"How's that?" all asked in chorus.

"Oh, that's a great boat--leaks to order," replied Ben, as he turned
over the fly wheel and Cora's craft shot swiftly away from the
island.

The boys were too busy talking to the girls, and the latter were too
busy asking questions, to go further into the matter of the leaking
boat, but Cora did not fail to notice that the craft must have
"leaked to order." "What could that man have intended doing? Did
he want to sink the boat?" she was wondering.

"Well, if we haven't had a pretty time of it," said Ed. "First, we
had to go up trees to get out of the way of something--we are not
yet sure whether it was man or beast. Then when we crawled down,
and made for the shore the canoe was gone clear out of sight."

"Haven't you any idea who took it?" Cora asked.

"Wish we had--I'll wager he would have to sleep out of doors
to-night," threatened Jack. "It was the meanest trick."

Cora gave Bess the signal to keep still about having seen a canoe at
the back of Jim Peter's rowboat that afternoon. Cora was convinced
that Ben knew what he was talking about when he warned her to be
careful of Jim Peters.

"But why did you go back to the island?" asked Cora. "I thought you
were going to spend the afternoon with us girls?"