"Where have you been?" asked the ever-wise Hazel.
"Why, just getting Laurel," replied Cora as Belle loosed her hold on Cora's neck. "Belle dear, be careful," she begged, "my neck is awfully sunburned."
"We were scared to death," declared Bess, fanning herself with her handkerchief. "We thought you had been kidnapped."
"No, it was the boat that was kidnapped," replied Cora, "A boat is more useful than—"
"Now, Cora," interrupted Ed, "just be careful. Didn't we go after you? And didn't we carry you off?"
Laurel had taken Jack's advice and was resting on an old beam that lay alongside the dock. She was very pale, as one could see even in the uncertain light. Yet her sudden restoration to something like strength might be accounted for by the fact that she had eaten some food in the hut, the previous fast having weakened her greatly. Or was it the letter Jack gave her?
"It's wonderful to be back again," remarked Cora. "You have no idea how far away Fern Island is at night."
"Oh, dreadful!" exclaimed Belle. "I would have died."
"Poor place for dying," put in Ed. "'Twould be like the babes in the wood, and the birdies and the leaves and all that sort of thing. Even to die, Belle, one may do it up in style."
"I don't think you should make a joke of death," objected Belle, pouting.