"I mean myself, too," said Pee-wee. "Shhhh."
"He's telling himself to keep still," said Brownie, unable to control his laughter.
"I mean all of us—me too," said Pee-wee. "Shh."
It was during the long and rather difficult process of poling the island to shore that Pee-wee, unable to impose more than comparative quiet upon himself, edified his companions with an account of his recent adventure in Barrel Alley.
And it was his seemingly ominous mention of "cops" and fugitives which Minerva Skybrow and her friends, lingering at the little refreshment tent near the river, overheard. At that moment the desert island was bobbing against the thick rhododendron bushes at the edge of the lawn.
CHAPTER XIX
THE EARTHLY PARADISE
"I don't care who it is or what it is," said Dora Dane Daring; "I'm not afraid of the biggest bandit that ever lived. I'm going to find out what those men are doing lurking about here."
Without another word she strode forward, parted the rhododendron bushes, and confronted the marauders.