Vacation? She had forgotten the word. Pleasure seemed very far away, if not entirely beyond her reach. All she thought of, all she wanted, was to find the unfortunate Rosalind.
“I’ll swing in here and let’s try that comic opera again,” said Gar, determined to keep up their courage.
“The opera” was made up of the shouts and calls, such as they had been practising ever since they decided to break the woodland silence, and following Gar’s advice they again took up the refrain.
“There’s a few birds answering, at any rate,” Dell remarked, “but for my part, I think even the angels must have heard that yell of yours, Gar. If those girls are in these woodlands they either do not want to reply or—”
“There’s the boat!” exclaimed Nancy, jumping up so suddenly she all but fell over in the launch. “I see it in that little clump of willows! Steer in there, Gar. They can’t be far away from their boat.”
And only too willingly did Garfield Durand comply with that eager request.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE WOODCHOPPERS
Under the willows, almost hidden in the vine-like foliage, they found the small motor boat that Orilla was in the habit of using. It was not her own, but belonged to a summer place that had not been opened for a few years past, and the owners were allowing Orilla to use the boat in return for some small care she gave to special plants upon the grounds and surroundings.
“That’s the boat, all right,” Gar announced, as he shoved alongside. “And just look at the—timber!”