Part 19 (1/2)
”Yes, brother mine!” she laughed tantalizingly.
”Well, it's about time,” he growled.
”Why, how long have you been back?” she asked. ”I hear that it was quite a long and--tiresome--show. I'm sorry we had to disappoint you, but really we had no other way of telling you where we were going. It was a lovely dance!”
”Yes,” said Jack, coldly.
”And we hope you had time to embroider another sign for our car,” added Bess. Really, she said later, she could not help it.
”Um!” grunted Jack. ”I sat up for you,” he added to his sister.
”There was no need, Jack. We had Mrs. Fordam. It was a very pretty dance.
I am glad the girls had a chance to go.”
The girls seemed glad too, and really looked quite effective in their party growns, which were carried in the trunks that were strapped on the autos.
”Oh, it was lovely!” sighed Bess.
”And that tall young fellow was such a fine dancer!” echoed Eline.
”Huh!” growled Jack. ”I'm going to bed.”
”I guess we're all tired enough to re-tire--joke!” exclaimed Cora.
”Good-night, Jack. Sorry we couldn't go with you, but we had a--previous engagement!”
The boys did not say much next morning, though the girls were enthusiastic about their affair.
”If we could only have one two or three times a week,” sighed Belle, who was a fine dancer.
”We may, at Sandy Point Cove,” spoke Cora. ”There is a pavilion there--also moving picture shows, to which the boys can take us,” and she glanced at Jack. He said nothing.
Once more they were on their way. The roads were good, and save for the fact that they took a wrong one shortly after lunch, and went a few miles out of their route, nothing of moment happened.
”Ten miles to Sandy Point Cove!” read Jack, as they stopped at a cross-road, to inspect the signboards. ”We'll make it in an hour.”
”And then for a bath in the briny deep!” cried Walter.
”I hope the fis.h.i.+ng is good,” remarked Ed. ”I haven't caught anything in a month.”
”I hope the _Pet_ has arrived,” Cora exclaimed. ”I am just dying for a motor boat ride.”
”Let us hope it has then; we don't want you to expire,” came from Norton.
In less than an hour they had reached the sh.o.r.e road and were spinning down it toward the cove where they were to spend the summer. As they mounted the bluff, around the end of the cove, from which a magnificent view of the ocean could be had, Cora uttered a cry:
”Look, that sailboat has capsized!” she exclaimed. And she pointed to a small sloop that had jibed and gone over in a sudden squall. As the motor girls and boys looked they saw a girlish form clinging to the rounded side of the craft, her bright red bathing suit making her a conspicuous figure against the dark hull.
CHAPTER XIII