“And you were too well mannered to ask,” Serge suggested, smiling.
“Or perhaps we just didn’t think about it,” Sim said modestly.
The young man pulled vigorously, and the little rowboat plowed through the bay. To their right, as they approached it, lay the Merry Jane, looking as they had last seen it.
When they were close to the houseboat, Tania began to bark: sharp, staccato barks and deep growls in her throat.
“Tania must have heard us coming,” Sim suggested.
“I think, Sim,” Arden corrected her, “that Tania’s barking at something else. She sounds pretty angry to me.”
They listened again. Tania was snarling and barking furiously.
“Tania!” called Arden as they came alongside the houseboat. “Tania, we are your friends!”
As she called they all heard the sound of running footsteps on the part of the deck farthest away from them.
“There’s somebody here!” Serge cried, and hurried to make fast the rowboat.