“We’ll make Joe lend us his!” the widow said grimly. “And if he tries squirmin’, well, I know how to handle him!”
CHAPTER
19
PENNY’S PLAN
Making elaborate preparations for the trip into the swamp, Mrs. Jones packed a lunch, and donned a huge straw hat and stout boots.
However, she did not change the long, flowing skirt, which flopped about her ankles as she and Penny walked through the meadow to Trapper Joe’s dock.
From the porch, the old guide saw the pair and watched them warily.
“We’re takin’ yer boat, Joe,” the widow called to him from the creek’s edge. “We’re makin’ a little trip into the swamp.”
Joe pulled himself from the chair and came quickly to the dock.
“Hold on now!” he protested. “Two wimmin can’t go alone into the swamp! Leastwise, not beyond Lookout Point.”
“Says who?” retorted the widow, already untying the boat.
“That young ’un’s talked you into goin’ to Black Island! Ye can’t do it. You’ll git lost in one o’ the false channels. The hyacinths are bad this year.”