"Oh, well, there will be skating," Alice reminded her. "And then, it will soon be spring again."
They came in sight of the tree to which Marjorie always kept the canoe tied, and she looked anxiously, as usual, for the first sight of it. Suddenly, her heart stopped beating: she could not see it!
"Alice!" she shrieked, in terror. "It's gone!"
Alice followed Marjorie's gaze, but she, too, saw no canoe. However, she attributed no particular significance to that fact.
"It's probably around the other side," she said optimistically: "or maybe you tied it to another tree."
But as the girls came nearer to the spot, Marjorie knew that she had been right. They looked all around the small lake; but the canoe was nowhere to be found!
"Somebody's borrowed it!" suggested Alice, "and probably couldn't find you to ask permission!"
"But then they'd be on the lake!"
"No—if you should carry the canoe about a hundred yards, you'd find the stream gets deep enough to paddle. And it goes a long way, too, even joins a river. I know because once Daisy and I hiked and hiked, meaning to follow it to the end. There were several swift places where you might have to carry the canoe a few yards, but it could easily be done."
Marjorie's face brightened at the hope the words offered.