The Slipper Point Mystery | Page 3

when there's no
one around. Mother often makes me during 'the season,' 'cause she says
it looks bad for the Landing to see us children around so sloppy."
"My mother says," remarked Doris, "that one always feels better to be
nicely and cleanly dressed, especially in the afternoons, if you can
manage it. You feel so much more self-respecting. I often hate to
bother to dress, too, but I always do it to please her."
Sally promptly registered the mental vow that she would hereafter array
herself and Genevieve in clean attire every single afternoon, or perish
in the attempt. But clothes was not a subject that ever interested Doris
Craig for any length of time, so she soon switched to another.
"Can't you and the baby come out with me in my canoe for a while?"
she suggested. "I'm so lonesome. And perhaps you know how to paddle.
You could sit in the bow, and Genevieve in the middle."
"Yes, I know how to paddle," admitted Sally. To tell the truth she knew
how to run every species of boat her father owned, not even omitting
the steam launches. "But we can't take Genevieve in a canoe. She won't
sit still enough and Mother has forbidden it. Let's go out in my rowboat
instead. Dad lets me use old 45 for myself any time I want, except in
the very rush season. It's kind of heavy and leaks a little, but I can row
it all right." She indicated a boat far down at the end of the line.
"But I can't row!" exclaimed Doris. "I never learned because we 've
always had a canoe up at Lake Placid in the Adirondacks where we 've
usually gone."
"Oh, that doesn't matter," laughed Sally. "I can row the whole three.
You sit in the stern with Genevieve, and I 'll take you around the river
to some places I warrant you 've never seen."

Filled with the spirit of the new adventure, the two hurried along,
bearing a somewhat reluctant Genevieve between them, and clambered
into the boat numbered "45" at the end of the line. Doris seated herself
in the stern with Genevieve and the box of candy. And the baby was
soon shyly cuddling up to her and dipping her chubby little fist into the
box at frequent intervals. Sally established herself in the bow rowing
seat, pushed off with a skilful twist of her oars, and was soon swinging
out into the tide with the short, powerful strokes of the native-born to
Manituck.
It was a perfect June afternoon. The few other boats on the river were
mainly those of the native fishermen treading for clams in the shallows,
and one or two dipping sailboats. Overhead the fish-hawks sailed and
plunged occasionally with a silver flash into the river. The warm scent
of the pines was almost overpoweringly sweet, and a robin sang
insistently on the farther shore. Even the thoughtless children were
unconsciously swayed by the quiet beauty of the day and place.
"Do you know," commented Doris, "I like it here. Really I like it a lot
better than any other place we 've ever been. And I've only been here
two days. Do you live here all the year round?"
"Yes, but it isn't half so nice in winter," said Sally; "though the
skating's good when it's cold enough. But I get awfully tired of all this
all the time. I'd love to live in New York a while. There's the island,"
she indicated. "You can see that from most anywhere on the river. It's
pretty, but there isn't anything much interesting about it. I think I've
explored every inch of this river 'cause I've so little else to do in the
summer. Genevieve and I know more about it than the oldest inhabitant
here, I reckon."
There was something about the way she made this last remark that
aroused Doris's curiosity.
"Why do you say that?" she demanded. "Of course it's all lovely around
here, and up above that bridge it seems rather wild. I went up there
yesterday in the canoe. But what is there to 'know' about this river or its
shores?

There can't be anything very mysterious about a little New Jersey river
like this."
"You wouldn't think so to look at it," said Sally, darkly. "Especially this
lower part with just the Landing and the hotel and the summer
bungalows along the shore. But above the bridge there in the wild part,
things are different. Genevieve and I have poked about a bit, haven't we,
Genevieve?" The baby nodded gravely, though it is doubtful if she
understood much of her older sister's remark.
"Oh, do tell me what you 've found?" cried Doris excitedly. "It all
sounds so mysterious. I'm just