He took the frying-pan away from her, but it was only because the steak was cooked and he wanted to sling the coffee-pot over the fire.
Elsa looked distressed. "Aren't you going to give me any of that steak?" she cried in pretended consternation.
"I understand from your remarks that this was all intended for me," teased Alec.
"It will be first-degree murder if you don't give me some," said Elsa. "I'll surely die of starvation in a few minutes if I don't get something to eat."
At the word murder, the fun died out of Alec's eyes. "Please don't," he said, "not even in fun. That word murder has come to have a very ugly sound to me in the last twenty-four hours."
They were silent a moment. Then such a soft light crept into Elsa's eyes that Alec had to jump up and tend the fire to keep control of himself.
At last the meal was eaten. "I'm too full to do another stroke of work," said Alec.
"Then we'll go take a look at the little harbor I have picked out for you."
They poured water on the fire to make sure it was completely extinguished, then gathered up the remnants of the feast, and once more boarded the _Osprey_. For half a mile they chugged along the shore. Then they came abreast of a little clump of trees that rose some few hundred feet inland, apparently in the very heart of the marsh.
"There's your harbor," said Elsa, pointing to the tree clump.
"But how are we going to get to it?" demanded Alec, searching everywhere for an inlet.
"Wait until the largest two trees come in line," said Elsa. "Then go straight in."
Alec slowed down the _Osprey_ and continued along the shore until the trees indicated were in line. Then he headed directly toward them. In the reeds that lined the shore he noted a tiny opening, like the mouth of the merest tunnel; but it proved to be both wider and deeper than he would have believed. The reeds that choked the little channel bent to right and left as the _Osprey_ slowly forged ahead, then swiftly righted themselves, forming a screen behind the boat. Had there been no mast in the _Osprey_, she would have been completely concealed before she had gone a hundred feet. The clump of trees stood not more than five hundred feet from the open water of the Bay. The little channel ran almost straight toward it. Alec shut off his engine and pushed the _Osprey_ along with the setting-pole. The little boat slipped through the reeds as quietly as a floating duck. As they came near the trees, Alec saw that there were really two clumps of them standing close together on two tiny islands, with the tiniest little channel between them. Alec pushed the _Osprey_ forward until it came to rest in this little channel, directly between the two islands. So narrow was this passage that he could almost have stepped ashore on either side of this boat.