"What are we going to do?" cried Nan. "We never can go back to the Hall looking like this."
"I guess we'll have to," said Jo practically. "We can't stay here all night. That's a sure thing."
"What we need is a fire," Sadie said, as they started to skirt the swamp and find their way to the picnic grounds. "If we could dry our clothes we might be able to scrape some of this awful mud off them."
"Speaking of fires!" cried Jo dramatically. "Look at this!"
The girls hurried up to her and found that "this" was the ashes of a recent campfire.
"Well, what of it?" said Sadie wonderingly. "It isn't so odd for people to build a campfire in the woods, is it?"
"No, but this campfire was built just recently—and put out only a short time ago," returned Jo, thoughtfully stirring some of the still smoldering embers with her foot. "And now I wonder," she added, looking oddly at her companions, "why these campers, whoever they were, didn't come to our aid when we called for help. They must have heard us!"
"Miss Keeneye on the job again," Nan began banteringly, but Sadie interrupted with a sudden exclamation.
"Look there!" she cried excitedly. "That motor boat—just putting off from shore!"
The launch came out from behind a jutting portion of the island almost directly beneath the spot where the girls were standing.