So joyful were they at the outcome of their detective work, that the long journey to Deepdale was almost forgotten. It was Mrs. Irving who brought them to their senses.
"I'm afraid," she said, "that if we don't start pretty soon, Deepdale won't see us until to-morrow morning, and that will never do. Come, girls, get ready."
"Oh, I don't want to go home," wailed Amy, as they rose to follow instructions.
"But just think what we will have to tell them when we get there!" said Betty, and the thought lent wings to their feet.
Once more the Outdoor Girls and their comrades assembled on the wharf, waiting for the ridiculous little ferryboat that had been the butt of their jokes during the summer. Now that they were going away, however, the sound of the shrill little whistle, as it panted up to them, seemed somehow strangely typical of their life on the island, and they felt an unexpected throb of home-sickness.
"We'll have to come back to it some time," Betty said. "I love the place."
"I wonder if there are any more mysteries floating around loose," said Roy, pausing for one last backward glance over his shoulder. "If there are, I'm going back."
But Allen seized him and drew him aboard.
"Come on," he cried, "we're off!"
The four girls linked arms, as they gazed back at the familiar bungalow.