The two figures still stood out clearly, the boy evidently insisting, and the girl still shaking her head as if unwilling to do as he wished.
Some bathers came running down to the water, their gay colored caps covering their hair, their sandals tied with ribbons.
Polly, Rose, and Sprite turned to see them take the first dip, and for a few moments watched them romping in the surf.
When they turned Max and Gwen had disappeared.
"I do wonder what they were planning to do?" said Polly, "and why Gwen seemed unwilling to do it, whatever it was."
"So do I," said Rose, "because Max always wants to do the wildest things," to which Sprite added; "And you can't often find anything wilder than Gwen would enjoy."
It happened that Max and Gwen had disappeared behind a rough shanty that laborers were using for a toolhouse.
"Now don't be a fraidie-cat!" Max was saying. "What makes you act so? I called you a 'brick' the other day because I said you dared to do things that any girl but you wouldn't dare to do. Now here you are, acting just the way other girls act. 'Fore I'd be 'fraid to sail in a tub!" He hoped to make her do it.
"Well, if you're not afraid to, why don't you do it, instead of asking me to do it?" snapped Gwen.
"Oh, so I can tell the other boys how brave you are," replied Max.