"Not head on, because that would have hurt the girls. I was planning to swing at the last minute and try to knock the men off with the wing."
Rick could only mutter, "My sainted aunt!"
Scotty turned on the girls. "And here's the pair that made it necessary. What in the name of a painted parsnip were you two trying to do?"
Barby lifted her chin defiantly. "We had a good plan. Can we help it if it didn't work?"
"Can't answer that until we know the plan," Scotty said reasonably. "Suppose you tell us."
"Well, we needed evidence that the houseboaters were in the plot against our fathers, didn't we? I knew we could get it, if we could plant a radio. So we made a plan."
"Lot of good a turned-off radio would have done," Rick muttered.
Barby glared. "We decided that we'd go swimming with the lungs. Then we'd come up right next to the houseboat, and we'd be so surprised! Of course the people would come out to see us, then we'd say I had a cramp, and could we please come up and rest."
Rick listened, and he had to admit it wasn't a bad plan at all—so far.
"Of course they would let us rest. Then I'd wait for a chance to put the radio behind a cushion, or in the crack of an armchair, or somewhere like that. I didn't know exactly what I could do, but I knew if we could get aboard there would be some way of leaving the radio behind."