“I don’t thee anything to read,” said Tommy, squinting down at the card.

“You are not taking the lesson, darlin’,” Jane reminded her.

“This is the way to begin,” Captain Billy told them.  “First is North.  Then you say north one-quarter, one-half, three-quarters, then the next sub-division is North by East with the same fractions of degrees.  We go on as you will see by following the card, as follows, North Northeast; Northeast by North; Northeast; Northeast by East; East Northeast; East by North; East.  You proceed in exactly the same manner with the other cardinal points, East, South and West, and that is what is called ‘boxing the compass.’  Do you think you understand, Miss Burrell?”

“I have at least a start,” replied Harriet smilingly.

“I haven’t,” declared Tommy with emphasis.  “I couldn’t thpeak at all if I repeated that awful thtuff.”

In the meantime Harriet was gazing steadily at the card, fixing the points in mind, really photographing the points of the compass and their sub-divisions on her memory, the skipper observing her with a dry smile.  He thought he had given the young sailor a problem that would keep her busy for some days to come.  What was his surprise, therefore, when just after they had come to anchor, Harriet asked him to hear her lesson.  She began boxing the compass and only once did she pause until she had gone all the way around the card.

“How near right was I, Captain?” she asked.

“Right as a plumb line.  Girl, you’re a wonder.  Took me four months to learn to read the card; then I didn’t have it down as fine as you have.  Will you forget it before to-morrow morning?”

“Oh, dear me, no,” she laughed.  “I hope I shall not,” added the girl, sobering a little.  “I shall write the points down as soon as possible after I get back to camp.”

“If you have it down fine in the morning, I’ll take you for a long sail to-morrow,” promised the captain, as he assisted the girls over the side into the waiting small boat.

The Wau-Wau girls voted it the most delightful day they ever had spent.  When they had reached camp, however, Harriet heard something that caused her to think even more seriously of what already had happened at Camp Wau-Wau.  Before the night was over she was to witness that which would add still further to her perplexity.

CHAPTER XX

OUT OF SIGHT OF LAND

“The man wished to know to whom the boat out in the bay belonged,” Miss Elting was saying to the Chief Guardian.  “He did not give his name, but asked many questions—­who the captain is, where we got him and how, and all about it.  The questioner was very mysterious.  What do you suppose he could have been trying to find out?”

“Perhaps he was a police officer looking for a stolen boat.  I understand a great many boats are stolen along this coast.  But we do not have to worry in the present instance.  Miss McCarthy’s father would not have given us a man who was not right in every way.”