write my name in runes
inside all my books. I think they're ever so much prettier than modern
letters."

"With the slight disadvantage that very few people can decipher them,"
laughed the colonel. "You might as well sign your autograph in Sanscrit.
How fast the tide is rising! I think we should warn your playfellows
that they ought to be running home. I'm always afraid lest they should
be caught on these sands."

He rose as he spoke, and walked to the verge of the cliff, where he
could command a view of the shore below, just in time to see the last of
the children hustled by Charlotte Wright (whose sensible practical head
never forgot the state of the tide) up the beach at the Silversands side
of the channel, which was already beginning to fill so quickly as to
render any further crossing impossible.

"Oh, look! What shall we do?" cried Isobel, in some alarm. "We're quite
cut off. We can't possibly get through that deep water even if we try to
wade. We shall have to stay on the island all night."

"And sleep in the hut like true pioneers?" said the colonel. "It would
certainly be a new experience. No, little Miss Crusoe, I don't think we
are driven to such a desperate extremity as that yet. I left my boat at
the other side of the headland, and my man is only waiting my signal to
row round. I will take you across with me to the Chase, and land you in
safety."

Mounting to the top of the hill, he waved his handkerchief, and a small
row-boat which had been anchored in the bay put off immediately in their
direction.

"It's not nearly so romantic as if we had been obliged to spend a lonely
night shivering in the hut," said the colonel. "We've missed rather an
interesting adventure, but it's much more comfortable, after all.
By-the-bye, will your mother feel anxious if she sees the other children
return without you?"

"She's gone to Ferndale this afternoon to buy some more paints and
drawing paper," replied Isobel. "You can't get sketching materials in
Silversands. She won't be home until seven o'clock, because there isn't
a train earlier. I shall have to take tea alone."

"Better have it with me," suggested her friend. "I feel I owe some
return for the hospitality you exercised in the hut. I haven't forgotten
the nice cup of tea you made. You must see my flowers, and I can send
you home afterwards in the dog-cart."

"That _would_ be nice!" cried Isobel, her joy at the prospect showing
itself in her beaming face.