“But hardly, unless somebody hid them!” objected Marjorie. “Because we’re not swimming with the current, Ethel.”
“No, we aren’t! I hadn’t thought of that.”
They were almost at the opposite bank now, but they saw no signs of canoes.
“Tired yet?” asked Ethel. “Shall we go ashore?”
“Not unless you want to,” replied Marjorie.
“Then let’s swim along the bank, and look closely for them.”
The girls swam leisurely; the motion was no greater effort for them than walking. They had hardly gone fifty yards, however, before Marjorie caught sight of something shining under a group of low bushes. With a cry, she rushed forward. To their infinite joy they found, securely caught in the branches, the five bright, green canoes!
“And the paddles are in them!” commented Ethel, as each girl climbed into a canoe. “Oh, Marj, don’t you wish we could take all five back at once?”
“Yes, but we’ll get the others at camp to go back with us,” said Marjorie; “and we won’t blow the whistle till we have them all.”
In a short time the girls at the camp had heard the news, and Alice and Doris volunteered to go back with them to get the other canoes. Then, with a great blast of the whistle, they summoned the other searchers. It was half an hour, however, before everyone gathered at the shore.