"The children won't rest till they get into their bathing suits," said Mrs. Marley; "so they might as well do that first. Then, with three daddies to see that they stay out of the water for an hour or so, I think they will be all right. Take the old sweaters down with you and leave them in a pile on the sand. Our beach is so far from the crowd that it is safe to leave things unwatched—Mrs. Meeker wrote me that."
Mrs. Meeker owned the cottage, and that was why it was called "Meeker's Cottage." It had been known by that name for years, and once the governor of the state had rented it for a summer. Mrs. Meeker was very proud of that. In those days, Meeker's Cottage had been in the fashionable part of Sunrise Beach.
You may be sure it did not take the Riddle Club long to get into their bathing suits. Very pretty the suits looked, too, with the white initials "R.C." on each. The girls had caps to match their suits—Polly blue, Jess red and Margy green. Each had a sweater—"a last year school sweater," as Margy described hers—to put on if it was chilly when they came out of the surf. As soon as they were ready, they raced across the road, scrambled over a sand dune, and were out on the beach and capering about as though they had just been released from some box.
"Can't go in for a couple of hours," said Mr. Williamson firmly, capturing Fred, who seemed inclined to meet a breaker more than halfway. "Now we'd like to run through the papers before we go in. Will you promise to stay on the beach until we give the word?"
"Of course," promised Polly, and the others nodded. "I'll tell you what we will do—we'll walk up the beach as far as the fishing pier and back, and then we'll hold a meeting of the Riddle Club. By that time we can go in bathing."
"But I can't collect the dues," Fred objected. "No one has any money and I haven't any pocket."
"It won't be a regular meeting," argued Polly. "We'll just ask as many riddles as we can remember."
"Well, let me tell you this club can't go on forever and not collect any dues," Fred declared earnestly. "We're always having special meetings, and 'special' means no dues taken up. Ever since we put our money in the bank, you all seem to think we have a fortune and don't need any more."
"Calm yourself, Fred," said his father. "As this is a special meeting, I'll pay the dues."