CHAPTER XXI
THE CRUSOES
Plans were on foot for a huge fair and bazaar to be held in aid of theAssociated Charities. Everybody in and around Sandy Cove was interested,and the fair, which would be held the last week in August, was expectedto eclipse all previous efforts of its kind.
All three of the Fairfields were energetically assisting in the work, andeach was a member of several important committees.
The Barlows, too, were working hard, and the Rolands thought they weredoing so, though somehow they accomplished very little. As the time drewnear for the bazaar to open, Patty grew so excited over the work and hadsuch a multitude of responsibilities, that she flew around as madly aswhen she was preparing for the play at school.
"But I'm perfectly well, now," she said to her father when heremonstrated with her, "and I don't mind how hard I work as long as Ihaven't lessons to study at the same time."
Aside from assisting with various booths and tables, Patty had charge ofa gypsy encampment, which she spared no pains to make as gay andinteresting as possible.
The "Romany Rest" she called the little enclosure which was to representthe gypsies'home, and Patty not only superintended the furnishing andarranging of the place, but also directed the details of the costumeswhich were to be worn by the young people who were to represent gypsies.
The Fairfields' house was filled with guests who had come down for thefair.
Patty had invited Elise and Roger Farrington, and Bertha and WinthropWarner. Mr. Hepworth and Kenneth Harper were there, too, and the merrycrowd of young people worked zealously in their endeavours to assistPatty and Nan.
Mr. Hepworth, of course, was especially helpful in arranging the gypsyencampment, and designing the picturesque costumes for the girls andyoung men who were to act as gypsies. The white blouses with gay-colouredscarfs and broad sombreros were beautiful to look at, even if, as Pattysaid, they were more like Spanish fandangoes than like any gypsy garmentsshe had ever seen.
"Don't expose your ignorance, my child," said Mr. Hepworth, smiling ather. "A Romany is not an ordinary gypsy and is always clothed in thisparticular kind of garb."
"Then that's all that's necessary," said Patty. "I bow to your superiorjudgment, and I feel sure that all the patrons of the fair will spendmost of their time at the 'Romany Rest.'"
The day on which the fair was to open was a busy one, and everybody wasup betimes, getting ready for the grand event.
A fancy dress parade was to be one of the features of the first evening,and as a prize was offered for the cleverest costume, all of thecontestants were carefully guarding the secret of the characters theircostumes would represent. Although Roger had given no hint of what hiscostume was to be, he calmly announced that he knew it would take theprize. The others laughed, thinking this a jest, and Patty was of aprivate opinion that probably Mr. Hepworth's costume would be clevererthan Roger's, as the artist had most original and ingenious ideas.
The fair was to open at three in the afternoon, and soon after twelveo'clock Patty rushed into the house looking for somebody to send on anerrand. She found no one about but Bertha Warner, who was hastily puttingsome finishing touches to her own gypsy dress.
"That's almost finished, isn't it, Bertha?" began Patty breathlessly.
"Yes; why? Can I help you in any way?"
"Indeed you can, if you will. I have to go over to Black Island for somegoldenrod. It doesn't grow anywhere else as early, at least I can't findany. I've hunted all over for somebody to send, but the boys are all sobusy, and so I'm just going myself. I wish you'd come along and help merow. It's ever so much quicker to go across in a boat and get it there,than to drive out into the country for it."
"Of course I will," said Bertha, "but will there be time?"
"Yes, if we scoot right along."
The girls flew down to the dock, jumped into a small rowboat and began torow briskly over to Black Island. It was not very far, and they soonreached it. They scrambled out, pulled the boat well up onto the beach,and went after the flowers.
Sure enough, as Patty had said, there was a luxuriant growth of goldenrodin many parts of the island. Patty had brought a pair of garden shears,and by setting to work vigorously, they soon had as much as they couldcarry.
"There," said Patty, triumphantly, as she tied up two great sheaves, "Ibelieve we gathered that quicker than if we had brought some boys alongto help. Now let's skip for home."
The island was not very large, but in their search for the flowers theyhad wandered farther than they thought.
"It's nearly one o'clock," said Patty, looking at her watch, and carryingtheir heavy cargo of golden flowers, they hastened back to where they hadleft their boat.
But no boat was there.
"Oh, Bertha," cried Patty, "the boat has drifted away!"
"Oh, pshaw," said Bertha, "I don't believe it. We pulled it ever so farup on the sand."
"Well, then, where is it?"
"Why, I believe Winthrop or Kenneth or somebody came over and pulled itaway, just to tease us. I believe they're around the corner waiting forus now."
Patty tried to take this view of it, but she felt a strange sinking ofher heart, for it wasn't like Kenneth to play a practical joke, and shedidn't think Winthrop would, either.
Laying down her bundle of flowers, Bertha ran around the end of theisland, fully expecting to see her brother's laughing face.
But there was no one to be seen, and no sign of the boat.
Then Bertha became alarmed, and the two girls looked at each other indismay.
"Look off there," cried Patty, suddenly, pointing out on the water.
Far away they saw an empty boat dancing along in the sunlight!
Bertha began to cry, and though Patty felt like it, it seemed really toobabyish, and she said, "Don't be a goose, Bertha, we're not lost on adesert island, and of course somebody will come after us, anyway."
But Patty was worried more than she would admit. For no one knew wherethey had gone, and the empty boat was drifting away from Sandy Coveinstead of toward it.
At first, the girls were buoyed up by the excitement of the situation,and felt that somebody must find them shortly. But no other boat was insight, and as Patty said, everybody was getting ready for the fair and noone was likely to go out rowing that day.
One o'clock came, and then half-past one, and though the girls had triedto invent some way out of their difficulty they couldn't think of a thingto do, but sit still and wait. They had tied their handkerchiefs on thehighest bushes of the island, there being no trees, but they well knewthat these tiny white signals were not likely to attract anybody'sattention.
They had shouted until they were hoarse, and they had talked over all thepossibilities of the case.
"Of course they have missed us by this time," said Patty, "and of coursethey are looking for us."
"I don't believe they are," said Bertha disconsolately, "because all thepeople at the house will think we're down at the fair grounds, and allthe people there will think we're up at the house."
"That's so," Patty admitted, for she well knew how everybody wasconcerned with his or her own work for the fair, and how little thoughtthey would be giving to one another at this particular time.
And yet, though Patty would not mention it, and would scarcely admit thethought to herself, she couldn't help feeling sure that Mr. Hepworthwould be wondering where she was.
"The only hope is," she said to Bertha, "if somebody should want to seeme especially, about some of the work, and should try to hunt me up."
"Well," said Bertha, "even if they did, it never would occur to them thatwe are over here."
"No, they'd never think of that; even if they do miss us, and try to huntfor us. They'll only telephone to different houses, or something likethat. It will never occur to them that we're over here, and why shouldit?"
"I'm glad I came with you," said Bertha, affectionately. "I should hateto think of you over here all alone."
&
nbsp; "If I were here alone," said Patty, laughing, "you wouldn't be thinkingof me as here alone. You'd just be wondering where I was."
"So I would," said Bertha, laughing, too; "but oh, Patty, do let's do_something!_ It's fearful to sit here helpless like this."
"I know it," said Patty, "but what can we do? We're just like RobinsonCrusoe and his man Friday, except that we haven't any goat."
"No, and we haven't any raft, from which to select that array of usefularticles that he had at his disposal. Do you remember the little bag,that always held everything that could possibly be required?"
"Oh, that was in 'Swiss Family Robinson,'" said Patty; "your earlyeducation is getting mixed up. I hope being cast on a desert islandhasn't affected your brain. I don't want to be over here with a lunatic."
"You will be, if this keeps up much longer," said poor Bertha, who was ofan emotional nature, and was bravely trying hard not to cry.
"We might make a fire," said Patty, "if we only had some paper andmatches."
"I don't know what good a fire would do. Nobody would think that meantanything especial. I wish we could put up a bigger signal of some sort."
"We haven't any bigger signal, and if we had, we haven't any way ofraising it any higher than these silly low bushes. I never saw an islandso poorly furnished for the accommodation of two young lady Crusoes."
"I never did, either. I'm going to shout again."
"Do, if it amuses you, but truly they can't hear you. It's too far."
"What do you think will happen, Patty? Do you suppose we'll have to stayhere all night?"
"I don't know," said Patty, slowly. "Of course when it's time for thefair to open, and we're not there, they'll miss us; and of course papawill begin a search at once. But the trouble is, Bertha, they'll neverthink of searching over here. They'll look in every other direction, butthey'll never dream that we came out in the boat."
So the girls sat and waited, growing more and more down-hearted, withthat peculiar despondency which accompanies enforced idleness in adesperate situation.
"Look!" cried Patty, suddenly, and startled, Bertha looked where Pattypointed.
Yes, surely, a boat had put out from the shore, and was coming towardthem. At least it was headed for the island, though not directly towardwhere they sat.
"They're going to land farther down," cried Patty, excitedly, "come on,Bertha."
The two girls rushed along the narrow rough beach, wildly waving theirhandkerchiefs at the occupants of the boat.
"It's Mr. Hepworth," cried Patty, though the knowledge seemed to come toher intuitively, even before she recognised the man who held the strokeoar.
"And Winthrop is rowing, too," said Bertha, recognising her brother, "andI think that's Kenneth Harper, steering."
By this time the boat was near enough to prove that these surmises werecorrect.
Relieved of her anxiety, mischievous Patty, in the reaction of themoment, assumed a saucy and indifferent air, and as the boat crunched itskeel along the pebbly beach she called out, gaily, "How do you do, areyou coming to call on us? We're camping here for the summer."
"You little rascals!" cried Winthrop Warner. "What do you mean by runningaway in this fashion, and upsetting the whole bazaar, and driving allyour friends crazy with anxiety about you?"
"Our boat drifted away," said Bertha, "and we couldn't catch it, and wethought we'd have to stay here all night."
"I didn't think we would," said Patty. "I felt sure somebody would comeafter us."
"I don't know why you thought so," said Winthrop, "for nobody knew whereyou were."
"I know that," said Patty, smiling, "and yet I can't tell you why, but Ijust felt sure that somebody would come in a boat, and carry us safelyhome."
"Whom did you expect?" asked Kenneth, "me?"
Patty looked at Kenneth, and then at Mr. Hepworth, and then dropping hereyes demurely, she said:
"I didn't know _who_ would come, only I just knew _somebody_ would."
"Well, somebody did," said Kenneth, as he stowed the great bunches ofgoldenrod in the bow of the boat.
"Yes, somebody did," said Patty, softly, flashing a tiny smile at Mr.Hepworth, who said nothing, but he smiled a little, too, as he bent tohis oars.