Madge Morton's Secret Part 11

Far out on the water Madge saw two great, curling columns of smoke.

"Look, Lillian!" she cried hopelessly, "there goes an ocean liner. We must be far from sh.o.r.e. How can we signal her?"

Five tired voices took up a shrill call. Two white sheets fluttered dismally. But the great steamer, on her way to Baltimore, neither heard the sound nor saw the white signals of distress. It was ten times more dismal when the friendly smoke had dissolved in the heavy atmosphere!

Another two hours went by. Madge wondered if it could have been only last night when Flora Harris had so cruelly insulted her. Yet how little Madge had thought of her trouble to-day! How far away it seemed, like a sorrow that had come to her years before.

Just before sunset the fog lifted as though by magic. Madge and Phyllis were together on the cabin deck when a deep rose flush appeared in the western sky. Instead of a line of sea and sky, some distance ahead of the houseboat, just under the horizon, a faint, dark streak showed itself.

"Madge, what is that over there?" Phil asked sharply, pointing ahead.

Madge shook her head. "I am not sure," she answered.

Another fifteen minutes pa.s.sed. The "Merry Maid" kept a straight course.

Phil clutched Madge by the sleeve. "If I am not mistaken, there is land over there. Our houseboat is being carried straight toward it."

The girls called down their discovery to Miss Jenny Ann, but the watchers below had also been conscious of a change in the horizon.

Miss Jenny Ann feared that she had seen a mirage, she had gazed so long at the water.

"I know it is land, Miss Jenny Ann," Phyllis insisted, with the a.s.surance that made her such a comfort to her friends in times of difficulty.

But would the houseboat ever drift near enough to sh.o.r.e to allow them to be seen from the land? Very slowly the "Merry Maid" now glided on.

She was in quieter water. There was little wind, but a surer force drew her toward the land. The tide was running in. After a time the houseboat party realized this. There was nothing to do but to wait and see how far in their boat would drift. After a time they could see the outline of a sandy sh.o.r.e, with thick woods behind it. But there was no house, no human being in sight.

At twilight the "Merry Maid" was not more than a mile from land, and still creeping toward it.

Madge's fighting blood returned to her. The troubles of the past had vanished. What, after all, was the idle insult of a cruel girl? She must now do what she could to save her friends and herself. Madge felt she had not been as courageous as the others during the day's trial.

She had thought too much of her own grievances.

"Miss Jenny Ann," she announced determinedly, "I can't bear this slowness and uncertainty any longer. It looks as though the 'Merry Maid' were going near enough to the sh.o.r.e for us to be able to attract some one's attention in a little while; but if night comes before we reach the sh.o.r.e, it will be much more difficult. The beach does not look as though there were many people about."

"What would you have us do?" asked the chaperon.

"There is our very long clothes line on board," suggested Madge. The girls gazed at her in astonishment. What had their clothes line to do with the situation? "I want you to knot it around my waist," she continued, "and let me swim in to the sh.o.r.e."

Miss Jones shook her head. The other girls protested. "You are tired, Madge, and the water is too cold. It wouldn't be safe."

"But, Miss Jenny Ann--girls," pleaded Madge, "has it ever struck you that we do not know the time of the tide? At any moment it may turn and we shall be carried out on the ocean beyond to spend another dreadful night."

At first the little party were silent. Madge was right, yet they could not bear to think of her risking her life for them.

Her persuasions finally won the day. The houseboat was now only a little more than a quarter of a mile from the beach. But they had not been observed. There were no boats in sight.

Phil insisted on swimming in with Madge. She was not quite as much at home in the water, but she was a strong, steady swimmer, and it seemed safer for the two girls to make the effort together.

The clothes line was knotted about Madge's waist. It was then tied to the cleat, from which a short end of rope dangled that had been cut the night before.

After the first plunge into the cold water the swim ash.o.r.e was delicious. When the two girls finally got into the shallow water they tugged at the rope, Madge keeping it around her waist, so as to pull with greater force. They worked very carefully. Their rope was slender, but fairly strong. This helped them to draw their boat in closer, and they managed to get the "Merry Maid" half aground on a shelf of sand.

It was now possible to wade from the boat to the land, with the water coming up no higher than the waist.

Miss Jenny Ann climbed off the boat and made her way to the sh.o.r.e, followed by Lillian and Eleanor.

At last the five women, wet but thankful, stood safe on land.

Blankly they surveyed each other and the empty beach. Then they gazed at their pretty toy boat, that had borne so staunchly the vicissitudes of its dangerous voyage. It was almost night. The shipwrecked mariners were very tired and the beach was curiously lonely. But the strain was over.

Madge began to laugh first. Her laugh was always infectious. The others followed suit.

"Here we are, the latest thing in 'Swiss Family Robinson'," she announced cheerfully. "Now, let us proceed to stir up some people and ask them to give us some dry clothes and a night's lodging. Come on.

Let us explore our island."

CHAPTER XII

A DESERTED ISLAND

The houseboat party did not penetrate very far up the sh.o.r.e. All were too utterly worn out. They walked for a mile or more, and, when they found no sign of life, came back to their landing place.

"There is nothing for us, children, but to sleep here on the beach to-night, or go back to our houseboat," declared Miss Jenny Ann. "We are perfectly safe, as there are no other human beings anywhere about."

"No more houseboat for me," rejoined Eleanor firmly. "Think of the size of the rope that held our anchor and now the boat is secured by a clothes line! I'll walk up and down on the beach all night, but I'll not set foot on the 'Merry Maid'."

"But, Eleanor," protested Lillian, "we are so wet and cold. And it's so dark and lonely."

"I know," agreed Miss Jenny Ann, "yet I feel a good deal as Nellie does."

"We'll freeze to death, or have pneumonia, then," put in Lillian plaintively.

Phil and Madge were talking together in low tones. Madge nodded her head wisely.

"It's worth trying," declared Phil stoutly.

Turning to the chaperon, she said: "Miss Jenny Ann, Madge and I are going back to the boat. We will get our steamer blankets and some matches. If you and the girls will find some wood we will make a fire on the beach. We can dry ourselves, and our fire may be observed in this forsaken place."

"You'll get the blankets wet bringing them here, Madge," remonstrated Lillian. "If only we had not left the 'Water Witch' up at Tom's camp, what a help it would be now!"

"Don't worry," laughed Madge, "just wait and see what Phil and I are going to do."

A light soon shone on the houseboat. Strange sounds of hammering were heard. Miss Jenny Ann, Lillian and Eleanor would have grown impatient if it had not been such slow work to find wood in the forest at night.

But they came back to the beach with their arms full several times before a halloo from the houseboat indicated the return of the excursionists.

A heavy something fell plunk! over the side of the houseboat. Two figures scrambled after it. In a minute or two it was possible to see Madge and Phyllis pushing a large barrel in to sh.o.r.e. The barrel had originally been filled with potatoes, which the girls had dumped on the kitchen floor of the houseboat.

The barrel held several steamer blankets, dry shoes and stockings all around, matches, and a few pieces of kindling wood. Madge and Phil made several trips before they concluded their work for the night. Besides covering, they brought to the sh.o.r.e their cherished coffee pot and provisions for breakfast in the morning.