Ruth stared up and down the shore. There were other boats drawn up on the sand and a few moored beyond low-water mark; but their boat was not in sight.
“Have you let it get away, Agnes Kenway?” Ruth demanded.
“Well! you don’t suppose I went down there and pushed it off, do you?”
“This is no laughing matter——”
“I guess I—I’m not laughing,” gulped Agnes. “It—it’s go-o-one! See! the tide is flowing in and I forgot to tie it.”
She was a little mixed here; it was the boat she had forgotten to tie.
“So,” murmured Ruth; “if the boat had been tied, the tide wouldn’t have carried it away,” and she had no intention of punning, either! “Now what shall we do? That boat cost seventy-five dollars, the man said.”
“Oh, Ruthie!”
“What will Mr. Howbridge say?”
“Oh, Ruthie!”