“I don’t think that Chess would keep her out so late if everything was all right. Sure they were not going to Copley Island?”
“Sure. The girls have gone away. There’s no fun going on there.”
“Well, of course the motor-boat may have broken down. Such things happen,” said Tom reflectively.
“Now you have got me stirred up,” cried Helen. “I had no idea it was so late. And Ruthie does not believe in late hours.”
“She would not stay out on the river with me half the night, that is sure,” grumbled Tom.
“Oh, Tommy-boy!” exclaimed his sister, “I don’t believe she cares so much for Chess. I really don’t.”
“Well, that is not here nor there. What’s to be done? Where’s Mr. Hammond—or Willie?”
“They haven’t got back from Chippewa Bay with the Gem.”
“This clumsy old Tamarack is too big for me to handle alone. And the boys have all gone to bed by this time.”
“The canoes aren’t too big for us to handle,” Helen said.