The Merriams rowed about a mile along the river, in the direction away from the village, without finding anything more interesting than a muskrat, who disappeared when Puppums barked at him. But just a while after this thrilling incident they rounded a bend, and there in a red canoe, placidly catching fish, sat Tom!
His back and that of the boy with him were turned to them, but there was no mistaking him, nor Billy Lee. Neither of them saw the rowboat till it was quite close, and Florence and Puppums howled together in greeting.
“Hello, kid! H’lo, Winnie—you’ve frightened the fish!” was his brotherly greeting: while Billy, not being a relation, took off his hat and said politely that he was glad to see them, and how was the camp?
“Oh, never mind the fish!” said Winona, when she had answered Billy with equal politeness. “You can fish any day, but you haven’t seen your family since last week. How do you come to be up here so soon?”
“Captain Gedney worked it somehow—I don’t know how,” said Tom. “Anyhow, we’re here. Good fishing, too. See?” He held up a string of fair-sized fish in proof.
“Where’s your camp?” asked Florence, while Puppums almost had hysterics and had to be handed into the canoe so that he could love Tom properly. “Can I come see it?”
“Sure you can,” said Tom. “No charge for the view. It’s those tents right over there.”
“You know I don’t mean that,” said Florence, pouting. “I mean I want to get out and go over.”
“Oh, wait a day or so, can’t you, Floss?” implored Tom, who plainly didn’t want to be detached from his fishing. “Wait and come over with the rest of the bunch, and we’ll give you a grand welcome, fifes and drums and things. I tell you, though, girls, why can’t you all come use our swimming pool? We’ve just finished damming off a little branch stream into a dandy pond—paved it and all. Started it last year. But you’d have to give us warning, so we wouldn’t be in it.”
“Why, how lovely!” exclaimed Winona. “I know Mrs. Bryan will let us, and all of us brought our bathing-suits.”