“I won’t get any,” observed Marjorie. “I forgot to tell mother we expected to stop there. How about you, Doris?”
“I don’t know,” replied the girl, carelessly. “But I do know that we’ve got some water in our canoe. Do you see that, Marj?”
Marjorie turned sharply around—she had been “resting up” in the bow—and looked at the bottom of the canoe. Doris was right; there was about an inch of water.
“Water?” echoed Ruth, who had overheard the remark. “Don’t you know it’s a sign of a very poor boatsman to splash water into the boat?”
“Maybe it is,” admitted Marjorie; “nevertheless, it’s there. And I do believe it’s getting deeper. Look!”
Miss Phillips paddled close at these words and peered anxiously into the Will-o’-the-Wisp.
“It’s a leak!” she decided. “Evidently you have grazed a jagged rock or a tree-stump.”
“Can it be fixed?” asked Doris, hastily making for the shore.
“Oh, yes, quite easily,” replied the captain. “But since we are so near to Rikers, we might as well have it repaired there, for a real repair man would have more tools than we carry.”
Marjorie and Doris directed the Will-o’-the-Wisp to the shore and got out while the others went a short distance farther down toward the regular place. Miss Phillips opened a box and took out five padlocks with chains.