“Just what I was afraid of when I saw the man talking to him!” exclaimed Anna.  “Oh, listen!

“’The young Sir Adrian Vanderkist, at present residing at St. Andrew’s Rock with his aunt, Mrs. Grinstead, and the Rev. E. C. Underwood, and who is a pupil at Mrs. Edgar’s academy for young gentlemen, was, we are informed, involved in the most imminent danger, together with a son of General Sir Jasper Merrifield, K.G.C., a young gentleman whose remarkable scientific talent and taste appear to have occasioned the peril of the youthful party, from whence they were rescued by Gerald F. Underwood, Esq., of Vale Leston.’”

“What’s all that?” said Gerald F. Underwood, Esquire, sauntering in and kissing his aunt.  “Good-morning.  How is Uncle Clement this morning?”

“Much better; I think he will be up by and by,” answered Mrs. Grinstead.

“What bosh have you got there?  The reporters seized on their prey, eh?”

“There’s Sir Jasper!” exclaimed Anna, who could see through the blinds from where she sat.

Sir Jasper had driven over with his little son, and, after leaving him at school, had come to inquire for Mr. Underwood, and to obtain a fuller account of the accident, having already picked up a paper and glanced at it.

“I am afraid my little scamp led them into the danger,” he said.  “Scientific taste forsooth!  Science is as good a reason as anything else for getting into scrapes.”

“Really,” said Gerald, “I can’t say I think your boy came out the worst in it, though I must own the Rockquay Advertiser bestows most of the honours of the affair on the youthful baronet!  You say he blew his own trumpet,” added Gerald, turning to Anna.

“The reporter came and beset us,” said Anna, in a displeased voice.  “I did not hear all that passed, but of course Adrian told him what he told me, only those people make things sound ridiculous.”

“To begin with,” said Gerald, “I don’t think Fergus, or at any rate Davy Blake, was in fault.  They tried to go home in good time, having an instinct for tides, but Adrian was chasing a sea-mouse or some such game, and could not be brought back, and then he fell over a slippery rock, and had to be dragged out of a hole, and by that time the channel of the Anscombe stream was too deep, at least for him, who has been only too carefully guarded from being amphibious.”

“Oh! that did not transpire at home,” said Sir Jasper.  “Boys are so reserved.”

Mrs. Grinstead and Anna looked rather surprised.  Anna even ventured—-

“I thought Fergus got too absorbed.”

“So did I,” said his father dryly.  “And he did not justify himself.”

“M-—m-—m,” went on Gerald, skimming the article.

“Read it,” cried Anna.  “You know none of us have seen it.”

Gerald continued—-