After considerable time they all managed to quiet down enough to talk sense.

"The girls want us to make a fire, fellows," said Frank. "The idea looks good to me."

"It is good," Allen agreed. "Give us the wood and matches, and we will have a fire going in no time."

"The wood is in the fire-place," Betty answered, "and Mollie has the matches, I think."

With this the boys set to work energetically, while the girls and Mrs.

Irving stood about them in a semi-circle.

"It's so different from building a fire in the open," Amy commented. "I always love them. Can't we toast marshmallows? That's the most fun of all."

"We could if we had any," Grace replied dryly. "I have some chocolates but you can't roast them, and nobody had the sense to think to buy marshmallows to-day."

At this last remark, Frank sat back upon his heels and favored Mollie with a sly wink--while that young lady smiled mysteriously.

"Thereby hangs a tale of which you shall hear later," he said, and, in spite of all their urging, he could not be made to say another word.

However, their curiosity was forgotten a moment later--forgotten in the excitement caused by a strange and curious happening.

Suddenly the smoke which had been rolling in clouds up the chimney, refused to roll farther. There being no other exit except into the room, the girls and boys suddenly found themselves suffocating. They choked, and the boys stumbled to their feet and followed the fleeing girls into the dining room.

There was a chorus of sneezes and smothered cries of "I'm choking! Open the window, some one, quick!"

"The windows are open and the doors, too," gasped Frank, in answer to this last request.

"Don't be alarmed, any one," Allen commanded. "It's nothing but a clogged-up chimney, and that won't hurt anybody."

"But the smoke!" gasped Mollie. "Why, the house will be ruined. What will Aunt Elvira say?"

"Oh, it won't hurt anything," said Betty, making a brave attempt to push her way through the smoke into the living room. "But it is terrible.

Can't we do something to stop it, boys?"

"I don't know how we can--unless----" Roy turned quickly to Mollie. "Did your aunt say anything about a blower?" he asked eagerly.

"I don't remember--I--I don't remember," stammered poor Mollie, whose memory was being taxed to the utmost. "You might look though, and see what you can find."

"Oh, do hurry, somebody!" begged Grace. "I'll take to the woods in another minute."

"Oh, have a little patience, Sis, can't you?" cried Will, losing his temper. "We are all doing the best we can."

"But look," said Mollie, suddenly pointing to the other room. "The smoke is beginning to clear and the wood isn't half burned out yet."

"Let's investigate," Frank suggested. "Maybe we can find out what is wrong with the thing. Come on," and in they all trooped, coughing and choking, but dauntless.

"Get me a stick, will you, girls," Roy entreated, as he went nearer to inspect the fire-place. "A broom will do. Or anything else you happen to have around."

Mollie disappeared into the kitchen and returned a moment later, bringing back with her an old stick that looked as though it might have been a clothespole in its better days.

"Will this do?" she asked, holding it out to Roy. "It was the only thing I could find."

"Just what I wanted," Roy answered. "Now, fellows, let's see what we can do with the thing."

The four boys crowded around, peering up into the opening as if they hoped to find the solution of the mystery there, while the girls watched them with breathless interest.

It was then that it happened. Roy poked upward inquiringly with his stick, and for answer a cloud of soot and ashes discharged itself from the chimney, showering the boys' faces with grimy dust.

They drew back with cries of disgust and began rubbing their eyes and faces furiously. Then the four blackened adventurers turned to the girls appealingly. They looked so funny, standing there with their faces black and their clothes bespattered with grime and a look of sheepish chagrin on their faces, that the girls burst into gales of uncontrolled laughter.

"You look just like candidates for a minstrel show," gasped Mollie, while the boys stood regarding her reproachfully. "Oh, boys, if you only had a mirror! If you only had!"

CHAPTER XIII

THE GATHERING OF THE CLANS

"If you got us some soap and water," Will suggested after they had indulged in some sheepish grins at their own expense, "you might be doing a little good in the world."

"Well, you ought to know how to find it yourselves," Grace retorted.

"Suppose you go and wash, and make yourselves look like respectable citizens again--even though you aren't," she added sweetly.

"Look out, Grace, some time we will get even for all the knocks you have been handing out," Frank threatened, shaking a grimy fist in her direction.

"Now I don't suppose we can have a fire at all," sighed Mollie, as the boys made a rush for the stairs. "And I did so want one."

"If we can find a blower," Allen shouted from the landing, "we'll have a good fire yet."

"Yes, look around, girls, will you?" Roy added, "It will save no end of time."

"Do you know what a blower looks like?" Mollie inquired, a puzzled frown on her forehead. "How can I find anything when I don't know what it looks like?"

"Oh, I know," said Betty. "We used to have one at home before dad put the hood on the fire-place. Let's go on a still hunt."

This they did, and when the boys came down a few minutes later they proudly announced their discovery.

"This is it, isn't it?" asked Betty, indicating a big square of tin with a handle at the top. "It looks like the one we used to use."

"It's exactly the thing," cried Frank, pouncing on it eagerly. "Now if this doesn't make the wood burn, nothing will."

In less time than it takes to tell the boys had succeeded in igniting the green wood, and had applied the blower before the smoke had had a chance to get out into the room.

The fire danced and glowed, while its leaping flames sent fantastic shadows playing hide and seek around the room.

"How is this for a fire, eh?" said Will, holding out his hand to the welcome warmth of the blaze, for although the days were hot, the nights were apt to be damp and cool on this island, surrounded as it was by the waters of the lake. "Some time the girls will find out that we know our business pretty well. Oh, that feels good!"

"You are right," said Frank, as they instinctively drew their chairs nearer to the fire. "Now all we need is something to roast or toast, it doesn't much matter which."