Billie Bradley On Lighthouse Island

BILLIE BRADLEY ON
LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND

CHAPTER I

LOST


Splash! went a big drop just on the exact tip of Laura Jordon's pretty,
rather upturned nose. She put her hand to the drop to be sure she had not
been mistaken, then turned in dismay to her companions.

"Girls," she cried, "it's raining!"

If she had said the world was coming to an end her companions could not
have looked more startled. Then Billie Bradley cocked an eye at what she
could see of the sky through the trees and held out one hand
experimentally.

"You're crazy," she announced, turning an accusing eye upon Laura. "It's
no more raining than you are. And, anyway, haven't we troubles enough
without your going and making up a new one?"

"M-making up!" Laura stuttered in her indignation. "If you don't believe
me, just look at my nose."

"I don't see what your nose has to do with it," Billie began scornfully,
but the third of the trio, Violet Farrington, by name, interrupted.

"Laura's right," she cried. "I just felt a great big drop myself. Now,
what ever are we going to do?" Vi dropped down in a pathetic little heap
on a convenient rock, looking up at her chums wistfully.

Violet Farrington was always a little wistful when in trouble, like a
small girl who can never understand why she is being punished. But just
now this wistfulness irritated Billie Bradley, who was very much given to
quick action herself, and she turned upon Vi rather snappily.

"Well, you needn't just sit there like a ninny," she cried. "Get up and
help us think what we can do to get out of this mess."

"Mess is right," said Laura Jordon gloomily.