Treading their way carefully, the girls returned to the far end of the boardwalk. To their surprise, they saw a boat approaching.
“Why, it looks like Joe in the skiff!” Penny commented. “But he isn’t due back for a long while yet.”
Watching the oncoming boat for a moment, Louise said: “It’s Joe all right, and he’s coming fast. Something must be wrong.”
Soon the guide brought the skiff alongside the sagging boardwalk.
“I heard a shot and started back,” he explained. “I sure am glad to see both o’ ye safe.”
Before Penny could do so, Louise told Joe what had befallen her chum.
“Ye could have been kilt by that old boar,” he said soberly. “It was the package o’ meat that drew them rooters to the tree. They hain’t likely to attack a human lest they’re half starved.”
“I wish I knew who saved me,” Penny said. “Could it have been one of the Hawkins’ boys?”
“From the sound, I’d say that shot weren’t fired from their rifles. More’n likely it came from my own gun!”
“The stolen one?”