.  If you hadn’t been in my way I wouldn’t have fallen over you.  Good night, friendth.”  Tommy tumbled into bed, muttering to herself.  Harriet did not go to sleep at once.  She lay for some little time thinking over the strange occurrences of the night, and wondering what it could mean.  Then, her companions having gone to sleep, she too settled down for the few hours that remained before the rising horn blew.

Her first thought, upon awakening in the morning, was for the sloop.  Quickly scrambling out of bed, she stepped to the door and gazed out on the bay.  The “Sister Sue” lay at her anchorage motionless, glistening in the bright rays of the morning sunlight, handsomer, Harriet thought, as she stood admiring the pretty craft, than she had appeared on the previous day.

The Camp Girls were filled with expectations of what was before them.  They were to sail shortly after ten o’clock, and for many of them it was to be the first sail they had ever enjoyed.  Breakfast was eaten and the camp put in order in record time that morning.  Promptly at ten o’clock Captain Billy rowed the small boat ashore.  He dragged down some trees which he cut, thus making a crude pier for the girls to walk out on, thus enabling him to leave the small boat in deeper water.  However, he could take out no more than five passengers at a time.  Mrs. Livingston told him that they did not care to sail far that morning.  It was her purpose to give each of the girls in the camp a sail that day.  Several trips, therefore, would be necessary.

“If that’s the case, we can take a bigger load on the sloop,” replied the captain.  “Pile ’em in.”

“Will it be perfectly safe?” questioned the Chief Guardian.

“You can’t sink her.  The reason I didn’t want a big crowd was that I thought you would be going out a long way.  We’re likely to meet heavy weather several miles outside.  In that case a skipper wants plenty of room to move about.  Sometimes quick work is necessary, and—­”

“I don’t suppose that being a commodore will prevent my assisting in sailing the boat, will it?” asked Harriet smilingly.

The skipper looked her over critically.

“I reckon we can make a sailor of you.  Know anything about sailing?”

“No, sir.”

“Yeth, she doeth,” interjected Grace.  “She wath the captain of the ‘Red Rover’ latht year.”

“And sunk it,” chuckled Crazy Jane.

“If you will tell me what to do, I shall be glad to start, Captain.”

“All right.  Get hold of that halyard and see if you can haul the sail up,” he answered, grinning mischievously.  Captain Billy had not the least idea that she possessed the strength to raise the sail.  But Harriet surprised him.  She grasped the rope, and, though so light that the weight of the sail nearly pulled her off her feet, she hauled it slowly but steadily to the peak, then, throwing all her weight into one hand and arm, made the halyard fast to a cleat on the deck.