A moment later Grant and John each took a canoe and set out from the shore. They came alongside the catboat, which was named the Spruce, and quickly transferred the crew to the canoes, and thence to the shore. One of the boys, Thomas Adams by name, seemed to be the spokesman for the party and he proceeded with Grant’s help to introduce everybody all around.
Much laughter and embarrassment followed but before long all of the boys were quite at their ease. They left the dock and proceeded to the tent and all sat down on the ground in front of it. It seemed that the camp at the end of the lake was very much like the one on the island. It was occupied by four boys of just about the same age as the others and practically of the same size.
“We thought it would be fun,” said Thomas Adams speaking for his three friends as well as himself, “to challenge you fellows to a set of water sports. We heard that there were to be four of you on this island this summer and we saw you the other day just when you were leaving our camp; right after that storm I mean. We were sorry to miss you.”
“We were sorry, too,” said Grant.
“You were away when we came to see you too,” said Thomas.
“Yes,” said George, “we were off trout fishing for a few days.”
“Have any luck?” asked Hugh McNeale one of the other visitors.
“Pretty good,” said George. “We had a lot of fun too.”
“Who caught the biggest fish?”
“Ask Fred here,” grinned George. “He knows all about that.”