RUTH DELIVERS HER ULTIMATUM
“Do you think you can go to Tower and return here before sunset, Blue Wolf?” There was a dubious inflection in Miss Drexal’s voice, as she addressed her question to the guide.
“Go alone, go fast,” assured the Indian. “Come back plenty time ’fore him sundown. You walk around island, any place. No ’fraid. You get lost, me find. Me know him. Now go quick an’ come back.” Suiting the action to the word, he made a lithe spring into his canoe and prepared to push off from shore.
“We’ll all be here when you come for us,” predicted Ruth gaily. “Such good foresters as we can be trusted to find our way anywhere.”
Blue Wolf met this sally with an approving “Ugh!” Then the canoe shot through the placid water, alive under his practiced hands.
“We might as well eat luncheon and have it over with,” said Miss Drexal, as the watchers on the bank lost sight of the guide around a bend. “Shall we eat it here, or have it in the woods?”
“This seems to be a good enough place,” commented Marian. “We can gather enough dry wood right around here for a fire to make the coffee. As long as we haven’t brought much except sandwiches, sweet crackers and fruit, it won’t take long to get it ready. Only one thing is needed—water.”
“There’s a little spring just back in the woods,” informed Emmy. “Blue Wolf told us about it, didn’t he, Betty? He landed us here so we’d be near it.”
“Let’s all go and look for it,” proposed Sarah. “I’m terribly thirsty.”
“Now that you mention it, Sarey, so am I,” beamed Frances. “Lead us to it, Emmy, provided you know how. I’m going to leave my pack here, and take only my drinking cup.”