CHAPTER XIX

A STARTLING MEETING

Tess and Dot, sitting in the middle of a brush clump on Wild Goose Island, never saw the blue motorboat with their sisters and Neale O’Neil in it, fly past.

But the dark-faced girl, dressed in her bedraggled Gypsy finery, saw the _Nimble Shanks_, for she was on the watch at one side or the other of the island, all the time.

She observed the motorboat overtake the drifting craft, and saw Neale carry a line aboard the latter and then start up the engine of the power boat again. The two boats went up the lake at a fair pace; but the searching party could not travel so fast now, for fear of swamping the towed boat.

“I don’t think this is much fun,” said Dot, plaintively, when the big girl came back to them. “It’s hot here—and I’m hungry—and my Alice-doll has lost one of her shoes.”

“We’ll go up into the woods and pick some berries,” said the strange girl, not unkindly. “I know where there are some strawberries—and they’re just as sweet.”

“Oh! that will be fine. I _do_ love strawberries,” declared Dot, easily appeased.

Tess was more troubled than her sister by this strange situation. She felt, somehow, as though the big girl were holding them prisoners. Yet she could not understand _why_.

She got up from the ground and at once Tom Jonah started up, barking and bounding about.

“Stop that dog!” exclaimed the big girl, crossly. “Make him walk beside you. I’ll tie him up,” she threatened.

“Then he’ll howl _awful_,” cried Dot. “We tried that once at home. Don’t you ’member, Tess?”

“Well, you keep him still,” snapped the big girl.

At a word from Tess the old dog drooped his tail and fell in behind them, in a most subdued manner. They went up through the thick woods to the higher part of the island. At no point could the little procession have been seen from the water.

There was a hillock up there, bare of trees, the southern side of which was sown thickly with strawberries. The bed was rich in berries, and how sweet and delicate was their flavor!

“Oh, _so_ much nicer than boughten berries!” Tess declared, forgetting for the time all her anxiety.

Indeed, both of the Corner House girls were so busy satisfying their appetites with strawberries that they forgot about the unpleasant side to their adventure. Nor did they see the girl who had helped them ashore from the boat, creep over the knoll to watch the motorboat and its tow going down the river again, by way of the northern channel.

It was fully half past one. While Tess and Dot feasted in the wild strawberry patch, their sisters and Neale O’Neil munched cold, fried crabs on the _Nimble Shanks_.

It took a lot of berries to satisfy the healthy appetites of two girls like Tess and Dot whose dinner had been indefinitely postponed. Dot finally rolled right over in the shade, fast asleep, her dress and fingers berry-stained and the last plump one she had picked between her rosy lips!

The big girl came back and Tess whispered: “We’d best not wake her, for she usually takes a nap afternoons. When she wakes up, I guess we’d best be going. Ruth and Agnes will be _awfully_ scared for us. And we’ve lost Ruth’s boat, too,” she added, disconsolately.

“How do you expect to get off this island?” demanded the strange girl.

“Why! how did you get _on_?” returned Tess.

“I paddled myself over on a raft of logs, early this morning before anybody else was up,” said the girl, after a minute. “I wasn’t going back till night. But if I keep you children all day there’ll be a big row, I s’pose,” she added, sullenly.

“I expect there will,” was Tess’ calm response.

“They’d get me for kidnapping, like enough,” said the girl, as though talking to herself. “Wish I hadn’t taken you out of that boat. But you and the dog were raising an awful noise.”

“I’m sorry,” said Tess, politely, “if we have been a nuisance. But of course we’ve got to get back to the tent before dark.”

“I s’pose so,” admitted the older girl.

“It’s funny Ruth hasn’t been up here before now looking for us,” Tess observed.

The big girl turned her head so Tess should not see her face. “Suppose she did not know you went sailing in the boat?” she said.

“Why! perhaps that is the reason,” Tess agreed. “They couldn’t have seen us; for if they had, Ruth would have been after the boat in a hurry.”

“Well,” said the strange girl, “I’ll have to get you across to the river bank. I wasn’t going till night. But——”

“We are very much obliged to you,” Tess hastened to say. “But we _couldn’t_ stay that long.”

“Oh, well! I’ll leave you children at a farmer’s over there. They’ll have a telephone and they’ll get word to your sisters. You’ll get back by suppertime.”

“Thank you,” Tess said, simply.

But she was more than a little disturbed in her mind. A raft of logs did not encourage her to look forward to the trip to the mainland with much pleasure.

Besides, the mystery regarding this pretty girl made Tess feel _un_comfortable. Tess Kenway was quite old enough to know the difference between right and wrong; and there was something about the strange girl that was decidedly wrong!

Why had she come out here to Wild Goose Island in the early morning—before anybody in the neighborhood was up? Was she a runaway? Had she done something really _naughty_? and was she afraid to have her folks find her?

It was all a great puzzle and Tess sighed and shook her head. Finally she asked: “If you please, where _is_ the raft of logs?”

“Right down there,” said the girl, pointing to the southern side of the island. “You can’t see it. I dragged it into shallow water and covered it up with branches and brush.”

“Is—is it safe?” queried Tess.

“Well, it didn’t drown me coming over,” said the girl, with a short, hard laugh. “But the logs came near parting.”

“Oh!”

“I’ll fix ’em before we start back. That painter off your boat will help. We will be all right,” said the big girl, carelessly.

Dot awoke after a little, and so did Tom Jonah. The whole party went down to the brush-fringed shore. Tess saw that the girl had hidden her raft very ingeniously. And it was evident, too, that she hated to leave the island so long before evening.

“Got myself in a nice mess!” the Corner House girl heard her mutter, as she went about binding the three logs together more tightly with the strong rope from the cedar boat.

She worked hard for half an hour, standing almost waist deep in the water as she made the logs secure. It was not a heavy raft—nor was it very safe looking, to Tess’ mind.

But fortunately Dot thought it would be great fun to ride on such a craft, and Tess was too brave to say anything that would really frighten Dorothy.

Tom Jonah became restless and wanted to wander about; but the big girl was very sharp with him. “If he were my dog I’d make him mind better!” she threatened. “If anything gives us away, it will be that dog.”

Tess did not understand this; and like Dot she felt hurt when anybody criticised Tom Jonah. “Love me, love my dog” was the motto of the younger Kenway sisters.

Finally the big girl pronounced the raft strong enough, and she waded out of the water and put on her skirts again. “Now, get aboard there,” she commanded. “If we’ve got to go, we might as well start. The tide will be less strong now.”

Dot skipped aboard the raft with her Alice-doll, in great glee; Tess followed more slowly. But when Tom Jonah tried to come, too, the big girl, with the broken oar she used for a paddle, drove him back.

“It won’t hold him up, too!” she cried. “Get out!”

“Oh! don’t hurt Tom Jonah!” wailed Dot, shrilly. “Don’t!”

“You look out!” warned Tess. “He’ll grab you!”

Tom Jonah certainly _did_ grab the paddle. And he nearly wrenched it from the hands of the big girl, strong as she was.

“He’ll tip us all over!” declared the girl, angrily, flushed and breathing heavily. “Don’t you see how deep in the water we are? Any little wave will come right over the logs and wet us.”

“Well!” cried Tess. “We’re barefooted. And we can’t leave Tom Jonah behind.”

“He can swim, can’t he? Silly!” exclaimed the big girl. She pushed off the raft suddenly, leaving the troubled dog on the bank. The current caught the raft instantly and headed it down stream. The big girl hurried to dip her paddle in the water on the lower side and swerve the head of the raft around.

“Oh, Tom Jonah! Come! Come!” cried Dot, fearful that the dog would be lost.

He plunged right in and swam to the rear of the raft. He did not try to climb aboard, but he rested his nose on the logs and paddled quietly behind. The big girl paid him no further attention. She had her hands full as it was, keeping the raft from being swept down stream.

The current of the river had now conquered the inflowing tide. The force of the latter was spent; but the channel on this side of the island was not rough. The little waves did not break over their feet as yet.

The passage of the river was not, however, so hard. The handsome dark girl was strong, and she plied the broken oar with vigor. In half an hour they drew near to the tree-fringed southern bank.

The girls saw nobody along the shore, nor had any boat put out to meet them. It was a day when all the farmers seemed to be busy in their fields, and this was a wild spot toward which the raft had been aimed.

At last the end of the logs touched a shelving, narrow beach. The big girl leaped off and commanded Tess and Dot to follow immediately. Already Tom Jonah had scrambled ashore and was shaking himself, as a dog will.

Suddenly the big dog uttered a throaty growl. None of the three girls paid any attention. The strange girl was busy helping Tess and Dot to land.

Again Tom Jonah uttered his warning, and then barked sharply.

“Shut up!” commanded the big girl, turning on him fiercely.

At that moment a man walked out of the wood. He was a fierce little fellow with a black mustache and a dirty red tie. His velveteen suit was worn and greasy and his hat broken.

The strange girl turned suddenly and saw him. She uttered a stifled scream and the fellow folded his arms and said something to her sternly in a language that afterwards Tess said “sounded like powder-crackers exploding!”

The girl was terrified in the extreme. She looked from side to side as though contemplating escape. The fellow took another stride toward her.

And then Tom Jonah intervened. The big dog sprang with an awful growl, hurling himself straight at the man’s chest. The fellow went over backward and Tom Jonah held him down with both paws on his chest and his bared teeth at the victim’s brown throat!

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