The two boys got into the launch and Billy started the motor. The launch backed away, turned slowly about, then followed nearly the same course that it had on the previous day. This time it crept along still closer to the Island of Delight. The girls, who were watching it, crouched low, almost flattening themselves on the ground in their efforts to avoid discovery. The boys, at one time, seemed to be gazing right at them.
Yet even with this keen study of the shores of the island the Tramp Club boys passed by the entrance to the anchorage of the "Red Rover" without having discovered the little inlet.
"I'm going over there to find out what they found out," cried Harriet. "Who is going along? Tommy, I'll take you, Hazel and Margery this time if you wish to go. You haven't been out with me at all."
The four got into the small boat and rowed across the water to the same landing where less than half an hour before the boys' boat had been tied up. What Harriet learned at the farmhouse, filled her with delight.
"The boys know we are all right now. They are coming back again this afternoon. They are going to get another surprise, girls. Oh, we'll win that camera, won't we? Won't Miss Elting be amused when she hears what we have to tell her?" said Harriet.
"I gueth they won't want to thee uth again," suggested Tommy.
"Yes, they will. They have something to tell us," returned Harriet mysteriously.
"What is it?" asked Margery.
"I am not going to say. At least, not until I am sure it is so. I wonder if they will get suspicious of the island and search it for us?"
The Meadow-Brook Girls were on the alert all the rest of the day. They posted a lookout for the boys, in the person of Hazel Holland, who was to be depended upon. They drew the "Red Rover" into the cave as far as it would go, only the tip of the after deck protruding from the mouth of the cave. There was no more exploring that day. They did not dare get too far away from their hidden home, fearing lest the boys might come upon them unawares. Every boat on the lake in the vicinity was regarded with suspicion. But it was not until nearly five o'clock that Hazel came in with the report that the launch was heading across the upper end of the island, evidently making for the dock visited by it earlier in the day.