It was to the Truesdells’ that Ellen and Mabel went most frequently, joining forces with them when it came to excursions, picnics, and the like, and sharing with them any news which might come their way. Therefore they were not slow to tell them of the late experiences with Tom and Reed. Hettie waved to the two girls as she saw them coming down the road. “Join us on the rocks, can’t you?” she called. “We’re going to have supper on the rocks this evening.” “So sorry, Miss Truesdell,” Ellen answered, “but we have a previous engagement.” “Who’s stealing our thunder?” asked Hettie. “I’ll bet it is those Dix girls; they’re always butting in when we propose anything.” There was no love lost between the Truesdell girls and the Dixes. “You’re ’way off,” declared Mabel; “the Dix girls have nothing to do with it; they’d better not. No, my dear, we are going over to Minor’s Island to make clam chowder for two delectable youths.” “Who are they? Who are they?” Hettie stopped whisking the mayonnaise dressing she was preparing. “Tell her, Ellen. They are your discovery.” This Ellen proceeded to do, having an attentive listener, who at the end of the tale exclaimed: “What luck! It is the most romantic story I have heard for an age. Are you going to keep the ‘delectable youths’ all to yourselves, or are you going to let the rest of us in on the fun?” “Now, Hettie Truesdell, what do you take us for?” cried Mabel. “Of course we want you to meet them. To-day’s feast is their affair, so we can’t ask any one to that, but we’ll get up something when we can share them with you.” Hettie laughed. “How pleased they would be to hear us talk of sharing them, as if we were cannibals. Why can’t they join us on the trip up to Goose Island that we have planned for day after to-morrow?” “Why not, indeed? We’ll propose it to them. Farewell, Hettie; we’ll see you to-morrow and tell you what happens.” They went off to join Miss Rindy, who had gone ahead to meet the boys at the wharf, and the small company was soon landed at little Minor’s Island. As they entered what Tom and Reed were pleased to call “the studio,” the girls looked around in surprise, for the boys had made a most attractive place out of the shabby little building. On the walls they had tacked building paper, which made an excellent background for a number of sketches. They had resurrected an old armchair from the haunted house, had covered it with stuff of pleasant tone, had made a rough table and two benches, had covered the floor with rag rugs, and had put up shelves on which two brass candlesticks and some bits of pottery were placed as ornaments. “You are perfect wonders!” exclaimed Mabel. “You remember what this place looked like when we first saw it, Ellen.” “I certainly do, and it looked only fit for chickens or cows.”