"All aboard!" called Betty, as she led the way down to the dock where the Gem awaited them. Each one was carrying a bundle of supplies, for they expected to cruise for about a week.
They boarded the motor boat Betty threw over the lever of the self-starter. The engine responded promptly. As the clutch slipped in, white foam showed at the stern where the industrious propeller whirled about. The Gem slid away from the dock.
"Good-bye! Good-bye!" called the boys and girls to Mr. Lagg.
"Good-bye!" he answered, waving his red handkerchief at them. Then he recited:
"As you sail o'er the bounding sea,
Pause now and then and think of me.
I've many things for man and beast,
From chocolate drops to compressed yeast."
"Good!" shouted Will, laughing.
And Betty swung around the wheel to avoid the two boys whose canoe Mollie had so strangely found, as the Gem continued her cruise down Rainbow Lake. And here, for a time, we, too, like Mr. Lagg, will say farewell to our friends.
THE END
