owing a dose of
bromide, and at that juncture the girls quietly stole from the bedside.

Gerald "dropped" Julia at her cottage, then Cleo and Helen were driven
to the landing. No need to shout over to the island, for Uncle Pete
stood there, on the narrow dock, watching the road with anxious eyes.

It was hard to assure him of Kitty's safety, and only his personal
knowledge of the power of the scouts, gleaned from his own experience
when they had rescued him some weeks before, did finally allay his
fears. "We'll fetch her back, first thing in the morning," they
promised, and then they watched the old man pull his oars with a weary
stroke, toward the lonely little island, called Luna Land.

CHAPTER XIX

THE GLORIOUS AFTERMATH

THE wig wag contest had furnished enough excitement at Sea Crest to
constitute a nine day's wonder. Nothing short of an uncanny power seemed
attributed to the Girl Scout, who would risk her own life in a dive from
that pier, when she saw a canoe upset beneath. The whole occurrence had
been so spectacular that the publicity it provoked was widespread--every
one was talking of the wig wag rescue.

"But, Weasie dear," cooed Grace, "what did it feel like to jump? Just
tell us that and then we'll let you off."

Louise smiled wanly. Was it possible that any other question could be
invented?

"It didn't exactly feel," she replied to Grace, "but I knew I had to do
it. I had been watching the little speck of a boat as it took the
rollers from the side, and I knew the next would toss it over. Then I
saw Kitty--and I didn't think of the distance after that."

"You looked about as big as a fish hawk diving for his dinner," remarked
Cleo, "and you nipped Kitty just as neatly as a hawk pecks his fish."

"I felt just like that--it is birdlike to dive from such a distance,"
Louise said, "and cutting through the air, free of everything--is--is
wonderful."

"Even with the ocean as a backstop?" asked Helen shivering.

"Nice and soft," Louise said reflectively.

"But however did you hold on to Kitty, and cling to the canoe?"
persisted Grace, in spite of the promise to cease questioning.

"I don't know. It was black for awhile, and I just struggled to keep up,
and to keep Kitty up. She was too scared to help herself, and she had
swallowed a lot of water. I guess I managed to cling to the
canoe--Girls, you don't know what you can do until you have to," she
finished.

It was still early, but the