“The boys know we are all right now.  They are coming back again this afternoon.  They are going to get another surprise, girls.  Oh, we’ll win that camera, won’t we?  Won’t Miss Elting be amused when she hears what we have to tell her?” said Harriet.

“I gueth they won’t want to thee uth again,” suggested Tommy.

“Yes, they will.  They have something to tell us,” returned Harriet mysteriously.

“What is it?” asked Margery.

“I am not going to say.  At least, not until I am sure it is so.  I wonder if they will get suspicious of the island and search it for us?”

The Meadow-Brook Girls were on the alert all the rest of the day.  They posted a lookout for the boys, in the person of Hazel Holland, who was to be depended upon.  They drew the “Red Rover” into the cave as far as it would go, only the tip of the after deck protruding from the mouth of the cave.  There was no more exploring that day.  They did not dare get too far away from their hidden home, fearing lest the boys might come upon them unawares.  Every boat on the lake in the vicinity was regarded with suspicion.  But it was not until nearly five o’clock that Hazel came in with the report that the launch was heading across the upper end of the island, evidently making for the dock visited by it earlier in the day.

After reaching the landing, Captain Baker went up to the farmhouse alone.  With his companions he had been searching along the lake the greater part of the afternoon for information about the “Red Rover,” but without result.  It was therefore with some misgivings that he once more knocked at the door of the farmhouse.

“Have you seen anything of the young ladies?” he asked the instant the door was opened in response to his knock.

“Oh!  You are the young man who was here this morning?  Yes, I’ve heard from them,” replied the woman, with a twinkle in her eyes that Captain Baker failed to observe.

“You have?  What have you heard?”

“The young women were here very shortly after you left this morning.”

“You don’t say so?  Thank you ever so much.  Did they say where they were stopping?” he questioned eagerly.

The woman shook her head.

“But they must be near here?”

“Maybe they are and maybe they ain’t.”  The farmer’s wife did not know exactly where the girls were, so she had told him no untruth.

“Haven’t you seen their boat?”

“Not since the other day.”

“That is queer.  I don’t understand it,” pondered George.  “Did they leave any message for us?”

“Yes,” laughed the farmer’s wife, keenly enjoying the puzzled look on Baker’s face.  “The young lady left word that if you wanted to see them you’d have to find them.”

“That’s the word, is it?” demanded George grimly, pulling his hat down over his eyes.  “The challenge is accepted, and we’ll find them!”

“Not!” added Larry Goheen skeptically, when he heard of George’s confident answer.