"Our train will start at half-past six," said Miss Lincoln, when tea was finished, and the girls were standing in little groups in the hotel garden, wondering what to do next. "All who like may go on to the beach again, or on to the cliffs, but no one must walk farther than the white farm near the flagstaff. You must return immediately you are told, and be at the station by a quarter past six." The girls dispersed, some to wander along the shore to find a few more shells, mermaids' purses, or strips of ribbon seaweed; some to climb to the top of the cliff by the flagstaff; and others to play games on a piece of common near the white farm that Miss Lincoln had appointed as a boundary beyond which they must not venture. Patty, who was hunting for sea anemones in the small pools among the rocks, noticed Muriel and her friends, Maud, Vera, and Kitty, hurrying as fast as they could along the beach in the opposite direction from the village. "Where are you going?" called Phyllis Chambers, who was engaged in taking down the bathing tent. "Oh! nowhere in particular," they replied, stopping as if they had been rather caught; "only just for a little stroll, to say good-bye to the waves." "You mustn't go beyond the next point of rock; Miss Lincoln said so." "Miss Lincoln said nothing about the shore. She said the white farm on the cliff," replied Maud, rather sulkily. "Well, that rock is exactly underneath the farm." "We were only going to peep round the point. It wouldn't take five minutes," said Muriel. "I can't allow it, all the same," said Phyllis, firmly. "I'm sure Miss Lincoln never meant----" began Kitty Harrison, but she was interrupted by Phyllis. "Miss Lincoln has put me in authority for this afternoon. I have her orders, and I tell you you're not to go." Looking very cross and disconsolate, the four girls sat down on the sand a little distance away, to grumble and discuss the situation. "I don't believe Miss Lincoln meant exactly what she said," declared Kitty. "I'm sure she didn't. It's only Phyllis who's so proud of being prefect, and likes to show her authority," agreed Maud. "I don't see why we should do as she tells us; she's only a schoolgirl like ourselves," said Vera. "I expect she wanted to be nasty, and pay us out for what happened last week in the gymnasium," said Muriel. "It's too bad!" "It's an absolute shame!" "Suppose we were to go after all," suggested Vera tentatively. "But Phyllis would stop us." "She won't see. She's taking the tent poles and walking up that path towards the hotel. She'll be round the corner in half a minute." "Why, so she is!" "If we're quick we could be beyond the point before she comes back." "Then come along at once." "Yes, don't let us waste a moment."