"The S. P. C. A. ought to get after it," laughed Walter.

"There are plants, too," continued their mentor, "that show intelligence by the way they adapt themselves to changed conditions. The bladderwort, for example, used to live on insects. Perhaps it got a hint somewhere that it could do better on water than on land. At any rate, it became a water plant. It lies just under the surface and imitates the wide-open mouth of a mother fish. The little minnows swim into it to avoid their enemies and as soon as they're well inside, the mouth closes and the plant regales itself with a fish dinner.

"Then there are the cannibal plants. There are hundreds of trees that have the life juices sucked from them by the parasitic plants that twine around them until they give up the ghost."

"Just as the trusts do to the common people," observed Jack.

"Well," said Cora, drawing a long breath, "I've always known that nature was cruel, but I've never connected that idea with plants."

"Cruel everywhere," a.s.sented Mr. Morley, "from man, creation's crown, to plants, creation's base."

They looked with a new interest and a heightened respect at the other specimens he showed, and the time pa.s.sed so quickly that they were startled, on glancing out of doors, to see how rapidly dusk was coming on.

"When I get to mooning along on my pet theories, I never know when to stop," said Mr. Morley apologetically.

"It's been a real treat to listen to you, Mr. Morley," said Cora with her winning smile.

"Truth is not only stranger but more interesting than fiction," smiled Belle.

They separated with cordial good wishes and a hearty invitation to Mr.

Morley to visit them at Camp Kill Kare. He stood at the cabin door, watching them as they hurried down to their boat.

"This is the end of a perfect day," sang Bess gaily, as they stepped on board the _Water Sprite_, which the boys had brought around to the little dock at which Mr. Morley's rowboat was tied.

"It certainly has been a crowded one," said Belle.

"Isn't Mr. Morley an unusual man?" asked Cora. "I'm more and more convinced that there's a mystery about him."

"He's a fine chap," said Jack, "but I didn't notice anything especially mysterious about him."

"That's because you're a man," said Cora.

"I can't help belonging to that despised s.e.x, can I?" inquired Jack in an injured tone.

"I suppose it's your misfortune rather than your fault," dimpled Bess.

"What do you suppose he meant when he said 'I drove it,' and then stopped so suddenly?" asked Belle thoughtfully.

"Probably thinking of his car when he drove it into a tree," remarked Jack flippantly.

If he had not been hardened, he would have succ.u.mbed before the exasperated glare of three pairs of girlish eyes.

"Better get in out of the wet, Jack," counseled Paul.

"Come over here and I'll protect you with my life," adjured Walter.

"Don't pay any attention to those idiots, girls," advised Cora. "We'll wait until we get by ourselves and can talk sense without being interrupted."

The _Water Sprite_, as though repenting of its lapses that afternoon, was now on its good behavior, and she kept "dry as a bone" on the short pa.s.sage from the island.

They found Mrs. King a little worried at their late coming, and she threw up her hands at the story of their narrow escape from sinking.

"You've had a lively brood wished on you, Aunt Betty," laughed Cora, as she threw her arm affectionately around her aunt's waist.

"I can see that already," was the reply. "My only comfort is that you girls seem to bear a charmed life."

"Call it 'charming,'" said Walter gallantly, "and we boys will agree with you."

They had some music after dinner, but as all were tired from their strenuous day they went to their rooms early.

"Girls," exclaimed Cora, as soon as they were alone, "I've found out whom that gypsy girl resembles! It's Mr. Morley!"

CHAPTER XII AN UGLY CUSTOMER

"Mr. Morley!" exclaimed Bess and Belle in a breath.

"Isn't it so?" demanded Cora. "I was struck by it when we first saw him just after we got off the boat."

"When I come to think of it, I believe you're right," replied Belle slowly.

"He has a way of holding his head like hers," agreed Bess.

"But it's the eyes," went on Cora. "They're blue like hers, and there are times when they have exactly the same expression. Girls, I believe we're on the edge of a mystery!"

"Don't talk so loud," cautioned Belle, "or the boys may catch something of what you're saying and they'll tease us to death about it."

"But, after all, what does it all amount to?" asked Bess. "It doesn't prove that they have the slightest connection with each other."

"And even if they have, what could we do about it?" asked Belle. "It's like the dog running after the train. What would he do with it if he caught it?"

The girls laughed.

"It is a tangle," admitted Cora. "We couldn't go to Mr. Morley and tell him that we'd seen a gypsy girl who reminded us of him."

"He mightn't take it as a compliment," suggested Bess.

"Or he might think we'd gone crazy," said Belle.

"There are probably ten million people in the world that the gypsy girl looks like in one way or another," said Bess, with difficulty suppressing a yawn. "Let's go to bed and forget all about it."

But Cora, as she slipped between the sheets, was far from intending to dismiss the subject in such cavalier fashion.

At breakfast the next morning, Paul proposed that they should visit an old logging camp that Joel had told him was located a few miles away.

"Of course it isn't in operation now," he said. "You'd have to visit it in winter to see it running full blast. But it will be interesting to see the bunk-houses and the flumes, and get an idea of the way the work is carried on."