“I’ll do my best,” promised Miss Dodge. “If I can arrange it for next Friday I will.” And with this the girls were obliged to be satisfied, and went off chattering excitedly.
Within a few days Miss Dodge found out that the plan would be feasible and there was wild rejoicing. Joanne, the originator of the scheme, was the most popular girl for the moment, and was constantly being interviewed, having to answer more questions than she had ever had asked her in all her life, and Cousin Ned, in his turn, was turned to till it was a wonder that he did not regret his offer of hospitality to such a bothersome party of girls. However, he declared himself to be greatly interested in the undertaking and promised all sorts of assistance, so that the girls told Joanne that he was adorable, and she quite endorsed this opinion.
“It is the luckiest thing that the boat goes up on Friday,” she said to Winnie, “though I suppose some other boat might take us.”
“Oh, but Mr. Pattison knows this man so well, and besides, we might not be able to get any one else to consent to take passengers.”
“Yes, I suppose that is true,” acknowledged Joanne, “and some of the other boatmen are very rough and I don’t believe Gradda would be willing I should go with any but this Dawson man.”
“I can scarcely wait till Friday,” declared Winnie.
“I think I should die of despair if anything happened to upset our plan,” responded Joanne.
Winnie laughed. “You are always so tragic, Jo. You wouldn’t die. I wouldn’t either, though of course I’d be awfully disappointed, just as all of us would be.”
This was on Wednesday. On Thursday the girls scanned the skies anxiously. “I don’t like the look of those clouds,” remarked Claudia as she joined Winnie and Joanne on their way home from school.
“Oh, but I don’t believe they amount to anything,” replied Winnie cheerfully; “they are only wind clouds, I reckon.”