“Any way, let us tow you in closer to shore,” urged George.

Harriet shook her head.

“Thank you, but we will fight our own battles.  If we find we are getting the worst of it we will scream for you.  That is, if you are able to see us.  You gentlemen are short-sighted at times.  The very idea of your hunting all over the lake for us when we were here fairly before your eyes!  Look out that you’re not so careless as to lose us again.  Remember it will be the winning stroke for us.”

Harriet’s manner was so superbly disdainful, yet there was so much pity in her tone, that the boys flushed painfully.

“You won’t lose us again the same way—­don’t worry about that,” George Baker retorted, with some heat.  “But when are you going for a ride in the launch with us?”

“Why, I think we are ready now,” smiled Miss Elting.  “For one, I would like very much to go to Wantagh, if you will be kind enough to take me there.  Harriet, I have changed my mind about remaining with the ’Red Rover’ and I shall accept your suggestion to leave you as watchman on the ‘Red Rover.’”

“By all means, Miss Elting,” replied Harriet.

“I don’t like to see you remaining alone,” protested Hazel, as she stepped, half-reluctantly, into the launch.  “I know you’ll be dreadfully lonesome.”

Harriet, however, was far from lonesome.  It was really pleasant to be all by herself for a little while.

When the launch reached Wantagh the girls promptly went shopping, with the exception of Jane, who went to engage a rowboat, and Miss Elting, to hunt up Dee Dickinson.  It was an uncomfortable half hour for Dee, for Miss Elting reported the loss of the rowboat and said very plainly to him that she believed he understood the cause of the persecutions the girls were undergoing.  Still, Dee could not be made to talk freely.  Miss Elting left him, dissatisfied.

“That man knows the cause of our troubles, and he simply won’t tell me,” said the guardian indignantly to herself, as she walked away.  “And just a hint or two might enable us to save ourselves a good deal of annoyance, and even protect us from real dangers.  I wonder what it all means.”

She said nothing to the girls about having seen Dickinson, when finally she joined them at the pier.  The girls had filled every available space in the boat with their purchases and the new dingy was fastened to the stern.  The run back in the late afternoon was a delightful one.  When they came in sight of the “Red Rover” they uttered cries of delight.  The “Red Rover” looked like a huge flame in the sunlight.

“It doesn’t seem possible that such a boat could be lost sight of anywhere, does it?” questioned Jane brightly, turning to Captain Baker.

“No,” he answered gloomily.  “And it won’t be again.”

“You can’t tell, you know.  It may disappear from the face of the waters this very night.”

George looked at Billy.  Jane had given them a hint that they were not slow to catch.  They did not know that she was teasing them for the very purpose of making their surprise greater when it did come.