As soon as Eleanor and Lillian were dressed they went ashore and walked up and down near the houseboat, calling aloud for Tania. Phyllis was the most composed of the party. She had two small twin sisters of her own and knew that children were in the habit of creating just such unnecessary excitements. Still, it was better to look for a lost child before she had had time to wander too far away. "Madge," suggested Phil quietly, "don't be so frightened about Tania. I have an idea the child has walked off the houseboat in her sleep. She must have done so, for the dining room door is unlocked from the inside. Our door on to the deck was not locked, but Tania's was, because Miss Jenny Ann recalls having locked it herself. She came through our room when she joined us outdoors after putting Tania to bed. You and I had better go up at once to find Tom Curtis. Dear old Tom is such a comfort! He will help us search for Tania. Then, if it is necessary, he will ask the Cape May authorities to have the police on the lookout for her. If Tania has wandered off in her sleep, the poor little thing will be terrified when she wakes up and finds herself in a strange place. Surely, some one will take her in and care for her until we find her." Madge and Phil were wonderfully glad to find Tom Curtis up and alone on his front veranda. He had just come in from a swim. He seemed so strong, clean, and fine after his morning's dip in the ocean that his two girl friends were immediately reassured. Tom would tell them just what had better be done to find Tania. "Mrs. Curtis's and Philip Holt's window blinds are still down, thank goodness!" whispered Madge to Phil, "so I suppose they are both asleep. Let us not tell them anything about Tania's disappearance. They would just put it down to naughtiness in her, and that would make me awfully cross." Tom Curtis felt perfectly sure that he would soon run across the lost Tania. So he left word for his mother that he had gone to the houseboat and that she was not to expect him until she saw him again. For two hours Tom and the houseboat party continued the hunt for the lost child without calling in assistance. Then Madge and Tom went to the town authorities of Cape May. The police investigated the city and the houses in the nearby seaside resort without finding the least clue to Tania. Toward the close of the long day Tom Curtis began to fear that Tania had fallen into the water. Cape May is only a strip of land between the great ocean and the bay, and the land is broken into many small islands nearly surrounded by salt water and marshes. Tom managed to get the girls safely out of the way; then, with Miss Jenny Ann's permission, he had the water near the houseboat thoroughly dredged. But Tania's little body was not found for the second time down in the bottom of the bay. It was not possible to have all the water in the neighborhood dragged in a single day, so Tom said nothing of his fears to his anxious friends.