Part 24 (1/2)

”Are you all ready?” asked Cora.

”I guess so,” answered Bess. ”I guess I won't have to have bromide, after all. I feel better already.”

”I thought you would,” laughed Cora. ”Marita, just straighten out that stern flag, will you? Thank you. You're a dear!”

”Look out!” laughed Belle. ”When Cora begins calling names there is no telling when she will stop.”

”Don't worry,” was Cora's answer, as she stooped over to crank the motor. It started on the first turn and soon the _Chelton_ was chugging a course over the sun-lit waters of Crystal Bay.

”Do you see anything of the boys?” asked Cora, as she turned to the others from her place at the steering wheel.

”No, there's their boat--at least Jack's apology for one--tied to the stake,” said Lottie. ”Does that boat ever go out two days in succession, Cora?”

”I don't believe it does,” answered Jack's sister. ”It was a sort of makes.h.i.+ft, anyhow. Jack only got her running because someone said it couldn't be done--it was a sort of dare. But the poor old boat seems to suffer from some intermittent fever. It runs one day and rests the next.”

”And the _Dixie_--she's resting, too,” went on Bess, as she looked down the bay to where Dray Ward's fine racing craft was moored. ”The boys are not around yet.”

”Probably sleeping,” murmured Belle. ”The indolent creatures!”

”Folks who live in gla.s.s houses--and all the rest of it,” said Cora.

”It's nearly eleven, and we haven't been long away from the breakfast table ourselves.”

”It's a case of carrying coals to Newcastle; isn't it?” asked Lottie, drying with her filmy handkerchief a drop of water on her dress.

”You mean the pot calling the kettle black,” laughed Cora. Lottie never could get her proverbs just right.

”Oh, well, it's all the same as long as there's black in it,”

responded Lottie. ”I knew I had part of it right.”

On went the _Chelton_, and she had that part of the bay all to herself for the time being. A little breeze ruffled the water, and the sun shone brightly. Under these calming influences of nature the girls--even nervous Bess--felt themselves growing calm, and at peace with the world. The trouble of the night before seemed to melt away, and a.s.sume a less sinister aspect. But Cora could not get over the feeling that something akin to a tragedy had nearly happened.

”And it may again,” she thought. ”I do wish we could help Freda and her mother, but I don't see how. Land troubles are always so complicated.”

As Cora turned the wheel and swung the boat about in a wide circle, she was aware of another craft coming toward her. She did not remember having seen it before, and as it drew nearer she noted that it contained but a single occupant--a young man, who, as Lottie said afterward, was not at all bad-looking.

The young fellow guided his boat closer to the _Chelton_, and after she had done making mental notes of the new craft's characteristics, Cora had an idea that the stranger wanted to speak to them. Such evidently was his intention, for he slowed down his engine, so as to m.u.f.fle the noise of the exhaust, and called out:

”On which point is Bayhead, if you please?”

”Over there,” answered Cora, pointing to a promontory that jutted out into the bay. ”But be careful and go well out when you round it. There are some dangerous rocks at low tide. How much do you draw?”

”Thirty-four inches.”

”That's too much to try the short cut.”

”Thank you for telling me,” went on the young man. He certainly was good-looking. Even Cora, conservative as she always was, had to admit that.