"They've got her boat," he blurted out.
"Where?" asked the girls in chorus.
"Just in the cove. But nothin' could hev hurt her there. She ain't drownded in that cove."
"But how could her boat get there?" demanded Hazel.
"No way but to be run in there," answered Ben. "I tell you, girls, this is some trick. 'Taint her fault of course, but she's all right somewhere."
The thought of the man Jones flashed through Hazel's mind. And he had threatened Cora. She had interfered in taking away Kate, the house keeper, she had found out about the man and girl on Fern Island, and she had saved little Mabel Blake! Now all that—
"Trick!" repeated Bess. "That could not be called a trick."
"For want of a better word," said Ben, with apology in his voice. "But when the boys found the boat they started off in her and left word you were not to follow."
"But we must," insisted Hazel. "We might find her and they might not. But how can we go?"
"I could get you another boat if you're set on it," offered Ben, "but I wouldn't like to displease the young men."