"You came too soon! We are not half ready! You've spoilt it all! Where is Rose?" "Here I am," answered a half-stifled voice, and Rose was discovered sitting on the pile of red flannel bathing-clothes, which she had mistaken for lobsters, and where she had fallen in a fit of merriment when she discovered that the cannibals were her merry cousins. "You good-for-nothing boys! You are always bursting out upon me in some ridiculous way, and I always get taken in because I'm not used to such pranks. Uncle is as bad as the rest, and it's great fun," she said, as the lads came round her, half scolding, half welcoming, and wholly enjoying the double surprise. "You were not to come till afternoon, and mamma was to be here to receive you. Every thing is in a mess now, except your tent; we got that in order the first thing, and you can sit there and see us work," said Archie, doing the honors as usual. "Rose felt it in her bones, as Dolly says, that something was in the wind, and wanted to be off at once. So I let her come, and should have kept her away an hour longer if your fish had not betrayed you," explained Uncle Alec, subsiding from a ferocious Crusoe into his good-natured self again. [Illustration: A CRASH, A SHOUT, A LAUGH, AND OUT CAME THE SAVAGES.--Page 99.] "As this seat is rather damp, I think I'll rise," said Rose, as the excitement lessened a little. Several fishy hands helped her up, and Charlie said, as he scattered the scarlet garments over the grass with an oar,-- "We had a jolly good swim before dinner, and I told the Brats to spread these to dry. Hope you brought _your_ things, Rose, for you belong to the Lobsters, you know, and we can have no end of fun teaching you to dive and float and tread water." "I didn't bring any thing--" began Rose, but was interrupted by the Brats (otherwise Will and Geordie), who appeared bearing the big bundle, so much demoralised by its fall that a red flannel tunic trailed out at one end and a little blue dressing-gown at the other, while the knobs proved to be a toilet-case, rubbers, and a silver mug. "Oh, that sly Phebe! This was the secret, and she bundled up those things after I went down to the boat," cried Rose, with sparkling eyes. "Guess something is smashed inside, for a bit of glass fell out," observed Will, as they deposited the bundle at her feet. "Catch a girl going anywhere without a looking-glass. We haven't got one among the whole lot of us," added Mac, with masculine scorn. "Dandy has; I caught him touching up his wig behind the trees after our swim," cut in Geordie, wagging a derisive finger at Steve, who promptly silenced him by a smart rap on the head with the drum-stick he had just polished off.