Katy likewise saw and acted even more quickly than Ernest. She was very light and swift, and she 267darted past Sherm and Chicken Little like a flash, reaching the boat twenty seconds ahead.
“Come on, Ernest!” She slipped the rope deftly from the post, not waiting to untie it, and, pushing off, leaped lightly into the row boat.
Ernest needed no second invitation. Katy motioned to him to run farther along the bank and paddled the skiff in close enough for him to climb on board. Sherm and Chicken Little, dazed by the suddenness of this maneuver, were still some feet away.
“Katy Halford, you’re a pretty one to go back on your own side that way,” Jane scolded.
“Katy, I didn’t think it of you–after asking me to come and help you, too!” Sherm was also reproachful.
“I didn’t ask you, Sherman Dart. It was Chicken Little.”
“Of course,” Ernest encouraged. “Katy’s been on my side all the time. Haven’t you, Katy?”
Katy nodded, laughing.
The Captain, who had followed the young people at a more sober gait, smiled at this outcome of the skirmish.
“When a woman will she will, you may depend upon it,” he quoted. “The trouble is to find out what she wills.”