Harriet shook her head.

“If we are going to be fresh water sailors we must learn to do things for ourselves.”

“That’s what I say,” agreed Jane, nodding with great emphasis.  “But are you sure you are all right?”

“I’m awfully wet, Jane.”

“That’s nothing.  We’ll be wet many a time before we get through with this cruise.”

“We shall have to get started first,” answered Harriet, chuckling.  “Run along for another boat.  I’ll try to keep the ‘Red Rover’ off the shore while you are gone.  Hurry!”

Jane ran toward the landing, still some distance away.  There were several boats tied up there.  She helped herself to one and rowed back with all speed.  She espied Harriet out in the lake with the houseboat, where the latter had succeeded in pushing it and was doing her best to keep the craft from drifting back to the shore.  Jane brought a rope with her that she had taken from a third boat.  This she quickly made fast to the scow, then began pulling it out into the lake.  The wind had died out and the rowing was found to be much easier, though of course, the “Red Rover” was as heavy and cumbersome as before.

“We’ll make it,” cried Jane encouragingly.

It was a full half hour later when Harriet steered the houseboat alongside the pier.  The girls made fast, then threw themselves down on the dock, utterly exhausted from their efforts.

In the meantime, Miss Elting and the other girls, becoming worried over the long absence of Crazy Jane and Harriet, had left the hotel, starting out for Johnson’s dock on foot.  They found Harriet and Jane making the boat more secure, preparatory to leaving for the hotel.

“Why, girls, whatever is the matter?  You are wet through!  Go up to the hotel and get into dry clothes at once.  You will both catch cold.  You are too late for breakfast, too.  What happened to you?” exclaimed Miss Elting.  “You are certainly bedraggled looking specimens.”

Harriet told the guardian of their search for the “Red Rover.”  Miss Elting frowned.  The message from her brother was still in her pocket.  She recalled the peculiar actions of Dee Dickinson, wondering if perchance he had anything to do with the casting adrift of their houseboat, Harriet had not told the guardian of having found a hot stove on the occasion of their first visit to their summer home.  That, perhaps, might have enlightened the guardian.

Now that Miss Elting and the other girls were there to unload the automobile, Jane and Harriet turned to go.

“We will begin to settle while you girls go to town for breakfast,” called the guardian after them.

“You will have to wait a while until the rear end of the boat dries out,” returned Harriet.  “I don’t think it will take long.  But, in the meantime, there are the windows and the walls that need fixing.”

The other girls and the guardian fell to work while Jane and Harriet were at breakfast, and dainty chintz curtains were draped over each window.  There were green shades hung over the windows also, but these, during the day, were to be rolled up out of sight.