“Oh, Bertha,” cried Patty, “the boat has drifted away!”
“Oh, pshaw,” said Bertha, “I don’t believe it. We pulled it ever so far up on the sand.”
“Well, then, where is it?”
“Why, I believe Winthrop or Kenneth or somebody came over and pulled it away, just to tease us. I believe they’re around the corner waiting for us now.”
Patty tried to take this view of it, but she felt a strange sinking of her heart, for it wasn’t like Kenneth to play a practical joke, and she didn’t think Winthrop would, either.
Laying down her bundle of flowers, Bertha ran around the end of the island, fully expecting to see her brother’s laughing face.
But there was no one to be seen, and no sign of the boat.
Then Bertha became alarmed, and the two girls looked at each other in dismay.
“Look off there,” cried Patty, suddenly, pointing out on the water.
Far away they saw an empty boat dancing along in the sunlight!