Margaret Penrose

“ Listen, girls!"
She raised the screen at a window and leaned out. Jessie, removing the tabs from her ears, likewise gained some understanding of what was going on outside. A shrill voice was shrieking:
"Miss Jessie! Miss Jessie! I got the most wonderful thing to tell you. Oh, Miss Jessie!"
"For pity's sake!" murmured Jessie.
"Isn't that little Hen from Dogtown?" asked Nell Stanley.
"That is exactly who it is," agreed Amy, starting for the door. "Little Hen is one live wire. 'O-Be-Joyful' Henrietta is never lukewarm. There is always something doing with that child." ”

“ The boys were hanging to the side of the guard's boat. He was fishing for something in the water with an oar. He finally got the object and raised it aloft.
"What is it?" repeated Jessie.
"The shark!" shrieked her chum.
It actually was all the shark there was—a pair of partly deflated swimming wings which, carried here and there by the wind, had looked like a shark's dorsal fin at a distance.
"Good thing you girls saw it," declared Darry, when the boys lumbered along to the raft. "If you hadn't been so scared you never would have beat us. Would they, Burd?" ”

“ At one side was the boathouse and landing at the head of Lake Mononset. At the foot of the front lawn was Bonwit Boulevard, across which stood the house where Amy Drew lived with her father, Wilbur Drew, also a New York lawyer, and her mother and her brother Darrington.
But it was that which stood directly before the gateway of the Norwood place which attracted the gaze of the three girls. A little old basket phaeton, drawn by a fat and sleepy looking brown-and-white pony, and driven by a grinning boy in overalls and with bare feet, made an object quite odd enough to stare at. ”

“ Darry, that don't look good to me and that's a fact," the sailing master said.
"Why not? The pump is clearing her fast."
"Is it?" grumbled Pandrick, shaking his head.
"Of course it is!" exclaimed Darry, with some exasperation. "Don't be an Old Man of the Sea."
"That's exactly what I am, Mr. Darry," said the skipper. "I'm so old a hand at sea that I'm always looking for trouble. I confess it. And I see trouble—and work for all hands—right here."
"What do you mean?" asked Jessie, who chanced to be by. "The pump works all right just as Darry says, doesn't it?" ”

“ While they chattered and laughed the three girls were as busy as bees with the new radio arrangement. Amy said that Jessie kept them so hard at work that it did not seem at all as though they were "vacationing." It was good, healthy work for all.
"It does seem awfully quiet here without Hen," went on Amy, hammering on a board with a heavy hammer and making the big room where the radio set was, ring. "She keeps the place almost as tomb-like as a boiler shop—what?"
"You can make a little noise yourself," Jessie told her. "What's all the hammering for?" ”

“ I see the Reverend, as Nell calls him, out there with his coat off, in his shirt-sleeves, taking a turn with Burd at the pumps. They have rigged it for man power and are saving steam for the engines."
"Let me see!" cried Jessie, peering out of the clouded window too. "You'd never think he was a minister. Isn't he nice?"
Amy began to laugh. "Are all ministers supposed to be such terrible people?"
"No-o," admitted Jessie, going back to the radio set. "But good as they usually are, we have the very best minister at the Roselawn Church, of any." ”

“ And her mad gestures and actions utterly amazed Jessie.
"Have you got Saint Vitus's dance, Amy Drew?" Jessie demanded.
The red, low-hung car wabbled several times back and forth across the oiled driveway. They saw a hatless young fellow in front behind the wheel. In the narrow tonneau were two girls, and if they were not exactly frightened they did not look happy.
Nell Stanley cried: "It's Bill Brewster's racing car; and he's got Belle and Sally with him."
"Belle and Sally!" shrieked Amy. ”

“ Have you all been good boys and girls to-day? Don't all say 'Yes' at once. Better stop and think about it before you speak.
"Before the bedtime story," went on the voice out of the horn, "the Radio Man must tell some of you that you must take care, or you will get on the black list. Here is a little girl, for instance, who may be rich when she grows up. But she must have a care. People who grow up rich and own islands must be very nice."
"Oh! Oh! That's me!" gasped Henrietta. ”

“ GOSSIP OUT OF THE ETHER
Jessie's cry startled everybody on deck and Darry and Burd came running from the stern.
"Where is she? Do you see her? Throw out a buoy!" exclaimed the young owner of the yacht. "Hey, Skipper Pandrick! Lower the boat."
"Man overboard!" shouted Burd Alling.
"Get out!" exclaimed Darry. "It's not a man at all. It's little Hen. Is that right, Jessie? Did you see her fall?"
"No-o," replied Jessie. "But she's not here. Where else could she have gone?"
Burd stared up and all about. Amy said promptly:
"You needn't look into the air, Burd. Hen certainly didn't fly away." ”

“ The sands were smooth, the surf rolled in while ruffles, and the cool green and blue of the sea was most attractive. One of the safest bathing beaches bordering Station Island was directly in front of the bungalow colony.
At four o'clock they were all in their bathing suits and joined the company already in the surf or along the sands. In any summer colony acquaintanceships are formed rapidly. Jessie and Amy had already seen some girls of about their own age whom they liked the looks of, and they were glad to see them again at the bathing hour. ”

“ Norwood and Mrs. Drew had not heard the first outcry regarding Henrietta. Mr. Norwood and Mr. Drew were busy with their fishing-lines. Neither of the four adult passengers had seen the child.
"I'll be hanged, but that is the greatest kid I ever saw!" exclaimed Darry Drew with vigor. "She's always in some mischief or other."
"I am so afraid she is in trouble," confessed Jessie. "You know, we are responsible to her cousin Bertha Blair for her safety."
"If the kid wants to dive overboard, are we to be held responsible?" demanded Burd, somewhat crossly.
"You hard-hearted boy!" exclaimed Amy. ”

“ You know, people have water on the brain and water on the knee; but seems to me a spring in your hand must be lots worse."
"You never will be serious," said Nell, half laughing. "If the blister was on your hand——"
"Don't say a word! I think I shall have one before we reach the landing," declared Amy. "And, girls, what do you suppose that grouchy old fisherman will say when he sees we lost his rudder?"
"He won't see that," replied Jessie.
"What! Why, listen to her!" gasped Amy. "Is she going to try to get away before he misses the rudder?" ”

“ The lifeguard shot by in his boat, yelling like mad. Darry shouted:
"Get aboard the raft, girls! Burd and I will beat him off till you are landed!"
"You come right on here, Darrington Drew!" sputtered his sister. "What good will you ever be if you get your leg bit off?"
Jessie reached the raft and seized a loop of rope hanging from it. If it had not been for this assistance she doubted if she could have hauled herself out of the water. When Amy arrived, her chum was lying over the edge of the refuge, and reached one arm out for her.
"Quick! Quick!" cried Jessie. ”

“ Jessie agreed. "But now that the excitement is over——"
"We should look for more excitement," said Amy promptly. "Excitement is the breath of Life. Peace is stagnation. The world moves, and all that. If we get into a rut we are soon ready for the Old Lady's Home over beyond Chester."
"I'm sure," returned Jessie, a little hotly, "we are always doing something, Amy. We do not stagnate."
"Sure!" scoffed her chum, in continued vigor of speech. "We go swizzing along like a snail! 'Fast' is the name for us—tied fast to a post. ”

“ Norwood and mamma to do the cooking."
"Oh, that's only for this voyage. When we have only fellows aboard we all take turns cooking and get along all right."
"Does Burd cook?" demanded Amy, in mock horror.
"Well, he is pretty bad," admitted Darry, with a grin. "But we let him cook only on days when the sea is rough."
"And why?" demanded his sister, with wide-open eyes.
"We never feel much like eating on rough days," explained Darry. "You see, the Marigold kicks up quite a shindy when the sea is choppy."
"Let us hope it will be calm all the way to Station Island," Jessie cried. ”

“ Let's beat it for the raft again. That's one place those two girls can't follow us without bathing suits."
"He, he!" giggled his sister. "I hope they sit right down here and wait for you to come ashore."
"Send out our supper by the lifeguard," called Burd, as he followed his chum into the surf. "We fear sharks less than we do a certain brand of featherless biped."
"I suppose it would be too pointed for us to run away," said Amy to Jessie, as Bill Brewster drove the pony carriage out on to the beach.
"Belle has got her eye on us, that is a fact," agreed Jessie. ”

“ Henrietta Haney was a child in whom the two Roselawn girls had become much interested while she had lived in the Dogtown district of New Melford with Mrs. Foley and her family. Montmorency Shannon was a red-haired urchin from the same poor quarters, and he and Henrietta were the best of friends.
"Oh, Miss Jessie! Miss Jessie! What d'you think? I'm rich!"
"She certainly is rich," choked Amy, following her chum with Nell Stanley. "She's a scream." ”

“ Jessie said, somewhat exasperated. "It might have been a shark. Then where would you have been?"
"Either here or inside the shark," said Darry. "One thing sure, he never could have caught you girls."
"Well," Amy sighed, "we had all the excitement of racing with a shark, even if the shark was only in our minds. I'll never be so scared by one again."
"Goodness!" exclaimed Jessie. "I know I shall always be nervous in the water here after this. I'll always be looking for one. What an awful feeling it is to try to swim when one is being pursued by——"
"By a pair of swimming wings," chuckled Burd. ”

“ If you follow directions carefully. And with the new outfit a loop is just as effective an antenna as an outside aerial. They say, too, that to catch broadcasting for not more than twenty-five miles, not even a loop is needed, the circuits themselves acting as the absorbers of energy."
"I'm going to try it," declared Jessie, with more confidence. "But I feel that I understand so little about the various forms of radio, after all."
"You have nothing on me there," laughed the operator. "I am learning something new all the time. ”

“ Skipper wants us to work the pump by hand. That means Darry and me to 'man the pumps.'"
"And we can help," said Jessie, cheerfully. "If the skipper thinks he needs to make more steam for the engines, why can't we all take turns at the pump?"
"Sounds like a real shipwreck story," her chum observed, but doubtfully.
"It will cause a mutiny," declared Burd. "I didn't ship on the Marigold to work like Old Bowser on the treadmill. And that is about how I feel."
"You can get out and walk if you don't like it," Darry reminded him. ”

“ The little girl sitting so [Pg 7] very straight in the phaeton, and holding a green parasol over her head, was bound to attract the amused attention of any on-looker.
"Oh, look at little Hen!" gasped Amy, who was ahead.
"And Montmorency Shannon," agreed Jessie. "Don't laugh, girls! You'll hurt their feelings."
"Then I'll have to shut my eyes," declared Amy. "That parasol! And those freckles! They look green under it. Dear me, Nell, did you ever see such funny children in your life as those Dogtown kids?" ”

“ Although the shark scare had proved to be groundless, the quartette decided to say nothing about it to those ashore.
"Especially to Momsy," Jessie Norwood said. "I don't want to make her nervous. Little things annoy her."
"She'll be some annoyed by little Hen, then," chuckled Amy. "Hen is worse than any shark you ever saw."
[Pg 102]
"How terrible!" cried Jessie. "She is not a bad child at all, but she is wild enough."
When they swam ashore later they found Henrietta on her good behavior with Momsy. Nobody on the sands had chanced to see the excitement out by the raft. ”

“ Amy said composedly, "if worse comes to worst, we can send the news by radio that the yacht is sinking and bring to our rescue somebody—somebody——"
"Yes, we can!" exclaimed Burd Alling. "A revenue cutter, I suppose? Don't you suppose the United States Government has anything better to do than to look out for people who don't know enough to look out for themselves?"
"That seems to be the Government's mission a good deal of the time," replied Dr. Stanley, with a smile. "But you don't think it will be necessary to call for help, do you, Darrington?" he asked the sober-looking owner of the yacht. ”

“ The red-haired boy could not be long of serious mind.
"Never you mind, Brewster," he said to the unfortunate driver of the red car, who was notorious for getting into trouble. "Never mind; we ain't killed. And your father can pay Cabbage-head Tony all right. It won't break him."
"You impudent thing!" exclaimed Belle Ringold, who was a very proud and unpleasant girl. "You are always making trouble for people, Montmorency Shannon. It was you who would not finish stringing our radio antenna at the Carter place and so helped spoil our picnic." ”

“ Jessie said. "And Bertha telephoned me yesterday that she hoped to sing to-night."
"Lucky girl!" said Amy, sighing. "It's nice to have an uncle who bosses a broadcasting station. But, never mind, Jess, we had fun the time we were on the program. Say! the boys will be home to-morrow."
"No! Do you mean it?"
"Papa got a wireless. The Marigold now has a real radio telegraph sending and receiving set. Darry says it is great. But, of course, you and I can't get anything from them because we do not know Morse." ”

“ Jessie observed, sighing.
"Oh, let her go," Amy declared. "Why worry? You can't watch her every minute we are here. She can't very well fall overboard from this island."
"I don't know. She manages to do the most unexpected things," said Jessie.
But there was so much to do in helping settle things and make the sparsely furnished bungalow comfortable that Jessie did not think for a while about Henrietta. Besides, she was desirous of setting up the radio instruments at once and stringing the antenna.
Darry and Burd helped the girls do this last. ”