“Two heads are better than one,” he said simply, as Nancy stepped into the launch.
“Don’t worry,” Dell remarked. “Gar and I know those islands, although we haven’t had a chance to do any exploring lately.”
“But why should Orilla do that?” questioned Nancy. “She knew perfectly2 well that Rosa had been exhausted3 in the water and was unfit for anything but rest.”
190 “You can never ask why, where that creature is concerned,” answered Dell. “She’s the unaccountable. Doesn’t do any real harm but—”
“How awful close she does come to it,” put in Gar, who was tending the smoothly4 running little engine, as Nancy sat near by and watched.
“This lake turns up real waves, doesn’t it?” she remarked when a sheet of spray swept their deck.
“You bet,” answered Gar, blinking to clear his eyes of the mist.
“I hope it isn’t going to storm,” Nancy added, apprehensively5.
“Not right away, at any rate,” answered Dell. “And the islands aren’t far away. Better swing left, Gar. Here comes the steamer from the Weirs6.”
The swell7 from the big steamer struck the Whitecap presently, giving its occupants such a merry ride, that only their present upset state of mind prevented them from keenly enjoying it. Even the excursionists, who191 waved frantically8 at them, received scant9 attention in return, for there was no denying their anxiety. They must find Rosa, and they must take her away from Orilla Rigney, no matter what else happened.
Purposely Dell Durand avoided criticizing Rosa to Nancy, but this consideration could not entirely10 prevent Nancy from expressing something of her own confused opinion.
“You never saw anything like it,” she recalled. “No sooner had Rosa gotten into the boat than Orilla seemed to pounce11 upon that engine—”
“Like a beast upon its prey,” finished Gar, as a boy would when such a chance for such an expression was so obviously offered.
“She should not be allowed to come over to our side of the lake at all,” went on Dell. “She has no business there and our docks are private property.”
“But the lake isn’t,” her brother reminded her.
“Try Crow’s Nest first,” suggested Dell.192 “That’s a little place and we can scout12 over it in no time.”
“Think I better—blow?” Gar asked.
“No,” said Nancy. “Can’t tell what Orilla might do if she had time to do it.”
“Right-o!”
With a soft swish through the water the boat glided13 into shore, with the engine turned off.
Silently the three landed. Gar found a stout14 young tree to throw his boat rope around and in accord, without the need of questions, each of them immediately faced the little wilderness15 in a different direction.
“We’ll come together by the big pine—see, right on top of the hill,” Dell suggested, pointing out the big sentinel pine that stood guard over Crow’s Nest.
“Better take a good, strong club,” Gar advised Nancy. “Wait, I see one,” and he made his way through brambles and briars to procure16 the end of a young birch that had evidently been broken in a storm.
Nancy thanked him, and with the staff began to beat her path through the bushes.193 They did not really expect to find the girls actually hidden in the underbrush, but Orilla’s habits were said to be so unusual that the scouts17 were prepared to find her busy at almost any camping detail on the island, if indeed it was this island upon which she had landed.
“Do you know that she carries a hatchet18 in her car?” Nancy asked, when Dell had come near enough for conversation, “I can’t see what she would want with such tools as that.”
“Well, frankly20, Nancy,” Dell replied, “I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she carried a shotgun, for the reputation given her around here is as vague as it is mysterious. Everybody seems to have a different story about Orilla Rigney.”
“Yet she’s—industrious21, and honest, I suppose,” pressed Nancy.
“All of that—too industrious. She not only works herself but wants to make the whole world work with her. Perhaps she’s a case of misdirected energy. You know, Nancy, they say nowadays that that’s as bad as sheer laziness,” explained the older girl.
194 Sounds from treetops or from thickets22 attracted their notice then, and conversation was suddenly discontinued. But no sign of human life rewarded the most careful scrutiny23 of the searchers.
“I don’t see how they could be around here without making some noise,” Dell remarked.
“Take—no—chances!” hissed24 Gar, striking a comical poise25 with his mountain stick held high above his head, and his free arm struck out at right angles. His attempt at humor was rewarded with a wan19 smile from Nancy, but Dell only waved her club threateningly.
“We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, you know, Gar,” said Dell seriously, “and we mustn’t forget there is no guarantee of continued fair weather.”
“I’m going to yell,” the boy suddenly announced. “Better take a chance on Rosa hearing us than leave it all to the big gray fox.”
A series of mountain calls followed. They were varied26, queer, weird27, owlish and even195 funny, for Gar proved to be an expert in the art.
No answer came. Instead, the silence of the woods after its interruption seemed even deeper than before.
Nancy sighed aloud, Dell did not try very hard to hide her own impatience28 and Gar protested openly.
“If we find her this time I think we ought to lock her up,” he said, not entirely in jest.
“I—am ashamed of her,” admitted Nancy. “But she really didn’t do this. She actually blamed Orilla for her tumble in the lake,” she recalled.
“That’s probably why,” declared Gar, “the orang-utan is now getting even.”
“Well, we’ll just try the other side of the oaks,” proposed Dell, “then, we had better try some place else.”
The little island covered only a small strip of land, which was made an island by a blade of the lake water that cut it away from another strip of land. To explore the entire territory took but a short time, and now the196 scouting29 party were scurrying30 down the other side of the summit, looking for the truants31 along the water front at that point.
“Someone has been here lately,” Gar declared, as he kicked over a small stone furnace. “This always was a favorite spot for campers, you know, Dell.”
“Yes.” She surveyed the charred32 stones. “But our campers haven’t been here. That stuff is old.”
“Don’t you think we had better shout again?” suggested Nancy. “I’m afraid Margot will be scared to death, although I did call something to her about going to the Point.”
“Doesn’t it beat the chickens!” murmured Gar. “Just imagine us hunting for those girls like a couple of lost—kids. Makes me think of our picnics long ago when I was the star for getting lost.”
“You were clever that way, boy,” replied his sister, “but please don’t try it now.”
“Oh, no,” begged Nancy, frightened instantly. “Whatever would we do if you—got lost?”
197 “Don’t worry, I won’t. No fun in it without ice cream cones33. But there’s nary a one on this safety isle34. Let’s get in the launch and skirt the edges of the whole place. We can’t possibly beat down bushes on all these piles of rocks.”
“Indeed we can’t,” Dell agreed. “But suppose they didn’t come in here at all? And where could she have left the launch?”
“She could hide that almost any place along here, for the edge has a regular curtain of young trees,” the brother answered. “Nancy, don’t look so dejected. When we find your cousin, maybe we shall find she has gone down to the ideal weight. I believe that’s the main issue with poor old Rosalind.”
“If we don’t find her in any more trouble,” Nancy replied. “But I’m never sure about her when she dashes off with Orilla. This is about the third or fourth escapade she has starred in since I came to Craggy Bluff35.”
“I couldn’t count all she has starred in since I came up,” Gar said dryly, as he untied36 the boat. The girls quickly stepped in and he198 promptly37 started up the willing engine.
Each new move in their expedition only brought greater anxiety to Nancy, for in spite of her companions’ insistent38 attempts at gaiety, she, as well as they, felt that the finding of Rosa was by no means assured.
And it was so lonely, away out there, with shadows closing in from the sky, from the mountains and from the heavy growth of all sorts of trees, high and low, leafy and stark39, in their pretty covering of silken foliage40, or in their defiant41 armor of pine needles!
But nothing seemed beautiful; everything seemed sinister42, and even the lapping of the waves against the rocks now struck terror into Nancy’s heart.
Vacation? She had forgotten the word. Pleasure seemed very far away, if not entirely beyond her reach. All she thought of, all she wanted, was to find the unfortunate Rosalind.
“I’ll swing in here and let’s try that comic opera again,” said Gar, determined43 to keep up their courage.
“The opera” was made up of the shouts199 and calls, such as they had been practising ever since they decided44 to break the woodland silence, and following Gar’s advice they again took up the refrain.
“There’s a few birds answering, at any rate,” Dell remarked, “but for my part, I think even the angels must have heard that yell of yours, Gar. If those girls are in these woodlands they either do not want to reply or—”
“There’s the boat!” exclaimed Nancy, jumping up so suddenly she all but fell over in the launch. “I see it in that little clump45 of willows46! Steer47 in there, Gar. They can’t be far away from their boat.”
And only too willingly did Garfield Durand comply with that eager request.
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1
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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2
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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5
apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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6
weirs
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| n.堰，鱼梁（指拦截游鱼的枝条篱）( weir的名词复数 ) | |
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7
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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9
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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pounce
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| n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意 | |
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scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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13
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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15
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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18
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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19
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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24
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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25
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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26
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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28
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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29
scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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30
scurrying
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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31
truants
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| n.旷课的小学生( truant的名词复数 )；逃学生；逃避责任者；懒散的人 | |
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32
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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33
cones
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| n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒 | |
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34
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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35
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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36
untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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37
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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39
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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40
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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41
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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42
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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43
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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44
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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45
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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46
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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47
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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