“Were you alone when you got stuck?” asked Sally. “Sure! You never get stuck when there’s anyone along to help.” “Where were you?” asked Kitty. “On that lonely stretch of road leading to the Thompson place. I went out there to get Nancy. Rain had made the sand all gooey this side of Waco bridge, and I got stuck fast.” “In that dark, swampy road?” asked Sally. “It would be there,” said Vera in disgust. “I worked till nearly dark trying to get out, then I started on foot toward Thompsons’. I was just about to cross the bridge over Waco Creek when I heard oars up the stream.” “I’d have been scared stiff there by myself,” said Sally with a shiver. “I was too mad over being stuck to feel scared,” Vera stated. “I yelled for that boatman to come and help me out—told him I was stuck.” “Well?” said Kitty, sensing there was something very peculiar to come. “He did help you, of course.” “Not that sneak! The minute I yelled for help those oars stopped and I never heard another sound.” “Why, he couldn’t help but know it was a woman calling!” Kitty exclaimed. “Sure, he knew it was a woman in trouble.” “I can’t understand that,” said Sally. “I’ve lived round here all my life, and all the natives, white and colored, will go to no end of trouble to help a person out of a tight spot, ’specially women.” “I figured he was no native, and up to some skulduggery,” said Vera. “I went on down the road and got Nancy Thompson’s brother, and we searched that creek with flashlights as far as we could go.” “And found nothing?” asked Kitty. “That sneak had cleared out while I was gone. If you ask me there’s plenty happening on this island that’s not printed in the papers.” Secretly Kitty agreed with her. The incident made her only more determined not to relax her vigilance about certain peculiar people she was watching. * * * * * The next afternoon Kitty was waiting outside Hazel’s door at the hospital promptly at four-thirty. She soon heard the soft, but brisk step of her friend coming down the hall. “Come in, while I freshen up a bit,” Hazel invited. Kitty had never been in her new friend’s room, and felt a little flutter of excitement as she went inside. Hazel proffered the only rocker invitingly. “You sit there and rest a minute dear, while I powder my nose and brush my hair. You look as fresh as if you hadn’t had your household to look after all day.” “I must admit I haven’t had any idle moments,” Kitty confessed. While Hazel was in the bathroom Kitty glanced around the room that had been made so homelike with many individual touches. On the dresser she noticed a picture of a handsome man, evidently slightly older than Hazel. Her heart sank with misgivings. Perhaps Hazel was already engaged to someone. For a moment she felt a pang of jealousy and resentment. But she simply couldn’t believe Hazel would lead her father on if she were in love with someone else.