"We all laughed, and her father assured her that she should not be abused. "'Even if I did stay in,' she said, 'one of these birds might alight on Master Dick.' "She looked saucily at me as she spoke, but turned crimson when her father observed, quietly, 'You don't seem to think of me, Daisy!' "'Of course I do,' she said, getting up and putting both arms around her father's neck; 'but Dick--as--as you call him--is so helpless and timid.' "My blissful smile froze on my lips. "'Timid!' I repeated. "She came back to the table, making me a mocking reverence. "'Do you think I am to be laughed at with impunity?' she said. "'What are your other plans, Dick?' asked the professor. 'Daisy, let him alone, you little tease!' "'One is, to haul a lot of cast-iron boilers along the dunes,' I said. 'If these birds come when the carcass floats in, and if they seem disposed to trouble us, we could crawl into the boilers and be safe.' "'Why, that is really brilliant!' cried Daisy. "'Be quiet, my child. Dick, the plan is sound and sensible and perfectly practical. McPeek and Frisby shall go for a dozen loads of boilers to-morrow.' "'It will spoil the beauty of the landscape,' said Daisy, with a taunting nod to me. "'And Frisby will probably attempt to cover them with bill-posters,' I added, laughing. "'That,' said Daisy, 'I shall prevent, even at the cost of his life.' And she stood up, looking very determined. "'Children, children,' protested the professor, 'go to bed--you bother me.' "Then I turned deliberately to Miss Holroyd. "'Good-night, Daisy,' I said. "'Good-night, Dick,' she said, very gently. XXI "The week passed quickly for me, leaving but few definite impressions. As I look back to it now I can see the long stretch of beach burning in the fierce sunlight, the endless meadows, with the glimmer of water in the distance, the dunes, the twisted cedars, the leagues of scintillating ocean, rocking, rocking, always rocking. In the starlit nights the curlew came in from the sand-bars by twos and threes; I could hear their querulous call as I lay in bed thinking. All day long the little ring-necks whistled from the shore. The plover answered them from distant, lonely inland pools. The great white gulls drifted like feathers upon the sea. "One morning towards the end of the week, I, strolling along the dunes, came upon Frisby. He was bill-posting. I caught him red-handed. "'This,' said I, 'must stop. Do you understand, Mr. Frisby?' "He stepped back from his work, laying his head on one side, considering first me, then the bill that he had pasted on one of our big boilers. "'Don't you like the color?' he asked. 'It goes well on them black boilers.' "'Color! No, I don't like the color, either. Can't you understand that there are some people in the world who object to seeing patent-medicine advertisements scattered over a landscape?' "'Hey?' he said, perplexed. "'Will you kindly remove that advertisement?' I persisted.