It was late on the following forenoon when the Meadow-Brook Girls might have been observed towing the "Red Rover" out from the creek in which it had been anchored. They decided that it was high time to leave.
During their absence, and while they were frightening the Tramp Club with sheets draped over sticks and carried high above their heads, Tommy and Margery had been having an exciting experience. They had been anxiously peering out of the cabin, when after an hour or so they discovered a canoe approaching the scow. At first they thought it one of their own party who was paddling the canoe. They soon discovered that it was a man. The girls were too frightened to do more than watch him in almost breathless silence. But when the man climbed aboard the after deck, after satisfying himself that the boat was deserted, they decided that it was time to move.
Tommy uttered a scream. Margery followed suit and their cries had been heard by the returning ghost party. The man did not tarry to see who had screamed. He sprang into the creek, where, pushing his canoe ahead of him, he ran down the stream. He had then leaped in and had given the paddle the first swift sweep when discovered by Harriet and her party.
Miss Elting was really alarmed when she heard their story. She decided to sit up all night and watch. Jane and Harriet kept watch with her. They did not retire until daylight, after which they got a few hours of sleep. Then came a late breakfast and the preparations for departure. They were going back to the other side of the lake, where they intended to tie up at their old anchorage near the main camp of the Tramp Club.
After dragging the houseboat out and finding a suitable anchorage, Harriet rowed over to the mainland. Running up to the farmhouse she telephoned to the nearest town for a launch to come down and give them a tow. Billy Gordon and his motor boat were not on hand for the purpose this morning.
When about eleven o'clock a launch came down the coast in search of them the wind had risen and the lake was rough. It was an old boat and did not look as though it could stand much weather. The man running the boat said there was rather a stiff sea on the other side of the island, but he thought he could make it. Miss Elting said she would give him five dollars if he would take them across. He made fast to the "Red Rover" and started.
Once they had rounded the island they did not think the waves would be very high. Being protected by a point of land they did not get the full force of the wind. Nor did they realize what a chance they had taken until they had gotten well out into the lake. There the gale struck them with full force. Harriet grew really alarmed. She feared the "Red Rover" was not strong enough to stand up under it. Margery was seasick and the others also felt the effects of the gale.
The "Red Rover" was now pitching more violently than ever. Jane was gazing at the launch wide-eyed, expecting every moment to see it take a dive, not to come up again. Everything movable in the "Red Rover's" cabin was being hurled about. The oil stove long since had tipped over, glass was being smashed, dishes broken, pieces of each of these were rattling over the floor. Miss Elting decided that they would be better off outside.
Harriet protested against their going on the upper deck, saying that they might be blown off into the lake. Jane was protecting herself by clinging to a rope. The awning suddenly ballooned and went up into the air, taking some of the awning posts with it. Miss Elting had no further desire to go up on deck after that. With her charges she kept close to the deck house, where they shielded themselves from the wind as much as possible.
"He's turning round," shouted Jane, with hands to lips.
"Don't let him. He will upset us."
Jane yelled at the man in the launch, who—not daring to brave the seas any longer, was slowly turning his launch about. He shook his head, evidently thinking she was ordering him to continue. Seeing that her words were of no avail, Crazy Jane leaped down to the forward deck and casting the tow line from the cleat, flung it out on the water.
"Hook on the other end and tow us back if you want to. Don't you know better than to turn us around in all this storm?" she yelled.
The boatman ran up to the stern where Harriet was doing her best to keep the boat's head to the wind, but was slowly losing ground. She motioned to him to keep off and beckoned to him to cast the tow line to her so she could make it fast at that end. Harriet had forgotten that there was no rudder at the other end. But the boatman persisted in getting up close to the houseboat. All at once what Harriet had feared did happen. The launch was picked up on a heavy swell and hurled against the houseboat. There followed the sound of crunching woodwork. The launch began to fill with water.
"Jump!" shouted Captain Harriet. "You're sinking."
The boatman clung to his craft a moment longer, then leaped into the lake. He was not a good swimmer, but fortunately the waves were rolling toward the houseboat, carrying him in that direction. Harriet had dropped the tiller and was watching him narrowly. There was no rope ready, the one that usually lay at hand having been lost with the launch, which slowly settled in the water, then disappeared.
The girl saw that the man was likely to be hurled against the side of the houseboat. She snatched up a boathook and when he came within reach thrust it out to him.
"Hold steady until that wave passes, then I'll pull you in," she called. The blow from the waves took nearly all the breath out of the man, but as soon as it had passed, Harriet hauled him quickly aboard.
Miss Elting reported that the "Red Rover" was leaking, that the launch had crushed in a plank on the side.
"Stuff clothing in the hole," ordered Jane. "Here you, Mr. Man, please go in there and see if you can't nail up the broken place. You've got to do something or you'll never set foot on land again."
Off in the camp of the Tramp Club there was great excitement. The boys had discovered the craft laboring in the heavy sea, and as it drew nearer to their side of the lake, they discovered that it was none other than the "Red Rover."
"They're in trouble, boys. Billy, will your boat stand it?" asked George.
"As long as we can keep the water out of her."
"Then let's get aboard. No, you fellows stay here. There's a load of them out there to fetch back if we ever get close enough to take them off."
The motors were working, but no sooner had the two boys gotten clear of the little pier at their camp than the engines suddenly stopped and the boat drifted back.
"There's a short circuit somewhere," called Billy. "Hold her. I'll find it and we'll be going very shortly."
"Hurry, Billy! They're in an awful mess over there," urged George.
It seemed as though the "Red Rover" must be torn to pieces. The boat was now drifting broadside to the waves. Every large wave would break against the side, then leap clear over the boat. Every wave seemed powerful enough to crush in the sides. But they came out dripping, glistening red after each onslaught. The boatman had succeeded in patching the rent caused by the collision, but the upper deck was leaking in many places. The "Red Rover" had been strained almost to the breaking-up point. It was now fairly wallowing in the foaming sea dashing against its weather side. Harriet had given up trying to do anything with the rudder. She could not keep the bow of the boat around to the seas. It persisted in lying broadside on, where it took the full force of the waves.
"There comes a boat," cried Jane, who had been on the upper deck, waving a sheet as a signal that they were in distress. All hands peered toward the mainland. They saw a launch making slow progress toward them. The little boat seemed to be standing with her bow in the air most of the time. First it would rear then plunge. As it neared them they saw that it was Billy Gordon's boat, bearing himself and George Baker.
"Cast a line! I don't dare get near," shouted Billy when close enough to make his voice heard.
"We haven't any. Cast your own," answered Harriet.
George did the casting. He failed three times but on the fourth cast Harriet caught the line and quickly made it fast to a cleat at the forward end being nearly swept overboard in the effort. The "Red Rover" straightened out on her course. For a moment the launch seemed to be losing ground rather than gaining, then slowly it began to pick up and shortly after that was making slow progress toward shore.
There were many spectators to that battle, none of whom believed that either launch or houseboat, ever would reach the land. Other boats refused to venture out in such a gale. Even the big boats remained tied up. So much water was taken aboard by the launch that George was fully occupied in bailing. A piece of oilcloth had been thrown over the engines and battery coils to keep these from getting soaked and thus causing a stoppage of the engine.
For two hours did launch and houseboat labor through the seas, fighting every inch of the way. Harriet's arms ached from handling the tiller. She was wet to the skin but clung steadily to her work. The boatman was kept inside to watch for and stop leaks, of which there were many before the voyage came to an end. At last the "Red Rover" slipped into comparatively calm water, amid a chorus of yells from the boys on shore. George got up and waved his cap to the girls. They answered the salute with three cheers, then Billy pulled the scow up to her former anchorage, and in a few moments she lay rolling easily in a moderate swell, safe, though considerably strained from her wild voyage across a lake that many larger and more seaworthy boats would have hesitated to brave.
It was late in the evening when some sort of order had been restored in the cabin of the "Red Rover." The boys had turned to and worked like Trojans, helping to get the water out of the boat, to mend broken places and throw the broken dishes overboard.
When all was done Miss Elting served a luncheon to them, mostly canned stuff, all the other food having been ruined in the voyage across the lake. It was during the luncheon that she made a confession for herself and companions. She told the Tramp Club how they had dressed up in white sheets and chased the boys from the island; how they had hidden in the cave with their boat; how Jane had discovered the half-breed and narrowly missed a double discovery herself.
"And now," concluded Miss Elting, "that is the way we played our tricks. Perhaps we won the contest but after your bravery to-day we feel that far greater honors are due to you boys."
The boys, whose faces had flushed during the recital, now broke into a hearty laugh.
"That's the best joke ever played on a bunch of fellows," cried Billy. "And you've won the wager fairly enough. You don't need to apologize for the ghosts. The trouble is we tried to play worse jokes on you, but you turned them on us every time. If we got you out of the lake it was by good luck, not because we were so awfully brave. I'll never brag about bravery after last night. And now good night. You folks are tired and want to go to bed. We'll see that you aren't disturbed this evening. You don't think of working your disappearing act to-night, do you?"
"No. We have had sufficient excitement for one day," answered Miss Elting laughingly. "We are going to invite you over to dinner soon, then we will have a happy good-bye party before we leave. By the way, boys, we are going ashore in the morning on a shopping trip. As all of us wish to go I am going to ask you if you will keep an eye on the 'Red Rover.' There is very little possibility that our enemy will visit it in broad daylight, still it is best to take proper precautions against further attacks."
"We'll be very glad to look out for the 'Red Rover' while you're away," responded George heartily. "That is if you can assure us that you won't try any new vanishing tricks."
"We give you our solemn promise," laughed Harriet. "The 'Red Rover' has played her last trick."
Harriet's laughing assurance, however, was destined to prove truer than she had dreamed. The next morning the girls rose early, and after a hasty breakfast went ashore to do their shopping, secure in the thought that the Tramp Club would keep an eye on the "Red Rover."
In the meantime the boys had posted a watch on the shore, in the person of Billy Gordon, who seated comfortably on the ground, his back against a big tree, glanced frequently out over the lake to where the "Red Rover" lay at anchor, her red sides glistening in the sun.
It was well towards noon when Billy rose from the ground and strolled lazily down to the beach. Suddenly his good-natured face took on a startled look as he stared anxiously toward the houseboat. A moment later he was running toward the tent at full speed.
"Fellows, come out here!" he shouted. "Hurry up!"
"What's the matter?" asked George Baker, hurrying out of the tent, the other members of the Tramp Club at his heels.
"Look!" gasped Billy, pointing toward the "Red Rover." "What do you make of that?"
"Why—why—" stammered George Baker. Then he uttered a sudden cry of alarm. "By George, she's on fire. That scamp has sneaked in and set fire to the boat under our very noses. I'm positive that he did it. Pile into the launch with all the pails you can find and let's get out there. That villain must have swum over, climbed aboard, and set fire to the side of the boat away from the shore. That's why we didn't notice the smoke when she first began to burn."
By the time they were on their way toward the doomed houseboat the fire had made tremendous headway. Being an old boat, the "Red Rover" burned like kindling. It seemed to be fairly wrapped in flames.
"It's no use," groaned George. "She'll be gone inside of the next five minutes. We can't save the boat or anything on board. I'm thankful the girls were all on shore. That villain must have watched them go, and then swam out here. If he'd paddled out in his canoe this morning we'd have seen him. Don't go too near her, fellows. She's likely to collapse any minute."
"Look out! She's going!" exclaimed Larry Goheen. A moment later the whole top of the unwieldy boat fell in, while the flames attacked the hull with renewed fury.
When the Meadow-Brook Girls returned to the shore of the lake, that afternoon, well laden with the fruits of their shopping, they were met by the members of the Tramp Club, who looked unduly solemn. One glance at their grave faces and Harriet cried out apprehensively, "What on earth has happened to you, boys?"
"We're all right," stammered George, "but the 'Red Rover'—well, it is—"
The Meadow-Brook Girls all looked involuntarily in the direction of where the "Red Rover" had lain that morning.
"Why—why—where is our boat?" faltered Miss Elting.
Then George poured forth the story of the morning's disaster, while the girls listened in consternation to the recital of the way in which the houseboat had been set fire to and sunk.
"Of course that half-breed did it," concluded George, "and now that we've told you all about it, we are going to start out after him. I'll wager he's somewhere around this lake yet."
"I shall go back to the village at once and put the matter in the hands of the constable," declared Miss Elting. "I shall also see Dee Dickinson. I hold him indirectly responsible for all the disagreeable things that have happened to us, and for this, too."
"Wait until to-night before you do anything about it," begged George. "Give the Tramp Club a chance to distinguish themselves. If we don't get our man by six o'clock to-night, then put the matter in the hands of the authorities. In the meantime, won't you accept our hospitality for the day? We offer you the use of our camp while we go out on a man hunt."
After some further conversation Miss Elting reluctantly agreed to the boys' plan, and after considerable mourning over the lost "Red Rover," the girls settled themselves in the camp of the tramps to await the return of the boys.
"It looks as though we would have to go back to Meadow-Brook a little sooner than we expected, girls," declared Miss Elting.
"I'd rather go home than thtay around where there are crathy Indianth," retorted Tommy. "Thuppothe we had been on that boat when it thank."
"We wouldn't have been so foolish as to stay on it if it had been sinking," laughed Harriet. "Besides all of us can swim. Our enemy took good care to set fire to the boat when we weren't on it."
"I wonder what his object is in persecuting us so," mused Hazel. "None of us have ever harmed him."
"Ask Dee Dickinson," advised Jane dryly.
"We certainly shall do so, this very night," returned Miss Elting, with compressed lips.
Meanwhile the Tramp Club had pursued what bade fair to be a fruitless quest. Search as they might they could find no trace of their quarry. Late in the afternoon the launch reached the entrance to the hidden creek where the "Red Rover" had recently lain snug and secure.
"This is certainly an ideal hiding place," declared George, as he scanned the bank on both sides. "I don't wonder—"
He was interrupted by an excited shout from Larry, who had also been keeping a sharp lookout. "There he goes!" he yelled.
A long dark green canoe had shot out from under an overhanging ledge of rock. The sole occupant was paddling with swift, noiseless strokes toward the mouth of the creek, intent on reaching the lake and making his escape.
"It's the half-breed!" yelled Larry excitedly.
"He's been hiding up here waiting for night to come. He thought that we didn't know about this place. Now that we've hunted him down, he's trying to make a quick get-away. Once out of the creek he can give us the slip. Fellows, we've got to get him!"
Billy, who was at the wheel, began backing the launch toward the mouth of the creek. Not for an instant did the boys lose sight of their man, and the moment the boat reached open water it was sent ahead at full speed. Soon they began to gain on the fugitive, who was paddling with a speed little short of marvelous.
"Hold on there!" shouted George. "We've got you anyway. You might as well surrender!"
The man in the canoe refused to halt at command, but continued to paddle desperately, until Billy deliberately ran him down. An instant later George was holding on to their captive with an iron grip.
"Shut down. I've got him!" he yelled. Billy obeyed, and the half-breed was hauled into the launch, kicking and struggling furiously.
"Get a rope," commanded George. "There's a coil of it in the bow of the launch."
Five minutes later the Indian was lying in the bottom of the boat tied beyond all possibility of escape, and the boys were triumphantly heading for camp.
"We've got the Indian!" yelled Larry to the little group on shore as the launch neared the landing in front of the Tramp Club's camp.
"We've been watching for you," called Harriet. "We saw you when you were away up the lake. Have you really got him?"
"Indeed we have, and tied so that he'd have hard work getting away," laughed Gordon.
"What shall we do with him?" asked Larry as they bore the Indian ashore in triumph.
"Stand him up against that tree for the present," ordered George, then grimly wound coil after coil of rope around the half-breed, securing him with many a hard knot. At last George stood back to survey his work with admiration.
"I'd like to see even an Indian get out of that harness," Baker remarked complacently.
Harriet and Jane walked over to the tree and looked searchingly at the captive. Both recognized him as the man they had seen while the "Red Rover" lay hidden in the creek.
"Larry and I are going up to the village at once to notify the authorities," announced George. "We want to get rid of this fellow as soon as possible."
"And I am going with you," announced Miss Elting firmly, "to hunt up Mr. Dee Dickinson. He knows all about this man and the time has arrived for him to tell me the truth."
Dickinson at first refused flatly to give Miss Elting any satisfaction concerning the Indian.
"Then I shall have you arrested as a suspicious character, also," declared Miss Elting sternly. "Unless you give me a full explanation of this whole affair I shall have you taken in custody by the authorities. Understand you are to tell me everything."
Dickinson, however, seeing that Miss Elting would admit of no trifling, decided that it would be better to make a clean breast of the matter.
"The Indian's name is Charlie Lavaille," he began sullenly, "though he's commonly called French Charlie. He makes a sort of living at fishing, and he hired the houseboat from me."
"Then you rented the boat to some one else, and afterwards turned it over to us without letting us know?" asked Miss Elting.
"He rented the houseboat after a fashion," Dickinson explained lamely, "though he didn't pay any rent down, and hasn't paid a penny since. He was going to pay me, he said, at the end of the season. Now, of course, when you came up here with a message from your brother, and claimed the boat, I had to let you have it. If Charlie had paid any money, I would have refunded it to him; but as he hadn't paid a cent there was nothing to do but to turn the boat over to you."
"And you left us in ignorance of all this, when the knowledge of it might have saved us much trouble, let alone the danger we ran and the final loss of the boat?" Miss Elting asked accusingly.
"Well, you see, it was hard to explain," replied Dee Dickinson reluctantly. "At any rate, at the time I thought it would be hard to explain, so I let it go without telling you. I tried to make it all clear to Charlie that, having paid no money, he had no claim on the boat, but you can't explain a thing like that to an Indian. So Charlie wouldn't listen to anything I could say. The half-breed isn't right in his head, anyway, I'm inclined to think."
"So, without warning, you left us at the mercy of a possibly insane Indian?" Miss Elting persisted. "Mr. Dickinson, you have acted in a very cowardly fashion toward women who had been sent here believing that they were to be in a measure under your protection. You should be compelled to suffer for it. I shall write to my brother at once and tell him just what sort of man you are."
Dickinson cringed at Miss Elting's severe words and fairly slunk from the guardian's presence at the close of the interview.
The village constable and one of his men returned to the camp with Miss Elting and the boys to take charge of the Indian. He was locked up for a few days by the authorities at Wantagh, then subjected to a rigid examination by a medical board, and being pronounced insane, was sent away to one of the state institutions for the demented.
The Meadow-Brook Girls and Miss Elting said good-bye to the Tramp Club that evening and spent the night at the village hotel.
"We've had a fine time at any rate," said Jane McCarthy as they discussed all over again the exciting happenings of the day before, at breakfast the next morning. "Where are we going next? Vacation isn't half over yet."
"Why we're going home, aren't we?" asked Harriet, turning to Miss Elting.
"Not so you could notice it!" exclaimed Jane slangily. "That is not if Miss Elting will listen to my plan. Promise me you'll do as I ask, Miss Elting."
"I never make rash promises," laughed Miss Elting. "Tell us what you wish to do and then we'll see about it."
"I want to take you all for a week's drive in my car. You've been through so much here at the lake that my peculiar style of driving will hold no terrors for you. What do you say? Will you go?"
"If I thought you could be depended upon, for once, to drive safely—" began Miss Elting somewhat dubiously. "What is your pleasure, girls?"
"We want to go with Jane," was the chorus.
"Hurrah!" cried Jane. "It's settled. I'll promise to bring you back home all safe and sound."
The day was spent in shopping at the village store, as their belongings had all been aboard the ill-fated "Red Rover." The Meadow-Brook Girls decided to get along as best they could with their limited supply of clothing, and depended on buying their meals at the various hotels and farmhouses along the way. After a happy week on the road, during which time Jane McCarthy proved herself to be a safe and careful driver, they turned their faces toward their own town.
Once home, Miss Elting lost no time in sending in a report, to the Chief Guardian of the Camp Girls' Association, of the "honors" won by the Meadow-Brook Girls. In due time the girls received their honor beads, which added considerably to the length of the strings of beads they had already won for achievement and bravery.
The Meadow-Brook Girls were destined, however, to win many more of the coveted beads, and shortly after their return home, Jane McCarthy held a lengthy consultation with her father; then invited them and Miss Elting to be her guests on a trip to the White Mountains. What befell them during their outing in the New Hampshire hills will be fully set forth in the next volume of this series entitled,"The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills; Or, The Missing Pilot of the White Mountains."