“Humph,” snorted Mollie, and tossed her head.
Luckily the girls had thought to put some firewood within the shelter of the tent before they had turned in the night before, so that they had enough dry wood to make a good fire. If they had been forced to try burning wet wood nobody knows what might have happened to Mollie’s temper!
And when, just before noon, they heard the familiar putt-putting of the Gem out on the lake, Mollie, as well as Grace, felt a great relief as though a heavy burden had suddenly slipped from her shoulders.
For the Little Captain had come back!
CHAPTER XVI
AIR MATTRESSES
When Mollie and Grace saw that not only Amy and the Little Captain, but Will Ford and Frank Haley also, were in the little boat, the relief and joy of the girls reached a climax.
“Well, this is something like!” cried Mollie, putting an arm about Grace and squeezing her ecstatically. “Nothing like having the boys around once in a while, eh, Gracie?”
“I’ll say!” returned Grace, as she waved to the quartette in the boat. They were still too far away and there were too many trees in their path for the Gem’s occupants to see the wave, but that made no difference to Grace.
However, it took only a few minutes for the little motor boat to nose its way up the narrow inlet to the improvised landing above which Mollie and Grace were so eagerly waiting.