"We've been looking for them," Mollie went on. "We were looking when—when you came."
Something in her words and manner caused Allen to ask quickly:
"You—you don't think anything could have happened; do you?"
"I—I don't know what to think," Mollie faltered. "It seems—a little strange."
"Oh, we'll find them," declared Henry. "Amy isn't one to go far."
"But Betty is a great walker," Grace ventured.
"Well, we'll find them and all go back in the boat," proposed Allen. "It looks as though we might have a thunder shower. That's why we gave up fishing. Come on, have a look."
It did not take a very long search up and down the beach to disclose the fact that Amy and Betty were nowhere near. The little clump of trees held no hiding place, and unless they had gone inland there was no other explanation except that they had gone back to the cottage.
"And this they would hardly do," said Mollie. "Unless something had happened. Maybe——"
"What?" asked Roy, as she stopped suddenly.