"Isn't that too bad," wailed Bess, "and none of us picked any maiden
hair because we thought you had it. Let us go and get some."
"Oh, I think we had best not this time," said Cora quickly. "I
really want to get to the post office landing before the mail goes
out. We can come another time when I have something to kill spiders
with. I never saw such huge black fellows as there are around
here." This was no shading of the truth, for indeed the spiders
around Cedar Lake did grow like 'turtles', Jack had declared.
"Oh, all right," agreed Belle. "But this is the most delightful
island and I am coming out here again. I hope the boys will come
along, for there are such great bushes of huckleberries over there
that we simply couldn't climb to them alone."'
"We will invite them next time," said Cora, and when she turned over
the fly wheel of her boat her hands that had held the ferns were
still trembling. She looked uneasily at the shore as they darted
off.
"What's the matter, Cora?" asked Hazel. "You look as if you had
seen the ghost of Fern Island."
"I have," said Cora, but the girls thought she had only agreed with
Hazel to avoid disagreeing.
"What boat is that?" asked Bess a moment later, looking at a small
rowing craft just leaving the other side of the island.
"It's Jim Peters'" replied Cora, "we were lucky to get back into
ours before he saw it.
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