Amelia clasped her hands tragically. "Oh, Tommy," she asked in a
stricken tone, "didn't you almost die?"

But just then Tommy caught Judy's eye on him, and was forced to
continue his character of bold adventurer.

"Oh, a man must expect things like that," he asserted. "Suppose it had
been a desert island--"

"Or a shipwreck," said Amelia, "with bread and water for a week."

"Or pirates," ventured Nannie.

"Oh, pirates," sniffed the dark young lady on the hay; "there aren't
any pirates now."

"Well, there are shipwrecks," defended Tommy.

"Yes, but they are not half as interesting as they used to be."

"And desert islands."

"A few maybe. But it is such an old story to hear about Robinson
Crusoes."

Tommy looked blank. He had always implicitly believed the marvelous
tales of yarn spinners, and his soul had been fired by the thought of a
life of adventure on the deep. He had talked to the little girls until
they had accounted him somewhat of a hero and looked to him to perform