"snakes!" echoed margy frantically. "ow, snakes. i heard one rattle! come on polly! snakes!"
and crying "snakes!" at every step, margy rushed for the boat and climbed over the side and to safety.
polly did feel creepy, she admitted it. but she found margy's behavior funnier than the idea of snakes, and she joined in the shout of laughter the boys and larry could not restrain.
"shucks! i never heard of a snake on this island for the last twenty years," larry drawled. "there's nothing in a name, margy. suppose i had landed you on angel's point, thirty miles south of here, would you be hearing wings rustling in the dark?"
"just the same," replied the frightened margy, "you'd better come in this boat, polly marley. you'll be sorry if a snake bites you."
"better get in to keep the peace, polly," larry[pg 228] advised. "anyway, we can't do a thing till it's light. i could start a fire, but there's no sense in going around in the dark for wood. this light's about played out, too."
the flashlight was flickering feebly, and it was plain the battery was nearly used up. the girls separated the blankets, giving one to the boys who spread it out on the ground, grateful for the room and unmindful of snakes and promptly went to sleep. inside the boat the girls huddled together under the remaining blanket, and the last thing polly remembered was the loud snoring of larry who had gone to sleep almost before his head touched the ground.
something crackling and snapping awoke margy a few hours later. it was light, though the thick fog pressed in closely around them. peering cautiously over the side of the boat, margy saw a cheering sight. a fire was blazing a few feet away and the three boys sat cross-legged before it on the blanket.
"hi, margy!" ward waved his hand to her. "come on—we can eat, if you are awake."
his voice roused jess and polly and they sat up and looked about them. the fire made them forget the dampness, and they were quickly out of the boat and stretching their hands to its welcome heat.
[pg 229]
"we got the wood," announced artie proudly. "we picked up all the chips and twigs and old boards we could find. larry had matches, and though some of the wood was wet, that was only on top. soon as we got it going, it burned fine."
"where's larry now?" asked polly, and ward said he had gone to see if he could find a spring.
he came back presently and reported that though he was sure there was good drinking water on rattlesnake island, he had not been able to find it.
"we have some left in my cask, and before that is gone, i aim to be well on the way home," he declared cheerfully. "and now let's have some breakfast."
they toasted the sandwiches from the boxes, and with the fruit left over made a comfortable if not luxurious breakfast. there were several packages of crackers and a couple of buns not touched, and these larry was careful to wrap in oiled paper and put in the locker of his boat.
"my goodness, i hope we don't have to make our lunch on that," said margy, but she had to admit that it would be better than nothing at all to eat.
"now if i can have an hour or so without being interrupted," said larry significantly, when breakfast was over and he had measured out the[pg 230] drinking water, taking none himself, "i think perhaps i can fix this stubborn thing that's called an engine for want of a better name."
"we won't bother," fred promised. "it's all right to go round and look a bit, isn't it? maybe we can find the spring you spoke of, larry."
"don't go too far, though i don't know as you could lose your way," said larry, getting out his tools and preparing to work at the engine. "as i recollect, it isn't more than four miles around the whole island. i guess i'll be right here when you get back."
they laughed a little at the joke, and, fred and ward in the lead, set out to explore the island. it did feel good to have firm ground under their feet and jess said that never, never, never would she be a sailor!
"the fog is lifting a little," said jess. "look—you can see the water from here."
all looked and saw the ocean beneath the edges of the fog which was like a blanket.
"come on down and walk on the rocks," urged ward. "maybe we can find conch shells wedged in. i'd like to take some home to mother."
fred observed that he thought if they got themselves home they would be doing well, but they obediently turned and went down to the[pg 231] rocks. the fog was gradually blowing out to sea, but so slowly that it was scarcely perceptible.
"don't stumble!" polly warned. "it wouldn't be any fun to fall on those jagged points. what's the matter, margy?"
"i thought i heard something," said margy. "hark!"
"maybe it is a snake—rattling," artie giggled, a remark which had the effect of making margy hold her skirts higher and look around her with alarm.
"there aren't any snakes, margy—don't listen to him," said jess crossly. "if there were any they— what in the world is that?" she broke off in quick surprise.
"that's what i heard before," margy insisted. "what do you suppose it is? a—a laughing hyena?"
polly was listening intently.
"sounded more like crying, than laughing," protested ward.
"well, when a hyena laughs, it cries," margy told him. "as artie says, i read it in a book. so there!"
"there it is again," said fred. "now hush, and listen."
they stood quiet. a low sobbing note that[pg 232] ended in what might have been a shriek, came to them.
"it's around that bend," polly declared, pointing ahead.
"it sounds like a person, but it may be an animal. perhaps you girls had better stay here," suggested fred.
"we're coming, too," declared jess.
"if it is a wild animal, six of us will frighten him away. and if it is a person—well, anyway, we're coming," announced polly.
margy nodded bravely, though her teeth were chattering and she felt a wild desire to hold on to her brother's coat sleeve. they stepped silently from rock to rock, and in a few minutes were around the curve where, presumably, the creature they had heard was hiding.
"why!" polly voiced their astonishment. "why, it's a girl!"
a forlorn little figure was crouched down beside a huge rock a few feet from the advancing sextet. she was clothed in tatters. her face was hidden in her hands, and she was sobbing and moaning.
"we won't hurt you—don't be afraid," called polly softly. "what is the matter? do you live on rattlesnake island?"
the girl leaped to her feet and faced them,[pg 233] fear in every line of her tense body. as her hands fell away from her face, the riddle club members experienced a shock they would remember as long as they lived.
"ella mooney!" they shouted wildly. "why, ella mooney!"
there was no mistaking her—the dark eyes and yellow bobbed hair were the same, though no one had ever seen ella mooney in a dress like this, or with her face scratched from briars and streaked with dirt and tears.
polly ran to her and threw her arms about the little girl.
"oh, ella, darling, what has happened to you?" she cried. "your father was sure you'd been kidnaped. he came to our house to ask if we had seen you. are you hungry? how did you ever get here?"
ella clung to polly as though she never meant to let her go. in her loneliness and fright she had dreamed of friends coming to rescue her, and these dreams had vanished with her waking. she was half afraid that polly, too, would fade away and leave her alone again.
"it's really you!" she kept saying over and over. "it's really you!"
the others crowded around her, and ella laughed and cried and answered questions in a[pg 234] confused way. she had gone rowing, she explained, and had lost her oars and then drifted.
"daddy was busy and i wanted some fun," she said, holding fast to polly's hand even as she talked. "i got cook's picnic basket while she was upstairs after lunch, and i packed some things to eat in it. i was going to have a beach party like the one you had. but when i lost the oars i couldn't do anything with the boat, and though i screamed and took off my blouse and waved it, i couldn't make any one hear me or see me."
"how long have you been on rattlesnake island?" asked fred.
"oh, ever so long," ella answered confidently. "i was out on the ocean till it was dark, and then just as it was getting light, i felt the boat bump and i jumped out and pulled it ashore. i thought some one might live here, so i started out and walked all around it, but there wasn't a single house!"
"and you were here all alone last night!" commented margy, pityingly.
"yes, and it was awfully dark and there were mosquitoes," ella confided. "i ate up all the lunch, too. and i'm afraid of bugs and snakes and wild animals, so i walked as much as i could till i fell over a tree, and then i was afraid to walk any more."
[pg 235]
"aren't you starved?" demanded polly. "and thirsty?"
"there's a nice spring a little way back there," ella said, pointing over her shoulder. "i had all the water i wanted. i found it yesterday. but i am so hungry. i could almost eat you."
"come on. we've got some things to eat," said ward eagerly. "i'm sorry we ate as much as we did. but we didn't know we were going to find you."
"did you come after me?" ella asked. "did daddy come, too?"
then they had to explain how they happened to be on rattlesnake island. all the time they were retracing their steps toward the motor boat and larry.
"and it's lucky we were blown out of the way of blackberry island," finished fred seriously. "you might have had to stay here for weeks."
"we may have to, anyway," margy reminded him. "if larry doesn't get the boat fixed, we'll have to spend the winter here."
fred noticed that ella was limping a little and taxed her with it.
"i blistered my heel," she admitted reluctantly, "walking so much. i kept hoping i'd find somebody, and i walked and walked. i guess i've been around the island a dozen times."
[pg 236]
polly and fred were the tallest, so they made a chair with their hands and insisted that ella must not walk another step. carrying her, they fell behind the others, and when they came out on the beach where larry was tinkering with his balky engine, he saw jess and margy and ward and artie first.
"all aboard!" he yelled cheerfully. "i've got her going—and you'll never guess what i found was the trouble."
"look what we found!" fred shouted, as he and polly broke into a gentle trot. "where are the crackers, larry? ella mooney is starved to death."
"great glory!" gasped the dazed larry, dropping his monkey wrench and staring. "where under the canopy did you find ella? wasn't she kidnaped?"
"will the boat go?" artie cried, capering about in a delirium of excitement. "will it go, larry? won't the folks be surprised when they see us come back!"
