“Dal, are you sure that we ought to do this?”

Elizabeth Secrest eyed her brother seriously.

“Yes, Beth. I know that you are thinking about the money, and I don’t blame you. You have had a hard enough time to earn our income, and if I slash around and spend all our principal, you’ll be thinking ‘What’s the use?’ But Beth, there is a method in my madness, and if we get a livable house up, next summer you can bring some of the girls, charge them a reasonable price for room, and board, too, or let them cook for themselves. Then I ought to make a little money out of the launch. There’s a little colony only a few miles away, if we don’t get enough people here to pay.”

“It is a pity to spoil our woods with people,” said Beth.

“But we’ll make the camp ourselves,” urged Dalton, “and have only nice folks. How would a girls’ camp strike you, and I might have a few boys somewhere?”

“No, thanks. I get enough of that in school time.”

“Poor Beth! But suppose we manage it so you do not have to teach during the year. If I got some one to play chaperon and run the affairs, would you be hostess and perhaps teach a class of girls in sketching or something in your line?”

“Dal, I’d hate it. Wait till Leslie grows up a little further to try all that. You wouldn’t like it yourself.”

“I’d like anything that took you out of the school room. But I have another plan for that. All right, Beth; but just the same, we’ll go ahead now. There are possibilities here. I promise you to spend as little as possible and to do as much of the work myself as I can.”

“I don’t want you to kill yourself and not to have any of the fun, fishing and all.” Beth had a sympathetic voice that always carried more meaning than her words themselves.

“I have already had a great time with that, and I shall again, later. But you know how I like this sort of thing. I’d like to be a big contractor some day. The first tree comes down to-morrow morning!”

Dalton had another reason for working steadily at their camp. The experience with the man who had tried to set fire to their lumber had made quite an impression. Dalton had talked it over with Leslie, who thought that it might be the Eyrie which could be especially objectionable, since it had the view of the bay and any operations there.

“You don’t suppose, Dal, that they could think us spying?”

“They might think that we would report them if we saw anything unusual; but if they think that we are here on purpose it will reassure them when we build a larger and more permanent home,—unless all this comes from Mr. Ives, and he is really determined to get us away, for some reason.”

“We girls are going to try to find out.”

“Don’t use Peggy unless she wants to be in it, whether her father is concerned or not.”

“What do you think of me, Dal Secrest! Peggy shall know everything that we know, if she lends herself to our investigating. She was thunderstruck when she found out about our having an abstract of title, and Mr. Ives’ name not even mentioned.”

Dalton nodded. “Peggy is an unusually nice girl, but she is considerably younger and hasn’t much judgment. Don’t let her get into trouble at home, if you can help it. As for me, I’m going to be right on the job most of the time, and while we are putting up the log house, I’ll keep a man to sleep right here in camp. I would sleep in the Eyrie now, to watch it, if it were not for being farther away from you girls.”

“How about our sleeping there, then? With the padlock off, they will know that someone is inside, and there will be enough air with that one window open on the side of the ocean.”

“Someone might climb up on the roof,” laughed Dalton.

“Yes, but I’d like to see them climb out and into the window. There’s a sheer drop of I don’t know how many feet. And one thing, I don’t see how they could set fire to the Eyrie.”

Dalton did not tell Leslie of what he had been afraid, namely that Eyrie and rocks might be blown up with dynamite. But he finally consented to have the girls move over to the Eyrie, which suited Beth; nor did she know how many times Dalton wakened at first and came over to see if Eyrie and girls were safe.

But Dalton Secrest was not easily moved from any purpose that he was convinced to be a wise one. The first tree fell by his ax at the appointed time. All the girls, Peggy included, were on hand to watch operations, and Jack arrived, from an errand to the village, just in time. “There!” said Dalton, leaning on his ax, “that’s done!”

The girls, warned away before the tree fell, came around to look at it. “Doesn’t it seem a pity to cut any tree down!” Leslie exclaimed.

“Yes, it does,” Dalton acknowledged, “but you need not be afraid. I appreciate this woods perhaps more than you do, Leslie. But you notice that the trees are all growing too thickly here. I shall cut two more out.” To illustrate, Dalton gave a sharp blow with the ax to one of the trees which he had marked.

“Have you another ax, Dalton?” Jack inquired. “What is the matter with my taking a hand in this?”

“Only the fact that your host, Mr. Ives, does not want us to build here,” frankly Dalton replied.

“What is the matter with him?” asked Jack, not much impressed with the news. He took the ax from Dalton’s hand and applied it to the base of the tree with some skill. Peggy jumped up and down like some little child and clapped her hands.

Dalton rubbed his hands and stood back to rest a little. Leslie watched Jack with some admiration. They were just beginning to get acquainted with Jack, who was not as talkative as Peggy, but manly and capable. Leslie had an idea that he was not from as wealthy a home as Steeple Rocks, though he seemed to have clothes for all occasions. She was glad that he was related to Peggy and not to Mr. Ives. It would be hard to like anybody that really belonged to Mr. Ives, she thought, though she was conscious that she might not be quite fair to the suave gentleman, so unpleasant had been their relations.

“Go on, Jack; that was good,” Peggy was saying. “It will be such fun to watch a real log house go up. Didn’t the pioneers always help each other?”

“I fancy not when a man was building on land belonging to someone else!”

All of the young people were startled at this new voice which came from behind them, as they faced the tree and Jack. They turned to see a tall, straight man of possibly sixty years, looking coldly upon the scene.

“Count Herschfeld!” exclaimed Jack.

Peggy shrugged her shoulders. “I rather think there isn’t anything of the sort here,” said she.

Dalton tossed aside the ax, which Jack had half unconsciously handed him, and stepped forward. “And who may you be?” he asked quietly, setting his lips firmly as he stopped speaking.

“Introduce us, Peggy,” sneeringly said the older man.

Peggy threw back her head and stepped from beside Sarita toward Dalton. “This is Count Herschfeld, Dalton. Count Herschfeld, this is my friend, Dalton Secrest, who is building on his own land! Miss Elizabeth, Count Herschfeld,—Miss Leslie and Miss Sarita—” Peggy began to be embarrassed with the number of introductions. She was not very old, and Elizabeth put an arm around her, as she stepped forward in great surprise.

“Are you visiting at Steeple Rocks, Count Herschfeld?” Elizabeth inquired, starting to put out her hand, then remembering that his first remark had not been friendly. What could it mean? She glanced at the faces around her. Jack, frowning, was leaning against the tree. Sarita and Leslie had drawn together and were looking at the Count with anything but friendly expressions. It seemed as if they were not as surprised as she.

“You could scarcely call it visiting, Miss Secrest. I conduct Mr. Ives’ business affairs very largely.”

“I see. Can we do anything for you this morning?”

“Most certainly; you can order your brother to refrain from cutting any more of Mr. Ives’ trees, and I am sorry to inform you, as Mr. Ives informed you some time ago, that we should like to have you withdraw from these woods.”

“But they belong to us, Count Herschfeld. There must be some grave mistake on your part. My father purchased this land, which is duly recorded and we hold deed and abstract of title in the usual way. My father was a lawyer, sir, and it is not very likely that he would accept a doubtful title.” Beth’s voice sounded very courteous and sweet, but she was as dignified as she was in the school room.

“Good old Beth,” whispered Leslie to Sarita. “She knew all about it all the time. We could have saved ourselves all that trouble if we had told her!”

“But you did it to save her the worry. It’s a joke on us, all the same!”

What would the Count say next, Leslie thought. He could not have expected them to be so sure of their rights.

With a sneering smile on his face, Count Herschfeld stood there, bracing himself now with his walking stick. “I have no doubt that you think yourselves within your rights,” began he, but Dalton stepped up to him with a card on which he had been scribbling while Beth talked.

“Here is the address of our lawyer, Count Herschfeld,” said Dalton. “You may wish to telegraph him. I want to have no trouble over this, but neither do I propose to be hindered. I have looked up the records purposely before beginning to build. We are not harming any one, Count Herschfeld, and we want to be let alone. I hope that we shall not be obliged to seek any protection from the law!” Dalton spoke strongly and meaningly.

Count Herschfeld lifted his eyebrows at that, but the sneer on his face remained. “I will report what you say to Mr. Ives,” he replied, “also the felling of the trees.”

“Mean old thing!” Peggy cried, as the Count disappeared through the trees. “Probably he’ll tell about our being here and Jack’s helping! He couldn’t have heard the chopping clear from Steeple Rocks, could he?”

“No, Peggy,” said Dalton. “Beth, we’ll have to tell you what happened before. It’s a good joke on us. We have spent lots of time and trouble finding out, and here you knew all about the abstract of title and everything.”

“It was my business to know, Dal. Why didn’t you tell me?” Elizabeth was quite amazed that she had not been informed at first.

“Mr. Ives came right over, and you were so worn out that we didn’t have the heart to give you anything to worry about. That was all. Write to Jim, Beth, and hurry up his coming!”

“I’d scarcely like to do that, Dal,”—but Elizabeth was smiling. “Suppose we just go right on, as you have been doing, Dal. We have the right of it. I am surprised that a man of Mr. Ives’ wealth and position should do this. Do you know, Peggy, why he thinks he owns this land?”

“I don’t think that he thinks he owns it,” replied Peggy, her cheeks red with excitement. “He wants you to go away, and I don’t think that he is very smart about it, either. He might know that you would know what you are about.”

“Why should he want us to go away, Peggy?” queried the still amazed Elizabeth. “What harm could we do here? Does he want all this woods and country about the bay to himself?”

“Something like that,” Peggy agreed. “He was fussing at Mother, for ‘bringing so many guests’ to the place, and he said that he came here to get ‘away from civilization.’ Seems to me, though, that he makes a great many trips back into it!”

“Perhaps he is obliged to,” kindly said Beth. “What is his business, Peggy?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t drink, if that is what you are thinking. He has wines for those foreigners, friends of his, and the ‘Counts’ that are always coming, but he never takes any to amount to anything.”

“Oh, Peggy, I never thought of such a thing. Please consider that question unasked!” Beth had not given possible smuggling any thought.

“I don’t care, Miss Beth. I’m worried myself about all this.”

“Cheer up, Peggy,” said Jack. “Your dad and these folks will let their lawyers fix it all up, and meanwhile we’ll have all the fun we want.”

“Unless Dad takes a notion to keep us at home!”

“Here goes for the other tree,” said Jack, picking up the ax again.

Leaving the two boys engaged in their task, the rest strolled from the woods to the rocks, where Beth disappeared into the Eyrie, which she was fitting up to her taste. The other girls went down to the launch, the Sea Crest, in which they were soon speeding out upon the bay.

“Every morning,” said Peggy, “Jack will bring me over, either through the woods or in our launch. I’m going to say a little something to Mother, so she will avoid the subject with Dad, and perhaps she will help us to come. She sometimes does when Dad is unreasonable.”

Leslie did not quite know whether she approved of this or not. Any form of deceit was abhorrent to Leslie and she liked Peggy too much to want her concerned in it. The situation at Steeple Rocks did not seem very admirable, to tell the truth.