“What time is dinner?” asked Doris.
“Half-past one,” replied Ethel; “and if anybody is more than five minutes late, she doesn’t get any!”
The girls ran off in high spirits. Ruth was the first to plunge into the creek. “It is cold,” she admitted to Doris, who was sitting on the bank dipping one toe in at a time.
Ruth began to swim rapidly in order to get warm. “I’m going around the bend,” she called as she disappeared from view.
The other girls turned their attention to “getting wet all over,” and dismissed Ruth from their minds. She was undoubtedly the best swimmer of the party, so even when she failed to appear after many minutes had passed, no one expressed concern.
After Ruth had passed the bend, and felt thoroughly warmed by the exercise, she decided to swim farther. It would be such fun to go all the way to the dam. Of course there was no chance of seeing John Hadley or any other of the scouts, since Mr. Remington had taken them all on the excursion; but she would have the satisfaction of telling them later of her feat. She began to wonder how far the dam was. She did not feel in the least tired, for she was swimming downstream. It would be an easy matter to run along the shore back to the cabin—and if she should be late for dinner, Ethel’s admiration for her act would surely cause her to pardon the delay.
As she neared the dam, she distinguished two figures walking side by side, and she wondered whether they would see her; she dipped her head into the water, using the crawl stroke, which was the most spectacular one she knew. When she brought her head out a second time, one of the figures had vanished; the other person was alone: it was a girl. Yes, and she was watching her!
The persons that Ruth saw, but did not recognize because of the distance, were Jack and Marjorie Wilkinson. Jack had not gone on the Boy Scout outing, for his father and mother, who were visiting relatives living not far from the Academy, telegraphed to him on Friday that they would get Marjorie and drive over to his school to spend Sunday with him; so he had obtained permission to remain there for the week-end, instead of accompanying the rest of the scouts.
Marjorie was delighted at the prospect of the visit. She had been looking forward to a dull Sunday; Lily had gone home with Lucy Graham, and most of her other friends were at the cabin. She was glad to see her parents again, and the day was so lovely that she enjoyed every minute of the ride.
When they arrived at the Academy, Mr. Wilkinson announced his intention of looking up one of the teachers who was an old friend of the family. “You can do whatever you like for an hour,” he said to Jack and Marjorie; “either come with your mother and me, or go off by yourselves.”