"Ca-can't we do something to help you get breakfast, Mrs. Havel?" Mrs. Havel had to hide a smile at that, but she remained obdurate. "I have really nothing to do with it, Sir Tubby. You must wait for the girls to come," she said. The boys began whispering together; but they did not move. They had scuttled over from their own camp early with the express intention of "getting one" on the girls, and making a breakfast out of it. But now the accomplishment of their purpose seemed doubtful, and there was a hollow look about them all that should have made Mrs. Havel pity them. That lady, however, remembered vividly how she had run along the shore in fear of a flock of bears; this was a part of the boys' punishment for that ill-begotten joke. The biscuit were beginning to brown, the coffee sent off a delicious odor, and here were eggs ready to drop into the kettle of boiling water for their four-minute submersion. Besides, there was mush and milk. Every minute the boys became hungrier. "Aren't the girls ever coming?" sighed Tubby. "They _couldn't_ be so heartless." "They haven't gone far; have they?" queried Dave Shepard. "We saw their canoes on the beach." Just then the laughter of the girls in the distance broke upon the ears of those on the hillock. They were approaching along the shore--apparently from the direction of Jarley's landing. "They don't seem to have been much scared, after all," grumbled Tubby to Ferd. "It was a silly thing to do, anyway," returned young Roberts. "Suppose we don't get any breakfast?" At this horrid thought the fat youth almost fainted. The girls came in sight, and at once hailed the boys gaily: "Oh! see who's here!" cried Frank. "What a lovely surprise!" "Isn't it?" said Bess, but with rather a vicious snap. "We couldn't get along, of course, without having a parcel of boys around. 'Morning, Mr. Shepard." Bess made a difference between Dave and the rest of the Busters, for Dave had helped her in a serious difficulty. "Where's the professor?" demanded Grace. "Isn't he here, too?" "He's having breakfast all by his lonesome over on the island," said Ferd, and Tubby groaned at the word "breakfast," while Dave added: "We--we got a dreadfully early start this morning." "Quite a start--I should say," returned Wyn, smiling broadly. "And now you're hungry, I suppose?" "Oh, aren't we, just?" cried one of the crowd, hollowly. "How about it, Bess? Is there enough for so many more?" Bess was already sifting flour for more biscuit. She said: "I'll have another panful in a jiffy. Put in the eggs, Mina. We can make a beginning." "There's plenty of mush," said Mina. "That's one sure thing." "But we can't all sit down," cried Grace. "You know, there are but six of these folding seats, and Wyn's been sitting on a cracker box ever since we set up the tents." "Feed 'em where they're sitting," said Wyn, quickly. "Beggars mustn't be choosers."