* * * * *

About this time Crazy Jane McCarthy, face flushed, hair down, her skirt torn in several places, might have been seen fleeing along the shore of the island, running away from the Tramp Club’s camp and toward their own secret nook, where the “Red Rover” was lying calmly at anchor in the half cave that had furnished a hiding place for the girls before.

She came tearing through the bushes nearly falling into the lower end of the stream.

“They’re coming!” she shouted.  “Get to cover!”

“Sh-h-h!” warned Hazel, who sat awaiting Jane, in the rowboat.  “I hear a motor boat outside.  I think it is the boys’ boat.”

“I tell you they are on their way to search the island,” answered Jane.

“All of them?”

“All but Billy Gordon.  He has gone off in the launch to keep an eye on the shore.”

“Then that is his boat out there.  Get in here.  I am worried that Harriet is still out.”

Just then a soft “hoo-e-e-e” from the bushes on the opposite side of the stream, told them that Harriet Burrell had returned.  She had been out on a scouting expedition.  Hazel rowed over to the other side of the creek.  Harriet jumped aboard.  Jane, in excited whispers, told her that the boys were coming and that Billy was out in the launch.

“I know.  I saw him just a few moments ago.  What are their plans?”

Crazy Jane explained what she had been able to hear when she was observing the Tramp Club’s camp.  She had seen Larry pick up Harriet’s handkerchief, though she was not aware that it was Harriet’s.

“That is where I lost it, is it?” laughed Harriet.  “It is all right.  That will encourage them.  If they go on beyond here they will find other evidences that will lead them still further on.  You see I wanted to get them as far away from home as possible so as to keep them out after dark.”

Hazel manipulated the rowboat until they were in the deep shadows of the rocks, after which they climbed aboard the “Red Rover.”  Harriet explained her plans to her companions and directed them to keep as quiet as possible in case any of the searchers should come that way.  The girls had pulled the houseboat into the secret retreat on the previous night.  They had kept a watchful eye on the boys all the morning, to see what they were planning to do, and Jane had given the lads the creeps by uttering wild, weird cries in the depths of the forest.

Harriet and Jane cooked themselves something to eat.  They had been out for a long time and were hungry.  Their companions and guardian were sitting about chatting with them.  Miss Elting was of the opinion that they were much better off in their hiding place than at an anchorage out in the lake, always provided that their enemy did not find them out.  Harriet agreed with her, but thought they would be in a serious situation if their unknown enemy were to find them.  He had shown evidences of keenness that made the finding of the “Red Rover” appear to be a simple task for him.  That he would annoy them further, the girls were positive; that he already had located them was more than possible.