“Sit down, and keep still! We’ll get you all right!” bawled Frank, as he saw one of the girls make an effort to use the remaining oar.
So they came alongside. Frank breathed a prayer of thanksgiving when his hand caught the gunwale of the skiff.
“I’ve got the boat to hold two of you. Nellie, can you climb over, if I hold on tight?” he asked his sister; “and you, too, Violet, will you dare?”
Nellie made the change easily enough, and then came Will’s sister. Meanwhile, the other boys had decided to convoy the rowboat in with its remaining passengers, rather than attempt the risky task of transferring them out there on the rough lake.
They made fast, one on either side, and began to paddle with the waves. In this way the entire number finally found themselves safely ashore.
“We hardly expected you’d try it in this wind,” said Frank, as he helped Violet up the beach to the deserted camp.
“But the wind came up after we started, and we couldn’t go back to save our lives, you see,” she explained, laughing a little hysterically.
“But what does this mean? Where is your camp, boys? It looks as though everything is done up just as you left home,” said Mame Crosby, as she eyed the many packages which the others were now busily gathering together.
At that they all looked at each other and burst into roars of laughter.
“It’s a long story, girls, and we’ll spin it while we sit around the fire having dinner. As it’s now long past noon, and there’s a heap to do getting the camp fixed again, you must excuse us. Bluff, start the fire going, and the girls can help us out by taking charge of dinner while we build our camp,” said Frank.