Wildly excited at last, the younger girl leaped to her feet and bounded out of concealment. As she landed in the sand and struck out for the rocky point, Ruth heard a shout behind them and the heavy tread of men running down the beach.
“Agnes! Agnes! They will catch us!” she shrieked, and ran madly after her sister.
Agnes thought of nothing, however, but the fact, as she believed, that their friends were near at hand. She climbed upon the highest boulder in the neighborhood and shrieked a welcome.
“Neale! Guardy! Luke! Here we are!” cried the wild girl. “Are the children safe? Tessie! Dot! Tell Agnes if you are all right!”
Her wild cry was echoed from the sea. She could even observe the Isobel approaching. And the voices of the children and those of the boys and Mr. Howbridge were soon distinguishable.
Had the turtle fishers intended the two girls any harm, these cries from the water and the approach of the motor-boat must have warned the natives. Ruth and Agnes stood on the rock, and the fishermen approached to within a few yards of them.
They chattered much in Spanish, and then one spoke in English:
“Eet ees that the señoritas haf friend—amigo—in the boat—no?”
“Tell them that we’ve got friends coming, yes!” exclaimed Agnes.
Ruth could remember just about enough Spanish to make herself understood. She told the fishermen their friends had been away in the motor-boat but were now arriving.