“You’re going, I suppose, Agnes, even if you have to walk?” chuckled Mr. Howbridge, for he knew the obstreperous Agnes pretty well by this time.
“I don’t care——”
“Yes, you do, child,” said the lawyer more earnestly. “You care very much about getting Tess and Dot back safely. We may have much difficulty in managing the raft. Especially on our return. The boat may be broken, or perhaps we cannot finish repairing the mechanism when we overtake it.
“We must build a raft of limited capacity. It must hold the boys and me, and the children, of course. But the added weight of you and Ruth might sink it so deeply that it could not be managed. You girls will remain here——”
“Alone?” gasped Agnes.
“No. Together,” put in Neale.
“Oh, Guardy!” exclaimed Ruth, “will that be necessary? Are you sure?”
“It is a physical impossibility for us to make these green logs float higher than they do,” said Mr. Howbridge dryly. “Some tropical timber is corky and very light. Not these palm logs. To build the raft of drift timber is, as you can see yourself, my dear, impossible. We must use what we have to hand, and use it at once.”
“Oh, yes! Oh, yes!” murmured Ruth. “There must be no more delay.”
“It will take our best efforts to manage the raft. If the wind holds fair that canvas will make a splendid sail; but it will have to be tended all the time or half of the wind will be spilled, as the sailors say. Two of us at the sail and one at the steering oar. You two girls will have to remain behind.”