Down the path she ran wildly, stumbling and sometimes falling, as the roots of the ground-pine and the rolling pebbles seemed trying to trip her. The path made a continuous curve. Soon Anne had lost all account of direction, as well as of time. When she had run some distance and was thoroughly out of breath, she made up her mind that she must stop to rest. Then she saw that she was coming out of the thick woods. Suddenly, the path made a jump out onto a beach, a tiny crescent of pebbly sand, hidden from the open sea by a rocky island close to shore, and by other reefs beyond. Anne stepped on to the pebbles and looked about quite dazed. There was nothing to tell where she was or in which direction was home. There was nothing familiar on land or sea.
Presently Anne spied a small motor-boat anchored in the tiny harbor. And at the same moment she became aware that she was not alone in the cove. A man was stooping over some boxes which he had evidently just brought ashore. They lay at the entrance of what looked like a cave in the cliff. The man glanced up over his shoulder at the sound of Anne’s feet on the pebbles. Then he sprang erect with a jerk, like a jumping-jack.
“Hello!” he cried in gruff surprise that was not pleasure. “Where’d you come from?”
He was a tall rough-looking man in fisherman’s clothes and boots and a tarpaulin hat. Around his throat was a knotted red handkerchief, and he looked rather like a pirate. What with the cave and the piles of boxes and barrels at the entrance, Anne thought of Dick’s favorite story of pirate treasure; and for a moment she imagined she was dreaming. But the man recalled her, repeating his question impatiently and taking a step towards her.
“I say, who are you and where’d you come from?” When the man frowned he had a still more dangerous look.
Anne’s heart sank. Beverly would probably have fainted away. “I’m lost, I guess,” she said faintly. “We went up on the mountain from our camp near the Harbor, and I got separated from the others. Will you please tell me how to get home?”
“Home?” echoed the man, eyeing her sharply. “Why, the Harbor’s miles from here!”
“Oh!” exclaimed Anne in despair. “What shall I do?”
“You never kin walk it,” said the man gruffly. “I don’t see how you got here. Down the mount-ing, eh? H’m! Some journey!”
“Yes!” assented Anne. “Miles!”