"Yes, he has been our evil genius ever since he crossed our path. You see father's mind is not entirely clear, and I do not myself know what to believe."
In the distance they could now see the lights of several boats, and behind the great hill that made Far Island look like some strange mountain place, the sun was all but lost in the forest blackness.
"Oh," sighed Laurel suddenly. "I feel faint again."
She sank down before Cora could support her. And they were away from the little hut where the water was! Away from every thing but the pitiless night!
"Oh, how dreadful," moaned Cora. "What shall I do?"
For a long time Laurel lay there so still that Cora feared she might really die. Then at last, she managed to sit up and grasp Cora's hand.
"I have never been ill in my life," she said. "It was all from that shock the day he compelled me to go in the race."
"Then you have every chance of getting perfectly well again," Cora assured her. "If that dreadful man had only left my boat."
"Perhaps in the morning we may be able to go," Laurel said. "Now that I have made up my mind I feel it will be better for father as well as for me, for if anything happened to me I fear he would die."
A light in the distance for a time gave them hope that a boat might be coming to the island, but, like a number of others, it turned toward the pleasure end of the lake.