"Their rowboat is coming ash.o.r.e," she cried, pointing toward the bay.

Instantly every girl in the cook tent, without the formality of asking to be excused, pushed back her chair and dashed out. Mrs. Livingston so far overlooked their breach of etiquette as to rush out with the rest of them.

"Come on, darlin's. They've come ash.o.r.e for us at last. First there, first to go out. Go!"

It was a race for the landing place, with Harriet and Jane running side by side, Tommy Thompson following and gradually lessening the distance between them in a series of flying leaps. Tommy could run like a frightened fawn. Harriet heard her coming and increased her speed. Tommy gained no more on Harriet, though she arrived at their objective point by the side of Crazy Jane McCarthy.

"Ready to go out," announced the man. "But I can't take more than five at a time. Who goes first?"

Harriet halted sharply at sound of his voice, and gazed at the man perplexedly. His voice was strangely familiar, but, try as she would, she could not think where she had seen him.

CHAPTER XVIII

FIREWORKS FROM THE MASTHEAD

"Wait for Mrs. Livingston," replied Harriet in answer to the man's question. "You are not the captain, are you?"

He shook his head. Mrs. Livingston came upon the scene. Harriet a.s.sisted her into the rowboat. The Chief Guardian directed the other Meadow-Brook girls to get in, telling the girls who were left on sh.o.r.e that they would be taken out to the "Sister Sue" as fast as possible, until there was no more room. The others would have their turn soon afterward.

If the girls had been pleased with the "Sister Sue" from a sh.o.r.e view, they were enthusiastic at what they saw when they got on board. The decks were white from scouring, the binnacle that held the compa.s.s shone with mirror-like brightness, ropes were neatly coiled and everywhere was the smell of fresh paint and the faint, salty odor of the deep sea.

The "Sue" was some forty feet in length over all, broad of beam, covered over about half her length amidships by a raised deck cabin, a cabin that rises above the deck a few inches with narrow windows on the two sides. Two doors from the c.o.c.kpit led into the cabin. Into this the Meadow-Brook Girls hurried, after one quick look over the trim craft. They cried out for Mrs. Livingston to join them. The interior of the cabin was in white with plush seats on each side, the seats being broad and comfortable, affording lounging s.p.a.ce for several persons at one time. A tank holding drinking water, at the forward end of the cabin, was the only other furnishing.

The "Sue" was far from palatial, but the Camp Girls thought they had never seen a neater or prettier boat, and as for its ability to sail, they had seen something of that as the sloop came into the bay.

Mrs. Livingston had remained outside to speak with the skipper.

Harriet soon joined them. Captain Billy was a type. His grizzled, red beard was so near the color of his face that it was not easy to determine where the beard left off and the face began. Billy had a habit of avoiding one's eyes when speaking. Either he would be consulting the deck of the "Sue" or gazing at the sky. He was looking up at the clouds now.

"The captain says he can safely carry ten persons without crowding, Harriet," the Chief Guardian informed her. Then turning to the captain, "This young lady has been placed in charge of the boat by Mr. McCarthy; of course, your judgment as to what is best for all concerned must prevail."

Captain Billy's whiskers bristled. He swept the Meadow-Brook Girl with a quick, measuring glance, then permitted his eyes to gaze upward again.

"I was going to suggest, Mrs. Livingston, that we first take you and the other guardians out for a sail, say to-morrow morning. I don't think the captain will wish to go out in the evening," said Harriet.

He shook his head.

"Certainly not," declared Mrs. Livingston. "And now, sir, what about your meals--the board for yourself and your man?"

"Get my own. He goes away early in the morning. Sleep on board, too.

You needn't worry about me. Got any gear you want to get aboard?"

"Gear?" questioned the Chief Guardian blankly.

"Dunnage?" nodded the skipper. "Anything you want to bring aboard?" he shouted.

"No, thank you, nothing at present," answered Harriet.

"Man will fetch it off before he goes away if there is. Don't ask me to do any packing."

"Our young women are perfectly able to help themselves," replied Mrs.

Livingston with dignity. "I suppose, however, that having only one rowboat you will come ash.o.r.e for us whenever we wish to go out?" she added.

The captain shook his head. He was the most ungracious person they ever had known. But when Harriet said they had better get word to Mr.

McCarthy at once, the captain changed his mind quickly. He said he would come for them whenever they gave him the word. He told them, further, that they would have to bring their own provisions when they went out for a sail, but that he could show them how to catch some fish if they desired to do so.

"We shall be ready to go out about ten o'clock to-morrow morning,"

Mrs. Livingston told him. "If there is anything you wish us to do, you might call to the young women who occupy the cabin there on the Lonesome Bar. I am very glad you are going to remain aboard your boat, for we are not equipped for putting up strangers. But if there is anything you wish in the way of supplies, do not hesitate to send word to me. We have quite a quant.i.ty. We are obliged to go beyond the highway for our drinking water, and it is a trifle brackish."

"Hadn't we better go ash.o.r.e and give the others a chance to come out?"

asked Harriet.

"You and I will remain here. The others may go," returned Mrs.

Livingston.

Several boatloads of excited girls were put aboard the "Sister Sue."

The girls were enthusiastic; they chattered and sang and made merry, Captain Billy growing more taciturn and sour as the moments pa.s.sed.

Finally, Mrs. Livingston said they must put off further visiting of the boat until morning; that night was now upon them. They bade good night to Captain Billy, and his man put them ash.o.r.e, Mrs. Livingston leaving the sloop last.

"He is a queer character," she declared after joining Harriet on the beach later on. "What do you make of him?"

"I suppose he is like many of his calling, gruff and of few words. But there is something beyond that which I can't quite make out."

"What do you mean? Do you think that he is untrustworthy?"

"I don't know, Mrs. Livingston. I do know that I dislike him. Isn't that silly in me?" asked the girl laughingly. "I have no confidence in him."

"I think you are in error. Mr. McCarthy would not send us a man who was not trustworthy in every way. He is supposed to be a skillful skipper, and from my observation I know he will behave himself, so we don't care what he is beyond that. Shall you go back to the camp with us, or direct to the cabin?"

"To camp."

The girls sat about the campfire, singing the songs of the Camp Girls until ten o'clock that evening, after which the Meadow-Brook party bade good night to their companions and strolled down to the bar, thence out to the cabin. All were keenly alive to the pleasures that awaited them on the following day, when they were to have their first sail in the "Sister Sue."

Harriet made ready for bed with her companions, but she was not sleepy. She lay on her bough bed near the door, where she remained wide awake, thinking over the occurrences of the past few days. A sound out on the bay, as if something had dropped to the deck of the sloop, attracted her attention. The girl crawled from her bed and out to the front of the cabin on all fours. She then sat up, leaning her back against the cabin; shading her eyes, she gazed off at the boat riding easily in the bay.

The "Sue" was faintly outlined in the dim light of the night, but the night was too dark to enable the girl to make out anything in detail, nor was there a sound on board to indicate that any one was awake.

"It may be that the captain is putting his man ash.o.r.e, or else has just returned from doing so. Still, this seems to me a pretty late hour to be sending any one ash.o.r.e." Harriet thought she could now make out the small boat floating astern of the "Sue," where it was ordinarily kept, though she could not be certain of this. "Ah! There is something going on over there."

The faint creak of block and tackle reached her listening ears, which she strained and strained, even closing her eyes that she might concentrate wholly on the sense of hearing. The creaking continued for a couple of minutes, then ceased altogether.

"I wonder if the captain can be making sail to go out?" Harriet asked herself, opening wide her eyes and gazing toward the sloop. But the latter was riding lazily on the gentle swell as before, the girl being unable to make out anything that looked like the sail. She thought she surely would be able to see the sail, had it been hoisted.

Something was dropped on the deck, making a great clatter, then for several minutes all was silent on board the "Sister Sue." Harriet could not imagine what was going on there. After a time there were further evidences of activity on board; noises, faint, it is true, which indicated that something out of the ordinary was taking place on the boat. Harriet wondered if she had not better call Miss Elting and have her listen, too. Upon second thought, however, she decided not to do so. In the first place she could see and hear fully as much as could the guardian, besides which, were she to awaken the guardian, the other girls undoubtedly would be disturbed. They might make a noise that would prevent her learning what was being done on board the sloop.

Harriet shivered, for she was in her kimono, while the breeze blowing in from the sea was fresh and penetrating. She felt a sneeze coming.