At rainbow lake

Once the Gem was securely tied—­ and Betty now made sure of this—­ the tired and rather chilly girls adjourned to the cabin, and under the lights had the hot chocolate Aunt Kate and Amy had made.

“It’s delicious,” spoke Betty.  “I feel so much better now.”

“We must never let on to the boys that we came near running down a steamer,” said Grace.  “We’d never hear the last of it.”

“But we didn’t nearly run down a steamer—­ she came toward us,” insisted Betty, not willing to have her seamanship brought into question.  “If it had been any other boat, not drawing so much water, she could have steered out of the way.  As it was we, not being under control, had the right of way.”

“It wouldn’t have done any good to have insisted on it,” remarked Grace, drawlingly.

“No, especially as we couldn’t hoist the signal to show that,” went on Betty.  “Uncle Amos told me there are signals for nearly everything that can happen at sea, but of course I never thought of such a thing as that we’d get adrift.  I must be prepared next time.”

“I can’t understand about those knots,” spoke Grace.  “Where is that book?”

“What book?”

“The one showing how to tie different kinds of knots.  I’m going to study up on the subject.”

“Not to-night,” objected Aunt Kate.  “It’s nearly morning as it is.”

“Well, the first thing to-morrow, then,” declared Grace.  “I’m going to make up for my blunder.”

“Oh, don’t be distressed,” consoled Betty.  “Any of us might have made the same mistake.  It was only an accident, Grace dear.”

“Well, I seem fated to have accidents lately.  There was poor little Dodo——­ "

“Not your fault at all!” exclaimed Mollie, promptly.  “I’ll not allow you to blame yourself for her accident.  It was those motorists, if any-one, and I’m not sure they were altogether to blame.  Anyhow, I’m sure Dodo will be cured after the operation.”

“I hope so,” murmured Grace.

The appetizing odor of bacon and eggs came from the little galley, mingled with the aromatic foretaste of coffee.  Aunt Kate was busy inside.  The girls were laughing out in the cabin, or on the lowered after-deck.  It was the next morning—­ which makes all the difference in the world.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have a shower today,” observed Amy, musingly, as she looked up at the sky.  A light fog hung over the river.

“Will you ever forget the awful shower that kept us in the deserted house all night?” asked Betty, as she arranged her hair.  “I mean when we were on our walking trip,” she added, looking for a ribbon that had floated, like a rose petal, under her shelf-dresser.

“Oh, we’ll never get over that!” declared Mollie, who was industriously putting hairpins where they would be more serviceable.  “And we couldn’t imagine, for the longest time, why the house should be left all alone that way.”