SHARP WORDS
Even more quickly than the rain storm had developed did it pass away—and the bright summer sun came out in its resplendent glory. Frank and the girls emerged from the hut, drenched to the skin, the girls’ dresses hanging to them like so many rags.
“I am just as sorry as I can be, girls,” said Frank in an apologetic tone of voice. “Had I thought the rain was going to be so severe, even had I thought we were going to have a shower, I would not have come. But, there’s nothing to be done about it but to be miserably wet and uncomfortable until we get back.”
Minnie seemed to be in a tempest, her expression one of anger when Frank spoke.
“Your attention was called to it when we started,” she shot at him as they reached the Rocket at the shore.
“Quite true, Minnie. But do you think for a moment that I came down here to get myself wet, too, just for the fun of getting you girls wet? Just remember that I got as much of it as any one else.”
“I don’t think Frank is to blame one bit,” one of the other girls spoke up. “Let’s make the best of it. The sun will dry us out a little, and the wind on the river will help. The only thing is that we’ll look like we’ve been rough dried.”
Into the Rocket climbed all the girls, while Frank shoved easily off and took charge of the engine and the wheel.
The cheery reaction of the sunshine as opposed to the drear of the rain and clouds and the breeze of the water, the open air, and the feeling of freedom—all combined to return the little group to something more resembling normal, and in a very few minutes, before they had half traversed the return distance to the picnic grounds, all the girls were laughing and giggling, making light of the incident.
Frank was delighted to see the turn of affairs, and even more pleased to notice that Minnie seemed to be regaining her former spirits, denoted by a little more freedom in her conversation with him. She sat on a steamer stool at the edge of the cockpit while he held the Rocket to its course.