“And what did you think about,” asked Martha, “while you were perched up there?”
“First, that I was very stupid to go to sleep. Then I wondered how I’d get back here again; if I’d have to stay until the tide turned. I did not know when that would be, nor how much higher it would rise. I thought about all of you, and imagined just what you were doing. I knew you’d be worried after a while, and try to find me. I remembered telling you in which direction I was going; but the fog which kept growing more dense would prevent you from seeing me, even if you did pass along the road.
“After a while, I became awfully hungry; so I opened my bag to get the bar of chocolate, and discovered my duck! Don’t you remember, my big needlepoint bag was on the table that night at Digby, Janie, and for want of a better place, I stuck my prize in it? I never bothered to take it out, fortunately. An idea came to me, and I fairly hugged the little beast. I emptied the red purse which I keep in that bag, fastened it on the duck’s back with some rubber bands, and on the nest wave set it afloat. The last I saw of it, it was headed straight for the shore. It made such a brilliant, unusual combination that I thought somebody might notice it when it went around on the rocks.”
“But,” objected Martha, “if a stranger instead of Jim had happened to find it, how would that have helped you? A stranger would never connect it with anyone being out on the rocks.”
“But my card was in it, with the message: ‘Am out on The Turtle. Please rescue me.’ Didn’t you find it, Janie?” turning to Jeanette.
“We didn’t even open it, Nannie,” confessed her chum. “We knew at once that it was yours, and Jim said you must be on The Turtle.”
“Jim, the Sleuth,” laughed Nancy; but Miss Ashton saw the light in her eyes as she said it.
“Oh, Nan,” said Jeanette, “he was just wonderful! I’ll never forget it.”
“Nor I,” replied Nancy, quietly.
“Then what?” urged Martha. “Go on, Nan.”