Splash!

Their conversation was suddenly checked.  A stone had dropped but a few feet from the rear end of the “Red Rover,” falling into the creek.  Harriet laid a finger on her lips.  Tommy had started to speak, but checked herself in time.  Harriet and Jane crept to the door of the houseboat and peered out.  As they did so a second splash startled them.  This time they saw the stone.  It was a good-sized rock.  It fell some feet below the rear end of the “Red Rover.”  Some one was sounding the thick growth there.  Who it was, they discovered a moment later.

“There’s water down there, but it’s shallow.  I can tell by the splash,” announced a voice above them.

“It’s George,” whispered Jane.

“I’ll take a look along the shore on my way back.  There may be an inlet that we haven’t seen,” continued George Baker, talking to himself.

Jane gripped an arm of her companion.

“If he does, we shall be discovered,” she whispered.

“Never mind.  We will have scared them off long before then.  He will strike the trail I left for them, before long, if he keeps straight on.  That will mean that he will go right on and that he will call to the others to join him when it begins to get dark.  You know the island begins to narrow a short distance beyond here.  Won’t it be funny to see them following that trail?  And what a surprise they will get before they have finished with this day’s work.”  Harriet chuckled.  She had been whispering.  She paused suddenly as a pebble rattled down within a foot of the stern of the “Red Rover.”

“They’re getting rather close,” whispered Jane.

“Captain Baker kicked that pebble down.  He is going away.  Do you hear him?” George was whistling to himself as he tramped away toward the other end of the island.  They heard him call to his companions shortly after that and shout some directions to them.  Then nothing more was heard from the boys for the rest of the afternoon.

The girls discussed the situation with Miss Elting.  The guardian decided that all the girls save one should remain on board the scow.  One, she agreed, might go out to reconnoitre.  If the boys returned before dark it would be well to know about it.  Their further plans depended upon the immediate actions of the Tramp Club.  Harriet was the one who was chosen to keep watch of their rivals.

She began at once to make her preparations, tying her hair in a tight knot on top of her head and drawing a waterproof bathing cap over all.

“I am going to protect my hair,” she smiled in answer to the unspoken question in the eyes of her companion.  “Those bushes pull out a few strands every time I go scouting among them.  I’ll imitate the sound that a crow makes if I see them coming back,” she added.  “No one must go out in the meantime.  All we can do is to keep quiet and wait.  We’ve already won the camera.  We will have our fun when night comes, however, and if we don’t give those boys the fright of their lives I shall be keenly disappointed.”