Madge sprang to her feet and ran down to the edge of the water. She wished to attract Mike's attention before he went aboard his own shanty boat. To think with her was to act. She realized that she must speak to the man before his wife could tell him the nature of their errand. If Mike Muldoon learned their real design, he might shut himself inside his shanty and refuse to talk to them.
[Illustration: The girls ran down to the water's edge.]
Mike rowed toward his callers, who were anxiously waiting for him. As his boat scraped the shore his wife shrieked at him, "Come here fust, Mike! Don't you be goin' talkin' to the likes of them before I tells you somethin'."
She was too late. Captain Mike had already turned to Madge. He supposed the girls had come to engage his sailboat.
Captain Madge decided to try diplomacy. She did not wish to make the sailor angry. She hoped she might persuade him to do what they wished.
"We have not come to rent your sailboat today, Captain Mike," she announced cheerfully, "we are coming for that another time. What we wish now is to ask you what has become of your pretty daughter? We have crossed all the way over to the island to make her a call. And now we can't find her. We wish to make friends with her, if you don't mind."
"Moll can't make friends with nobody," Mike answered suspiciously, his skin turning a mottled red under its coat of tan. "I told you Moll was foolish."
"Yes, I know," answered Phil unwisely. "That is why we are so sorry for her."