relieved at the boys' emphatic refusal of her offer. The attic wanted clearing out; no one had slept there since the Browns took possession, and it was a veritable ark of lumber.  "And I've Miss Jan's room to get ready," thought the old woman. 

 Jan herself was only too eager to help the boys in their preparations; a camper she intended to be from morn till eve; only for the nights would she condescend to the shelter of a roof. Guide as she was, too, her services proved invaluable; with the boys she collected fuel for the fire as to the manner born; dry bark and chips were collected for kindling purposes, and larger pieces of dead wood for the blaze later on. The sun was not strong enough at that time in the afternoon for the fire to be lighted by the help of the burning-glass that Robin always carried, but a single match sufficed in his practised hands; then, when the flame was safely spluttering, he left the fire to the tender mercies of his sister, and the two boys turned their attention to the preparation of a sleeping-place. 

 "It's miles too late to get through with a real hut," said Robin.  "We're likely to be on this Island for a while, and we might spend some of our time in building a real good one. What do you say to working up for our Pioneer Badge while we're here, Peter?  Good idea, don't you think?" 

 Peter nodded; he was rather unusually silent, and was evidently thinking something out. 

 "For to-night we'd better see about a temporary shelter"—Robin was busily engaged in pulling armfuls of bracken as he spoke; "there's a likely tree-trunk over there, and we might lay one of our staves against that fork that comes some way up the trunk. We'll need a jolly lot of bracken to thatch it across, so you and Jan had better both come along here and pull some. It'll be better than sleeping in the attic to spend the night under the stars." 

 Peter nodded again; then he spoke.  "About that attic, Robin," he said, "didn't you twig from the way Brownie spoke, that there is something mysterious about the place?" 

 CHAPTER IV 

 "I never knew such a chap as you for getting ideas into your head," said Robin. "Mysterious! Why? you've got mysteries on the brain, it seems to me!" 

 "Be prepared!" quoted Peter with twinkling eyes. 

 "Oh, all serene; but 'be prepared' for to-night too, if you've no objection," the old campaigner spoke dryly.  "You 

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