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Page 50
Linking their arms within Mollie's her rescuers hurried her along.
Straight to the water's edge they ran, then a cry of consternation went
up from the two girls.
"O Madge! what shall we do? We forgot all about the tide," mourned
Phil. "It has gone out, and now we'll have to drag our heavy boat half
a mile through the sand to the water or else wait until the tide runs
in again before we can get away from the island."
CHAPTER XVII
THE CAPTURE
Madge hurried down to where their rowboat lay. She dragged the anchor
out of the sand and pulled at the skiff with all her might. Phil also
took hold and together the two girls worked like beavers, but without
success. The boat was firmly wedged in the sand.
"Is there any place on the island where we can hide, Mollie?"
questioned Phil as the two girls rested for a moment from their
fruitless effort. "We can not leave here until the tide turns."
"I know a cave," said Mollie hesitatingly. "It is in the woods not
very far from the beach. But I am afraid they will find us there."
"We had better go to it," urged Madge, wiping the perspiration from her
tired face. "At least we can hide in the cave for a while, until we
make up our minds what is best for us to do, We may not be discovered
until the tide turns. Later on I shall slip down here again to see if
things are safe, and then we can make a run for our boat. If we wait
here along the shore, we shall not have the least chance of escaping.
The first person who comes to look for Mollie will surely see us. Come
on. We have no time to lose."
This time Mollie led the way through a tangle of trees and underbrush
to the center of the little island. Here they found the cave which was
only an opening behind an immense old tree that had been uprooted by a
storm. A flat rock protruded over the hollow, and the sand had
gradually drifted away until the cavity was hardly large enough to hold
the three girls. These were cramped quarters, and they were only
partially protected from view by the immense roots of the fallen tree,
but they knew of no other refuge and resolved to make the best of it.
The girls had barely crept into their hiding place when they heard a
noise of some one tramping through the underbrush. A few moments later
a man slouched along a narrow path between the trees. His hat was
pulled down over his face, but Madge and Phil recognized him by his
dress as the man they had seen asleep on the ground earlier in the day.
Mollie made no sound. She was hidden between the two friends, and
never in her life before, so far as she could recall, had she been so
protected by affection. But her increased trembling told her rescuers
that she had recognized the man who passed so near to them, and that
she feared him.
"It's Bill," she faltered when the figure disappeared without having
the slightest suspicion that he was being watched. "He is on his way
to our boat. He will ask for me, and my father will be sure to find
out that I have gone. Then they will come out here to hunt for me."
For a long time after Mollie's disquieting prediction none of the three
prisoners spoke. They hardly dared to breathe. Their bodies ached
from their cramped, uncomfortable positions; they were hungry, and,
worse than anything else, Madge and Phyllis were tormented with thirst.
Since leaving the houseboat early in the morning they had drunk no
water. Phil was thinking remorsefully that all this trouble had come
from her asking Madge to go with her to the island in search of Mollie.
Madge was wondering just what she would do and say if Mollie's father
should find them, while Mollie's delicate face had lost its expression
of apathy and now wore one of lively terror. Even the faint rustle of
leaves as a passing breeze swept through the trees caused her to start.
An hour passed and no one came to look for them. Either Mike had not
learned of his daughter's escape, or else he had not taken the trouble
to come to search for her. He must have believed that she would return
to the boat later on of her own accord, driven by hunger and loneliness.
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