Once or twice in the course of the sail Dabney found himself on the point of saying something about boarding-schools, but each time his friend suddenly broke away to discuss other topics, such as blue-fish, porpoises, crabs, or the sailing qualities of the “Swallow,” and Dab dimly felt it would be better to wait till another time.  So he waited.

And then, as they sailed up the inlet, very happy and very hungry, he suddenly exclaimed:  “Ham, do you see that?  How could they have guessed where we had gone?  There’s the whole tribe, and the boys are with ’em, and Annie.”

“What boys and Annie?”

“Oh, Ford Foster and Frank Harley.  Annie is Ford’s sister.”

“What’s become of Jenny?”

“You mean my boat?  Why, there she is, hitched a little out, there by the landing.”

And Dabney did not seem to guess the meaning of Ham’s queer, quizzical smile.

CHAPTER XVIII.

There was a sort of council at the breakfast table of the Foster family that morning, and Ford and Annie found themselves “voted down.”

“Annie, my dear,” said Mrs. Foster, in a gentle but decided way, “I’m sure your aunt Maria, if not your uncle, must feel hurt about your coming away so suddenly.  If we invite Joe and Foster to visit us, it will make it all right.”

“Yes!” sharply exclaimed Mr. Foster.  “We must have them come.  They’ll behave themselves here.  I’ll write to their father; you write to Maria.”

“They’re her own boys, you know,” added Mrs Foster, soothingly.

“Well, mother,” said Annie, “if it must be.  But I’m sure they’ll make us all very uncomfortable.”

“I can stand ’em for a week or so,” said Ford, with the air of a man who can do or bear more than most people.  “I’ll get Dab Kinzer to help me entertain them.”

“Excellent,” said Mr. Foster, “and I hope they will be civil to him.”

“To Dabney?” asked Annie.

“Fuz and Joe civil to Dab Kinzer?” exclaimed Ford.

“Certainly, I hope so.”

“Father,” said Ford, “may I say just what I was thinking?”

“Speak it right out.”

“Well, I was thinking what a good time Fuz and Joe would be likely to have trying to get ahead of Dab Kinzer.”

Annie looked at her brother and nodded, and there was a bit of a twinkle in the eyes of the lawyer himself, but he only remarked: 

“Well, you must be neighborly.  I don’t believe the Hart boys know much about the sea-shore.”

“Dab and Frank and I will try and educate them.”

Annie thought of the ink and her box of ruined cuffs and collars while her brother was speaking.  Could it be that Ford meant a good deal more than he was saying?  At all events she fully agreed with him on the Dab Kinzer question.  That was one council, and it was of peace or war according as events and the Hart boys themselves should determine.