"It seems awfully strange," said Nan as they disappointedly found their way back to their seats, "that if the girl was really Cora we haven't seen her before."
They told Bess and Grace about it later, and they agreed that the incident looked queer, to say the least. However, they had so many things to think about in the days that followed, that Linda slipped entirely from their minds.
One morning the girls decided to forego their usual game of tennis and take an early dip instead. Nan had complained of an ache in the muscles of her right arm, and as the trouble almost undoubtedly came from overstrain, Walter had insisted that she take "a day off."
The weather had seemed uncomfortably warm at the hotel, but when they reached the beach the girls were surprised to find that they felt chilly.
"Goodness!" said Bess with a shiver, "I think I will let you girls go in and I'll stay here. Experience has taught me that the beautiful green ocean about these parts isn't always as balmy and warm as it's reported to be."
"No, you don't," said Nan decidedly. "You know very well it spoils all the fun if one of us backs out. Come on, Rhoda, you take the other arm. One—two—three—go!" and Bess was hurried, half laughing and half angry and wholly protesting, down to the water's edge and promptly ducked under a foam-tipped, hungry, man-eating wave.
She came out on the other side and struck out manfully, puffing and steaming like a young whale.
The girls watched her laughingly for a minute, then plunged in after her.
"My, the water is cold," sputtered Grace, as the girls struck out abreast with long, beautifully even strokes. "Poor Bess! I don't know but what she had the right idea after all."
The hour being so early, the girls had that particular portion of Old Man Ocean almost to themselves. There were a few early bathers, however, and among these was a man with a long, thin face and a mouth that was set in a hard, straight line.