"Oh you needn't worry about them," Grace assured her. "Betty and Mollie are regular fish in the water, and you know there aren't any mean currents around here. The beach slopes gradually down so that they can't get caught in water holes either, so don't worry, Mother," and she slipped an affectionate hand into her mother's and received an answering smile in return. And, oh, how good that water did feel! As they waded into it up to their waists, Mollie and Betty came swimming back, shaking the water from their eyes and cleaving the big combers with long, powerful strokes. "Well, who won?" Amy challenged them, as they came within shouting distance. "Tell the truth," added Grace. "Both of us," yelled Mollie. "Or neither," Betty answered, getting to her feet and walking the rest of the way in toward them. "We couldn't have done better team work if we had tried. Oh, isn't it glorious?" "We don't know yet--we're not even all wet," returned Mollie, adding, as a great comber came rushing toward them: "Come on, Gracie, here's a good one. Let's get under it." And "get under it" they did, cleaving the water prettily, and in another minute were up on the other side of the big wave. They shook the water from their eyes and struck out merrily. "Don't go too far," Mrs. Ford called after them, and two bare gleaming arms waved back at her. The hours that followed were just one long delight, and the girls looked surprised and a little abused when Mrs. Ford reluctantly called them in. "Why, it can't be more than eleven," protested Grace. "And we haven't seen the water for, oh, ages," added Mollie. "Please, can't we have half an hour more?" Amy added. Mrs. Ford looked smilingly from one to the other and then at Betty. "Well, haven't you any petition to make?" she asked of the latter. "I was thinking," said Betty squinting up at the sun, "that Grace was wrong when she said it wasn't more than eleven. It seems to me to be after twelve." "It is," said Mrs. Ford firmly. "Quarter past." "Well, let's go!" cried Betty, starting toward the bluff. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starving to death." "But we'll want to swim again after lunch, won't we?" protested Mollie. "Of course." "Well, then," she argued reasonably, "we don't want to change our clothes just for lunch, and we can't very well go up to the house in dripping bathing suits." The girls groaned. "Then we'll have to wait for lunch until we've sat here for hours and dried off," wailed Grace. "And she hasn't even a box of chocolates!" Betty mocked her. "It is a desperate case, Grace." With another groan Grace sank into the soft, warm sand while the others followed suit, looking so mournful that Mrs. Ford was moved to take pity on them.