“I don’t know about it. Grandfather can tell you all there is to know. He’s always talking spies, and saying what they’ll do when the time comes.... You must come over and see us. Our place is just over there on the shore. You’ll come, won’t you?”
“Yes. Certainly I’ll come.”
“Thanks a lot.” Once more she gripped his hand. “And now—goodnight. I—I’m glad I came.” She was over the side and away.
“Well, I’ll be!” said Johnny as he settled back in his chair. A moment later, faint, and far away, he heard her voice come over the dark water:
“My name is Mildred Kennedy. Be sure to come see us—don’t forget!”
For answer Johnny whistled once, cupping his lips with his hands, to reduce the likelihood of arousing anyone on board. After that he was left to silence and the night—and the mysterious arrow of green light, blinking away on the distant hillside.
Sliding out the field glass, he studied that arrow for two full minutes. He felt sure from its strange blinking and winking that it was being used as a code signal. For the life of him, however, he could not make the lights separate themselves. They always remained a blur.
“Too far away,” he grumbled. He wanted to hoist anchor and let the boat drift closer to shore, but this, he knew, would not do. He was neither skipper nor mate.
Suddenly recalling Doris’ words of the previous night, he realized that he had made the light, the secret of the bright-eyed little Mildred Kennedy! “I won’t tell Doris about that!” he decided. “At least, not yet.”
He was seized with a sudden desire to know who was receiving those blinking signals of the green arrow. Deep in thought, he turned his back to the island and, to his utter astonishment, saw above the motionless sea some distance away, a second blinking green arrow!