"Now, let's go down to the sh.o.r.e and take a look out over the lake,"

proposed Harriet, and this was done.

There were several boats in sight, but at the distance these looked like mere specks. A large excursion steamer was pa.s.sing in the middle of the lake. Feeling quite certain that they were in no danger of being discovered the girls found a place in the sunlight and there sat down to bask in the pleasant warmth of the sun.

"Get back, at once!" cried Harriet, suddenly springing to her feet, then crouching. "We don't want to be seen."

The girls retreated up the sh.o.r.e in some confusion, not stopping to ask questions until they were concealed.

"Oh, now I hear it," cried Hazel. "A motor boat coming! Do you think it's the one the boys are using?"

"I don't know," Harriet replied, "but it's heading straight for the island, and we must be ready to seek hiding on the 'Red Rover.'"

Anxious eyes peered through the bushes, watching the approaching boat for some time.

"It _is_ the boys!" announced Miss Elting finally.

Tommy leaped up, and started to run.

"Wait!" commanded Harriet. "Let's make sure what they are going to do before we run away. We may have to creep across that open s.p.a.ce there. I think they can see it from the lake. If they are coming to land on the island they will have to go farther to the right. That will be our time to get back."

But the Tramp Club had no intention of landing at that moment. They were nearing the island for the purpose of looking it over. When they had come as close as they cared to run they turned the boat sharply and moved along at a slower rate of speed. They were out of sight of the girls a few moments after that.

"Now for the boat. They are going around to the other side of the island," declared Harriet. "I think our plan is going to work."

For some reason George Baker was considerably interested in that island.

There were many other islands in the lake, but this one had come to hold a sort of fascination for him.

"I don't believe they are over there," reflected George.

"We should have seen them yesterday if they had been," answered Billy Gordon. "It's a jolly place, though. We'll come over here and camp when we get ready. It is seldom that any one goes there."

"Where's that farmhouse we saw yesterday?" questioned Sam.

"On the other side of the lake, about half way down," answered Gordon.

"There is a pier there so we can land."

Of course all of this the Meadow-Brook Girls did not hear. But, having reached the houseboat, they made their way down the inlet, and were near the mouth of it when they sighted the motor boat on that side of the island. The girls saw it head straight for the pier where Harriet had landed the previous evening on her way to the farmhouse for supplies.

The boys tied up the boat and two of them got out and went up the slope toward the farmhouse.

The two boys, George and Billy, returned to the motor boat walking rapidly.

"Did you find out anything?" called Sam.

"Yes."

"Anything wrong?" asked Larry.

"I don't know. It's a puzzle," replied Captain Baker. "Two of them were up at that farmhouse last night. The queer thing about it is that the woman up there saw the 'Red Rover' lying down here yesterday. Then the boat was gone when she looked again. I don't understand it."

"Some one gave them a tow. Don't you tumble to that?" asked Sam.

"Where to?"

"I give it up. I don't know."

"If nothing has happened them they can't be far away, or the girls wouldn't have gone up there last night."

"What time were they there, George?"

"Some time after dark. I didn't ask the time. I asked the woman if they were coming again. She said she didn't know. I told her we would come back later in the day, and, if she saw either of the girls in the meantime, to tell them that we wished to know where they are, as we had something to tell them. It was after dark when they were there. I don't know what to make of it."

"Well, they are all right, so what's the use in worrying?" asked Larry.

"Yes, they aren't drowned. I haven't any too much confidence in that old scow. It is likely to spring a leak and go down any old time," declared Billy Gordon. "I wouldn't trust myself in it over night."

"You are not likely to get the chance," jeered Sam. "What are we going to do now?"

"Go on to Wantagh, then to camp. We will come back before supper. While we are out we'll make inquiries. Some one may have seen the boat. It probably is laid up in a cove somewhere along this sh.o.r.e," decided George.

"We should have seen it if it had been," replied Billy.

"How about that island? Is there any place along the sh.o.r.e where they could hide the boat?" questioned Baker.

Billy shook his head.

"You have seen the whole island. We went all the way around it yesterday. It is my opinion that they are going to tie the score."

"I am beginning to think so myself. But we'll beat them yet," chuckled Larry Goheen.

"We will have to wake up in the morning earlier than we usually do,"

returned George. "You ought to have seen the way they won that walking match. Outwit the Meadow-Brook Girls three times in succession. Well, try it!"

"If they are so smart, what's the use in bothering about them?" answered Larry.

"Because I don't propose to have them get the best of us every time,"

returned George. "That's why I made this wager."

"They didn't get the best of us the other night, did they?" grinned Billy. "We're one trick ahead." All the boys except George laughed heartily over some little joke of their own.

"Look here, fellows," said Baker. "We think we are mighty smart, but I'm telling you that we may not be as smart as we believe. They may be laughing at us all the time."

The two boys got into the launch and Billy started the motor. The launch backed away, turned slowly about, then followed nearly the same course that it had on the previous day. This time it crept along still closer to the Island of Delight. The girls, who were watching it, crouched low, almost flattening themselves on the ground in their efforts to avoid discovery. The boys, at one time, seemed to be gazing right at them.

Yet even with this keen study of the sh.o.r.es of the island the Tramp Club boys pa.s.sed by the entrance to the anchorage of the "Red Rover" without having discovered the little inlet.

"I'm going over there to find out what they found out," cried Harriet.