"Girls, I am afraid it is going to be a pretty hard pull in this heat. Hadn't we better wait until the evening?" suggested the guardian.
Harriet and Jane protested that they didn't mind the heat at all, and that they could pull the big boat over to the island without the least difficulty. Miss Elting offered no further objections. The "Red Rover" was a scene of activity from that moment on. All hands except Tommy assisted in getting the anchor aboard. Harriet and Jane, without loss of time, jumped into the rowboat and began pulling away. It was hard work to get the houseboat started, but once under way it followed along fairly well.
Miss Elting handled the tiller, while Hazel, Margery and Tommy acted as lookouts to inform the rowers if any motor boats were sighted. The lookouts watched the lake through their glasses. The sun glaring down on the red sides of the "Red Rover" made the boat visible as far as eyes could reach. It was even discovered by one of the Tramp Club boys, but so slowly did it move that he was not aware that it was moving at all. From the other side of the lake the houseboat appeared to be standing still, until finally it disappeared altogether. He wondered a little over this at the time, then forgot all about the circumstance until later.
In the meantime Harriet and Crazy Jane were heading toward the Island of Delight, pulling at the oars with backs bent to their task. They were destined to have a most delightful time on this their Island of Delight and to experience some thrills as well, and Harriet's plans were to work out better than she knew.
CHAPTER IX
THE TRAMP CLUB IS ALARMED
Now that they were masked by the island, the girls also were shut off from a view of the lake, save for the narrow ribbon of water that lay between them and the nearby shore, so they rowed faster than before.