Angel Island

"Well," said Ralph that night after the girls had vanished, "I don't see

that this business of handing out loot is getting us anywhere. We can

keep this up until we've given those harpies every blessed thing in the

trunks. Then where are we? They'll have everything we have to give, and

we'll be no nearer acquainted. We've got to do something else."

"If we could only get them down to earth - if we could only accustom

them to walking about," Honey declared, "I'm sure we could rig up some

kind of trap."

"But you can't get them to do that," Billy said.

And the answer's obvious. They can't walk. You see how tiny, and

useless-looking their feet are. They're no good to them, because they've

never used them. It never occurs to them apparently even to try to

walk."

"Well, who would walk if he could fly?" demanded Pete pugnaciously.

"Well said, son," agreed Ralph, "but what are we going to do about it?"

"I'll tell you what we can do about it," said Frank quietly, "if you'll

listen to me." The others turned to him. Their faces expressed varying

emotions - surprise, doubt, incredulity, a great deal of amusement. But

they waited courteously.

"The trouble has been heretofore," Frank went on in his best academic

manner, "that you've gone at this problem in too obvious a way. You've

appealed to only one motive - acquisitiveness. There's a stronger one

than that - curiosity."

The look of politely veiled amusement on the four faces began to give

way to credulity. "But how, Frank?" asked Billy.

"I'll show you how," said Frank. "I've been thinking it out by myself

for over a week now."

There was an air of quiet certainty about Frank. His companions looked

furtively at each other. The credulity in their faces changed to

interest. "Go on, Frank," Billy said. They listened closely to his

disquisition.

"What ever gave you the idea, Frank?" Billy asked at the end.

"The fact that I found a Yale spring-lock the other day," Frank answered

quietly.

The next morning, the men arose at sunrise and went at once to work.

They worked together on the big cabin - the Clubhouse - and they dug and

hammered without intermission all day long. Halfway through the morning,

the girls came flying in a group to the beach. The men paid no attention

to them. Many times their visitors flew up and down the length of the

crescent of white, sparkling sand, each time dropping lower, obviously

examining it for loot. Finding none, they flew in a body over the roof

of the Clubhouse, each face turned disdainfully away. The men took no

notice even of this. The girls gathered together in a quiet group and

obviously discussed the situation. After a little parley, they flew off.

Later in the afternoon came Lulu alone. She hovered at Honey's shoulder,

displaying all her little tricks of graceful flying; but Honey was

obdurate. Apparently he did not see her. Came Chiquita, floating lazily

back and forth over Frank's head like a monstrous, deeply colored

tropical bloom borne toward him on a breeze. She swam down close,

floated softly, but Frank did not even look in her direction. Came

Peachy with such marvels of flying, such diving and soaring, such

gyrating and flashing, that it took superhuman self-control not to drop

everything and stare. But nobody looked or paused. Came Clara, posturing

almost at their elbows. Came all save Julia, but the men ignored them

equally.