ar.

Wyn was no coward; she had shown that the time she and Bessie Lavine
were spilled out of their canoes in the middle of the lake. But she had
not lived, like Polly, in the woods with few but rough people for
associates.

Soon they passed Green Knoll Camp, lying peacefully in the light of the
moon that was just then rising above the Forge. Its rays silvered all
the knoll and made the camp a charming spot.

"I hope none of them will wake up and find me gone," remarked Wyn,
chuckling.

Polly gave the tiller and sheet to her friend and stood up to get a
better view of the lake astern of them. At first she saw nothing but the
dim shores and the silvering water. Then, some distance out, Polly
caught sight of a ghostly sail drifting across the path of moonlight.

"A bateau!" she exclaimed. "And--with the wind the way it is--she must
have come right out of our cove, Wynnie."

"Do--do you really think anybody was listening to us when we were
talking there on the landing, Polly?" Wyn asked. "And are they aboard
_that_ bateau?"

"I don't know. But I know I heard something then."

"But that boat isn't following us."

"It may be. We can't tell. They can watch us just as easily as we can
watch them."

But when the _Coquette_ got around to the side of Gannet Island
where the boys' camp was established, the shadow of the high, wooded
ridge was thrown out so far across the lake that the swimming raft and
its neighborhood were in darkness.

The catboat, with her sail dropped and her nose just touching the edge
of the float, was quite hidden by this shadow of the island, which was
all the darker in contrast with the brilliant moonlight lying on the
water farther out.

"I'll carry the kedge to the float," whispered Polly, "and then we'll
pay out the line till the _Coquette_ floats about over the spot
where you think the thing you hit lies."

"Let's get my canoe out of the way, too," urged Wyn. "Oh! I hope the
boys will not wake up."

"What's that light up there?" exclaimed Polly, suddenly.

"That's the spark of their campfire. It's in the rocks, so no harm can
come from it; they don't trouble to cover it when they go to bed."

"Now, Wyn--push the boat off."

They worked the catboat from the float for several yards. "Wait,"
whispered Wyn. "Let's try here."

"Are you going to dive?"

"Yes. It will make some splash; but I don't believe I can reach the
bottom of the lake otherwise, it is so deep here."

"Careful