Madge Morton, Captain of the Merry Maid | Page 3

to spend my vacation alone? I want you three girls to spend the six weeks with me. Only last night Eleanor and I said that we four girls could never be really happy anywhere without one another."
"Generous Madge," smiled Lillian affectionately. "Two hundred dollars seems quite a fortune. Perhaps you ought not to spend it all. Where can we go, and what can we do?"
"Young ladies," a stern voice spoke just outside the door, "kindly remember this is the study hour. You are expected to keep silence."
An unusual stillness fell on the four offenders. Only Madge's blue eyes flashed rebelliously. "It's that tiresome Miss Jones. You might know she would be somewhere about. She is the crossest teacher in this school."
"Sh-sh, Madge," Eleanor lowered her voice, "Miss Jones might hear you. She is ill, I am sure. That is what makes her so cross. Phil and I are both sorry for her."
"Oh, you and Phil are sorry for everybody. That's nothing! Thank goodness, there is the bell! It is the recreation hour. Come, my beloved chums, I simply must think of some way to spend our vacation and I never can think indoors. 'It is the merry month of May,'" caroled Madge. "Come, Phil, let us go down to the water and take Nell and Lillian rowing. It is a dream of an afternoon, all soft and sunshiny, and the river folk are calling us, the frogs, and the water rats----"
"Dear me, Madge," teased Phil, "do hush. We are glad enough to go rowing without an invitation from the frogs. We have two hours before supper time. Shall we ask poor Miss Jones to go with us? She does not have much fun, and you know it is her duty to make us keep the rules. Miss Jones admires you very much, Madge. She said you were clever enough to do anything you liked, if you would only try. But she knows you don't like her."
"Then she knows the truth," returned naughty Madge. "No, Phil, please don't ask Miss Jones to come out with us this afternoon, there's a dear. I told you I wanted to think. And I can think brilliantly only when in the company of my beloved chums."
Phyllis Alden and Madge Morton were good oarsmen. Indeed, they were almost as much at home on the water as they were on land. Each girl wore a tiny silver oar pinned to her dress. Only the week before Madge had won the annual spring rowing contest; for Miss Tolliver made a special point of athletics in her school, and fortunately the school grounds ran down to the bank of a small river.
Phil and Madge rowed out into the middle of the river with long, regular strokes. They were in their own little, green boat, called the "Water Witch." Lillian sat in the stern, trailing her white hands idly in the water. Eleanor sat quietly looking out over the fields.
Suddenly Madge, who always did the most unexpected things in the world, locked her oars across the boat and sat up in her seat with a jerk that rocked the little craft.
"Girls, I have thought it all out!" she exclaimed. "I have the most glorious, the most splendid plan you ever heard of in the world! Just wait until you hear it!"
"Madge," Phil called in horror, "do sit down!" The boat was careening perilously. Before Phil could finish her speech Madge had tumbled over the side of the skiff and disappeared in the water below.
The girls waited for their friend to rise to the surface. They were not frightened, for Madge was an expert swimmer.
"I am surprised at Madge," declared Phil severely. "The idea of plunging into the water in that fashion, not to mention almost capsizing our boat! Why doesn't she come up?"
The second lengthened to a minute. Still Madge's curly head did not appear on the surface of the water. Eleanor's face turned white. Madge had on her rowing costume, a short skirt and a sailor blouse. She could easily swim in such a suit. But perhaps she had been seized with a cramp, or her head might have struck against a rock at the bottom of the river!
Lillian and Phil shared Eleanor's anxiety. "Sit still, girls," said Phyllis. "I must dive and see what has happened to Madge. If you are quiet, I can dive out of the boat without upsetting it."
Phil slipped out of her sweater. But Eleanor caught at her skirts from behind. "Sit down, Phil. Here comes that wretched Madge, swimming toward us from over there. She purposely stayed under water."
The three friends looked in the direction, indicated by Phyllis. They saw Madge moving toward the boat as calmly as though she had been in her bathing suit and had dived off the skiff for