“It’s little Henrietta!” screamed Jessie suddenly. “Oh, Amy!”
Amy, who was strong and quick, reached over the gunwale of the canoe and seized upon the crooked figure. She bore it inboard, knocking 128 off the old bonnet to reveal Henrietta’s freckled little face. The cloak and the hump under it were likewise torn off and went sailing away on the current.
“For pity’s sake, Henrietta!” gasped Jessie.
“Yes’m,” said the child composedly. “Did you come to see me?”
“Not expecting to see you in this—this shape,” hesitated Jessie.
Amy went off into a gale of laughter. She could not speak for a minute. Jessie demanded:
“Who are those awful children, Henrietta?”
“Part Foleys, some McGuires, two Swansons, the Costeklo twins, and Montmorency Shannon,” was the literal reply.
“What were they trying to do to you?”
“Drown me,” said Henrietta composedly. “But they ain’t ever done it yet. I always manage to get away. I’m cute, I am. But once they most nearly burned me, and Mrs. Foley stopped that. So now they mostly try to drown the witch.”