Sarita put them into Leslie’s hand and she, too, expressed surprise. “There doesn’t seem to be anything written on it,” she remarked, still looking. “It is just a square white thing of some sort.”
Sarita looked again and then offered the glass again to Peggy, who did not try to keep from laughing now. “You little mischief!” Leslie cried. “Sarita, that is where we were this afternoon and Peggy stuck something up there. What is it, Peggy?”
“Oh, there was just a piece of pasteboard in the bottom of the basket and I had a brilliant thought. That is why I stayed behind and you had to call to me to hurry up. I just pinned our paper napkins on top of the pasteboard and then stuck it up. The first good wind will blow it down. I thought that we could tell from down here what was next to it, you know, and whether there would be any chance of getting around any further.”
“Did you want our retreat discovered, Peggy?”
“I thought of that, but I imagine that people have climbed all over there before, don’t you?”
“Very likely,” Leslie replied. “Now be good children while I get ready to catch Dal’s fish.”
The boat had drifted a little, and Peggy, who now was the only one with oars, looked mischievous as she allowed it to go just within the circle indicated by the chief buoy and one or two others. The other girls did not notice. Sarita was scanning the cliff and Leslie was engaged with the line.
But they heard a hail and saw a boat approaching. “They’d better do all their calling before I begin to fish,” said Leslie, looking at the approaching boat. “That’s Bill and there’s somebody else,—oh, it’s Tom! We haven’t seen him for an age.”
Tom was beckoning and Leslie looked around to see what could be the matter. “Peggy,” she said; “child, you’ve gotten us inside the forbidden territory. Pull out!”
Peggy did so without a word, but Tom continued to pull toward them and came up smiling. “How do you do, Miss Secrest and—?” He did not mention the other names, but took off his cap in salute. “Bill called my attention to you and I saw that you were in dangerous quarters, so I rowed over. See what luck we have had.”