CHAPTER XIITHE CURIOUS BEHAVIOR OF TED
True to their previous arrangement, Phyllis spent the night with Leslie at Rest Haven. They read together till a very late hour and then sat up even later, in the dark, watching from Leslie’s window to see if there were any further developments at Curlew’s Nest. But nothing unusual happened.
“Isn’t that exactly my luck!” complained Phyllis. “If I weren’t here, I suppose there’d be a half a dozen spooky visitors!”
“Oh, no!” laughed Leslie. “Probably nothing will happen again for some time. Remember how very few times ithashappened, anyway. But it is provoking—just when we’re all ready for it!”
“Do you know,” exclaimed Phyllis suddenly,“this is the time when I’d just love to go through that place again! What do you say if we get out of this window and try it?”
“Oh, no, no!” cried Leslie. “You mustn’t think of such a thing! Can’t you see how awfully dangerous it would be? Just suppose some one should take it into their heads to visit the place again to-night—and find us in there. It would be a terrible position for us!”
“I wouldn’t be afraid of Eileen!” stoutly declared Phyllis. “I’d rather enjoy meeting her there. It would give her something to explain!”
“But there’s some one else you might meet there who might not be so amusing—the man with the limp!” Leslie reminded her.
Phyllis had to acknowledge that this was so, and the subject was dropped, much to Leslie’s relief.
Next afternoon, Eileen came over with her car and invited the girls and Miss Marcia to go for a long ride. They all accepted withalacrity, enjoying the prospect of a change. Eileen insisted that Miss Marcia sit by her while she drove. And as she did this with remarkable ease, she was able to converse pleasantly with her guests most of the time. She took them for a very long drive, and they were all astonished at her familiarity with the roads in that part of the country. She assured them that she had grown to know them well, during the long days lately when she had little else to do than to explore them with the car.
It was dusk when they returned at last to the beach, and, having deposited Phyllis first at her bungalow, Eileen drove the others to theirs. They bade her good night at the foot of the wooden path that led up the slope to their cottage, and she sat and watched them, without starting the car, till they had disappeared indoors. But it so happened that Leslie turned around, opened the door, and came out again almost at once to get an armful of wood for the fire from the bin on the backveranda. And in so doing, it happened also that she witnessed a curious little incident.
Eileen seemed to have had a slight difficulty in starting the car, but it was in motion now, going slowly, and had advanced only about as far as the path leading up to Curlew’s Nest. Leslie stood in the darkness of her porch, idly watching its progress, when something that happened caused her heart to leap into her throat. Out from some thick bushes at the edge of the road, there appeared a dark form, which signaled to the car. Eileen whirled the wheel around, applied the brake, and the car almost came to a stop. Almost—but not quite, for the figure leaped into it while it was still going. Then Eileen stepped on the accelerator, the car shot forward, and was almost instantly out of sight.
Eileen whirled the wheel around, applied the brake, and the car almost came to a stop
Leslie got her wood and went indoors in a daze. What could it all mean? What duplicity had Eileen been guilty of now? The thing certainly looked very, very sinister, consider it how you would! And she could breathe noword of it to her aunt, who, as Leslie entered, straightway began on a long eulogy of Eileen, her delightful manners, her thoughtfulness, and her kindness in giving them an afternoon of such enjoyment. It seemed to Leslie, considering what had just happened, that she must certainly scream with nervousness if Miss Marcia did not stop, and she tried vainly several times to steer her to another theme. But Miss Marcia had found a topic that interested her, and she was not to be diverted from it till it was exhausted!
With all her strength, Leslie longed for the time to come when Phyllis should appear, for she had promised to come again for the night. And when the supper was eaten and the dishes had been disposed of, Leslie went outside and paced and paced back and forth on the front veranda, peering vainly into the darkness to watch for her friend. Miss Marcia, indoors with Rags by the blazing fire, called severaltimes to her to come in and share the warmth and comfort, but she felt she could not endure the confinement in the house and the peaceful sitting by the hearth, when her thoughts were so upset. Would Phyllis never appear? What could be keeping her?
It was a small, but very active, indignation meeting that was held when the two girls were at last together. Leslie would not permit Phyllis to go indoors for a time after she arrived, though the night was rather chilly, but kept her on the veranda to explain what had happened.
“The deceitful little thing!” cried Phyllis. “Now I see exactly what she took us all out for this afternoon, even Miss Marcia—to get rid of us all for a good long time while some accomplice of hers did what they pleased in Curlew’s Nest, quite undisturbed by any one around!”
“That’s exactly what it must have been,”agreed Leslie. “But who could that other person have been?”
“The man with the limp?” suggested Phyllis.
“No, I’m very sure it was not he. This person sprang into the car while it was still in motion—was very active, evidently. I’m certain the man with the limp could never have done that!”
“Well, was it a man or a woman? Surely you could tellthat!”
“No, actually I couldn’t. It was getting so dark, and the figure was so far off, and it all happened so quickly that I couldn’t see. But, Phyllis, I’m horribly disappointed in Eileen! I had begun to think she was lovely, and that we had misjudged her badly. And now—this!”
“She’s simplyusingus—that’s plain,” agreed Phyllis. “She evidently intended to do so from the first, after she found out we were right on the spot here. She deliberately cameout to cultivate our acquaintance and make it seem natural for her to be around here. Then she and the one she’s working with planned to get us away from here for the whole afternoon and have the field free for anything they pleased. Faugh! It makes me sick to think of being duped like that!”
“But after yesterday—and the way she acted when you played Chopin, and what she said about our friendship, and all that—Wasanythinggenuine at all?”
“Not a thing!” declared Phyllis, positively. “All put on to get a little farther into our good graces. Well, I’ll never be caught likethatagain. We’ll continue to seem very friendly to Miss Eileen Ramsay, but we won’t be caught twice!”
“By the way, what made you so late to-night?” questioned Leslie, suddenly changing the subject. “I thought you’d never come!”
“Oh, I meant to tell you right away, but all this put it out of my head. When I got homeafter the ride, I found only Father there. He said Ted had been away most of the afternoon. He’d gone down to the village after some new fishing-tackle and hadn’t come back yet. I started in and got supper, and still he didn’t appear. Then we began to get worried and ’phoned down to Smithson’s in the village where they sell tackle, to see if he could be there. They said hehadbeen, early in the afternoon, but they hadn’t seen him since. We called up every other place he could possibly be, but nowhere was he to be found. I was beginning to be quite upset about him—when in he walked!
“He was very quiet and uncommunicative and wouldn’t explain why he was so late. And then, presently, he said in a very casual manner that his hand was hurt. And when he showed it to us, I almost screamed, for it was very badly hurt—all torn and lacerated. He had it wrapped in his handkerchief, but we made him undo it, and I bathed it and Fatherput iodine on, and I fixed him a sling to wear it in. The thing about it was that he didn’t seem to want to tell us how it happened. Said he met a friend who invited him to ride in their car and had taken him for a long drive. And on the way home they’d had a little breakdown, and Ted had tried to help fix it and had got his hand caught in the machinery somehow.
“But he was plainly very anxious not to be questioned about it. And Father says that Ted is old enough now to be trusted, and should not be compelled to speak when he doesn’t wish to, and so nothing more was said. But it all seemed a little strange to me, for, honestly, I don’t know a single soul in this village that Ted knows who owns a car, or any other of our friends who would be likely to be around these parts just now. They’re all home at their schools or colleges. When I asked him whose car he was in, he just glared at me and said I always did ask too many impertinentquestions! But I can’t make much out of it, and I hate any more puzzles to think about.”
Leslie, however, could cast no light on this new problem; and she was somewhat more interested, moreover, in their other puzzle. But as she was about to revert to that subject again, Phyllis suddenly interrupted:
“Oh, by the way, soon after I got home, Aunt Sally ’phoned to ask if we were back from the ride yet. And when I said we’d been back some time, she said she was quite worried because Eileen had not yet appeared and it was late and dark. I said perhaps she had stopped somewhere in the village, as she had left us a good while before. Quite a little later, just before Ted got in, Aunt Sally ’phoned again to say that Eileen had just arrived. She’d had some trouble with the car after she left us and had to stop and fix it. I wonder what was the matterthere!”
Suddenly Leslie clutched her friend’s arm.“Phyllis Kelvin, are we going crazy, or is there some strange connection in all this? Can’t you see?—Ted late and mixed up with some breakdown—Eileen late and had trouble with the machinery,—and with my own eyes I saw some one jump into her car!—Could it,couldit be possible that person was—Ted?”
Phyllis stared at her as if she thought Leslie certainlyhad“gone crazy.” “There’s not the slightest chance in the world!” she declared positively. “Why, only last night, when I was explaining to Ted about Eileen and how we’d become friends, all he said was: ‘Well, so you’ve taken up with some other dame, have you! Might as well not have brought you down here, all the good you are tous, this time. Haven’t been fishing with us more than twice since we came! Whoever this Eileen is, don’t for goodness sake have her around here!’ If he’d known her, he certainly would have shown it in some way. He acted utterly disgusted with me for having made her acquaintance!”
“That may all be true, but it doesn’t prove thatheis not acquainted with her,” stubbornly affirmed Leslie.
And Phyllis was driven to acknowledge the force of the argument!
CHAPTER XIIIA TRAP IS SET
They went indoors at last and tried to settle down to reading, but it was very difficult to distract their minds from disturbing thoughts. Miss Marcia retired early, as the ride had tired her, and they were left to their own devices. At length they gave up the attempt to read and sat talking in whispers over the dying fire. When there was nothing left but ashes, Leslie suggested, with a shiver, that they go to bed, and they withdrew to Leslie’s room.
Needless to say they didnotgo to bed at once, but sat long by the side window, staring across at Curlew’s Nest. And it was then that Phyllis suddenly had her great idea.
“Now, see here, Leslie Crane, I have an ideaand I’m going to do something, and I don’t want you to interfere with me. Do you understand?”
“What do you mean?” whispered Leslie, looking alarmed.
“I mean just this. You’re going to stay right where you are, with Rags, and keep watch. And I’m going to get out of the window and go over and explore Curlew’s Nest by myself!”
“Phyllis, are you crazy?” implored Leslie. “I think that is one of the most dangerous things you could do!”
“Nothing of the sort. It’s safer to-night than it would be almost any other time. Because—can’t you see?—some one has evidently been here all the afternoon, when the coast was entirely clear, and no doubt they’ve done all they wish to do there forthisday, anyhow! There couldn’tbea better time than this very night, for there’s not one chance in a hundred that they’ll be back again.”
“But just suppose the hundredth chance did happen, what would you do?” argued Leslie in despair.
“Do?—I’d shout like everything to you to turn Rags loose and call up the village constable and Father. Or better yet, I’d blow this police whistle which Father always insists on my carrying so that I can call them in to meals when they’re down on the beach. If you hearthat—just start things going. That’s why I’m leaving you and Rags here on guard.”
“Oh, I don’t like it—I don’t like it at all!” moaned Leslie. “It wouldn’t be so bad if you only met Eileen there—but you can’t tell whom you might encounter. I believe there’s something more dangerous and desperate about this affair than either of us have guessed. I don’t know why I think so—it’s just come to me lately. It’s a sort of—presentiment I can’t seem to shake off!”
“Nonsense!” declared Phyllis, not to bebalked. “If I met any one there, it could only be Eileen, and she’s the one I’m crazy to encounter. After the way she has treated us, I’d have a few things to say to that young person for trespassing on Mrs. Danforth’s property. Mrs. Danforth has always asked that we keep an eye on these cottages of hers while we’re here,—it’s an understood thing between us—so I’d be entirely within my rights in going in there to look the place over, especially if I suspected anything queer, and the other person would be quite in the wrong. Don’t you see?”
“Oh, yes, I see that, but it doesn’t lessen the fact that it may be dangerous!” sighed Leslie, wearily.
Phyllis ignored this. “If the hundredth chance should happen and I encounter Eileen, or if I come across anything very unusual and think you ought to see it, I’ll let you know. Only in case of the hundred andfirstchance of real danger will I blow this whistle. Hold ontight to Rags and don’t let him try to follow me. By-by! See you later!” And before Leslie could expostulate further, she had slipped out of the window, her electric torch in her hand, and was out of sight around the corner of the neighboring cottage.
Leslie remained half hanging out of the window, in an agony of suspense. The night was moonless and very dark. Added to that, a heavy sea-mist hung over everything like a blanket, and, out of the gloom, the steady pounding of the surf came to her with ominous insistence. The chill of the foggy air was penetrating, and she wrapped a sweater about her almost without realizing that she had done so. Rags was on the seat beside her, ears alertly cocked.
There was not a sound from the next house, nor could she even see a single gleam of light from the chinks in the shutters. Where could Phyllis be? Surely there had been time enough for her to have entered the place, looked about,and come out again. What could she be doing?
Then her brain began to be filled with horrible pictures of all the possible and impossible things that might have happened. So beyond all bearing did this feature become at length that she came to the sudden conclusion she would endure it no longer. She would get out of the window, herself, and go in search of her friend. If the worst came to worst, Rags could do some one a pretty bit of damage!
She had actually got as far as to put one foot over the low sill, when she quickly pulled it back again. A dark form had slipped around the corner of the other house and was hurrying toward her.
“Leslie! Leslie! Quick!—can you come here with me?”
Leslie almost collapsed, so swift was the reaction of relief at hearing Phyllis’s voice, after all her terrible imaginings.
“What is it? What have you found?” she managed to reply.
“I can’t explain to you here,” whispered Phyllis. “It would take too long. Come along with me and see for yourself. It’s perfectly safe. There’s not a soul around. I’ve been in the house. Bring Rags along—it won’t hurt. There have been queer doings here to-day—evidently. You can see it all in five minutes. Do come!”
In spite of all her previous fears, the temptation was too much for Leslie. If Phyllis had examined the ground and found it safe, surely there was no need for fear, and her curiosity to see what her friend had seen was now stronger than she could resist. She crept softly out of the window, speaking to Rags in a whisper, and the dog leaped lightly out after her.
They stole around the corner of the next house, three black shadows in the enveloping mist, and not till Phyllis had closed the sidedoor of Curlew’s Nest behind them was a word spoken.
“Follow me into the living-room,” she ordered, “and if you don’t see something there that surprises you, I miss my guess!”
She switched on the electric torch, and Leslie and Rags followed after her in solemn procession. From what she had said, Leslie expected to see the place in a terrible disorder, at the very least, and was considerably surprised, when she came into the room, to observe nothing out of its place. In some bewilderment she looked about, while Phyllis stood by, watching her.
“Why, what’s wrong?” she whispered. “Everything seems to be just as it was.”
“Look on the center-table!” commanded Phyllis, and she turned the torch full on that article of furniture.
Leslie tiptoed over to examine it. Then she uttered a little half-suppressed cry. On the table was a slip of paper—not a very largeslip, and evidently torn from some larger sheet. And on this paper were a few words, type-written. She bent to read them. It ran:
It is advisable that the article stolen from its hiding-place be returned to it as speedily as possible, as otherwise, consequences most serious to all parties concerned will result.
It is advisable that the article stolen from its hiding-place be returned to it as speedily as possible, as otherwise, consequences most serious to all parties concerned will result.
Leslie turned deadly pale as she read it and seized Phyllis spasmodically by the arm.
“Oh, come out of here this moment!” she exclaimed. “I will not stay in this house another instant. I told you it was dangerous!” and she dragged her friend, with the strength of terror to the side door.
Outside, as the chill mist struck her, she breathed a great sigh of relief.
“What a little ’fraid-cat you are!” laughed Phyllis. “What in the world were you frightened about?”
Leslie shivered. “Oh, the whole thing strikes me as too uncanny for words! Some one has been in here and left that warning.They may be around here now, for all you know. Who do you suppose it can be?”
“I’ve a very good notion who it was, but it’s too chilly to explain it standing here. Go over to the house with Rags and I’ll be there directly. I want to go back a moment.”
“Phyllis, Phyllis,don’tgo back there again!” implored Leslie, almost beside herself with an alarm she could hardly explain. “What do you want to do?”
“Never mind! Go back! I’ll be there in two minutes.” And tearing herself from Leslie’s grasp, Phyllis ran back into the dark bungalow.
But Leslie would not return to her own house and desert her companion, though she could not bring herself to enter again that fear-inspiring place. So she lingered about outside in a state of unenviable desperation till Phyllis once more emerged from the dark doorway.
“So you couldn’t leave me, after all!” Phyllislaughed. “Well, come back to bed now, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
They were chilled through with the drenching mist by the time they returned, and not till they were enveloped in the warm bed-clothing did Phyllis deign to explain her ideas about the newest development in their mystery.
“You were mightily scared by that little piece of paper, and I confess that I was startled myself, for a minute. But after I’d thought it over, it suddenly dawned on me that there was precious little to be scared about, and I’ll tell you why. I’m perfectly convinced that that thing was written and placed there by my brotherTed!”
Leslie sat up in bed with a jerk. “You can’t possibly mean it!”
“I certainly do, and here’s my reason: You yourself convinced me, earlier this evening, that there was a chance of Ted’s being mixed up in this thing somehow. I can’t imagine how he got into it—that’s a mystery past myexplaining. But it looks very much as if he knew this Eileen, and that he was poking around here this afternoon while we were away. Now he suspects thatweare mixed up in it, too, for he saw us come out of the bungalow that day. Well, if Eileen has told him about the Dragon’s Secret and its disappearance, perhaps he thinks we know what happened to it. At any rate, he’s taken the chance, and written this warning for our inspection the next time we happened in. He thinks it will scare us, I suppose! He’ll presently find out that we don’t scare for a cent! And I have thought of a scheme as good as his!—Do you know what I did when I went back there? I took a pencil andprintedon the bottom of that paper just this:
“‘The article will be returned to its hiding-place.’
“Now here’s what I’m going to do next. In my trunk I have a little jewel-case, very much the size and shape and weight of theDragon’s Secret. It’s one of those antimony things you’ve often seen, covered with a kind of carving that might easily pass for what’s on that other one, if it weren’tseen. I’m going to-morrow to make a burlap bag, just like the one we found, and sew the jewel-case in it, and it will be a sharp person who can tell the difference between them till the bag is opened. Then we’ll bury it in the place where Rags dug up the other, some time to-morrow when the coast is clear. After that we’ll wait and see what happens next! Now what do you think of my scheme?”
“It sounds splendid to me,” admitted Leslie, then she added uneasily: “But there’s something you haven’t explained yet. You think Ted wrote that thing, yet it istype-written! How do you explainthat?”
“Oh, that’s simple enough! We have an old typewriter down here that Father uses occasionally, and Ted frequently practises on it.”
“But did you notice the paper?” Leslie insisted. “It was queer, thin, almost foreign-looking stuff. Do you folks use that kind, or happen to have it about?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I suppose he got it somewhere. What does it matter, anyway?” answered Phyllis, sleepily. And in two minutes more she was in the land of dreams.
But Leslie, still unconvinced, tossed the night through without closing her eyes.
CHAPTER XIVTHE MAN WITH THE LIMP
Two days had passed. To Leslie it was a constant marvel, considering the secret tension under which she lived, that outwardly her life went on in the same peaceful groove. She rose and dressed as usual, prepared the meals, ate and chatted with Aunt Marcia, walked on the beach or down to the village, fished occasionally with Phyllis and the Kelvins, took a dip in the ocean when it was not too chilly, read and slept and idled, as if there were nothing in the world but what was quiet and normal and in the ordinary course of things.
Aunt Marcia suspected nothing. Even Ted, who, she was certain, suspected many things, laughed and chatted with and teasedher, and never by so much as a word or look indicated the slightest suspicion of her interest in Curlew’s Nest and its affairs. With Phyllis his manner was somewhat different, and during the last two days their relations had seemed occasionally rather strained, but there was no open break, in public at least.
“But at home it’s another matter!” Phyllis assured her. “Something’s come over him—I can’t guess what. He will hardly speak either to Father or myself. He doesn’t even want to play his violin when we get together, and usually he adores that. He’s moody and silent and just—grouchy, most of the time! And that’s unusual for Ted. I’ll give him credit for being a pretty amiable fellow, as a rule. I can’t make him out!”
“And it surely is queer that we’ve seen nothing more of Eileen, don’t you think so?” questioned Leslie.
“Well, no. Considering that she gained her point and got us away all that afternoon,I don’t think it at all queer. She’s done with us now. Why should she try to keep on with it? By the way, I called her up at Aunt Sally’s last night. She wasn’t there, but Aunt Sally said her grandfather has been rather worse for the last two days and she’s been at the hospital most of the time—was there then. All of which may or may not be so. As a matter of fact, I guess Aunt Sally knows precious little of her doings when she’s away in that car.”
Somehow, Leslie could never believe Eileen quite as full of duplicity as Phyllis thought her. While she had to admit that circumstances made the girl’s conduct seem almost inexcusable, there always lingered in her mind a stubborn feeling that perhaps there was more back of it all than they know—that Eileen herself might be struggling with entangling problems. And secretly she still felt a liking for the girl. But she knew it was useless to express these doubts to Phyllis, so she wisely kepther own counsel. But there was one thing she did allude to.
“Isn’t it strange that Eileen never told us a word about her grandfather, or how sick he was, or what was the matter with him? You would have thought it natural, that day when she took us riding, to saysomethingabout it, anyway. I hardly see now how she could have avoided it. And yet she did. You’d never have thought she had such a thing as a sick grandfather on her mind!”
“Leslie, you certainly are a trusting soul!” exclaimed Phyllis, scornfully. “How do you know shehasa sick grandfather in any hospital? I strongly doubt it myself!”
“Oh, Ican’tbelieve she’s not telling the truth aboutthat!” cried Leslie, thoroughly shocked. “Don’t you believe anything about her any more?”
“I don’t know what I believe or don’t believe—abouther!” retorted Phyllis. “And what’s more, there’s only one thing concerningher that Iaminterested in just now—whether she has discovered the answer to that note left in there and when she—or any one else—is going to make the attempt to unearth their treasure again!”
Phyllis had been as good as her word. On the morning after that night of the fog, she had returned to her bungalow before breakfast, and had reappeared later at Rest Haven with a mysterious bundle. When they had both retired to Leslie’s room she revealed its contents, a piece of burlap, an exact duplicate of the one which contained the Dragon’s Secret, and an antimony jewel-case. Then they got down the original from its dusty shelf, fashioned a bag, the exact size and shape of the one Rags had unearthed, placed the jewel-case in it, and sewed it up. When all was complete it would have been extremely difficult to tell the original from its duplicate, so nearly alike did they seem.
Late that afternoon, while Ted and hisfather were far up the inlet, and with the beach entirely deserted, they buried the false treasure-box in the sand by the old log. Phyllis did the deed, while Leslie scouted the beach in every direction, investigated every nook and corner that could possibly conceal any one, and made absolutely certain that they were not observed. And from that time on they had awaited results.
And to their certain knowledge, there had been none. Each day, at some hour when there was least likelihood of any one being near, they had examined the place, only to find the buried bag still in its hiding-place, untouched. At night they had taken turns keeping watch, all the night through; but no stealthy visitor had come to Curlew’s Nest, nor had there been any during the day—of that they were absolutely certain. The beach had never seemed so free of visitors before.
And thus matters stood on the second afternoon, and they were beginning to be impatientat inaction and delay. Then Phyllis had an idea.
“I know what’s the matter!” she cried. “We’re keeping too close a watch. We don’t give anybody a chance to come within gunshot of that place, unobserved, so how can we expect that anything is going to happen? If it’s Ted, don’t you suppose he sees us hanging about here all the time? He’d be a goose to try anything right in front of our eyes. No doubt he’s seen one or the other of us at the window all night, too. And if it’s Eileen or any one else, it’s the same thing. Let’s go off somewhere and give them a chance. Not too far though, for we want to be where we can get back with reasonable speed ourselves.”
So they went for a stroll along the beach, accompanied by Rags, who was only too delighted at the prospect of an expedition that promised some change. It was a mild, hazy October afternoon. An opalescent mist lay along the horizon and the waves rolled in lazily,too lazily to break with their accustomed crash. Every little while there would be a flight of wild geese, in V-shaped flying line, far overhead, and their honking would float down faintly as they pushed on in their southward course. It was a golden afternoon, and Leslie almost resented the fact that they had any worries or problems on their minds.
“Why, who in the world is that?” exclaimed Phyllis, suddenly, as they rounded a slight curve in the beach and came in sight of a figure standing at the water’s edge, a rod and long line in his hand, and a camp-stool and fishing-kit beside him. “There hasn’t been a stranger fishing in this region in an age! People generally go down by the big bungalow colony three miles farther along for that. We almost never see any one here. I wonder what it means!”
As they came nearer, they could see more plainly what sort of person he appeared to be. He was tall and stalwart and gray-haired. Aslouch hat was pulled down to shade his eyes, but still they could see that his face was alert and kindly and placid, with twinkling gray eyes and a whimsical mouth. He was obviously an adept fisherman, as Phyllis remarked, when they had witnessed the clever way in which he managed a catch. They were very near him by that time, and watching breathlessly. Once his prey almost eluded him, but with a skilful manipulation of his tackle, he presently brought the big fellow, lashing wildly, to land, well out of reach of the water.
“Great Scott!” he exclaimed, winding up his line, “but that fellow gave me a warm ten minutes!”
The girls had by this time reached the spot and were admiring the catch.
“Congratulations!” laughed Phyllis, with the informal interest of the born fisherman. “I couldn’t have done it myself, not after he had almost escaped. He must weigh five pounds!”
The stranger looked at them with interest. “So you fish? Well, it’s the best sport in the world. This bouncer has been dodging me all the afternoon, and I vowed I’d get him before I left. Almost had him once before, but he got away with the bait. Wouldn’t let me alone, though, even after that. I warned him he was flirting with his fate!” And he laughed a big, booming, pleasant laugh.
At this moment Rags, who had been elsewhere occupied, came bounding up, and straightway made a bee-line over to investigate the fish.
“Hi! Stop that!” exclaimed the stranger. “I intend to have that fish for my supper to-night!” and he made a dash for his cherished trophy. But Rags, disconcerted by the sudden movement, was on his guard at once. As the man approached, he sank his teeth into the fish with a growl that was a warning not to be ignored.
“Oh, call him off!” cried the man, anxiously,and Leslie, very much upset, sprang forward to rescue the stranger’s dinner. But Rags saw a chance for a lark; and as times had been rather slow and uninteresting for him of late, he determined to make the most of it. Seizing the fish in a firm grip, he galloped madly up the beach, the two girls wildly pursuing.
There ensued a chase very similar to the one he had led them on that eventful day when he had unearthed the Dragon’s Secret. Never once did he allow them to lay a finger on his prize, though, panting and disgusted, they pursued him hither and yon, sometimes so close that he was well within their reach, sometimes with him far in advance. Occasionally he would lie down with the fish between his paws, fairly inviting them to come and help themselves. Which they had no sooner attempted, than he was up and away again.
The man wisely took no part in the struggle, but stood looking on, encouraging them with half-rueful, half-laughing remarks. At lengthLeslie had an inspiration. While Rags was standing at the edge of the water, panting from a long and furious run, the fish reposing at his feet, she seized a small board lying near, called to him beguilingly and hurled the board out into the sea.
Here was a game that was even more fascinating. Rags always adored it. Forsaking the much-sought fish, he leaped into the lazy waves and swam out toward his new prize, while the stranger eagerly seized the fish and concealed it in his basket.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” apologized Leslie. “I know he has spoiled it now. I hope you can forgive us for this dreadful thing.”
“Nothing of the sort!” laughed the stranger. “He hasn’t harmed it a bit, for it was only the head he had hold of. When it’s washed and cooked, that beauty will taste just as good as if it had never had the adventure. My, but that’s a fearsome animal of yours! I wouldn’t want to tackle him. But thoseEnglish sheep-dogs are noted for being wonderful protectors and very interesting pets besides.”
And just to show that he bore Rags no malice, he picked up the board which the dog had retrieved, and obligingly hurled it into the surf again. Rags ecstatically pursued it once more, dropped it at the man’s feet, and begged for another opportunity. But just before it was launched a third time, he spied a hermit-crab scuttling away almost under his nose, forsook his latest diversion, and was off on another hunt.
The man laughed, dropped the wet, sandy board, dusted off his hands by striking them together, picked up his fishing-kit, hung his camp-stool over his arm, bade the girls good afternoon, and strode away.
They gazed after him a moment and were about to turn back toward their own part of the beach, when Leslie suddenly seized Phyllis’s arm in a vice-like grip.
“Phyllis, Phyllis, don’t think me crazy! Something has just come to me. The way that man threw the board just now and dusted off his hands and then walked away—was just—exactly like—theman with the limpthat morning at dawn! The action was identical. I’m positive I’m not mistaken. And he looks just like him, the same height and build and all, as he walked away.”
“But, my dear child,he doesn’t limp!” cried Phyllis, conclusively. “So you certainly are mistaken!”
“I know he doesn’t, but I—don’t care. He’s the same one. I am absolutely sure of it. Maybe he’s all over the limp now.”
But though Leslie was so certain, Phyllis remained unconvinced!
CHAPTER XVOUT OF THE HURRICANE
With the fickleness of October weather (which is often as freakish as that of April), the golden afternoon had turned cloudy and raw before the girls returned home. By nightfall it was raining, and a rising, gusty wind had ruffled the ocean into lumpy, foam-crested waves. At seven o’clock the wind had increased to a heavy gale and was steadily growing stronger. The threatened storm, as usual, filled Miss Marcia with nervous forebodings, and even Leslie experienced some uncomfortable apprehensions during their supper hour.
At eight o’clock, Phyllis arrived, escorted by Ted. “My!” she exclaimed, shaking the raindrops from her clothes as she stood on theporch, “but this is going to be a night! Father says the papers have warnings that we should probably get the tail-end of a West Indian hurricane that was headed this way, and I guess it has come! It’s getting worse every minute. Have you seen how the tide is rising? Get on your things and come down to the beach. Ted brought me, because I could hardly stand up against the wind. He’s going back presently. Come and see how the water is rising!”
“Oh, hush!” implored Leslie, glancing nervously toward her aunt. “You’ve no idea how upset Aunt Marcia is already,” she whispered. “She’ll be distracted if she gets an idea there’s any danger.”
“Forgive me!” returned Phyllis, contritely. “I really didn’t think, for a moment. Father says there probably isn’t any real danger. The tide has almost never risen as far as these bungalows, except in winter; and if the worst comes to the worst, we can always get out of them and walk away. But this threatens tobe the worst storm of the kind we’ve had in years. Are you coming down to see the water?”
“If Aunt Marcia doesn’t mind. But if she’s afraid to be left alone, I won’t.”
“Oh, Ted will be here, and we’ll just run down for a minute or two. It’s really a great sight!”
Ted very thoughtfully offered to stay, and the two girls, wrapped to the eyes, pushed through the blinding rain and wind down to where the breakers were pounding their way up the beach, spreading, when they broke, farther and farther inland. So terrific was the impact of the wind, that the girls had to turn their backs to it when they wanted to speak.
“I brought you out here, as much as anything, because I had something to say,” shouted Phyllis, her voice scarcely audible to the girl close beside her. “If the tide keeps on like this, it will probably wash away what we’ve hidden by the old log. And probablyothers who are concerned with that may be thinking of the same thing. We’ve got to keep a close watch. I believe things are going to happen to-night!”
“But don’t you think we’d better dig it up ourselves, right away?” suggested Leslie. “We can’t very well go out to do it later when it may be necessary, and surely you want to save it.”
“Certainlynot!” declared Phyllis. “I don’t care if itiswashed away. What I want is the fun of seeing the other parties breaking their necks to rescue it. If it’s washed away they’ll think the real article has disappeared, and then we’ll see what next! Let’s take one more look at the surf and then go back.”
They peered out for a moment into the awe-inspiring blackness where an angry ocean was eating into the beach. Then, battling back against the wind, they returned to the house. Ted, having ascertained that there was no further service he could render, suggested thathe had better go back and help his father stop a leak in the roof of Fisherman’s Luck, which had suddenly proved unseaworthy.
“I’m so glad Phyllis will be with us to-night,” Miss Marcia told him, “for I’m very little company for Leslie at a time like this. I get so nervous that I have to take a sedative the doctor has given me for emergencies, and that generally puts me pretty soundly to sleep.”
They sat about the open fire after Ted had gone, listening to the commotion of the elements outside and talking fitfully. Every few moments Miss Marcia would rise, go to the window, and peer out nervously into the darkness. Once the telephone-bell rang and every one jumped. Leslie hurried to answer it.
“Oh, it’s Aunt Sally Blake!” she exclaimed. “She wants to know how we all are and if we happen to have seen anything of Eileen. She was at the hospital all the afternoon, but shehasn’t returned. Aunt Sally ’phoned the hospital, but they said Miss Ramsay had left three hours ago. She’s terribly worried about her—thinks she may have had an accident in this storm. She thought it just possible Eileen might have come on out here. I said no, but would call her up later and see if she’d had news.”
This latest turn of affairs added in no wise to Miss Marcia’s peace of mind. “Why don’t you take your powder now, Aunt Marcia, and go to bed,” Leslie suggested at last. “It’s only worrying you to sit up and watch this. There’s no danger, and you might as well go peacefully to sleep and forget it. Phyllis and I will stay up quite a while yet, and if there’s any reason for it, we will wake you.”
Miss Marcia herself thought well of the plan and was soon in bed, and, having taken her sleeping-powder, the good lady was shortly fast and dreamlessly asleep, much to the relief of the girls.
“And now let’s go into your room and watch,” whispered Phyllis. “I’m just as certain as I can be that something is going to happen to-night!”
They arranged themselves, each at a window, Phyllis at the one toward the sea; Leslie facing Curlew’s Nest, and began an exciting vigil. With the electric light switched off, it was so black, both inside and out, that it would have been difficult to distinguish anything, but with the windows shut and encrusted with wind-blown sand, it was utterly impossible. And when they dared to open them even a crack, the rain poured in and drenched them. They could do this only at intervals. Even Rags seemed to share the general uneasiness, and could find no comfortable spot in which to dispose himself, but kept hovering between the two windows continually.
It was Leslie who suddenly spoke in a hushed whisper. She had just opened her window the merest crack and peeped out, thenclosed it again without sound. “Phyllis, come here a moment. Look out when I open the window. It struck me that I saw something—some dark shape—slip around the corner of the house next door. See if you can see it.”
Phyllis applied her eye to the crack when the window was opened. Then she drew her head back with a jerk. “I certainly did see something!” she whispered excitedly. “It slipped back to the other side of the bungalow!” She peered out again. “Good gracious! I see it again—or else it’s another one. Doesn’t seem quite like the first figure. Can there possibly be two?”
Leslie then, becoming impatient, demanded a turn at the peep-hole, and while she was straining her gaze into the darkness, they were both electrified by a light, timid knock at the door of the front veranda.
“Who canthatbe?” cried Leslie, wide-eyed and trembling.
“Perhaps it’s Ted come back,” ventured Phyllis. “At any rate, I suppose we’ll have to go and see!”
Rags, alert also, uttered a low growl, and Leslie silenced him anxiously. “If this arouses Aunt Marcia,”—she whispered, “I shall be awfully worried. Be quiet, Rags!”
They tiptoed into the living-room, switched on the light, and advanced to the door. Again the knock came, light but insistent; and without further hesitation, Leslie threw the door open.
A muffled, dripping figure inquired timidly, “Please may I come in? I’m dripping wet and chilled to the bone.”
“Why,Eileen!” cried Leslie, “what are you doing here in this terrible storm?”
“I got lost on the way back from the hospital,” half sobbed the new-comer, “and I must have motored round and round in the rain and dark. And at last something went wrong with the engine, and I got out and left the caron the road—and I walked and walked—trying to find some place to stay—and at last I found I was right near here—so I came in!” She seemed exhausted and half hysterical and Leslie could not but believe her.
“Well, I’m so glad you’re found and here!” she cried. “I must call up Aunt Sally right away and tell her you’re all right. She called a while ago and was so anxious about you.”
Leslie went to the telephone, while Phyllis helped Eileen to rid herself of her wet clothes and get into something dry. Then they all sat down by the fire in an uneasy silence. Presently Phyllis suggested that Eileen might like something warm to eat and drink, as she had evidently had no dinner. She assented to this eagerly, and the two girls went to the kitchen to provide something for her.
“I tell you,” whispered Phyllis, “I just can’t believe that hospital and getting-lost stuff! She came out here for some purpose, you mark my word! But why she wants toget in here is beyond me just yet. I’ll find out later, though, you see if I don’t!”
When they entered the living-room with a dainty tray a few minutes later, they found Eileen standing by one of the windows facing the ocean, trying vainly to peer into the outer blackness. She started guiltily when she saw them and retreated to the fire, murmuring something about “the awful night.” But though she had seemed so eager for food, she ate almost nothing.
“Can’t you take a little of this hot soup?” urged Leslie. “It will do you so much good. You must be very hungry by now.”
“Oh, thanks, so much!” Eileen replied, with a grateful glance. “You are very good to me. I did really think I was hungry, at first, but I’m so nervous I just can’t eat!”
She pushed the tray aside and began to roam restlessly about the room. At every decent excuse, such as an extra heavy gust of wind or a flapping of the shutters, she wouldhurry to the window and try to peer out.
At length Phyllis made an excuse to disappear into Leslie’s room and was gone quite a time. Suddenly she put her head out of the door into the living-room and remarked, in a voice full of suppressed excitement: “Leslie, can you come here a moment?”
Leslie excused herself and ran to join Phyllis. “What is it?” she whispered breathlessly.
“Look out of the front window!” returned Phyllis, in a hushed undertone. “There’s something queer going on outside—by the old log!”
Leslie opened the window a crack. The howl of the storm and the lash of rain was appalling, and it was two or three minutes before she could accustom her sight to the outer blackness. But when she did manage to distinguish something, she was startled to observe not only one, buttwodark figures circling slowly round and round the log, like two animalsafter the same prey, and watching each other cautiously.
“But that’s not all!” muttered Phyllis, behind her. “There’s a third figure standing in the shadow right by Curlew’s Nest. I saw him out of the side window. What on earth can it all mean?”
So absorbed were they that neither of them noticed the form that slipped into the room behind them and stood peering over their shoulders. But they were suddenly startled beyond words to hear Eileen, close behind them, catch her breath with an indrawn hiss, and mutter involuntarily:
“Oh,Ted!—Be careful!—Look out!—Look out!—”