A GREAT DISCOVERY
"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 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.
"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
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 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 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, 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 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."
"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."
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!"