Their cheery good-byes rang pleasantly in my ears as I strolled down to the shore. Bence had already taken the lunch. He met me near the edge of the hummocks: a tall young fellow, with a quiet manner, and a dark, good-looking face.
“Everything is stacked at the end of the jetty, miss,” he said. “I see Mr. Harry comin’ across in the launch: he’ll be there in a few minutes. It’s a great day for a picnic.”
“Thank you, Bence: yes, it is a perfect day,” I answered. And, indeed, it was perfection; not too hot, yet hot enough to make bathing glorious; a blue sea, flecked here and there with a little white cap, and air so clear that the islands were golden against the blue. Seagulls and terns strutted on the wet sand by the water: overhead, gannets wheeled and hovered, now and then plunging downwards, throwing high the spray as they disappeared in quest of darting fish. Across the bay the launch came shooting swiftly: Harry McNab perched forward, with a rope ready, while, as they drew nearer, I could see the flushed faces of Judy and Jack, and shrill, triumphant cries greeted me:
“We ran her all by ourselves, Miss Earle! Harry didn’t do a thing! Jack ran the engine, and I steered——”
“And you’d better stop talking, or you’ll scrape half her paint off on the side of the jetty,” quoth Harry; to which Judy’s only answer was a derisive snort. She brought the launch deftly alongside, and I caught the rope round a bollard. Harry sprang out, and in a few moments the baskets were stowed away, and we shoved off.
“The kids really managed fairly well,” said Harry, in the half-contemptuous tone of an elder brother. “They were mad keen to come over for you alone, but I didn’t see much point in that.”
“Pif—we didn’t need you!” said Judy loftily. “Bence has been teaching us for ever so long; I bet we know as much about the engine as you do, Mr. Harry, so there!”
“Bence says I’d make a jolly good mechanic,” stated Jack, looking up from the engine with a happy face, to which a large streak of oil lent pleasing variety.
“When you grow up I expect you might,” Harry jibed. “Anyhow, it’s not very difficult. Ever run a launch, Miss Earle?”
I nodded.