The girls were puzzled. Royal, it appeared, must be some child that Kitty was protecting, and this woman was holding a threatening club over Kitty's head.
"Are you positive we can't come right over there and fight things out for you, Kitty?" asked Grace with a brave voice. "We have been waiting around here all summer for that sort of thing."
"No, no," wailed the child, now running toward the little skiff which lay under the willow at the water's edge. "I'll call you if I get in trouble. See that high rock over on the far side of the island? Well, you can see that all the way from Sea Crest, and if you see a lantern hanging in that tree to-night, come. If it's day-time I'll put a white flag up, and the wind will wave it, but I don't believe she'll make trouble just now. All I was afraid of was being put away, and now I see why she said that. She just wanted me to run away. But I shan't. I'll stay, and I'll take care of little Royal."
She was gone. Her oars lapped the waves and sent back their brave message as she turned into the cove that faced Luna Land.
"Well, of all things!" exclaimed Cleo.
"I expected you to say something a little more original," remarked Grace. "But I don't quite blame you. It is bewildering."
"And Royal!" repeated Helen. "Royal made our signs and played with the little tools!"
"And signed his name Peter Pan," recalled Louise.
"Why should Kitty be watching a child with such a swell name?" queried Julia.
"Why all the other things?" replied Elizabeth.