“Don’t you wish you knew who bought them?”
“You bet I do! Somebody rich, I guess!”
“And wouldn’t you love to know where we’re going, and how long we’ll stay, and—and——”
“I hope you gals is all good swimmers,” interrupted Michael, advancing slowly to the edge of the shore. “Purty ticklish business—canoeing is!”
“Not in flat bottom canoes!” protested Marjorie. “Why, I’ve had mine for nearly a year now, and never upset once!”
“But you never tried to navigate a stream like the Silver!” said the old man, reaching for his pipe and tobacco pouch. “There’s one place in this here stream I’d be willing to bet a silver dollar somebody upsets!”
“Oh, where is it?” cried Ruth, delighted that all of the water was not to be so monotonous as it seemed to be in the locality of the boathouse. Already she had visions of the rest of the girls upsetting; and after steering her own canoe safely through, she saw herself effecting thrilling rescues. There were even medals in life-saving, she had read in the handbook; it certainly would be worth while to possess one, especially if it were the only one of its kind in Pansy troop.
But the old man smoked silently, refusing to explain his remark.
“And are there any wild animals along the stream?” pursued Ruth.
“Hardly!” replied Michael, turning about and going back to his broken chair beside the boathouse. “Maybe a fox or a deer. But nuthin’ real dangerous.”