looked at each other in
dismay.

"Look off there," cried Patty, suddenly, pointing out on the water.

Far away they saw an empty boat dancing along in the sunlight!

Bertha began to cry, and though Patty felt like it, it seemed really too
babyish, and she said, "Don't be a goose, Bertha, we're not lost on a
desert island, and of course somebody will come after us, anyway."

But Patty was worried more than she would admit. For no one knew where
they had gone, and the empty boat was drifting away from Sandy Cove
instead of toward it.

At first, the girls were buoyed up by the excitement of the situation,
and felt that somebody must find them shortly. But no other boat was in
sight, and as Patty said, everybody was getting ready for the fair and no
one was likely to go out rowing that day.

One o'clock came, and then half-past one, and though the girls had tried
to invent some way out of their difficulty they couldn't think of a thing
to do, but sit still and wait. They had tied their handkerchiefs on the
highest bushes of the island, there being no trees, but they well knew
that these tiny white signals were not likely to attract anybody's
attention.

They had shouted until they were hoarse, and they had talked over all the
possibilities of the case.

"Of course they have missed us by this time," said Patty, "and of course
they are looking for us."

"I don't believe they are," said Bertha disconsolately, "because all the
people at the house will think we're down at the fair grounds, and all
the people there will think we're up at the house."

"That's so," Patty admitted, for she well knew how everybody was
concerned with his or her own work for the fair, and how little thought
they would be giving to one another at this particular time.

And yet, though Patty would not mention it, and would scarcely admit the
thought to herself, she couldn't help feeling sure that Mr. Hepworth
would be wondering where she was.

"The only hope is," she said to Bertha, "if somebody should want to see
me especially, about some of the work, and should try to hunt me up."

"Well," said Bertha, "even if they did, it never would occur to them that
we are over here."

"No, they'd never think of that; even if they do miss us, and try to hunt
for us. They'll only telephone to different houses, or something like
that. It will never occur to them that we're over here, and why should
it?"

"I'm glad I came with you," said Bertha, a