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sorry. He"s probably never apologized to anyone in his life!"
    „Is my nose like a rabbit"s?" said Anne, worried.
    „Well, yes - just a bit," said Julian, giving his sister an affectionate pat. „But a rabbit"s nose is very nice, you know - very nice indeed. I don"t think you"l have much trouble with Wilfrid after this little episode. He didn"t know that you had the heart of a tiger, as wel as a nose like a rabbit"s!"
    Wilfrid came out of the cottage in about ten minutes, dressed in dry clothes, carrying his wet ones in a bundle. „I"l hang those out on the bushes for you, to dry in the sun," said Anne, and took them from him, smiling. He suddenly smiled back.
    „Thanks," he said. „I don"t know how they got so wet! Must have been pouring with rain!"

    Julian chuckled and smacked him gently on the back. „Rain can do an awful lot of good at times!" he said. „Well, Anne, we"ve brought you back a whole lot of goods for your larder. Here come the others. We"ll carry everything in for you - with Wilfrid"s help too!"

Chapter Six
LUCAS - AND HIS TALE

    It was fun storing al the shopping away. Anne enjoyed it more than anyone, for she really was a most domesticated little person.
    „A real home-maker!" said Dick, appreciatively, when he saw how neat and comfortable she had made the loft, where the three boys were to sleep. „Just about room for the three of us, plus all the baggage in the corner! And how good the larder looks!"
    Anne looked at her wel -stored larder, and smiled. Now she could give her little „family"
    real y nice meals. Al those tins! She read the names on them. „Fruit salad. Tinned pears.
    Tinned peaches. Sardines. Ham. Tongue." A new cake in that round tin, big enough to last for at least three days. Biscuits. Chocolate wafers - good old Julian - he knew how much she loved those - and George did, too!
    Anne felt very happy, as she arranged all her goods. She no longer felt guilty at drenching poor Wilfrid. Indeed she couldn"t help feeling a little thril when she remembered how she had suddenly turned into a tiger for a minute or two! It was fun to be a tiger for once. „I might even be one again, if the chance arose," thought Anne. „How surprised Wilfrid was -
    and Julian too. Oh dear - poor Wilfrid. Stil , he"s much nicer now."
    And indeed he was! He was most polite to both the girls, and, as Dick said, he didn"t
    „throw his weight" about nearly so much. They all settled down very well together in the little cottage.
    They had most of their meals out-of-doors, sitting on the warm grass. It was rather a squeeze indoors, for the cottage really was very smal . Anne enjoyed herself preparing the meals, with sometimes a little help from George - and the boys carried everything out.
    Wilfrid did his share, and was pleased when he had a clap on the back from Julian.
    It was glorious sitting out in the sun, high up on their hil . They could look down on the harbour, watch the yachts and the busy little boats, and enjoy the wonderful views al round.
    George was very curious about the island that lay in the middle of the harbour. „What"s it cal ed?" she asked Wilfrid. But he didn"t know. He did know, however, that there was a queer story about it. „It belonged to a lonely old man," he said. „He lived in a big house in the very middle of the wood. The island was given to his family by a king - James the Second, I think. This old man was the very very last one of his family. People kept wanting to buy his island, and he had some kind of watchmen to keep people from landing on it.
    These watchmen were pretty fierce - they had guns."
    „Gosh - did they shoot people who tried to land, then?" asked Dick.
    „Well - they shot just to frighten them off, not to hurt them, I suppose," said Wilfrid.
    „Anyway, a lot of sightseers had an awful fright when they tried to land. BANG-BANG!
    Shooting al round them! My granny told me that someone she knew, who had a lot of money, wanted to buy part of the island