It did so appear to the outdoor girls. The motor boat containing the half-dozen rough-looking men was rapidly leaving the shore of the cove, but one man in it seemed anxious to return to the beach. His companions had forcibly to restrain him, as he seemed willing to leap into the water, and swim back.
Confused shouts and cries came from the men in the boat, as though they were of several opinions. Finally, however, the majority seemed to gain their point, and the man who had appeared so excited quieted down.
But, as the boat gathered headway, this man, sitting in the stern, never took his eyes from the four girls. He watched them until the craft was so far out that his features could not be distinguished.
"Wasn't that odd?" demanded Amy, being the first to speak after the little episode.
"It certainly was," agreed Betty.
"They seemed afraid—yes, actually afraid of us," put in Grace.
"And there wasn't the least need of it," laughed Mollie. "I wouldn't have harmed one of those men—oh, for anything!"
"I guess not!" Amy declared. "I was all ready to run if they headed their boat back this way."
"What in the world do you suppose was the matter?" asked Grace, as they stood looking after the vanishing boat. The boys were no longer in sight, being hidden from view behind a projecting point of land.
"Perhaps this is private grounds we are on," suggested Mollie, "and they didn't like to see us trespassing."