e, too, and as the two girls pushed out
from the landing the breath of summer air that followed them out upon
the lake was heavy with the scent of June roses.

The girls were dressed in such boating costumes as gave them the very
freest movement, and they both used the paddle skillfully. The roomy
canoe, if not built for great speed, certainly was built for as much
comfort as could be expected in such a craft.

Jessie was in the bow and Amy at the stern. They quickly "got into
step," as Amy called it, and their paddles literally plied the lake as
one. Faster and faster the canoe sped on and very soon they rounded
the wooded tongue of land that hid all the long length of the lower
end of the lake.

"Dogtown is the only blot on the landscape," panted Amy, after a
while. "It stands there right where the brook empties into the lake
and--and it is unsightly. Whee!"

"What are you panting for, Amy?" demanded her chum.

"For breath, of course," rejoined Amy. "Whee! You are setting an
awfully fast pace, Jess."

"I believe you are getting over-fat, Amy," declared Jessie, solemnly.

"Say not so! But I did eat an awfully big breakfast. The strawberries
were so good! And the waffles!"

"Yet you insisted on bringing a great shoe box of lunch," said her
friend.

"Not a _great_ shoe box. Please! My own shoes came in it and I haven't
enormously big feet," complained Amy. "But we must slow down."

"Just to let you admire Dogtown, I suppose?" said Jessie, laughing.

"Well, it's a sight! I wonder what became of that freckle-faced young
one."

"I wonder if she found her cousin," added Jessie.

"That was a funny game; for that child to go hunting through the
neighborhood after a girl. What was her name--Bertha?"

"Yes. And I have been thinking since then, Amy, that we should have
asked little Henrietta some more questions."

"Little Henrietta," murmured Amy. "How funny! She never could fill
specifications for such a name."

"Never mind that," Jessie flung back over her shoulder, and still
breathing easily as she set a slower stroke. "What I have been
thinking about is that other girl."

"The lost girl, Bertha?"

"No, no. Or, perhaps, yes, yes!" laughed Jessie. "But I mean that girl
the two women forced to go with them in the motor-car. You surely
remember, Amy."

"Oh! The kidnaped girl. My! Yes, I should say I did remember her. But
what has that to do with little Henrietta? And they call her 'Hen,'"
she added, chuc