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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13577 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 13577-h.htm or 13577-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/5/7/13577/13577-h/13577-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/5/7/13577/13577-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT
+
+Or, The Stormy Cruise of the Red Rover
+
+by
+
+Janet Aldridge
+
+Author of
+   _The Meadow-Brook Girls Under Canvas_,
+   _The Meadow-Brook Girls Across Country_,
+   _The Meadow-Brook Girls in the Hills_, etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+1913
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "It's the 'Red Rover'!"]
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+    I. SCENTING A MYSTERY
+
+   II. CRAZY JANE MAKES A DISCOVERY
+
+  III. SETTING UP HOUSEKEEPING
+
+   IV. A SUDDEN AWAKENING
+
+    V. LAND HO!
+
+   VI. CAPTAIN GEORGE MAKES A FIND
+
+  VII. A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT JOURNEY
+
+ VIII. THE ISLAND OF DELIGHT
+
+   IX. THE TRAMP CLUB IS ALARMED
+
+    X. THEIR SUSPICIONS AROUSED
+
+   XI. MARGERY MAKES A CUSTARD
+
+  XII. MAKING AN EXCITING DISCOVERY
+
+ XIII. AN EARLY MORNING SURPRISE
+
+  XIV. THE MIDNIGHT ALARM
+
+   XV. THE ROUT OF THE PIRATE CREW
+
+  XVI. A MIDNIGHT VISITOR
+
+ XVII. A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
+
+XVIII. A FRUITLESS SEARCH
+
+  XIX. THE TRAMP CLUB FINDS A CLUE
+
+   XX. JANE PLAYS EAVESDROPPER
+
+  XXI. A DOUBLE SURPRISE
+
+ XXII. SPOOKS OF THE LONESOME ISLE
+
+XXIII. ON A STORMY CRUISE
+
+ XXIV. CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+SCENTING A MYSTERY
+
+
+"I wouldn't advise you young ladies to take the boat out."
+
+Miss Elting instantly recalled the message from her brother. The
+telegram was in her pocket at that moment, "If you have any trouble, Dee
+Dickinson will see that you are protected," read the message. It was Dee
+Dickinson who had spoken to her that moment.
+
+Dee had made a distinctly unfavorable impression on Miss Elting, the
+guardian and companion of the Meadow-Brook Girls. Her brother's fishing
+boat had been left in the care of this man by her brother Bert, who had
+now turned it over to his sister and the Meadow-Brook Girls for their
+summer vacation.
+
+"Why not?" questioned the young woman in answer to his words of warning.
+"Isn't the boat in good condition?"
+
+"Oh, yes. That is, it isn't by any means in a sinking condition."
+
+"Then why do you advise us not to use it?"
+
+"The lake gets rather rough at times, you know," he replied evasively.
+
+"My brother wrote you that we were coming up here, did he not?"
+
+"Oh, yes. But you see it's been a year since he used the old scow. She
+is a year older, now, and--"
+
+"I am quite sure that my brother would not have permitted us to take the
+houseboat were it not perfectly safe for us to do so. Please tell me
+what is the matter with it?"
+
+"There's nothing the matter with it, I tell you, except that it's an old
+fishing scow with a roof over it. It isn't a fit place for a party of
+young ladies," Dee replied, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Of course,
+if you are set on taking the boat, I'll have to get it ready for you;
+but, if anything happens to it, remember that I warned you."
+
+"We shall not forget," answered the guardian dryly. "If it stays on top
+of the lake we surely cannot expect anything more. Where is the boat?"
+
+"A couple of miles down the lake."
+
+"Kindly direct us so that we may find it, and--"
+
+"No, no," interposed Dickinson hastily. "I'll have it brought up here to
+the dock, so you can get at it more easily. There'll be some things you
+will wish to do to it. Having it here at Wantagh will be much more
+convenient for you. I'll try to have it here for you by to-night, or
+early in the morning. But you'll be sick of your bargain, I promise you
+that."
+
+"Do you mean us to infer that the boat is not safe?" interjected Harriet
+Burrell.
+
+"I haven't said so," answered the man rather sharply, turning to her.
+"I've told you that it isn't the kind of craft for young women to live
+on all summer."
+
+"We shall decide that matter ourselves," returned Miss Elting coldly.
+
+"Very good. Suit yourselves."
+
+"I think you had better take us to the boat now before anything further
+is done in the matter."
+
+"No. You had better have it brought here," persisted Dickinson. "Do you
+know where Johnson's dock is?"
+
+The guardian hesitated. She was regarding the man with some suspicion.
+
+"It's at the foot of the second street beyond, down that way. I'll have
+the boat down there in a couple of hours. I've got to get a motor boat,
+or something of the sort to tow it down. It probably will leak some, not
+having been in the water this season until yesterday. You had better go
+over to the hotel and get your dinner. I'll come up and let you know
+when the scow is ready. Go right over and make yourself at home. I'll do
+the best I can. Bert's an old friend of mine."
+
+Dickinson hurried away, without further words. The girls looked at each
+other and laughed.
+
+"Well, if Dee Dickinson is a friend of your brother, I must say I don't
+admire your brother's friends," declared Harriet.
+
+"That ith what I thay," agreed Grace Thompson.
+
+"Tommy, you shouldn't have said that," reproved Hazel Holland.
+
+"She didn't. Harriet said it," retorted Margery.
+
+"Buster is right," laughed Jane McCarthy. "Come on, girls! Let's go to
+dinner, as the shifty-eyed gentleman advised. I hope it is dinner. I
+never could get used to luncheon in the middle of the day when Nature
+intended that a girl should have a full meal of the real food. Where is
+the old hotel?"
+
+"I don't know, Jane. There is something strange about this affair. I am
+sure that Bert must have known what he was about, or he wouldn't have
+sent me the message he did. However, we shall see. There is no need to
+borrow trouble. We shall know how to deal with it when we meet it face
+to face. Let's go and look for this hotel that our friend, Mr. Dee, has
+recommended."
+
+Getting into the automobile Jane started her car, and they drove through
+the town in search of the hotel, which they found after a few inquiries.
+The prosperous village of Wantagh was located on the shore of Lake
+Winnipesaukee. It was there that Miss Elting's brother had begun to
+practice law, but after one year's practice in the little village had
+listened to the call of the West. He had left in Wantagh the old scow,
+dignified by the name of "houseboat" to which was attached the further
+title of "Red Rover." It was in this lumbering craft that Miss Elting
+and her young friends, the Meadow-Brook Girls, had planned to spend part
+of their summer vacation. Their meeting with Dickinson, in whose care
+the boat had been left, was quite discouraging. Dee was not a
+prepossessing fellow; what impressed them most unfavorably about him was
+his shifty eyes. He seldom permitted himself to meet the gaze of the
+person with whom he was talking.
+
+Some inquiry, after reaching the hotel, developed the fact that Dee
+Dickinson was a notary, did a little real estate business, and drew a
+few papers for his neighbors, thus managing to eke out a precarious
+living. So far as the girls were able to find out, Dickinson's character
+was above reproach. Miss Elting chided herself for having formed a wrong
+opinion of the man. Still she could not overcome her irritation at his
+evident reluctance in getting the boat ready.
+
+It was quite late in the afternoon when Dee appeared at the hotel, red
+of face, his clothes soiled and wet.
+
+"Well, we got the old thing," was his greeting.
+
+"Is the boat here?" inquired the guardian coldly.
+
+"Yes, Miss Elting. It's down at Johnson's dock this very minute. You can
+go down there and look at it. I've got some business to--"
+
+"Please go with us. There will be things about it which we shall wish to
+ask you. Does the boat leak much?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"It's all right," he said. "I can't spare the time to go to-day."
+
+"If I might venture to offer to pay you for your trouble," suggested the
+guardian, not certain whether he would resent her offer of money.
+Dickinson, however, was not easily insulted.
+
+"Of course, if--if you wish, I--yes, of course," he mumbled.
+
+Miss Elting handed him two dollars. Dickinson led the way down to the
+dock, though without enthusiasm.
+
+"There's the tub," he said, pointing toward what appeared, at first
+glance, to be a huge box. "That is it."
+
+The girls walked out on the dock and stood gazing at the boat. In the
+first place, the "Red Rover" was not red at all. It had once had a prime
+coat of yellow paint, but this had succumbed to storm and sunshine. The
+windows had been boarded up; and the exterior of the craft bore out all
+that Dee Dickinson had said of it.
+
+"Thirty feet on the water line," explained the man, for want of
+something better to say.
+
+The boat, originally, had been a scow used for the purpose of towing the
+effects of summer residents of the island across the lake. Bert Elting
+had bought it for a small sum of money, and had built the house over it.
+He and a friend, had spent many days and nights aboard, anchored out on
+the fishing grounds. When they desired to change their location a launch
+usually could be found to tow them about.
+
+At each end of the house there was a cockpit some three feet long. In
+other words the house did not extend the full length of the boat. At the
+rear there was a long-handed tiller. The boat was flat as a floor.
+
+"If the inside is as handsome as the outside, we shall have the
+nightmare all the time," declared Margery.
+
+"We had better look at the inside," reflected Miss Elting.
+
+There were doors at each end. The girls entered by the rear door.
+
+"Mercy!" exclaimed the guardian. "How warm it is in here. Mr. Dickinson,
+is there any glass in those windows?"
+
+Dickinson shook his head.
+
+"Then please knock out the boards."
+
+Harriet already was doing this. She succeeded in ripping off a few
+planks, letting in the fresh air and sunlight. What they saw then did
+not please them. The floor was covered with rubbish. There was food
+scattered about, the walls were greasy. At one side stood an old stove,
+red with rust, its pipe dented in, and the ashes heaped high on the
+floor where the last occupant had left them.
+
+Harriet stepped over by the stove to get a different perspective of the
+interior of the old craft. She rested one hand on the stove, but
+withdrew it quickly. She seemed about to say something, then abruptly
+checked her speech.
+
+"Girls," said Miss Elting, "I don't know whether we shall be able to do
+anything with this boat or not. What do you think?"
+
+"Of course we shall," answered Harriet promptly. "A good scrubbing and a
+little fixing up will make a delightful summer home of it."
+
+"This is my treat, you know," interjected Jane. "That is, you know Miss
+Elting was to furnish the boat and I was to do all the rest."
+
+"Oh, no! We couldn't permit you to do that," answered the guardian.
+
+"A bargain's a bargain," declared Jane. "I'll get the paint. You folks,
+in the meantime, look the place over and see what else you need. I'll go
+back to the village for the things you decide on when we get ready for
+them."
+
+"What color shall we paint the boat?" questioned Miss Elting.
+
+"Red, of course," cried Harriet. "Surely, you wouldn't paint a 'Red
+Rover' green, would you?"
+
+"I think we had better paint the inside of the boat white," advised Miss
+Elting.
+
+"Then white it shall be," declared Jane. "Mr. Dickinson, you come with
+me and show me where to get the paint. I'm off, girls. I think we'd
+better stay at the hotel to-night. Our palatial yacht won't be ready for
+us."
+
+Jane hurried out, followed by Dickinson. He was eager to get away. While
+she was gone the girls consulted with Miss Elting as to what was
+necessary to be done to the boat. They were full of enthusiasm despite
+the discouraging condition in which they had found the "Red Rover," for
+the possibilities of making it a delightful home, were plain to all of
+them.
+
+Jane McCarthy came racing back with her car, three quarters of an hour
+later. Two men were in the car with her who wore overalls and small
+round caps.
+
+"Here are the painters who are going to make the outside of the boat
+look pretty," cried the girl. "Now, men, get to work and do your best!
+If you do a good job you get your money. If you don't, you get a ducking
+in the pond! Here, girls, help me unload this stuff."
+
+There were cans of paint, a mop, two brooms, tin and wooden pails, scrub
+brushes, soap and a miscellaneous assortment of useful articles.
+
+"Now, girls, let's get to work," cried Jane. "This is our busy day.
+There'll be another man down here with some windows, soon. We've got to
+have some hot water. Harriet, can you heat it?"
+
+For answer Harriet hurried along the beach, picking up such dry sticks
+as she could find. She soon had a fire started in the stove.
+
+"We must stand by the fire with pails of water. I haven't much
+confidence in that stovepipe," she exclaimed laughingly. "However, we
+have plenty of water near, in case of need."
+
+Tommy had gotten a broom and a dustpan and was already raising a cloud
+of dust by her efforts at sweeping.
+
+"For goodness' sake, sprinkle the floor before you sweep," begged
+Margery chokingly. Hazel dipped up a pail of water from the lake and
+sprinkled it through her fingers over the floor of the boat. All the
+others save Harriet had fled, driven out by the choking dust. The
+sweeping was now attended with more comfort. Dustpan after dustpan full
+of dirt was gathered up and tossed into the lake. Tommy surveyed her
+work with a frowning face.
+
+"It lookth worthe than it did before," she declared. "Thee the greathe
+thpotth. What fine houthekeeping."
+
+"Men are lazy housekeepers," laughed Miss Elting. "I shall have to write
+to Bert and tell him what we think of his housekeeping."
+
+As soon as the water was heated, Jane produced some full length gingham
+aprons, which she tossed to her companions. Arrayed in these, the girls
+took up scrub brushes and soap and got to work on the inside of the
+cabin. Their skirts were pinned up, their sleeves rolled back to the
+shoulders and they looked like veritable scrub women.
+
+"Let's all work on the same side of the boat," called Jane. "I want one
+side to get dry so we can begin to paint it." The slap, slap of the
+painters' brushes already was heard on the outside. The remaining boards
+over the windows had been torn off and carefully laid aside for other
+uses.
+
+Two hours later Jane got the painters to open the cans of white paint
+and stir up the contents. The men put in plenty of drier so the paint
+would dry quickly and began their work. Tommy could not resist trying to
+paint too. Seizing a brush she began laying about her, sending the paint
+into her hair, over her clothes and spattering her companions until they
+threatened to throw her overboard if she did not desist. Tommy's impish
+face already was decorated with polka dots of white paint.
+
+"I would suggest that Tommy go out and use some red paint," said Harriet
+laughingly. "Some red dots would make you look perfectly lovely, dear."
+
+"Yes and some blue," added Jane. "She'd be red, white and blue then, and
+we could hang her over the stern. That would save getting a flag."
+
+"Girls, what are we going to do with the ceiling!" asked Miss Elting,
+regarding it with wrinkled forehead.
+
+"We might paint in white between the beams, covering the beams
+themselves with green," suggested Harriet.
+
+"That would be pretty," agreed the guardian, tilting her head to one
+side and regarding the ceiling reflectively. "Yes, it would be very
+artistic. Have we any green paint?"
+
+"We'll have some," answered Jane promptly. "What shade?"
+
+"Grath green," suggested Tommy.
+
+"Olive," suggested Hazel.
+
+Miss Elting nodded. Olive green paint would look well for the ceiling,
+she decided. Already the interior of the houseboat was beginning to
+brighten. But they saw that, to do a thoroughly good job, at least two
+coats of paint would be necessary. They hoped to get one coat of paint
+on before night, putting on the finishing coat on the following morning.
+
+The slap, slap of the brushes outside had ceased and the men were heard
+talking. Jane rushed out brandishing her paint brush.
+
+"Get to work, you lazy bones!" she shouted. "Am I paying you for holding
+conversations about red paint! On with your work!"
+
+Jane presented such a ferocious appearance that the painters resumed
+their work hurriedly. There was no more lagging on their part. Jane
+frequently ran out to see what they were doing. The result was that the
+"Red Rover" was painted in record time, both outside and in, and a coat
+of paint laid on the top of the house. Jane McCarthy had an idea in
+regard to this roof. The next morning she put the plan into execution.
+
+That night the girls were so tired that they gave no thought to their
+appearance until they had reached their rooms at the hotel and looked
+into their mirrors. Their paint-streaked countenances were a sight to
+behold and Tommy carried a part of her facial decorations to bed with
+her.
+
+They were up early on the following morning, and were first in the
+dining room at breakfast.
+
+"I just can't wait until I get to work," declared Jane McCarthy, her
+eyes shining.
+
+"I can wait until I've eaten my breakfast," replied Margery, then
+flushed as Tommy giggled meaningly.
+
+Readers of the first volume of this series, "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS
+UNDER CANVAS" will recall the many exciting adventures that befell the
+five girls and their guardian, Miss Elting, while summering at Camp
+Wau-Wau, a part of the Camp Girls' organization. The attempts of two
+mischief-making camp girls to disgrace Harriet in the eyes of the camp,
+Harriet's brave rescue of her enemies during a severe storm and her
+generous method of dealing with them aroused the interest and admiration
+of the reader. The various ludicrous happenings in which Grace Thompson
+and Jane McCarthy figured prominently also added to this absorbing
+narrative of outdoor life.
+
+"THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY" relates the adventures of the
+girls and their guardian on their homeward march from Camp Wau-Wau.
+Their meeting with a number of boys on a hike, who styled themselves the
+Tramp Club, and the subsequent wager made with them by the Meadow-Brook
+Girls to race them to the town of Meadow-Brook, furnished the theme for
+the narrative. While following the fortunes of the road the girls met
+with numerous adventures. The reader will recall their encounter with
+the tramps, their rescue by Sybarina, the Gipsy, and the night spent in
+the Gipsy camp where Harriet, disguised as a Gipsy, told the fortune of
+George Baker the leader of the Tramp Club, and at the same time under
+the pretense of revealing his past rated him soundly for a trick which
+he and his band had played upon the girls.
+
+Once back in Meadow-Brook the girls had settled down to a busy winter in
+high school. Now that summer had come again, accompanied by Miss Elting,
+they had planned to spend their vacation on Lake Winnipesaukee, aboard a
+houseboat owned by Miss Elting's brother.
+
+The "Red Rover" in its coat of bright new paint looked really fine that
+morning. As the girls neared it the odor of fresh paint was borne to
+their nostrils on the breeze that drifted in from the lake. Full of
+enthusiasm the girls hurried aboard the boat. There was much to be done,
+and all were eager to settle their home and to begin the fascinating
+life that was before them, a life that not one of the girls had ever
+before enjoyed. The painters came soon after, and began putting on the
+second coat of paint. The girls, as soon as they had donned aprons and
+gloves, started to put on the second coat in the interior of the boat.
+The windows were on hand, ready to be set in place and everyone went to
+work with a will.
+
+So rapidly did the girls and Jane's painters work that, by noon, the
+work, both inside and out, had been completed, including a coat of paint
+on the floor. The painters were paid off by Jane and dismissed. Jane
+stepped out on the pier to survey the work.
+
+"Girls, we've forgotten something," she cried. "We must have the name on
+the side of the boat. The 'Red Rover' you know? I forgot that when the
+men were here. Can any of you print?"
+
+"I think perhaps I might do it," answered Miss Elting. "But we shall
+have to wait until the red paint dries. Suppose we sit down and rest for
+an hour or so?"
+
+"Rest!" shouted Crazy Jane. "There's no rest for the Meadow-Brook Girls.
+It's work and trouble and trouble and work all day and all night. Girls,
+we've got to have a new stove, and we must have a lot of other things,
+including some curtains and home comforts. Can you help me load the old
+stove into the car?"
+
+"Not without breaking it, I'm afraid," answered Miss Elting laughingly.
+
+"Then get the axe. We'll smash the old thing. Hey there, you man," Jane
+shouted at a passing farmer. "Want to earn fifty cents? Well, get busy
+here, and help us move the stove."
+
+With the aid of the farmer they took down the old wood stove and loaded
+it into the automobile. Next they made a hurried toilet and drove into
+the village. Most of the afternoon was spent in making purchases. All
+the bedding had been shipped by freight, as had the folding cots, the
+cooking utensils and their tent. Harriet proposed that they make the
+tent into an awning over the upper deck. She thought it would be a
+pleasant place to sit in the evenings. Her companions agreed with her.
+This necessitated calling in a carpenter. He was sent out to the boat to
+do the work while they were finishing their shopping.
+
+Among the purchases was an oil stove--Jane had sold the old one--a large
+quantity of canned goods, potatoes and other vegetables, all of which
+they planned to stow in the front of the houseboat under oilcloth. Here
+also was stowed a huge sea chest that had belonged to Jane's
+great-grandfather. It was supposed to be water-tight and in this the
+Meadow-Brook Girls decided to place all their extra clothing. A rag
+carpet was found that answered very well to cut up into rugs to lay on
+the floor. The carpenter made a ladder by which to climb to the upper
+deck. Then there was rope and an anchor, the latter a piece of an old
+mowing machine; a rowboat, which Jane rented, and heavy green shades at
+the windows so that they should have greater seclusion; also a cask to
+hold drinking water.
+
+When the girls finished their work that night Crazy Jane McCarthy had
+spent quite a sum of money, but the equipment for the "Red Rover" was as
+nearly complete as they were able to make it. Just before sunset they
+went out to watch Miss Elting paint the name on the side of the boat. In
+large, neat letters she painted the name in white. The letters stood out
+in bold relief against the brilliant red of the boat.
+
+"I propose three cheers for the artist," cried Harriet.
+
+"Wait a minute," called Tommy.
+
+"Well, what is it?" demanded Margery.
+
+"The job ith not finithhed yet. Mith Elting hathn't painted the name on
+the other thide."
+
+"That is true, but to do so I should have to stand in the water,"
+laughed the guardian.
+
+"If you must paint the other side, of course we can turn the boat
+around," said Harriet. "I think a name on one side will answer our
+purpose for the present. Later on we can finish the job, if we think
+best."
+
+"Yes," agreed Jane. "We've done enough for the present. Don't forget
+that we've got to settle the house in the morning. I want you all to
+think hard to-night, to see if we have forgotten anything."
+
+"The only thing we have forgotten is our dinner. We haven't had a bite
+to eat since morning," Margery Brown reminded her friends.
+
+"Margery can't think of anything but thomething to eat," laughed Tommy.
+"You mutht learn to eat atmothphere when you're hungry. That ith the way
+I do."
+
+"I fear you will never grow fat on that sort of diet," laughed the
+guardian.
+
+"I don't want to get fat, like Buthter," replied Tommy scornfully.
+
+In the meantime Harriet and Jane had drawn away from the others and were
+engaged in a whispered conversation. Then the two girls got into the
+rowboat dragged the houseboat out into the lake, a few rods, and
+anchored it. They did not explain their action. The other girls laughed
+at them, and Miss Elting questioned them with her eyes but said nothing.
+She knew the two girls had some good reason for anchoring the "Red
+Rover" a little distance from the shore.
+
+Early on the following morning, Jane and Harriet were out, loading the
+automobile with the supplies that had been delivered at the hotel the
+previous night. The car was piled high with bundles of various shapes
+and sizes. There was room for Jane and Harriet in front, but none for
+their companions elsewhere.
+
+"We will go down to the dock with the stuff," explained Harriet, "then
+come back in time to take breakfast with you girls. We shan't try to put
+the supplies on board. We'll just dump them on the pier."
+
+"You can put them on the boat if you want to. I don't care," answered
+Grace.
+
+"Tommy is trying to get out of working to-day," scoffed Margery.
+
+"I'm not," protested the little lisping girl indignantly. "If I were ath
+fat ath you, I might. I'll work after breakfatht, but I won't work
+before breakfatht."
+
+"Nobody wants you to," flung back Jane, as she started her car ahead.
+"We'll do all the before-breakfast work, and we'll have the real
+appetites when we get to the food. You watch us."
+
+They watched her skid around a sharp corner and heard her car for some
+few moments thereafter, but that was all. They were too well used to
+Crazy Jane McCarthy, by this time, to be surprised at anything she might
+do or say.
+
+The drive to Johnson's dock was a short one. The two girls made it in a
+few moments. As they turned into the street that led down to the river
+they opened their eyes a little wider, but neither spoke. Nor was there
+a word said until they had driven out on the pier and halted the car.
+Then both girls burst out in exclamations of amazement at the same
+instant.
+
+That which they discovered filled the hearts of the Meadow-Brook Girls
+with alarm. The "Red Rover" was nowhere in sight. The shore end of the
+rope, with which it had been secured to the dock when they anchored it
+out in the lake, was still securely tied to the string piece at the
+outer side of the dock.
+
+"What is it, darlin'?" questioned Jane, with eyes wide and wondering.
+
+"It looks to me very much as though our 'Red Rover' were at the bottom
+of the lake, Jane. Oh, what shall we do if she has sunk? Something has
+been going on here. Something occurred the first day we were here, to
+excite my suspicion. And now this strange thing has happened. There's
+the rowboat. Let's go out and look around. Oh, this is too bad, too
+bad!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+CRAZY JANE MAKES A DISCOVERY
+
+
+"Wait!"
+
+Jane sprang forward, and grasping the rope, lifted it from the water and
+began hauling in on it. She uttered a shout of joy.
+
+"There's no 'Red Rover' on the other end of this rope, Harriet," she
+cried.
+
+"Then it has broken away and sunk," answered Harriet gloomily. "Let's
+get into the rowboat and go out yonder."
+
+"In a minute. I want to see what is at the other end of this rope,
+Harriet, dear. There's nothing like beginning at the right end. This is
+the right end; after we get the rope in we will move on to the other
+end. We may have to dive, but you and I know how to do that, don't we
+darlin'?"
+
+Harriet nodded. The long rope came in dripping, so cold to the touch as
+to make Jane's fingers numb.
+
+"There!" exclaimed Jane, slamming the rope down on the wharf. "There's
+the old thing. Didn't I tell you there was no 'Red Rover' on the end of
+it."
+
+"Then we had better take to the rowboat. I don't understand this at
+all," said Harriet, in a troubled voice.
+
+"Just a minute, Harriet. Will you look at this and tell Jane McCarthy
+the meaning of it?" She extended the end of the rope toward Harriet. The
+latter took it, permitting the dripping rope to lie across the palm of
+one hand for a minute. Harriet glanced up at her companion with troubled
+eyes.
+
+"Do you know what has been done to it?" asked Harriet.
+
+"I think so," nodded Jane.
+
+"The rope has been cut," reflected Harriet.
+
+"It has," agreed Jane.
+
+"But, who could have done such a thing?" Harriet wondered.
+
+"If I knew, I'd make him suffer for this piece of work," retorted Jane.
+
+"I don't know; I can't even think," answered Harriet solemnly. "What do
+you suppose has become of the boat, Jane?"
+
+"Goodness knows," replied Jane.
+
+"I'm going to search the lake." Harriet ran around the end of the pier,
+where, shoving off the rowboat, she leaped in. Jane followed her. "I'm
+going to the west. The wind is blowing that way."
+
+Jane McCarthy nodded understandingly. Harriet was rowing, Jane sitting
+in the stern of the boat.
+
+"Watch the shore, Jane. I will do the rowing. I am going to tell you
+what I discovered that day we first went aboard the houseboat. I put my
+hand on the stove quite by accident that morning. The stove was so hot
+that it burned my hand."
+
+"You don't say?"
+
+"Yes. Now explain how that stove happened to be hot," continued Harriet.
+
+"That's easy. Somebody had had a fire in it," nodded Jane.
+
+"Exactly. And not long before we went aboard. Then there were bread
+crumbs on the floor. Jane, some person had been living on that boat. You
+remember how anxious Dee Dickinson was that we should not go to the boat
+until he had first been there?"
+
+"Yes, but what has that to do with the cutting of the rope, last night,
+and losing the boat?"
+
+"I don't know. That the two puzzles have some connection I am positive.
+What we wish most, just now, is to find the 'Red Rover.'"
+
+"There's something red on the shore; it looks like a fire!" cried Jane,
+pointing excitedly. "Oh, if it should be the boat."
+
+Harriet ceased rowing and quickly turned her head over her right
+shoulder. She gazed, at first half startled, then uttered a cry of
+delight.
+
+"It's the 'Red Rover.' Don't you see? Hurrah! We've found the boat. It's
+the sun shining on those red sides that made it look like a fire."
+
+Harriet swung the prow of the boat and began rowing shoreward with all
+her might. After a few minutes of rowing she drove the boat in alongside
+of the "Red Rover," then leaped out on the shore. The unknown miscreant
+having cut her from her moorings the houseboat had drifted down the
+lake. She had stranded among a forest of rushes, the bottom of the boat
+being hard and fast on the gravel.
+
+The girls breathless with excitement, climbed aboard. The after-half of
+the house floor was under water. There were fully two feet of water in
+the stern. In the after cockpit were several bushels of sand and gravel
+that had been thrown up by the wind and waves during the night.
+
+"Oh, the villains, to do a thing like this!" raged Jane. She started to
+run aft for a pail but losing her footing on the slippery floor she went
+sprawling and splashing into the water. Jane scrambled up, wet from head
+to feet.
+
+"Oh, me! Oh my! What a mess!"
+
+Harriet leaned against the side of the cabin screaming with laughter.
+Jane looked at her an instant, then, joined in the merriment.
+
+"You are a sight!" gasped Harriet.
+
+"Why shouldn't I be? I've been in the water? Are we going to stand here
+and laugh all the morning, or are we going to get busy?"
+
+For answer Harriet Burrell picked up a pail and began bailing out the
+cockpit. Jane, dripping, took up another pail and together the girls
+worked feverishly. There were several barrels of water in the cockpit,
+so their backs were aching by the time they had finished bailing out the
+water. The stern of the boat now floated clear, but the forward end was
+hard and fast on the ground.
+
+"The next thing is to get the boat off the gravel," announced Harriet.
+
+"Maybe we can hitch the rowboat on and drag the 'Red Rover' off,"
+suggested Jane.
+
+Harriet shook her head.
+
+"It won't work. We shall have to drag it off by main force. You can't be
+any wetter, and I'm not afraid of a little water. Let's get outside the
+boat and see what we can do."
+
+A few seconds later as they took hold and directed their strength to the
+task of moving the heavy boat, Harriet's feet slipped from under her.
+She fell over into the water, coming up coughing, the water streaming
+from her hair and shoulders, and falling into the lake in a shower. Jane
+screamed with delight. "You're wet all right, now! No mistake about
+that," jeered Crazy Jane. "And what have we done? Moved the old tub
+three quarters of an inch. At this rate we'll have her afloat about
+supper time. I wish I had my car hitched to it. I'd drag the old thing
+out so fast it would make her dizzy."
+
+Harriet had grasped the edge of the boat, tugging with all her might.
+Jane dashed around to the other side, adding her strength to the task.
+The boat gave way with such suddenness that both girls fell into the
+lake. But they did not care. They could get no wetter. Therefore they
+laughed and joked over their bedraggled condition. The "Red Rover"
+floated clear of the rushes.
+
+"Do the best you can. I'll get the rowboat," cried Harriet, splashing
+toward the shore. Her clothes were so heavy with water that they impeded
+her movements. She shoved the rowboat out, and, leaping in, rowed it out
+into the lake with strong sweeps of the oars. In a few moments she was
+alongside.
+
+"The rope is too short. What shall we do?" called Jane.
+
+"There is a rope attached to this boat. I think it will be long enough
+for towing. Wait, I'll toss it to you. Make it fast. The boat is heavy
+and we are going to have a hard pull, but I don't dare leave it here
+until we can get help."
+
+Jane waded over to the rowboat for the rope. She made it fast; then,
+getting behind the houseboat, she pushed while Harriet rowed. The "Red
+Rover" started but slowly. It was all the two girls could do to get it
+in motion. Then when, finally, they had gotten under way with it, Jane
+was obliged to wade out in water nearly to her neck to reach the
+rowboat. She nearly upset it in getting aboard. Two pairs of oars,
+instead of one, were now bent to the work of towing the houseboat. The
+boat went broadside to the waves, nearly pulling them overboard. They
+saw that it would be impossible to tow it to the Johnson dock in this
+fashion.
+
+"One of us must row and the other steer," declared Harriet.
+
+"I'll do the rowing. You've had your share," cried Jane. "Wait, I'll
+pull you alongside."
+
+"No. You must keep the oars going, or the big boat will drift back into
+shallow water again. I'll get back there all right." Harriet unshipped
+her oars and stood up in the boat. She took a clean, curving dive into
+the lake. Jane shouted delightedly.
+
+"What a beauty!"
+
+Harriet came up, shaking her head to free it from water, then struck out
+for the houseboat. Getting aboard, weighted down by her clothes as she
+was, was not an easy task. Finally, however, the girl managed to get one
+foot over the edge. She clung there for a moment breathing heavily, then
+slowly climbed aboard.
+
+"Hur-r-r-ro-o-o-o!" wailed Jane. "They can't stop a Meadow-Brook Girl
+with fire or water."
+
+"Now pull," shouted Harriet, "I'll change places with you when you get
+tired."
+
+"I'll rest when I get tired," was the very practical reply of Crazy Jane
+McCarthy.
+
+Harriet took the tiller and straightened out the scow's course, though
+she discovered that the old boat was a most unmanageable craft. It
+simply would not keep on any one course for more than thirty seconds at
+a time. Jane was shouting her directions, making sarcastic remarks about
+Harriet's steering, but the latter merely smiled. She knew she was doing
+the best she could, and that was all any one could do. Jane was making
+but slow headway. They had not yet rounded the point that hid the
+Johnson dock from view. Her strokes became uneven, and jerky. All at
+once the rope broke. Crazy Jane McCarthy landed in the bottom of the
+rowboat.
+
+"Save me," she screamed.
+
+Harriet, who could not see the small boat, the deck house being in the
+way, continued on her course, smiling good-naturedly at Jane's noisy
+objections. But all at once a crash and a yell startled Harriet. She
+threw the tiller over and leaned far out. The rowboat was
+bottom-side-up, with Crazy Jane McCarthy struggling in the water. Her
+mouth was too full of water, just at that moment, to allow her to raise
+an outcry. The momentum of the houseboat carried it alongside the
+overturned rowboat, Harriet leaned over and grasped one of her
+companion's arms.
+
+"Why, Jane! You shouldn't have stopped rowing to go in for a swim."
+
+"Go in for a swim!" exploded Jane. "And didn't you run me down. Look at
+the boat, will you! Now, what are we going to do, will you tell me?"
+
+"The first thing is to get you on board. After that I don't know."
+
+Crazy Jane was dragged aboard the "Red Rover." She lay clinging to the
+gunwale, laughing immoderately.
+
+"It's a fine start we are having, darling isn't it, now!"
+
+"A wet one," amended Harriet. "See! The rowboat is drifting ashore. You
+stay on board. I'm going after it. I'm not tired. Keep the houseboat
+away from the shore, if you can."
+
+Harriet sprang into the water, swimming leisurely shoreward. Reaching
+the rowboat, she took hold of and clung to it, drifting ashore with it.
+The houseboat also was coming in. Jane was shouting to her companion to
+hurry. Harriet was doing the best she could under the circumstances,
+struggling with all her strength to right the rowboat. By the time she
+had succeeded in doing so, the "Red Rover" was fairly on top of her.
+
+"Steer out!" cried Harriet warningly.
+
+"I can't steer in or out," flung back Jane.
+
+Harriet began tugging at the rowboat to get it out of the way of the
+oncoming houseboat. The former had grounded in the shallow water. The
+houseboat caught the stranded rowboat, turned it over and slowly ground
+it under its prow, accompanied by the sound of crushing planks. Harriet
+was caught and thrown down, disappearing under the bow of the "Red
+Rover."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+SETTING UP HOUSEKEEPING
+
+
+Jane, receiving no answer to her calls, ran up on top of the house. A
+quick glance about showed her that Harriet was nowhere in sight. Jane
+did not dare to dive, knowing that the water was shallow. She jumped,
+feet first, instead, landing in the shallow water with great force.
+
+"She's under there!" cried the girl, staggering toward the bow of the
+houseboat. Putting her shoulders against it she shoved the heavy boat
+back a little. Harriet Burrell came to the surface, then made a feeble
+attempt to swim. Jane picked her up and carried her ashore; or, rather,
+dragged her there, for, impeded by the water, Jane found Harriet too
+heavy a burden.
+
+Harriet was gasping. She had held her breath until she could hold it no
+longer. The result was that she had swallowed considerable water. Crazy
+Jane was working over her. It was but a few minutes before Harriet
+Burrell had wholly recovered from the effects of the recent catastrophe.
+She was considerably bruised and was rendered nervous by her trying
+experience.
+
+"Is--is the small boat damaged?" she gasped.
+
+"Never mind the small boat. There are more boats where that came from,"
+answered Jane. "You lie down here while I go for another boat. Shall I
+get some one to help us?"
+
+Harriet shook her head.
+
+"If we are going to be fresh water sailors we must learn to do things
+for ourselves."
+
+"That's what I say," agreed Jane, nodding with great emphasis. "But are
+you sure you are all right?"
+
+"I'm awfully wet, Jane."
+
+"That's nothing. We'll be wet many a time before we get through with
+this cruise."
+
+"We shall have to get started first," answered Harriet, chuckling. "Run
+along for another boat. I'll try to keep the 'Red Rover' off the shore
+while you are gone. Hurry!"
+
+Jane ran toward the landing, still some distance away. There were
+several boats tied up there. She helped herself to one and rowed back
+with all speed. She espied Harriet out in the lake with the houseboat,
+where the latter had succeeded in pushing it and was doing her best to
+keep the craft from drifting back to the shore. Jane brought a rope with
+her that she had taken from a third boat. This she quickly made fast to
+the scow, then began pulling it out into the lake. The wind had died out
+and the rowing was found to be much easier, though of course, the "Red
+Rover" was as heavy and cumbersome as before.
+
+"We'll make it," cried Jane encouragingly.
+
+It was a full half hour later when Harriet steered the houseboat
+alongside the pier. The girls made fast, then threw themselves down on
+the dock, utterly exhausted from their efforts.
+
+In the meantime, Miss Elting and the other girls, becoming worried over
+the long absence of Crazy Jane and Harriet, had left the hotel, starting
+out for Johnson's dock on foot. They found Harriet and Jane making the
+boat more secure, preparatory to leaving for the hotel.
+
+"Why, girls, whatever is the matter? You are wet through! Go up to the
+hotel and get into dry clothes at once. You will both catch cold. You
+are too late for breakfast, too. What happened to you?" exclaimed Miss
+Elting. "You are certainly bedraggled looking specimens."
+
+Harriet told the guardian of their search for the "Red Rover." Miss
+Elting frowned. The message from her brother was still in her pocket.
+She recalled the peculiar actions of Dee Dickinson, wondering if
+perchance he had anything to do with the casting adrift of their
+houseboat, Harriet had not told the guardian of having found a hot stove
+on the occasion of their first visit to their summer home. That,
+perhaps, might have enlightened the guardian.
+
+Now that Miss Elting and the other girls were there to unload the
+automobile, Jane and Harriet turned to go.
+
+"We will begin to settle while you girls go to town for breakfast,"
+called the guardian after them.
+
+"You will have to wait a while until the rear end of the boat dries
+out," returned Harriet. "I don't think it will take long. But, in the
+meantime, there are the windows and the walls that need fixing."
+
+The other girls and the guardian fell to work while Jane and Harriet
+were at breakfast, and dainty chintz curtains were draped over each
+window. There were green shades hung over the windows also, but these,
+during the day, were to be rolled up out of sight.
+
+Jane and Harriet changed their wet clothing, ate breakfast and returned
+early in the forenoon. With them they brought a chart of the big lake
+that they had bought of a boat owner. While in the village Jane also had
+paid for the damaged rowboat and arranged for another, as it would be
+necessary to have a rowboat with them at all times. A new anchor, this
+time a real one, was purchased and piled into the automobile.
+
+The girls worked all that day setting their cabin to rights. It was to
+them a delightful task, and late in the afternoon the cabin of the "Red
+Rover" was as homelike a place as one could wish. Covers had been made
+for the folding cots, so that by day they offered attractive lounging
+places. The upper deck had some rough seats, made by the carpenter who
+had put up the awning. Then there were boxes for plants, in case the
+girls should wish to have flowers. But it was the interior of the cabin
+that was the real delight. The white walls and green trimmings gave it a
+fresh, cool appearance. One could scarcely have believed this to be the
+lumbering, dirty, old fishing scow of a few days since. Bert Elting
+never would have recognized the craft in its new dress.
+
+That night the Meadow-Brook Girls decided to have their first meal on
+board. They also decided to clear away and set sail before sitting down
+to the meal. Jane drove her car to town, leaving it at a garage, after
+which she walked back to the dock. She found the "Red Rover" ready to
+sail. The girls were discussing the question of where to go for an
+anchorage for the night.
+
+"Is that all?" called Jane. "Leave it to the boat. She'll find a place
+for herself. Say, I'm not going to try to tow that house out of here
+with all these boats about."
+
+There were launches and steamers coming in constantly. The waters in
+that vicinity were dotted with rowboats and small skiffs as well. Jane
+did not like the idea of dragging out the "Red Rover" through that
+gathering of craft. Neither did Harriet Burrell. Jane was looking over
+the launches and their occupants as they came up to the dock either to
+take on or discharge passengers. All at once she pounced upon two boys,
+who had left a third boy on the dock and bade him good-bye.
+
+"Will you give us a tow?" demanded Jane.
+
+"Where do you want to go?" answered one of the lads, touching his cap.
+
+"Which way are you going?"
+
+"Down the lake."
+
+"That's the way we are going. Say, which way is down the lake?" she
+asked Harriet in a whisper. The latter indicated the direction by a wave
+of the hand.
+
+"We'll give you a rope and tell you when you are to drop us," added
+Jane.
+
+The boys regarded the houseboat rather dubiously. They did not know
+whether or not their little launch would be able to tow it. Jane and
+Harriet explained to their companions that they were to have a tow. Then
+the two girls made fast the line, carrying the latter to the motor boat,
+after which they cast off from the pier.
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls uttered a cheer, as the "Red Rover" slowly
+drifted sideways clear of the dock. The dock was thronged with people,
+all of whom were now observing the houseboat. The latter's upper deck
+held the girls, with the exception of Jane, who was at the helm to steer
+as soon as their craft had been turned about and headed in the right
+direction. The houseboat came about slowly; then, as the motor boat
+chugged away the line grew taut and the "Red Rover" began to move.
+
+"You give me steering directions, Harriet," cried Jane.
+
+"I will wave to you. That will be better than shouting."
+
+"Whatever you say."
+
+"Look out!"
+
+A heavy shock, following Harriet's warning, caused Jane to shove the
+tiller hard over. The girls were piled in a heap on the upper deck and
+it seemed as though the front part of the houseboat must have been
+crushed.
+
+Loud, threatening voices forward brought Crazy Jane to the upper deck
+instantly. Then she saw what had occurred. The "Red Rover" had taken a
+sudden dive to the left, colliding with an anchored sailboat.
+
+"If you don't know how to steer, keep off the lake!" raged the owner,
+shaking both fists at the red terror.
+
+"If you don't know how to keep out of the way, then you ought to get
+pushed off the lake," flung back Jane McCarthy defiantly.
+
+Harriet laid a hand on her arm.
+
+"Don't argue with them, Jane. It isn't well-bred to do a thing like
+that."
+
+The launch was sputtering away trying to extricate the "Red Rover" from
+its position, which, by this time, was broadside against the sailboat.
+The "Red Rover" was rising and falling, each time rubbing off some red
+paint onto the white sides of the yacht. With each blotch of paint, so
+acquired, the anger of the owner of the yacht increased. It was
+fortunate for the Meadow-Brook Girls that they succeeded in getting away
+promptly. Jane was getting more and more angry, and Harriet had all she
+could do to restrain her companion.
+
+But their troubles were not yet ended. The "Red Rover" plunged through
+the fleet, smash-into a sailboat here, nearly sinking a rowboat there,
+grazing the side of a steamer, rubbing off some more paint in the
+operation, and continuing her voyage of destruction by smashing in the
+gunwale of a launch that was unfortunate enough to be anchored within
+range of the "Red Rover's" tow line. Jane's steering was anything but
+skilful. She steered too much, not giving the boat half a chance to
+respond to one turn of the tiller, before she turned it the other way.
+But Harriet Burrell offered no suggestions. At least, she remained
+silent until after the "Red Rover" had upset a canoe, spilling a young
+man and two girls into the lake. It was then that Harriet sprang down
+and casting off the rowboat pulled to their rescue. It was well that she
+did so, for neither of the girls could swim.
+
+The motor boat that was towing the "Red Rover" had stopped instantly but
+the "Red Rover" was still drifting, managing to collide with two more
+small boats before finally coming to a stop. In the meantime, Harriet
+had hauled the dripping girls aboard her rowboat, and assisted the young
+man to right his canoe. The girls refused to get into it again.
+
+"Bring the young ladies aboard and let us give them some dry clothes,"
+called Miss Elting.
+
+"They wish to be put ashore here," answered Harriet.
+
+"We are very sorry that we have caused you all this trouble. Our boat
+doesn't seem to steer well. I don't know what the trouble is," continued
+the guardian.
+
+The two girls were very courteous about the matter. They assured Miss
+Elting and Harriet that they knew the accident had been unavoidable, and
+that it had been more their fault than the "Red Rover's." The young man,
+however, was inclined to grumble. Harriet put the wet girls ashore,
+where they were followed by their companion. The "Red Rover" then moved
+on, following a zig-zag course, narrowly missing running into other
+boats, until finally one of the lads in the motor boat put his hands to
+his lips and shouted:
+
+"How much farther are you folks going?"
+
+Harriet consulted with Miss Elting.
+
+"If you will be good enough to tow us into that cove just ahead, we
+shall be very much obliged," answered Harriet. The motor boat was
+instantly headed toward the cove. Harriet chuckled. "They are eager to
+be rid of us, and I don't blame them at all."
+
+"They look like nice boys. I think I will invite them to come aboard,"
+decided the guardian. Harriet nodded her approval. When, finally, the
+houseboat had been dragged in, Harriet shouted to the boys to cast off.
+It was then that Miss Elting asked them to come aboard. The boy at the
+wheel said they would come some other time, that they were obliged to
+get back to their camp farther down the lake. They would accept no pay
+for their towing and chugged away, waving their hands, leaving a snowy
+wake behind them.
+
+Harriet had already climbed down, and, with a long string, at the end of
+which had been tied the piece of broken poker from the old stove, was
+taking sounding to get the depth of water.
+
+"Eight feet. That's deep enough. Jane! Come help me put over the anchor,
+please," she called.
+
+The anchor went over with a splash, after which the rope was tied to a
+heavy hard wood cleat that the carpenter had secured to the forward
+lower deck. The "Red Rover" drifted to the end of its anchor rope, then
+swung to the gentle breeze that was blowing.
+
+"Thank goodness we aren't at the bottom of the lake," exclaimed Crazy
+Jane.
+
+"It's the other folks who have reason to be thankful," answered Harriet
+smilingly. "Now let's get supper. We have a lot to do, and even more to
+discuss."
+
+"Had we not better work in closer to shore?" questioned the guardian,
+regarding the wooded cove critically.
+
+"No, I think not. I have my reasons for wanting to be away from the
+shore," answered Harriet.
+
+It would have perhaps been better had they chosen some other location
+for their anchorage, for the night in the cove was to be a trying one
+for the Meadow-Brook Girls and another of those mysterious happenings
+that had so disturbed them was to overtake them at the very beginning of
+the cruise of the "Red Rover."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A SUDDEN AWAKENING
+
+
+"There! I knew we had forgotten something."
+
+"What have we forgotten, Jane?"
+
+"An ice box, Miss Elting. How are we to keep our food without an ice
+box?"
+
+"But, my dear, what would be the good of an ice box without ice?"
+
+"That's so. I hadn't thought of that. Where would we get our ice?"
+
+"That ith eathy," piped Tommy. "Get your ithe out of the lake, of
+courthe. I never did thee thuch thtupid people. Did you thuppothe they
+got ithe on land? That it grew in the fieldth?"
+
+"No, darlin'. We didn't suppose anything of the sort. But knowing so
+much, please tell us how we are to get ice from the lake in the good old
+summer time? Answer me that question, will you now?"
+
+"That ith tho," reflected Tommy. "Really, I hadn't thought of it that
+way. I gueth I wath too previouth."
+
+"Grace!" rebuked Miss Elting, "I am amazed at your using such
+expressions. You really must be more careful of your language."
+
+"Yeth; I will."
+
+"Until the next time," muttered Harriet, an amused smile hovering about
+the corners of her mouth. Harriet was busily engaged in getting supper.
+"Bring me a pail of water, please," she called. "We must put the water
+on to heat so that we can wash dishes directly after supper. Dishes
+mustn't go unwashed on board the 'Red Rover,' no matter whatever else
+may be neglected."
+
+Jane was setting the table. The dishes that they had purchased were not
+expensive. Rather were they strong and serviceable, but even at this,
+the table looked very pretty. Miss Elting had gathered a bunch of wild
+flowers and these had been placed in a pitcher and stood in the centre
+of the table. Of course the chairs were camp stools. In this instance
+they were provided with backs, which made them quite comfortable. Soon
+beefsteak was broiling over the fire, potatoes were frying in the pan
+and the tantalizing fragrance of coffee filled the air.
+
+"Bring the drinking water, Tommy. And look out that you don't fall with
+it. We can't afford to buy dishes every day. Will you be careful?"
+
+"Yeth; I'll be careful."
+
+"Hurry back. Supper will be on the table by the time you get below
+again."
+
+Tommy, pitcher in hand, ran up the ladder to the deck above, Harriet and
+Miss Elting, in the meantime, putting the food on the table.
+
+"Tom-m-m-y-y-y!" called Jane after some minutes had elapsed. "The little
+girl has gone to sleep up there, I'll wager."
+
+A scream, followed by a loud splash, startled the passengers on board
+the "Red Rover." They rushed for the door.
+
+"Tommy's fallen overboard!" yelled Harriet.
+
+Beaching the lower deck they saw one little white hand holding aloft a
+pitcher, and lower down, scarcely discernible, a bit of tow hair and a
+freckled nose.
+
+"Thave me!" wailed Tommy.
+
+"We ought to leave you," flung back Margery. "What's the matter? Can't
+you swim?"
+
+"Yeth. But the pitcher can't."
+
+Knowing that Tommy could take care of herself in the water, no one went
+overboard to her rescue. Harriet flung out a coil of rope.
+
+"Grab it!" she commanded. Tommy needed no second invitation to do so.
+She grasped the rope with one hand, still clinging to the pitcher with
+the other and holding it above the water. In this position Harriet drew
+her in. The pitcher was rescued before they helped the little girl to
+the deck.
+
+"Ith thupper ready?" demanded Tommy, after getting aboard.
+
+"Yes, it is and it's getting cold," answered Harriet.
+
+"Then I gueth I'll thit down and eat."
+
+"Not until you get off those wet clothes," answered Jane. "How did you
+come to fall overboard?"
+
+"I--I wath trying to walk on the railing," explained the girl lamely. "I
+thtubbed my toe and fell in."
+
+"Oh, help!" moaned Margery. Tommy shot a threatening look at her.
+
+"I can thwim. Buthter ith too fat to thwim." With that parting shot,
+Tommy hastened inside the cabin and proceeded to change her wet clothing
+for dry garments. The other girls sat down to their supper, without
+waiting for her.
+
+None of them, ever had eaten a meal under quite such novel conditions.
+Through the open door at one end they could see the lake, touched with
+the gorgeous red and gold of the setting sun. A pleasant breeze was
+drifting through the cabin from door and window, while the slight motion
+of the boat rather added to than took from the keen enjoyment of the
+hour.
+
+"I have been wondering what we shall do in case the water gets really
+rough?" said Jane.
+
+"We shall have to put something on the table to keep the dishes from
+sliding off," replied Harriet.
+
+"That would be like an ocean steamer. On the tables there they have
+racks, strips running the full length of the table--usually brass--and
+others standing on edge at right angles to them. This leaves squares
+about the size of a plate and the strips keep the dishes from sliding
+off the table. They are called racks by the passengers. Among sailors
+they are known as 'fiddles,'" explained the guardian.
+
+"Yeth, but the thoup will thpill over jutht the thame," observed Tommy
+from the cabin.
+
+"Your soup will not, for I'm going to eat it," jeered Margery.
+
+Tommy hurried forth, fastening her collar as she walked. She was taking
+no chances of losing her supper.
+
+"Speaking of food," reflected Harriet. "Why can't we take our meats and
+other perishable things and put them in a pail which we can weight down
+until it sinks? That will keep the food cool."
+
+"Yes. But what will you do with it when the boat is moving?" asked the
+guardian.
+
+"If I have to row the small boat, and pull the 'Red Rover,' it won't
+move fast enough to harm the pail," spoke up Jane. "Do we have to drag
+this tub all over the lake?"
+
+"I am afraid we shall have to do so when we wish to move."
+
+"Then it's my own self for a tug," declared Crazy Jane. "I shall go out
+to-morrow looking for a good stout steam tug. I wonder if there is such
+a thing in this neighborhood?"
+
+"Maybe they have one at the farm houthe up there on the hill," suggested
+Tommy. But not a smile did her observation draw from her companions.
+
+"No, Jane. We aren't going to let you spend any more money for us. We
+are out to rough it, and we are going to do so. We must get along by
+ourselves," announced Miss Elting. "Of course it was different when
+those young men towed us out, and now and then we may accept a tow. The
+way to do will be to make short journeys, not to try to take long trips.
+Moving by easy stages we should be able to make the complete circuit of
+the lake before the vacation is ended."
+
+"How long is the lake?" questioned Harriet.
+
+"About thirty miles in a straight line, I believe."
+
+"Thirty miles," groaned Crazy Jane.
+
+"Oh, help!" moaned Margery.
+
+"Thave uth!" lisped Grace.
+
+"I thought you girls wanted recreation and exercise," laughed the
+guardian.
+
+"Why, of course we do, Miss Elting," declared Harriet.
+
+"Of course," agreed Jane, nodding. "But dragging a house all around a
+thirty-mile lake is neither exercise nor recreation. It's hard labor. If
+you don't think so just get out and drag us around this cove
+once--_Once!_"
+
+"I have a plan," announced Harriet.
+
+"It's a good one, if Harriet Burrell thought it out," returned Miss
+Elting smilingly. "What is your plan, Harriet?"
+
+"Some of you may not like the idea, but it is an excellent one, I am
+sure. This is my idea. When we decide to cross the lake, if we do, I
+would suggest waiting until some day when the wind is blowing directly
+across. Then we can tow the 'Red Rover' out with the rowboat until the
+wind catches us. The rower should then get aboard the houseboat, after
+which the wind will carry us all the way across the lake. How do you
+like it?"
+
+"Oh, thave me!" piped Tommy.
+
+"Yes. You need some one to save you about once every five minutes I'm
+thinking, Tommy Thompson. Now, if Crazy Jane had thought out such a
+plan, no one would have been surprised. But for Harriet Burrell to do
+so--oh, my!" exclaimed Jane.
+
+"I do not think the plan feasible," declared Miss Elting. "I am not
+saying that it would not work, but I don't believe I care to trust
+myself to drift across the lake in a gale. No, thank you. We will keep
+to the shore. Remember, we are on the water, Harriet."
+
+"Yes. And it isn't so long ago since we were in it," nodded Jane. "Tommy
+was the last to be in it. Please pass the potatoes. This life at sea
+does sharpen one's appetite. It wouldn't do for me to go to sea really.
+I'd get so hungry between meals that I'd gnaw the masts off short."
+
+"I really can't eat another mouthful!" exclaimed Tommy. "I gueth I'll go
+up on deck and walk thome."
+
+"And I guess you will stay right here and wash the dishes with me,"
+commanded Margery Brown. "Do you think I am going to wash them alone,
+while you promenade on deck? Not I!"
+
+"I had forgotten about the dithheth. But I've got a plan about that. You
+jutht put the dithheth in a bag and thouthe them up and down in the
+lake. Then you put them on deck till they dry off. Now, ithn't that a
+plan? That ith a better plan than Harriet thaid jutht now."
+
+"I feel sorry for your house if you ever own one," laughed Harriet,
+beginning to clear off the table.
+
+"Yeth tho do I. But I feel more thorry for the folkth who have to live
+with me."
+
+"I propose that we all take a hand in doing the work," suggested
+Harriet. "The evening is so fine that we should enjoy it together. I'll
+clear off the table."
+
+"And I'll brush it," offered Jane. "Then I'll sweep the floor. Say, this
+is fine. All one has to do with the rubbish is just to drop it
+overboard. The fishes will come and clean it up. It's easy to keep house
+on a houseboat. We're going to have a fine time this summer. I feel it
+in my bones."
+
+The supper work was cleared away quickly. Jane filled the hanging lamps,
+while Harriet trimmed and filled the lantern that was to be put out as a
+night light so that other craft should not run into them during the
+night.
+
+"All hands on deck!" commanded Harriet, after the last of the work had
+been finished.
+
+"That reminds me. We must elect our officers," said Miss Elting, after
+the girls had climbed to the pleasant upper deck. "Whom shall we have
+for our captain?"
+
+"I gueth Harriet will make a good captain," suggested Tommy.
+
+The girls agreed to this.
+
+"I suggest then, that Jane McCarthy be chief officer--that is, the next
+in line to the captain--with Margery as purser, Hazel as third officer,
+and Tommy, what would you like to be?" asked Miss Elting.
+
+"I gueth I'll be the pathenger," decided little Tommy wisely.
+
+There was a chorus of protests at this.
+
+"You and I will be the fourth and fifth officers respectively,"
+announced the guardian.
+
+"What doeth the fourth offither do?"
+
+"Not much of anything."
+
+Tommy nodded approvingly.
+
+"Then I am that," she announced. "Harriet ith a good captain. Harriet
+knowth thomething about everything."
+
+Harriet shook her head. She protested that she knew nothing at all about
+any boat larger than a rowboat. To be the captain of a scow, was
+something of a responsibility. She knew that she would have to be
+captain in fact as well as in name, and that the navigation and
+protection of the craft would be on the shoulders of Jane McCarthy and
+herself.
+
+"There is one thing I do not know, Tommy," answered Harriet. "I don't
+know how this captain is ever going to get along with the crew she has.
+I fear she will have to ship a new crew. Perhaps you'll be glad of that,
+eh, dears?"
+
+"Tommy would be willing if, as she already has said, she could be the
+whole passenger list," chuckled Miss Elting.
+
+The girls joked and talked until the night had fallen. A few faint rays
+of light filtered through the cabin windows and the dim light from the
+anchor lantern that hung at the stern of the boat was their only
+illumination.
+
+Harriet got up and walked to the bow of the boat, now pointed outward.
+She sniffed the air.
+
+"Well, what is it, Captain?" inquired Jane.
+
+"Wind," answered Harriet. "The wind is freshening, and it's blowing
+straight into the little cove here. The 'Red Rover' will be straining at
+its leashes like an angry dog before morning, unless the wind veers,
+which I hardly think will be the case."
+
+"Hooray for Captain Burrell!" cried Crazy Jane.
+
+The sky was overcast and the wind, as Harriet had said, was freshening
+rapidly. She went to the lower deck to test the anchor rope. The anchor
+was holding firmly. The wind was now blowing so strongly that the girls
+found little comfort in sitting on the upper deck. All hands went below.
+With the front cabin door closed the cabin was a comfortable and cosy
+place in which to sit. But the cabin floor was acquiring an unpleasant
+habit of rising and falling. Tommy's face, ordinarily pale, had grown
+ghastly, but she pluckily kept her discomfort to herself. As a matter of
+fact the little girl was suffering from a mild attack of seasickness.
+
+"I--I gueth I'll go to bed," she stammered. "Will thomebody pleathe take
+off my thhoeth? If I bend down I'll thurely fall over on my nothe."
+
+There was a shout at this. Both Harriet and Jane knelt on the floor to
+remove the shoes that Tommy feared to unbutton. They assisted her into
+her cot, after which they arranged their own, each girl preparing for
+bed behind a curtain that had been strung across the cabin, thus making
+part of the kitchen a dressing room. In the daytime the curtain was
+drawn back.
+
+Harriet was the last to retire. She sat up for an hour after the others
+had retired, rather anxiously watching the weather and the anchor rope,
+together with the behavior of the "Red Rover." The latter was riding the
+swells finely and with much less motion than might have been looked for
+in the fairly heavy sea that was running into the cove. At last, well
+satisfied that the boat would ride out the moderate blow, Harriet
+entered the cabin and extinguishing the lamp prepared for bed, leaving
+only the solitary anchor light outside to dispel the gloom.
+
+As the night went on, the seas grew with it. Great swells were sweeping
+into the cove, and the "Red Rover" was at times rolling heavily. Once in
+the night Harriet got up and staggered out through the rear door, whence
+she made her way to the upper deck. From there, with the spray dashing
+over her, she gazed off over the water. The moon had come up, and she
+could see fairly well; some light being furnished by it, though heavy
+clouds intervened. White-capped waves dashed against the boat. It was
+unusually rough for a lake of its size. She inhaled deeply the strong,
+bracing air, until, discovering that she was getting wet from the spray,
+the girl hurried below and crawled into her cot, shivering a little.
+Then she fell into a deep sleep, soothed by the rocking of the boat.
+
+Tommy was moaning in her sleep. The others appeared to be sleeping
+soundly. It was late in the night when Harriet was awakened by a
+terrific crash. It seemed to her as though something had collided with
+the "Red Rover." Then came a second crash, much louder than the first.
+The second was followed by a sound of breaking woodwork. A draught of
+cold air smote her in the face, then a huge volume of water swept into
+the cabin overwhelming and half drowning the occupants.
+
+Cots were overturned, the oil stove went over with a crash, and the
+table was hurled the length of the cabin, landing bottom side up at the
+rear end of the cabin.
+
+A chorus of terrified, choking screams followed the second crash, that,
+to their overwrought imaginations, seemed to have lasted for hours.
+
+"Thave me! We're thinking!" wailed Tommy Thompson.
+
+"Harriet! What has happened?" cried Miss Elting.
+
+"I--I don't know."
+
+The "Red Rover" lurched heavily to one side. The rush of water that
+accompanied the lurch tumbled the Meadow-Brook Girls to the lower side
+of the cabin. A volume of water rushed over them, and the furnishings of
+the cabin were piled on top of them; in some instances a crushing weight
+pinioned them to the floor.
+
+The houseboat had sustained a severe blow, though as yet they could not
+determine the nature of it. To make the situation more terrifying the
+cabin was in utter darkness. For a moment the voices of the Meadow-Brook
+Girls were stilled; then a chorus of screams, more terrified than
+before, rose from the lips of the frightened girls.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+LAND HO!
+
+
+"Please--please keep quiet," cried Harriet, making herself heard above
+the tumult. "Don't be frightened! We aren't sinking, and we are not
+going to. Answer loudly when I call your names, so that I may know each
+one of you is here."
+
+"Now," she continued after the frightened girls had answered to their
+names. "We'll try to find out what happened. You see that the boat has
+stopped pitching, and the side roll isn't as pronounced as it was."
+
+"What'th the anthwer?" piped Tommy.
+
+"I don't know--yet," Harriet confessed. "But I'm going to know."
+
+"The water is still coming in, and getting deeper," shivered Margery.
+
+"Get out through the rear door," Harriet commanded. "One at a time."
+
+"Which door is the rear one?" queried Crazy Jane. "All doors look alike
+to me."
+
+"Move away from the direction that the water is coming from," Harriet
+continued.
+
+Assisted by Jane McCarthy the girls obeyed Harriet's directions. Tommy
+and Margery first, then Miss Elting and Hazel. In the cockpit the water
+was not as deep, but Jane drove them all to the upper deck.
+
+"The captain must go last, you know," laughed Harriet, as she climbed up
+to join them.
+
+By this time the girls were shivering with cold. The kimonos of washable
+crepe in which they had elected to sleep during the cruise afforded them
+little warmth.
+
+"Get close together and keep each other warm," called Miss Elting.
+
+"What! Sit down and shiver here all night long?" shouted Harriet. "No,
+indeed. We must do something or we shall lose our boat."
+
+"Wha--at happened?" shivered Margery.
+
+"The waves smashed the front door in. That's all I know about it now."
+
+"Oh, look!" screamed Hazel. "It's land!"
+
+"Land, ho!" cried Crazy Jane.
+
+"Yes, I know," replied Harriet calmly. "We are on shore. We have been
+blown partly ashore. I saw that a moment after we came out here. There
+is no danger to us, but there is to the boat."
+
+"Did the anchor give way?" questioned the guardian, a sigh of relief
+escaping her upon learning that the immediate danger was over.
+
+"I don't know. Jane! I want you. We must go to the front of the boat and
+see what can be done to stop the water from coming in. Are you ready?"
+
+"All ready," called Jane. "Where away?"
+
+"Below there."
+
+"I want to go, too. I want to go down there and get thome dry clotheth,"
+wailed Tommy.
+
+"You'll look a long time on this boat before you'll find anything dry,"
+laughed Crazy Jane. "Get up and run. Sprint back and forth along this
+slippery deck, and, if you don't fall down and break your precious
+necks, you'll start your circulation and get warm. Run for it!"
+
+"Jane's advice is excellent, girls. Join hands and run back and forth,
+while Jane and Harriet see what can be done for us," answered Miss
+Elting.
+
+Jane and Harriet climbed down the aft ladder and made their way into the
+cabin. Everything was afloat there. It was with difficulty that they
+made their way through and out to the forward deck over which the waves
+were still dashing. Both girls were knocked flat almost the instant they
+stepped out into the rear cockpit. They were picked up an instant
+afterwards, only to be hurled against the deck house by a second wave.
+Neither girl screamed; for a moment or two they were too nearly drowned
+to speak. The rear end of the boat being driven up on the shore, the
+forward end lay several inches lower. The lower deck in that part of the
+boat was entirely under water.
+
+"What are we going to do about it?" gasped Jane finally.
+
+Harriet was groping about on the deck, her head under water a good part
+of the time.
+
+"I've found it," she cried.
+
+"Found what?" demanded Miss McCarthy.
+
+"The cleats."
+
+"Well, what are they?"
+
+"Maybe our last hope. Climb up to the top. I'll tell you my plan."
+
+Jane lost no time in getting up where the rest of the party were dancing
+about the deck, trying their best to get warm, and succeeding but
+poorly.
+
+"Harriet, don't you think we had better go ashore?" asked Miss Elting.
+
+"You will be little better off there. But wait. Yes, the very thing. I
+was going to use that awning for something else. It is the only dry
+thing on the boat. Come, Jane; we'll do the best we can under the
+circumstances."
+
+Together the two girls got down the awning, which had once served them
+as a tent. Assisted by Miss Elting they lugged it ashore and placing it
+back far enough to be out of reach of the water, smoothed it out on the
+ground. This would at least furnish them with a place to sleep. By this
+time Tommy, Hazel and Margery had made their way ashore.
+
+"How I wish we had some matches now! I'd build a fire. Jane, do you
+think that box of matches could have kept dry through all this?"
+questioned Harriet.
+
+"It wouldn't do you any good if it had. How are you going to find it if
+it is there?"
+
+"That's so. Now, I think we had better take all the things out of the
+cabin. Most of the stuff may be gone by morning. Miss Elting, will you
+stay with the girls?" asked Harriet. "Then they won't feel afraid.
+Besides we shall only be in each other's way if more than two of us try
+to work in that cabin in the dark. The first thing to be done is to try
+to stop the water from beating in through that wrecked doorway. I have
+an idea. Jane, see if you can find some rope. There should be some on
+the upper deck."
+
+Jane McCarthy reported that there was no rope there. Harriet decided to
+go on without it, believing that she knew a way to check the flood.
+Calling Jane to assist her, the two girls carried the dining table out
+to the upper deck. This they left there for the moment.
+
+"Now hand out the cots," directed Harriet.
+
+As this was being done, Harriet worked standing in water most of the
+time. She placed the cots on edge across the doorway until three of them
+had been set in place. Directing Jane to try to hold them in place,
+Harriet grasped the table. This she braced against the cots. The table
+held them in place.
+
+"Hurrah! We've done it. See if you can find some blankets in there. One
+will do."
+
+After some searching about Jane announced that she had found a heavy
+blanket. Acting under Harriet's directions Jane carried the blanket to
+the upper deck and lowered it over the barricade of cots, weighting it
+with heavy stones from the beach so that the end would remain on the
+upper deck.
+
+Harriet was unable to get either to the upper deck or into the boat,
+without danger of pulling down her barricade, so she promptly jumped
+into the lake and waded ashore. She fell down several times before
+reaching dry land, knocked over by waves that overtook her and laid her
+low. She sat down on the beach gasping.
+
+"Come over here and rest a moment, Harriet," urged the guardian.
+
+"I am all right, thank you. I haven't time to think about resting. I am
+going to try to get our belongings out of the boat. We aren't so badly
+off as we might be."
+
+"If I had thome dry clotheth on I gueth I'd be all right," observed a
+lisping voice from the darkness. "My kimono is thoaking wet."
+
+"Now, Jane, I'm ready," finally announced Harriet. "Let's get that stove
+out first of all. I fear it is ruined."
+
+"Set the girls at it with dry leaves. They can wipe it dry and the
+exercise will do them good," suggested Jane McCarthy.
+
+"Fine! Come!"
+
+The stove was carried out to the beach and stood up. Jane and Harriet
+gathered leaves from weeds and bushes, together with such dry grass as
+they were able to find in the darkness, heaping their plunder on the
+canvas and directing the girls to polish the stove, hoping thereby to
+keep it from rusting very badly. The occupation did Tommy, Hazel and
+Margery good. They almost forgot their troubles for the time being.
+
+The bedding and the clothing were next carried out and spread on the
+ground to dry. This, too, gave the girls on shore something to do. They
+wrung the water out of the bedding and clothing as thoroughly as
+possible. The clothing was then hung on nearby bushes.
+
+"I do not believe your clothing will be dry enough to wear until after
+the sun shines on it," decided Miss Elting.
+
+The girls groaned dismally. They did not relish the idea of going about
+in kimonos for the better part of the next forenoon. Harriet and Jane
+paid little attention to their own discomfort, however, for there were
+still many things to be done. The cabin had held quite a stock of
+supplies. Cans of provisions lay all about the floor. The two girls were
+unable to gather up their supplies in the darkness. The water would not
+damage the canned goods, so they decided to let these remain where they
+were for the time being.
+
+"I'll tell you what!" said Harriet, after pondering over the best course
+to follow. "Let's take pails and go to bailing. Of course some water
+will still leak in around the bottom cot, but we can bail out down to
+that point. The water must come out. We might as well bail now as after
+daylight. We won't get any wetter, and we don't mind lame backs, do we?"
+
+"We don't, if you say not," agreed Jane. "What the captain of the 'Red
+Rover' orders, is to be done. Where are the pails?"
+
+"I think I remember having carried one outside."
+
+"Here's the other," called Crazy Jane, who, at that moment, fell over
+the missing pail and went sprawling in the water. She rose to her feet,
+dripping, but in great good humor.
+
+The two plucky girls set to work bailing. They did not wish to call in
+their companions to help them, as they believed they could accomplish
+more by themselves. Bailing out the boat was back-breaking work, and
+there was so much water in the hold of the "Red Rover," that at first
+their bailing seemed to have no effect whatever. Now and then they would
+go ashore and throw themselves down for a brief rest. Miss Elting begged
+them to do no more, but both Jane and Harriet were deaf to her
+entreaties. They alternately bailed and rested until early in the
+morning, when utterly exhausted from the strain of the past few hours'
+work they were glad to throw themselves down on the canvas beside their
+friends for a little rest.
+
+By this time the dawn had begun to break and soon after the sun shone
+brightly. The wind had died down and the lake lay smooth and glassy in
+the morning sunlight.
+
+"I'm going to try to get into that big chest that holds our clothes,"
+announced Harriet. "If it really is water tight, then we shall not have
+to worry long about dry garments."
+
+"I'll go with you," said Miss Elting.
+
+The two women made their way to the cabin of the houseboat, where they
+were soon joined by Jane. By their united efforts the barricade was
+removed from the door, and as the water had almost subsided Harriet had
+little difficulty in getting at the chest.
+
+"Hurrah!" she exclaimed as she turned the key which had been allowed to
+stand in the lock, and lifted the lid. "Everything is all right. These
+things are scarcely damp! Jane will you call the girls? We ought to
+dress as quickly as possible."
+
+Fifteen minutes later the Meadow-Brook Girls and Miss Elting were
+enjoying the luxury of clean, dry clothing. Their hasty toilets were
+scarcely completed, however, when they heard the steady chug! chug of an
+approaching motor boat. Harriet climbed to the upper deck and shading
+her hands with her eyes looked out over the waters. Suddenly she
+exclaimed: "Girls, girls! Look at that boat!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+CAPTAIN GEORGE MAKES A FIND
+
+
+"Well, well, if it isn't the Meadow-Brook Girls."
+
+"It's Captain George Baker," cried Harriet, really overjoyed to meet
+their old friend whom, last season, they had beaten in a cross country
+contest of endurance and cleverness.
+
+The girls left the boat and ran down to the shore to welcome the
+newcomers. The boys were calling their welcome before they had fairly
+landed. With Captain Baker were his friends Dill Dodd and Sam Crocker,
+and two other lads, whom Captain Baker introduced as Larry Goheen and
+Billy Gordon.
+
+"Where are the rest of the tramps?" asked Miss Elting laughingly,
+hurrying down to the beach to greet the boys.
+
+"In camp about two miles below here."
+
+"I believe we have met Mr. Gordon and Mr. Goheen before," said the
+guardian. "They were good enough to give us a tow."
+
+"Yes," answered George. "They told us about that. Somehow, I half
+suspected it to be you folks. After the storm of last night I wondered
+how the houseboat with its crew of girls had fared, so we set out to
+look for you this morning. We found you. Well, you are in a mess, aren't
+you?"
+
+"Harriet and Jane were bailing water out of the boat nearly all night,
+Captain Baker," Miss Elting informed him.
+
+"You certainly must have had a bad night," returned George Baker
+sympathetically.
+
+The guardian related briefly the experience of the night.
+
+"Once more I take off my hat to you," said Captain Baker admiringly.
+"And I take off my coat too. Fellows, all off with your coats! There's
+work to be done here. How is your boat?"
+
+At this juncture Billy Gordon, who had been looking about the deck of
+the houseboat, stepped ashore.
+
+"I don't think the hull is damaged at all. One door is smashed in and
+things are pretty well soaked up. If you will permit it, we fellows will
+clean up. There's a ton or more of sand and gravel in the after cockpit.
+Have you a shovel?"
+
+The girls shook their heads.
+
+"We have a dutht pan," Tommy answered.
+
+"We will use that and a pail, if you have one."
+
+The lads started for the boat, having discarded their coats.
+
+"Oh, by the way, have you any matches?" asked Harriet. "We need some
+coffee this morning, but we have nothing with which to build a fire."
+
+"Sam, you make a fire."
+
+"The oil stove may work," suggested Miss Elting. They tried it, but
+there was still too much water in the tanks, so Sam built a fire on
+shore, and shortly after Harriet and Jane were busily engaged in getting
+breakfast, while the boys worked steadily in the houseboat. Finding
+nails, saw and hammer, they patched up the broken door and hung it back
+in place. Then they removed all the supplies that had been left aboard
+and began cleaning up. They bailed the remaining water out, also
+shoveling out the gravel and the sand, after which they scrubbed the
+floor and the walls to a height of about three feet from the floor,
+where the water had left a dark line on the white woodwork.
+
+An hour after the visiting boys had begun their work the cabin was ready
+for occupancy again, but the quilts, sheets and blankets were still wet.
+A larger fire was built. The boys rigged a clothes line about the
+campfire and assisted the girls to hang up the wet bedding. By this time
+the lads were hungry. They readily accepted the invitation of the
+Meadow-Brook Girls to sit down with them to breakfast. The table and
+chairs had been brought ashore, and there in the cove, with the trees
+and bushes for a background, the Meadow-Brook Girls and the Tramp Club
+sat down to breakfast. There was plenty of good cheer, though the faces
+of the girls were pale, and Harriet and Jane looked particularly tired.
+
+"I'll tell you what you must do," declared Captain George during
+breakfast. "When you wish to shift your position, let us know, and we'll
+tow you about. Did your rope break?"
+
+Harriet confessed that she had not looked. The captain said he would
+look into the matter after breakfast. The first thing to be done, after
+getting the equipment back on board, would be to tow the "Red Rover" off
+the shore. To do this they arranged to pass a rope to the launch, the
+launch to pull ahead while some of the boys pushed on the houseboat.
+
+In the meantime, while waiting for the equipment to dry out, George and
+his friend, Billy Gordon, who owned the launch, took Harriet and Jane to
+town, where Jane wished to go to renew some of their supplies, as well
+as to purchase a couple of flatirons with which to press their wet
+clothing that had hung in the cabin when the deluge came.
+
+During the trip George had drawn out the story of their previous
+disaster when they had drifted ashore, though Harriet refrained from
+mentioning the fact that their anchor rope had been cut on that
+occasion. From George's questions it was plain that he suspected
+something was wrong, though Harriet failed to gratify his suspicions by
+direct answers to direct questions.
+
+George explained, during the trip to the town, that the Tramp Club had
+been invited by Billy Gordon, who owned the launch, to spend a few weeks
+with him on the lake. He was to furnish the launch for their cruises,
+while the boys supplied the camp equipment. Billy knew the lake and they
+knew how to camp, and now that they had renewed acquaintance with their
+old rivals, the Meadow-Brook Girls, the Tramp Club were glad they had
+accepted Gordon's invitation.
+
+The trip to town was quickly made, and the two girls completed their
+purchases with little loss of time, and were back on board the launch
+within an hour from the time they had started.
+
+"Now," said George, after they had started on their return voyage, "is
+there any place you wish to go?"
+
+"I want as soon as possible to get back to the boat and discuss with the
+girls what is to be done," answered Harriet.
+
+"Well, can we help you? Is there anywhere you wish us to tow your
+houseboat?"
+
+"Let me see," pondered Captain Burrell, "I think I should like to get
+out of that cove. We haven't made any plans."
+
+"Then suppose we tow you over in front of our camp? We'll be handy,
+then, in case you need us again."
+
+Harriet shook her head.
+
+"I don't think that would be best. You see, we wish to go it alone. We
+don't wish to have to depend upon any one."
+
+"You don't have to do so. You are able to take care of yourselves. I'd
+back the Meadow-Brook Girls against the world," declared George,
+confidently, which aroused a laugh from the other occupants of the boat.
+"We helped you this morning, did we not?"
+
+"Indeed, you did."
+
+"But they would have gotten out of the scrape without us," nodded Billy.
+
+"Surely we would," chuckled Crazy Jane. "We always do get out of our
+scrapes, somehow. But we thank you just the same."
+
+"Indeed, we do," agreed Harriet earnestly. "I was about to say, when you
+asked me if there were any place we wished to go, that we do wish to go
+over to the other side of the lake some day soon, and--"
+
+"Any time," interrupted Billy. "I'll take you over to-day, if you say
+the word."
+
+Harriet shook her head.
+
+"Boys, we've got business on hand to-day," said Jane briskly. "There is
+plenty to be done. It will take us two days to get well settled again.
+You will look us up occasionally, I am sure. We can then let you know
+where and when we wish to go, can't we?"
+
+"Surely you can," agreed George enthusiastically. "But I'm sorry you
+won't come to anchor near our camp."
+
+Harriet told him they should be moving frequently; that they hoped to be
+able to make a complete circuit of the lake before they had finished
+their vacation. George said that the boys, too, were going to move their
+camp now and then. He told the girls the Tramp Club had planned to spend
+a week on one of the islands in the lake, and that they would so arrange
+the time as to do so when the Meadow-Brook party was in that vicinity.
+
+By the time they had reached the cove where the "Red Rover" lay the boys
+who had remained behind had gotten nearly all the belongings aboard.
+Miss Elting and the girls were helping them, Tommy taking it upon
+herself to "boss" the whole job.
+
+As soon as the motor boat party had landed, Harriet said she must look
+for the anchor rope, which had not been seen that morning.
+
+"I'll do that," offered Larry Goheen. "You ought to make it secure, so
+that the boat can't get away," he added.
+
+"I thought I secured it last night. I made a stout loop and slipped it
+over the cleat on the deck. I don't see how the boat could have gotten
+away unless the rope broke, which it undoubtedly did."
+
+George said he would see about that. The rowboat had drifted ashore
+unharmed. Captain George launched the boat and rowed out, paddling about
+until finally they saw him stop and raise the end of a rope from the
+water.
+
+"Bring the launch out here, Bill," he called. "Yes, I've found it, and
+I've found something else too. There's been some crooked work here!"
+
+"What do you mean?" called Harriet.
+
+"I'll tell you when I come in. I've made a find, all right!"
+
+The captain had indeed made a find--one that more than confirmed the
+suspicions he had formed earlier in the morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT JOURNEY
+
+
+Billy Gordon got aboard the launch and paddled it out to where Captain
+Baker sat examining the rope, the end of which he had picked up from the
+water.
+
+"What have you found? More mystery?" shouted Crazy Jane.
+
+"Yes. I'll tell you when I get ashore. What kind of an anchor have you
+down here?"
+
+"Just an anchor, that's all," answered Harriet. "Why?"
+
+"Nothing. I was just wondering."
+
+George climbed over into the launch, tying the rowboat behind it. Then
+the two lads hauled the anchor aboard the power boat. After examining
+the anchor, they paddled the launch ashore, towing the smaller boat
+behind them.
+
+"We have the old anchor. It's a good one too," announced Billy, stepping
+ashore. "I take back all I said. George has some questions to ask you."
+
+"Yes," nodded young Baker. "Was the anchor rope in good condition when
+you put out the anchor, Miss Burrell?"
+
+"So far as I know. Did it break?"
+
+"It broke, all right. Will you show me where you made it fast last
+night?"
+
+Harriet led the way to the forward deck of the "Red Rover," pointing to
+a hard wood cleat.
+
+"I made a loop in the rope and slipped it over the cleat, drawing it
+tight. I do not see how it would be possible for the loop to slip off,
+nor, in fact, for the rope to break."
+
+"Hm-m-m-m!" pondered George, feeling the cleat with critical fingers.
+"Smooth. No chance for it to have worn through. There is something to be
+explained in this affair, Miss Burrell."
+
+Harriet gazed searchingly at him, but said nothing.
+
+"I wish you would have a look at the rope. It's there on the shore.
+Then, after you have examined it, tell me what you think about the
+matter, but tell me just whatever you wish to. I'm not going to question
+you about something you don't wish me to know."
+
+"What do you mean, Captain?"
+
+"Have you any enemies up here?"
+
+"I do not know of any. I have a rival here, though."
+
+"Eh? Who?"
+
+"You," answered Harriet, with a smile.
+
+"Oh!" Captain Baker flushed, then he laughed heartily. "That was last
+summer. You beat us fairly. Of course we wanted to win the race home,
+and so did you, but you won it fairly and squarely, and that's all there
+was about it. We got you into trouble by stealing the melons and giving
+them to you, but honestly, we didn't mean to have the farmer hold you
+responsible."
+
+"We owe you something for telling George's fortune," laughed Sam.
+
+"Then pay your debts," retorted Harriet.
+
+"Don't you do anything of the sort, boys," warned Jane. "You know what
+will happen to you, if you do."
+
+"What will happen?" demanded Baker, turning to Crazy Jane.
+
+"Oh, that would be telling. We should be even with you before we had
+finished, you know. Girls are always more resourceful than boys."
+
+"I don't agree with you," retorted George Baker.
+
+"Do you wish us to prove it to you?" asked Harriet laughingly.
+
+"I'll give you a chance to fail," returned George. "As long as we're
+going to spend our vacations on this lake we'll give you girls a chance
+to prove your superiority as strategists. I'll wager you a No. 2 Brownie
+Camera, to be the joint property of whichever side wins it, that the
+Tramp Club can completely outwit the Meadow-Brook Girls three times
+inside of three weeks. What do you say?"
+
+"Shall we accept the challenge, Miss Elting?" asked Harriet. "What do
+you say, girls?"
+
+"Done!" chorused the girls and their guardian.
+
+"Very well," smiled Harriet. "The contest begins now, and of course all
+unfair tricks are to be barred out by both sides."
+
+"Of course," agreed George. "But come along and have a look at the
+rope."
+
+Harriet stepped briskly ashore, followed by Jane and the two boys. She
+went directly to where the rope and the anchor lay. Picking up the
+former she ran it through her hands until she came to the loop that had
+been drawn about the cleat on the deck when the boat had been anchored
+on the previous afternoon. The Meadow-Brook Girl held the loop on the
+palm of her left hand, gazing at the rope reflectively. She frowned
+slightly as she looked at it.
+
+"Well, what do you find?" questioned the captain briskly.
+
+Harriet glanced up at him quickly.
+
+"I understand," she said.
+
+"What is it, Harriet, dear?" asked Miss Elting.
+
+"Oh, what a mess!" muttered Jane, who had been looking over Harriet's
+shoulder. "Here's more trouble for the Meadow-Brook Girls, and trouble
+for somebody besides them, too."
+
+"You can see for yourself," replied Harriet, handing the end of the rope
+to the guardian.
+
+"The loop has been cut!" exclaimed Miss Elting.
+
+Harriet nodded.
+
+"It has, indeed," agreed Jane.
+
+Miss Elting and Harriet Burrell exchanged significant glances. George
+Baker observed the looks. He nodded to Billy. Larry Goheen winked
+wisely.
+
+"There is something behind this business then, Miss Elting?" asked the
+captain.
+
+"I don't mind admitting that there is, Mr. Baker," answered the
+guardian. "What do you say, girls, shall we tell the boys?" she
+inquired, turning to her wards.
+
+"If you think best," agreed Harriet.
+
+"Surely. Tell them. Maybe they'll be able to catch the rascal," urged
+Jane McCarthy.
+
+"This is not the first time we have been troubled by some person who
+wishes to annoy us," Miss Elting informed the Tramp Club. "Before we
+began to live on the boat, and while we were getting it ready for
+occupancy, some person did the same thing. That is, he cut the rope and
+cast the boat adrift. It was anchored at Johnson's dock. Perhaps you do
+not know where that is."
+
+"I know," spoke up Billy. "It's about two miles above here. That's where
+we landed to-day, George."
+
+Captain Baker nodded.
+
+"How do you know they cast the 'Red Rover' adrift?" he asked.
+
+"The rope had been cut," replied Harriet Burrell. "It was just as Miss
+Elting has told you. The anchor rope had been cut cleanly with a sharp
+knife. This time the loop, instead of the rope, has been cut."
+
+"I thought you said you had no enemies," observed Sam Crocker.
+
+"Nor have we, as far as we know," answered the guardian.
+
+"I don't know what you would call the person who did this, then. This is
+all the more reason why you should anchor near our camp."
+
+"Oh, no. We are perfectly able to take care of ourselves," smiled Miss
+Elting. "Experiences such as these aid in making us self-reliant."
+
+"Have you a revolver on board?" questioned Gordon.
+
+"Miss Elting has a revolver," answered Jane.
+
+"We hope never to be forced to use it, however. The trouble is that our
+friend doesn't show himself. But just wait. One of these fine nights
+we'll catch him, then he'll take a bath in the lake."
+
+"You have no idea who he is?"
+
+"I can't say that we have," replied the guardian slowly.
+
+"Do you know Mr. Dickinson?" asked Harriet, looking sharply at Gordon.
+
+"Dee? Yes."
+
+"What sort of person is he?"
+
+"Oh, Dee's all right. He doesn't amount to a whole lot, but he is a good
+fellow. Why?" He shot a suspicious glance at Harriet.
+
+"Nothing, except that he was looking after the boat for Miss Elting's
+brother before we came down here."
+
+George put an end to the conversation by announcing that it was time
+they got the "Red Rover" out. The motor boat was paddled out into deeper
+water, then the houseboat was fastened to the motor boat and the power
+started, while all the boys save two pulled and hauled on the heavy
+houseboat. It floated slowly out into deeper water, while the girls
+cheered the efforts of the Tramp Club.
+
+The anchor, in the meantime, had been put on board and a new loop made
+at the end of the rope. The girls now climbed into the rowboat and were
+rowed out to the "Red Rover," after which the motor boat began towing
+the "Red Rover" into the lake, with Captain George Baker at the helm. He
+had remained aboard to give further assistance, if needed.
+
+"This is the worst old tub to steer that ever I took hold of," he
+declared.
+
+"We found it so," agreed Harriet. "You will get the knack of it soon.
+When you do, you will find steering it rather easy."
+
+They reached a cove farther up the lake, shortly after noon. Here the
+Meadow-Brook Girls decided to anchor, as there was a farmhouse on a
+bluff a little way inland, where they thought they would be able to get
+milk, eggs and vegetables. George decided that he would call in the
+motor boat and return to camp, promising to come over and see them later
+to get their orders for the following day.
+
+Miss Elting and her girls expressed their appreciation of the kindness
+of Captain Baker and his friends.
+
+"We haven't done anything worth while yet," retorted Captain Baker.
+"Perhaps we may give you a real opportunity to thank us, later on. On
+the other hand, you may not wish to thank us," he added, with a
+mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
+
+"Now, I wonder what the boy meant by that?" thought Crazy Jane,
+regarding George shrewdly through half-closed eyes.
+
+Captain Baker went over the side, boarding the motor boat after he had
+cast anchor for the girls and made everything snug. Then, with many
+good-byes on both sides, the power boat chugged away toward the Tramp
+Club camp, the Meadow-Brook Girls turning to the duties of the day.
+
+The first task was to get their clothing in condition. There was now no
+one to interfere with them. Flatirons were put on the oil stove, which
+was once more in working order, and the work of pressing out their
+wrinkled clothing was begun. Harriet and Jane handled the irons. Miss
+Elting took down the curtains, which also were sadly in need of ironing,
+while Margery and Hazel prepared the noon meal. Tommy perched herself on
+the rail of the upper deck, and caroled forth a lisping ditty.
+
+After dinner, Harriet and Jane rowed ashore and purchased supplies from
+the farmhouse that they had observed on their way to the present
+anchorage. The day passed all too quickly. Twilight was upon them almost
+before they realized it. Supper was late that night, and ere they had
+finished the dishes the motor boat drew up to them and the Tramp Club
+swarmed over the side of the houseboat with merry greetings.
+
+"It is almost like being boarded by pirates," laughed Harriet. "In this
+case the pirates are welcome."
+
+The boys had brought with them a bag of early apples, which Captain
+Baker gravely assured them had been duly bought and paid for. The boys
+also had brought their harmonicas, and later in the evening there was a
+harmonica concert on the upper deck of the "Red Rover." Later on the
+girls served their guests with cake and coffee. Larry Goheen, who, like
+Jane McCarthy, was gifted with true Irish wit, was the life of the
+party. He and Crazy Jane bandied words and said witty things to each
+other to the delight of the rest of the company.
+
+The boys took their leave at ten o'clock. First, they left a lantern for
+the houseboat, which George Baker lighted and set in place at the stern.
+The anchor light of the houseboat had been lost in the storm of the
+previous night, or else it had been stolen, which latter they doubted.
+The girls were quite ready to retire, and lost no time in turning in
+after the departure of their guests. Then quiet settled down upon the
+"Red Rover." A gentle swell on the water lulled the girls into deep,
+peaceful slumber, until after sunrise next morning.
+
+Tommy, for a wonder, was the first to get out of bed in the morning.
+Half-asleep she staggered, blinking, to the after deck, and then leaned
+over to wash the last of the sleep out of her eyes. There followed a
+sudden, sharp splash, and a moment later the blonde head of Tommy
+Thompson appeared from out of the lake. Tommy had fallen in again. This
+time she did not scream. She climbed aboard the boat, grumbling to
+herself, and proceeded to dress without further delay.
+
+"For goodness' sake, Tommy, what is the matter?" demanded Harriet,
+sitting up in bed, rubbing her blinking eyes. "Did you fall into the
+lake again?"
+
+"I gueth I had a bath thith morning," answered Tommy.
+
+"An impromptu plunge, I should call it," answered Harriet smiling. Then
+she glanced sharply out through the rear door of the cabin. Her eyes
+narrowed as she gazed. She rose from her cot and walked to the door,
+looking over the water towards the opposite shore, her forehead
+wrinkling into a perplexed frown. "Girls! Get up! Come out and view the
+scenery. I promise you it is well worth seeing this morning. Oh, Miss
+Elting, do you know where you are?"
+
+"Why--why, what does it mean?" gasped the girls who had hurriedly
+tumbled out following Harriet's summons.
+
+The guardian could scarcely believe her eyes. They were not in the cove
+where the boat had been anchored the day before. The scenery on the
+shore near them was strange and new.
+
+"What does it mean, Harriet?" demanded the guardian.
+
+"I think a fairy must have touched the world with her wand and changed
+it into something else during the night," replied Harriet. "But don't
+you know where you are, Miss Elting?"
+
+"I do not. Do you?"
+
+"I think I do."
+
+"I know," piped Tommy. "We are on the water. I wath in it earlier thith
+morning."
+
+No one gave any heed to Tommy's pleasantry. They were too amazed and
+perplexed to give thought to anything but the strangeness of their
+surroundings.
+
+"Then I will tell you," said Harriet, "We are on the other side of the
+lake. Do you see that white house on the bluff across the lake? Well,
+that is the farmhouse where we got our milk yesterday."
+
+"But--but----" gasped Miss Elting.
+
+"We are now where we wanted to be, across the lake near the beautiful
+islands and the pretty wooded shores."
+
+"But how did we get here?" finished Miss Elting.
+
+"I don't know. I know only that we're here. Somehow we must have made a
+mysterious journey across the lake during the night, or else the fairy
+that I spoke of has turned the lake around in the night and left us
+standing exactly as we were. But I can't think on an empty stomach.
+Let's dress and get breakfast; then we will consider what has happened
+to us. We are anchored all right, so there is no occasion for worry. The
+weather is fine too. Our unknown enemy did us a good turn, this time, if
+he only knew it. Come along, girls."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE ISLAND OF DELIGHT
+
+
+"It is the most mysterious thing I ever encountered," declared Miss
+Elting at breakfast, after she had stepped to the window again to gaze
+off over the lake to the cove--in the distance--where the "Red Rover"
+had lain when they retired the night before.
+
+None of the girls except Harriet and Jane had much appetite for
+breakfast. They were too excited over the mysterious changing of their
+position.
+
+"What I cannot understand," continued the guardian, "is how we, who
+pride ourselves on being woodsmen, trailers and scouts and all the other
+things, could possibly be carried across a lake, dragged over several
+miles of water and not know anything about it. Can you explain why we
+didn't wake up, Harriet Burrell?"
+
+Harriet shook her head.
+
+"And we are anchored just the same as we were last night," remarked
+Jane. "It's spirits, girls. No mistake about that."
+
+"Now, Jane," laughed Harriet. "You know very well that the mere fact
+that our anchor was pulled up before we left the other side of the lake,
+then let down on this side, makes your spirit theory impossible."
+
+"It _wath_ thpookth," declared Tommy. "I thaw one thtanding on the
+handle of the mop pail latht night after I went to bed. I heard the
+water thplathh when he jumped in the pail."
+
+"What a marvelous imagination you have," jeered Jane.
+
+"All this talk doesn't help us to solve the mystery," averred Hazel.
+"How did we get here?"
+
+"We do not know, but we are going to find out," replied Harriet.
+
+"How?"
+
+"I can't tell you. Something will turn up to give us a clue to this and
+the other mysteries. I have my suspicions of the Tramp Club in this
+matter. I am very glad that the rope was not cut, this time, or thrown
+overboard after being removed from the boat. If the boys are responsible
+for this, rest assured they'll be the first to tell us. You know the
+island that we admired so much from a distance, Miss Elting?
+
+"We are within a mile of it now. After breakfast, with your permission
+I'll row over," continued Harriet. "I want to see that island at close
+range. Jane, will you come with me?" Jane was prompt to accept Harriet's
+invitation. Miss Elting also was invited, but concluded to remain with
+the other girls on the houseboat.
+
+Harriet and her companion rowed rapidly to the island shortly after
+breakfast. It was a good sized island, as they discovered by rowing down
+one side of it, the side nearest to the shore of the mainland near which
+the houseboat was anchored. The girls rowed in so close that they were
+able to reach up and touch the foliage overhead and in places it trailed
+in the water. The island was rocky, still it was heavily wooded. One
+side of it was popular with picnic parties, but on the side where the
+girls were few boats ever landed. As they were rowing slowly along the
+edge, Harriet's eyes were constantly searching the shore.
+
+"This is about what I thought we should find, Jane."
+
+"What are you looking for, dear?"
+
+"I am trying to find a place where we can run the 'Red Rover' in under
+the trees, and where the boat cannot be seen from the lake on either
+side of the island."
+
+"You will have to change its color then. Why, in the sunlight you could
+see that tub fifty miles away."
+
+Harriet did not answer. She had rested on the oars, and was peering over
+her right shoulder towards the thicket at the shore of the island.
+
+"No, my dear, not where I am going to put the boat provided there is
+room for it. Do you see that current swirling right into the island
+there? I saw that from the deck of the 'Red Rover,' this morning, when
+looking through the glasses. At least I thought it was a current. The
+water everywhere else was very still, but a slight discoloration there,
+as you see it, led me to believe there was a creek running into the
+island."
+
+"You have sharp eyes, Harriet. But where's your creek? I don't see it,"
+laughed Jane.
+
+"Neither do I. There may be no creek there, but if there is, it's going
+to be a splendid place to hide."
+
+"Hide?" wondered Jane.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But why should we hide, darlin'?"
+
+"In that way we may be able to get some clue to our unknown enemy,"
+nodded Harriet. "If the boys did tow us over here, of course they'll
+wonder what became of us."
+
+"Do you think our enemy will try to find us?" asked Jane.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I don't. We'll be wasting our time. The boys won't look for us, here,
+either."
+
+"Well, here is the creek, at any rate," exclaimed Harriet, swinging the
+bow of the boat in as she spoke. "And oh, Jane! Look!"
+
+A smooth sheet of dark water was revealed to the eyes of the girls. It
+was shimmering in the deep shadow of the foliage under which it flowed
+until it became lost in the shadows of foliage and rocks. Harriet drove
+her boat in without the least hesitancy. She saw by glancing above her
+head that there were no heavy limbs of trees hanging over the little
+waterway. A sounding with the oar developed the fact that there was only
+about three feet of water in the stream.
+
+"Do you know where you are going, Harriet?" questioned Jane anxiously.
+
+"No. But I don't care. Do you?"
+
+"Not I. I can go where you go. Oh, look at that hole. It's a cave,
+Harriet, and the stream goes right into it."
+
+"I think you are mistaken, Jane. That looks to me more as if the water
+had worn an opening in the rocks. The water must have been very high to
+make such a large opening. Yes. See! The water swirls in at one side of
+the opening and comes out on the other side, making a sort of horseshoe
+shape of the cut-out place. Isn't this a place in which to hide, Jane
+McCarthy?" cried Harriet triumphantly.
+
+"Hurrah! The greatest hiding place in the world."
+
+"And won't the Tramp Club be amazed when they find we are missing?
+They'll think their chance of winning the camera is doubtful."
+
+"Perhaps they'll think we're drowned," answered Jane, her eyes sparkling
+mischievously.
+
+"A little scare will do them good," returned Harriet, the mischievous
+sparkle appearing in the depths of her brown eyes. "What do you think of
+it, dear?"
+
+"Fine! It's glorious. We'll have a picnic here. What fun, what fun! And
+it's such a beautiful place too. What shall we call it?"
+
+"I think we might call it the Island of Delight," answered Harriet,
+after brief reflection.
+
+"That's the name! Now, let's explore the place."
+
+"Oh, no, not now, Jane. We must go and lay our plan before Miss Elting
+first. I do not think she will object, but we must ask her, of course,
+before we make any further arrangements."
+
+"When do you plan to move in here?"
+
+"Just as soon as we are able to get the 'Red Rover' in here. I am in a
+hurry. The boys are likely to be sailing over here almost any time now.
+We must get out of sight before they come near here."
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Crazy Jane.
+
+"Save your breath. You will need it before we have gotten our big boat
+in. It is going to be a hard pull to get it through all this foliage and
+then it is going to be another difficult job to get it out again. When
+we get those boys on the Island of Delight we are going to give them
+something to think about," chuckled Harriet. "This time, the
+Meadow-Brook Girls will score."
+
+"I should like to know how you are going to get them here?" wondered
+Jane.
+
+"Oh, that is easy. One doesn't even need to think to know how to do
+that," laughed Harriet Burrell.
+
+Jane regarded her admiringly.
+
+"You sure are a wonderful girl. My daddy says he'd give a million if you
+were his daughter."
+
+"I'm worth much less than that," smiled Harriet. "Now let's go back. We
+haven't any time to spare. When we get out into the lake both of us will
+row, but let's be certain that there is no one in sight. We don't want
+to be seen coming from this place or our plans will be spoiled before we
+have had a chance to carry them out."
+
+They shoved the rowboat back through the foliage by placing the oars on
+the bottom and pushing. They made better progress this way than they
+could have made by rowing, for the low hanging branches of the trees
+fouled the oars, making rowing a difficult method of travel, as they had
+learned when they entered the narrow little waterway.
+
+No person was in sight when they emerged. The two girls bent to their
+oars with a will and made rapid progress on their way back toward the
+"Red Rover."
+
+Those on the houseboat saw the girls coming.
+
+"Harriet ith in a hurry about thomething," observed Tommy, wrinkling her
+forehead into sharp little ridges of perplexity. She did not understand
+how any one could be in a hurry on such a hot day as this.
+
+The rowers reached the "Red Rover," and jumping aboard, their faces
+flushed and eyes sparkling, proceeded to tell their companions of their
+great find.
+
+"And what is your plan?" asked the guardian, smiling good-naturedly.
+
+Harriet told her, whispering part of what she had to say, in the ear of
+Miss Elting.
+
+"That will be fine," glowed the guardian, instantly entering into the
+spirit of the plan. "We shall at least have a good time there."
+
+"And we'll be hidden from the world so no one will know we are on this
+island at all," interjected Jane.
+
+"I am with you, girls. But we must not let people get the idea that
+anything has happened to us. That would not be right, you know."
+
+"No one about here knows, or at least cares, what happens to us, unless
+it is the Tramp Club," replied Harriet, "Besides, I shall find a way to
+let them know we are above water, rather than underneath it."
+
+"All right. I suppose you wish to move into this retreat to-day, Captain
+Harriet?"
+
+"Yes. At once."
+
+"Then get under way, Captain, as soon as you wish. Able seaman Tommy
+Thompson will heave the anchor for you," averred the guardian merrily.
+
+"Able theaman Tommy will do nothing of the thort," retorted Tommy. "Able
+theaman Tommy will heave herthelf overboard if thhe trieth to do any
+heaving at all."
+
+"Miss Elting, I think you can steer the boat. I am needed in the rowboat
+with Jane," interrupted Harriet.
+
+"Girls, I am afraid it is going to be a pretty hard pull in this heat.
+Hadn't we better wait until the evening?" suggested the guardian.
+
+Harriet and Jane protested that they didn't mind the heat at all, and
+that they could pull the big boat over to the island without the least
+difficulty. Miss Elting offered no further objections. The "Red Rover"
+was a scene of activity from that moment on. All hands except Tommy
+assisted in getting the anchor aboard. Harriet and Jane, without loss of
+time, jumped into the rowboat and began pulling away. It was hard work
+to get the houseboat started, but once under way it followed along
+fairly well.
+
+Miss Elting handled the tiller, while Hazel, Margery and Tommy acted as
+lookouts to inform the rowers if any motor boats were sighted. The
+lookouts watched the lake through their glasses. The sun glaring down on
+the red sides of the "Red Rover" made the boat visible as far as eyes
+could reach. It was even discovered by one of the Tramp Club boys, but
+so slowly did it move that he was not aware that it was moving at all.
+From the other side of the lake the houseboat appeared to be standing
+still, until finally it disappeared altogether. He wondered a little
+over this at the time, then forgot all about the circumstance until
+later.
+
+[Illustration: Miss Elting Handled the Tiller.]
+
+In the meantime Harriet and Crazy Jane were heading toward the Island of
+Delight, pulling at the oars with backs bent to their task. They were
+destined to have a most delightful time on this their Island of Delight
+and to experience some thrills as well, and Harriet's plans were to work
+out better than she knew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE TRAMP CLUB IS ALARMED
+
+
+Now that they were masked by the island, the girls also were shut off
+from a view of the lake, save for the narrow ribbon of water that lay
+between them and the nearby shore, so they rowed faster than before.
+
+"Can you steer into this opening?" called Harriet.
+
+"I am afraid I can't," answered Miss Elting. "You will have to put me
+aboard, Jane, I'll have Hazel help you pull in; then we shall have to
+push the rest of the way."
+
+Harriet Burrell sprang on board a few minutes later. She set Miss Elting
+and Margery at work with poles at the stern of the boat pushing, as soon
+as they entered the shallow water. Tommy had been posted on the upper
+deck, from which the awning posts had been removed. Tommy's business was
+to hold her arms out at right angles to her body and by moving them as
+directed indicate to Harriet which way to steer. It will be remembered
+that Harriet was unable to see over the deckhouse from where she stood
+when guiding the craft. She could see only by leaning out on either
+side.
+
+They entered the narrow channel very slowly. But no sooner had they
+gotten well in than a cry from Tommy Thompson told them that the little
+lisping girl was in trouble.
+
+Tommy had been swept from her feet by the foliage. Not only that, but in
+floundering about she had rolled over the side of the boat. A mighty
+splash and a second cry gave additional evidence that Tommy was in
+further difficulties.
+
+"Help me! I'm in the water!" she screamed, coming up sputtering and
+coughing.
+
+"Stay there and push," answered Harriet, laughing so that she bumped the
+nose of the houseboat into the bank on the right side of the creek. "You
+can't get any wetter. The water is shallow. Come. Don't hold up the
+ship."
+
+Tommy had no intention of pushing. Her sole ambition at this moment was
+to get aboard.
+
+"You may do your own piloting after thith," she declared, sitting down
+on the stern of the boat with a suggestion of a sob in her voice.
+
+"There, there, Tommy. You must learn to take the bitter with the sweet.
+We must do that all through life," comforted Harriet wisely. "You aren't
+hurt."
+
+"No, but I'm wet. My feelingth are hurt, too."
+
+"Don't think about it any more," advised Harriet. "Go into the cabin and
+change your wet clothes. Then you'll feel better."
+
+"Will you steer, Miss Elting?" Harriet asked the guardian. "We are
+slowing down too much. If we stop it will be difficult to get another
+start."
+
+The boat moved faster when Harriet took hold of the pushing pole. Jane
+had ceased rowing because she was at the end of her tow line and had
+proceeded as far into the cave-like opening in the rocks as she could
+go. She pulled the rowboat to one side and called to the helmswoman of
+the "Red Rover" not to run her down.
+
+"Snub her nose against the side. We don't want to bump into the rocks,"
+ordered Captain Harriet.
+
+"Thnub whothe nothe?" questioned Tommy apprehensively.
+
+"The boat's, of course, you goose," answered Harriet laughingly. "That's
+it. Will it go in clear, Jane?"
+
+"Yes, all right."
+
+"Good. I was certain it would."
+
+"How are we going to keep the boat in here? It will drift out with the
+current, will it not?" asked the guardian.
+
+"We will put out the anchor at the other end, giving it a short rope.
+That will hold us. The current is not swift."
+
+While she was holding the "Red Rover" in place, Jane and Miss Elting
+dragged the anchor to the inner end of the opening, put it over and made
+it fast with a shortened rope.
+
+"There. Now let's sit down and rest our backs," exclaimed Harriet. Her
+face was red and perspiring. "I'm tired."
+
+"Harriet, you must be tired. You have wonderful endurance," said the
+guardian.
+
+"Tho am I tired. I'm worn out," declared Tommy.
+
+"Tired? Why, you haven't done a thing, you dear little goose," chuckled
+Crazy Jane.
+
+"I know that. It maketh me tired to watch you folkth work. Now, what
+crathy thing are we going to do?"
+
+"After we have rested we are going to explore our Island of Delight.
+Won't that be splendid?" questioned Harriet, with glowing eyes. "Just
+imagine that we are on an unknown, mysterious island. Perhaps there are
+savages, wild beasts and----"
+
+"And thingth," finished Tommy.
+
+"Yes, and things," agreed Harriet.
+
+"Perhaps there is another phase of this game of hide and seek that you
+have not thought of, Harriet," pondered Miss Elting. "How are we to get
+fresh supplies?"
+
+"There are several farmhouses within half an hour's row of us. By going
+to them early in the evening we shall not be discovered."
+
+Miss Elting nodded. Margery wanted to know how long they were going to
+stay in that hole in the ground.
+
+"Until you girls get tired of it," answered Harriet good-naturedly. "As
+I understand our arrangement, we have the privilege of expressing our
+choice in all matters that come up, Miss Elting's decision being final.
+What a glorious place this is!"
+
+"Aren't we going to explore our Island of Delight now?" demanded Jane.
+
+"It is your discovery--yours and Harriet's," was Miss Elting's smiling
+reply. "Suit yourselves as to exploring it."
+
+"We have time to look about a little before night," answered Harriet.
+"It won't be dark for a little while yet."
+
+They were about to start out when the distant chug of a motor boat was
+heard. "I guess we will not go just yet," she added. "Wait. I'll row
+down to the mouth and see if it is the Tramp Club's boat."
+
+Harriet paddled part way to the lake edge, then finding the bank
+accessible, sprang out and crept the rest of the way on shore. She was
+in time to see a power boat moving slowly past. It was close to the
+shore of the island. Several young men were aboard. One was standing up,
+gazing toward the island, one hand shading his eyes. Harriet chuckled
+when she recognized the standing boy as George Baker. There could be no
+doubt that the boys were looking for the Meadow-Brook Girls. The
+watching girl chuckled with delight. Then the thought occurred to her
+that some way must be found to communicate with the boys soon, so that
+the latter might know they were safe. Just how that was to be
+accomplished Harriet did not know. The launch soon passed on out of
+sight.
+
+As a matter of fact, Captain George Baker and his companions were a
+little disturbed over not finding the "Red Rover." Sam said he had seen
+the boat that afternoon, and unless it had picked up a tow the houseboat
+could not be far away. They moved along the shore, peering into each
+cove on that side of the lake until twilight fell and it was no longer
+light enough to see into the shadows.
+
+"It's my opinion that those girls will win the wager unless we do some
+hustling," declared Larry Goheen, when they had once more returned to
+their camp on the other side of the lake.
+
+"Harriet Burrell is very clever," answered George. "I wish we had gone
+ashore over there near where we last saw the 'Red Rover.' I'll tell you
+what we'll do. We'll run over there to-morrow and make inquiries of the
+farmers nearby. We ought at least to get some trace of them."
+
+The boat turned homeward after having encircled the island. Harriet, as
+soon as the motor boat had passed on out of sight, hurried back to her
+companions.
+
+"Girls! It's the boys," she cried. "They are looking for us. I could see
+that. They were so close to the island that I could almost have hit them
+with a stone."
+
+"Provided you could throw straight," interjected Miss Elting.
+
+"Yes. I wouldn't have to be a very good thrower to reach a boat so close
+as that one was."
+
+"Shall we go exploring now?" asked Margery.
+
+"I don't believe it would be prudent. Those boys are sharp. They may be
+on the island at this very moment. I don't hear their boat any more,"
+replied Harriet.
+
+"We will postpone exploring until to-morrow," announced Miss Elting.
+"And now, suppose we get supper? This is a cosy place. I never saw a
+more delightful nook. To-morrow morning, if the coast be clear, we will
+look about us. How about the farmhouse?"
+
+"I am going over there as soon as it gets a little darker."
+
+Harriet did not go until after supper, which proved to be one of the
+most enjoyable meals to which the girls had ever sat down. Their
+surroundings were so romantic that the situation appealed strongly to
+each of them. The Meadow-Brook Girls were in high good humor. Later in
+the evening, Harriet, accompanied by Jane and Hazel, paddled the rowboat
+out from the island and rowed almost straight across to the shore of the
+mainland. Hiding their boat in some bushes they made their way to a
+farmhouse, and there arranged for milk. Harriet had a confidential chat
+with the woman of the house, who readily agreed to the girl's
+proposition to assist in fooling the boys. The woman further agreed to
+provide them with such supplies as they needed. For such as they took
+with them the girls paid then and there. Harriet chuckled all the way
+back to the island. She believed that she had planned in such a way as
+thoroughly to mystify George Baker and his friends, and at the same time
+convince the latter that the Meadow-Brook Girls were not in trouble.
+
+Reaching the island they found their companions eagerly awaiting them.
+To Miss Elting, Harriet confided her plan. Then, after a happy evening,
+the houseboat party went to bed, looking forward with keen expectation
+to what awaited them on the morrow, when Harriet's new plan was to be
+tried.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THEIR SUSPICIONS AROUSED
+
+
+That night there was a shower. The rain, beating down on the foliage and
+the end of the houseboat that protruded from the cave, served to freshen
+the air and brought out the fragrance of green leaves and flowers. When
+the sun came out next morning every leaf and petal was glistening, birds
+were singing overhead and the girls uttered exclamations of delight as
+they ran out in their bathing suits and jumped into the water for their
+morning baths.
+
+For several moments they splashed about in the shallow water, then,
+scrambling aboard their houseboat, enjoyed brisk rub downs, after which
+their appetites were sufficiently sharpened to cause them to hurry the
+breakfast with all possible speed. They ate under the light of the lamp
+that hung from the cabin ceiling. Had the foliage not been so wet they
+would have permitted the "Red Rover" to drift out from under the rocks,
+but it was decided that the trees were too wet for this, so they ate in
+the darkened cave.
+
+Immediately after breakfast they put on their old khaki skirts, that
+they had worn part of the time on their long tramp across country the
+previous season, and started out on their deferred exploring trip about
+the island. Exclamations of delight were frequent. The island was full
+of rocky nooks and dells; there were numerous wild flowers, while in the
+great trees that overhung the shore of the island an occasional squirrel
+whisked back and forth.
+
+"It really is the Island of Delight!" cried Crazy Jane. "How I wish my
+dear old dad were here! Wouldn't he want to buy this island? I'm going
+to ask him to come here some day, but I'm afraid he'll say he hasn't the
+time."
+
+"This island is too large to explore this morning," declared Miss
+Elting.
+
+"It may take some days," Harriet nodded, as they strolled about, "but it
+will be delightful work."
+
+On the outer side they discovered evidences that picnic parties had been
+there. And then they came upon the remains of a campfire, but it was a
+small one, as though there had been but a solitary camper, and that some
+time back.
+
+"I hope no one comes while we're here," murmured Margery.
+
+"How selfish!" laughed Hazel.
+
+By seven o'clock the delighted girls began to retrace their steps toward
+the houseboat.
+
+"Now, let's go down to the shore and take a look out over the lake,"
+proposed Harriet, and this was done.
+
+There were several boats in sight, but at the distance these looked like
+mere specks. A large excursion steamer was passing in the middle of the
+lake. Feeling quite certain that they were in no danger of being
+discovered the girls found a place in the sunlight and there sat down to
+bask in the pleasant warmth of the sun.
+
+"Get back, at once!" cried Harriet, suddenly springing to her feet, then
+crouching. "We don't want to be seen."
+
+The girls retreated up the shore in some confusion, not stopping to ask
+questions until they were concealed.
+
+"Oh, now I hear it," cried Hazel. "A motor boat coming! Do you think
+it's the one the boys are using?"
+
+"I don't know," Harriet replied, "but it's heading straight for the
+island, and we must be ready to seek hiding on the 'Red Rover.'"
+
+Anxious eyes peered through the bushes, watching the approaching boat
+for some time.
+
+"It _is_ the boys!" announced Miss Elting finally.
+
+Tommy leaped up, and started to run.
+
+"Wait!" commanded Harriet. "Let's make sure what they are going to do
+before we run away. We may have to creep across that open space there. I
+think they can see it from the lake. If they are coming to land on the
+island they will have to go farther to the right. That will be our time
+to get back."
+
+But the Tramp Club had no intention of landing at that moment. They were
+nearing the island for the purpose of looking it over. When they had
+come as close as they cared to run they turned the boat sharply and
+moved along at a slower rate of speed. They were out of sight of the
+girls a few moments after that.
+
+"Now for the boat. They are going around to the other side of the
+island," declared Harriet. "I think our plan is going to work."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For some reason George Baker was considerably interested in that island.
+There were many other islands in the lake, but this one had come to hold
+a sort of fascination for him.
+
+"I don't believe they are over there," reflected George.
+
+"We should have seen them yesterday if they had been," answered Billy
+Gordon. "It's a jolly place, though. We'll come over here and camp when
+we get ready. It is seldom that any one goes there."
+
+"Where's that farmhouse we saw yesterday?" questioned Sam.
+
+"On the other side of the lake, about half way down," answered Gordon.
+"There is a pier there so we can land."
+
+Of course all of this the Meadow-Brook Girls did not hear. But, having
+reached the houseboat, they made their way down the inlet, and were near
+the mouth of it when they sighted the motor boat on that side of the
+island. The girls saw it head straight for the pier where Harriet had
+landed the previous evening on her way to the farmhouse for supplies.
+The boys tied up the boat and two of them got out and went up the slope
+toward the farmhouse.
+
+The two boys, George and Billy, returned to the motor boat walking
+rapidly.
+
+"Did you find out anything?" called Sam.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Anything wrong?" asked Larry.
+
+"I don't know. It's a puzzle," replied Captain Baker. "Two of them were
+up at that farmhouse last night. The queer thing about it is that the
+woman up there saw the 'Red Rover' lying down here yesterday. Then the
+boat was gone when she looked again. I don't understand it."
+
+"Some one gave them a tow. Don't you tumble to that?" asked Sam.
+
+"Where to?"
+
+"I give it up. I don't know."
+
+"If nothing has happened them they can't be far away, or the girls
+wouldn't have gone up there last night."
+
+"What time were they there, George?"
+
+"Some time after dark. I didn't ask the time. I asked the woman if they
+were coming again. She said she didn't know. I told her we would come
+back later in the day, and, if she saw either of the girls in the
+meantime, to tell them that we wished to know where they are, as we had
+something to tell them. It was after dark when they were there. I don't
+know what to make of it."
+
+"Well, they are all right, so what's the use in worrying?" asked Larry.
+
+"Yes, they aren't drowned. I haven't any too much confidence in that old
+scow. It is likely to spring a leak and go down any old time," declared
+Billy Gordon. "I wouldn't trust myself in it over night."
+
+"You are not likely to get the chance," jeered Sam. "What are we going
+to do now?"
+
+"Go on to Wantagh, then to camp. We will come back before supper. While
+we are out we'll make inquiries. Some one may have seen the boat. It
+probably is laid up in a cove somewhere along this shore," decided
+George.
+
+"We should have seen it if it had been," replied Billy.
+
+"How about that island? Is there any place along the shore where they
+could hide the boat?" questioned Baker.
+
+Billy shook his head.
+
+"You have seen the whole island. We went all the way around it
+yesterday. It is my opinion that they are going to tie the score."
+
+"I am beginning to think so myself. But we'll beat them yet," chuckled
+Larry Goheen.
+
+"We will have to wake up in the morning earlier than we usually do,"
+returned George. "You ought to have seen the way they won that walking
+match. Outwit the Meadow-Brook Girls three times in succession. Well,
+try it!"
+
+"If they are so smart, what's the use in bothering about them?" answered
+Larry.
+
+"Because I don't propose to have them get the best of us every time,"
+returned George. "That's why I made this wager."
+
+"They didn't get the best of us the other night, did they?" grinned
+Billy. "We're one trick ahead." All the boys except George laughed
+heartily over some little joke of their own.
+
+"Look here, fellows," said Baker. "We think we are mighty smart, but I'm
+telling you that we may not be as smart as we believe. They may be
+laughing at us all the time."
+
+The two boys got into the launch and Billy started the motor. The launch
+backed away, turned slowly about, then followed nearly the same course
+that it had on the previous day. This time it crept along still closer
+to the Island of Delight. The girls, who were watching it, crouched low,
+almost flattening themselves on the ground in their efforts to avoid
+discovery. The boys, at one time, seemed to be gazing right at them.
+
+Yet even with this keen study of the shores of the island the Tramp Club
+boys passed by the entrance to the anchorage of the "Red Rover" without
+having discovered the little inlet.
+
+"I'm going over there to find out what they found out," cried Harriet.
+"Who is going along? Tommy, I'll take you, Hazel and Margery this time
+if you wish to go. You haven't been out with me at all."
+
+The four got into the small boat and rowed across the water to the same
+landing where less than half an hour before the boys' boat had been tied
+up. What Harriet learned at the farmhouse, filled her with delight.
+
+"The boys know we are all right now. They are coming back again this
+afternoon. They are going to get another surprise, girls. Oh, we'll win
+that camera, won't we? Won't Miss Elting be amused when she hears what
+we have to tell her?" said Harriet.
+
+"I gueth they won't want to thee uth again," suggested Tommy.
+
+"Yes, they will. They have something to tell us," returned Harriet
+mysteriously.
+
+"What is it?" asked Margery.
+
+"I am not going to say. At least, not until I am sure it is so. I wonder
+if they will get suspicious of the island and search it for us?"
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls were on the alert all the rest of the day. They
+posted a lookout for the boys, in the person of Hazel Holland, who was
+to be depended upon. They drew the "Red Rover" into the cave as far as
+it would go, only the tip of the after deck protruding from the mouth of
+the cave. There was no more exploring that day. They did not dare get
+too far away from their hidden home, fearing lest the boys might come
+upon them unawares. Every boat on the lake in the vicinity was regarded
+with suspicion. But it was not until nearly five o'clock that Hazel came
+in with the report that the launch was heading across the upper end of
+the island, evidently making for the dock visited by it earlier in the
+day.
+
+After reaching the landing, Captain Baker went up to the farmhouse
+alone. With his companions he had been searching along the lake the
+greater part of the afternoon for information about the "Red Rover," but
+without result. It was therefore with some misgivings that he once more
+knocked at the door of the farmhouse.
+
+"Have you seen anything of the young ladies?" he asked the instant the
+door was opened in response to his knock.
+
+"Oh! You are the young man who was here this morning? Yes, I've heard
+from them," replied the woman, with a twinkle in her eyes that Captain
+Baker failed to observe.
+
+"You have? What have you heard?"
+
+"The young women were here very shortly after you left this morning."
+
+"You don't say so? Thank you ever so much. Did they say where they were
+stopping?" he questioned eagerly.
+
+The woman shook her head.
+
+"But they must be near here?"
+
+"Maybe they are and maybe they ain't." The farmer's wife did not know
+exactly where the girls were, so she had told him no untruth.
+
+"Haven't you seen their boat?"
+
+"Not since the other day."
+
+"That is queer. I don't understand it," pondered George. "Did they leave
+any message for us?"
+
+"Yes," laughed the farmer's wife, keenly enjoying the puzzled look on
+Baker's face. "The young lady left word that if you wanted to see them
+you'd have to find them."
+
+"That's the word, is it?" demanded George grimly, pulling his hat down
+over his eyes. "The challenge is accepted, and we'll find them!"
+
+"Not!" added Larry Goheen skeptically, when he heard of George's
+confident answer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+MARGERY MAKES A CUSTARD
+
+
+"Oh, dear, but I jutht _do_ wonder what the boyth are going to do!"
+lisped Tommy, as the motor boat started once more on its travels.
+
+"There's nothing very uncertain, in their own minds," laughed Harriet.
+"Just see how fast they're going. They've decided upon something."
+
+"They're going back to their camp, but I've an idea they're going to
+come over soon," guessed Hazel, "and make a regular search for us."
+
+"Something of that sort," agreed Miss Elting.
+
+"Well," said Jane sagely, "from their speed and the comfortable way
+they're all sitting, I'm sure the boys are not doing any guessing about
+their plans."
+
+"No. They've pathed the guething over to uth," lisped Tommy sagely.
+
+"Anyway," said Jane McCarthy, "if our friends can't find us, then our
+enemies can't, either."
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," Harriet nodded.
+
+"I wish I knew what the boys' plan is. At any rate we must begin to
+think of outwitting them a second time."
+
+"How?" asked Hazel eagerly.
+
+"Oh, I have the greatest scheme! That is, if they come back again,"
+added Harriet. "We will just have those boys so mystified that they
+won't know what they are doing."
+
+"What do you propose to do?" asked Hazel.
+
+"That is a dark secret. We won't even whisper it to the little birds
+yet, lest they carry it to our friends the tramps. I have an idea that
+our friends will be back here to-night. Just what they are going to do I
+don't know, but I think they are going to spy on the farmhouse. I wish
+they would come over to our Island of Delight. There are a number of
+things we could do to puzzle them. And then--"
+
+"And then the wise housekeeper forgot all about her supper," interrupted
+Miss Elting, amid a chorus of laughter and many blushes from Harriet,
+who, in the excitement of planning to get the better of George Baker and
+his friends, had forgotten her household duties.
+
+"Very good. I will confess that I have been dilatory. What do you girls
+wish for supper?"
+
+"The same old thing--the old stand-by, bacon and eggs and coffee,
+and--"
+
+"I know what I am going to have," interrupted Margery. "I'm going to
+have some custard. I haven't had any custard since I left home."
+
+"Can you make it?" asked the guardian.
+
+"Of course I can."
+
+"You are quite sure of that?" teased Harriet.
+
+"I guess I know. I've made it ever so many times. You will like it, if
+you get a chance to eat any of it. I am making this for myself."
+
+"Thelfithh," jeered Tommy. "Make me thome plum pudding and thome angel
+food while you are about it. I jutht love angel food and plum duff, ath
+my father callth it."
+
+"Custard is good enough for you, Tommy Thompson," laughed Margery. "May
+I make the custard, Miss Elting?"
+
+The guardian nodded smilingly.
+
+"If you think you can."
+
+"I'll show you. Where are the milk and the eggs and the other things?"
+
+"The milk is in that pail that hangs over the side at the other end of
+the boat. The eggs are in the paper box behind the stove. The rest of
+your materials are in the supply box. As for water, there is a lake full
+of it, enough to make custard for the whole world," remarked Miss
+Elting.
+
+"Now you are teasing me--and you, too, Harriet. You will be glad I
+thought of it, however, after you have tasted the custard."
+
+"After I have tasted it, yes," returned Harriet significantly.
+
+That there was some hidden meaning in Harriet's remark, Margery well
+knew. That was as near as she got to understanding just then. Later on
+she understood more fully.
+
+"I am afraid you haven't time to make the custard for supper," added
+Harriet.
+
+"It will do for dessert later in the evening. We don't have to eat
+everything all at once, you know." Margery was in a flurry of
+importance, over the idea of making the custard. Tommy, despite her
+apparent indifference, was eagerly waiting for the custard. It was one
+of her favorite dishes.
+
+Buster broke the eggs in an agate dish, then added the milk, a cupful
+for each person. The eggs, of course, had first been beaten up and the
+sugar added. Harriet, with her skirt pinned up, was frying bacon and
+potatoes until the smoke in the cabin was so thick as to drive out those
+who were not actively engaged in getting the supper. Harriet and Margery
+stuck to their posts, Tommy Thompson watched the operations from the
+deck, now and then coughing to remind them that she was there.
+
+"There, I think everything is ready," announced Buster. "How soon are
+you going to finish with the oil stove?"
+
+"Please do not wait for me. I shall not be done here for some little
+time. The coffee isn't ground yet. What part of the stove do you require
+for your custard?"
+
+"The oven, of course. Don't you know how to make custard?"
+
+"Oh, yes." Harriet turned her face from her companion, apparently to
+avoid the smoke, but in reality that Margery might not observe her
+laughter. "Help yourself to the oven."
+
+Margery groped about underneath the oil stove, burned her fingers and
+bumped her forehead against the edge of the stove.
+
+"If you please, don't knock the top of the stove off. We are some
+distance from another stove," reminded Harriet.
+
+"I--I can't find the oven," wailed Margery.
+
+"Don't you know why?"
+
+"No-o."
+
+"That is strange."
+
+"Where is the oven?"
+
+"There isn't any on this stove. Hadn't you discovered that yet, you
+silly?"
+
+"No--oven?" repeated Buster.
+
+"No. No oven."
+
+"Then I've mixed my custard for nothing?"
+
+"I am afraid you have unless you can turn the mixture to some other
+purpose."
+
+Margery stared at Harriet in silence, then carefully setting the dish on
+the little shelf above the stove she sat down on the floor and burst
+into tears.
+
+Harriet left her frying pan, and, taking Buster firmly by an arm, lifted
+the girl to her feet and led her out to the after deck.
+
+"Wha--at are you go--oing to do?"
+
+"Bathe your face for you and set you down on the deck to cool off,"
+replied Harriet.
+
+"You knew all the time that there wasn't any oven," sobbed Buster.
+
+"Yes, of course I did. So should you have known. I let you go on--"
+
+"Because you are mean," interjected the unhappy Margery.
+
+"No. To teach you to use your eyes. You should learn to be observing.
+Didn't you hear us talking about that oven when Jane brought home the
+stove?"
+
+"Ye--es. I had forgotten."
+
+"Of course you had. Now get ready for supper. To-morrow I will make an
+oven of stones on the shore and you shall make your custard and you
+shall have it all to yourself, if you wish, just to punish us for being
+so mean to you. Will that satisfy you, Buster?"
+
+"Ye--ye--yes," answered Buster, with three distinct catches in her
+voice.
+
+"Come, now, dry your eyes, that's a dear," urged Harriet. "Tommy!"
+
+"Yeth?"
+
+"Will you kindly place the chairs. Supper will be served in the cabin as
+soon as the coffee is ready."
+
+Tommy proceeded noisily about her task of putting the chairs in place at
+the table. Soon after that Harriet with a dish towel whipped the smoke
+out of the cabin and then announced that supper was ready. Margery's
+eyes were red and she had little to say, but her appetite was unaffected
+by her late bitter disappointment.
+
+"Now tell us of your latest scheme, Harriet," urged the guardian after
+they had settled down to their supper.
+
+"My scheme? Which scheme?"
+
+There was a laugh at Harriet's expense.
+
+"There, girls! You see. Harriet has so many schemes and plans in her
+head that she doesn't know which is which. I mean your second scheme for
+fooling the Tramp Club, Harriet."
+
+"Oh, yes. I know. I am not going to put it into operation until
+to-morrow. You may not approve of it, but I hope you will."
+
+"I don't think you have reason to complain of my opposing your plans,
+Harriet. To tell the truth, I enjoy them as much as you. But before we
+go any further with our discussion, do you not think it would be an
+excellent idea to hang a blanket over that rear door. The light might
+attract attention from the lake and bring undesirable persons here."
+
+"Thank you. I never thought of it." Harriet rose at once. Selecting a
+long blanket, she fastened it over the doorway, after which she drew
+down the shades. The door at the other end of the boat opened on to a
+solid wall of rock, so that no light could escape from that end. Harriet
+was about to resume her seat at the table, when she paused sharply,
+raising her hand as a signal for silence.
+
+"What is it, dear?" asked Miss Elting in a low voice.
+
+"I heard a shout. There is it again. Did you hear?"
+
+The guardian and the other girls nodded.
+
+"It isn't far from here. May I go down to the end of the creek and find
+out what it means?"
+
+"Wait a moment." The guardian turned down the light, then stepped out to
+the after deck, followed by the girls. From the deck they could hear the
+shouts much more plainly, but the shouters were too far away to make it
+possible to distinguish what they were saying.
+
+"Yes, you may go, but do nothing imprudent," added Miss Elting.
+
+"I will try not to do so."
+
+"May I go with you, Harriet?" asked Jane.
+
+"Perhaps it would be better for me to go alone." Miss Elting agreed with
+this, fearing that the girls might begin to laugh or talk and thus
+attract attention to themselves. Harriet quickly got the rowboat and
+began pushing her way down through the overhanging foliage that smote
+her in the face with every move of the oar.
+
+The night was very dark. She had to feel her way along, but even at that
+the boat frequently bumped into the bank. Reaching the lake, she paused
+to look and listen. Not more than ten rods above she saw lights on the
+shore of the island and a light on the water. A motor boat chugged a few
+times, the plash of an oar followed, then more shouts.
+
+"I simply must find out what is going on there," muttered Harriet. "I
+wonder if it can be--Yes, I'll row a little further along. No one will
+see me unless I get within range of the lanterns there."
+
+Taking careful note of the entrance to their secret creek that she might
+recognize the spot when she returned, Harriet crept to the stern of the
+rowboat and using one oar as a paddle propelled the boat through the
+water as quietly as possible.
+
+As she neared the scene of activity the voices of the newcomers grew
+louder. Harriet finally ceased paddling and permitted her boat to drift,
+steering well into the shadows, hugging the shore of the island until
+she could touch it with an oar. Unless she splashed with the oar, she
+was reasonably certain of being able to avoid discovery. The
+Meadow-Brook girl was now within a few yards of where the operations
+were going on. Her eyes were fixed on the outlines of a launch in which
+two persons appeared to be working, when all at once and with a
+suddenness that nearly brought a cry to her lips, a canoe shot out of
+the shadows directly ahead of her and sped noiselessly out into the
+lake. The girl did not even remember to have seen any one in the canoe
+so quickly had it appeared and disappeared. She wondered, too, at the
+skill that enabled one to paddle without noise. A gentle ripple--the
+wake of the canoe--splashed against the bows of her own boat.
+
+"Surely, I am not dreaming," whispered the girl. "I must have startled
+the man. Who could it have been, and is it possible that he has been
+here watching us?" A number of surmises entered the mind of Harriet
+Burrell. She collected her thoughts quickly and held her boat with the
+oar, for she was drifting perilously close to the launch. She was now in
+plain sight of the campers on shore. She could hear every word that was
+uttered there.
+
+Harriet listened for fully fifteen minutes. All at once, she swung the
+rowboat about, leaning her body to one side to assist in the turning.
+The second oar that had been laid across the seats lengthwise of the
+boat rolled to the other side with a rumble and a clatter that to her
+strained nerves sounded like thunder.
+
+"Who's there?" called a voice from the launch.
+
+There was no reply. Harriet, in her haste to get away, splashed noisily.
+She heard a quick exclamation, then the sound of two people jumping into
+a rowboat. She knew it was the rowboat she had seen lying alongside the
+launch. She knew, too, that the rowers were pursuing her. But even then
+Harriet did not lose her presence of mind. Instead of doing so, she
+dipped her oars and sent the boat shooting ahead, with the water
+rippling away from the bows, making a noise that she feared her pursuers
+would hear and thus be able to locate her position accurately. Harriet
+had not once glanced over her shoulder, but her ears were on the alert
+and by the sense of sound she was able to gauge the distance between
+herself and the pursuing boat.
+
+"They're gaining on me!" she muttered. "But I'm going to fool them just
+the same."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+MAKING AN EXCITING DISCOVERY
+
+
+The Meadow-Brook girl did not dare to go on and enter the secret channel
+for fear of exposing the hiding place of the houseboat. She was watching
+for some other nook into which to drive her boat. In case her pursuers
+discovered her she determined to jump out and make her escape as best
+she could, leaving the boat on the beach. Then a sudden idea occurred to
+her.
+
+Harriet picked up a tin dipper that lay in the boat and that had been
+used for bailing. This she hurled as far out in the lake as she could
+throw it. The dipper fell with a splash that was plainly heard both by
+herself and those in the pursuing boat.
+
+"Out there he is!" cried a voice in the other boat. She heard the
+pursuers head out. Harriet took advantage of the opportunity to move
+her rowboat ahead a few rods. She then turned it sharply to the shore.
+The girl was fortunate in being able to find cover in the overhanging
+foliage, behind which she took refuge. The water was quite shallow
+there. The keel of the rowboat touched bottom. She heard the grating
+sound as the boat grounded, but knew that she was not so firmly aground
+that she could not get away.
+
+The men in the rowboat found neither the dipper nor the boat of which
+they were in pursuit. Instead of rowing on, they craftily turned sharply
+in toward shore in order to get the benefit of the shadows. One within
+the shadow could see out fairly well, but to one who was out in the
+lake, the shores and the water for some rods about were enveloped in
+blackness.
+
+"Pull out a little, but keep close to the shore," commanded a voice.
+"That fellow played some sort of trick on us and has gone on. It's
+curious we didn't hear him. Row fast and I'll keep watch. If he gets out
+into the lake we've got him."
+
+The rowboat shot past Harriet Burrell's hiding place so close that she
+might have reached out an oar and touched it. She was tempted to give
+the person in the stern of the boat a poke with her oar, but wisely
+refrained from doing anything of the sort. After the boat had passed,
+Harriet sat perfectly still, arms folded, a quiet smile on her face.
+
+"Harriet Burrell, you are a pretty good scout, after all. You wouldn't
+have made such a bad Indian. I'll rap on wood."
+
+She drummed on the gunwale of the boat. "I hope they won't go far. The
+girls will worry if I do not return soon. Still, Miss Elting will know
+that there is a good reason for my remaining away so long. There they
+come."
+
+The rowboat was returning. The rowers were moving more slowly now,
+talking and wondering as to the man who had been spying on them. They
+passed her talking loudly. One of them was threatening vengeance. The
+girl waited until they had rowed a safe distance from her, after which
+she cautiously pushed her boat out and began rowing toward home. Harriet
+was chuckling under her breath, but her eyes and ears were on the alert.
+She had not forgotten that canoe. Any person who could paddle like that
+was well worth looking out for.
+
+Harriet rowed past the entrance to their retreat without having observed
+it. But it was only a few moments later when she discovered her error.
+She turned her boat more carefully this time, then rowed it into the
+secret waterway. So quietly did she enter that her companions did not
+discover her until the nose of her rowboat bumped the scow.
+
+There was a little scream, quickly suppressed by Miss Elting.
+
+"Is that you, Harriet?" she questioned, with no trace of alarm in her
+voice.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You were so quiet about it that you gave me the creeps," declared
+Margery.
+
+"Did you find them, Harriet?" asked Jane.
+
+"Yes. And they came near to finding me too. They chased me nearly all
+the way home. I hid in the bushes and waited. They passed me and came on
+this way, I should judge nearly up to the entrance, after which they
+turned about and went back. That isn't the only strange experience I
+have had since I left you." Harriet related the incident of the
+mysterious canoe.
+
+"What were the men doing?"
+
+"They were pitching camp. We are going to have near neighbors," answered
+Harriet, unshipping the oar and tying the rowboat to the scow.
+
+"Of course, you do not know who they are?"
+
+"Yes, I do. It is George Baker and his friends."
+
+A chorus of exclamations greeted this announcement.
+
+"They have come over here to find us. I think we will play our second
+trick on them to-night. It won't do to wait until to-morrow. We will get
+caught if we do."
+
+"Those boys certainly are persistent. They must suspect that we are in
+hiding somewhere hereabouts."
+
+"Yes. I wanted them to think so. I did not wish them to believe we had
+been drowned and have the entire lakeside out looking for us. That
+wouldn't be fun. It is more fun to tease and tantalize them."
+
+"Maybe they've got an oven tho Buthter can make her cuthtard," suggested
+Tommy Thompson.
+
+"Please do be quiet, Tommy. We want to hear about the Tramp Club and
+what we are to do to outwit them," said Miss Elting. "Did they bring
+their tent with them, Harriet?"
+
+"Yes. At least they have a small tent. I don't believe they have moved
+their permanent camp, but they are here in force, that is certain. Now,
+I'll tell you about the surprise I propose to give them."
+
+Harriet explained briefly. At first the girls were not in favor of it,
+but after she had gone into further details they grew enthusiastic.
+
+"You certainly do love to work, don't you, Harriet Burrell?" said Miss
+Elting with a laugh. "But it is good for you. I like to see you all
+active. One is likely to grow lazy on a houseboat."
+
+"Not on thith houtheboat," complained Tommy. "It keepeth me tired out
+all the time watching other folkth work. My boneth ache all night long,
+I am tho tired. When I get home I'll thleep for a month to make up for
+lotht time."
+
+"Had we better start now, Harriet?" asked the guardian.
+
+"Oh, mercy, no; The boys are up yet and perhaps out on the lake. I
+propose that we go to bed, setting our alarm clock for two o'clock in
+the morning."
+
+"Help, help!" moaned Margery. "You'll be the death of me."
+
+"Thave me!" murmured Tommy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+AN EARLY MORNING SURPRISE
+
+
+Half an hour after Harriet had outlined her scheme to surprise their
+friends, the girls were in bed. They were tired, as usual, and went
+promptly to sleep.
+
+In the meantime the Tramp Club boys had been busy making camp. They
+built up a campfire, and, before going to bed, cooked some fish that had
+been caught by one of their number that day.
+
+"I don't believe the Meadow-Brook Girls are in these parts at all,"
+declared Larry Goheen.
+
+"It's a lark coming over here for a night's camping out, anyway,"
+answered Billy Gordon, "It is like being real Indians."
+
+"We aren't Indians," answered George, "It is those girls who are the
+Indians. I'd just like to see any other girls in the state of New
+Hampshire make the hike they did that last day we were on the trail.
+They may be twenty miles from here by this time. If we don't find them
+to-morrow I, for one, shall be in favor of making a trip around the lake
+in the launch. We can pretend that we had to go on an errand, or for
+some fishing bait or something of the sort. We mustn't let them know we
+have been looking for them."
+
+It was after midnight when the boys turned in. They, too, went sound
+asleep directly they rolled up in their blankets in their little tent.
+Two hours later while the Tramp Club were oblivious to sound and time,
+the alarm clock on the "Red Rover" went off with a thrilling whirr. The
+girls sprang from their cots, Margery and Tommy protesting over being
+awakened at that unseemly hour, as they characterized it. Harriet
+lighted the oil stove and put the kettle on. The others went out to the
+deck to wash their faces. Harriet, having finished her labors for the
+time being, followed them.
+
+The air was chill at that hour. The girls were shivering, Tommy's teeth,
+chattered. She stammered as well as lisped when she essayed to speak
+now.
+
+"One more night like this, and Tommy won't be able to talk at all,"
+chuckled Jane.
+
+"My kingdom for another such a night, then!" returned Margery fervently.
+
+"Buthter ith too fat to feel the cold," observed Tommy Thompson. She
+loved to tease Margery, and to mention her weight always annoyed Buster.
+Margery was unable to think of anything sufficiently irritating to fit
+that particular case, so she tossed her head and remained silent, while
+Tommy's twinkling eyes were fixed upon her.
+
+By the time they had washed and dressed the tea kettle was singing
+merrily. It was a welcome sound and made the girls feel almost warm.
+Miss Elting, being first dressed, made the coffee. Harriet set out some
+biscuits, together with the milk and sugar.
+
+"Now, I think we are ready," she announced.
+
+After drinking the hot coffee the girls felt themselves equal to almost
+any task. The fire was put out and the light in the cabin extinguished,
+then Harriet and Jane stepped noiselessly into the rowboat after
+fastening the tow line to the scow.
+
+"All aboard," called Harriet softly.
+
+The "Red Rover" moved to the sound of muffled splashes; then a few
+moments later silence settled over the secret channel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was early on the following morning that Captain George Baker opened
+his eyes sleepily. He yawned, blinked and sat up.
+
+"I guess I'll take an early morning plunge," he decided. "I won't wake
+up all day if I don't." Donning his bathing suit he stumbled out to the
+lake and permitted himself to fall in. The captain splashed and paddled
+about in the cool water for a quarter of an hour. His companions were
+still sleeping. George did not awaken them, preferring to take a
+solitary swim and rub down before calling them out.
+
+At last the captain of the Tramp Club emerged dripping from the water
+and ran quickly for the tent. A few minutes later he appeared dressed
+for the day. Walking down to the shore of the lake he gazed across the
+water then uttered a sudden yell and began dancing up and down.
+
+"Come out, fellows! Come out!" he howled, "Look! Look!"
+
+Larry Goheen, Billy Gordon and the others came tumbling out, rubbing
+their eyes and blinking sleepily.
+
+"What's the row?" cried Billy.
+
+"Mean shame to play pranks on a fellow when he's dead for sleep,"
+growled Sam.
+
+"Now, what did you do it for?" demanded Larry. "Explain, or in the lake
+you go!"
+
+"I've already been in the lake. I'm dressed for the day. But open your
+eyes. You are the sleepiest lot of fellows I ever saw. Why, a baby could
+stalk you and you'd never hear it say 'goo.' Come, don't you
+sleepy-heads see anything that interests you?"
+
+Instead of looking out over the lake they were looking at George.
+
+"Wait, I'll draw a map of the scene and write a directory to the map.
+Even then you'd need a private tutor to explain it to you. Look over
+there? Do you see anything? Wait, I'll get the telescope."
+
+Following the direction indicated by Captain George's upraised arm the
+boys gazed and as they gazed their eyes grew wide with wonder. Then
+suddenly an ear-splitting yell rose from the lips of the Tramp Club.
+
+"It's the 'Red Rover'!" shouted Sam.
+
+"We've found them at last, the tramps!" cried Larry Goheen, his shock of
+fiery red hair fairly standing on end.
+
+"We've found them?" scoffed George. "Guess again, Reddy. You mean they
+have found themselves for us."
+
+"Well, what do you know about that?" wondered Billy. "Where in the world
+did they come from?"
+
+"They probably rose from the sea like Neptune," scoffed George.
+
+The "Red Rover" lay idly rising and falling on the slight swell,
+standing out a glistening flame in the bright morning sunlight. There
+were no signs of life on board. The boat was anchored some distance from
+the camp occupied by the boys, but not far out from the shore of the
+island. Naturally the houseboat was a little distance from the secret
+channel.
+
+"Come on, fellows, let's go out and see them," urged Larry
+enthusiastically.
+
+George gave him a withering look.
+
+"The girls are not yet up. Can't you see that? A fine opinion of us they
+would have, were we to go out there at this hour. Do you know what time
+it is?"
+
+"I can't see well enough in the morning to tell the time of day,"
+replied Larry, with a wry twist of his mouth.
+
+"Well, it is a quarter after five."
+
+The boys groaned.
+
+"Fine time to get a party of gentlemen out of bed," growled Sam. "What
+are we going to do about it, anyway?"
+
+"You fellows are going to take a cold plunge, then get into your
+clothes. We will have breakfast. I will start the fire while you are
+bathing."
+
+The boys hurried into their bathing suits, and with many a shout and
+yell, plunged into the lake. They were making all the noise they could,
+hoping to attract the attention of the girls so as to have the
+opportunity to get out to the houseboat as early as possible. But
+eagerly as the lads gazed up the lake, the houseboat showed no activity.
+
+"They must be good sleepers over there," said Larry.
+
+Captain George smiled to himself.
+
+"They are only shamming," he muttered under his breath.
+
+Breakfast was served about an hour later. The fire warmed the boys, and
+the coffee and food did likewise. After they had finished their
+breakfast they were in great good humor. At half past eight, there still
+being no signs of life on board the houseboat, Billy declared that he
+was going out in the launch to see if he couldn't stir up something.
+All hands piled into the launch. It was a matter of only a few moments
+to run to the houseboat. The boys circled the scow slowly, talking
+loudly. The windows of the house were open, the curtains flapping in the
+gentle breeze, but the doors at either end were tightly closed.
+
+Having failed to attract any attention from the "Red Rover" the Tramp
+Boys returned to camp, tied up the motor boat and sat down to watch and
+wait. Nine o'clock came, then ten, but still no sign of life on board.
+
+Captain George grew a little uneasy. He did not know that the
+Meadow-Brook Girls had eaten their breakfast more than an hour before
+that, and that the girls were watching the boys, chuckling over the
+perplexity of the latter.
+
+Once more the motor boat was taken out. As they neared the houseboat for
+a second time they saw Harriet Burrell come out to the after deck, and
+stooping over examine the anchor rope.
+
+"Halloo, there!" shouted George.
+
+Harriet paid no attention to the "halloo." Apparently she did not hear
+them. George called again, and when Harriet turned and entered the
+house, without having once glanced in George's direction, he grew red in
+the face.
+
+"She didn't hear you," chuckled Larry. "You didn't yell loudly enough.
+Why didn't you let me give them a roar? I'll guarantee to attract the
+attention of any one within half a mile of me."
+
+"Run alongside, Billy. I'm going to make somebody notice me."
+
+Billy grinned, then steered the launch up close to the "Red Rover."
+George rapped on the deck of the scow with a boathook. He had rapped
+several times, and was again getting red in the face when some one
+appeared. It was Harriet, who finally opened the door and peered out.
+Her face wore an expression of disapproving inquiry.
+
+"Good morning," called George. The boys took off their hats.
+
+"Why, it's George Baker," cried Harriet as though greatly surprised to
+see these visitors. "Girls, come out. Here are the boys."
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls hurried on deck.
+
+"Where have you been?" questioned Miss Elting. "We did not think you
+would desert us in this fashion. We have been expecting you ever since
+we last saw you."
+
+George blinked rapidly. The boys glanced at each other and looked
+perplexed and uneasy. Somehow, they had a feeling that they were being
+placed in an unenviable light.
+
+"The question is, where have you been?" asked George in as gruff a tone
+as he could assume.
+
+"Where have we been?" repeated Harriet wonderingly. "Are you joking, Mr.
+Baker?"
+
+"No, I'm not joking. We have been worried about you. Where have you
+been?"
+
+"Why, we have been not far from here all the time. And you mean to tell
+me that you didn't know where we were?"
+
+George shook his head. His companions looked sheepish.
+
+"Did you sail over here so early in the morning to call on us?"
+questioned Harriet innocently.
+
+"No, we are camping over there."
+
+"Oh! Then you came over to be near us? Isn't that fine?" laughed Crazy
+Jane.
+
+"We--we thought may--maybe the fishing was better over here," replied
+George lamely.
+
+"Oh, thave me!" muttered Tommy, then fled into the cabin that they might
+not observe her laughter.
+
+"May we come aboard?" asked Billy.
+
+"Not yet, boys," returned Miss Elting in reply. "Our house is not set to
+rights for company. Come over later. We should be pleased to have you."
+
+"Say. It's hot out here. Suppose we tow you in nearer to our camp.
+There will be more shade there too," suggested Larry.
+
+"Thank you. That will be nice."
+
+"Come over and have luncheon with us to-day noon," urged George.
+
+Miss Elting also accepted this invitation, rather to the surprise of the
+boys. Billy, without loss of time, fastened a line to the houseboat
+attaching the other end of the line to a cleat on the after deck of the
+launch. In the meantime Larry had jumped aboard the "Red Rover" and
+hauled in the anchor for them. The launch then towed the scow up to the
+camp of the tramps. Miss Elting motioned for them to draw the boat a
+little beyond the camp, which was done.
+
+"Cast off," shouted Captain Harriet.
+
+Jane slipped the tow line then let the anchor go over with a splash.
+
+"You girls work just like regular sailors," declared Larry admiringly.
+
+"We will see you at noon," called Miss Elting. "You needn't mind to come
+out for us. We have our rowboat."
+
+"No. We will come for you with the launch," answered Billy.
+
+As agreed, the boys came out with the launch shortly before twelve
+o'clock and took the Meadow-Brook party ashore. George, with an apron
+tied about his neck, was deep in preparations for dinner. Harriet and
+Jane immediately put on their own aprons, which they had brought along,
+and went to work, while Hazel and Margery bustled about assisting Larry
+and Sam in getting the table ready. The boys had arranged rustic seats
+in place of chairs, and the table, set under the spreading foliage,
+looked very neat and attractive.
+
+[Illustration: George Was Deep in Preparations for Dinner.]
+
+That luncheon was one of the most enjoyable that any member of the party
+ever recalled having sat down to. No reference was made to the
+mysterious appearance and disappearance of the Meadow-Brook Girls until
+near the close of the meal.
+
+"You haven't told us where you have been all the time," said Captain
+Baker with affected gayety.
+
+"Oh, yes, I have. I told you we had been near here all the time,"
+answered Miss Elting, smiling tolerantly.
+
+"But how did you get over to this side of the lake? That is what you
+haven't told us," spoke up Billy Gordon.
+
+"You mean that that is what you wish to tell us," replied Harriet. "You
+towed us over of course during the night. You played the first trick and
+won. But now you must tell us what became of the 'Red Rover,' the next
+day."
+
+"But we can't," exclaimed George. "We hunted--"
+
+"Of course you did," laughed Harriet. "We were watching you all the
+time."
+
+The faces of the boys grew crimson. Forks were dropped on plates with a
+noisy clatter.
+
+"What's the use?" cried George Baker, getting up hurriedly. "Fellows,
+we've got to confess that we're beaten in the first round by a lot of
+girls who are a good deal smarter than we think we are, or than we ever
+shall be."
+
+George sat down again and began mopping the perspiration from his damp
+forehead.
+
+"And that isn't all," continued Harriet, laughing. "Unless you are
+prepared to tell us just how we got back into the lake again we shall
+consider ourselves entitled to the second honors, too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE MIDNIGHT ALARM
+
+
+The Meadow-Brook Girls shouted with laughter at this speech. Then, after
+a few seconds of hesitation, the boys of the Tramp Club joined in the
+merriment.
+
+"You win," replied George. "We can't answer you. Now tell us how you
+disappeared so mysteriously, boat and all, and reappeared just as
+suddenly."
+
+"Excuse me, but I don't propose to reveal our methods of procedure,"
+laughed Harriet. "Oh, you can't outwit us. You will find us ready for
+you every time. We know all about last night, too."
+
+"I'd certainly like to know where you were last night," said Captain
+Baker.
+
+"We were near you all the time, and you didn't know us," laughed
+Harriet. "Even when you came out here yesterday you passed us by without
+a single look. You did not see us. Then last night, when you were
+chasing some one whom you thought was spying on your camp, you passed us
+again, and--"
+
+"So that was you, eh?" jeered Larry.
+
+"Who was I?" answered Harriet innocently.
+
+"The mysterious boat we were pursuing," answered George, eyeing her
+keenly.
+
+"Harriet ith not a boat," averred Tommy.
+
+"No. She is a mermaid," declared George with emphasis.
+
+"I beg to differ with all of you," said Sam. "The Meadow-Brook Girls are
+the original will o' the wisps. But you haven't seen the last of the
+Tramp Club yet. You have won twice but you shan't win again. Hereafter
+we'll be on the alert."
+
+"You'll have to keep a watch on us night and day then," chuckled Jane.
+
+"This pleasant spirit of rivalry makes matters interesting," interjected
+Miss Elting. "You have been very kind to us and helped to make our
+vacation enjoyable. We enjoy harmless fun as well as yourselves. I might
+add that we haven't fully exhausted our resources, either. And we wish
+to thank you for warning us of your intentions."
+
+The boys blushed sheepishly.
+
+"Sam, you'd better keep still," suggested George.
+
+"That's what I say," nodded Larry.
+
+"Yeth, he talkth too much," agreed Tommy wisely. "But you ought to have
+been with uth. We've had an awful time, too."
+
+"How so?" questioned Billy politely.
+
+"I fell in the water and Buthter made cuthtard and had no oven to bake
+it in, and then--"
+
+"Who is talking now?" demanded Margery.
+
+Tommy subsided at once.
+
+"The question is, are you going to run away from us again?" demanded
+George.
+
+"We never have. Remember, we followed you over here," suggested Jane.
+"We shall be near here for some time in all probability. We have plenty
+of time. After we get tired of this spot we probably shall move to some
+other anchorage, but we'll be here for a few days yet."
+
+"Keep your eyes open, or you will miss us again and your last chance
+will be gone," warned Harriet.
+
+"We shall keep our eyes open," answered George with an emphatic nod.
+
+The luncheon having been finished, Billy suggested that they spend the
+afternoon in exploring the island. This suited Harriet. She wanted to
+see how familiar the boys were with their island. So all started out,
+leaving the dishes to be washed later. The girls shook their heads
+disapprovingly.
+
+"Oh, we have a patent dish washing machine," announced Larry. "You see,
+we dump the whole lot of dishes into the lake after having smeared them
+with sand. We leave the dishes there and the waves wash them. All we
+have to do is to take them out and lay them in the sun an hour or so
+afterwards. As soon as the dishes dry off they are ready for another
+meal to be served on them."
+
+"Ithn't that jutht like a man?" demanded Tommy.
+
+"This is Willow Island," Billy informed them after they had mounted a
+ridge that commanded a view of about a quarter of the island.
+
+"It used to be," answered Harriet. "We have rechristened it."
+
+"What have you named it?" said Billy, regarding her inquiringly.
+
+"We have named it the 'Island of Delight.' How do you like it?"
+
+"Great!" shouted the boys in chorus.
+
+"Have you been all over it yet?" asked Sam.
+
+"No, we have not," replied Jane, and with truth, for they had not yet
+explored the entire island. They were going to do so that day.
+
+Harriet wanted to test their woodsmanship, so she skilfully led the boys
+toward the spot where the "Red Rover" had been so successfully secreted
+during the time the boys had been searching for them. By making a wide
+detour Harriet finally brought up right over the place where the cave
+and the secret creek lay.
+
+Jane turned away that they might not see her laughter. In the meantime
+Harriet and George were discussing the beauties of the place. She gave
+him every opportunity to discover the retreat, but George looked about
+him with unseeing eyes. As a matter of fact, Harriet admitted to herself
+that had she not known that the stream lay below her she never would
+have dreamed of its existence.
+
+There were smiles on the faces of all the Meadow-Brook Girls when
+finally they turned away and slowly beat their trail through the thick
+growth of vegetation to the lower end of the island. They spent some
+time there, sitting on rocks, watching the boats on the lake. Many
+admiring glances were directed toward the girls by the Tramp Club boys
+who were very much pleased with the straightforward friendly manner of
+the Meadow-Brook Girls.
+
+Finally they turned their footsteps homeward, reaching the camp late in
+the afternoon. Larry ran on ahead and gazed out over the water.
+
+"What do you see?" called Jane.
+
+"I was looking to see if that 'Red Rover' had disappeared while we were
+away," answered the red-headed Larry. "You can't tell about that craft.
+It's just as likely not to be there as it is to be there," he added
+lamely, then flushed when his companions laughed at him.
+
+"You're mixed, Larry," jeered Sam.
+
+"The 'Red Rover' behaves well when we are away," said the guardian in
+reply. "We work our spells on it only when we are aboard. It would be
+rather embarrassing to have the 'Red Rover' disappear while we were
+absent. By the way, we should be happy to have you young gentlemen come
+over and take tea with us this evening. Will you come?"
+
+George shook his head.
+
+"No, thank you. Not to tea. There are too many of us. But I'll tell you
+what we will do. We will come over later in the evening and have a visit
+and another concert. Larry plays the banjo. He'll give you an Irish jig
+if you wish."
+
+"That would be fine," answered Crazy Jane enthusiastically. "Now, if I
+only had my automobile horn, what a lot of noise we would make, wouldn't
+we, boys?"
+
+"Bring the banjo by all means," urged Miss Elting.
+
+The boys assisted their guests into the rowboat which had been towed
+ashore behind the launch. The little boat was well loaded and settled
+perilously low after all had gotten in. Gordon shook his head and
+declared it wasn't safe. Miss Elting answered that they didn't mind a
+wetting.
+
+The rowboat was pushed out, the girls and the boys waving and shouting
+their adieus. During the rest of the afternoon the girls were busy
+sewing, ironing, getting their clothes in fit condition. Supper time
+came all too soon for them. The dishes were washed and put away with all
+speed that night, and about eight o'clock the boys put off in their own
+rowboat. Larry was twanging his banjo on the way over. The "Red Rover"
+was all alight in honor of their coming, and following the arrival of
+the tramps, a jolly evening was spent. Larry played and the girls sang.
+Sam essayed to join in, but ceased his efforts when his companions
+threatened to throw him overboard.
+
+The party broke up about ten o'clock. The boys went home singing "Good
+night ladies" to the accompaniment of Larry's banjo. The girls stood on
+the upper deck watching the lads until a shout from the shore told the
+watchers that their guests had arrived at the camp.
+
+"Now, what are your plans for to-morrow, girls?" asked Miss Elting when
+they had gone below. "Do you wish to go into retirement?"
+
+"No. The boys have invited us for a ride in the launch to-morrow,"
+answered Harriet. "What troubles me is the matter of leaving the 'Red
+Rover' alone so long. I think perhaps it would be better for me to
+remain here to look after the boat while the rest of you go on the motor
+boat trip."
+
+The girls declared they would not go at all unless Harriet went with
+them.
+
+"That matter already has been settled," replied Miss Elting. "I am the
+one who will remain aboard the 'Red Rover.' Harriet, you will chaperon
+the girls on the motor boat ride. That will settle the objections, and
+you will be every bit as good a chaperon as myself."
+
+The arrangement did not wholly satisfy the Meadow-Brook Girls. All were
+very fond of their guardian, and they wished her to have a part in all
+their enjoyments. They had not fully decided upon going when they
+retired.
+
+"I wonder if those boys are planning anything for to-night?" mused Miss
+Elting, a moment after turning out the lights.
+
+"Yes," answered Harriet confidently, as if she had been consulted.
+
+"What?" demanded a chorus of voices.
+
+"They are planning to go to bed. I saw them fixing the fire, just before
+I got into bed."
+
+"Oh, fudge!" groaned Margery.
+
+"Thave me!" wailed Tommy.
+
+Jane suggested that Harriet ought to have a ducking, then one by one the
+girls dropped off to sleep.
+
+The clock that Harriet consulted showed the hour to be ten minutes after
+midnight. She had awakened suddenly, and with a feeling that something
+were not as it should be. The girl rose softly, peering through the
+window. The "Red Rover" was lying very quietly, there being little
+movement of the water. No one was about, nor was there a boat in sight.
+She stepped out on the deck, glancing about in all directions, her eyes
+finally fixing themselves on the camp of the Tramp Club.
+
+"Those boys are up and moving about," she mused. "They have stirred up
+the fire." Just then the girl heard the rattle of an oar in a rowboat.
+The sound seemed to come from the camp. Harriet watched a few minutes.
+Then turning quickly she went inside.
+
+"What is it?" demanded Miss Elting sharply. "Who is it?"
+
+"Harriet. Those boys are awake, and, I think, getting ready to come out
+on the lake. I believe they are up to something."
+
+"What do you suspect?"
+
+"I don't know. Would it not be wise to awaken the girls and all get
+dressed? We don't want to be caught napping, you know."
+
+"I should say not," agreed the guardian. She got up and went to the
+window. Their conversation had been carried on in so low a tone that
+none of the others had been awakened. Miss Elting gazed keenly; then,
+bringing her glasses, peered through them at the camp of the tramps.
+"Yes, they are up to mischief of some sort," she decided, lowering the
+glasses and laying them aside. "Girls!"
+
+"Wha--wha-at?" cried Jane, her feet landing on the floor almost ere the
+words were out of her mouth.
+
+Tommy hopped out of bed a few seconds behind Crazy Jane, but instead of
+landing on her feet, the little girl went sprawling on the floor on her
+face.
+
+"Thave me! Are we thinking?" she cried.
+
+"No, you foolish girl. We aren't sinking," answered Harriet laughing.
+
+Margery stood shivering in the middle of the cabin. Hazel had begun to
+dress.
+
+"Dress yourselves at once," ordered Miss Elting. "Be quick about it.
+They may not be coming here, but if they are, they will be here in a
+very few minutes."
+
+"Who will be here?" demanded Crazy Jane. "Why don't you tell us what all
+the uproar is about?"
+
+"Yes. You might better tell us than to frighten us half to death in this
+way," complained Margery.
+
+"It is the boys. We think they are coming here to play a trick on us,
+and if so, we wish to be ready for them," explained Harriet, who was
+hurriedly dressing. The girls lost no time in putting on their clothes,
+each dressing herself completely. Their hair, braided down their backs
+for the night, was left as it was. There was no time to do anything with
+that.
+
+"The boys are putting off in the rowboat, or at least getting ready to
+do so," Miss Elting informed the girls, after another look at the camp
+through the glasses. "What shall we do?"
+
+"I will fix it," answered Harriet. She rummaged about at the rear of the
+cabin, then ran out to the after deck. They heard her on the upper deck
+shortly after that. She soon bustled back into the cabin.
+
+"They have started. All of you get up on the deck overhead. Listen! I
+will tell you briefly what we will do. We will give the boys a scare
+that they won't soon forget."
+
+There were hurried preparations within the cabin of the "Red Rover,"
+following Harriet Burrell's quick orders, which were approved of by Miss
+Elting. The girls then crept to the upper deck, where they crouched
+down, peering across the water that lay between the houseboat and the
+island.
+
+"There they come! Not a word from now on, girls," warned Miss Elting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE ROUT OF THE PIRATE CREW
+
+
+"Take your positions, and don't miss when I give the order to let go,"
+commanded Captain Harriet. "Oh, we won't do a thing to those boys!"
+
+Margery giggled.
+
+"Silence!" The captain's voice was stern.
+
+"If you cannot keep quiet you will have to go below," rebuked Miss
+Elting. "You will spoil it all. Now, not another word."
+
+The silence of sleep settled over the "Red Rover." A gentle ripple at
+the bows gave off a soothing, musical sound, but that was all. The girls
+were now able to see a boat approaching them from the island, though
+unable to make out the forms of the occupants of the craft. Miss Elting,
+with glasses in hand, was studying the approaching boat. Fortunately the
+night was dark, though the stars were shining brilliantly.
+
+"All lie down!" came the quiet command from the captain of the "Red
+Rover." All except Harriet flattened themselves on the deck. The rowboat
+drew slowly up toward the scow, then was permitted to drift in the rest
+of the way. When almost alongside, the boys in the rowboat decided to go
+around to the other side. This nearly upset the plans of Harriet
+Burrell, but she quickly moved her force to the opposite side of the
+deck near the stern end. Had the boys been sufficiently alert they might
+have caught a faint rattle and a scuffle of feet. They were too intent
+on their mission, however, to realize that anything out of the ordinary
+was going on aboard the houseboat.
+
+A whispered conversation ensued in the rowboat, then two boys got
+cautiously to the deck of the cockpit. There followed a period of
+silence and a low-spoken command from below.
+
+A mighty yell suddenly broke from the midnight visitors. Howls and
+shrieks, Indian war-whoops and beating on the cabin with sticks,
+accompanied the shouts.
+
+"Pirates! Surrender!" howled a voice that was easily recognizable as
+belonging to the red-headed Larry Goheen. "Whoop! Hi-yi-yip yah!"
+
+"We will settle the pirates," muttered Harriet.
+
+"Just listen to those lads," chuckled Crazy Jane.
+
+"Let go!" The command came sharp and incisive. A rattle of tin dishes
+followed. Pails and pans were raised to the rail as five figures stood
+up suddenly. "Stand by to repel boarders!" was the second command. Five
+pans and pails of water were tilted, sending a flood of water down on
+the heads of the surprised "pirates." From a tub of water on deck the
+pails were quickly refilled and the water dumped over the rail. Not many
+drops were wasted. Nearly every drop reached a pirate.
+
+Crazy Jane uttered a shrill war-whoop, then the girls grabbed and shook
+her. The amazed pirates were in a panic. Three of them had been left on
+the lower deck of the "Red Rover." The rowboat had been quickly pushed
+off as soon as the occupants recovered from their first surprise. The
+three Tramps made a leap for the rowboat. They landed in the lake with a
+splash and went floundering toward the small boat.
+
+Tommy climbed to the rail and hurled a pan at the beaten pirates. But in
+hurling the pan she lost her balance.
+
+"Thave me!" she screamed. Tommy plunged sideways from the rail, making a
+complete turn in the air, landing in the lake with a mighty splash.
+
+Harriet dived off after her, fearing that her little companion might
+have been stunned by striking the water on her back. But Tommy came up
+before Harriet rose from her dive.
+
+"Oh, thave me!" wailed Tommy in a choking voice.
+
+All this had happened without the boys understanding what was going on.
+They had taken aboard their three companions and were pulling into the
+shadow of the island with all speed. Miss Elting and Jane had run down
+to the lower deck. The guardian cast a rope. Harriet and Tommy brushed
+the rope aside and swam easily to the end of the boat, where Harriet
+assisted Tommy up, afterwards being herself assisted aboard by Crazy
+Jane. The two thoroughly soaked girls staggered into the cabin, where
+Harriet sat down on the floor, laughing hysterically.
+
+Miss Elting pulled down the shades and lighted the lamp. She stood
+regarding her charges with a quizzical twinkle in her eyes.
+
+"What a mess! What a mess," laughed Crazy Jane. "But we repelled the
+boarders, didn't we, darlin'?"
+
+"They won't try to play any tricks on us after this, I am sure," agreed
+the guardian. "I'll warrant they are still wondering what happened to
+them. But it was too bad. What a wetting they did get!"
+
+"Too bad!" exploded Harriet.
+
+"No. It served them right," interjected Hazel. "Why, they might have
+frightened us to death."
+
+"They will be at our feet to-morrow," giggled Jane. "Tommy, did you ever
+have any one fall at your feet!"
+
+"Yeth. You know Jake Thpooner? Well, he had a conniption fit, one day,
+in the thtreet, and fell down right at my feet."
+
+"You mean an epileptic fit. But you shouldn't joke about a serious
+matter like that," rebuked Miss Elting.
+
+"I wathn't joking. He did. It wath Buthter who laughed. I didn't. But
+Buthter ith fat, you know. Fat folkth alwayth laugh when they
+thhouldn't. They thhake all over when they laugh. I'm glad I'm not fat
+like Buthter."
+
+Margery's face was flushed and indignant. Her companions were laughing
+merrily at her expense. Harriet had gotten up and was removing her wet
+clothing. Miss Elting lifted Tommy, who also had sat down, and gave her
+a gentle push toward the dressing room.
+
+"Take off your wet clothes and get on your kimono. Girls, you may as
+well prepare for bed, too. I don't believe we shall be troubled by
+pirates again this night," said the guardian, with a merry twinkle in
+her eyes. "You will not want to get up in the morning when you are
+called. I fear we are losing too much sleep these nights."
+
+While they were preparing for bed Miss Elting took a final look at the
+camp of the Tramp Club. There was activity there, but not nearly so much
+of it as the last time she had examined the camp through her glasses.
+The guardian smiled grimly at thought of the surprise they had given
+those fun-loving boys. They had thought to make good their boast to get
+the better of the Meadow-Brook Girls, but had met an ignominious
+defeat.
+
+"I should not be surprised to see that camp deserted to-morrow morning,"
+mused Miss Elting. "I hope not. They are nice boys."
+
+"Are they coming out again?" asked a voice at the guardian's side.
+
+"No, Harriet. I think not. I am just taking a final look their way
+before retiring. Did we leave the pails and pans upstairs?"
+
+"Yes. Shall I bring them down?"
+
+"Oh, no. It is not necessary. Morning will be time enough. Now go to
+bed. We shall not be disturbed again to-night. Good night, girls. Sweet
+dreams."
+
+"And pleathant nightmareth," mumbled Tommy from under the blanket. She
+was found curled up in a ball when the guardian went over to see that
+the little girl was comfortable for the night. The light was blown out
+just as Harriet sought her cot. Miss Elting was in bed a moment
+afterwards, and peace and quiet again settled over the clumsy "Red
+Rover." This peace, however, was not destined to last long. It was to be
+rudely broken ere the morning dawned. From down the lake a canoe was
+coming, propelled swiftly and silently by a pair of muscular arms. The
+canoe, if it continued on its present course, would hit the "Red Rover"
+fairly on its nose. But just before reaching the houseboat, the canoe
+veered to one side a little and the paddle trailed the water behind.
+The canoe glided along to one side of the "Red Rover," then stopped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A MIDNIGHT VISITOR
+
+
+The same dark canoe that Harriet Burrell had seen shoot out into the
+lake before her the night she was reconnoitering near the camp of the
+Tramp Club was now hovering about the houseboat. It would have appeared
+almost uncanny to one not experienced in canoeing to observe the
+absolute noiselessness with which the frail little craft was propelled
+about the larger boat. When it was turned, it was as though the boat
+were swinging on a pivot. When the half of its length was let down to
+the water after such a swing, there followed not the slightest
+suggestion of a splash.
+
+Lulled by the gentle lapping of the water against the side of the boat,
+the Meadow-Brook Girls slept soundly. On shore the boys of the Tramp
+Club also were sleeping. The girls on board the "Red Rover," as already
+mentioned, had no fear of a second attack that night, nor had the
+youthful pirates the slightest intention of repeating the experiment
+that had turned out so badly for them and so triumphantly for the
+Meadow-Brook Girls. It was quite evident that the newcomer did not
+belong to the Tramp Club. His face looked dark and swarthy in the
+moonlight. He had straight black hair and high cheek bones and there was
+a revengeful light in his sharp black eyes as he scanned the silent
+houseboat.
+
+Once more the canoe shifted its position and slid to a point directly
+under one of the little windows. The window was open, the curtains were
+streaming out through the opening. The intruder stood up in his canoe
+without disturbing its balance in the least.
+
+Just about this time Tommy Thompson awoke with a little gasp. She had
+been dreaming that Buster, in the guise of a pirate, was trying to
+smother her with a sofa pillow. Tommy had been skirting the edge of one
+of the "pleathant nightmareth" she had prophesied for the girls on
+retiring. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Suddenly she uttered a
+terrified scream.
+
+For the second time that night the Meadow-Brook Girls scrambled from
+their beds in alarm.
+
+"Tommy, Tommy, what is the matter?" cried Harriet, springing to the
+little girl's side.
+
+"I thaw the motht terrible fathe," moaned Tommy. "Oh, thave me."
+
+"Nonsense, Tommy," laughed Harriet.
+
+"You've just had one of those nightmares you were talking about when you
+bade us good night."
+
+"No, thir," reiterated Tommy. "I thaw thomething. It wath a man and he
+thtood right in front of the window. You thee I wath dreaming that
+Buthter wath a pirate, and wath trying to thmother me with a thofa
+pillow and all of a thudden I that up in bed and thaw thith fathe
+looking in the window at me. That ith why I thcreamed," concluded Tommy,
+with dignity. "I didn't have the nightmare. I tell you I thaw a fathe."
+
+"How ridiculous," sniffed Buster. "How could she see a face when we are
+away out here on the lake. Why look!" she continued, stepping to the
+window. "It's bright moonlight, and there isn't a boat to be seen on the
+water."
+
+"Buthter doethn't know what I thaw," retorted Tommy angrily. "Thhe
+hathn't my eyeth hath thhe? Buthter maketh me tired."
+
+"There, there, girls," reproved Miss Elting. "That will do. Harriet, I
+think you and I had better dress, then get into the rowboat and do a
+little investigating. Perhaps some prowler has visited the boat while we
+were asleep. Light the lamp, Jane, and we'll see if all our belongings
+are safe."
+
+Jane and Hazel made a rapid search about the boat while Harriet and
+Miss Elting were dressing. Meanwhile Tommy and Margery sat on the edges
+of their cots and conducted a spirited argument as to whether Tommy
+really had seen a "fathe" at the window.
+
+"All ready," called Harriet as she ran to where the rowboat was
+fastened. Then she gave a little cry of alarm that brought Miss Elting
+and the others to her side on the run.
+
+"What is it, Harriet?" cried the guardian.
+
+Harriet stood looking out over the water, a piece of rope in her hand.
+"Some one has stolen our rowboat," she gasped. "See, the rope has been
+cut."
+
+"Then the Tramp Club must have come over here again in the night and
+stolen it," decided Miss Elting. "Still that would hardly account for
+the face Tommy saw at the window, and she is positive that she really
+saw some one. I am inclined to think, however, that she had the
+nightmare, and simply dreamed about that frightful face."
+
+"I can't see that there is anything particularly clever or original
+about stealing a rowboat in the dead of night," said Harriet slowly,
+"and I don't believe that the boys would think so either. There is
+something peculiar about this affair and I believe that the Tramp Club
+have had nothing to do with this latest puzzle."
+
+"That ith what I think," agreed Tommy. "It wathn't thothe boyth that
+thcared me tho."
+
+"Nothing has been stolen from the boat," declared Hazel, "so it looks as
+though our midnight prowler vanished when he heard Tommy's first
+scream."
+
+"I'm going to mount guard for the rest of the night," announced Jane.
+"It's half past two now, and by five o'clock it will be light. The rest
+of you can go back to bed, and if any one else comes sneaking around
+this boat, he'll have to come forward and state his business to Jane
+McCarthy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
+
+
+It seemed to the tired girls as though they had hardly closed their eyes
+when they heard Jane call out: "Seven o'clock. All hands on deck."
+
+"I'm tho thleepy," murmured Tommy as she struggled into her clothes.
+
+"I'm pretty near dead," growled Hazel. "I think I'll never get rested."
+
+"Do let's hurry and have breakfast," pleaded Margery, "I'm so hungry."
+
+"Chronic thtate," murmured Tommy.
+
+"I don't have nightmares and wake every one up in the middle of the
+night," retorted Margery, "even if I do get hungry sometimes."
+
+"My nightmare wath utheful, Buthter," returned Tommy calmly. "It helped
+uth to dithcover that our boat wath gone. But your appetite ithn't the
+leatht bit utheful, not even to yourthelf."
+
+"I'll never speak to you again, Tommy Thompson," declared Buster
+wrathfully.
+
+"That maketh me feel very thad, Buthter," replied Tommy sarcastically.
+
+Breakfast was prepared and eaten in record time that morning. Then the
+dishes were speedily washed and put away. The Tramp Club's camp showed
+no activity until after eight o'clock, when the smoke from their cook
+fire was observed curling up through the foliage on the shore of the
+Island of Delight. A long-drawn "Hoo-oo-oo" from the camp told the girls
+that they had been observed by some of the boys.
+
+Before nine o'clock the launch put out and sailed rapidly over to the
+"Red Rover."
+
+"We didn't come to call. We just ran over to see what time you wished to
+go for a sail?" asked Billy Gordon.
+
+"Come right on board, boys. We finished our work shortly after daylight
+this morning. You see we are early risers," replied Miss Elting.
+
+The lads needed no urging. They hopped to the after deck of the
+houseboat. But no sooner had they come aboard than they perceived that
+something was amiss. George glanced at Harriet inquiringly.
+
+"What's the matter with you girls, this morning?" he asked lamely.
+
+"We had considerable excitement here last night. We were visited by
+pirates," said the guardian.
+
+The boys flushed guiltily.
+
+"But that is not all," added Jane McCarthy. "We were visited later in
+the night by a real thief."
+
+"Wha--at!" gasped George, somehow feeling that they were involved.
+
+"We will tell you all about it. Come upstairs, where we can sit down in
+comfort and talk. Perhaps we may ask you to assist us in finding the
+thief," said Miss Elting.
+
+The boys followed the girls to the upper deck, and after they had seated
+themselves Miss Elting related what had happened. "Now, boys," she
+concluded, "have you the remotest idea as to who could have taken the
+boat?"
+
+For a moment George stared at the guardian in silence, then he said
+gravely, "Perhaps you think, Miss Elting, that one of us sneaked over
+here last night. I'll admit that we did play pirates, and got the worst
+of it, but none of our fellows left camp after we got back from that
+pirate trip. There is something strange about this, and it looks to me
+as though you had a really malicious enemy."
+
+"That is what I think," replied Harriet. "You know, of course, of our
+previous experiences. Some one is seeking to drive us away. To me it is
+the work of a man who for some reason is our enemy. I thought we had
+given him the slip, but he has found us again."
+
+"I will tell you what to do, ladies," spoke up George after pondering
+the subject briefly. "You had better run your boat right up on the shore
+at one end of our camp, where we can keep our eyes on you. When you wish
+to move we will move with you. In that way you will have no further
+trouble."
+
+"You boys wouldn't be of any help to us," interrupted Jane.
+
+"Why not?" demanded Larry Goheen, bristling.
+
+"Because you sleep too well."
+
+"I don't believe I should dare to spend a night on that island," said
+Harriet Burrell, regarding the shores of the Island of Delight with
+troubled eyes.
+
+"Why not?" repeated Larry.
+
+"There are strange things there," said Harriet, pointing. "Haven't you
+seen them?"
+
+"Good gracious, no," answered Billy. "What do you mean, Miss Burrell?"
+
+"Ghosts!" answered Harriet, leaning toward their guests. The boys fairly
+jumped at the words, then laughed heartily.
+
+"There aren't any such things," scoffed George. "Besides, if there were,
+do you think we men would be afraid of them? I guess not. I'd like to
+see the ghost that I would be afraid of. You bring out your ghosts!
+We'll show you how quickly we will lay them."
+
+"Oh, I can't bring them out," murmured Harriet. "I thought perhaps you
+had seen them."
+
+"Have you?" demanded Sam, turning on her sharply.
+
+"Oh, don't ask me," begged Harriet, in such apparent distress that Sam
+did not question her further.
+
+"What's this that Harriet is telling you?" asked Miss Elting.
+
+"She's been seeing things, and thinks it queer that we have not, too,"
+answered George. "I wish we might. Then you don't think you would like
+to run the boat ashore at the camp, so as to be where we can look after
+you?"
+
+"I should not mind. But the girls think they are able to take care of
+themselves, and I must say that I agree with them, George. Don't you
+think they are?" asked the guardian.
+
+"They beat any boys I've ever seen. But then, you see, there are a lot
+of us fellows, and then again, your enemies won't be so bold when they
+know there are men around the premises," declared George pompously.
+
+Harriet turned her head away that they might not see her laughter.
+
+"Any way, let us tow you in closer to shore," urged George.
+
+Harriet shook her head.
+
+"Thank you, but we will fight our own battles. If we find we are getting
+the worst of it we will scream for you. That is, if you are able to see
+us. You gentlemen are short-sighted at times. The very idea of your
+hunting all over the lake for us when we were here fairly before your
+eyes! Look out that you're not so careless as to lose us again. Remember
+it will be the winning stroke for us."
+
+Harriet's manner was so superbly disdainful, yet there was so much pity
+in her tone, that the boys flushed painfully.
+
+"You won't lose us again the same way--don't worry about that," George
+Baker retorted, with some heat. "But when are you going for a ride in
+the launch with us?"
+
+"Why, I think we are ready now," smiled Miss Elting. "For one, I would
+like very much to go to Wantagh, if you will be kind enough to take me
+there. Harriet, I have changed my mind about remaining with the 'Red
+Rover' and I shall accept your suggestion to leave you as watchman on
+the 'Red Rover.'"
+
+"By all means, Miss Elting," replied Harriet.
+
+"I don't like to see you remaining alone," protested Hazel, as she
+stepped, half-reluctantly, into the launch. "I know you'll be dreadfully
+lonesome."
+
+Harriet, however, was far from lonesome. It was really pleasant to be
+all by herself for a little while.
+
+When the launch reached Wantagh the girls promptly went shopping, with
+the exception of Jane, who went to engage a rowboat, and Miss Elting, to
+hunt up Dee Dickinson. It was an uncomfortable half hour for Dee, for
+Miss Elting reported the loss of the rowboat and said very plainly to
+him that she believed he understood the cause of the persecutions the
+girls were undergoing. Still, Dee could not be made to talk freely. Miss
+Elting left him, dissatisfied.
+
+"That man knows the cause of our troubles, and he simply won't tell me,"
+said the guardian indignantly to herself, as she walked away. "And just
+a hint or two might enable us to save ourselves a good deal of
+annoyance, and even protect us from real dangers. I wonder what it all
+means."
+
+She said nothing to the girls about having seen Dickinson, when finally
+she joined them at the pier. The girls had filled every available space
+in the boat with their purchases and the new dingy was fastened to the
+stern. The run back in the late afternoon was a delightful one. When
+they came in sight of the "Red Rover" they uttered cries of delight. The
+"Red Rover" looked like a huge flame in the sunlight.
+
+"It doesn't seem possible that such a boat could be lost sight of
+anywhere, does it?" questioned Jane brightly, turning to Captain Baker.
+
+"No," he answered gloomily. "And it won't be again."
+
+"You can't tell, you know. It may disappear from the face of the waters
+this very night."
+
+George looked at Billy. Jane had given them a hint that they were not
+slow to catch. They did not know that she was teasing them for the very
+purpose of making their surprise greater when it did come.
+
+The boys left their passengers at the "Red Rover" and then sailed over
+to their own camp. The girls were glad to be back. The houseboat had
+come to be a real home to them, one that they would be sorry to leave
+when their vacation came to an end.
+
+Jane had purchased a dozen colored lanterns in town. As soon as darkness
+fell, these were lighted and strung above the upper deck. The interior
+was brightly lighted, so that the "Red Rover," that evening, stood out
+more prominently than anything else on that part of the lake. Later in
+the evening, after having disposed of their work, the girls took out the
+new rowboat and rowed slowly round and round the "Red Rover" singing.
+The boys came out at that and joined them. Together, the two boats
+drifted about until the hour grew late and Miss Elting called to the
+girls that it was time to come in. They responded promptly. The boys
+rowed up alongside and holding to the gunwale of the "Red Rover,"
+chatted for a few moments.
+
+"So long! We will see you in the morning," called George as they pushed
+the rowboat off.
+
+"Yes. In the morning--maybe," answered Harriet laughingly.
+
+"It's my opinion that those girls are going to try to play more tricks
+to-night," declared Billy, after they had gotten a short distance from
+the "Red Rover." He was speaking in a tone louder than he imagined.
+Harriet heard every word he said.
+
+"Yes," agreed George. "I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll put a boy on
+watch to-night. Then, if they try to run away from us, we will just
+follow and give them a surprise. We can't let those girls get the better
+of us this time."
+
+That was the last that Harriet heard. They had rowed so far away that
+their words were inaudible. But what she had heard was quite sufficient.
+
+"And about those ghosts?" questioned Larry.
+
+"A bluff," scoffed George. "You don't believe in ghosts, do you?"
+
+"Well, I don't know. I have heard of such things," admitted Larry
+solemnly.
+
+"Nonsense. I guess we will elect you to watch the houseboat to-night.
+How about it?" demanded George.
+
+"I don't care."
+
+"But don't you dare go to sleep."
+
+"What if I do?"
+
+"You will get a ducking," interjected Sam. "You will get your
+distinguished head held under water until you're wide awake."
+
+The plan, however, was put into operation soon after their arrival at
+the camp. They watched the "Red Rover" together until all the lights
+except the anchor light, had been put out. They knew, by this sign, that
+the Meadow-Brook Girls had retired for the night. The Tramp Club then
+went to bed, leaving Larry on guard. All he could see of the "Red Rover"
+was the anchor light, the night being very dark and a little hazy. But
+he never lost sight of this anchor light for more than a few moments at
+a time. Were the girls to get away without his discovering it he knew
+what to expect at the hands of his companions. Then again, Larry Goheen
+prided himself on his keenness. It would be very humiliating to be
+outwitted by the girls. He, with the rest of the boys fully believed
+that the girls were planning some trick for that night.
+
+Larry watched that anchor light until just before the break of day, when
+he called Sam to come out and take the watch until breakfast time. The
+daylight had not yet become pronounced enough to make out objects
+distinctly, but shortly after Sam took the watch the day broke bright
+and clear. The anchor light seemed to fade away and merge into thin air
+before his very eyes. He did not stop to reason that this was because
+the morning light had become stronger than that of the lantern.
+
+Sam blinked and rubbed his eyes. He could hardly believe what they told
+him. He uttered a yell that brought his companions out on the run.
+
+"What's up?" shouted Billy.
+
+"Everything. They've tricked us! They've gone!" cried Sam.
+
+"They have, I do declare," added George in a hushed tone. "When did they
+go?"
+
+"Just now. I saw them."
+
+"You were asleep," rebuked Billy.
+
+"I wasn't! They disappeared! They went up in thin air."
+
+Just then they were interrupted by a long, piercing wail that seemed to
+come from the air above and around them. The boys gazed into each others
+faces.
+
+"It's a banshee's wail," whispered Larry. "Somebody's going to die."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A FRUITLESS SEARCH
+
+
+"Don't be an idiot, Larry," rebuked If Billy Gordon. "Don't you know
+what that was?"
+
+"Yes. I told you," whispered the red-headed boy.
+
+"Pshaw! It was only a cat bird," scoffed George Baker. "Who's afraid of
+spooks, anyway? The fact is that those girls have outwitted us three
+times. We have lost the wager. Now the question is, when did they get
+away?"
+
+Larry declared that he had never removed his gaze from the anchor light
+during his whole watch, except when he went to get wood for the
+campfire.
+
+"There's only one way out of it," decided Billy. "Duck the two of them.
+We will be certain to get the right party then."
+
+"'Nuff said," nodded George. The boys grabbed the two lads, and, despite
+their struggles, managed to throw them into the lake, but in doing so,
+George and Billy found themselves in the water, also.
+
+This little experience put them in a better frame of mind. The lads
+quickly divested themselves of their wet pajamas and put on their
+clothes. Breakfast was a hurried meal that morning. After breakfast they
+sat down to take counsel among themselves while Sam scraped the dishes
+then threw them in the lake to be washed by the lake itself. They
+decided that either Larry or Sam must have fallen asleep, and that at a
+time when the girls had moved from their anchorage.
+
+Both lads protested that nothing of the kind had happened. Sam stuck to
+his story that the anchor light had faded away and that the "Red Rover"
+had disappeared all in the same moment.
+
+"What are we going to do about it?" questioned Larry Goheen.
+
+"We are going to take up a collection for that camera, and then we are
+going to find them," answered Billy.
+
+"We are going to try, you mean," answered George with a mirthless smile.
+"We have tried before--and failed, and now we are obliged to confess
+that we are beaten for good and all. However let us reason this thing
+out. The 'Red Rover' couldn't have disappeared, it could have gone only
+by being towed away. If a launch had towed it, the noise would have
+awakened us, even though Larry or Sam had been asleep. If the houseboat
+was towed by the girls, which it undoubtedly was, it can't be far away.
+That makes our work easier."
+
+"There is only one flaw in your argument, George," interrupted Billy
+Gordon. "Granting that they did row away from here, how do you know that
+at daylight they did not pick up a launch and hike half the length of
+the lake?"
+
+George shook his head slowly.
+
+"There wouldn't be any fun for them in that. They would want to be on
+hand, to make faces at us behind our backs."
+
+"You may be right at that." Billy gazed reflectively over the lake. As
+he gazed his eyes took on an expression of new interest. "What's that
+out there, fellows?" he demanded.
+
+It was some seconds before they discovered that which had attracted his
+attention. Then when they did so, they were unable to decide what it
+was. They were certain that the object had not been there the night
+before.
+
+"That's right where the 'Red Rover' lay," cried Larry Goheen. "Maybe
+they have sunk."
+
+The boys with one accord ran for the rowboat. They shoved it off, leaped
+in and began rowing at top speed toward the object that had attracted
+their attention. Larry began to grin long before they reached the spot.
+They finally pulled up alongside the object and stopped.
+
+The boys regarded it solemnly, then looked into each other's eyes. There
+followed a shout of laughter.
+
+The object that had been discovered by them was a stick, which had been
+thrust down into the soft bottom in shallow water. A lantern had been
+tied to the top of the stick. It was this lantern, at the end of a
+stick, that Larry Goheen had been watching all night, believing it to be
+the anchor light of the "Red Rover." It was plain that the girls had
+known that they were to be watched, and that they had taken the easiest
+possible way to outwit their friends, by placing the anchor light on a
+stick and leaving it at the anchorage while the "Red Rover" slipped away
+unobserved under cover of the darkness.
+
+"Stung!" groaned Sam.
+
+"Worse than that," answered George. "There aren't any words in the
+language to express what we'd like to say. Wait till I get the lantern."
+The lantern was still burning and the chimney was considerably smoked.
+George took it aboard and blew out the light. "You didn't see it go out
+after all, Sam."
+
+"I--I thought I did."
+
+"I wonder when they left?" mused Billy.
+
+"Larry, what have you to say about that?" demanded George Baker.
+
+"Absolutely nothing."
+
+"They went away during your watch."
+
+"You can't blame him," answered Sam. "Anybody would have been fooled
+under the circumstances."
+
+"Don't try to make lame excuses," jeered Billy. "Be a man and own up.
+They outwitted you, and that's all there is about it. Now, what are we
+going to do?"
+
+"Get out the launch and go on a hunt for them," declared George. "Any
+one got a better plan?"
+
+No one had. They had no plans at all, but were too dazed by this last
+trick that had been played on them to be able to think at all clearly.
+They reached the shore and George stepped out. His foot had no more than
+touched the ground before that same wailing cry rang in their ears
+again.
+
+"I tell you it's a banshee," cried Larry, his shock of red hair fairly
+standing on end.
+
+"We will attend to the ghosts after we have found the 'Red Rover',"
+answered George. His face had paled slightly at the sound, and he
+admitted to himself that he felt creepy. He was glad that they were
+going away from their camp for a time. It was evident that whatever the
+noise might be, it was intended to express disapproval of their presence
+on the island. George remembered what Harriet Burrell had said about
+ghosts on the previous evening. He had laughed at it at the time. He did
+not laugh now. He was thinking and thinking seriously.
+
+No further cries were heard that morning. The boys put out their
+campfire and set the camp to rights, Billy in the meantime being engaged
+in cleaning and oiling his motor preparatory to the morning run around
+the island and along the shore of the mainland.
+
+It was not exactly a joyous party that set out in the launch half an
+hour later. They were chagrined at losing the contest and disgusted that
+they should have fallen such easy victims to the ingenious schemes of
+the girls.
+
+"Do you know, I have been thinking," spoke up Larry after they had
+started.
+
+"That's something new," jeered Sam.
+
+"I have been wondering if all the strange things that have occurred to
+the girls haven't been part of a plan to keep us stirred up."
+
+"Larry, I'm ashamed of you," exclaimed George indignantly. "Those girls
+may be full of mischief, but they don't tell lies. They told us the
+truth, about their mysterious enemy, and I don't want to hear any boy
+intimate that they haven't. He and I will have a falling out right on
+the spot, if he does."
+
+"I apologize. I--I guess I didn't mean it that way," stammered Larry.
+
+"They are too clever for us, that's all there is to it," added George.
+"Run into that cove, please, Billy. There is something that looks like a
+red boat in there."
+
+The something proved to be a small boathouse painted red. It did
+resemble the "Red Rover" somewhat. They headed out of the cove, saying
+little, but keeping up a lively thinking. The launch was run up the
+shore of the mainland for several miles.
+
+"Shall I turn back?" asked Billy.
+
+"You might as well," nodded George. "I would suggest that we circle the
+island once more. Shut down as low as you can. We must keep a sharp
+lookout. There may be some way of getting a boat out of sight. I am
+positive that they are about here somewhere."
+
+The encircling of the island was attended with no better results. Not a
+trace of either Meadow-Brook Girls or "Red Rover" was discovered.
+Disgusted and disappointed the boys headed the launch toward home.
+
+"I'll tell you what we will do," declared George as they were landing.
+"We will spread out and search the island. I can't get the idea out of
+my mind that they are not far away."
+
+"But what would they do with their boat? It isn't anywhere in the lake
+about here, and surely they couldn't drag it ashore," objected Billy.
+
+"I don't know. I am beginning to think those girls can do almost
+anything they set out to do. They are a clever lot. I never knew them to
+start anything yet that they didn't go through with, usually ending up
+by giving us the worst of it."
+
+Sam hopped ashore first and ran up to the tent. He peered in, then
+uttered a yell.
+
+"Somebody's been here," he cried. "Wow!"
+
+The boys hurried up to the tent. The interior was in confusion. The
+contents of the tent had been piled in a great heap in the middle of the
+floor. A suit of khaki had been draped over sticks and leaned against
+the side of the tent, looking like a live man at first glance. Outside
+an oven had been constructed of rocks, and a fire put under it. On a
+flat stone the coffee pot stood ready. The table had been set, the
+potatoes pared and sliced ready for frying, in fact everything was ready
+for the noon meal with the exception of the cooking.
+
+The boys looked at each other then burst out laughing.
+
+"We've had company," grinned George.
+
+"I wish they would come every day," added Larry. "They have sense
+whoever they are, even if they turn our tent topsy-turvy. But wait.
+We've got those girls now. We know they are somewhere about, and we'll
+find them if it takes all day and all night to do it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE TRAMP CLUB FINDS A CLUE
+
+
+"Hello! What's this?"
+
+Larry, stooping over, picked up a piece of filmy linen.
+
+"A handkerchief, isn't it?" asked Sam.
+
+"Let me see that, please," demanded George Baker. Larry handed it to
+him. "It's a girl's handkerchief, boys. And here are two initials in one
+corner. Hello! 'H.B.' What does that stand for?"
+
+"It stands for 'Have Been'," declared Larry. "Meaning that they have
+been here. But they needn't have told us. We know that."
+
+"Yes; they've been here," replied George promptly. "Those initials stand
+for 'Harriet Burrell.' They mean that the Meadow-Brook Girls have been
+here and turned our tent upside down. But they made amends by getting
+our noon meal started. I suppose we had better forgive them. What do you
+say, fellows?"
+
+"Of course," nodded Billy. The others agreed.
+
+"Miss Burrell, having no card, left her handkerchief. But fellows, while
+we are fussing around here, they may be getting away again. This may be
+another of their tricks," declared George. "I would suggest, Billy, that
+you eat your luncheon at once, then run out the launch and keep sailing
+around to head them off in case they are running away."
+
+To this proposition, Billy demurred. He did not fancy going away by
+himself.
+
+"I'll tell you what I'll do," he proposed. "I'll eat luncheon with you
+first. They can't get far away before I get out, and even if they did I
+should overhaul them. You know that old scow can be seen for miles."
+
+"I notice we weren't able to see it a few rods from us," observed George
+dryly. "All right. Start the potatoes to frying. Did they hide the ham?"
+
+"They didn't find it. It's in the spring back there," answered Sam. "I
+looked."
+
+The luncheon was prepared in a hurry and the boys ate ravenously. The
+excitement of the morning had not interfered with their appetites.
+
+"Now, Billy, if you see anything, blow your motor horn and keep it going
+until we hear it. Some of us will hear you. I propose that we spread out
+so as to cover the island, but still keeping within yelling distance of
+each other. We know now that the girls are on this island."
+
+"Well find them." Billy walked slowly down to his launch, got in, and
+reversing the engine, backed out, waving an indolent hand at his
+companions.
+
+Suddenly a weird scream rang out on the still air.
+
+"Run for it, boys. That way," cried George, pointing excitedly.
+
+"No! It's the other way," shouted Sam.
+
+"You're both wrong. It's toward the other side of the island," declared
+Larry.
+
+"Now look here, fellows. We are all of us wrong. If we are going to
+accomplish anything we must stop fooling and go at this business
+scientifically. I will take this side of the island. Sam, you and two of
+the fellows take the middle, and Larry the other side, keeping within
+sight of the shore. We will search every inch of it, though I don't
+believe we can finish the job before night."
+
+"We had better take our lanterns with us, or we shall break our precious
+necks," suggested Sam.
+
+"Yes. We will do that. Larry, when you catch sight of Billy on the other
+side, beckon him in and tell him we may not be back until late this
+evening, and for him to keep circling the island until he finds us back
+in camp again. Better take some grub along. We can stand it to eat a
+cold supper for once. We will have a warm one when we get back."
+
+After having made their preparations the boys started out, all the
+others waiting until Larry got a good start, Sam's party starting next,
+George Baker leaving the camp last. In that way they planned to keep
+pretty nearly abreast.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+About this time Crazy Jane McCarthy, face flushed, hair down, her skirt
+torn in several places, might have been seen fleeing along the shore of
+the island, running away from the Tramp Club's camp and toward their own
+secret nook, where the "Red Rover" was lying calmly at anchor in the
+half cave that had furnished a hiding place for the girls before.
+
+She came tearing through the bushes nearly falling into the lower end of
+the stream.
+
+"They're coming!" she shouted. "Get to cover!"
+
+"Sh-h-h!" warned Hazel, who sat awaiting Jane, in the rowboat. "I hear a
+motor boat outside. I think it is the boys' boat."
+
+"I tell you they are on their way to search the island," answered Jane.
+
+"All of them?"
+
+"All but Billy Gordon. He has gone off in the launch to keep an eye on
+the shore."
+
+"Then that is his boat out there. Get in here. I am worried that Harriet
+is still out."
+
+Just then a soft "hoo-e-e-e" from the bushes on the opposite side of the
+stream, told them that Harriet Burrell had returned. She had been out on
+a scouting expedition. Hazel rowed over to the other side of the creek.
+Harriet jumped aboard. Jane, in excited whispers, told her that the boys
+were coming and that Billy was out in the launch.
+
+"I know. I saw him just a few moments ago. What are their plans?"
+
+Crazy Jane explained what she had been able to hear when she was
+observing the Tramp Club's camp. She had seen Larry pick up Harriet's
+handkerchief, though she was not aware that it was Harriet's.
+
+"That is where I lost it, is it?" laughed Harriet. "It is all right.
+That will encourage them. If they go on beyond here they will find other
+evidences that will lead them still further on. You see I wanted to get
+them as far away from home as possible so as to keep them out after
+dark."
+
+Hazel manipulated the rowboat until they were in the deep shadows of the
+rocks, after which they climbed aboard the "Red Rover." Harriet
+explained her plans to her companions and directed them to keep as quiet
+as possible in case any of the searchers should come that way. The girls
+had pulled the houseboat into the secret retreat on the previous night.
+They had kept a watchful eye on the boys all the morning, to see what
+they were planning to do, and Jane had given the lads the creeps by
+uttering wild, weird cries in the depths of the forest.
+
+Harriet and Jane cooked themselves something to eat. They had been out
+for a long time and were hungry. Their companions and guardian were
+sitting about chatting with them. Miss Elting was of the opinion that
+they were much better off in their hiding place than at an anchorage out
+in the lake, always provided that their enemy did not find them out.
+Harriet agreed with her, but thought they would be in a serious
+situation if their unknown enemy were to find them. He had shown
+evidences of keenness that made the finding of the "Red Rover" appear to
+be a simple task for him. That he would annoy them further, the girls
+were positive; that he already had located them was more than possible.
+
+Splash!
+
+Their conversation was suddenly checked. A stone had dropped but a few
+feet from the rear end of the "Red Rover," falling into the creek.
+Harriet laid a finger on her lips. Tommy had started to speak, but
+checked herself in time. Harriet and Jane crept to the door of the
+houseboat and peered out. As they did so a second splash startled them.
+This time they saw the stone. It was a good-sized rock. It fell some
+feet below the rear end of the "Red Rover." Some one was sounding the
+thick growth there. Who it was, they discovered a moment later.
+
+"There's water down there, but it's shallow. I can tell by the splash,"
+announced a voice above them.
+
+"It's George," whispered Jane.
+
+"I'll take a look along the shore on my way back. There may be an inlet
+that we haven't seen," continued George Baker, talking to himself.
+
+Jane gripped an arm of her companion.
+
+"If he does, we shall be discovered," she whispered.
+
+"Never mind. We will have scared them off long before then. He will
+strike the trail I left for them, before long, if he keeps straight on.
+That will mean that he will go right on and that he will call to the
+others to join him when it begins to get dark. You know the island
+begins to narrow a short distance beyond here. Won't it be funny to see
+them following that trail? And what a surprise they will get before they
+have finished with this day's work." Harriet chuckled. She had been
+whispering. She paused suddenly as a pebble rattled down within a foot
+of the stern of the "Red Rover."
+
+"They're getting rather close," whispered Jane.
+
+"Captain Baker kicked that pebble down. He is going away. Do you hear
+him?" George was whistling to himself as he tramped away toward the
+other end of the island. They heard him call to his companions shortly
+after that and shout some directions to them. Then nothing more was
+heard from the boys for the rest of the afternoon.
+
+The girls discussed the situation with Miss Elting. The guardian decided
+that all the girls save one should remain on board the scow. One, she
+agreed, might go out to reconnoitre. If the boys returned before dark it
+would be well to know about it. Their further plans depended upon the
+immediate actions of the Tramp Club. Harriet was the one who was chosen
+to keep watch of their rivals.
+
+She began at once to make her preparations, tying her hair in a tight
+knot on top of her head and drawing a waterproof bathing cap over all.
+
+"I am going to protect my hair," she smiled in answer to the unspoken
+question in the eyes of her companion. "Those bushes pull out a few
+strands every time I go scouting among them. I'll imitate the sound
+that a crow makes if I see them coming back," she added. "No one must go
+out in the meantime. All we can do is to keep quiet and wait. We've
+already won the camera. We will have our fun when night comes, however,
+and if we don't give those boys the fright of their lives I shall be
+keenly disappointed."
+
+"Which way shall you come back?" asked Jane.
+
+"The way we came in. Don't have the boat wait for me down there. If I
+have to come back in a hurry I will wade. Meadow-Brook Girls aren't
+afraid of the water, you know."
+
+"We know," answered Miss Elting, smiling, "but be careful that you don't
+fall and hurt yourself. Good-bye. I will have the sheets and other
+things ready by the time you return. We have the poles here. I do hope
+we get an opportunity to use the stuff now that we have been at so much
+pains to get it ready. You see, I am just as anxious to play this trick
+as the rest of you girls."
+
+Harriet laughed merrily at the prospect of the coming fun, then stepped
+out into the rowboat that Hazel had pulled close to the stern of the
+houseboat. A few moments later Hazel left her companion on the west bank
+at the lower end of the little stream. Harriet slipped away through the
+bushes almost noiselessly. If everything worked smoothly the Tramp Club
+were to receive an overwhelming surprise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+JANE PLAYS EAVESDROPPER
+
+
+Two hours later the Meadow-Brook Girls were startled to hear a voice
+directly over their heads call:
+
+"Girls, girls."
+
+"Who is it?" asked Miss Elting cautiously.
+
+"It's I. I'm up here, right where we heard George Baker talking this
+morning."
+
+"You nearly thcared me to death!" gasped Tommy.
+
+"Speak more quietly, please," warned Harriet. "Jane, I wish you would
+come up here. No; I'm not going to take you far. I want you within reach
+of the boat."
+
+"Do you see anything of the boys, Harriet?" asked Miss Elting.
+
+"No, but I hear them occasionally. They are quite a distance ahead,
+traveling fast, and ought to be back long before dark."
+
+Jane lost no time in hurrying to the lower end of the creek in order to
+join her friend. Harriet lay on the rocks, at a point where she could
+not see the water, and there Jane joined her.
+
+"What I want you to do," Harriet explained in whispers, at the same time
+on the alert for sound or sign of the boys, "is to stay here, or not far
+from here, so that you can warn the girls in case I signal by making a
+cawing noise like a crow. I don't want the girls to make too much noise,
+for it would spoil our fun if the boys should discover our hiding
+place."
+
+"But how am I going to get back if I have to do so in a hurry?"
+
+"Can you go down a rope?"
+
+"Show me the rope that I can't go down," boasted Jane.
+
+"How about this one?" smiled Harriet, producing a coil of quarter inch
+manila rope.
+
+"Well, it's small, but I'll try it. Where do you wish me to climb?"
+
+"I'll show you. Take hold of my feet and don't you dare let go. I surely
+shall break my neck if you do." Harriet crawled over the edge, Jane
+grasping her by the ankles to prevent her from falling. Then Harriet
+tied one end of the rope to a root of a tree that stood on the brink.
+"Look out below!" she warned, at the same time dropping the coil through
+the foliage and shaking the rope until the coil finally dropped into the
+stream. "Please draw the rope up to the boat," she called. "That's it.
+Now pull me back, Jane."
+
+Jane McCarthy did so with some assistance from Harriet, who clawed at
+the roots of the tree and pushed with her hands until she finally got to
+the top once more. Reaching there she got up and surveyed the work with
+approval.
+
+"Can you see the rope, Jane?"
+
+Miss McCarthy shook her head.
+
+"If you have to go down it be careful that you don't fall before you get
+to the rope. Now do you understand?"
+
+"Do I? This is going to be great fun. Won't the boys be surprised when
+we play our great trick on them?"
+
+"Provided they do not surprise us first," answered Harriet.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"To follow George Baker's trail for a time. I can't tell beyond that
+what I shall do. It will depend upon circumstances. Remember the signal.
+I'm off now."
+
+Jane watched Harriet slip away. There was undisguised admiration in the
+eyes of Jane McCarthy. Not a sound could she hear from her companion, so
+silently did the latter move away. After Harriet had gone, Jane called
+down to her friends that she was going to move from the spot and that
+they should keep quiet.
+
+The hours passed slowly for Jane. She was too active to care to sit down
+calmly and wait when there were things to be done, so Jane decided that
+she too would explore a little on her own account. She started slowly,
+edging down nearer to the shore, thus taking a different course from
+that followed by her companion, toward the upper end of the island.
+
+Jane had been gone about an hour when she heard voices directly ahead of
+her. She glanced about in quest of a safe hiding place. Not knowing
+exactly the direction that was being followed by those whose voices she
+had heard, she decided to run toward home. A shout from behind her at
+that juncture told her that at least one of the party had gotten between
+her and the hiding place of the "Red Rover."
+
+Without an instant's hesitation Crazy Jane ran to a low, bushy tree and
+climbed up in its foliage with almost the quickness of a cat. Her
+clothes suffered, but she did not care. Her sole desire now was to get
+out of sight as quickly as possible. She would never forgive herself if
+she were to be the means of their being discovered. As yet she had heard
+no warning cry from Harriet Burrell.
+
+Jane had hardly secreted herself in the foliage of the tree when another
+hail sounded between her tree and home.
+
+"Is that you, boys?" It was the voice of George Baker.
+
+"Yes," answered Sam. "What's up?"
+
+George made his way toward them. Jane could hear him forcing his way
+through the bushes.
+
+The two parties met in an open space a short distance from the tree that
+held Jane. She was straining every muscle to get a glimpse of them.
+
+"Some one has been along here since I passed," declared George. "I found
+a footprint in the moss over there, and it was a woman's."
+
+"So did we find the same thing," answered Larry. "There's something
+queer about this whole island. I feel spooky all the time. Did you hear
+any one?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, I did. Some one threw a stone at me. It dropped right at my
+feet."
+
+Jane giggled softly. Harriet had been playing tricks on them. She
+wondered where Harriet was. Jane would have given the signal, but dared
+not do so. In the first place she was not sure that she could imitate a
+crow so as to deceive a person, and in the second place the boys were
+too close to her to run any chances.
+
+"They are here, all right, boys," cried George. "I was certain of it all
+the time."
+
+"It may be spooks," answered Larry Goheen.
+
+"Well, just let them come out. I guess we can take care of any spooks
+that we shall find on this island. But we must get busy again. It will
+soon be dark. Spread out, fellows. I'll tell you what we'll do. Taking
+that tree there for a centre"--waving toward the tree occupied by Crazy
+Jane McCarthy--"we will circle about, making the circle larger each time
+we start out."
+
+"Wait. I'll climb the tree and take a look around," interjected Sam. He
+started for the tree. His hands had grasped it ere Jane realized that
+hers was the tree meant. For once in her life Crazy Jane McCarthy was at
+a loss to proceed. She did not know what to do. But George unknowingly
+came to her rescue.
+
+"Never mind the tree. It's too low. You can't get high enough to look
+over the tops of the bushes. You come along as I suggested."
+
+"How ever am I going to get out of this?" muttered Jane. "Won't Harriet
+be cross when she finds I've quit my post and gone out on my own
+responsibility?" Her further reflections were interrupted by a loud
+"caw, caw, caw!"
+
+"What's that?" cried Larry in alarm.
+
+"It's a crow, you tenderfoot," jeered George. "Didn't you ever hear one
+before?"
+
+"Harriet!" exclaimed Jane under her breath. "She has discovered where
+the boys are. She's giving me warning and I dare not answer her. What
+shall I do?"
+
+"Yes, I have heard crows, but I never heard a crow with a voice like
+that," answered Larry. "I'll bet it's no more crow than I am."
+
+Once more the crow cawed. This time the bird's voice sounded much
+farther away. Jane reasoned it out when she said to herself that Harriet
+had probably turned her head away or else had cawed in a lower tone to
+deceive the boys, who were now moving rapidly away, making as many
+circles as there were boys in the party.
+
+Jane dared not get down from the tree, but she began moving about,
+seeking a better position from which she might look the ground over. If
+the boys got far enough away she might try to run, but then there was
+the probability of meeting their rivals, no matter which way she sought
+to escape.
+
+[Illustration: Jane Dared Not Get Down From the Tree.]
+
+The crow cawed again.
+
+"I tell you that isn't a crow," shouted Larry.
+
+"Go on, go on!" called George.
+
+Jane listening intently, concentrating her attention on what was being
+said, rather than what she was doing, lost her footing. She grasped
+frantically for a limb and caught one. But the limb did not hold. It
+snapped and came away in her hand.
+
+Crash! She landed on a bunch of small limbs and branches. She went right
+on through them, tearing off leaves with frantic hands in her efforts to
+get hold of something that would stop her progress. The foliage checked
+her fall a little, but not sufficiently to prevent her falling the rest
+of the way.
+
+A yell from Larry Goheen, an answering shout from George, and another
+from Sam, told that the boys had heard the fall. They began running
+toward the tree, with shouts of triumph.
+
+"We've got somebody," yelled George. "Look sharp, fellows."
+
+"I'm on the job," howled Sam.
+
+"Get clubs. It may be a spook," howled Larry.
+
+The Tramp Club surrounded the tree, keeping their formation as well as
+possible, not forgetting that their prey might slip away from them did
+they not guard all sides. As yet they did not now who or what that prey
+was. A moment later they halted with exclamations of surprise.
+
+Directly beneath the tree in which Jane McCarthy had been hiding stood a
+man. He was dark and swarthy, with high cheek bones and jet black hair.
+He was an Indian half-breed. The fellow stood scowling, regarding the
+boys with angry eyes. Broken limbs and scattered leaves showed where
+Jane McCarthy had fallen from the tree, and broken bushes also showed
+where she had floundered after reaching the ground.
+
+The Tramp Club gazed at the scowling face of the half-breed in
+speechless amazement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A DOUBLE SURPRISE
+
+
+"Who you?" growled the strange man.
+
+"We--we--" began Larry.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir. You aren't the person we were seeking,"
+apologized George Baker.
+
+"Who you look for?"
+
+"Oh, a friend of ours. I am sorry if I disturbed you. Were you up in
+that tree?" demanded George, a sudden thought occurring to him. He
+wondered if this questionable-looking half-breed had been up there while
+they were holding their conference a short time before that.
+
+The fellow made no reply. He stood regarding them with inquiring,
+suspicious eyes until the boys grew restless under his scrutiny.
+
+"Well, you needn't look at us that way," declared George, flushing under
+the steady, disconcerting gaze of the stranger. "We don't know you and
+you don't know us, and I guess you don't own the island. Come on,
+fellows."
+
+The boys started away, trudging thoughtfully towards home. As for Jane
+McCarthy, the instant she reached the ground, she had scrambled to her
+feet and darted into the bushes, where she threw herself on the ground,
+breathing heavily, waiting for what might come. What did come amazed
+her. She saw the man dash up and glance hurriedly about him. It was
+evident that her fall had attracted his attention, and that he had run
+to the tree, hoping to catch some one. Gazing at him through the bushes,
+the girl decided that he must be an Indian. She gazed at him long and
+earnestly, forgetting for the moment her own precarious position.
+
+Then the boys came. The half-breed stood scowling after them as they
+hurried away. At this juncture the "caw" of a crow was heard again. He
+started slightly, bent his head and listened, but there was no
+repetition of the signal, for which Crazy Jane McCarthy was devoutly
+thankful. It was plain that he knew it was not a crow, that he
+understood it to be a signal of some sort.
+
+The half-breed suddenly turned, starting toward the shore of the lake at
+a brisk pace, worming his way through the bushes with almost no
+disturbance at all, even at the swift pace he was keeping up.
+
+Jane had lost her fear now. The boys had gone on out of sight and sound
+and the intruder was hurrying toward the lake. The girl, however, did
+not dare to run. She feared to meet the Indian, so she crept along
+cautiously. It was but a short distance to the shore of the lake. She
+reached there after having followed the Indian's trail. Jane was just in
+time to see the fellow launching a canoe. It was a dark green boat,
+showing long and hard usage.
+
+The fellow leaped in and sent the boat well out into the lake with a
+single stroke of the paddle, after which he glided up the lake, keeping
+close in shore under the partial protection of the foliage. Fortunately
+Jane had thrown herself down again immediately on seeing him, else he
+might have caught sight of her. That he was a man experienced in the
+woods, as well as on the water, was plain to be seen. She watched him
+out of sight, then hurried back to the spot where she had met with
+disaster and gave the crow signal. It was not much of a success. She
+repeated it and did better. Jane called several times. Then she jumped
+clear off the ground at the sound of a voice behind her.
+
+"Jane McCarthy! What are you doing here?"
+
+"Harriet!"
+
+"Yes, it's I. But what on earth have you been doing?"
+
+"Di--did you see the man?" gasped Jane.
+
+"Wait a moment. I don't understand you. What is it about a man?"
+
+"I--I was in the tree there when the boys came back. I heard them coming
+and climbed the tree to hide."
+
+"I was doing the same thing."
+
+"I--I fell out of the tree--"
+
+"Gracious! They didn't discover you, did they? I heard them shouting and
+running, and wondered what they had discovered."
+
+"No. I dived into those bushes and lay down. Just then a man appeared.
+He looked to me like an Indian. He is a dangerous man, Harriet. When the
+boys came up and found him standing here you ought to have seen the
+expressions on their faces. Oh, it was funny."
+
+"Which way did he go?" questioned Harriet eagerly. She was not laughing
+now. Another idea had occurred to her.
+
+"Down to the lake. I followed him and saw him get into his canoe and
+paddle away."
+
+"A canoe, did you say?"
+
+"Yes. It was an old thing, but, my goodness, how it could go! And the
+man paddled without making a sound. I never saw any one handle a canoe
+like that."
+
+Harriet gazed at her companion, the lines of her face contracting.
+
+"Jane," she said, "I saw that man myself. It was the night I rowed out
+to see who was making camp near us. He shot out ahead of me in his canoe
+and disappeared. I must have disturbed him."
+
+"But who--what?" gasped Jane.
+
+"I believe he is the man who has been following us and trying to drive
+us away. I can't think of any other reason for his acting as he has. He
+undoubtedly knows that we are somewhere about, and has been looking for
+us just as the boys themselves have been doing."
+
+"Good gracious," muttered Crazy Jane. "I'm sorry I didn't stay on the
+boat."
+
+"And I am glad you did not. You surely have discovered something. Would
+you know the man if you were to see him again?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then we will see if we can't discover him again. I believe we are
+getting near to a solution of the enemy that has been following us.
+Either we must settle him or he will do us some injury. I am glad the
+boys saw him, too. I am going to suggest to Miss Elting that we go back
+to our old anchorage to-morrow. To-day we have other plans on hand. And
+that reminds me. It is getting dark and it is time we were getting back
+to the boat. We will go down the rope when we reach there. Come."
+
+The two girls hurried along, keeping a sharp lookout, not knowing but
+that the boys might be lying in wait for them. They reached the rocks
+above the houseboat. All was quiet below. Jane went down the rope first,
+landing in the creek. Harriet did the same, and none of their companions
+discovered either of them until Jane had climbed aboard the boat and
+appeared dripping before them.
+
+"Here we are, girls," laughed Jane.
+
+"Did you discover anything?" asked Miss Elting eagerly.
+
+"We did."
+
+"Tell us what happened," urged the guardian.
+
+"The boys found the false trail we made, as well as the one we did not
+wish them to find. They nearly discovered Jane, too. She sat in a tree
+while they made their plans nearby. Then Jane fell out of the tree."
+
+The girls shouted.
+
+"And what do you think?" continued Harriet. "The boys were only a short
+distance away. They hurried to the scene, and when they got there they
+found--"
+
+"Jane," finished Tommy.
+
+"No. A man. A half-breed from what Jane says. He went away in a canoe.
+He did not see her."
+
+Miss Elting regarded Harriet reflectively.
+
+"Yes, I think it was the same one," said Harriet in answer to the
+guardian's unspoken question. "It is evident that our presence here is
+suspected by others than the Tramps. I would suggest that we carry out
+our plans to-night, then move away from here to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+SPOOKS OF THE LONESOME ISLE
+
+
+"Yes, I know the way. I could go there blindfolded," answered Harriet,
+in reply to a question from Miss Elting.
+
+The hour was nine o'clock in the evening. The night was very dark,
+though the stars were shining. It had been decided that Margery and
+Tommy should remain on board the "Red Rover," putting out all lights and
+locking the doors, though no anxiety was felt about them, as there was
+scarcely a chance that their presence would be discovered, provided the
+girls remained quiet.
+
+The paraphernalia for the evening's enterprise was carefully loaded into
+the rowboat; then, with final admonitions to Tommy and Margery to keep
+silent and not be afraid, the party set out in the rowboat for the
+entrance of the creek. They paused there long enough to make certain
+that no one was about, after which they rowed along the shore a short
+distance and made a landing at a point where the ground was fairly
+level.
+
+"Now be very quiet," whispered Harriet. "Remember the signal to return
+to the boat is one long caw. Two caws in quick succession mean 'hurry.'"
+
+"We shan't be far apart, shall we?" questioned Hazel, somewhat
+apprehensively.
+
+"No. Within speaking distance," replied Miss Elting. "Leave it to
+Harriet and Jane to make the first advance. We will follow when the time
+is right. It is fortunate that we left Tommy and Margery at home. Are
+you ready, Harriet?"
+
+It was a silent party of four shadowy figures that made its way
+cautiously along the shore of the island for some little distance. The
+party then turned sharply to the right and disappeared among the bushes
+that marked a slight rise of ground. Reaching this rise they turned to
+the left and once more proceeded straight ahead.
+
+The lights of a campfire were soon distinguishable between the trees.
+The party was nearing the camp of the Tramp Club. The time to prepare
+for their final triumph was at hand.
+
+"Now, Harriet," urged Miss Elting in a half whisper.
+
+"Yes. I will go around to the other side of the camp. That will be the
+most difficult position to get away from, so I am choosing it for
+myself. Jane, you will remain here, while Miss Elting and Hazel will
+take a position halfway between us. You see that will enable us
+practically to surround the camp. After you hear me, wait a moment, then
+give them a thriller."
+
+Harriet, accompanied by the guardian and Hazel, stepped promptly away.
+After going on for some distance, the girl directed Miss Elting and
+Hazel to stop and remain where they were, except that they were to
+separate, yet keep within easy call of each other. This detail arranged,
+Harriet went on.
+
+According to previous arrangement, Jane, Miss Elting and Hazel gradually
+crept nearer to the camp, continuing until they could make out the
+figures of the boys quite plainly. The latter were sitting about the
+campfire. Their attitude was one of dejection. They had been outwitted
+and they knew it.
+
+"If we don't find those girls to-night, then to-morrow morning we'll get
+out of here," announced George. "They know that they have won and we'll
+let them come and tell us so rather than hunt all summer for them."
+
+"What about that half-breed?" asked Sam. "I think we'd better find out
+who he is. I didn't like the looks of that fellow a little bit."
+
+"Neither did I," agreed George. "Queer we never saw him around here
+before."
+
+"You must remember this is a large lake," Billy informed them. "He
+probably is a fisherman who hangs out on the island, and who resented
+our encroaching upon his preserves. I think I saw the same fellow once
+in a canoe, but he was so far away that I don't think I would know him
+were we to meet face to face."
+
+"There are too many mysterious things on this island," averred Larry
+Goheen, with emphasis. "I, for one, shall be glad to get away from it. I
+know there are spooks here."
+
+"Spooks!" jeered George. "Who's afraid of spooks? Who--" George's voice
+trailed off almost into a whisper. "I heard something," he exclaimed.
+
+"So did I," added Larry, nodding.
+
+A laugh, a distinctly human laugh, shrill and mocking, was wafted to
+them. The boys gazed questioningly at each other. Larry glanced about
+apprehensively. Then out of the night came the most weird, most
+demoniacal laugh any member of the Tramp Club ever had heard.
+
+The boys sprang to their feet.
+
+Other laughs, accompanied by shrieks, followed each other in quick
+succession. The laughs seemed to come from all quarters. It was
+difficult to say from just what particular point any one of them did
+come.
+
+"Spooks!" yelled Larry Goheen, bolting toward the lake. Billy caught and
+jerked him back.
+
+"No, you don't," growled Billy. "We stand together."
+
+"I don't want to stay here," chattered Larry. "I never try to fool
+people with fake courage when I know that running is my one best course
+to pursue."
+
+"Is there a lunatic asylum in this part of the country?" asked Baker.
+"Can it be possible that any of the inmates have escaped."
+
+Billy Gordon shook his head. "Nothing as easy as that," he sighed.
+
+"Great Scott! There it goes again!" breathed Larry. "It's down that way,
+too," pointing in the direction taken by Harriet Burrell.
+
+It was a long, weird wail, well calculated to freeze the marrow in one's
+bones.
+
+"Come on, fellows!" cried George, with a fine showing of resolution.
+"We'll lay that ghost!"
+
+George was the only one of the boys who thought to snatch up a club as
+he ran. But now the unearthly sounds came from the rear, instead of
+ahead of them. The boys wheeled abruptly, only to hear right in front of
+them a dismaying chorus of ghostly noises.
+
+"Let's go!" urged Larry. "It's surely a lot of banshees!"
+
+"Great Scott! Look!" quivered Sam, pointing with trembling finger.
+
+In the faint light the boys made out a white figure that might have been
+anywhere from seven to ten feet in height. The boys were too scared to
+judge of length. The awful thing raised its draped arms, a frightful
+scream sounding on the air.
+
+At that Billy lost his grip on Larry's arm. Goheen made no apologies,
+but made a straight, swift dash for camp.
+
+The other boys hesitated for a few brief seconds; then they, too, headed
+for camp. They were not exactly running. They were leaping like as many
+frightened rabbits, fleeing from a rabbit hound. In their haste they
+lost their way and were proceeding directly toward the spot where Jane
+McCarthy was standing.
+
+Jane finally heard them coming. She was filled with glee. She had feared
+that she was not to have an opportunity to play an important part in
+this ghost party. Making a noise like a ghost did not wholly satisfy
+Crazy Jane McCarthy. What she wanted was something more exciting. Her
+opportunity came very quickly. The boys were nearly up to her, ere she
+realized that they were so close.
+
+A wild wail halted them.
+
+"Come on, you fellows!" yelled George to his faltering companions.
+
+"There it is!" howled Sam.
+
+He had espied another figure that looked exactly like the first ghost.
+George discovered it at about the same time. George made a brave rush
+toward the figure, yelling to frighten it. But Crazy Jane was not easily
+frightened. She advanced slowly, waving the long, draped arms, and
+moaning. All at once something came down on the head of George Baker,
+just as he had raised his club to hurl it at the ghost. The something
+was a long tough stick in the hand of Jane McCarthy.
+
+George uttered a howl and sprang back. The ghost advanced on him. Billy
+got a light tap, then Sam yelled as something damp brushed his cheek.
+He did not know that it was the leaf of a bush. He thought it the cold,
+clammy hand of the ghost.
+
+The boys having gotten more than they had looked for, began to retreat.
+Sam was the first after Larry to run. He did so with all speed, followed
+closely by George and Billy. They were confused. They did not know just
+where the camp was located. Glancing over their shoulders they saw that
+the ghost was pursuing them. The boys began to shout anew, and to run
+even at greater speed.
+
+"There's some more of them," howled Sam.
+
+"Yeow!" yelled George. He sprang to the left, in which direction he
+believed the camp lay, then he halted. Another ghost was confronting
+him. George hesitated. The ghost uttered a moan. The brave George Baker,
+captain of the Tramp Club, took to his heels. The others did the same,
+except that each took a different direction. Wherever they ran they were
+followed by moans and screams, principally from the lips of Crazy Jane
+McCarthy.
+
+It seemed to their excited imaginations that the woods were full of
+ghosts of giant stature, with voices capable of making one's hair stand
+on end. The worst of it was that the ghosts persisted in pursuing them.
+They chased the brave Tramp Club right into camp, where the lads
+arrived one by one. Instead of stopping the boys bolted for the launch,
+in which the frightened Larry Goheen already had sought safety.
+
+"Cast off," yelled George, the last to leap into the boat.
+
+The launch was shoved from the shore and allowed to drift while the boys
+sat shivering, listening to the wails from the forest.
+
+"Good-bye," answered Sam.
+
+"Fellows, we are all cowards," declared George, beginning to get control
+of himself. "We should have staid and knocked them out."
+
+"I'll go back, if you say so," answered Billy promptly.
+
+"No. I've got enough of this place. To-morrow morning we break camp and
+go back to the other camping place. No more ghost parties for mine."
+
+"As long as we have decided to move why not go now," suggested Larry.
+
+The boys discussed the matter briefly, then decided that they would. Sam
+was put on guard to watch for the return of the ghosts while the others
+hurriedly broke camp. But there were no more ghostly moans nor ghostly
+intruders that night.
+
+The ghosts in the persons of the Meadow-Brook Girls were on their way to
+their rowboat. Beaching it they sat down and laughed until their eyes
+were wet with tears.
+
+"It was a mean trick to play on them," gasped Miss Elting. "But I think
+we have more than won our wager. It is a wonder that they didn't suspect
+us."
+
+"There goes a boat!" cried Jane. "It's a launch."
+
+"It is the boys. We have frightened them off," answered Miss Elting.
+
+The girls rowed quickly home, but ere they had reached the entrance to
+the secret creek they were startled by the sound of a shrill scream.
+They recognized the voice as Tommy's and began to shout, and to row with
+all their might. A moment later, just as they were about to turn into
+the opening with their boat, a canoe shot out and darted across their
+bows, disappearing in the darkness.
+
+"A man, a man!" yelled Tommy as Harriet shouted to know if the two girls
+were all right. Tommy threw open the door and in her excitement walked
+off the after deck of the "Red Rover" and fell forward into the stream.
+
+"Jane, do you recognize that man?" cried Harriet excitedly.
+
+"Yes," exclaimed Jane, "he's the man I saw this afternoon, and he's our
+mysterious enemy too, or my name's not Jane McCarthy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+ON A STORMY CRUISE
+
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+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."
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13577 ***