“Not a sign of it now. What wretched luck!”
Though the girls knew the general locality where the package had been buried, all of the dunes looked discouragingly alike. Not a footprint remained to guide them.
“I’ll bet a cent Mrs. Deline came back here and removed that stick!” Penny declared. “Maybe she dug up the package too!”
“Anyone could have taken the stick. Why do you think she did it?”
“Because she watched us digging for the package. Well, let’s look for it anyhow.”
With none too much enthusiasm, the girls set to work. The tide was much lower than upon their last visit and the shoreline did not look the same. Nor could they agree within forty feet of the right place to dig.
“You try one dune, and I’ll work on another,” Penny offered as a compromise.
An hour of unavailing work found the pair too discouraged to keep on digging.
“If this is the right place, Mrs. Deline or someone has removed the package,” Penny declared, sinking back on her heels.
“We may as well give up,” Louise added wearily.