But Phyllis did not reply to the little captain’s laughing question.

“Let’s not go around to the shanty boat the way we did this morning.  Let us go back the opposite way, and then we shall have encircled the whole island,” planned Madge.  “If Mollie is hidden anywhere, we might happen to discover her.”

The loneliness of their walk affected both Madge and Phyllis.  There were no houses on the island.  It was visited in the autumn for duck shooting, and in the summer was used as a camping ground for a few fisher folk.  The girls passed only one man in their entire journey.  He was lying under a tree, fast asleep.  A hat covered his face.  As the two friends hurried by they did not seek to discover who the man was.  He was a rough-looking fellow, and they preferred not to awaken him.

This time the deck of the shanty boat was deserted.  It was noon.  The other members of the small shanty colony must have been out on the water, for there was no one in sight.

The girls stood staring irresolutely at the boat.  “I suppose the woman is indoors fixing the luncheon.  I can see the smoke coming through the smokestack,” declared Phil.  “Shall we call to her, or just march boldly aboard her old boat?”

“I don’t know,” hesitated Madge.  “I don’t believe we ought to mention Mollie’s note.  We might get the child into more trouble.”

Phyllis shook her head.  “Well, then, you decide upon something.  You always plan things better than I do.  I think we had better say that we have come back to inquire of Captain Mike how long he expects Mollie to be away.  Then we can insist on waiting until his sailboat returns.”

The two girls strode bravely up the single, rickety board that served as the gangplank of the shanty boat.  At their first step on the dock a yellow dog rushed to the door of the dirty kitchen and set up a furious barking.  Behind him stood the menacing figure of the woman whom Madge and Phil had seen a short time before.  About her torn skirts were clustered three or four stupid-looking, tow-headed children.  It was impossible for Phil to conceive how beautiful Mollie could be a member of such a family.  Yet the unfortunate girl had told Phyllis that she had known no other than the hard, joyless life she had always led.

It was Madge who opened the conversation this time.  To her disappointment she received no different answer to her inquiries than had Phil.  “Moll was gone.”  The woman did not know where she had gone and she didn’t care.  But she wasn’t coming back.  Further, Mollie’s step-mother did not see what business Phil and Madge had in coming to ask about her.

“We are going to wait to talk to your husband,” announced Phil with quiet decision.

“You git off my boat in a hurry,” the woman snarled angrily.  “You can stay on the island all day if you like, but you can’t hang around here.  Mike won’t be home before night, and he ain’t goin’ to tell you nothin’ then.  You’ll find the beach pretty comfortable; it’s so nice and shady.”  The woman grinned maliciously.