The girls watched while the swimmer crawled a stroke then sprang upright and shook off water like a happy young animal.
“Why, it’s the girl who looked in at the window last night,” Terry exclaimed. “She can swim, can’t she?”
The girl saw them suddenly and was about to run up the beach and away when she hesitated. Sim saw an old gray sweater on the sand near them. It obviously belonged to the swimmer, and she would have to come quite near them to get it.
Sim smiled at her as she looked at them in an almost frightened way.
“You swim beautifully,” Sim remarked to relieve the shy girl. “Did you learn in the ocean?”
“Yeah,” she drawled, stooping for her sweater. “I learned in the ocean.” That was all she said.
“Do you live here, at Oceanedge?” Arden asked next.
“Not right here,” replied the swimmer. “I live on the other side of the bay with my father, but I come here to swim.” After such a long speech she again seemed ready to run away.
“We live up there,” Terry volunteered, indicating the house, the roof of which could be seen above low pines. “We’re just here for the summer. Do you live here all year?”
“Yes, I’m a native,” their new friend went on in a rather bitter tone. “I live, if you can call it that, with my father. He’s a crabber and a worn crab himself. What’s that oil for?” Arden was dabbing a bit on a rather red arm.