Time passed very slowly. Thinking that at least an hour had elapsed, Connie went outside to try to learn what time it was.
However, the Adventurer had drifted so far that she could not see the town clock. “It must be at least eight o’clock,” she declared. “And we never were missed!”
“What could have become of everyone?” speculated Vevi. “Why didn’t the Brownies come down to the wharf? Don’t they care what becomes of us?”
“Surely in all this time, they’d have missed us.”
“Something must have happened,” Vevi said gloomily. “I’m really getting scared, Connie.”
Her face puckered up and she looked as if she were about to cry again.
“Listen!” commanded Connie suddenly.
In the distance, a clock had begun to strike.
Anxiously, the girls counted the strokes.
“Eight o’clock!” exclaimed Vevi. “Or was it nine? I got mixed up.”