angrily at Mollie's
defiant champions. They had refused to go back home. He had given
them their opportunity. It was just as well they had not taken it, for
suddenly the man was seized with an idea.

"Git into my rowboat," he ordered Phil and Madge. "I am going to put
you aboard my sailboat and carry you home to your friends. You had
better take my offer. You'll only get into worse trouble if you stay
around here. How do you think you are going to take care of
Moll--knock me and Bill and my old woman down and run off with Moll?"

"Won't any one here help us?" asked Phil, turning to the grinning crowd.

"You had better go home with Mike. It's the only thing for you to do,"
advised a grizzled old fisherman. "Your hanging around here ain't
going to help Moll."

Madge and Phil exchanged inquiring glances. For the time being they
were beaten. It was better to go home. Later on they would see what
could be done for their friend.

"We would rather go back in our own boat," Phil announced, making a
last resistance. Madge, who was already in Mike's skiff, beckoned to
Phil to join her. It was too undignified and hopeless for them to
argue longer with these coarse, rough men. Phyllis followed her chum
reluctantly. She hung back as long as she could, staring hard at the
shanty boat. But there was no sight nor sound of Mollie.

Even after they were aboard Captain Mike's sailing craft Phil's eyes
strained toward the receding shore. When it was no longer to be seen
she sat with her hands folded, gazing into her lap. She was still
thinking and planning what she could do to rescue Mollie. Madge sat
with closed eyes; she was too weary to speak.

The sailor's boat had left the island far behind and was moving
swiftly. It was after sunset, and the sun had just thrown itself, like
the golden ball in the fairy tale, into the depth of the clear water.
The girls were looking anxiously toward the direction of their boat,
and wondering if their friends were worrying over their late return.

The houseboat lay a little to the southwest of Fisherman's Island, and
so far they had not been able to catch sight of it. It was growing so
dark that it was impossible to see the shore very clearly on either
side of the bay. It was Madge's sharp eyes that first made the
discovery that what she could see of the shore was unfamiliar. Captain
Mike was not taking them to their houseboat. He was sailing in exactly
the opposite di