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diff --git a/38609-8.txt b/38609-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..942377e --- /dev/null +++ b/38609-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7367 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat, by +Grace Brooks Hill + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat + How they sailed away, what happened on the voyage, and + what was discovered + +Author: Grace Brooks Hill + +Illustrator: Thelma Gooch + +Release Date: January 18, 2012 [EBook #38609] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: "There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge's +arm in her excitement. "The same two men!"] + + + + +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS +ON A HOUSEBOAT + + HOW THEY SAILED AWAY + WHAT HAPPENED ON THE VOYAGE + AND WHAT WAS DISCOVERED + +BY + +GRACE BROOKS HILL + +Author of "The Corner House Girls," "The +Corner House Girls Snowbound," etc. + +_ILLUSTRATED BY_ + +_THELMA GOOCH_ + +NEW YORK + +BARSE & HOPKINS + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +BOOKS FOR GIRLS + +By Grace Brooks Hill + +The Corner House Girls Series + +12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. + +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AT SCHOOL +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS UNDER CANVAS +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS IN A PLAY +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS' ODD FIND +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A TOUR +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS GROWING UP +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SNOWBOUND +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT + +BARSE & HOPKINS + +Publishers, New York + +Copyright, 1920, +by Barse & Hopkins + +_The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat_ + +Printed in U. S. A. + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. "What's That?" +II. Neale Has News +III. The Elevator +IV. An Auto Ride +V. The Houseboat +VI. More News +VII. Making Plans +VIII. The Robbery +IX. All Aboard +X. A Stowaway +XI. Overboard +XII. Neale Wonders +XIII. The Trick Mule +XIV. At the Circus +XV. Real News at Last +XVI. Ruth's Alarm +XVII. Up the River +XVIII. The Night Alarm +XIX. On the Lake +XX. Drifting +XXI. The Storm +XXII. On the Island +XXIII. Suspicions +XXIV. Closing In +XXV. The Capture + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge's arm in the +excitement. "The same two men!" _Frontispiece._ + +"Get us down!" cried Dot and Tess in a chorus, while Mrs. MacCall stood +beneath them holding out her apron + +While Dot and Tess clung to one another, Hank managed to fish up the +"Alice-doll" + +"You shouldn't have come here, Aggie!" he cried above the noise of the +storm + + + + +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"WHAT'S THAT?" + + +Delicious and appetizing odors filled the kitchen of the old Corner +House. They were wafted even to the attic, were those whiffs and +fragrant zephyrs. Some of them even escaped through the open windows, +causing Uncle Rufus to cease his slow and laborious task of picking up +some papers from the newly cut lawn. + +"Dat suah smells mighty good--mighty good!" murmured the old darkey to +himself, as he straightened up by the process of putting one hand to the +small of his back and pressing there, as though a spring needed +adjusting. "Dat suah smells mighty good! Mrs. Mac mus' suah be out-doin' +of herse'f dish yeah mawnin'!" + +He turned his wrinkled face toward the Corner House, again sniffing +deeply. + +A pleased and satisfied look came over his countenance as the cooking +odors emanating from the kitchen became more pronounced. + +"Dey's suah to be some left--dey suah is, 'cause hit's Miss Ruth's +party, an' she's always gen'rus wif de eatin's. She suah is. Dey's suah +to be some left." + +He removed his hand from the small of his back, thereby allowing himself +to fall forward again in the proper position for picking up papers, and +went on with his work. + +Inside the kitchen, where the odors were even more pronounced, as one +might naturally expect to find them, two girls and a pleasant-faced +woman were busy; though not more so than a fresh-appearing Finnish maid, +who hummed an air full of minor strains as she opened the oven door now +and then, thereby letting out more odors which were piled upon, mingled +with, and otherwise added to those already bringing such a delicious +sensation to Uncle Rufus. + +"Aren't you planning too much, Ruth?" asked her sister Agnes, as the +girl addressed carefully placed a wondrously white napkin over a plate +of freshly baked macaroons. "I mean the girls will never eat all this," +and she waved her hand to include a side table on which were many more +plates, some empty, awaiting their burden from the oven, while others +were covered with white linen like some mysterious receptacles under a +stage magician's serviette. + +"Oh, don't worry about that!" laughed Ruth. "My only worry is that I +shall not have enough." + +"Well, for the land's sake! how many do you expect?" demanded Agnes +Kenway. + +"Six. But there will be you and me and--" + +"Then Mr. Howbridge _is_ coming!" cried Agnes, as if there had been some +question about it, though this was the first time his name had been +mentioned that morning. + +"He _may_ come," answered Ruth quietly. + +"He _may_! Oh my stars! As if you didn't _know_ he was coming!" retorted +Agnes. "Is it in--er--his official capacity?" + +"I asked Mr. Howbridge to come to advise us about forming the society," +Ruth said. "I thought it best to start right. If we are going to be of +any use as a Civic Betterment Club in Milton we must be on a firm +foundation, and--" + +"Hear! Hear!" interrupted Agnes, banging on the table with an agate +mixing spoon, and thereby bringing from a deep pantry the form and face +of Mrs. MacCall, the sturdy Scotch housekeeper. + +"Please don't do that!" begged Ruth. + +"Hoots! Whut's meanin' wi' the rattlin' an' thumpin'?" demanded Mrs. +MacCall. + +"Oh, some nonsense of Agnes'," answered Ruth. "I was just telling her +that I had asked the girls to luncheon, to talk over the new Civic +Betterment Club, and that Mr. Howbridge is coming to advise us how to +get a charter, or incorporate, or whatever is proper and--" + +"I was only applauding after the fashion in the English Parliament," +interrupted Agnes. "They always say 'Hear! Hear!' away down in their +throats." + +"Well, they don't bang on tables with granite spoons," retorted Ruth, as +she handed a pie to Linda, the humming Finnish maid, who popped it into +the oven, quickly shutting the door, to allow none of the heat to +escape. + +"Hoot! I would not put it past 'em, I would not!" murmured Mrs. MacCall. +"What those English law makers do--I wouldna' put it past them!" and, +shaking her head, she retired into the deep pantry again. + +"Well, you're going to have enough of sweets, I should say;" observed +Agnes, "even as fond as Mr. Howbridge is of them. For the land's sake, +aren't you going to stop?" she demanded, as Ruth poured into a dish the +cake batter she had begun to stir as soon as the pie was completed. + +"This is the last. You don't need to stay and help me any longer if you +don't want to, dear. Run out and play," urged Ruth sweetly. + +"Run out and play! As if I were Dot or Tess! I like that! Why, I was +thinking of asking you to let me join the society!" + +"Oh, of course you may, Agnes! I didn't think you'd care for it. Why, +certainly you may join! We want to get as many into it as we can. Do +come to the meeting this afternoon. Mr. Howbridge is going to explain +everything, and I thought we might as well make it a little social +affair. It was very good of you to help me with the baking." + +"Oh, I like that. And I believe I will come to the meeting. Now shall we +clean up?" + +"I do him," interposed Linda. "I wash him all up," and a sweep of her +muscular arm indicated the pots, pans, dishes and all the odds and ends +left from the rather wholesale baking. + +"Oh, I shall be so glad if you will!" exclaimed Ruth. "I want to go over +the parlor and library again. And I wonder what has become of Dot and +Tess. I asked them to get me some wild flowers, but they have been gone +over an hour and--" + +The voice of Mrs. MacCall from the deep pantry interrupted. + +"Hi, Tess! Hi, Dot!" she called. "Where ha' ye been? Come ye here the +noo, and be for me waukrife minnie." + +"What in the world does she mean?" asked Agnes, for sometimes, well +versed as she was in the Scotch of the housekeeper, there were new words +and phrases that needed translating. Especially as it seemed to the +girls that more and more Mrs. MacCall was falling back into her +childhood speech as she grew older--a speech she had dropped during her +younger life except in moments of excitement. + +This time, however, it was beyond even the "ken" of Ruth, who rather +prided herself on her Highland knowledge. But Mrs. MacCall herself had +heard the question. Out she came from the pantry, smiling broadly. + +"Ye no ken 'waukrife minnie'?" she asked. "Ah, 'tis a pretty little +verse o' Rabbie Burns. I'll call it o'er the noo." + +Then she gave them, with all the burring of which her tongue was +capable: + + "Whare are you gaun, my bonnie lass, + Whare are you gaun, my hinnie? + She answered me right saucilie, + An errand for my minnie." + +Coming down to earth again, Mrs. MacCall shot back into the pantry and +from an open window in the rear that looked out in the orchard she +called: + +"Hi, Tess! Hi, Dot! Come ye here, and be for me the lassies that'll gang +to the store." + +"Are Tess and Dot there?" asked Ruth. "I've been wondering where they +had disappeared to." + +"They be coming the noo," answered Mrs. MacCall. "Laden in their arms +wi' all sorts of the trash." And then she sang again: + + "O fare thee well, my bonnie lass, + O fare thee well, my hinnie! + Thou art a gay an' a bonnie lass, + But thou has a waukrife minnie." + +"What in the world is a 'waukrife minnie'?" asked Agnes, but there was +no chance to answer, for in the kitchen, making it more busy than ever, +trooped the two younger members of the Corner House girls +quartette--Tess and Dot. + +Their arms were filled with blossoms of the woods and fields, and +without more ado they tossed them to a cleared place on the table, +whence Linda had removed some of the pans and dishes. + +"Oh, what a lovely lot of flowers!" cried Ruth. "It's just darling of +you to get them for me. Now do you want to help me put them into vases +in the library?" + +Dot shook her head. + +"Why not?" asked Ruth gently. + +"I promised my Alice-doll to take her down by the brook, and I just have +to do it," answered Dot. "And Tess is going to help me; aren't you, +Tess?" she added. + +"Yes," was the answer. "I'm going to take Almira." + +"Then you must take her kittens, too!" insisted Dot. "She'll feel bad if +you don't." + +"I won't take 'em all--I'll take one kitten," compromised Tess. "There +she is, now!" And Tess darted from the room to pounce on the cat, which +did not seem to mind very much being mauled by the children. + +"Will ye gang a'wa' to the store the noo?" asked Mrs. MacCall, with a +warm smile as she came from the pantry. "There's muckle we need an'--" + +"I'll go if you give me a cookie," promised Dot. + +"So'll I," chimed in Tess, coming in on the tribute. "We can take Almira +and your Alice-doll when we come back," she confided to her sister. + +"Yes, I think they'll wait. I know Alice-doll will, but I'm not so sure +about Almira," and Dot seemed rather in doubt. "She may take a notion to +carry her kittens up in the bedroom--" + +"Don't dare suggest such a thing!" cried Ruth. + +"I'm to have company this afternoon, and if that cat and her kittens +appear on the scene--" + +"Oh, I wasn't going to carry them in!" interrupted Dot, with an air of +injured innocence. "They're Almira's kittens, and she can do what she +likes with them, I suppose," she added as an afterthought. "Only I know +that every once in a while she takes a notion to plant them in a new +place. Once Uncle Rufus found them in his rubber boots, and they +scratched him like anything when he put his foot inside." + +"Well, if you have to go to the store for Mrs. MacCall you won't have +any time to help me arrange the flowers," observed Ruth, anxious to put +an end to the discussion about the family cat and kittens, for she knew +Dot had a fund of stories concerning them. + +"Yes, traipse along now, my bonnie bairns," advised the Scotch +housekeeper, and, bribed by two cookies each, a special good measure on +Saturday, Dot and Tess were soon on their way, or at least it was so +supposed. + +Linda was helping Mrs. MacCall clear away the baking utensils, and Ruth +and Agnes were in the parlor and library, tastefully arranging the wild +flowers that Dot and Tess had gathered. + +"Isn't Dot queer to cling still to her dolls?" remarked Agnes, as she +stepped back to get the effect of a bunch of red flowers against a dark +brown background in one corner of the room. + +"Yes, she is a strange child. And poor Almira! Really I don't see how +that cat stands it here, the way Tess and Dot maul her." + +"They aren't as bad as Sammy Pinkney. Actually I caught him yesterday +tying the poor creature to the back of Billy Bumps!" + +"Not on the goat's back!" cried Ruth. + +"Really, he was. I sent him flying, though!" + +"What was his idea?" + +"Oh, he said he'd heard Neale tell how, in a circus, a little dog rode +on a pony's back and Sammy didn't see why a cat couldn't ride on a +goat." + +"Well, if he put it that way I suppose she could," assented Ruth. "But +Almira seems to take herself very seriously with all those kittens. We +really must get rid of them. Vacation will soon be here, and with Tess +and Dot around the house all day, instead of just Saturdays, I don't +know what we shall do." + +"Have you made any vacation plans at all?" + +"Not yet, Agnes. I thought I'd wait until I saw Mr. Howbridge at the +club meeting this afternoon." + +"What has he to do with our vacation--unless he's going along?" + +"Oh, no, I didn't mean that, at all! But the financial question does +enter into it; and as he is our guardian and has charge of our money, I +want to know just how much we can count on spending." + +"Why, have we lost any money?" + +"Not that I know of. I hope not! But I always have consulted him before +we made any summer plans, and I don't see why we should not now." + +"Well, I suppose it's all right," assented Agnes, as she took up another +bunch of flowers. "But I wonder--" + +She never finished that sentence. From somewhere, inside or outside the +house, a resounding crash sounded. It shook the walls and floors. + +"Oh, my! what's that?" cried Ruth, dropping the blossoms from her hands +and hastening to the hall. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +NEALE HAS NEWS + + +Deep, and perhaps portentous, silence had succeeded the crash. But both +Ruth and Agnes knew enough of the goings and comings in the Corner House +not to take this silence for serenity. It meant something, as the crash +had. + +"What was it?" murmured Ruth again, and she fairly ran out into the +hall, followed by her sister. + +Then came a series of bumps, as if something of no small size was +rolling down the porch steps. By this time it was evident that the +racket came from without and not from within. Then a voice cried: + +"Hold it! Hold it! Don't let it roll down!" + +"That's Dot!" declared Ruth. + +And then a despairing voice cried: + +"I can't! I can't hold it! Look out!" + +Once again the rumbling, rolling, bumping sound came, and with it was +mingled the warning of the Scotch housekeeper and the wail of Dot who +cried: + +"Oh, she's dead! She's smashed!" + +"Something really has happened this time!" exclaimed Ruth, and her face +became a little pale. + +"If only it isn't serious," burst out Agnes. "Oh, dear, what those +youngsters don't think of for trouble!" + +"They don't mean to get into trouble, Agnes. It's only their +thoughtlessness." + +"Well then, they ought to think more. Oh, listen to that, will you!" +Agnes added, as another loud bumping reached the two sisters' ears. + +"It's something that's sure," cried Ruth, and grew paler than ever. + +The happening was not really as tragic as it seemed, yet it was +sufficiently momentous to cause a fright to the two older girls. +Especially to Ruth, who felt herself to be, as she literally was, a +mother to the other three; though now that Agnes was putting up her hair +and putting down her dresses a new element had come into the household. + +While yet in tender years the responsibilities of life had fallen on the +shoulders of Ruth Kenway. In their former home--a city more pretentious +in many ways than picturesque Milton, their present home--the Kenways +had lived in what, literally, was a tenement house. Their father and +mother were dead, and the small pension granted Mr. Kenway, who had been +a soldier in the Spanish war, was hardly sufficient for the needs of +four growing girls. + +Then, almost providentially, it seemed, the Stower estate had come to +Ruth, Agnes, Dot and Tess. Uncle Peter Stower had passed away, and Mr. +Howbridge, the administrator of the estate, had discovered the four +sisters as the next of kin, to use his legal phrase. + +Uncle Peter Stower had lived for years in the "Corner House" as it was +called. The mansion stood opposite the Parade Ground in Milton, and +there Uncle Rufus, the colored servant of his crabbed master, had spent +so many years that he regarded himself as a fixture--as much so as the +roof. + +At first no will could be found, though Mr. Howbridge recalled having +drawn one; but eventually all legal tangles were straightened out, and +the four sisters came to live in Milton, as related in the first book of +the series, entitled "The Corner House Girls." + +There was Ruth, the oldest and the "little mother," though she was not +so very little now. In fact she had blossomed into a young lady, a fact +of which Mr. Howbridge became increasingly aware each day. + +So the four girls had come to live at the Corner House, and that was +only the beginning of their adventures. In successive volumes are +related the happenings when they went to school, when they had a jolly +time under canvas, and when they took part in a school play. + +The odd find made in the garret of the Corner House furnished material +for a book in itself and paved the way for a rather remarkable tour in +an auto. + +In those days the Corner House girls became acquainted with a brother +and sister, Luke and Cecile Shepard. Luke was a college youth, and the +friendship between him and Ruth presently ripened into a deep regard for +each other. But Luke had to go back to college, so Ruth saw very little +of him, though the young folks corresponded freely. + +All this was while the Corner House girls were "growing up." In fact, it +became necessary to tell of that in detail, so that the reason for many +things that happened in the book immediately preceding this, which is +called "The Corner House Girls Snowbound," could be understood. + +In that volume the Corner House girls become involved in the mysterious +disappearance of two small twins, and after many exciting days spent in +the vicinity of a lumber camp a clue to the mystery was hit upon. + +But now the memory of the blizzard days spent in the old Lodge were +forgotten. For summer had come, bringing with it new problems, not the +least of which was to find a place where vacation days might be spent. + +Ruth proposed to speak of that when her guardian called this Saturday +afternoon. As she had hinted to Agnes, Ruth had invited a number of girl +friends to luncheon. It was the plan to form a sort of young people's +Civic Club, to take up several town matters, and Ruth was the moving +spirit in this, for she loved to work toward some definite end. + +This Saturday was no exception in being a busy one at the Corner House. + +In pursuance of her plans she had enlisted the whole household in +preparing for the event, from Mrs. MacCall, who looked after matters in +general, Linda, who helped with the baking, Uncle Rufus, who was +cleaning the lawn, down to Dot and Tess, who had been sent for flowers. + +And then had come the bribing of Dot and Tess to go to the store and, +following that, the crash. + +"What can it be?" murmured Ruth, as she and Agnes hastened on. "Some one +surely must be hurt." + +"I hope not," half whispered Agnes. + +From the side porch came the sound of childish anguish. + +"She's all flatted out, that's what she is! She's all flatted out, my +Alice-doll is, and it's all your fault, Tess Kenway! Why didn't you hold +the barrel?" + +"I couldn't, I told you! It just rolled and it rolled. It's a good thing +it didn't roll on Almira!" + +"Gracious! did you hear that?" cried Agnes. "What can they have been +doing?" + +The two older sisters reached the porch together, there to find Mrs. +MacCall holding to Tess, whom she was brushing off and murmuring to in a +low voice, filled with much Scotch burring. + +Dot stood at the foot of the steps holding a rather crushed doll out at +arm's length, for all who would to view. And stalking off over the lawn +was Almira, the cat, carrying in her mouth a wee kitten. Uncle Rufus was +hobbling toward the scene of the excitement as fast as his rheumatism +would allow. Scattered on the ground at the foot of the steps was a +collection of odds and ends--"trash" Uncle Rufus called it. The trash +had come from an overturned barrel, and it was this barrel rolling down +the steps and off the porch that had caused the noise. + +"What happened?" demanded Ruth, breathing more easily when she saw that +the casualty list was confined to the doll. + +"It was Tess," declared Dot. "She tipped the barrel over and it rolled +on my Alice-doll and now look at her." + +Dot referred to the doll, not to her sister, though Tess was rather a +sight, for she was covered with feathers from an old pillow that had +been thrown into the barrel and had burst open during the progress of +the accident. + +At first Tess had been rather inclined to cry, but finding, to her great +relief, that she was unhurt, she changed her threatened tears into +laughter and said: + +"Ain't I funny looking? Just like a duck!" + +"What were you trying to do, children?" asked Ruth, trying to speak +rather severely in her capacity as "mother." + +"I was trying to put Almira and one of her kittens into the barrel," +explained Tess, now that Mrs. MacCall had got off most of the feathers. +"I leaned over to put Almira in the barrel, soft and easy like, down on +the other pillow, and it upset--I mean the barrel did. It began to roll, +and I couldn't stop it and it rolled right off the porch and--" + +"Right over my Alice-doll it rolled, and she's all squashed!" voiced +Dot. + +"Oh, be quiet! She isn't hurt a bit," cried Tess. "Her nose was flat, +anyhow." + +"Did the barrel roll over you?" asked Agnes, smiling now. + +"Almost," said Tess. "But I got out of the way in time, and Almira +grabbed up her kitten and ran. Where is she?" she asked. + +"Never mind the cat," advised Ruth. "She's caused enough excitement for +one Saturday morning. Why were you putting her in the barrel, anyhow, +Tess?" + +"So I'd know where she was when I came back. I wanted her and one kitten +to play with if Dot is going to play with her Alice-doll when we get +back from the store. But I guess I leaned too far over." + +"I guess you did," assented Ruth. "Well, I'm glad it was no worse. Is +your doll much damaged, Dot?" + +"Maybe I can put a little more sawdust or some rags in her and stuff her +out. But she's awful flat. And look at her nose!" + +"Her nose was flat, anyhow, before the barrel rolled over her," said +Tess. "But I'm sorry it happened. I guess Almira was scared." + +"We were all frightened," said Ruth. "It was a terrible racket. Now let +the poor cat alone, and run along to the store. Oh, what a mess this +is," and she looked at the refuse scattered from the trash barrel. "And +just when I want things to look nice for the girls. It always seems to +happen that way!" + +Uncle Rufus shuffled along. + +"Doan you-all worry now, honey," he said, speaking to all the girls as +one. "I'll clean up dish yeah trash in no time. I done got de lawn like +a billiard table, an' I'll pick up dish yeah trash. De ash man ought to +have been along early dis mawnin' fo' to get it. I set it dar fo' him." + +That explained the presence on the side porch of the barrel of odds and +ends collected for the ash man to remove. He had not called, and seeing +the receptacle there, with an old feather pillow among the other refuse, +Tess thought she had her opportunity. + +"Run along now, my bonny bairns! Run along!" counseled the old Scotch +woman. "'Tis late it's getting, and the lassies will be here to lunch +before we know it." + +"Yes, do run along," begged Ruth. "And then come back to be washed and +have your hair combed. I want you to look nice if, accidentally, you +appear on the scene." + +Thus bidden, and fortified with another cookie each, Tess and Dot +hurried on to the store, Dot tenderly trying to pinch into shape the +flattened nose of her Alice-doll. + +Rufus got a broom and began to clean the scattered trash to put back +into the barrel, and Mrs. MacCall hurried into her kitchen, where Linda +was humming a Finnish song as she clattered amid the pots and pans. + +"Oh, we must finish the parlor and library," declared Ruth. "Do come and +help, Agnes." + +"Coming, Ruth. Oh, here's Neale!" she added, pausing to look toward the +gate through which at that moment appeared a sturdy lad of pleasant +countenance. + +"He acts as though he had something on his mind," went on Agnes, as the +youth broke into a run on seeing her and her sister on the steps. "Wait +a moment, Ruth. He may have something to tell us." + +"The fates forbid that it is anything more about Tess and Dot!" murmured +Ruth, for the children had some minutes before disappeared down the +street. + +"News!" cried Neale O'Neil, as he swung up the steps. "I've got such +news for you! Oh, it's great!" and his face fairly shone. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ELEVATOR + + +"Just a minute now, Neale," said Ruth, in the quiet voice she sometimes +had to use when Tess and Dot, either or both, were engaged in one of +their many startling feats. "Quiet down a bit, please, before you tell +us." + +The boy had reached the porch, panting from his run, and he had been +about to burst out with the news, which he could hardly contain, when +Ruth addressed him. + +"What's the matter? Don't you want to hear it?" he asked, fanning +himself vigorously with his hat. + +"Oh, yes, it isn't that," said Agnes, with a smile, which caused Neale's +lips to part in an answering one, showing his white teeth that made a +contrast to his tanned face. "But we have just passed through rather a +strenuous time, Neale, and if you have anything more startling to tell +us about Tess and Dot--" + +"Oh, it isn't about them!" laughed Neale O'Neil. "They're all right. I +just saw them going down the street." + +"Thank goodness!" murmured Ruth. "I thought they had got into more +mischief. Well, go on, Neale, and tell us the news. Is it good?" + +"The best ever," he answered, sobering down a little. "The only trouble +is that there isn't very much of it. Only a sort of rumor, so to speak." + +"Sit down," said Agnes, and she herself suited her action to the words. +"Uncle Rufus has the spilled trash cleaned up now." + +"Yes'm, it's done all cleaned up now," murmured the old colored servant +as he departed, having made the side porch presentable again. "But I +suah does wish dat trash man'd come 'roun' yeah befo' dem two chilluns +come back. Dey's gwine to upsot dat barrel ag'in, if dey gets a chanst; +dey suah is!" and he departed, shaking his head woefully enough. + +"What happened?" asked Neale. "An accident?" + +"You might call it that," assented Ruth, sitting down beside her sister. +"It was a combination of Tess, Dot, Alice-doll and Almira all rolled +into one." + +"That's enough!" laughed the boy, to whom readers of the previous +volumes of the series need no introduction. + +Neale O'Neil had once been in a circus. He was known as "Master Jakeway" +and was the son of James O'Neil. Neale's uncle, William Sorber, was the +ringmaster and lion tamer in the show billed as "Twomley & Sorber's +Herculean Circus and Menagerie." Some time before the opening of the +present story, Neale had left the circus and had come to Milton to live, +making his home with Con Murphy, the town cobbler. + +"Well, go on with your news, Neale," said Ruth gently, as she gazed +solicitously at the boy. She was beginning to have more and more +something of a feeling of responsibility toward him. This was due to the +fact that Ruth was growing older, as has been evidenced, and also to the +fact that Neale was also, and at times, she thought, he showed the lack +of the care of a loving mother. + +"Yes, I want to hear it," interposed Agnes. "And then we simply must get +the house in shape, if the girls aren't to find us with smudges of dust +on our noses." + +"Is there anything I can do?" asked Neale eagerly. "Are you going to +have a party?" + +"Some of Ruth's young ladies are coming to lunch," explained Agnes. "I +don't suppose I may be classed with them," and she looked shyly at her +sister. + +"I don't see why not," came the retort from the oldest Kenway girl. "I'd +like to have you come to the meeting, Agnes." + +"No, thank you, civics are not much in my line. I hated 'em in school. +Though maybe I'll come to the eats. But let's hear Neale's news. It may +spoil from being kept." + +"Not much danger of that," said the boy, with another bright smile. "But +are you sure there isn't anything I can do to help?" + +"Perfectly sure, Neale," answered Ruth. "The two irrepressibles brought +me the flowers I wanted to decorate with, and it only remains to put +them in vases. But now I'm sure we have chattered enough about +ourselves. Let us hear about you." + +"It isn't so much about me; it's about--father," and Neale's voice sank +when he said that. He spoke in almost a reverent tone. And then his face +lighted up again as he exclaimed: + +"I have some news about him! That's why I ran to tell you. I knew you'd +be glad." + +"Oh, Neale, that's fine!" cried Agnes, clasping him by the arm. "After +all these years, really to have news of him! I'm so glad!" + +"Is he really found?" asked Ruth, who was of a less excitable type than +her sister, though she could get sufficiently worked up when there was +need for it. + +"No, he isn't exactly found," went on Neale. "I only wish he were. But I +just heard, in a roundabout way, that he may not be so very far from +here." + +"That is good news," declared Ruth. "How did you hear it?" + +"Well, you know my father was what is called a rover," went on the boy. +"I presume I don't need to tell you that. He wouldn't have been in the +circus business with Uncle Bill, and he wouldn't have had me in the +circus--along with the trick mules--unless he had loved to travel about +and see the country." + +"That's a safe conclusion," remarked Agnes. To her sister and herself +Neale's circus experiences were an old story. He had often told them +how, when a small boy, he had performed in the sawdust ring. + +"Yes, father was a rover," went on Neale. "At least that's the +conclusion I've come to of late. I really didn't know him very well. He +left the circus when I was still small and told Uncle Bill to look after +me. Well, Uncle Bill did, I'll say that for him. He was as kind as any +boy's uncle could be." + +"Anyhow, as you know, father left the circus, gave me in charge of Uncle +Bill, and went off to seek his fortune. I suppose he realized that I +would be better off out of a circus, but he knew he had to live, and +money is needed for that. So that's why he quit the ring, I imagine. +He's been seeking his fortune for quite a while now, and--" + +"Neale, do you mean to say he has come back?" cried Agnes. + +"Not exactly," was the answer. "At least if he has come back I haven't +seen him. But I just met a man--a sort of tramp he is, to tell you the +truth--and he says he knew a man who saw my father in the Alaskan +Klondike, where father had a mine. And this man--this tramp--says my +father started back to the States some time ago." + +"With a lot of gold?" asked Ruth, her eyes gleaming with hope for Neale. + +"This the man didn't know. All he knew was that there was a rumor that +my father had struck it fairly rich and had started back toward +civilization. But even that news makes me feel good. I'm going to see if +I can find him. I always had an idea, and so did Uncle Bill, that it was +to Alaska father had gone, and this proves it." + +"But who is this man who gave you the news, and why doesn't he know +where your father can be found?" asked Ruth. "Also is there anything we +can do to help you, Neale?" + +"What a lot of questions!" exclaimed Agnes. + +"I think I can answer them," Neale said. He was calmer now, but his face +still shone and his eyes sparkled under the stress of the happy +excitement. "The man, as I said, is a tramp. He asked me for some money. +He was driving a team of mules on the canal towpath, and I happened to +look at one of the animals. It reminded me of one we had in the +circus--a trick mule--but it took only a look to show me it wasn't the +same sort of kicker. I got to talking to the man, and he said he was +broke--only had just taken the job and the boss wouldn't advance him a +cent until the end of the week. I gave him a quarter, and we got to +talking. Then he told me he knew men who had been in the Klondike, and, +naturally, I asked him if he had ever heard of a man named O'Neil. He +said he had, and then the story came out." + +"But how can you be sure it was your father?" asked Ruth, wisely not +wanting false hopes to be raised. + +"That was easily proved when I mentioned circus," said Neale. "This +tramp, Hank Dayton, he said his name was, remembered the men speaking of +my father talking about circuses, and saying that he had left me in +one." + +"That does seem to establish an identity," Ruth conceded. "Where is this +man Dayton now, Neale?" + +"He had to go on with the canal boat. But I learned from him all I +could. It seems sure that my father is either back here, after some +years spent in Alaska, or that he will come here soon. He must have been +writing to Uncle Bill, and so have learned that I came here to live. +Uncle Bill knows where I am, but I don't know where he is at this +moment, though I could get in touch with him. But I'll be glad to see my +father again. Oh, if I could only find him!" + +Neale seemed to gaze afar off, over the fields and woods, as if he +visualized his long-lost father coming toward him. His eyes had a dreamy +look. + +"Can't we do something to help you?" asked Ruth. + +"That's what I came over about as soon as I had learned all the mule +driver could tell me," went on the boy. "I thought maybe we could ask +Mr. Howbridge, your guardian, how to go about finding lost persons. +There are ways of advertising for people who have disappeared." + +"There is," said Agnes. "I've often seen in the paper advertisements for +missing persons who are wanted to enable an estate to be cleared up, and +the last time I was in Mr. Howbridge's office I heard him telling one of +the clerks to have such an advertisement prepared." + +"Then that's what I've got to have done!" declared Neale. "I've got some +money, and I can get more from Uncle Bill if I can get in touch with +him. I'm going to see Mr. Howbridge and start something!" + +He was about to leave the porch, to hasten away, when Ruth interposed. + +"Mr. Howbridge is coming here this afternoon," said the girl. "You might +stay and see him, if you like, Neale." + +"What, with a whole Civic Betterment Club of girls coming to the Corner +House! No, thank you," he laughed. "I'll see him afterward. But I have +more hope now than I ever had before." + +"I'm very glad," murmured Ruth. "Mr. Howbridge will give you any help +possible, I'm sure. Shall I speak to him about it when he comes to +advise us how to form our Civic Betterment Club?" + +"Oh, I think not, thank you," answered Neale. "He'll have enough to do +this afternoon without taking on my affair. I can tell him later. But I +couldn't wait to tell you." + +"Of course you couldn't!" said Agnes. "That would have been a fine way +to treat me!" Neale, who was Agnes' special chum, in a way seemed like +one of the family--at least as much so as Mrs. MacCall, the housekeeper, +Uncle Rufus, or Sammy Pinkney, the little fellow who lived across Willow +Street, on the opposite side from the Corner House. + +"Well, I feel almost like another fellow now," went on Neale, as he +started down the walk. "Not knowing whether your father is alive or not +isn't much fun." + +"I should say not!" agreed Agnes. "I wish I could ask you to stay to +lunch, Neale, but--" + +"Oh, gee, Aggie!" The boy laughed, and off down the street he hastened, +his step light and his cheery whistle ringing out. + +"Isn't it wonderful!" exclaimed Agnes, as she followed her sister into +the house. + +"Yes, if only it proves true," returned the older girl, more soberly. + +From the kitchen came the clatter of pans and dishes as Linda disposed +of the clutter incidental to making cakes and dainties for a bevy of +girls. Mrs. MacCall could be heard humming a Scotch song, and as Tess +and Dot returned from the store she raised her voice in the refrain: + + "Thou art a gay an' bonnie lass, + But thou hast a waukrife minnie." + +"What in the world is a waukrife minnie?" demanded Agnes again, pausing +in her task. + +"It's 'wakeful mother,'" answered Ruth. "I remember now. It's in Burns' +poem of that name. But do hurry, please, Aggie, or the girls will be +here before we can change our dresses!" + +"The fates forbid!" cried her sister, and she hastened to good +advantage. + +The lunch was over and the "Civic Betterment League" was in process of +embryo formation, under the advice of Mr. Howbridge, and Ruth was +earnestly presiding over the session of her girl friends in the library +of the Corner House, when, from the ample yard in the rear of the old +mansion, came a series of startled cries. + +There was but one meaning to attach to them. The cries came from Dot and +Tess, and mingled with them were the unmistakable yells of Sammy +Pinkney. + +At the same time Mrs. MacCall added her remonstrances to something that +was going on, while Uncle Rufus, tottering his way along the hall, +tapped at the door of the library and said: + +"'Scuse me, Miss Ruth, but de chiluns done got cotched in de elevator!" + +"The _elevator_!" Agnes screamed. "What in the world do you mean?" + +"Yas'um, dat's whut it is," said the old colored man. "Tess an' Dot done +got cotched in de elevator!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AN AUTO RIDE + + +Mr. Howbridge had been making an address to Ruth's assembled girl chums +when the interruption came. He had been telling them just how to go +about it to organize the kind of society Ruth had in mind. In spite of +her half refusal to attend the session, Agnes had decided to be present, +and she was sitting near the door when Uncle Rufus made his statement +about the two smallest Kenways being "cotched." + +"But how can they be in an elevator?" demanded Agnes. "We haven't an +elevator on the place--there hardly is one in Milton." + +"I don't know no mo' 'bout it dan jest dat!" declared the old colored +man. "Sammy he done say dey is cotched in de elevator an'--" + +"Oh, Sammy!" cried Agnes. "If Sammy has anything to do with it you might +know--" + +She was interrupted by a further series of cries, unmistakably coming +from Tess and Dot, and, mingled with their shouts of alarm, was the +voice of Mrs. MacCall saying: + +"Come along, Ruth! Oh, Agnes! Oh, the poor bairns! Oh, the wee ones!" +and then she lapsed into her broadest Scotch so that none who heard +understood. + +"Something must have happened!" declared Ruth. + +"It is very evident," added Agnes, and the two sisters hurried out, +brushing past Uncle Rufus in the hall. + +"Can't we do something?" asked Lucy Poole, one of the guests. + +"Yes, we must help," added Grace Watson. + +"I think perhaps it will be best if you remain here," said Mr. +Howbridge. "I don't imagine anything very much out of the ordinary has +happened, from what I know of the family," he said with a smile. "I'll +go and see, and if any more help is needed I shall let you young ladies +know. Unless it is, the fewer on the scene the better, perhaps." + +"Especially if any one is hurt," murmured Clo Baker. "I never could +stand the sight of a child hurt." + +"They don't seem to have lost their voices, at any rate," remarked Lucy. +"Listen:" + +As Mr. Howbridge followed Agnes and Ruth from the room, there was borne +to the ears of the assembled guests a cry of: + +"Let me down! Do you hear, Sammy Pinkney! Let me down!" + +And a voice, undoubtedly that of the Sammy in question, answered: + +"I'm not doing anything! I can't get you down! It's Billy Bumps. He did +it!" + +"Two boys in mischief," murmured Lucy. + +"No, Billy is a goat, so I understand," said Clo. "I hope he hasn't +butted one of the children down the cistern." + +And while the guests were vainly wondering what had happened, Ruth, +Agnes and Mr. Howbridge saw suspended in a large clothes basket, which +was attached to a rope that ran over the high limb of a great oak tree +in the back yard, Tess and Dot. They were in the clothes basket, Dot +with her Alice-doll clasped in her hands; and both girls were looking +over the side of the hamper. + +Attached to the ground end of the rope, where it was run through a +pulley block, was a large goat, now contentedly chewing grass, and near +the animal, with a startled look on his face, was a small boy, who, when +he felt like it, answered to the name Sammy Pinkney. + +"Get us down! Get us down!" cried Dot and Tess in a chorus, while Mrs. +MacCall stood beneath them holding out her apron as if the two little +girls were ripe apples ready to fall. + +"How did you get up there?" demanded Ruth, her face paling as she saw +the danger of her little sisters, for Tess and Dot were too high up for +safety. + +[Illustration: "Get us down!" cried Dot and Tess in a chorus, while +Mrs. MacCall stood beneath them holding out her apron.] + +"Sammy elevatored us up," explained Dot. + +"Well, you wanted to go!" replied the small boy in self justification. + +The goat kept on eating grass, of which there was an ample supply in the +yard of the Corner House. + +"What shall we do?" cried Agnes. + +"Run into the house and get a strong blanket or quilt," advised Mr. +Howbridge quickly, but in a quiet, insistent voice which seemed to calm +the excitement of every one. "Bring the blanket here. We will hold it +beneath the basket like a fire net, though I do not believe there is any +immediate danger of the children falling. The rope seems to be firmly +caught in the pulley block." + +His quick eye had taken in this detail of the "elevator." The rope +really had jammed in the block, and, as long as it held, the basket +could not descend suddenly. Even if the rope should be unexpectedly +loosened, there would still be the weight of the attached goat to act as +a drag on the end of the cable, thus counterbalancing, in a measure, the +weight of the girls in the clothes basket. + +"But I don't want to take any chances," explained the lawyer. "We'll +take hold and extend the blanket under them, in case they should fall." + +"I have my apron ready now!" cried Mrs. MacCall. "Oh, the puir bairns! +What ever possit it ye twa gang an' reesk their lives this way, ye +tapetless one?" she cried to Sammy angrily, suddenly, in her excitement, +using the broadest of Scotch. + +"Well, they wanted to ride in an elevator, an' I--I made one," he +declared. + +And that is just what he had done. Whether it was his idea or that of +Tess and Dot did not then develop. What Sammy had done was to take the +largest clothes basket, getting it unobserved when Mrs. MacCall and +Linda were busy over Ruth's party. He had fastened the basket to a long +rope, which had been thrown over the high limb of the oak tree. Then +Sammy had passed the rope through a pulley block, obtained no one knew +where, and had hitched to the cable the goat, Billy Bumps. + +By walking away from the tree Billy had pulled on the rope. The +straightaway pull was transformed, by virtue of the pulley, into an +upward motion, and the basket ascended. It had formed the "elevator" to +which Uncle Rufus alluded. + +And, really, it did elevate Dot and Tess. They had been pulled up and +had descended as Sammy made the goat back, thus releasing the pull on +the rope. All had gone well for several trips until the rope jammed in +the pulley, thus leaving the two girls suspended in the basket at the +highest point. Their screams, the fright of Sammy, the alarms of Uncle +Rufus and Mrs. MacCall had followed in quick succession. + +"Here's the blanket!" cried Agnes speeding to the scene with a large +woolen square under her arm. "Have they fallen yet?" + +Behind her came stringing the guests. It had been impossible for them to +remain in the library with their minds on civic betterment ideas when +they heard what had happened. + +"Well, did you ever!" cried one of the number in astonishment. + +"What can it mean?" burst out a second. + +"Looks to me like an amateur circus," giggled a third. She was a +lighthearted girl and had not taken much of an interest in the rather +dry meeting. + +"Those children will be hurt," cried a nervous lady. "Oh, dear, why did +they let them do such an awful thing as that?" + +"I think they did it on their own account," said another lady. "Our +Tommy is just like that--into mischief the minute your back is turned." + +"I'm glad they came!" said Mr. Howbridge. "They may all take hold of the +edges of the blanket and extend it as firemen do the life net. You may +stand aside now, Mrs. MacCall, if you will," he told the Scotch +housekeeper, and not until then did she lower her apron and move out +from under the swaying basket, murmuring as she did so something about +Sammy being a "tapetless gowk" who needed a "crummock" or a good +"flyte," by which the girls understood that the boy in question was a +senseless dolt who needed a severe whipping or a good scolding. + +Ruth, Agnes and the guests took hold of the heavy blanket and held it +under the basket as directed by Mr. Howbridge. Then, seeing there would +be little danger to the children in case the basket should suddenly +fall, the lawyer directed Sammy to loosen the goat from the rope. + +"He'll run if I do," objected Sammy. + +"Let him run, you ninnie!" cried Mrs. MacCall. "An' if ever ye fetchet +him yon again I'll--I'll--" + +But she could not call up a sufficiently severe punishment, and had to +subside. + +Meanwhile the mischievous boy had led Billy Bumps off to one side, by +the simple process of loosening the rope from the wagon harness to which +it was fastened. Mr. Howbridge then took a firm hold of the cable and, +after loosening it from where it had jammed in the pulley block, he +braced his feet in the earth, against the downward pull of the basket, +and so gently lowered Tess and Dot to the ground. + +"I'm never going to play with you again, Sammy Pinkney!" cried Tess, +climbing out of the basket and shaking her finger at the boy. + +"Nor me, either!" added Dot, smoothing out the rumpled dress of her +Alice-doll. + +"Well, you asked me to make some fun and I did," Sammy defended himself. + +"Yes, and you made a lot of excitement, too," added Ruth. "You had +better come into the house now, children," she went on. "And, Sammy, +please take Billy away." + +"Yes'm," he murmured. "But they asked me to elevator 'em up, an' I did!" + +"To which I shall bear witness," said Mr. Howbridge, laughing. + +Mrs. MacCall "shooed" Tess and Dot into the house, murmuring her thanks +to providence over the escape, and, after a while, the excitement died +away and Ruth went on with her meeting. + +The Civic Betterment League was formed that afternoon and eventually, +perhaps, did some good. But what this story is to concern itself with is +the adventure on a houseboat of the Corner House girls. Meanwhile about +a week went by. There had been no more elevator episodes, though this +does not mean that Sammy did not make mischief, nor that Tess and Dot +kept out of it. Far from that. + +One bright afternoon, when school was out and the pre-supper appetites +of Dot and Tess had been appeased, the two came running into the room +where Ruth and Agnes sat. + +"He's here! He's come!" gasped Tess. + +"And he's got, oh, such a dandy!" echoed Dot. + +"Who's here, and what has he?" asked Agnes, flying out of her chair. + +"You shouldn't say anything is a 'dandy,'" corrected Ruth to her +youngest sister. + +"Well it is, and you told me always to tell the truth," was the retort. + +"It's Mr. Howbridge and he's out in front with a--the--er the +beautifulest automobile!" cried Tess. "It's all shiny an' it's got +wheels, an'--an' everything! It's newer than our car." + +Ruth was sufficiently interested in this news to look from the window. + +"It _is_ Mr. Howbridge," she murmured, as though there had been doubts +on that point. + +"And he must have a new auto," added Agnes. "Oh, he has!" she cried. + +A moment later they were welcoming their guardian at the door, while the +smaller children formed an eager and anxious background. + +"What has happened?" asked Agnes, while Ruth, remembering her position +as head of the family, asked: + +"Won't you come in?" + +"I'd much rather you would come out, Miss Ruth," the man responded. "It +is just the sort of day to be out--not in." + +"Especially in such a car as that!" exclaimed Agnes. "It's a--" + +"Be careful," murmured Ruth, with an admonishing glance from Agnes to +the smaller girls. "Little pitchers, you know--" + +"It's a wonderful car!" went on Agnes. "Is it yours?" + +"Well, I sometimes doubt a little, when I recall what it cost me," her +guardian answered with a laugh. "But I am supposed to be the owner, and +I have come to take you for a ride." + +"Oh, can't we go?" came in a chorus from Tess and Dot. + +"Yes, all of you!" laughed Mr. Howbridge. "That's why I waited until +school was out. They may come, may they not, Miss Ruth?" he asked. +Always he was thus deferential to her when a question of family policy +came up. + +"Yes, I think so," was the low-voiced answer. "But we planned to have an +early tea and--" + +"Oh, I promise to get you back home in plenty of time," the lawyer said, +with a laugh. "And after that, if you like, we might take another ride." + +"How wonderful!" murmured Agnes. + +"Won't you stay to tea?" asked Ruth. + +"I was waiting for that!" exclaimed Mr. Howbridge. "I shall be +delighted. Now then, youngsters, run out and hop in, but don't touch +anything, or you may be in a worse predicament than when you were in the +clothes basket elevator." + +"We won't!" cried Tess and Dot, running down the walk. + +"You must come back and be washed!" cried Ruth. It was a standing +order--that, and the two little girls knew better than to disobey. + +But first they inspected the new car, walking all around it, and +breathing in, with the odor of gasoline, the awed remarks of some +neighboring children. + +"That's part our car," Dot told these envious ones, as she and Tess +started back toward the house. "We're going for a ride in it, and don't +you dare touch anything on it or Mr. Howbridge'll be awful mad!" + +"Um, oh, whut a lubly auto," murmured Alfredia Blossom, who had come on +an errand to her grandfather, Uncle Rufus. "Dat's jest de beatenistest +one I eber see!" + +"Yes, it is nice," conceded Tess, proudly, airily and condescendingly. + +A little later the two younger children and Agnes sat in the rear seat, +while Ruth was beside Mr. Howbridge at the steering wheel. Then the big +car purred off down the street, like a contented cat after a saucer of +warm milk. + +"It was very good of you to come and get us," said Ruth, when they were +bowling along. "Almost the christening trip of the car, too, isn't it?" +she asked. + +"The very first trip I have made in it," was the answer. "I wanted it +properly christened, you see. There is a method in my madness, too. I +have an object in view, Martha." + +Sometimes he called Ruth this, fancifully, with the thought in mind that +she was "cumbered with many cares." + +Again he would apply to her the nickname of "Minerva," with its +suggestion of wisdom. And Ruth rather liked these fanciful appellations. + +"You have an object?" she repeated. + +"Yes," he answered. "As usual, I want your advice." + +"As if it was really worth anything to you!" she countered. + +"It will be in this case, I fancy," he went on with a smile. "I want +your opinion about a canal boat." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE HOUSEBOAT + + +Ruth stole a quick glance at the face of her guardian. There was a +silence between them for a moment, broken only by the purr of the +powerful machine and the suction of the rubber tires on the street. +Agnes, Dot and Tess were having a gay time behind the two figures on the +front seat. + +"A canal boat?" murmured Ruth, as if she had not heard aright. + +"Perhaps I had better qualify that statement," went on Mr. Howbridge in +his courtroom voice, "by saying that it is, at present, Minerva, on the +canal. And a boat on the canal is a canal boat, is it not? I ask for a +ruling," and he laughed as he slowed down to round a corner. + +"I don't know anything about your legal phraseology," answered Ruth, +entering into the bantering spirit of the occasion, "but I don't see why +a boat on the canal becomes a canal boat any more than a cottage pudding +becomes a house. The pudding has no cottage in it any more than a club +sandwich has a club in it and--" + +"I am completely at your mercy," Mr. Howbridge broke in with. "But, +speaking seriously, this boat is on the canal, though strictly it is not +a canal boat. You know what they are, I dare say?" + +"I used to have to take Tess and Dot down to the towpath to let them +watch them often enough when we first came here," said Ruth, with a +laugh. "They used to think canal boats were the most wonderful objects +in the world." + +"Are we going on a canal boat?" asked Tess, overhearing some of the talk +on the front seat. "Oh, are we?" + +"Oh, I hope we are!" added Dot. "My Alice-doll just loves canal boats. +And wouldn't it be splendiferous, Tess, if we could have a little one +all to ourselves and Scalawag or maybe Billy Bumps to pull it instead of +a mule?" + +"That would be a sight on the towpath!" cried Agnes. "But what is this +about canal boats, Mr. Howbridge?" + +"Has some one opened a soda water store on board one?" asked Dot +suddenly. + +"Not exactly. You'll see, presently. But I do want your opinion," he +went on, speaking directly to Ruth now, "and it has to do with a boat on +a canal." + +"I still think you are joking," she told him. "And except for the fact +that we have a canal here in Milton I should think you were trying to +fool me." + +"Impossible, Minerva," he replied, soberly enough. + +As Ruth had said, Milton was located on both the canal and a river, the +two streams, if a canal can be called a stream, joining at a certain +point, so that boats could go from one to the other. Gentory River, +which acted as a feeder to one section of the canal, also connected with +Lake Macopic, a large body of water. The lake contained many islands. + +The automobile skirted the canal by a street running parallel to it, and +then Mr. Howbridge turned down a rather narrow street, on which were +situated several stores that sold supplies to the canal boats, and +brought his machine to a stop on the bank of the waterway beside the +towpath, as it is called from the fact that the mules or horses towing +the boats walk along that level stretch of highway bordering the canal +and forming part of the canal property. + +At this part of the canal, the stream widened and formed a sort of +harbor for boats of various kinds. It was also a refitting station; a +place where a captain might secure new mules, hire helpers, buy grain +for his animals and also victuals for himself and family; for the owners +of the canal boats often lived aboard them. This place, known locally as +"Henderson's Cove," was headquarters for all the canal boatmen of the +vicinity. + +"Here is where we disembark, to use a nautical term," said Mr. +Howbridge, with a smile at the younger children. + +"Is this where we take the boat?" asked Dot eagerly. + +"You might call it that," said Mr. Howbridge, with another genial smile. +"And now, Martha, to show that I was in earnest, there is the craft in +question," and he pointed to an old hulk of a canal boat, which had seen +its best days. + +"That! You want my opinion on _that_?" cried the girl, turning to her +guardian in some surprise. + +"Oh, no, the one next to it. The _Bluebird_." + +Ruth changed her view, and saw a craft which brought to her lips +exclamations of delight, no less than to the lips of her sisters. For it +was not a "rusty canaler" they beheld, but a trim craft, a typical +houseboat, with a deck covered with a green striped awning and set with +willow chairs, and a cabin, the windows of which, through their draped +curtains, gave hint of delights within. + +"Oh, how lovely!" murmured Agnes. + +"A dream!" whispered Ruth. "But why do you bring us here to show us +this?" she asked with much interest. + +"Because," began Mr. Howbridge, "I want to know if you would like--" + +Just then an excited voice behind the little party burst out with: + +"Oh, Mr. Howbridge, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Neale O'Neil +came hurrying along the towpath, seemingly much excited. + +"I hope that Supreme Court decision hasn't gone against me," Ruth heard +her guardian murmur. "If that case is lost--" + +And then Neale began to talk excitedly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MORE NEWS + + +"They told me at your office you had come here, Mr. Howbridge," said +Neale. "And I hurried on as fast as I could." + +"Did they send you here to find me?" asked the lawyer. + +"Yes, sir." + +"With any message?" As Mr. Howbridge asked this Ruth noticed that her +guardian seemed very anxious about something. + +"Yes, I have a message," went on Neale. "It's about--" + +"The Jackson case?" interrupted the lawyer. "Is there a decision from +the court and--" + +"Oh, no, this isn't anything about the Jackson case or any other," Neale +hastened to say. "It's about my father. And--" + +Ruth and Agnes could not help gasping in surprise. As for the two +smaller Kenway children all they had eyes for was the houseboat. + +"Oh, your father!" repeated Mr. Howbridge. "Have you found him, Neale?" +There was very evident relief in the lawyer's tone. + +"No, sir, I haven't found him. But you know you told me to come to you +as soon as I had found that tramp mule driver again, and he's back in +town once more. He just arrived at the lower lock with a grain boat, and +I hurried to tell you." + +"Yes, that was right, Neale," said Mr. Howbridge. "Excuse me, Miss +Ruth," he went on, turning to the girl, "but I happen to be this young +man's legal adviser, and while I planned this for a pleasure trip, it +seems that business can not be kept out of it." + +"Oh, we don't mind!" exclaimed Ruth, with a smile at Neale. "Of course +we know about this, and we'd be so glad if you could help find Mr. +O'Neil." + +"All right then, if the young ladies have no objection," said the +lawyer, "we'll combine business with pleasure. Suppose we go aboard the +_Bluebird_. I want Miss Ruth's opinion of her and--" + +"I don't see why in the world you want _my_ opinion about this boat," +said the puzzled girl. "I'm almost sure there's a joke in it, +somewhere." + +"No, Martha, no joke at all, I do assure you," answered her guardian. +"You'll understand presently. Now, Neale, you say this mule driver has +come back?" + +"Yes, sir. You know I went to you as soon as he gave me a hint that my +father might have returned from Alaska, and you said to keep my eyes +open for this man." + +"I did, Neale, yes. You of course know this story, don't you, Miss +Ruth?" he asked. + +"Yes, I believe we were the first Neale told about it." + +"Well," went on Mr. Howbridge, while Tess and Dot showed signs of +impatience to get on board the boat, "I told Neale we must find out more +from this Hank Dayton, the mule driver, before we could do anything, or +start to advertise for Mr. O'Neil. And now, it seems, he is here again. +At first, Neale, when I saw you hurrying along, excited, I was afraid I +had lost a very important law case. I am glad you did not bring bad +news." + +Ruth stole a glance at her guardian's face. He was more than usually +quiet and anxious, she thought, though he tried to be gay and jolly. + +"We'll have a look at this boat," said Mr. Howbridge, as they advanced +toward it. "I'll get Minerva's opinion, and then we'll try to find Hank +Dayton." + +"I know where to find him," said Neale. "He's going to bunk down at the +lower lock for a while. I made him promise to stay there until he could +have a talk with you." + +"Very good," announced the lawyer. "Now come on, youngsters!" he cried +with a gayer manner, and he caught Dot up in his arms and carried her +aboard the boat, Neale, Ruth and the others following. + +It was a typical houseboat. That is, it was a sort of small house built +on what would otherwise have been a scow. The body of the boat was broad +beamed forward and aft, as a sailor would say. That is, it was very +wide, whereas most boats are pointed at the bow, and only a little less +narrow at the stern. + +"It's like a small-sized canal boat, isn't it?" remarked Agnes, as they +went down into the cabin. + +"But ever so much nicer," said Ruth. + +"Oh, look at the cute little cupboards!" cried Dot. "I could keep my +dolls there." + +"And here's a sweet place for the cats!" added Tess, raising the cover +of a sort of box in a corner. "It would be a crib." + +"That's a locker," explained Mr. Howbridge, with a smile. + +"Oh, I wouldn't want to lock Almira in there!" exclaimed the little +girl. "She might smother, and how could she get out to play with her +kittens?" + +"Oh, I don't mean that it can be locked," explained the lawyer. "It is +just called that on a boat. Cupboards on the wall and the window seats +on the floor are generally called lockers on board a ship." + +"Is this a ship?" asked Dot. + +"Well, enough like one to use some of the same words," replied Mr. +Howbridge. "Now let's look through it." + +This they did, and each step brought forth new delights. They had gone +down a flight of steps and first entered a small cabin which was +evidently intended for a living room. Back of that was very plainly the +dining room, for it contained a table and some chairs and on the wall +were two cupboards, or "lockers" as the lawyer said they must be called. + +"And they have real dishes in them!" cried Tess, flattening her nose +against one of the glass doors. + +"Don't do that, dear," said Ruth in a low voice. + +"But I want to see," insisted Tess. + +"So do I!" chimed in Dot, and soon the two little sisters, side by side, +with noses pressed flat against the doors, were taking in the sights of +the dishes. Mr. Howbridge silently motioned to Ruth to let them do as +they pleased. + +"Oh, what a lovely dolls' party we could have here!" sighed Dot, as she +turned away from the dish locker. + +"And couldn't Almira come?" asked Tess, appealing to Agnes. "And bring +one of her kittens?" + +"Yes, we'll even allow you two kittens, for fear one would get +lonesome," laughed Mr. Howbridge. "But come on. You haven't seen it all +yet." + +There was a small kitchen back of the dining room, and both Ruth and +Agnes were interested to see how conveniently everything was arranged. + +"It would be ever so much easier to get meals here than in the Corner +House," was Ruth's opinion. + +"Do you think so?" asked the lawyer. + +"Yes, everything is so handy. You hardly have to take a step to reach +anything," added Agnes. "You only have to turn from the stove to the +sink, and another turn and you have everything you want, from a toasting +fork to an egg beater," and she indicated the different kitchen utensils +hanging in a rack over the stove. + +"I'm glad you like it," said Mr. Howbridge, and Ruth found herself +wondering why he said that. + +They passed into the sleeping quarters where small bunks, almost like +those in Pullman cars, were neatly arranged, even to a white counterpane +and pillow shams on each one. + +"Oh, how lovely." + +"And how clean and neat!" + +"It's just like a sleeping car on the railroad." + +"Yes, or one of those staterooms on some steamers." + +"A person could sleep as soundly here as in a bed at home," was Ruth's +comment. + +"Yes, unless the houseboat rocked like a ship," said Agnes. + +"I don't think it could rock much on the canal." + +"No, but it might on a river, or a lake. I guess a houseboat like this +can go almost anywhere." + +There were two sets of sleeping rooms, one on either side of a middle +hall or passageway. Then came a small bathroom. And back of that was +something that made Neale cry out in delight. + +"Why, the boat has an engine!" exclaimed the boy. "It runs by motor!" + +"Yes, the _Bluebird_ is a motor houseboat," said Mr. Howbridge, with a +smile. "It really belongs on Lake Macopic, but to get it there through +the canal mules will have to be used, as this boat has such a big +propeller that it would wash away the canal banks. It is not allowed to +move it through the canal under its own power." + +"That's a dandy engine all right!" exclaimed Neale, and he knew +something about them for one summer he had operated a small motor craft +on the Gentory River, as well as running the Corner House girls' +automobile for them. "I wish I could run this," he went on with a sigh, +"but I don't suppose there's any chance." + +"I don't know about that," said the lawyer, musingly. "That is what I +brought Minerva here to talk about. Let's go back to the main cabin and +sit down." + +"I'm going to sit on one of the lockers!" cried Tess, darting off ahead +of the others. + +"I want to sit on it, too!" exclaimed Dot. + +"There are two lockers on the floor--one for each," laughed Mr. +Howbridge. + +As the little party moved into the main cabin, Ruth found herself +wondering more and more what Mr. Howbridge wanted her opinion on. She +was not long, however, in learning. + +"Here is the situation," began the lawyer, when they were all seated +facing him. His tone reminded Ruth of the time he had come to talk to +them about their inheritance of the Corner House. "This boat, the +_Bluebird_, belongs to an estate. The estate is being settled up, and +the boat is going to be sold. A man living at the upper end of Lake +Macopic has offered to buy it at a fair price if it is delivered to him +in good condition before the end of summer. As the legal adviser of the +estate I have undertaken to get this boat to the purchaser. And what I +brought you here for, to-day, Minerva," he said, smiling at Ruth, "is to +ask your opinion about the best way of getting the boat there." + +"Do you really mean that?" asked the girl. + +"I certainly do." + +"Well, I should say the best plan would be to start it going, and steer +it up the canal to the river, through the river into the lake and up the +lake to the place where it is to be delivered," Ruth answered, smiling. + +"But Mr. Howbridge said the boat couldn't be moved by the motor on the +canal," objected Agnes. + +"Well, have mules tow it, then," advised Ruth. "That is very simple." + +"I am glad you think so," replied the lawyer. "And the next matter on +which I wish your advice is whether to start the boat off alone on her +trip, or just in charge of, say, the mule driver." + +"Oh, I wouldn't want to trust a lovely houseboat like this to only a +mule driver!" exclaimed Ruth. + +"That's what I thought," went on her guardian, with another smile. "It +needs some one on board to look after it, doesn't it?" + +"Well, yes, I should say so." + +"Then how would you like to take charge?" came the unexpected question. + +"Me?" cried Ruth. "_Me?_" + +"You, and all of you!" went on the lawyer. "Listen. Here is the +situation. I have to send this houseboat to Lake Macopic. You dwellers +of the Corner House need a vacation. You always have one every summer, +and I generally advise you where to go. At least you always ask me, and +sometimes you take my advice. + +"This time I advise you to take a houseboat trip. And I make this offer. +I will provide the boat and all the needful food and supplies, such as +gasoline and oil when you reach the river and lake. Everything else is +on board, from beds to dishes. I will also hire a mule driver and engage +some mules for the canal trip. Now, how does that suit you?" + +"Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Agnes, and it seemed to be all she could say for a +moment. She just looked at Mr. Howbridge with parted lips and sparkling +eyes. + +"How wonderful!" murmured Ruth. + +"Can we go?" cried Tess. + +"The whole family, including Neale," said Mr. Howbridge. + +"Oo-ee!" gasped Dot, wide-eyed. + +Agnes and Neale stared entranced at each other, Agnes, for once, +speechless. + +"Well, now I have made the offer, think it over, and while you are doing +that I'll give a little attention to Neale's case," went on Mr. +Howbridge. "Now, young man, suppose we go and find this mule driver who +seems to know something of your father." + +"Oh, wait! Don't go away just yet!" begged Ruth. "Let's talk about the +trip some more! Do you really think we can go?" + +"I want you to go. It would be doing me a favor," said the lawyer. "I +must get this boat to Lake Macopic somehow, and I don't know a better +way than to have Martha and her family take it," and he bowed formally +to his ward. + +"And did you really mean I may go, too?" asked Neale. + +"If you can arrange it, and Miss Ruth agrees." + +"Of course I will! But, oh, there will be such a lot to do to get ready. +We'd have to take Mrs. MacCall along, too," she added. + +"Of course," assented Mr. Howbridge. "By all means!" + +"And would you go too?" asked Ruth. + +"Would you like me to?" the lawyer countered. + +"Of course. We'd all like it." + +"I might manage to make at least part of the trip," was the reply. "Then +you have decided to take my offer?" + +"Oh, I think it's perfectly _wonderful_!" burst out Agnes. + +As for Tess and Dot, it could be told what they thought by just looking +at them. + +"Very well then," said the guardian, "we'll consider it settled. I'll +have to see about mules and a driver for the canal part of the trip +and--" + +An exclamation from Neale interrupted him. + +"What is it?" asked the lawyer. + +"Why couldn't we hire Hank Dayton for a mule driver?" Neale asked. "He's +rough, but I think he's a decent man and honest, and he knows a lot +about the canal and boats and mules." + +"It might not be a bad idea," assented Mr. Howbridge. "We'll find him +and ask him, Neale. And it would be killing two birds with one stone. He +could help you in your search for your father. Yes, I think that will be +a good plan. Girls, I'll leave you here to look over the _Bluebird_ at +your leisure while Neale and I go to interview the mule driver." + +"And I hope he will be able to tell you how to find your father, Neale," +said Agnes, in a low voice. + +"I hope so, too," added the boy. "You don't know, Aggie, how much I've +wanted to find father." + +"Of course I do, Neale. And you'll find him, too!" + +Neale went on with Mr. Howbridge, somewhat cheered by Agnes' sympathy. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MAKING PLANS + + +Left to themselves on the _Bluebird_, Ruth, Agnes, Dot and Tess went +over every part of it again, from the engine room to the complete +kitchen and living apartments. + +"Neale will just love fussing around that motor," said Agnes. + +"You speak as if we had already decided to make the trip," remarked +Ruth, with a bright glance at her sister. + +"Why, yes, haven't you?" Agnes countered. "I thought you and Mr. +Howbridge had fixed it up between you when you were chatting up on the +front seat of the auto." + +"He never said a word to me about it," declared Ruth. + +"He must have said something," insisted her sister. + +"Oh, of course we talked, but not about _this_," and Ruth swept her +hands about to indicate the _Bluebird_. "I was as much surprised as you +to have him ask us if we would take her up to the lake." + +"Well, it will be delightful, don't you think?" + +"Yes, I think it will. But of course it depends on Mrs. MacCall." + +"I don't see why!" exclaimed Agnes quickly and reproachfully. + +"Of course you do. She'll have to go along to act as chaperone and all +that. We may have to tie up at night in lonely places along the canal or +river and--" + +"We'll have Neale and Mr. Howbridge! And how about asking Luke Shepard +and his sister Cecile?" went on Agnes. + +Ruth flushed a little. + +"I don't believe Cecile and Luke can go," she replied slowly. "Cecile +has got to go home to take care of her Aunt Lorena, who is sick, and +Luke wrote me that he had a position offered to him as a clerk in a +summer hotel down on the coast, and it is to pay so well that he would +not dream of letting the opportunity pass." + +"Oh, that's too bad, Ruth. You won't see much of him." + +"I am not sure I'll see anything of him." And Ruth's face clouded a +little. + +"Well, anyway, as I said before, we'll have Neale and Mr. Howbridge," +continued Agnes. + +"Neale. But Mr. Howbridge is not sure he can go--at least all the way. +However, we'll ask Mrs. MacCall." + +"I think she'll be just crazy to go!" declared Agnes. "Come on, let's go +right away and find out." + +"But we must wait for Mr. Howbridge to come back. He told us to." + +"Well, then we'll say we're already living on board," said Agnes. "Oh, +won't it be fun to eat on a houseboat!" and she danced off to the dining +room, took her seat at the table, and exclaimed: "I'll have a steak, +rare, with French fried potatoes, plenty of gravy and a cup of tea and +don't forget the pie _à la mode_." + +Tess and Dot laughed and Ruth smiled. They then went all over the boat +again, with the result that they grew more and more enthusiastic about +the trip. And when Mr. Howbridge and Neale came back in the automobile a +little later, beaming faces met them. + +"Well, what about it, Minerva?" Mr. Howbridge asked Ruth. "Are you going +to act as caretakers for the boat to help me settle the estate?" + +"Since you put it that way, as a favor, I can not refuse," she answered, +giving him a swift smile. "But, as I told the girls, it will depend on +Mrs. MacCall." + +"You leave her to me," laughed the lawyer. "I'll recite one of Bobby +Burns' poems, and if that doesn't win her over nothing will. Neale, do +you think you can manage that motor?" + +"I'm sure of it," said the boy. "It isn't the same kind I had to run +before, but I can get the hang of it all right." + +"Is there any news about your father?" asked Ruth, glancing from her +guardian to the boy. + +"Nothing very definite," answered the lawyer. "We found Hank Dayton, and +in spite of his rough and ragged clothes I discovered him to be a +reliable fellow. He told us all he knew about the rumor of Mr. O'Neil +having returned from the Klondike, and I am going to start an inquiry, +with newspaper advertising and all that. And I may as well tell you that +I have engaged this same Hank Dayton to drive the mules that will draw +the _Bluebird_ on the canal part of the trip." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Agnes. "I thought Neale said this man was a tramp!" + +"He is, in appearance," said Mr. Howbridge, with a smile. "A person can +not wear an evening suit and drive canal mules. But Hank seems to be a +sterling chap at the bottom, and with Neale and Mrs. MacCall to keep him +straight, you will have no trouble. + +"It is really necessary," he went on, "to have some man who understands +the canal, the mules, and the locks to look after the boat, and I think +this Dayton will answer. He has just finished a trip, and so Neale and I +hired him. It will be well for Neale to keep in touch with him, too, for +through Hank we may get more news of Mr. O'Neil. And now, if you have +sufficiently looked over the _Bluebird_, we may as well go back." + +"It would be a good while before I could see enough of her!" exclaimed +Agnes. "I'm just in love with the craft, and I know we shall have a +delightful summer on her. Only the trip will be over too soon, I'm +afraid." + +"There is no necessity for haste," the lawyer assured her. "The +purchaser of the boat does not want her until fall, and you may linger +as long as you like on the trip." + +"Good!" exclaimed Agnes. + +A family council was held the next day at which Mr. Howbridge laid all +the facts before Mrs. MacCall. At first the Scotch housekeeper would not +listen to any proposal for the trip on the water. But when Ruth and +Agnes had spoken of the delights of the boat, and when the housekeeper +had personally inspected the _Bluebird_, she changed her mind. + +"Though I never thought, in my old age, I'd come to bein' a houseboat +keeper," she chuckled. "But 'tis all in the day's work. I'll gang with +ye ma lassies. A canal boat is certainly more staid than an ice-boat, +and I went alang with ye on that." + +"Hurray!" cried Agnes, unable to restrain her joy. "All aboard for Lake +Macopic!" + +The door opened and Aunt Sarah Maltby came in. + +"I thought I heard some one calling," she said anxiously. + +"It was Agnes," explained Ruth. "She's so excited about the trip." + +"Fish? What fish? It isn't Friday, is it?" asked the old lady, who was +getting rather deaf. + +"No, Auntie dear, I didn't say _fish_--I said _trip_." And Ruth spoke +more loudly. "We are going to make a trip on a houseboat for our summer +vacation. Would you like to come along?" + +Aunt Sarah Maltby shook her head, as Tess pulled out a chair for her. + +"I'm getting too old, my dear, to go traipsing off over the country in +one of those flying machines." + +"It's a houseboat--not a flying machine," Agnes explained. + +"Well, it's about the same, I reckon," returned the old lady. "No, I'll +stay at home and look after things at the Corner House. It'll need +somebody." + +"Yes, there's no doubt of that," Ruth said. + +So it was arranged. Aunt Sarah Maltby would stay at home with Linda and +Uncle Rufus, while Mrs. MacCall accompanied the Corner House girls on +the houseboat. + +There was much to be done before the trip could be undertaken, and many +business details to arrange, for, as inheritors of the Stower estate, +Ruth and her sisters received rents from a number of tenants, some of +them in not very good circumstances. + +"And we must see that they will want nothing while we are gone," Ruth +had said. + +It was part of her self-imposed duties to play Lady Bountiful to some of +the poorer persons who rented Uncle Peter Stower's tenements. + +"Well, as long as you don't go to buying 'dangly jet eawin's' for Olga +Pederman it will be all right," said Agnes, and they laughed at this +remembrance of the girl who, when ill with diphtheria, had asked for +these ornaments when Ruth called to see what she most wanted. + +Eventually all the many details were arranged and taken care of. A +mechanic had gone over the motor of the _Bluebird_ and pronounced it in +perfect running order, a fact which Neale verified for himself. He had +made all his plans for going on the trip, and between that and eagerly +waiting for any news of his missing father, his days were busy ones. + +Mr. Howbridge had closely questioned Hank Dayton and had learned all +that rover could tell, which was not much. But it seemed certain that +Mr. O'Neil had started from Alaska for the States. + +That he had not, even on his arrival, written to Neale, was probably due +to the fact that the man did not know where his son was. His Uncle Bill +Sorber, of course, knew Neale's address, but the trouble was that the +circus, which was not a very large affair, traveled about so, on no +well-kept scheduled route, that Mr. Sorber was difficult to find. +Letters had been addressed to him at several places where it was thought +his show might be, but, so far, no answer had been received. He was +asked to send a message to Mr. Howbridge as soon as any word came from +Mr. O'Neil. + +To Hank Dayton was left the task of picking out some mules to tow the +houseboat through the stretch of canal. About a week, or perhaps longer, +would be consumed on this trip, as there was no hurry. + +Where the voyage is kept up for any length of time, two sets of mules or +horses are used in towing canal boats. When one team is wearied it is +put in the stable, which is on board the canal boat, and the other team +is led out over a bridge, or gangplank, specially made for the purpose, +on to the towpath. + +But on the _Bluebird_ there were no provisions for the animals, so it +was planned to buy only one team of mules, drive the animals at a +leisurely pace through the day and let them rest at night either in the +open, along the canal towpath, or in some of the canal barns that would +be come upon on the trip. At the end of the trip the animals would be +sold. Mr. Howbridge had decided that this was the best plan to follow, +though there was a towing company operating on the canal for such boat +owners as did not possess their own animals. + +As Mr. Howbridge had shrewdly guessed, the rough clothes of Hank Dayton +held a fairly good man. He had been in poor luck, but he was not +dissipated, and even Mrs. MacCall approved of him when he had been +shaved, a shave being something he had lacked when Neale first saw him. +Then, indeed, he had looked like a veritable tramp. + +Gradually all that was to be done was accomplished, and the day came +when Ruth and Agnes could say: + +"To-morrow we start on our wonderful trip. Oh, I'm so happy!" + +"What about your Civic Betterment Club?" asked Agnes of her sister. + +"That will have to keep until I come back. Really no one wants to +undertake any municipal reforms in the summer." + +"Oh, my! The political airs we put on!" laughed Agnes. "Well, I'm glad +you are going to have a good time. You need it." + +"Yes, I think the change will be good for all of us," murmured Ruth. +"Tess and Dot seem delighted, and--" + +She stopped suddenly, for from the floor above came a cry of alarm +followed by one of distress. + +"What's that?" gasped Ruth. + +"Dot or Tess, I should say," was the opinion of Agnes. "They must have +started in to get some of their change already. Oh, gee!" + +"Agnes!" Ruth took time to protest, for she very much objected to Agnes' +slang. + +A moment later Dot came bursting into the room, crying: + +"Oh, she's in! She's in! And it isn't holding her up at all! Come on, +quick. Both of you! Tess is in!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE ROBBERY + + +Dot Kenway stood in the middle of the room, dancing up and down, +fluttering her hands and crying over and over again: + +"She's in! She's in! And it isn't holding her up! Oh, come quick!" + +With a bound Ruth was at her sister's side. She grasped Dot by the arm +and held her still. + +"Be quiet, honey, and tell me what the matter is," Ruth demanded. + +"Oh, she's in! She's in! And it isn't holding her up!" Dot repeated. + +"We'd better go and see what it is," suggested Agnes. "Tess may merely +have fallen out of bed." + +"Fallen out of bed--this time of day?" cried Ruth. "Impossible!" + +But she let go of Dot and sped up the stairs whence floated down a +series of startled cries. Agnes followed, while Dot called after them: + +"Look in the bathroom! She's in! It isn't holding her up!" + +To the bathroom rushed Ruth and Agnes, there to behold a sight which +first made them gasp and then, instantly, started them into energetic +action. For Tess was floundering about in the tub, full of water, with +part of her bathing suit on and something bulky tied around her waist. +She was clinging to the edge of the tub with both hands and trying to +get to her feet. The tub was filled with water, and much of it was +splashing over the side. Fortunately the floor of the bathroom was +tiled. + +"Oh, Tess! what are you doing?" cried Agnes, as she and Ruth pulled the +small girl to her feet. Tess was gasping for breath, and had evidently +swallowed some water. + +"I--I--er--gug--I--was--" That was all Tess could say for a while. + +"You poor child!" exclaimed Ruth, reaching for a towel, to dry the +dripping face. "Did you fall in? And what possessed you to put on your +bathing suit?" + +"And what _have_ you got around your waist?" cried Agnes. + +"That--that--that's my--my _life preserver_!" exploded Tess. "If--if +you'll take the towel out of my moo-oo-oo-uth I'll t-t-tell--you!" she +stammered. + +"Yes, do let's let her tell, for mercy's sake!" exclaimed Ruth. "Did +your head go under, Tessie, dear?" + +Tess nodded. It was easier than speaking, especially as she had not yet +quite got her breath back. + +The two older sisters dried her partly on the towel, the little girl +raising her hands to keep her sisters from stuffing any more of the +Turkish towel into her mouth, and then Dot came up the stairs. + +"Is she--is she drowned?" was the awed whisper. + +"No, but she might have been," answered Ruth. + +"What were you two doing? This is worse than the clothes basket +elevator. What were you doing?" + +"I was making a life preserver," volunteered Tess, when she had been +helped out of the bathtub and was standing on a big mat that absorbed +the little rivulets of water streaming from her. + +"A life preserver?" questioned Agnes. + +"Yes," Tess nodded. "I thought maybe I might fall off the houseboat and +I didn't see any life preservers on it, so I made one." + +"Out of the hot water bag," put in Dot. "She tied it around her waist +and she wanted me to tie one on me and make believe we fell into the +bathtub. But I wouldn't, and she got in, and it didn't hold her up." + +"I should say it didn't!" cried Agnes. "How could you expect a rubber +bag full of water to hold you up? It couldn't hold itself up." + +"It wasn't full of water. I blew it up full of air just as Sammy Pinkney +blows up his football," said Tess. "And that floats in water, 'cause I +saw it." + +"A hot water bag is different," returned Ruth. "Yes, she has one on," +she added, as she and Agnes unwrapped from their sister some folds of +cloth by which the partly inflated hot-water bag had been fastened +around Tess's waist. + +"Don't you ever do anything like that again!" scolded Dot, as Tess was +sent to her room to dress while Linda came up to mop the floor. + +"Well, what am I to do if I fall overboard off the _Bluebird_, I'm +asking you?" called Tess, turning back, and holding her bath robe around +her slim form. "There aren't any life preservers on it!" + +"We will provide some if they are needed," said Ruth, laughing. + +Just then Aunt Sarah Maltby came in and heard the story from Agnes. + +"Just think, Dot and Tess, one of you might have been drowned," she said +severely. "If that bag had got around your feet, and the winding strips +had tangled, your feet might have been held up and your head down. You +might easily have been drowned in the bathtub." + +"Not me--I wouldn't!" declared Dot. + +"Why not?" Agnes wanted to know. + +"'Cause I wouldn't get in it! I told Tess maybe it was dangerous." + +"Well, it wouldn't have been if I'd had more air in the bag," called +Tess from the half-open door of her room. "That was the matter." + +Mrs. MacCall shook her head when she heard what had happened. + +"I ha me doots about them on the boat," she said. "If they cut up such +didoes here, what'll they do then?" + +"Oh, I think we shall manage somehow," said Ruth with cheerful +philosophy. "We're used to mishaps." + +By dint of hard work the final preparations for the houseboat trip were +made. The _Bluebird_ was got in shape for the first part of the trip +through the canal. Hank Dayton had been "slicked up," and had his two +sturdy mules in readiness. Neale had tested the motor again. A supply of +food had been put on board, together with gasoline to use as soon as the +transition from the canal to the river should have taken place. + +Mr. Howbridge had arranged his plans so as to start with the girls, and +Mrs. MacCall had her small trunk packed and in readiness. All that was +possible had been done to get into communication with Neale's father, +and all that could be done was to await word from him, or from Mr. +Sorber, who might be the first to hear, that the missing Klondike +explorer had returned. + +And at last the morning of the start arrived. + +"Oh, it's going to rain!" cried Tess as she arose early and ran to the +window to look out. + +"I don't care. We can take umbrellas, and the boat has a roof on it," +said Dot. "My Alice-doll has been wet before." + +"But Almira doesn't like rain, and her kittens might get cold," objected +Tess. + +"We can't take Almira!" said Ruth in a voice that Tess knew it was +useless to appeal from. "The poor cat wouldn't have a good time, Tessie, +and she'd be in the way with her kittens." + +"She could catch mice," suggested Tess, as a sort of last hope. + +"There are mice on canal boats. I heard Hank Dayton say so," put in Dot, +seeking to strengthen Tess's position. + +"We'll get a cat later if we need it," compromised Ruth. "Don't think of +bringing Almira." + +"All right!" assented Dot, and then Tess called: + +"There's Sammy, and he's got Billy Bumps. Let's go down and tell them +good-by!" + +"Can't Sammy come with us?" asked Dot, turning to Ruth. + +"No indeed, nor the goat either! So don't ask him and make him feel bad +when I have to refuse him." + +"All right," sighed Dot. + +Then she and Tess finished dressing and went out to greet Sammy, who was +paying one of his early morning calls. + +"Want me to do any errands for you, Ruth?" he politely asked when he had +refused an invitation to breakfast, saying he had already eaten. + +"No, thank you, Sammy," was the answer. + +"I could go quick--hitch Billy to the wagon and get anything you wanted +from the village," he went on. + +Ruth shook her head, and then had to hurry away to see about one of the +many last-minute details. + +"Well, good-by, then," said Sammy to the other sisters, as he prepared +to depart. "I wish I was going! We could take Billy Bumps." + +"But if they wouldn't let me take a cat on the boat I don't suppose +they'd want a goat," put in Tess. + +"I don't guess so," said Sammy, more meekly than he usually spoke. +"Well, good-by!" And down the street he went, taking Billy Bumps, who +belonged to Tess and Dot, with him. + +"It does look like rain," said Agnes, when it was almost time for Mr. +Howbridge to call for them in his machine to take them and their baggage +to the houseboat. + +"It may hold off until we get on board," said Ruth. She gave a sudden +start. "Oh, Agnes! Our jewelry! We forgot to take it to the bank!" + +"That's so! I knew we'd forget something! Well, haven't we time to run +down with it now before Mr. Howbridge comes?" + +Ruth looked at her wrist watch. + +"Just about," was her decision. "Come on. You and I can take the package +down and then hurry back." + +"You'd best take an umbrella, ma dearies!" cautioned Mrs. MacCall. "'Tis +showery goin' to be this day!" + +"We'll take one," assented Ruth. + +She and Agnes had planned to leave their jewelry and some other articles +of value in their safe deposit box, but had forgotten it until now. + +The two older girls sallied forth with a large umbrella, which Agnes +carried, while Ruth had the package of jewelry. + +They were half way to the bank, no great distance from home, when +suddenly a downpour began with the usual quickness of a summer shower. + +"Hurry! Raise the umbrella!" cried Ruth. "I'm getting drenched!" + +"Isn't it terrible!" gasped Agnes. + +She and her sister stepped into the shelter of the nearest doorway for a +moment. Something was wrong with the catch of the umbrella. Ruth was +just going to help her sister raise it when suddenly two rough-looking +men rushed from the hall back of the doorway in which the girls had +taken shelter. + +One of the men rudely brushed past Ruth, and, as he did so, he made a +grab for the packet of jewelry, snatching it from her. + +"Oh!" screamed the girl. "Stop! Oh! Oh, Agnes!" + +The other man turned and pushed Agnes back as she leaned forward to help +Ruth. + +Then, as the rain came down harder than ever, the men sped up the +street, leaving the two horror-stricken girls breathless in the doorway. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ALL ABOARD + + +For a moment after the robbery neither Ruth nor Agnes felt capable of +saying anything or doing anything. Ruth, it is true, had cried out as +the burly ruffian had snatched the packet of jewelry from her, and then +fear seemed to paralyze her. But this was only for a moment. In few +seconds both she and Agnes became their energetic selves, as befitted +the characters of Corner House girls. + +"Oh, Agnes! did you see? He has the jewelry!" cried Ruth. + +"Yes, I saw! He pushed me back or I'd have grabbed it away again! We +must take after them!" + +The girls started to leave, having managed to get the umbrella up, but +at that instant there came such a fierce blast of wind and such a +blinding downpour of rain that they were fairly forced back into the +doorway. + +And, more than this, their umbrella was turned inside out and sent +flapping in their faces by the erratic wind, so that they could not see +what they were doing. + +"This is awful!" exclaimed Agnes, and she was near to crying. + +"We must call for help," said Ruth, but they would have needed to shout +very loud indeed to be heard above the racket made by the wind and rain. +A momentary glimpse up and down the street, when a view of it could be +had amid the sheets of rain, showed no one in sight. + +"What shall we do?" cried Ruth, vainly trying to get the umbrella to its +proper shape. + +At that moment the door behind them opened. The girls turned, fearing a +further attack, but they saw Myra Stetson, whose father kept a grocery, +and it was in the doorway adjoining the store that the Corner House +girls had taken refuge. + +"What is the matter?" asked Myra, when she saw who it was. "I heard the +door blow open and I came down to shut it." + +The Stetson family lived up over the grocery, where there were two +flats. + +"What has happened?" went on the grocer's daughter. She was rather more +friendly with Agnes than with Ruth, but knew both sisters, and, indeed, +Ruth was planning to have Myra on one of the Civic Betterment +committees. There had been some little differences of opinion between +Myra and Agnes, but these had been smoothed out and the girls were now +good friends. + +"We've been robbed! At least Ruth has!" exclaimed Agnes. "A ruffian took +our jewelry box!" + +"You don't mean it!" cried Myra. + +"I only wish I didn't," said Ruth brokenly. "Oh, my lovely rings!" + +"And my pins!" added Agnes. + +"Tell me about it," begged Myra, and, rather breathlessly, the Corner +House girls told the story of the assault of the two burly men in the +doorway. + +"They ran off down the street with the box of jewelry we were taking to +the bank," explained Ruth. + +"Then you'd better tell the police at once," advised Myra. "Come on up +into our flat and you can telephone from there. Mr. Buckley is a special +officer and he has a telephone. Father will send for him. Do come up!" + +"Yes, I think we had better," agreed Ruth. "And we must notify Mr. +Howbridge. That is, if he hasn't left his office." + +"If he has we can get him at our house," said Agnes. "We were just going +to start on a houseboat trip when this terrible thing happened," she +explained to Myra. + +"Isn't it too bad!" said the grocer's daughter. "But do come upstairs. +Did you say the man came out of our hallway?" + +"Yes," answered Ruth. "We stepped into the doorway to be out of the rain +for a moment and to raise the umbrella, the catch of which had been +caught in some way, when they both rushed past us, one of them grabbing +the box from under my arm." + +"And one gave me a shove," added Agnes. + +"That's the most amazing thing I ever heard of!" declared Myra. "Those +men must have been hiding in there waiting for you." + +"But how did they know we were coming?" asked Ruth. "We didn't think of +going to the bank with the jewelry ourselves until a few minutes ago. +Those men couldn't have known about it." + +"Then it's very strange," said Myra. "I must tell father about it. There +may be more of them hiding upstairs." + +"Do you mean in your house?" asked Agnes, for they were now ascending +the stairs, the refractory umbrella having at last been subdued and +turned right side out. + +"I mean in the vacant flat above ours," went on Myra. "It's to let, you +know, and two men were in to look at it yesterday. They said they were +from the Klondike." + +"From the Klondike!" exclaimed Ruth, and she and Agnes exchanged +significant glances. + +"Yes. That's in Alaska where they dig gold, you know," explained Myra. +"I didn't see the men. Father said they came to look at the flat, and +one of them remarked they had just come back from the gold regions. They +didn't rent it though, as far as I know." + +"Isn't that strange?" said Agnes slowly. + +"Very," agreed Ruth, and, by a look, she warned her sister not to say +any more just then. + +They were ushered into the Stetson living apartment over the store and +Mr. and Mrs. Stetson were soon listening to the story. + +"The idea of any men daring to use our hallway to commit a robbery!" +cried Mrs. Stetson. "Father, you'd better see if any more of the +villains are hiding. I'm sure I'll not sleep a wink this night." + +"I'll take a look," said the grocer. "That hall door often blows open, +though. The lock needs fixing. It would be easy for any one to slip into +the lower hall from the street and wait there." + +"That's what they probably did," said Agnes. "And it was just by +accident that we went up to the doorway to raise the umbrella. The men +must have seen us, and, though they couldn't have known what was in the +box, they took it anyhow. Oh, it's too bad! Our trip is spoiled now!" +and she was on the verge of tears. + +"Don't worry, my dear," advised Mrs. Stetson. "We'll get the police +after them. Father, you must telephone at once. And you must have a look +in those vacant rooms upstairs." + +"I will," promised the grocer, and then began a period of activity. A +clerk and a porter from the grocery downstairs made a careful +examination of the upper premises, but, of course, discovered no more +thieves. And, naturally, there were no traces of the men who had robbed +Ruth and Agnes. + +The telephone soon put the police authorities of Milton in possession of +the facts, and Special Officer Buckley, was soon "on the job," as he +expressed it. He came, a burly figure in rubber boots and a glistening +rubber coat, to the Stetson apartment, there to hear the story +first-hand from Ruth and Agnes. With him also came Jimmy Dale, a +reporter from the Milton _Morning Post_. + +Jimmy had been at the police headquarters when word of the robbery was +telephoned in, and he, too, "got on the job." + +All the description Ruth and Agnes could give of the men was that they +were rough and burly and not very well dressed. But it had all taken +place so quickly and in such obscurity amid the mist of the rain that it +was difficult for either girl to be accurate. + +Then as much as was possible was done. Several other special officers +were notified of the occurrence, and the regular police force of Milton, +no very large aggregation, was instructed to "pick up" any suspicious +characters about town. + +Mr. Stetson confirmed the statement made by Myra that two men who +claimed to have recently returned from the Klondike had been to look at +the vacant flat the day before. In appearance they were rather rough, +the grocer said, though he would not call them tramps by any means. + +There might be a possible connection between the two, it was agreed. Mr. +Howbridge was notified by telephone, and called in his automobile for +the two girls, who, after some tea, felt a little more composed. + +"But, oh my lovely jewelry!" exclaimed Agnes. "It's gone!" + +"And mine," added Ruth. "There were some things of Dot's and Tessie's in +the box, too, and mother's wedding ring," and Ruth sighed. + +"The police may recover it," said the lawyer. "I am glad neither of you +was harmed," and his gaze rested anxiously on his wards. + +"No, they barely touched me," said the older girl. "One of them just +grabbed the box and ran." + +"The other one gave me a shove," declared Agnes. "If I had known what he +was up to he wouldn't have got away so easily. I haven't been playing +basket ball for nothing!" she boasted. + +"Well, I think there is nothing more to be done," said their guardian. +"While there is no great rush, I think the sooner we get started on our +houseboat trip the better. So if you'll come with me, I'll take you +home, we can gather up the last of the baggage and make a quick trip to +the _Bluebird_. I have the side curtains up and the rain is stopping, I +think." + +"Oh, are we going on the trip--_now_--after the robbery?" asked Ruth +doubtfully. + +"Yes. Why not?" inquired the lawyer, with a smile. "You can do nothing +by staying here, and if the men should be arrested I can arrange to +bring you back to identify them. I know how bad you feel, but the trip +will be the best thing in the world for you, for it will take your mind +from your loss." + +"Yes, Ruth, it will!" agreed Agnes, for she saw that her sister was much +affected. + +"Well, we'll go back home, anyhow," assented Ruth. And after they had +thanked the Stetson's for their hospitality the two sisters left in +charge of Mr. Howbridge. As he had said, the rain was stopping, and when +they reached the Corner House the sun was out again, glistening on the +green leaves of the trees. + +"It's a good omen," declared Agnes. + +Of course there was consternation at the Corner House when the story of +the robbery was told. But even Aunt Sarah Maltby agreed with Mr. +Howbridge that it would do Ruth and Agnes good to make the houseboat +trip. Accordingly, after the two robbed ones had calmed down a little +more, the last belongings were gathered together, Dot and Tess, who had +considerably mussed their clothes playing tag around the furniture, were +straightened out, good-bys were said over and over again, and then, in +Mr. Howbridge's automobile, the little party started for the _Bluebird_. + +"Where's Neale?" asked Agnes, as they neared the canal. + +"He'll meet us at the boat," said the lawyer. "I just received a letter +from his uncle, the circus man, which contains a little information +about the boy's father." + +"Has he really returned from the Klondike?" asked Ruth. + +"I believe he has. But whether he has money or is as poor as when he +started off to seek his fortune, I don't know. Time will tell. But I am +glad the sun is out. It would have been rather gloomy to start in the +rain." + +"If it had not rained those men never would have gotten our jewel box!" +declared Agnes. "It was only because we were confused by the umbrella in +the hard shower that they dared take it." + +"Don't think about it!" advised Mr. Howbridge. + +They reached the _Bluebird_, to find Neale waiting for them with smiling +face. + +"I only wish we could start under gasoline instead of mule power!" he +cried gayly. + +"Time enough for that!" said Mr. Howbridge, with a smile. "Is Hank on +hand?" + +"He's bringing out the hee-haws now," said Neale, pointing down the +towpath, while Dot and Tess laughed at his descriptive name for the +mules. + +The driver was leading them from the stable where they had taken shelter +from the downpour, and they were soon hitched to the long towing rope. + +"It 'minds me of the time I came from Scotland," murmured Mrs. MacCall +as she went up the "bridge," as the gangplank of a canal boat is +sometimes called. + +"All aboard!" cried Neale, and they took their places on the _Bluebird_. +Mr. Howbridge had arranged for one of his men to come and drive back the +automobile, and there was nothing further to be looked after. + +"Shall I start?" called Hank, from his station near the mules, after he +had helped Neale haul up the gangplank which had connected the houseboat +with the towpath. + +"Give 'em gas!" shouted the boy through his hands held in trumpet +fashion. + +The animals leaned forward in their collars, the rope tauted, pulling +with a swishing sound up from the water into which it had dropped. The +_Bluebird_ began slowly to move, and at last they were on their way. + +Ruth, Agnes and the others remained on deck for a while, and then the +older folk, including Neale, went below to get things "shipshape and +Bristol fashion." Dot and Tess remained on deck under the awning. + +"Don't fall overboard!" cautioned Mrs. MacCall to the small sisters. + +"We won't!" they promised. + +It was about ten minutes later, during which time the _Bluebird_ was +progressing slowly through the quiet waters of the canal, that Agnes +heard shouts on deck. + +"Hark!" she exclaimed, for they were all moving about, getting matters +to rights in the cabins. + +"What is it?" asked Ruth. + +"I thought I heard Tess calling," went on Agnes. + +There was no mistake about it. Down the stairway that led from the upper +deck to the cabin came the cry of: + +"Oh, come here! Come here quick! One of the mules is acting awful funny! +I think he's trying to kick Mr. Hank into the canal!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A STOWAWAY + + +Ruth dropped some of the garments she was unpacking from her trunk. +Agnes came from the dining room, where she was setting the table for the +first meal on the craft. Neale and Mr. Howbridge ran from the motor +compartment in the lower hold of the boat. Mrs. MacCall raised her hands +and began to murmur in her broadest Scotch so that no one knew what she +was saying. And from the upper deck of the boat, where they had been +left sitting on camp stools under the green striped awning, came the +chorused cries of Tess and Dot: + +"Oh, come on up! Come on up!" + +"Something must have happened!" exclaimed Ruth. + +"But the girls are all right, thank goodness!" added Agnes. + +Together all four of them, with Mrs. MacCall bringing up the rear, +ascended to the upper deck. There they saw Dot and Tess pointing down +the towpath. Hank Dayton was, indeed, having trouble with the mules. And +Tess had not exaggerated when she said that one of the animals was +trying to kick the driver into the canal. + +"Oh! Oh!" screamed Ruth and Agnes, as the flying heels barely missed the +man's head. + +"I'll go and give him a hand!" exclaimed Neale, and before any one knew +what his intention was he ran down the stairs, out to the lower forward +deck of the craft, and leaped across the intervening water to the +towpath, an easy feat for a lad as agile as Neale O'Neil. + +"What's the matter, Hank?" those on the _Bluebird_ could hear Neale ask +the driver. + +"Oh, Arabella is feeling rather frisky, I guess," was the answer. "She +hasn't had much work to do lately, and she's showing off!" Arabella was +the name of one of the mules. + +Neale, born in a circus, knew a good deal about animals, and it did not +take him and Hank Dayton long to subdue the fractious Arabella. After +she had kicked up her heels a few more times, just to show her contempt +for the authority of the whiffle-tree and the traces, she quieted down. +The other mule, a more sedate animal, looked at his companion in what +might have been disgust mingled with distrust. + +"Are they all right now?" asked Ruth, as Neale leaped aboard the boat +again. + +"Oh, yes. Hank can manage 'em all right. He just had to let Arabella +have her kick out. She's all right now. Isn't this fun, though?" and +Neale breathed in deeply of the fresh air. + +"Oh, Neale, it's glorious!" and Agnes' eyes sparkled. + +The day had turned out a lovely one after the hard shower, and +everything was fresh and green. They had reached the outskirts of Milton +by this time, and were approaching the open country through which the +canal meandered before joining the river. On either side of the towpath +were farms and gardens, with a house set here and there amid the green +fields or orchards. + +Now and then other boats were passed. At such times one of the craft +would have to slow up to let the tow-rope sink into the canal, so the +other boat might pass over it. The mules hee-hawed to each other as they +met, and Hank exchanged salutations with the other drivers. + +"I think it's just the loveliest way to spend a vacation that ever could +be thought of," said Agnes to Mr. Howbridge. + +"I hope you all like it," he remarked. + +"Oh, yes, it's going to be perfect," said the older Kenway girl. "If +only--" + +"You are thinking of your jewelry," interrupted her guardian. "Please +don't! It will be recovered by the police." + +"I don't believe so," said Ruth. "I don't care so much about our things. +We can buy more. But mother's wedding ring can never be replaced nor, I +fear, found. I believe those Klondikers will dispose of it in some way. +They'll never be caught." + +"Klondikers!" cried Neale, coming into the main cabin just then. "Did +you say Klondikers?" and it was plain to be seen that he was thinking of +his father. + +"Yes. There is a suspicion that the men who robbed Ruth were two men who +the day before looked at the Stetson flat," explained Agnes. "They said +they were Klondike miners." + +"Klondike miners!" murmured Neale. "I wonder if they knew my father or +if he knew them. I don't mean the robbers," he added quickly. "I mean +the men who came to rent the flat. I wish I had a chance to speak to +them." + +"So do I," said Mr. Howbridge. "I have hardly yet had a chance to tell +you, Neale, but I have a letter from your Uncle Bill." + +"Does he know about father?" asked the boy quickly. + +"No. This letter was written before he received mine asking for your +father's last known address. But it may be possible for you to meet your +uncle during this trip." + +"How?" asked Neale. + +"He tells me in his letter the names of the places where the circus will +show in the next month. And one place is not far from a town we pass on +the canal." + +"Then I'm going to see him!" cried Neale joyfully. "I'll be glad to meet +him again. He may know something of my father. I wonder if they have any +new animals since last summer. They ought to have a pony to take +Scalawag's place. + +"He didn't say," remarked the lawyer. "But I thought you'd be glad to +know that your uncle was in this vicinity." + +"I am," said the boy. "This trip is going to be better than I thought. +Now, if he only has word of my father!" + +"We'll find him, sooner or later," declared the guardian of the Corner +House girls. "But now, since the mules seem to be doing their duty, +suppose we take account of stock and see if we need anything. If we do, +we ought to stop and get it at one of the places through which we pass, +because we may tie up at night near some small village where they don't +keep hair pins and--er--whatever else you young ladies need," and he +smiled quizzically at Ruth. + +"Thank you! We brought all the hairpins we need!" Agnes informed him. + +"And I think we have enough to eat," added Ruth. "At least Mrs. Mac is +busy in the kitchen, and something smells mighty good." + +Indeed appetizing odors were permeating the interior of the _Bluebird_, +and a little later the company were sitting down to a most delightful +meal. Dot and Tess could hardly be induced to come down off the upper +deck long enough to eat, so fascinated were they with the things they +saw along the canal. + +"Isn't Hank going to eat, and the mules, too?" asked Dot, as she +finished and took her "Alice-doll" up, ready to resume her station under +the awning. + +"Oh, yes. Mrs. MacCall will see that he gets what he needs, and Hank, as +you call him, will feed the mules," said Mr. Howbridge. + +"Do you think we ought to call him Hank?" asked Tess. "It seems so +familiar." + +"He's used to it," answered Neale. "Everybody along the canal calls him +that. He's been a driver for years, before he went to traveling around, +and met men who knew my father." + +"Hum! That just reminds me," said the lawyer musingly, as Dot and Tess +hurried from the table. "Perhaps I ought to question Hank about the two +Klondikers who inquired about the Stetson flat. He may know of them. +Well, it will do to-night after we have tied up." + +"Where is Hank going to sleep?" asked Ruth, who, filling the rôle of +housekeeper, thought she must carry out her duties even on the +_Bluebird_. + +"He will sleep on the upper deck. I have a cot for him," said the +lawyer. "The mules will be tethered on the towpath. It is warm now, and +they won't need shelter. They are even used to being out in the rain." + +The afternoon was drawing to a close, matters aboard the houseboat had +been arranged to satisfy even the critical taste of Ruth, and Mrs. +MacCall was beginning to put her mind on the preparation of supper when +Dot, who had come below to get a new dress for her "Alice-doll," ran +from the storeroom where the trunks and valises had been put. + +"Oh! Oh, Ruth!" gasped the little girl. "Somebody's in there!" + +"In where?" asked Ruth, who was writing a letter at the living-room +table. + +"In there!" and Dot pointed toward the storeroom, which was at the stern +of the boat under the stairs that led up on deck. + +"Some one in there?" repeated Ruth. "Well, that's very possible. Mrs. +Mac may be there, or Neale or--" + +"No, it isn't any of them!" insisted Dot. "I saw everybody that belongs +to us. It's somebody else! He's in the storeroom, and he sneezed and +made a noise like a goat." + +"You ridiculous child! what do you mean?" exclaimed Agnes, who was just +passing through the room and heard what Dot said. + +"You probably heard one of Hank's mules hee-hawing," said Ruth, getting +up from her chair. + +"Mules don't sneeze!" declared Dot with conviction. + +Ruth had to admit the truth of this. + +"You come and see!" urged Dot, and, clasping her sister's hand, she led +her into the storeroom, Agnes following. + +"What's up?" asked Mr. Howbridge, coming along just then. + +"Oh, Dot imagines she heard some unusual noise," explained Ruth. + +"I did hear it!" insisted the younger girl. "It was a sneeze and a bleat +like a goat and it smells like a goat, too. Smell it!" she cried, +vigorously sniffing the air as she paused on the threshold of the +storeroom. "Don't you smell it?" + +Just then the silence was shattered by a vigorous sneeze, followed by +the unmistakable bleating of a goat, and out of a closet came fairly +tumbling--a stowaway! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OVERBOARD + + +"There! What did I tell you!" cried Dot, pointing a finger at the +strange sight. "I heard a noise, and then it was a sneeze and then it +was a bleat and then I _smelled_ a goat. I knew it was a goat, and it +is, and it's Sammy Pinkney, too!" + +And, surely enough, it was. Tousled and disheveled, dirty and with his +clothes awry, there stood the urchin who was, it seemed, continually +getting into mischief at or around the Corner House. + +But if Sammy was mussed up because of having been hidden in a small +closet, the goat did not appear to be any the worse for his +misadventure. Billy Bumps was as fresh as a daisy, and suddenly he +lowered his head and made a dive for Mr. Howbridge. + +"Oh!" cried Ruth. "Look out!" + +"Hold him!" yelled Agnes. + +Neale, who had joined the wondering throng now gazing at the stowaway, +caught the goat by the animal's collar just in time, and held him back +from butting the lawyer. + +"He--he's just a little excited like," Sammy explained. + +"Well, I should think he would be!" declared Ruth, taking command of the +situation, as she often had to do where Sammy was concerned. "And now +what do you mean, hiding yourself and Billy Bumps on the boat?" she +demanded. "Why did you do it? And why, above all things, bring the +goat?" + +"'Cause I knew you wouldn't let me come any other way," Sammy answered. +"I wanted to go houseboating awful bad, but I didn't think you'd take me +and Billy. So this morning, when you was packing up, me and him came +down here and we got on board. I hid us in a closet, and we was going to +stay there until night and then maybe you'd be so far away you couldn't +send us back. But something tickled my nose and I sneezed, and I guess +Billy thought I was sneezing at him, for he bleated and then he butted +his head against the door and it came open and--and--" + +But Sammy really had to stop--he was out of breath. + +"Well, of all things!" cried Agnes. + +"It is rather remarkable," agreed Mr. Howbridge. "I don't know that I +ever before had to deal with a stowaway. The question that's puzzling me +is, what shall we do with him?" + +"Can't me and Billy stay?" asked Sammy, catching drift of an objection +to his presence on board. + +"Of course not!" voiced Ruth. "What would your mother and father say?" + +"Oh, they wouldn't care," Sammy said, easily enough and brightening +visibly at the question. "They let me stay when I went with you on our +auto tour." + +"They surely did," remarked Agnes dryly. + +"And Billy's strong, too!" went on Sammy eagerly. "If one of the mules +got sick he could help pull the boat." + +"The idea!" exclaimed Agnes. + +"Oh, hello, Sammy!" called Tess, who had just heard of the discovery of +the stowaway. + +"Hello," Sammy returned. "I'm here!" + +They all laughed. + +"Well," said Mr. Howbridge at length, as the houseboat was slowly pulled +along the canal by the mules driven by Hank, "we must get Sammy home +somehow, though how is puzzling me." + +"Oh, please can't I stay?" begged the boy. "You can send Billy home, of +course. I don't know why I brought him. But let me stay. I'm going to be +a canal mule driver when I grow up, and I could begin now if you wanted +me to." + +"Aren't you going to be a pirate?" asked Agnes, for such had been +Sammy's desire for years. + +"Yes, of course. But I'm going to be a canal mule driver first." + +"It's out of the question," said Ruth firmly. "It was very wrong of you +to hide away on board, Sammy. Very wrong indeed! And it is going to be a +great bother for us to send you and Billy Bumps back home, as we must +do. Twice for the same trick is too often." + +"Aw, say, Ruthie, you might turn Billy Bumps loose here on the bank and +let me stay," pleaded Sammy. "Billy can take care of himself well +enough." + +"Sammy Pinkney!" exclaimed Tess, her eyes blazing. "Turn our goat loose +just because you brought him along when you know you had no business to +do that! Sammy Pinkney, you are the very worst boy I ever heard of!" + +Sammy looked rather frightened for the first time since being found on +the boat, for, after all, he had an immense respect for the usually +gentle Tess, and cared more for her good opinion than he did for that of +her elders. + +"I didn't mean to be bad," he whined. "I wanted to go along, that's +all." + +"But you wasn't asked," Tess insisted, pouting. + +"But I wasn't asked on that auto tour," went on Sammy hopefully. + +"Well, that was--was different," stammered Tess. "Anyway, you had no +right to talk about turning our goat loose. Why, somebody might steal +him!" + +"What shall we do?" Ruth appealed to Mr. Howbridge. "Can a boat turn +around in the canal?" + +"Not wide enough here," volunteered Neale, looking from a window. "But +we can when we get to the big waters, about five miles farther along." + +"It will not be necessary to turn about and go back," said the lawyer. +"I'll have to make arrangements for some one either to take charge of +our stowaway at the next large town, and keep him there until his father +can come for him, or else I may see some one going back to Milton by +whom we can return our interesting specimens," and he included boy and +goat in his glances. + +"Well, I was afraid you'd send us back," said Sammy with a sigh. "But +could I stay to supper?" he asked, as he sniffed the appetizing odors +that now seemed more completely to fill the interior of the _Bluebird_. + +"Of course you may stay to supper, Sammy," conceded Ruth. "And then +we'll see what's to be done. Oh, what a boy you are!" and she had to +laugh, though she did not want to. + +"I was hoping Sammy could come," murmured Dot, as she hugged her +"Alice-doll." + +"And Billy Bumps is fun," added Tess. + +"We have no room here for goats, whether they are funny or not," +declared Agnes. "Take him out in front, on the lower deck, Sammy. Tie +him there, and then wash yourself for supper. I should think you would +have smothered in that closet." + +"I did, almost," confessed the boy. "And Billy didn't like it, either. +But we wanted to come." + +"Too bad--young ambition nipped in the bud," murmured Mr. Howbridge. +"Take Billy outside, Sammy." + +The goat was rather frisky, and it required Neale and Sammy to tie him +to the forward rail on the lower deck. Then Mrs. MacCall, in the +kindness of her Scotch heart, sent the "beastie," as she called him, +some odds and ends of food, including beet tops from the kitchen, and +Billy, at least, was happy. + +"Low bridge!" suddenly came the call from Hank, up ahead with the two +mules. + +"What's he saying?" asked Ruth to Mr. Howbridge. + +"He's giving warning that we are approaching a low bridge, and that if +we stay on deck and hold our heads too high we may get bumped. Yes, +there's the bridge just ahead. I wonder if we can pass beneath it. Our +houseboat is higher than a canal boat." + +The stream curved then, and gave a view of a white bridge spanning it. +Hank had had the first glimpse of it. It was necessary for the occupants +of the upper deck either to desert it, or to crouch down below the +railing, and they did the former. + +There was just room for the _Bluebird_ to squeeze through under the +bridge, and beyond it lay a good-sized town. + +"I think I can get some one there to take Sammy home, together with +Billy Bumps," said Mr. Howbridge. "We'll try after supper, and then we +must see about tying up for the night." + +The houseboat attracted considerable attention as it was slowly drawn +along the canal, which passed through the middle of the town. A stop was +made while Mr. Howbridge instituted inquiries as to the possibility of +sending Sammy back to Milton, and arrangements were made with a farmer +who agreed to hitch up after supper and deliver the goat and the boy +where they belonged. + +"Well, anyhow, I'm glad I'm going to stay to supper," said Sammy, +extracting what joy he could from the situation that had turned against +him. + +The _Bluebird_ came to rest at a pleasant place in the canal just +outside the town, and there supper was served by Mrs. MacCall. A +bountiful one it was, too, and after Hank had had his, apart from the +others, he confided to Neale, as he went back to the mules: + +"She's the beatenist cook I ever see!" + +"Good, you mean?" asked Neale, smiling. + +"The best ever! I haven't eaten victuals like 'em since I had a home and +a mother, and that's years and years back. I'm glad I struck this job." + +In the early evening the farmer came for Sammy and the goat, a small +crate, that once had held a sheep, being put in the back of the wagon +for Billy's accommodation. + +"Well, maybe you'll take me next time, when I've growed bigger," +suggested the boy, as he waved rather a sad farewell to his friends. + +"Maybe," said Ruth, but under her breath she added: "Not if I know it." + +"Good-by, Sammy!" called Dot. + +But Tess, still indignant over Sammy's suggestion to turn the goat--her +goat--loose to shift for himself, called merely: + +"Good-by, Billy Bumps!" + +Mr. Howbridge went into the town and telephoned to Milton to let Sammy's +father know the boy was safe and on his way back, and then matters +became rather more quiet aboard the _Bluebird_. + +The houseboat was towed to a good place in which to spend the night. +Lines were carried ashore and the craft moored to trees along the +towpath. + +The mules were given their suppers and tethered, and Hank announced that +he was going to do some fishing before he "turned in." + +"Oh, could I fish, too?" cried Dot. + +"And me! I want to!" added Tess. + +"I think they might be allowed to," said Mr. Howbridge. "There are +really good fish in the canal, coming from Lake Macopic, and we could +cook them for breakfast. They'd keep all right in the ice box--if any +are caught." + +"Oh, I'll catch some!" declared Hank. "I've fished in the canal before." + +"Oh, please let us!" begged the small girls. + +"But you have no poles, lines or anything," objected Ruth. + +"I've got lines and hooks, and I can easy cut some poles," offered Hank, +and so it was arranged. + +A little later, while Ruth, Agnes and Mrs. MacCall were busy with such +housework as was necessary aboard the _Bluebird_, and while Neale and +Mr. Howbridge were getting Hank's cot in readiness on the deck, the mule +driver and Dot and Tess sat on the stern of the craft with their lines +in the water. + +It was a still, quiet evening, restful and peaceful, and as Hank had +told the girls that fish liked quietness, no one of the trio was +speaking above a whisper. + +"Have you got a bite?" suddenly asked Tess in a low voice of her sister. + +"No, not yet. I'm going to set my Alice-doll up where she can watch me. +She never saw anybody catch a fish--my Alice-doll didn't." And Dot +propped her "child" up near her, on the deck of the craft. + +Suddenly Hank pulled his pole up sharply. + +"I got one!" he exclaimed. + +"Oh, I wish I'd get one!" echoed Tess. + +"Let me see!" fairly shouted Dot. "Let me see the fish, Hank!" She +struggled to her feet, and the next moment a wild cry rang out. + +"She's fallen in! Oh, she's fallen in! Oh, get her out!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +NEALE WONDERS + + +Dot's startled cries roused all on board the _Bluebird_. Neale and Mr. +Howbridge dropped the cot they were setting in place under the awning, +and rushed to the railing of the deck. Inside the boat Ruth, Agnes and +Mrs. MacCall hurried to windows where they could look out toward the +stern where the fishing party had seated themselves. + +"Man overboard!" sang out Neale, hardly thinking what he was doing. + +But, to the surprise of all the startled ones, they saw at the stern of +the boat, Hank, Dot and Tess, and from Hank's line was dangling a +wiggling fish. + +But Dot was pointing to something in the water. + +"Why!" exclaimed Ruth, "no one has fallen in. What can the child mean?" + +"She said--" began Agnes, but she was interrupted by Dot who exclaimed: + +"It's my Alice-doll! She fell in when I got up to look at Hank's fish! +Oh, somebody please get my Alice-doll!" + +"I will in jest a minute now, little lady!" cried the mule driver. "It's +bad luck to let your first fish git away. Jest a minute now, and I'll +save your Alice-doll!" + +Neale and Mr. Howbridge hurried down to the lower deck from the top one +in time to see Hank take his fish from the hook and toss it into a pail +of water the mule driver had placed near by for just this purpose. Then +as Hank took off his coat and seemed about to plunge overboard into the +canal, to rescue the doll, Ruth said: + +"Don't let him, Mr. Howbridge. Dot's doll isn't worth having him risk +his life for." + +"Risking my life, Miss Kenway! It wouldn't be that," said Hank, with a +laugh. "I can swim, and I'd just like a bath." + +"Here's a boat hook," said Neale, offering one, and while Dot and Tess +clung to one another Hank managed to fish up the "Alice-doll," Dot's +special prize, which was, fortunately, floating alongside the houseboat. + +[Illustration: While Dot and Tess clung to one another, Hank +managed to fish up the "Alice-doll."] + +"There you are, little lady!" exclaimed the driver, and he began to +squeeze some of the water from Alice. + +"Oh, please don't!" begged Dot. + +"Don't what?" asked Hank. + +"Please don't choke her that way. All her sawdust might come out. It did +once. I'll just hang her up to dry. Poor Alice-doll!" murmured the +little girl, as she clasped her toy in her arms. + +"Were you almost drowned?" and she cuddled her doll still closer in her +arms. + +"Don't hold her so close to you, Dot," cautioned Ruth. "She'll get you +soaking wet." + +"I don't care!" muttered Dot. "I've got to put dry clothes on her so she +won't catch cold." + +"And that's just what I don't want to have to do for you--change your +clothes again to-day," went on Ruth. "You can love your doll even if you +don't hold her so close." + +"Well, anyhow I'm glad she didn't drown," said Dot. + +"So'm I," remarked Tess. "I'll go and help you change her. I'm glad we +didn't bring Almira and her kittens along, for they look so terrible +when they're wet--cats do." + +"And I'm glad we didn't have Sammy and Billy Bumps here to fall in!" +laughed Agnes. "Goats are even worse in the water than cats." + +"Well, aren't you going to help me fish any more?" asked Hank, as the +two little girls walked away, deserting their poles and lines. + +"I have to take care of my Alice-doll," declared Dot. + +"And I have to help her," said Tess. + +"I'll take a hand at fishing, if you don't mind," said Neale. + +"And I wouldn't mind trying myself," added the lawyer. And when Hank's +sleeping quarters had been arranged the three men, though perhaps Neale +could hardly be called that, sat together at the stern of the boat, +their lines in the water. + +"Mr. Howbridge is almost like a boy himself on this trip, isn't he?" +said Agnes to Ruth as the two sisters helped Mrs. MacCall make up the +berths for the night. + +"Yes, he is, and I'm glad of it. I wouldn't know what to do if some +grave, tiresome old man had charge of our affairs." + +"Well now, who is going to have first luck?" questioned Mr. Howbridge, +jokingly, as the three sat down to try their hands at fishing. + +"I guess the luck will go to the first one who gets a catch," returned +Neale. + +"Luck goes to the one who gits the biggest fish," put in the mule +driver. + +After that there was silence for a few minutes. Then the lawyer gave a +cry of satisfaction. + +"Got a bite?" questioned Hank. + +"I have and he's a beauty," was the reply, and Mr. Howbridge drew up a +fair-sized fish. + +A minute later Neale found something on his hook. It was so large he had +to play his catch. + +"You win!" cried the lawyer, when the fish was brought on board. And he +was right, for it was the largest catch made by any of them. + +The fishing party had good luck, and a large enough supply was caught +for a meal the next day. Hank cleaned them and put them in the ice box, +for a refrigerator was among the fittings on the _Bluebird_. + +Then, as night came on, Dot and Tess were put to bed, Dot insisting on +having her "Alice-doll" placed near her bunk to dry. Hank retired to his +secluded cot on the upper deck, the mules had been tethered in a +sheltered grove of trees just off the towpath, and everything was made +snug for the night. + +"How do you like the trip so far?" asked Mr. Howbridge of Ruth and +Agnes, as he sat in the main cabin, talking with them and Neale. + +"It's just perfect!" exclaimed Agnes. "And I know we're going to like it +more and more each day." + +"Yes, it is a most novel way of spending the summer vacation," agreed +Ruth, but there was little animation in her voice. + +"Are you still mourning the loss of your jewelry?" asked the lawyer, +noting her rather serious face. + +Ruth nodded. "Mother's wedding ring was in that box," she said softly. + +"You must not let it spoil your trip," her guardian continued. "I think +there is a good chance of getting it back." + +"Do you mean you think the police will catch those rough men who robbed +us?" asked Ruth. + +"Yes," answered the lawyer. "I told them they must spare no effort to +locate the ruffians, and they have sent an alarm to all the neighboring +towns and cities. Men of that type will not find it easy to dispose of +the rings and pins, and they may have to carry them around with them for +some time. I really believe you will get back your things." + +"Oh, I hope so!" exclaimed Ruth. "It has been an awful shock." + +"I would rather they had taken a much larger amount of jewelry than have +harmed either you or Agnes," went on the guardian. "They were ruffians +of the worst type, and would not have stopped at injuring a person to +get what they wanted. But don't worry, we shall hear good news from the +police, I am sure." + +"I believe that, too," put in Neale. "I wish I was as sure of hearing +good news of my father." + +"That is going to be a little harder problem," said Mr. Howbridge. +"However, we are doing all we can. I am hoping your Uncle Bill will have +had definite news of your father and of where he has settled since he +came back from the Klondike. Your father would be most likely to +communicate with your uncle first." + +"I suppose so," agreed Neale. "But when shall we see Uncle Bill?" + +"As I told you," went on the lawyer, "his circus will soon show at a +town near which we shall pass in the boat. The younger children will +probably want to go to the circus, and that will give me a good excuse +for attending myself," the lawyer went on with a laugh, in which Ruth +joined. + +The night passed quietly, though about twelve o'clock another boat came +along and had to pass the _Bluebird_. As there is but one towpath along +a canal, it is necessary when two boats meet, or when one passes the +other, for the tow-line of one to go under or over the tow-line of the +second boat. + +As the _Bluebird_ was tied to the shore it was needful, in this case, +for the tow-line of the passing boat to be lifted up over it, and when +this was being done it awakened Ruth and Agnes. At first the girls were +startled, but they settled back when the nature of the disturbance was +known. + +Dot half awakened and murmured something about some one trying to take +her "Alice-doll," but Ruth soon quieted her. + +Neale was awake early the next morning, and went on the upper deck for a +breath of air before breakfast. He saw Hank emerge from the +curtained-off place that had been arranged for the sleeping quarters of +the mule driver. + +"Well, do we start soon?" asked Hank, yawning and stretching. + +"I think so," Neale answered, and then he saw Hank make a sudden dart +for something that had evidently slipped from a hole in his pocket. It +was something that rolled across the deck, something round, and shining +like gold. + +The mule driver made a dive for the object and caught it before it could +roll off the deck, and Neale had a chance to see that it was a gold +ring. + +Without a word Hank picked it up and put it back in his pocket. Then, +without a glance at the boy, he turned aside, and, making his way to the +towpath, he began carrying the mules their morning feed. + +Neale stood staring after him, and at the memory of the ring he became +possessed of strange thoughts and wonderings. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TRICK MULE + + +Neale O'Neil was wiser than most boys of his age. Perhaps having once +lived in a circus had something to do with it. At any rate, among the +things he had learned was to think first and speak afterward. And he +decided to put this into practice now. He was doing a deal of thinking +about the ring he had seen roll over the deck to be so quickly, almost +secretively, picked up by Hank Dayton. But of it Neale said nothing to +the mule driver nor to those aboard the _Bluebird_. + +Walking about on the upper deck and looking down the towpath toward +Hank, who was bringing the mules from their sylvan stable to feed them, +Neale heard Ruth call: + +"How's the weather up there?" + +"Glorious!" cried the boy. "It's going to be a dandy day." + +"That's great!" exclaimed Ruth. "Come on, children!" she called. +"Everybody up! The mules are up and we must be up too," she went on, +paraphrasing a little verse in the school reader. + +"Did any of the mules fall into the canal?" asked Dot, as she made haste +to look at her "Alice-doll," who had dried satisfactorily during the +night. + +"'Course not! Why should a mule fall into the canal?" asked Tess. + +"Well, they might. My doll did," went on the smallest Corner House girl. +"But, anyhow, I'm glad they didn't." + +"Yes, so am I," remarked Mr. Howbridge, as they all gathered around the +breakfast table, which Mrs. MacCall had set, singing the while some +Scotch song containing many new and strange words. + +"Well, shall we travel on?" asked the lawyer, when the meal was over and +Hank was hitching the mules to the tow-rope, the animals and their +driver having had a satisfying meal. + +"Oh, yes, let's go on!" urged Agnes. "I'm crazy to go through one of the +locks." + +"Will there be any trouble about getting the houseboat through?" asked +Ruth of her guardian. "She is a pretty big craft!" + +"But not as long as many of the canal boats, though a trifle wider, or +'of more beam,' as a sailor would say," he remarked. "No, the locks are +large enough to let us through. But tell me, do you find this method of +travel too slow?" he went on. "I know you young folks like rapid motion, +and this may bore you," and he glanced quickly at Ruth. + +"Oh, not at all," she hastened to say. "I love it. The mules are so calm +and peaceful." + +Just then one of the animals let out a terrific hee-haw and Agnes, +covering her ears with her hands, laughed at her sister. + +"That's just as good as a honk-honk horn on an auto!" exclaimed Tess. + +"Calm and peaceful!" tittered Agnes. "How do you like that, Ruth?" + +"I don't mind it at all," was the calm answer. "It blends in well with +the environment, and it's much better than the shriek of a locomotive +whistle." + +"Bravo, Minerva!" cried Mr. Howbridge. "You should have been a lawyer. I +shall call you Portia for a change." + +"Don't, please!" she begged. "You have enough nicknames for me now." + +"Very well then, we'll stick to the old ones. And, meanwhile, if you are +all ready I'll give the word to Hank to start his mules. There is no +hurry on this trip, as the man to whom I am to deliver this boat has no +special need for it. But we may as well travel on." + +"I'll be glad when I can start the gasoline motor," remarked Neale. + +"Which will be as soon as we get off the canal and into the river," said +the lawyer. "I'd use the motor now, only the canal company won't permit +it on account of the wash of the propeller tearing away the banks." + +The tow-line tauted as the mules leaned forward in their collars, and +once more the _Bluebird_ was under way. + +Life aboard the houseboat was simple and easy, as it was intended to be. +There was little housework to do, and it was soon over, and all that +remained was to sit on deck and watch the ever-changing scenery. The +changes were not too rapid, either, for a boat towed on a canal does not +progress very fast. + +"It's like a moving picture, isn't it?" remarked Agnes. "It puts me in +mind of some scenes in foreign countries--rural scenes, I mean." + +"Only the moving pictures move so much faster," returned Ruth, with a +smile. "They show you hundreds of miles in a few minutes." + +"Gracious, I wouldn't want to ride as fast as that," exclaimed Tess. +"We'd fall off or blow away sure!" + +It just suited the Corner House girls, though, and Neale extracted full +enjoyment from it, though, truth to tell, he was rather worried in his +mind. One matter was the finding of his father, and the other was a +suspicion concerning Hank and the ring. + +This was a suspicion which, as yet, Neale hardly admitted to himself +very plainly. He wanted to watch the mule driver for a time yet. + +"It may not have been one of Ruth's rings, to begin with," reasoned +Neale. "And, if it is, I don't believe Hank had anything to do with +taking it, though he may know who did. I've got to keep on the watch!" + +His meditations were interrupted, as he sat on the deck of the boat, by +hearing Hank cry: + +"Lock! Lock!" + +That meant the boat was approaching one of the devices by which canal +craft are taken over hills. A canal is, of course, a stream on a level. +It does not run like a river. In fact, it is just like a big ditch. + +But as a canal winds over the country it comes to hills, and to get up +or down these, two methods are employed. One is what is called an +inclined plane. + +The canal comes to the foot of a hill and stops. There a sort of big +cradle is let down into the water, the boat is floated into the cradle, +and then boat, cradle and all are pulled up over the hill on a sort of +railroad track, a turbine water wheel usually furnishing the power. Once +over the brow of the hill the cradle and boat slide down into the water +again and the journey is resumed. + +The other means of getting a canal boat over a hill is by means of a +lock. When the waterway is stopped in its level progress by reaching a +hill, a square place is excavated and lined with rocks so as to form a +water-tight basin, the open end being closed by big, wooden gates. + +The _Bluebird_ was now approaching one of these locks, where it was to +be raised from a low to a higher level. While Hank managed the mules, +Neale steered the boat into the stone-lined basin. Then the big gates +were closed behind the craft, and the mules, being unhitched, were sent +forward to begin towing again when the boat should have been lifted. + +"Now we can watch!" said Dot as she and Tess took their places at the +railing. Going through canal locks was a novelty for them, as there were +no locks near Milton, though the canal ran through the town. + +Once the _Bluebird_ was locked within the small stone-lined basin, water +was admitted to it through gates at the other and higher end. These +gates kept the body of water on the higher level from pouring into the +lower part of the canal. Faster and faster the water rushed in as the +lock keeper opened more valves in the big gates. The water foamed and +hissed all around the boat. + +"Oh, we're going up!" cried Dot. "Look, we're rising!" + +"Just like in an elevator!" added Tess. + +And, indeed, that is just what it was like. The water lifted the +_Bluebird_ up higher and higher. As soon as the water had raised it to +the upper level, the other gates were opened, and the _Bluebird_ moved +slowly out of the lock, having been raised about fifteen feet, from a +lower to a higher level. Going from a higher to a lower is just the +reverse of this. Sometimes a hill is so high that three sets of locks +are necessary to get a boat up or down. + +Once more the mules were hitched to the tow-line, and started off. As +the boat left the lock another one came in, which was to be lowered. The +children watched this as long as they could, and then turned their +attention to new scenes. + +It was toward the close of the afternoon, during which nothing exciting +had happened, except that Tess nearly fell overboard while leaning too +far across the rail to see something in the water, that Neale, looking +forward toward the mules and their driver, saw a man leading a lone +animal come out of a shanty along the towpath and begin to talk to Hank. + +Hank halted his team, and the _Bluebird_ slowly came to a stop. Mr. +Howbridge, who was talking to Ruth and Agnes, looked up from a book of +accounts he was going over with them and inquired: + +"What's the matter?" + +"Oh, Hank has met a friend, I imagine," ventured Neale. "It's a man with +a lone mule." + +"Well, he shouldn't stop just to have a friendly talk," objected the +lawyer. "We aren't hiring him for that. Give him a call, Neale, and see +what he means." + +But before this could be done Hank turned, and, making a megaphone of +his hands, called: + +"Say, do you folks want to buy a good mule cheap?" + +"Buy a mule," repeated the lawyer, somewhat puzzled. + +"Yes. This man has one to sell, and it might be a good plan for us to +have an extra one." + +"I never thought of that," said the lawyer. "It might be a good plan. +Let's go up and see about it, Neale." + +"Let's all go," proposed Agnes. "It will rest us to walk along the +towpath." + +The _Bluebird_ was near shore and there was no difficulty in getting to +the path. Then all save Mrs. MacCall, who preferred to remain on board, +walked up toward the two men and the three mules. + +The man who had stopped Hank was a rough-looking character, but many +towpath men were that, and little was thought of it at the time. + +"Do you folks want to buy a good mule?" he asked. "I'll sell him cheap," +he went on. "I had a team, but the other died on me." + +"I'm not much of an authority on mules," said Mr. Howbridge slowly. +"What do you say, Neale? Would you advise purchasing this animal if he +is a bargain?" + +Neale did not answer. He was carefully looking at the mule, which stood +near the other two. + +"Where'd you get this mule?" asked Neale quickly, looking at the +stranger. + +"Oh, I've had him a good while. He's one of a team, but I sold my boat +and--" + +"This mule never towed a boat!" said the boy quickly. + +"What makes you say that?" demanded the man in an angry voice. + +"Because I know," went on Neale. "This is a trick mule, and, unless I'm +greatly mistaken, he used to be in my uncle's circus!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AT THE CIRCUS + + +All eyes were turned on Neale O'Neil as he said this, and it would be +difficult to say who was the more astonished. As for the Corner House +girls, they simply stared at their friend. Hank Dayton looked surprised, +and then he glanced from the mule in question to the man who had offered +to dispose of the animal. Mr. Howbridge looked very much interested. As +for the strange tramp--for that is what he was--he seemed very angry. + +"What do you mean?" he cried. "This mule isn't any trick mule!" + +"Oh, isn't he?" asked Neale quietly. "And I suppose he never was in a +circus, either?" + +"Of course not!" declared the man. "Who are you, anyhow, and what do you +mean by talking that way?" + +"I advise you to be a little more respectful in tone," said Mr. +Howbridge in his suave, lawyer's voice. "If we do any business at all it +will be on this boy's recommendation. He knows about mules. I do not. I +shall hear what he and Hank have to say." + +"Well, it's all foolish saying this mule was in a circus," blustered the +man. "I've had him over a year, and I want to sell him now because he +hasn't any mate. I can't pull a canal boat with one mule." + +"Especially not a trick mule that never hauled a boat in his life," put +in Neale. + +"Here! You quit that! What do you mean?" demanded the man in sullen +tones. + +"I mean just what I said," declared Neale. "I believe this is a trick +mule that used to be in my uncle Bill's show--in Twomley and Sorber's +Herculean Circus and Menagerie, to be exact. Of course I may be +mistaken, but if not I can easily prove what I say." + +"Huh! I'd like to see you do it!" sneered the man. + +"All right, I will," and Neale's manner was confident. "I recognize this +mule," he went on to Mr. Howbridge, "by that mark on his off hind hoof," +and he pointed to a bulge on the mule's foot. "But of course that may be +on another mule, as well as on the one that was in my uncle's circus. +However, if I can make this mule do a trick I taught old Josh in the +show, that ought to prove what I say, oughtn't it?" + +"I should think so," agreed the lawyer. + +"You can't make this mule do any tricks," sneered the tramp. "He's a +good mule for pulling canal boats, but he can't do tricks." + +"Oh, can't he?" remarked Neale. "Well, we'll see. Come here, Josh!" he +suddenly called. + +The mule moved his big ears forward, as though to make sure of the +voice, and then, looking at Neale, slowly approached him. + +"Anybody could do that!" exclaimed the man disdainfully. + +"Well, can anybody do this?" asked the boy. "Josh--dead mule!" he +suddenly cried. And, to the surprise of all, the mule dropped to the +towpath, stretched out his legs stiffly and lay on his side with every +appearance of having departed this life. + +"There!" exclaimed Neale. "That's the trick I taught him in the show, +before I left it." + +The other mules were sniffing at their prostrate companion. + +"Oh, isn't he funny!" cried Dot, as Josh opened one eye and looked +straight at her. + +"I'd rather have a mule than Billy Bumps for a pet!" declared Tess. + +"Did you really make him do it, Neale?" asked Ruth. + +"Yes, and I can do it again!" declared the lad. "Up, Josh!" he +commanded, and the mule scrambled to his feet. "Dead mule--Josh!" cried +Neale again, and down the animal went a second time. + +"Well, what have you to say to that?" the boy turned to ask the tramp. +But the man did not stay to answer. Off he ran, down the towpath, at top +speed. + +"Shall I get him?" cried Hank, throwing the reins on the back of one of +his mules, while Josh, in response to a command from Neale, stood +upright again. + +"No, let him go," advised Mr. Howbridge. "It is very evident that he had +no legal claim to this mule, and he either took him away from the circus +himself, or received him from some one who did. Neale, I congratulate +you." + +"Thanks. I thought I recognized old Uncle Josh, but the trick proved it. +He hasn't forgotten that or me; have you, old fellow?" he asked as he +rubbed the mule's velvety nose. And the animal seemed glad to be near +the boy. + +"Pretty slick, I call that," said Hank admiringly. "Guess you'll have to +teach my mules some trick, Neale." + +"It takes too long!" laughed the lad. + +"Is this our mule now?" asked Dot, as she approached the new animal, +which was quite gentle and allowed the children to pet him. + +"Well, I don't know just who does own him," said Mr. Howbridge, not +wanting to give a legal opinion which might be wrong. "But he certainly +does not belong to that man," and he looked after the retreating figure, +now far down the towpath. + +"'Cause if he's our mule I'd like to give my Alice-doll a ride on his +back," went on Dot. + +"I'd like a ride myself!" exclaimed Tess. + +"Oh, don't try that!" sighed Ruth. + +"Josh wouldn't mind," put in Neale. "I used to ride him in the circus. +Look!" + +With a spring he reached the mule's back, and then, at the word of +command, Josh trotted up and down the towpath. + +"Oh, do let me try!" begged Tess. + +"Shall I put her on?" Neale asked, and, at a nod from Ruth, he lifted +the little girl up on the mule's back, and the delighted Tess was given +a ride. + +"Oh, it's ever so much nicer'n Scalawag!" she cried as she was lifted +down. "Try it, Dot!" Scalawag was the circus pony that Neale's uncle had +given to Tess and Dot. + +"I will if I can hold my Alice-doll!" stipulated the youngest Kenway. + +"Sure!" assented Neale, and the fun was continued. + +"I wish I dared to do it!" exclaimed Agnes, with a look at Ruth. But +Ruth shook her head, and Agnes, after a moment's hesitation, yielded to +Ruth's sense of the fitness of things. + +"Well, the question now arises," said Mr. Howbridge, "what shall we do +with this mule, which seems to have been stolen?" + +"I say take him along with us," answered Hank. "One of our critters +might get hurt, and we'd have to lay up if we didn't have an extra one." + +"I don't believe Uncle Josh would pull in harness with another mule," +said Neale. "He has always been a trick mule, and has worked alone. He +is quite valuable." + +"Do you suppose your uncle sold him?" asked the lawyer. + +"I don't believe so," said the boy. "I believe he was stolen, and I +know, in that case, that Uncle Bill would be glad to get him back." + +"Well, then let's take him back," suggested Hank. "I can drive him along +with my mules for a spell until we come to the place where the circus is +playing. He'll drive, I guess, if he won't pull a boat, and he'll be +company for my mules." Hank was fond of animals, and treated them +kindly. + +"How does that plan appeal to you, Minerva?" asked Ruth's guardian. +"This is your trip, as well as mine. Do you want to be bothered with an +extra mule?" + +"Oh, I don't see that he would be any bother," she said. "If Hank looks +after him, we shan't have to. And if it's Neale's uncle's mule he ought +to be returned." + +"That settles it," said Mr. Howbridge. "We'll take the mule with us." + +"I'm sure Uncle Bill will be glad to get him back," declared Neale. "And +I'm pretty sure he never sold him." + +So it was arranged. Once more the _Bluebird_ was under way, the two +harnessed mules towing her and Uncle Josh, the trick animal, wandering +along at his own sweet will. + +For a time the Corner House girls, with Neale and Mr. Howbridge, walked +along the towpath. Then they went back to the boat as Mrs. MacCall, +blowing on a horn, announced meal time. + +The trip along the canal continued in leisurely fashion. Now the +_Bluebird_ would be lifted up at some water-foaming lock, or lowered in +the same fashion. Twice they were lifted over inclined planes, and the +young folks, especially Dot and Tess, liked this very much. + +The weather had been all that could be desired ever since they started, +except the rain storm in which the girls were robbed. But now, about +four days after leaving Milton, they awoke one morning to find a +disagreeable drizzle. But Hank and the mules did not seem to mind it. In +fact they rather liked splashing through the rain and mud. + +Of course getting out and strolling along the towpath was out of the +question for the voyagers, and they found amusements enough on board the +houseboat. + +It rained all day, but it needed more than this to take the joy out of +life for the Corner House girls. + +"Fair day to-morrow!" cried Neale, and so it proved. + +They approached a small town early the next day, and as they tied up at +a tow-barn station to get some supplies Dot cried: + +"Oh, look at the elephant!" + +"Where?" demanded Tess. + +"I mean it's a picture of it on that barn," went on the mother of the +"Alice-doll," and she pointed. + +"Oh, it's a circus!" exclaimed Tess. "Look, Ruth--Agnes!" + +And there, in many gay posters was the announcement that "Twomley & +Sorber's Herculean Circus and Menagerie" would show that day in Pompey, +the town they had then reached. + +"It's Uncle Bill's show!" cried Neale. "Maybe I'll hear some news of my +father." + +"And shall we have to give back Josh mule?" asked Tess, who had taken +quite a liking to the animal. + +"Well, we'll see," said Mr. Howbridge. "But I think we may as well, all +of us, go to the circus," he added. + +And, that afternoon, the trick mule having been left in the towpath barn +with Hank's animals, almost the whole party, including the driver, went +to the circus. Only Mrs. MacCall decided to stay on the houseboat. + +On the way to the circus the party passed the post-office. Ruth +remembered that this was a town she had mentioned in a letter to Luke +Shepard and ran in to see if there was any mail. + +"Ruth Kenway," said the clerk, in answer to her question, and a moment +later passed out a fine, fat letter, addressed in the hand she knew so +well. + +"I'll read it to-night--I haven't time now," she told herself, and +blushed happily. "Dear Luke--I hope everything is going well with him." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +REAL NEWS AT LAST + + +"Oh, look at the toy balloons! Look, Alice-doll," and Dot held her +constant companion up in her arms. + +Dot was in a state of great excitement, and kept repeating to Tess +stories of her experiences of the summer previous when Dot, her older +sisters and some friends, seated in a box of this very circus, Scalawag, +the pony, had been publicly presented to the smaller Corner House +girls--a scene, and a sensation, which is told of in a previous volume +of this series and which, alas! Tess had missed. + +"There's pink lemonade!" cried Tess. "Oh, I want some of that! Please, +Ruth, may I have two glasses?" + +"Not of that pink lemonade, Tess," answered the older girl. "It may be +colored with hat dye, for all we know. We'll see Neale's Uncle Bill, who +will take us to the best place to get something to drink." + +"Just see the fat lady!" went on Dot next. + +"Fat lady! Where? I don't see any!" exclaimed Tess. "Do you mean an +elephant?" she asked. + +"No. I mean over there!" and Dot pointed to a gayly painted canvas +stretched along the front of the tent in which the side shows were +showing. + +"Oh, that! Only a painting!" and Tess showed in her voice the +disappointment she felt. + +"Well, the lady is real, and we can go inside and see her; can't we, +Ruth?" pursued Dot. "Oh, I just love a circus; don't you, Alice?" and +she hugged her doll in her arms. + +"Yes, a circus is very nice," was the answer. "But now listen to me," +went on Ruth. "Don't run away and get lost in the crowd." + +"You couldn't run very far in such a crowd," answered Tess. + +"No, but you could get lost very easily." + +"Oh, see the camels! They are going for a drink, I guess." + +"Well, they have to have water the same as the other animals." + +"Oh, what was that?" cried Dot, as a gigantic roar rent the air. + +"That must have been a lion," answered Ruth. + +"Oh, do you think he'll get loose?" exclaimed Tess, holding back a +little. + +"I guess not." + +"It's the same old crowd," remarked Neale, as he looked on the familiar +scenes about the circus tent, while Mr. Howbridge walked along with +Ruth. Agnes and Neale were together, and Dot and Tess had hold of hands. +Hank, after the arrival at the grounds, said he would travel around by +himself, as he saw some men he knew. He agreed to be back at the canal +boat at five o'clock, after the show. + +"Wait until I get you a ticket," Neale said, as the mule driver was +about to separate from them. Going to the red and gold wagon, Neale +stepped to the window. The man inside was busy selling tickets and +tossing the money taken in to an assistant, who sorted and counted it. + +"How many?" asked the man in the ticket wagon, hardly looking up. + +"Seven--two of 'em halves," answered Neale quickly. + +"Well, where's the money--where's the cash?" asked the cashier rather +snappily, and then, for the first time, he looked up. A queer change +came over his face as he recognized Neale. + +"Well, for the love of alligators!" he exclaimed, thrusting forth his +hand. "When'd you get on the lot?" + +"Just arrived," answered Neale with a smile. "Got some friends of mine +here who want to see the show." + +"Surest thing you know!" cried the cashier. "How many'd you say? +Seven--two halves? Here you are," and he flipped the tickets down on the +wooden shelf in front of him. "Are you coming back to join the outfit?" +he went on. "We could bill 'Master Jakeway's' act very nicely now, I +imagine. Only," and he chuckled, "we'd have to drop the 'Master.' You've +got beyond that." + +"No, I'm not coming back," answered Neale. "That isn't saying I wouldn't +like to, perhaps. But I have other plans. I've heard that my father has +returned from the Klondike, and I want to see my uncle to find if he has +any news. Is he around--Uncle Bill, I mean?" + +"Yes, he was talking to me a while ago. And I did hear him mention, some +time back, that he had news of your father. Well, well! I am glad to see +you again, Neale. Stop in and see me after the show." + +"I'll try to," was the answer. + +Hank, being given his ticket, went away by himself, and, after greeting +some more of his circus friends, Neale began a search for his uncle. It +was not an easy matter to locate any of the circus men on the "lot" at +an hour just before the performance was to begin. And Tess and Dot were +eager to go in and see the animals, the side shows, the main performance +and everything else. + +"I'd better take them in," Ruth said finally. "You can join us later, +Neale, you and Mr. Howbridge." + +So this plan was agreed on, and then the two eager girls were led into +the tents of childish mystery and delight, while Neale and the lawyer +sought the proprietor of the show. + +They found him talking to Sully Sorber, the clown, who was just going in +to put on his makeup. + +At first Uncle Bill just stared at Neale, as though hardly believing the +evidence of his eyes. Then a welcoming smile spread over his face, and +he held out his hand. + +"Well! Well! This is a coincidence!" exclaimed the ringmaster. "I was +just figuring with Sully here if we would get any nearer Milton than +this, as I wanted to have a talk with you, and now here you are! How did +it happen? Glad to see you, sir," and he shook hands with Mr. Howbridge. +"I've been going to answer your letters, but I've been so busy I haven't +had time. One of the elephants got loose and wrecked a farmer's barn, +and I've had a damage suit to settle. But I am glad to see you both." + +"Tell me!" exclaimed Neale eagerly. "Have you any news from father? Is +he back from the Klondike? Where can I find him?" + +"My! you're as bad as ever for asking questions," chuckled Mr. Bill +Sorber. "But there! I know how it is! Yes, Neale, I have some real news, +though there isn't much of it. I never see such a man as your father for +not sending word direct. But maybe he did, and it miscarried. Anyhow, +I've been trying to get in touch with him ever since I got your letter, +Mr. Howbridge," he went on speaking to the lawyer. + +"Yes, your father has come back from the Klondike," he resumed to Neale. +"He put in his time to good advantage there, I hear, and made some +money. Then he set out for the States, and, in an indirect way, I +learned that he is located in Trumbull." + +"Trumbull? Where's that?" asked Neale eagerly. + +"It's a small town on Lake Macopic!" answered the circus man. + +Neale and the lawyer looked at one another in surprise. + +"Do you know the place?" went on the ringmaster. "I must confess I +don't. I tried to look it up to see if it was worth moving there with +the show, but I couldn't even find it on the map. So it must be pretty +small." + +"I don't know exactly where it is," the lawyer said. "But the fact of +the matter is that we are on our way to Lake Macopic in a houseboat, and +it is quite a coincidence that Neale's father should be there. Can you +give us any further particulars?" + +"Well, not many," confessed Mr. Sorber. "Mr. O'Neil isn't much more on +letter writing than I am, and that isn't saying much. But my information +is to the effect that he had to go there to clear up some dispute he and +his mining partner had. He was in with some men in the Klondike, and +when it came to a settlement of the gold they had dug out there was a +dispute, I believe. One of the men lived in Trumbull, and your father, +Neale, had to go there to settle the matter. But I am glad to see you!" +he went on to the former circus lad. "And after the show, which is about +to begin, we can have a long talk, and then--" + +At that moment a loud shouting arose from the neighborhood of the animal +tent. Mingled with the cries of the men was a peculiar sound, like that +of some queer whistle, or trumpet. + +"There goes Minnie again!" cried Mr. Bill Sorber. "She's broken loose!" +and he ran off at top speed while other circus employees followed, the +shouting and trumpeting increasing in volume. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +RUTH'S ALARM + + +"Minnie's loose!" cried Neale to Mr. Howbridge after the flight of the +circus men. "Minnie is one of the worst elephants in captivity! She's +always making trouble, and breaking loose. I imagine she's the one that +wrecked the farmer's barn Uncle Bill was telling about. If she's on the +rampage in the animal tent it means mischief!" + +"An elephant loose!" cried Mr. Howbridge. "And Ruth and the children in +the tent! Come on, Neale!" he cried. "Hurry!" + +But there was no need to urge Neale to action. He was off on the run, +and Mr. Howbridge showed that he was not nearly so old and grave as he +sometimes appeared, for he ran swiftly after his more youthful +companion. + +The shouting continued, and the trumpet calls of the angry or frightened +elephant mingled with them. Then, as Neale and Mr. Howbridge came within +view of the animal tent, they saw bursting from it a huge elephant, +followed by several men holding to ropes attached to the "ponderous +pachyderm," as Minnie was called on the show bills. She was pulling a +score of circus hands after her, as though they were so many stuffed +straw men. + +Mr. Bill Sorber at this time reached the scene, and with him were +several men who had hurried after him when they heard the alarm. The +ringmaster seemed to know just what to do. He caught an ankus, or +elephant hook, from one of his helpers, and, taking a stand directly in +the path of the onrushing Minnie, he raised the sharp instrument +threateningly. + +On thundered the elephant, but Mr. Sorber stood his ground. Men shouted +a warning to him, and the screams and cries of women and children rose +shrilly on the air. Minnie, which was the rather peaceful name for a +very wild elephant, raised her trunk in the air, and from it came the +peculiar trumpet blasts. The men she was pulling along were dragged over +the ground helplessly. + +"Can he stop her, Neale?" gasped Mr. Howbridge, as he ran beside the +former circus boy. + +"Well, I've seem him stop a wild lion that got out of its cage," was the +answer. "But an elephant--" + +And then a strange thing happened. When within a few feet of the brave, +resolute man who stood in her path, Minnie began to go more slowly. Her +shrill cries were less insistent, and the men being dragged along after +her began to hold back as they regained their feet. + +Mr. Sorber raised the ankus on high. Its sharp, curved point gleamed in +the sun. Minnie saw it, and she knew it could cruelly hurt her sensitive +trunk. More than once she had felt it before, when on one of her +rampages. She did not want to suffer again. + +And so, when so close that she could have reached out and touched the +ringmaster with her elongated nose, or, if so minded, she could have +curled it around him and hurled him to death--when this close, the +elephant stopped, and grew quiet. + +"Minnie! Minnie!" said the man in a soothing voice. "Behave yourself, +Minnie! Why are you acting in this way? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" + +And the elephant really seemed to be. She lowered her trunk, flapped her +ears slowly to and fro, and then stood in her tracks and began swaying +to and fro in the manner characteristic of the big beasts. + +Mr. Sorber went up to her, tossing the ankus to one of his men, and +began to pat the trunk which curled up as if in anticipation of a treat. + +"Minnie, you're a bad girl, and you oughtn't to have any; but since you +stopped when I told you to I'll give you a few," said the ringmaster, +and, reaching into his pocket, he took out some peanuts which the big +animal munched with every appearance of satisfaction. + +"She's all right now," said Neale's uncle, as the regular elephant men +came up to take charge of the creature. "She was just a little excited, +that's all. How did it happen?" + +"Oh, the same as usual," replied Minnie's keeper. "All at once she gave +a trumpet, yanked her stakes loose, and set off out of the animal tent. +I had some ropes on her ready to have her pull one of the wagons, and we +grabbed these--as many of us as could--but we couldn't hold her." + +"I'm afraid we'll have to get rid of Minnie, she's too uncertain. +Doesn't seem to know her own mind, like a lot of the women folks," and +Mr. Sorber smiled at Mr. Howbridge. + +"You were very brave to stop her as you did," observed the lawyer. + +"Oh, well, it's my business," said the animal man. "It wasn't such a +risk as it seemed. I was all ready to jump to one side if she hadn't +stopped." + +"I wonder if any one in the animal tent was hurt," went on the lawyer. +"We must go and see, Neale. Ruth and the others--" + +"I hope none of your folks were injured," broke in Mr. Sorber. "Minnie +has done damage in the past, but I guess she only just ran away this +time." + +With anxious hearts Neale and Mr. Howbridge hastened to the animal tent, +but their fears were groundless. Minnie had carefully avoided every one +in her rush, and, as a matter of fact, Ruth, Agnes, Dot and Tess were in +the main tent when the elephant ran out. They heard the excitement, but +Ruth quieted her sisters. + +"Well, now we'll go on with the show," said Mr. Sorber, when matters had +settled to their normal level. "I'll see you afterward, Neale, and you +too, Mr. Howbridge, and those delightful little ladies from the old +Corner House." + +"Oh, Uncle Bill, I almost forgot!" cried the boy. "Have you that trick +mule yet--Uncle Josh? The one I taught to play dead?" + +"Uncle Josh? No, I haven't got him, but I wish I had," said the circus +owner. "One of the stablemen took him away--stole him in fact--and I'd +give a hundred dollars to get him back!" + +Neale held out his hand, smiling. + +"What do you mean?" asked his uncle. + +"Pay me the hundred dollars," was the answer. "I have Uncle Josh!" + +"No! Really, have you?" + +"I have! I thought you hadn't sold him!" exclaimed the boy, and he told +the story of the man on the towpath. + +"Well, that is good news!" exclaimed Mr. Sorber. "I'll send for Uncle +Josh right away. I sure am glad to have him back. He was always good for +a lot of laughs. He's almost as funny as Sully, the clown." + +A few minutes later Neale and Mr. Howbridge joined Ruth and the others +in the main tent. + +Tess and Dot especially enjoyed the performance very much. They took in +everything from the "grand entry" to the races and concert at the end. +They were guests of the show, in fact, Neale having procured +complimentary tickets. + +When the performance was over, they visited "Uncle Bill" in his own +private tent, and the Corner House girls had a glimpse of circus life +"behind the scenes," as it were, Tess's first experience of the sort. + +Neale met many of his old friends and they all expressed the hope that +he would soon find his father. Uncle Josh, the trick mule, was brought +to the grounds by Hank, and the animal seemed glad to be again among his +companions. + +"Will you be back again this evening?" asked Neale's uncle, when the +time came for the party to go back to the houseboat for supper. + +"I think not," was Neale's answer. + +He said good-by to his uncle, arranging to write to him and hear from +him as often as needful. And then they left the circus lot where the +night performance would soon be given. + +"Well, I have real news of father at last," said Neale to Agnes, as he +went back toward the canal with his friends. "I would like to know, +though, if he got rich out in the Klondike." + +"If he wants any money he can have half mine!" offered Dot. "I have +eighty-seven cents in my bank, and I was going to save up to buy my +Alice-doll a new carriage. But you can have my money for your father, +Neale." + +"Thank you," replied Neale, without a smile at Dot's offer. "Maybe I +shan't need it, but it's very kind of you." + +Mrs. MacCall had supper ready soon after they arrived at the boat, and +then, as the smaller girls were tired from their day at the circus, they +went to bed early, while Ruth and Mr. Howbridge, Agnes and Neale sat out +on the deck and talked. As they were not to go on again until morning, +Hank was allowed to go back to the circus again. He said seeing it twice +in one day was not too much for him. + +"I do hope you will find your father, Neale," said Agnes softly, as, +just before eleven o'clock, they all went to bed. + +But Ruth, at least, did not go to sleep at once. In her bosom she +carried the letter she had received from Luke, and this she now read +carefully, twice. + +Luke was doing well at the summer hotel. The proprietor was sick, so he +and the head clerk and a night man had their hands full. He was earning +good money, and part of this he was going to spend on his education and +the rest he intended to save. He was sorry he could not be with the +houseboat party and hoped they would all have a good time. Then he added +a page or more intended only for Ruth's eyes. The letter made the oldest +Corner House girl very happy. + +Soon after breakfast the next morning they were under way again. The +circus had left town in the night, and Neale did not know when he would +see his uncle again. But the lad's heart beat high with hope that he +might soon find his father. + +The weather was propitious, and hours of sunshine were making the Corner +House girls as brown as Indians. Mr. Howbridge, too, took on a coat of +tan. As for Neale, his light hair looked lighter than ever against his +tanned skin. And Hank, from walking along the towpath, became almost as +dark as a negro. + +One morning, Ruth, coming down to the kitchen to help Mrs. MacCall with +the dinner, saw two fat, chubby legs sticking out of a barrel in one +corner of the cabin. + +The legs were vigorously kicking, and from the depths of the barrel came +muffled cries of: + +"Let me out! Help me out! Pull me up!" + +Ruth lost no time in doing the latter, and, after an effort, succeeded +in pulling right side up her sister Tess. + +"What in the world were you doing?" demanded Ruth. + +"I was scraping down in the bottom of the barrel to get a little flour +that was left," Tess explained, very red in the face. "But I leaned over +too far and I couldn't get up. And I couldn't call at first." + +"What did you want of flour?" asked Ruth. "Goodness, you have enough on +your dress, anyhow." + +"I wanted some to rub on my face to make me look pale," went on Tess. + +"To make you look pale! Gracious, Tess! what for?" + +"We're playing doctor and nurse, Dot and I," Tess explained. "I have to +be sick, and sick people are always pale. But I'm so tanned Dot said I +didn't look sick at all, so I tried to scrape some flour off the bottom +of the barrel to rub on my face." + +"Well, you have enough now if you brush off what's on your clothes," +laughed Ruth. + +"And be careful about leaning over barrels," put in Mrs. MacCall. "You +might have been hurt." + +"Yes," agreed Tess, "I might be but I wasn't. Only my head felt funny +and my legs felt queer, too, when I wiggled them." + +They were approaching the end of the stretch of the canal through which +they must travel to reach Gentory River. The boat would be "locked" from +the canal to the larger stream, and then Neale could have his wish of +operating the motor come true. + +Toward evening they arrived at the last lock of their trip. Just beyond +lay the river, and they would proceed up that to Lake Macopic. + +As the _Bluebird_ emerged from the lock and slowly floated on the little +basin into which just there the Gentory broadened, the attention of Ruth +and Agnes was directed to a small motor boat which was just leaving the +vicinity. + +Ruth, who stood nearest the rail, grasped her sister by the arm, and +cried an alarm. + +"Look! Those men! In the boat!" exclaimed Ruth. + +"What about them?" asked Agnes, while Mr. Howbridge glanced at the two +sisters. + +"They're the same men who robbed us!" exclaimed Ruth. "The men who took +our jewelry box in the rain! Oh, stop them!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +UP THE RIVER + + +Neale O'Neil, who had been steering the houseboat during the operation +of locking it from the canal into the river, sprang away from the tiller +toward the side of the craft at Ruth's cries. There was no immediate +need of guiding the _Bluebird_ for the moment, as she was floating idly +with the momentum gained when she was slowly pulled from the lock basin. + +"Are those the men?" asked Neale, pointing to two roughly dressed +characters in a small motor boat. + +"I'm sure they are!" asserted Ruth. "That one steering is the man who +grabbed the box from me. Look, Agnes, don't you remember them?" + +Mr. Howbridge, who heard what was said, acted promptly. On the towpath, +near the point where the river entered the canal through the lock, was +Hank Dayton with the two mules, the services of which would no longer be +needed. + +"Hank! Hank! Stop those men!" cried the lawyer. + +The driver dropped his reins, and sprang to the edge of the bank. Near +him was a rowboat, empty at the time, and with the oars in the locks. It +was the work of but a moment for Hank to spring in and shove off, and +then he began rowing hard. + +But of course he stood no chance against a motor boat. The two men in +the gasoline craft turned on more power. The explosions came more +rapidly and drowned the shouts of those on the houseboat. Hank soon gave +up his useless effort, and turned back to shore, while Ruth and Agnes, +leaning over the side of the rail, gazed at the fast-disappearing men. + +"There must be some way of stopping them!" cried Mr. Howbridge, who was +quite excited. "Isn't there a motor boat around here--a police boat or +something? Neale, can't you get up steam and take after them?" + +"The _Bluebird_ could never catch that small boat," answered the boy. +"And there doesn't seem to be anything else around here now, except +rowboats and canalers." + +This was true, and those on board the _Bluebird_ had to suffer the +disappointment of seeing the men fade away in the distance. + +"But something must be done!" insisted the lawyer. "An alarm must be +given. The police must be notified. Where's the keeper of the lock? He +may know these ruffians, and where they are staying. We must do +something!" + +"Well, they're getting away for the time being," murmured Neale, as he +gazed up the river on which the motor boat was now hardly discernible as +it was turning a bend. "But we're going the same way, and we may come +across them. Are you sure, Ruth, that these are the same men who robbed +you?" + +"Positive!" declared the girl. "Aren't you, Agnes?" + +"No, I can't be sure," answered her sister with a shake of her head. +"The men looked just as rough--and just as ugly--as the two who attacked +us. But it was raining so hard, and we were in the doorway, and the +umbrella was giving such trouble--no, Ruth," she added, "I couldn't be +_sure_." + +"But I am!" declared the oldest Kenway girl. "I had a good look at the +face of at least one of the men in the boat, and I know it was he who +took my box! Oh, if I could only get it back I wouldn't care what became +of the men!" + +"It ought to be an easy matter to trace them," said the lawyer. "Their +motor boat must be registered and licensed, as ours must be. We can +trace them through that, I think. Neale, would you know the men if you +saw them again?" + +"I might," answered the boy. "I didn't have a very good look at them, +though. They both had their backs toward me, and their hats were pulled +down over their faces. As Ruth says, however, they looked rough and +desperate." + +"We must take some action," declared the lawyer, with his characteristic +energy. "The authorities must be notified and that motor boat traced. We +shall have to stop here to register our own craft and get a license, and +it will give us an opportunity to make some inquiries." + +"Meanwhile those men will get away!" exclaimed Ruth. "And we'll never +get our jewelry back. If we could get mother's ring," she added, "it +wouldn't be so bad." + +"They can't get very far away if they stick to the river," said Mr. +Howbridge. "The river flows into Lake Macopic and there is no outlet +from that. If we have to pursue the men all the way to the lake we'll do +it." + +"Well, then let's get busy," suggested Neale. "The sooner we have our +boat registered and licensed, the sooner we can start after those men. +Of course we can't catch them, for their boat goes so much faster than +ours. But we can trace them." + +"I hope we can," murmured Ruth, gazing up the river, on which there was +now no trace of the boat containing the rough men. "We have two quests, +now," she added. "Looking for our jewelry box, and your father, Neale. +And I hope we find your father, whether I get back my things or +not--anything but the ring." + +"Let us hope we get both," said the boy. + +Then followed a busy hour. Certain formalities had to be gone through +with, in order to enable the _Bluebird_ to make the voyage on the river +and lake. Her motor was inspected and passed. Neale had seen to it that +the machinery was in good shape. + +Mr. Howbridge came back from the boat registry office with the necessary +permit and license, and Ruth asked him: + +"Did you find out anything about the men?" + +"No one here knows them," he said. "They were never here before, and +they came only to get some supplies. It appears they are camping on one +of the islands in Lake Macopic." + +"Was their boat registered?" asked Neale. + +"Yes. At least it is presumed so. But as we did not see the number on it +we can give the authorities no clue. Motor boats up here don't have to +carry their number plates in such large size as autos do. That craft was +not registered at this office, but it was, very likely, granted a permit +at the office at the other end of the river or on the lake. So we can +only keep on and hope either to overtake the men or to get a trace of +them in some other way." + +"We can never overtake them if they keep going as fast as they did when +they left here," said Agnes. + +"They won't keep that speed up," declared Neale. "But we had better get +started. We'll be under our own power now, and can travel whenever we +like, night or day." + +"Are we going to take the mules with us--and Mr. Hank!" asked Dot, +hugging her "Alice-doll." + +"Hank is going to accompany us," said Mr. Howbridge. "But we'll leave +the mules behind, having no place for them on the _Bluebird_. I think I +will dispose of them, for I probably shall not go on a vacation along +the canal again." + +"But it was a delightful and novel one," said Ruth. + +"I'm glad you enjoyed it," her guardian remarked. "It would have been +little pleasure to me--this trip--if you young folks had not enjoyed +it." + +"I just love it! And the best part is yet to come!" cried Agnes, with +sparkling eyes. "I want to see the islands in the lake." + +"And I want to get to Trumbull and see if my father is there," added +Neale. "I think I'll send him a letter. I'll mail it here. It won't take +but a moment." + +"You don't know his address," said Agnes. + +"I'll send it just to Trumbull," said the boy. "Post-office people are +sharks at finding people." + +He wrote the note while the final preparations were being made for +leaving on the trip up the river. Mrs. MacCall had attended to the +buying of food, which was all that was needed. + +And then, after Neale had sent his letter to the post-office, he went +down in the engine room of the _Bluebird_. + +"Are we all ready!" he called up to Mr. Howbridge, who was going to +steer until Neale could come up on deck after the motor had been +started. + +"All ready!" answered Ruth. + +Neale turned the flywheel over, there was a cough and a splutter, and +then a steady chug-chugging. + +"Oh, we're going! We're going!" gayly cried Tess and Dot. Almost +anything satisfied them as long as they were in motion. + +"Yes, we're on our way," said Mr. Howbridge, giving the wheel a turn and +sending the houseboat out into the stream. + +The trip up the Gentory River was no less delightful than the voyage on +the canal had been, if one may call journeying on such a quiet stream a +voyage. It was faster travel, of course, with the motor sending the +_Bluebird_ along. + +"The only thing is, though," said Hank, who sat near the wheel with +Neale, "I haven't anything to do. I miss the mules." + +"Oh, I guess there'll be enough to do. Especially when we get up on the +lake. You'll have to help manage the boat," remarked Neale. "I hear they +have pretty good storms on Macopic." + +"They do," confirmed Hank. + +They motored along until dusk that evening, and then, as their way led +for a time through a part of the stream where many craft navigate, it +was decided to tie up for the night. It passed without incident, and +they were on their way again the next morning. + +It was calculated that the trip on the river would take three days, but +an accident to the motor the second day delayed them, and they were more +likely to be five than three days. However, they did not mind the wait. + +The break occurred on a lonely part of the stream, and after stopping +the craft and tying up, Neale announced, after an examination, that he +and Hank could make the needful repairs. + +"We'll start in the morning," said the boy. + +"Then we'll just go ashore and walk about a little," suggested Ruth, and +soon she and her sisters and Mr. Howbridge were on the bank of the +beautiful stream. + +The twilight lingered long that night, and it was light enough to see +some distance ahead as Ruth and the others strolled on. The river bank +turned and, following it beneath the trees, the party suddenly heard +voices seemingly coming from a secluded cove where the stream formed an +eddy. + +"Must be fishermen in there," said Mr. Howbridge. "We had better not +disturb them." + +As they were turning away the voices became louder, and then on the +still night air there came an exclamation. + +"I don't care what you think!" a man's voice shouted. "Just because +you've been in the Klondike doesn't give you the right to boss me! +You'll give me an even half of the swag or--" + +And then it sounded as though a hand had been clapped suddenly over the +speaker's mouth. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE NIGHT ALARM + + +Mr. Howbridge and Ruth quickly looked at one another. The same thought +and suspicion came in each of their minds at the same time. + +"Who's that?" Dot asked, she and Tess having lingered behind the others +to pick some flowers from the bank of the stream. + +"Hush, children," cautioned Ruth in a whisper. "We must not disturb +the--fishermen." + +She added the last word after a look at her guardian. No further sound +came from the cove where the voice had been uttering a protest and had +been so suddenly hushed. + +"Oh, look at those big red flowers! I'm going to get some of those!" +cried Dot, darting off to one side. "My Alice-doll loves red flowers," +she added. + +"I'll get some, too," said Agnes. "Mrs. MacCall also loves red flowers, +though she says there's nothing prettier than 'Heeland hither' as she +calls it." + +"Oh, yes, we'll get her some, and she'll have a bouquet for the table," +assented Dot. "And then maybe she'll let us have a little play party for +Alice-doll to-morrow, and we can have things to eat." + +"Oh, you're always thinking of your old Alice-doll!" complained Tess. +"You'd think all the play parties and all this trip were just for her, +and the things to eat, too." + +"We can eat the things Mrs. MacCall gives us--if she gives us any," +corrected Dot. "Come on, help me get the flowers." + +"Oh, all right, I will," said Tess. "But you know, Dot Kenway, that +Ruthie will give us anything we want for a party." + +As the two little girls darted toward the clump of gay blossoms Ruth +called: + +"Be careful. It may he swampy around here." + +"I'll look after them," offered Agnes, "and you and Mr. Howbridge can go +see if those men--" + +She did not finish her sentence, which she had begun in a whisper, but +nodded in the direction of the clump of trees, around the eddy of the +river. It was from there the stifled exclamation had come. + +"Yes, I think it would be a good plan to take a look there," said Mr. +Howbridge to Ruth in a low voice. "Especially if the children are out of +the way. I don't suppose it could by any chance be the same men, but--" + +"Look!" suddenly exclaimed Ruth, pointing to something moving behind a +screen of bushes that hung over the river near the eddy. As she spoke +the bushes parted and a motor boat shoved her bow out into the stream. +In another instant the boat came fully into view, and there was revealed +as occupants two roughly dressed men. They gave one quick glance along +the bank toward Ruth and Mr. Howbridge, and then while one attended to +the wheel the other sprang to the engine to increase the speed. + +There was a nervous spluttering from the motor, and the boat shot out +into the river, the two men in her crouching down as though they feared +being fired at. + +"There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge's arm in her +excitement. "The same two men!" + +"Are you sure?" he asked. + +"Well, they're the same two we saw down near the canal lock, in the +boat," Ruth went on. "I'm sure it's the same boat, and I'm as positive +as I ever was that they are the ones who robbed us." + +"It is the same boat we saw the other day," agreed the lawyer. "And I +think the same men. Whether they are the thieves is, of course, open to +question. But I should very much like to question them," he added. "Hold +on there!" he called to the men. "I want to see you!" + +But the boat did not stop, rather she increased her speed, and it seemed +that one of the men laughed. They did not look back. + +"I wish there was some way of taking after them!" exclaimed Ruth's +guardian. "But, as it is, it's out of the question." + +They were on a lonely part of the river. No houses were near and there +was no other boat in sight, not even a leaky skiff, though some farmer +boy might have one hidden along the shore under the bushes. But a rowing +craft would not have been effective against the speedy motor boat, and +finding another craft to match the one containing the two rough men was +out of the question. + +Farther and farther away the men were speeding now. Agnes and the two +younger girls, having heard the shouts of Mr. Howbridge, turned back +from their flower-gathering trip. + +"Is anything the matter?" asked Agnes. + +"Oh, no, nothing much. Mr. Howbridge saw two men in that boat," answered +Ruth, with a meaning look at her sister. "But they did not stop." And +when she had a chance, after Dot and Tess had moved out of hearing +distance, Ruth added: "They're the same men, Agnes!" + +"You mean the ones who robbed us?" + +"I'm pretty sure; yes!" + +"Oh dear!" voiced Agnes, and she looked around the now darkening woods. +"I wish we hadn't stopped in such a lonely place," she murmured. + +"Nonsense!" laughed Mr. Howbridge. "I shall begin to think you doubt my +ability as guardian. My physical, not my mental," he added. + +"Oh, no, it isn't that," Agnes made haste to say. "Only--" + +"And we have Neale, and Hank, too," broke in Ruth. "While Mrs. MacCall +is a tower of strength herself, even if she is getting old." + +"Oh, yes, I know," murmured Agnes. "But--well, don't let's talk about +it," she finished. + +"And I think we'd better be going back. It will soon be quite dark." + +"Yes," agreed the lawyer. "We had better go back." + +He looked up the river. The boat containing the two rough men was no +longer in sight, but finally there drifted down on the night wind the +soft put-put of the motor. + +"We thought you had deserted us," said Neale when he saw, from the deck +of the _Bluebird_, the lawyer and the girls returning. + +"We went farther than we intended," answered Ruth. + +"How's the motor?" asked the lawyer. + +"Hank and I will have it fixed in the morning." + +"Where is Hank now?" Agnes wanted to know, and it seemed as though she +had begun to rely on the rugged and rough strength of the man who had +driven the mules. + +"Oh, he went off for a walk, and he said maybe he'd fish a while," Neale +said. "He's a bug on fishing." + +Then, while Mrs. MacCall took charge of Tess and Dot, giving +exclamations of delight at the flowers, even while comparing them with +her Highland heather, Agnes and Ruth told Neale what had happened--the +swift-departure of the motor boat and its two occupants. + +"They were evidently having a dispute when we came along," said Ruth. +"We heard one of them say something about the Klondike." + +"The Klondike!" exclaimed Neale, and there was a queer note in his +voice. + +"Yes, they certainly said that," agreed Agnes. "Oh, I do wish we were +away from here." And from the deck of the boat she looked at the wooded +shores of the river extending on either side of the moored craft. The +Gentory was not very wide at this point, but the other shore was just as +lonely and deserted as that where the voyagers had come to rest for the +night. + +"Don't be so nervous and fussy," said Ruth to Agnes. "Mr. Howbridge +won't like it. He will think we don't care for the trip, and--" + +"Oh, I like the trip all right," broke in Agnes. "It's just the idea of +staying all night in this lonely place." + +"We have plenty of protectors," asserted Ruth. "There's Neale and--" + +"What's that?" asked the boy, hearing his name spoken. + +"Agnes was saying she was timid," went on Ruth, for Mr. Howbridge had +gone to the dining-room for a glass of milk Mrs. MacCall had suggested +he take before going to bed. "I tell her with you and Mr. Howbridge and +Hank to protect us--" + +"Aggie timid! Oh, yes, we'll look after you!" he promised with a laugh. +"At the same time--Oh, well, I guess Hank won't stay late," and he +looked at his watch. + +"You seem worried," said Agnes to her friend when they were alone for a +moment. "Do you think these men--those Klondikers--are likely to make +trouble?" + +"No, not exactly that," Neale answered. "To tell you the truth I was +thinking of Hank. I may as well tell you," he went on. "I didn't see any +connection between the two happenings before, but since you mentioned +those men there may be." + +"What are you driving at?" asked Agnes, in surprise. + +"Just this--" answered Neale. "But let's call Ruth." Ruth came and then +Neale continued: "Hank suddenly dropped his tools when we were working +over the motor and said he was going for a walk. He also mentioned +fishing. I didn't think much of it at the time, for he may be odd that +way when it comes to a steady job. But now I begin to think he may have +gone off to meet those men." + +"But he didn't meet them," Ruth said. "We saw them speed away in motor +boat alone." + +"They may have met Hank later," the boy said. + +"But what makes you suspicious of him?" Ruth asked. + +"I'll tell you." And Neale related the episode of the gold ring. + +"Oh, do you think it could be one of ours that the men took? Do you +think Hank is in with them, and wants his share of the 'swag' as one man +called it?" questioned Agnes eagerly. + +"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Neale. "But he certainly had a ring. +It rolled to the deck and he picked it up quickly enough." + +"Say, Ruthie!" exclaimed Agnes impulsively, "now's a good chance while +he's away. We could look through the place where he keeps what few +things he has--in that curtained off corner by his cot." + +Ruth shook her head. + +"I'd rather not," she remarked. "I couldn't bear to do that. I'd much +rather accuse him openly. But we won't even do that now. We'll just +watch and wait, and we won't even tell Mr. Howbridge until we are more +sure of our ground." + +"All right," agreed Neale and Agnes after they had talked it over at +some length. + +It was agreed that they should all three keep their eyes on Hank, and +note whether there were any further suspicious happenings. + +"Of course you want to be careful of one thing," remarked Neale, as the +three talked it over. + +"What is that?" questioned Agnes quickly. + +"You don't want that mule driver to suspect that you are watching him. +If he did suspect it he'd be more careful to hide his doings than ever." + +"We won't let him suspect us, Neale," declared Ruth. + +"Of course he may be as innocent as they make 'em, and on the other hand +he may be as deep as----" + +"The deep blue sea," finished Agnes. + +"Exactly." + +"He certainly doesn't appear very deep," remarked Ruth. "He looks rather +simple minded." + +"But sometimes those simple looking customers are the deepest," declared +the youth. "I know we had that sort join the circus sometimes. You had +to watch 'em every minute." And there the talk came to an end. + +The mule driver came along some time later. He had a goodly string of +fish. Agnes was asleep, but Ruth heard him putting them in the ice box. +She heard Neale speak to the man, and then, gradually, the _Bluebird_ +became quiet. + +"Well, he got fish, at any rate," Ruth reasoned as she turned over to go +to sleep. "I hope he has no connection with those robbers. And yet, why +should he hide a ring? Oh, I wonder if we shall ever see our things and +mother's wedding ring again." + +Ruth was too much of a philosopher to let this keep her awake. There was +a slight feeling of timidity, as was natural, but she made herself +conquer this. + +Finally Ruth dozed off. + +How long she slept she did not know, but she was suddenly awakened by +hearing a scream. It was the high-pitched voice of a child, and after +her first start Ruth knew it came from Tess. + +"Oh, don't let him get me! Don't let him get me!" cried the little girl. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +ON THE LAKE + + +Instantly Ruth was out of bed, and while she slipped on her bath robe +and while her bare feet sought her slippers under the edge of her bunk, +she cried: + +"What is it, Tessie? Ruth is coming! Sister is coming!" + +At once the interior of the _Bluebird_ seemed to pulsate with life. In +the corridor which ran the length of the craft, and on either side of +which the sleeping apartments were laid off, a night light burned. +Opening her door Ruth saw Mrs. MacCall peering forth, a flaring candle +in her hand. + +"What is it, lass?" asked the sturdy Scotch woman. "I thought I heard a +wee cry in the night." + +"You did!" exclaimed Ruth. "It was Tess!" + +In quick succession, with kimonas or robes over their sleeping garments, +Neale, Mr. Howbridge and Agnes came from their rooms. But from the +apartments of Tess and Dot no one came, and ominous quiet reigned. + +"What was it?" asked Mr. Howbridge. "One of you girls screamed. Who was +it?" + +Something gleamed in his hand, and Ruth knew it to be a weapon. + +"It was Tess who cried out!" Ruth answered. "All I could hear was +something about her being afraid some one would catch her." + +And then again from the room of Tess came a low cry of: + +"Ruthie! Ruthie! Come here!" + +"Yes, dear, I am coming," was the soothing reply. "What is it? Oh, my +dear, what has happened?" + +When she opened the door she saw her sister sitting up in bed, a look of +fear on her face but unharmed. And a quick look in the adjoining +apartment showed Dot to be peacefully slumbering, her "Alice-doll" close +clasped in her arms. + +"What was it, Tessie?" asked Ruth in a whisper, carefully closing Dot's +door so as not to awaken her. "What did you see?" + +"I--I don't just remember," was the answer. "I was dreaming that I was +riding on that funny Uncle Josh mule that knows Neale, and then a clown +chased me and I fell off and the elephant came after me. I called to +you, and--" + +"Was it all only a dream, dear?" asked Ruth with a smile. + +"No, it wasn't all a dream," said Tess slowly. "A man looked in the +window at me." + +"What window?" asked Agnes. + +Tess pointed to one of the two small casements in her small apartment. +They opened on the bank of the river, and it would have been easy for +any one passing along the bank of the stream to have looked into Tess's +windows, or, for that matter, into any of the openings on that side of +the craft. But the windows, though open on account of the warm night, +were protected by heavy screens to keep out mosquitoes and other +insects. + +"Do you really mean some one opened your window in the night, or did you +just dream that, too?" asked Ruth. "You have very vivid dreams +sometimes." + +"I didn't dream about the _man_," insisted Tess. "He really opened the +screen and looked in. See, it's loose now!" + +The screens swung outward on hinges, and there, plainly enough, the +screen of one of the casements in Tess's room was partly open. + +"Perhaps the wind blew it," suggested Agnes, wishing she could believe +this. + +Neale stepped over and tested the screen. + +"It seems too stiff to have been blown open by the wind," was the +comment. + +"But of course," Mr. Howbridge suggested, "the screen may not have been +tightly closed when Theresa went to bed." + +"Oh, yes it was, sir!" exclaimed Mrs. MacCall positively. "I looked at +them myself. I didn't want any of the mosquitoes to be eatin' ma +pretties. The screens were tight closed!" + +"Oh dear, I don't like it here!" said Tess, on the verge of tears. "I +don't want tramps looking in my room, and this man was just like a +tramp." + +The noise of some one moving around on the upper deck of the craft +attracted the attention of all. + +"That's Hank!" exclaimed Neale. "I'll go and see if he heard anything +unusual or saw any one. It may be that some fellow was passing along the +river road and was impudent enough to pull open a screen and look in, +thinking he might pick up something off a shelf." + +But Hank, who in his curtained-off place had been awakened by the +confusion below him, declared he had seen or heard nothing. + +"I'm a sound sleeper," he said. "Once I get to bed I don't do much else +but sleep." + +So nothing was to be got out of him. + +And it was difficult to tell whether or not Tess had dreamed about the +man, as she had said she dreamed about the elephant and the mule. Neale +volunteered to look on the bank underneath the window for a sign of +footprints. He did look, using his flashlight, but discovered nothing. + +"I guess it was all a dream," said Ruth. "Go to sleep, Tess dear. You'll +be all right now." + +"I'm not going to sleep alone," insisted the little girl, her lips +beginning to quiver. + +"I'll stay with you," offered Ruth, and so it was arranged. + +"It's an awful queer happening," remarked Agnes. + +"Lots of things seem queer on this trip," put in Tess. "Maybe we better +give up the houseboat trip." + +"You won't say that in the morning," laughed Neale. + +"How do you know that?" + +"Oh, I know," the boy laughed. + +They all went back to their beds, but it was some time before several of +them resumed their interrupted slumbers. Tess, the innocent cause of it +all, fell off to dreamland with Ruth's arm around her in the rather +cramped quarters, for the bunks were not intended to accommodate two. +But once Tess was breathing deeply and regularly, Ruth slipped back to +her own apartment, pausing to whisper to Agnes that Tess seemed all +right now. + +Ruth remained awake for some time, her mind busy with many things, and +mingled with her confused thoughts were visions of the mule driver, Hank +Dayton, signaling to some tramp confederates in the woods the fact that +all on board the _Bluebird_ were deep in slumber, so that robbery might +be easily committed. + +"Oh, but I'm foolish to think such things," the Corner House girl told +herself. "Absolutely foolish!" + +And at last she convinced herself of that and went to sleep. + +The next morning Neale and Mr. Howbridge, with Hank to help, made a +careful examination of the soft earth on the river bank under Tess's +window. They saw many footprints, and the stub of a cigarette. + +But the footprints might have been made by themselves when they had +moored the boat the evening before. As for the cigarette stub, though +Hank smoked, he said he never used cigarettes. A pipe was his favorite, +and neither Mr. Howbridge nor Neale smoked. + +"Some one passing in the daytime before we arrived may have flung the +stub away," said the lawyer. "I think all we can do is to ascribe the +alarm to a dream Tess had." + +The little girl had forgotten much of the occurrence of the night when +questioned about it next morning. She hardly recalled her dream, but she +did insist that a man had looked in her window. + +"Well, next time we tie up over night we'll do it in or near some city +or village, and not in such a lonely place," decided Mr. Howbridge. + +Neale and Hank made good their promise to repair the motor, and shortly +after breakfast the craft was in shape to travel on. + +The weather continued fine, and if it had not been for the alarm of the +night before, and the shadow of the robbery hanging over Ruth and Agnes, +and Neale's anxiety about his father, the travelers would have been in a +most happy mood. The trip was certainly affording them many new +experiences. + +"It's almost as exciting as when we were snowbound," declared Agnes. + +"But I'm glad we don't have to look for two little runaways or lost +ones," put in Ruth, with a glance at Tess and Dot as they went out to +play on the upper deck. + +It was just before noon, when Ruth was helping Mrs. MacCall prepare the +dinner, that the oldest Kenway girl heard a distressing cry from the +upper deck where Tess and Dot had been playing all the morning. + +"Tess, stop!" Ruth heard Dot exclaim. "I'm going to tell Ruthie on you! +You'll drown her! Oh, Tess!" + +"She can't drown! Haven't I got a string on her?" demanded Tess. "This +is a new way of giving her a bath. She likes it." + +"Give her to me! Ruthie! Ruthie! Make Tess stop!" pleaded Dot. + +"I wonder what the matter is," said Ruth, as she set down the dish she +was holding and hastened to the upper deck. + +There she saw Dot and Tess both leaning over the rail, at rather a +dangerous angle, and evidently struggling, one to get possession of and +the other to retain, some object Ruth could not see. + +"Be careful! You'll fall in!" Ruth cried. + +At the sound of her voice her sisters turned toward her, and Ruth saw +they each had hold of a cord. + +"What are you doing; fishing?" Ruth asked. "Don't you know Hank said you +couldn't catch fish when the boat was moving unless you trolled with +what he called a spoon?" + +"We're not fishing!" said Dot. + +"I'm just giving the Alice-doll a bath," explained Tess. "I tied her on +the end of a string and I'm letting her swim in the water. She likes +it!" + +"She does not! And you must stop! And you must give her to me! Oh, +Ruthie!" cried Dot, trying to pull the cord away from Tess. In an +instant there was a struggle between the two little girls. + +"Children! Children!" admonished Ruth, in perfect amazement at such +behavior on the part of the gentle and considerate Tess. "I'm surprised +at you! Tess, dear, give Dot her doll. You shouldn't have put her in +water unless Dot allowed you to." + +"Well, but she needed a bath!" insisted Tess. "She was dirty!" + +"I know it, and I was going to give her a bath; but she has a cold and I +was waiting till she got over it!" explained Dot. "Tess, give me that +string, and I'll pull my Alice-doll up!" she demanded. + +The struggle was renewed, and Ruth was hastening across the deck to stop +it by the force of more authority than mere words, when Neale, who was +steering the craft, called out. + +"There's the big water! We're at Lake Macopic now!" + +Hardly had the echo of his words died away than Dot cried: + +"There! Now look what you did! You let go the string and my Alice-doll +is gone!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DRIFTING + + +Dot burst into tears, and Tess, startled by the sudden tragic outcome of +her prank, leaned so far over the edge of the boat to see what happened +to the doll that Ruth cried: + +"Be careful! You'll fall! Don't you go into the lake, as well as the +doll!" + +Tess bounced back on deck. She looked ashamed when she saw Dot crying. + +"You can have one of my dolls when we get back home," Tess offered. "Or +you can have my half of Almira the cat, and all her kittens. I'll give +you my share." + +"I don't want 'em! I want my Alice-doll!" wailed Dot. + +"I'll have Hank get her for you!" called Neale, as he swung the boat +around. "The string will float, even if your doll won't, and Hank can +fish it back aboard." + +Neale signaled to Hank by means of a bell running from the upper deck +near the steering wheel to the motor room below, where the former mule +driver looked after the gasoline engine. It was arranged with a clutch, +so it could be thrown out of gear, thus stopping or reversing the power, +if need be. + +"What's the matter?" called Hank, coming out on the lower deck and +looking up at Neale. "Going to make a landing?" + +"No. But Dot lost her Alice-doll overboard," Neale explained. "Tess had +a string to it and--" + +"Oh, is that what the string was?" exclaimed Hank. "I saw a cord drop +down at the stern past the motor-room window and I made a grab for it. I +thought it was somebody's fish line. Wait, I'll give it a haul and see +what I can get on deck." + +Leaving the wheel, which needed no attention since power was not now +propelling the craft, Neale hastened to the lower deck, followed by +Ruth, Tess and Agnes. They saw Hank pulling in, hand over hand, the +long, white cord. Presently there came something slapping its way up the +side of the _Bluebird_, and a moment later there slumped down on the +deck a very wet, and much bedraggled doll. + +"Oh, it's my Alice! It's Alice!" cried Dot. "I've got her back once +more." + +"There won't be much left of her if she gets in the water again," +prophesied Neale. "This is the second time this trip." + +"She _is_ rather forlorn looking," agreed Ruth, trying not to smile and +hurt her little sister's feelings, for Dot was very sensitive about her +dolls, especially her "Alice" one. "I shall have to get you a new one, +Dot." + +"I don't want anybody but my Alice-doll! Will you hang her up in the sun +for me so she'll dry?" begged Dot of Neale, holding out to him the +really wretched doll. + +"Of course, Dottie. And when we get back to Milton we can take her to +the hospital again and have her done over as we did after she was buried +with the dried apples. Poor Alice-doll! She has had a hard life." + +Tess had gone off by herself, thoroughly ashamed of her behavior. Dot +now went to her own little room, to grieve over the fate of the +Alice-doll. + +"Aggie," said Neale, "I think our Tess must have surely gone insane. I +never knew her to do a deliberately unkind thing before." + +"It certainly is curious. There, Neale, Mr. Howbridge is beckoning to +you." + +"Yes," Neale replied. "He wants us to start, and he's right. Start her +up again, Hank," he added. "We're on Lake Macopic now, and we'll have to +watch our step. There's more navigation here than there was on the +river." + +"Is this really the lake?" asked Ruth, "Are we really on Macopic at +last?" + +"This is where the river broadens out into the lake," said Neale, +indicating the sweep of waters about them. "It is really a part of the +lake, though the larger and main part lies around that point," and he +indicated the point of land he meant. + +Lake Macopic was a large body of water, and on its shores were many +towns, villages and one or two places large enough to be dignified by +the appellation "cities." Quite a trade was done between some of the +places, for the presence of so much water gave opportunity for power to +be obtained from it, and around the lake were many mills and factories. +There were a number of islands in the lake, some of them large enough +for summer hotels, while others were merely clumps of trees. On some, +campers spent their vacations, and on one or two, owned by fishermen, +cabins were built. + +"Yes, we are really here at last," said Neale. "I must find out where we +are to head for. Where do you have to deliver this boat, Mr. Howbridge?" +he asked the lawyer. + +"At the upper end of the lake," was the answer. "But there is no hurry +about it. I intend that we shall all have a nice cruise on Lake Macopic +before I let my client have possession of this boat. He is in no special +need, and the summer is not nearly enough over to make me want to end +our vacation yet. That is, unless you feel you must get back to the +Corner House, Martha?" and he smiled at his oldest ward. + +"Oh, no," Ruth made haste to reply. "It is too lovely here to wish to +leave. I'm sure we shall find it most delightful." + +"Can we go in swimming?" asked Tess, who liked the water. + +"Yes, there are bathing beaches--several of them in fact," answered the +lawyer. "We will stop at one and let you children paddle around." + +"I can swim!" boasted Tess. + +"I can too," added Dot, not to be outdone by her sister. + +Lake Macopic was beautiful, reflecting the sunlight, the blue sky, and +the white, fleecy clouds. The houseboat once more began slowly +navigating it as Hank threw the clutch in and Neale kept the wheel +steady. They passed several other boats, and then, as their supplies +were running low, it was decided to put in at the nearest town. + +"We'll get some cake and maybe a pie or two," said Ruth, after +consulting Mrs. MacCall. "And of course, some fresh vegetables." + +"Can't we get some strawberries?" questioned Dot. + +"Too late I'm afraid, Dot. But maybe we can get huckleberries." + +"Oh, I know what I would like," cried Tess. + +"I know too," declared Agnes. "An ice-cream cone." + +"Yep. Strawberry." + +"I want chocolate," came promptly from Dot. + +"And oh, can't we have some lollypops too?" went on Tess. + +"Sure--if the stores keep them," answered Mr. Howbridge promptly. "Yes, +I see a sign, 'Ice Cream and Confectionery.' I guess we can get what we +want over there--when we reach the place." + +"Oh, goody," cried Dot; and Tess patted her stomach in satisfaction. + +It was early evening when they tied up at a wharf, which was operated in +conjunction with a store, and while Mrs. MacCall and the girls were +buying such things as were needed, Neale and Mr. Howbridge made some +inquiries regarding the rules for navigating the lake. They found there +would be no trouble in getting the _Bluebird_ from place to place. + +"Have you seen a small motor boat run by two men around here lately?" +asked the lawyer of the dock keeper, after some unimportant talk. + +"What sort of men?" + +"Roughly dressed." + +"That isn't much of a description," was the retort. "A lot of the +fishermen dress roughly, but they're all right. But we do have some +fellows up here who aren't what I'd call first-class." + +"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Howbridge. + +"Well, I mean there's a bunch camping on one of the islands here. +Somebody said they were returned miners from the Klondike, but I don't +know that I believe that." + +"Why, those may be the very men we mean!" cried the lawyer. "One of them +claims, or is said to have been, in the Alaskan gold regions. In fact +this young man's father is, or was, a Klondike miner," went on Mr. +Howbridge, indicating Neale. "Maybe these men could tell us something +about him. Did you ever hear any of them mention a Mr. O'Neil?" he +asked. + +The dock tender shook his head. + +"Can't say I did," he answered. "I don't have much to do with those men. +They're too rough for me. They may be the ones you mean, and they may +not." + +Further questioning elicited no more information, and Neale and Mr. +Howbridge had to be content with this. + +"But we'll pay a visit to that island," decided the lawyer, when its +location had been established. "We may get some news of your father in +that way." + +"I hope so," sighed Neale. + +Rather than tie up at the dock that night, which would bring them too +near the not very pleasant sights and sounds of a waterfront +neighborhood, it was decided to anchor the _Bluebird_ out some distance +in the lake. + +Accordingly, at dusk, when supper was over and a little stroll on shore +had gotten the "kinks" out of their "sea legs," the _Bluebird_ was +headed into the lake again and moored, with riding lights to warn other +craft away. + +In the middle of the night Neale felt the need of a drink, as he had +eaten some buttered popcorn the evening before and he was now thirsty. +As he arose to get a glass of water from a shelf in his apartment he +became aware of a strange movement. At the same time he could hear the +sighing of the wind. + +"Sounds as if a storm were coming up," mused the boy. And then, as he +reached out his hand for the glass, he felt the _Bluebird_ rise, fall +and sway beneath him. + +"Why, we're moving! We're drifting!" exclaimed Neale. "The anchor must +be dragging or the cables have been cut. We're drifting fast, and may be +in danger!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE STORM + + +Neale O'Neil was a lad to whom, young as he was, emergencies came as a +sort of second nature. His life in the circus had prepared him for quick +and unusual action. Many times, while traveling with the tented shows, +accidents had happened. Sometimes one of the animals would get loose, +perhaps one of the "hay feeders," by which is meant the elephants, +horses or camels. Or, worse than this, one of the big "cats," or the +meat eaters--including lions, tigers and leopards--would break from a +cage. Then consternation would reign. + +But Neale had seen how the circus men had met these emergencies, always +working for the safety of others. + +And now, as he seemed to be alone in the semi-darkness and silence of +the houseboat at midnight, Neale felt that the time had come for him to +act. + +"We must have pulled our anchor, or else some one has cut us adrift," +decided the lad. "And if any one has cut us loose it must be those men +from the motor boat--the tramps--the thieves!" + +He visualized their evil countenances and thought of how they had +behaved toward Ruth and Agnes--that is, if these were the two men in +question. + +"And I wonder if Hank stands in with them," mused Neale. "I must find +out. But first I've got to do something about the boat. If we're adrift, +as we surely are, we may run into some other craft, or one may run into +us, or--" + +Neale paused as he felt a grating beneath the broad, flat bottom of the +boat and the craft careened slightly. + +"We may go aground or be blown on an island," was his completed thought. +"But we're safe so far," he mentally added, as he felt the _Bluebird_ +slip off some under-water rock or reef of mud over which she progressed. + +Then Neale galvanized himself into action. He forgot all about the drink +he had been going to get, and, slipping on shoes and a rubber coat that +hung in his room, he stepped out into the corridor which ran the length +of the boat between the two rows of sleeping rooms. + +Neale was going up on deck to look around and, if possible, find out +what had caused the boat to break away from her moorings. + +As Neale passed Ruth's door it opened and she came out, wrapped in a +heavy robe. + +"What is it, Neale?" asked the oldest Corner House girl. "Has anything +happened?" + +"Nothing much yet. But it may," was the answer. "We're adrift, and it's +coming on to blow. I'm going to see what the matter is." + +"I'll come with you," Ruth offered. Neale was like a brother to the +Kenway girls. "Shall I call Mr. Howbridge and Mrs. Mac?" she asked. + +"Not yet," he answered in a low voice. "It may be that the cable has +only slipped, but I don't see how it could. In that case I'll only have +to take a few turns around a cleat and we'll be all right. No use +calling any one unless we have to." + +"I'll come and help," Ruth offered, and Neale knew she could be of +excellent service. + +Together they ascended the stairs in the half darkness, illuminated by +the glow from a night oil lamp in the hall. But no sooner had they +emerged on the open deck than they became aware of the gravity of the +situation. They were almost blinded by an intense glare of lightning. +This was followed by a menacing rumble of thunder, and then Ruth gasped +for breath as a strong wind smote her in the face, and Neale, just ahead +of her, turned to grasp her lest she be blown against a railing and +hurt. + +"Great guns!" exclaimed Neale, "it's going to be a fierce storm." + +"Are we really adrift?" exclaimed Ruth, raising her voice to be heard +above the howl of the wind. + +"I should say we are!" cried Neale in answer. "But the boat is so big +and solid she isn't going as fast as an ordinary craft would. But we're +drifting all right, and it's going to be a whole lot worse before it's +better. Do you want to stay here?" he asked. + +"Of course I do! I'm going to help!" declared Ruth. But at that moment +came another bright flash of lightning and a terrific peal of thunder. +And then, as if this had split open the clouds, down came a deluge of +rain. + +"Go below and get on your waterproof and then tell the others to get up +and dress," advised Neale. "We may come out of it all right, and again +we may not. It's best to be prepared." + +"Are we--are we far from shore?" panted Ruth, the wind almost taking the +words from her mouth. "Are we apt to be dashed against it, do you +think?" + +"We can't be wrecked," Neale answered her. "This is a well built boat. +But we may have to go ashore in the rain, and it's best for the children +to be dressed." + +"I'll tell them!" cried Ruth, and she descended, glad to be in out of +the storm that was increasing in violence every moment. That little time +she was exposed to it almost drenched her. Neale's rubber coat was a +great protection to him. + +The boy gave one quick look around. The wind was blowing about over the +deck a number of camp stools that had been left out, but he reasoned +that they would be caught and held by the rope network about the deck. +Neale's chief anxiety was about the anchor. + +The cable to which this was bent was made fast to a cleat on the lower +deck, and as the lad made his way there by an outside stairway he heard +some one walking on the deck he had just quitted. + +"I guess that's Hank," Neale reasoned. + +The boy was pulling at the anchor rope when he heard Hank's voice near +him asking: + +"What's the matter, Neale?" + +"We're either dragging our anchor or the cable's cut," answered the lad. +And then, as the rope came dripping through his hands, offering no +resistance to the pull, he realized what had happened. The anchor was +gone! It had slipped the cable or been cut loose. Just which did not so +much matter now, as did the fact that there was nothing to hold the +_Bluebird_ against the fury of the gale. + +Realizing this, Neale did not pull the cable up to the end. He had found +out what he wanted to know--that the anchor was off it and somewhere on +the bottom of the lake. He next turned his attention to the boat. + +"We're drifting!" he cried to Hank. "We've got to start the motor, and +see if we can head up into the wind. You go to that and I'll take the +wheel!" + +"All right," agreed the mule driver. "This is some storm!" he added, +bending his head to the blast of the wind and the drive of the rain. + +It was growing worse every moment, Neale realized. Buttoned as his +rubber coat was, the lower part blew open every now and then, drenching +his bare legs. + +As the boy hurried to the upper deck again to take command of the +steering wheel, he heard from within the _Bluebird_ sounds which told +him the Corner House girls, their guardian, and Mrs. MacCall were +getting up. The voices of Tess and Dot could be heard, excited and +somewhat frightened. + +"The only real danger," thought Neale to himself, "is that we may hit a +rock or something, and stave a hole in us. In that case we'd sink, I +guess, and this lake is deep." + +But he had not told Ruth that danger. He grasped the spokes of the wheel +firmly, and waited for the vibration that would tell him Hank had +started the motor. And as he waited he had to face the wind and rain, +and listen to the vibrating thunder, the while he was almost blinded by +the vivid lightning. It was one of those fierce summer storms, and the +temperature took a sudden drop so that Neale was chilled through. + +"Why doesn't Hank start that motor?" impatiently thought the lad. "We're +drifting fast and that big island must be somewhere in this +neighborhood. I wonder how close it is? If we hit that going like +this--good-night!" + +A vivid flash of light split the darkness like a dagger of flame and +revealed the heaving tumultuous lake all about, the waters whipped and +lashed into foam by the sudden wind. Storms came up quickly on Lake +Macopic, due to the exposed situation of the body of water, and there +were often fatalities caused by boats being caught unprepared. + +Just as Neale was going to take a chance and hurry below to see what was +delaying Hank, there came the vibration of the craft which told that the +motor had been started. + +"Now we'll get somewhere," cried Neale aloud. "I think I'd better head +into the wind and try to make shore. If I can get her under the shelter +of that bluff we passed this afternoon, it will be the best for all of +us." + +He swung the wheel around, noting that the _Bluebird_ answered to the +helm, and then he dashed the water from his face with a motion of his +head, shaking back his hair. As the craft gathered speed a figure came +up the stairs and emerged on deck. It fought its way across the deck to +the wheel and a voice asked: + +"Are we making progress, Neale?" + +[Illustration: "You shouldn't have come here, Aggie!" he cried, +above the noise of the storm.] + +"Oh, yes! But you shouldn't have come up here, Aggie!" he cried, above +the noise of the storm. "You'll be drenched!" + +"No, I have on Mr. Howbridge's raincoat. I made him and Ruthie let me +come up here to help you. You certainly need help in this emergency." + +"It's an emergency all right!" declared Neale. "But we may come out of +it safely." + +"Can't I help you steer?" asked Agnes. "I know how." + +"Yes, you may help. I'm trying to make--" + +Neale never finished that sentence. A moment later there was a jar that +made him and Agnes stagger, and then the _Bluebird_ ceased to progress +under the power of her motor and was again being blown before the fury +of the storm. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +ON THE ISLAND + + +"What's the matter? What has happened?" cried Agnes, clinging partly to +Neale and partly to the wheel to preserve her balance. "Are we sinking?" + +"Oh, no," he answered. "We either struck something, or the motor has +gone bad and stopped. I think it's the last. I'd better go and see." + +"I'll take the wheel," Agnes offered. + +"You don't need to," said her companion. "She had no steerageway on her; +and you might as well keep out of the storm. The rain is fierce!" + +Agnes decided to take this advice, since staying on deck now would do no +good and Neale was going below. + +Neale raced to the motor room, where he found Hank ruefully +contemplating the silent engine. + +"What's the matter?" asked Neale. "Is she broken?" + +"Busted, or something," was the answer. "If this was a mule, now, I +could argue with it. But I don't know enough about motors to take any +chances. All I know is she was going all right, and then she suddenly +laid down on me--stopped dead." + +"Yes, I felt it," returned Neale. "Well, we'll have to see what the +trouble is." + +Agnes had gone into the main cabin where she found her sisters and Mr. +Howbridge. Mrs. MacCall, in a nightcap she had forgotten to remove, was +sitting in one corner. + +"Oh, the perils o' the deep! The perils o' the deep!" she murmured. "The +salty seas will snatch us fra the land o' the livin'!" + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mr. Howbridge, for he saw that Dot and Tess were +getting frightened by the fear of the Scotch housekeeper's words. "Lake +Macopic isn't salty, and it isn't deep. We'll be all right in a little +while. Here's Agnes back to tell us so," he added with a smile at his +ward. "What of the night, Watchman?" he asked in a bantering tone. + +"Well, it isn't a very pleasant night," Agnes was forced to admit. + +"Why aren't we moving?" asked Tess. "We were moving and now we have +stopped." + +"Neale has gone to see, Tess. He will have things in shape before long," +was Agnes' not very confident reply. + +"Well, we're nice and snug here," said Ruth, guessing that something was +wrong, and joining forces with Agnes in keeping it from Mrs. MacCall and +the younger children. "We are snug and dry here." + +"I think I'll go and give the sailors a hand," Mr. Howbridge said. +"Ruth, you tell these little teases a story," he said as he shifted Dot +out of his lap and to a couch where he covered her with a blanket. + +"I'll get this wet coat off," remarked Agnes. "My, but it does rain!" +She passed Mr. Howbridge his coat. + +Ruth took her place as mistress of the little household of Corner House +girls--mother to the three parentless sisters who depended so much on +her. + +"And now, children, for the story!" she said. "What shall it be about?" + +This took the attention of Tess and Dot off their worries, and though +the wind still howled and the rain dashed against the windows of the +_Bluebird_, they heeded it not. + +Meanwhile Mr. Howbridge had made his way to the motor room where a sound +of hammering on iron told him that efforts to make repairs were under +way. + +"What is it, boys?" he asked as he saw Neale and Hank busy over the +motor. + +"A wrench was jarred loose and fell into the flywheel pit," explained +Neale. "It stopped the motor suddenly, and until we get it loose we +can't move the machinery. We're trying to knock it out." + +"Need any help?" asked the lawyer, who had donned an old suit of +clothing. + +"I think we can manage," said Neale. "But you might take a look outside +and see what's happening. That is, besides the storm. We can hear that." + +"Yes, it seems to insist on being heard," agreed the guardian of the +girls. "You say the anchor is dragging, Neale?" + +"No, it's gone completely. At the bottom of the lake somewhere. I didn't +have a chance to examine the end of the cable to see if it was cut or +not." + +"Cut!" exclaimed the lawyer in surprise. + +"Well, it may have been cut by--accident," went on Neale, with a meaning +look which Mr. Howbridge understood. + +"I'll find out," was the comment, and then the lawyer went out into the +rain while Neale and the mule driver resumed their labors to loosen the +monkey wrench which was jammed under the flywheel, thus effectually +preventing the motor from operating. + +Mr. Howbridge made his way along the lower deck until he came to where +the anchor cable was made fast to the holding cleat. He pulled up the +dripping rope, hand over hand, until he had the end on deck. + +A lightning flash served to show him that the end was partly cut and +partly frayed through. + +"It may have chafed on a sunken rock or been partly cut on the edge of +something under water," thought the lawyer. "At any rate the anchor is +gone, and unless I can bend on a spare one we've got to drift until they +can get the motor going. I wonder if I can find a spare anchor. Captain +Leed said nothing about one when he turned the boat over to me." + +Stumbling about the deck in the rain, storm and darkness, the lawyer +sought for a possible spare anchor. Meanwhile Ruth kept up the spirits +of her two smallest sisters and Mrs. MacCall by gayly telling stories. +She was a true "little mother," and in this instance she well deserved +the appellations of both "Martha" and "Minerva." + +Fortunate it was for the Corner House girls that the _Bluebird_ was a +staunch craft, broad of beam and stout in her bottom planks. Otherwise +she never would have weathered the storm that had her in its grip. + +Lake Macopic was subject to these sudden outbursts of the furious +elements. It was surrounded by hills, and through the intervening +valleys currents of air swept down, lashing the waters into big waves. +Sailing craft are more at the mercy of the wind and water than are power +boats, but when these last have lost their ability to progress they are +in worse plight than the other craft, being less substantial in build. + +But the _Bluebird_ was not exactly of either of these types. In fact the +craft on which the Corner House girls were voyaging was merely a big +scow with a broad, flat bottom and a superstructure made into the +semblance of a house on shore--with limitations, of course. It would be +practically impossible to tip over the craft. The worst that could +happen, and it would be a sufficient disaster, would be that a hole +might be stove in the barge-like hull which would fill, and thus sink +the boat. And the lake was deep enough in many places to engulf the +_Bluebird_. + +Mr. Howbridge realized this as he stumbled about the lower deck, looking +for something that would serve as an anchor. He soon came to the +conclusion that there was not a spare one on board, for had there been +it naturally would have been in plain view to be ready for use in +emergencies. + +Having made a circuit of the deck, not finding anything that could be +used, Mr. Howbridge debated with himself what he had better do next. He +stepped into a small storeroom in the stern of the craft above the motor +compartment where Neale and Hank were working, and there the lawyer +flashed the pocket electric torch he carried. It gave him a view of a +heterogeneous collection of articles, and when he saw a heavy piece of +iron his eyes lightened. + +"This may do for an anchor," he said. "I'll fasten it on the rope and +heave it overboard." + +But when he tried to move it alone he found it was beyond his strength. +He could almost manage it, but a little more strength was needed. + +"I'll have to get Neale or Hank," mused Mr. Howbridge. "But I hate to +ask them to stop. The safety of the _Bluebird_ may depend on how quickly +they get the motor started. And yet--" + +He heard some one approaching along the lower deck and a moment later a +flash of lightning revealed to him Ruth. + +"I heard some one in here," said the Corner House girl, "and I came to +see who it was. I thought maybe the door had blown open and was +banging." + +"I was looking for an anchor, and I have found one, though I can't move +it alone," the lawyer said. "But why have you left your sisters?" + +"Because Mrs. Mac is telling them a Scotch story. She has managed to +interest them, and, at the same time, she is forgetting her own +troubles. So I came out. Let me help move the anchor, or whatever it +is." + +"Spoken like Martha!" said Mr. Howbridge. "Well, perhaps your added +strength will be just what is needed. But you must be careful not to +strain yourself," he added, anxiously. + +"I am no baby!" exclaimed Ruth. "I want to help! Where is it?" + +Flashing his light again, her guardian showed her, and then, while the +wind seemed to howl in fiercer fury, if that were possible, and while +the rain beat down like hail-pellets, they managed to drag out on deck +the heavy piece of iron, which seemed to be some part of a machine. + +The storeroom opened on that side of the deck where the superstructure +of the houseboat gave some shelter, and, working in this, Ruth and Mr. +Howbridge managed to get the frayed end of the anchor rope attached to +the heavy iron. + +"Now if we can heave this overboard it may save us from drifting on the +rocks until Neale and Hank can get the engine to working again," said +the lawyer. + +"We'll try!" exclaimed Ruth. Her guardian caught a glimpse of her face +as the skies flashed forth into flame again. Her lips were parted from +her rapid breathing, revealing her white teeth, and even in the stress +and fury of the storm Mr. Howbridge could not but admire her. Though no +one ever called Ruth Kenway pretty, there was an undeniable charm about +her, and that had been greater, her guardian thought, ever since the day +of Luke Shepard's entrance into her life. + +"It's our last hope, and a forlorn one," Mr. Howbridge said dubiously, +looking at their anchor. + +Together they managed to drag the heavy piece of iron to the edge of the +deck. Then, making sure the rope was fast about the cleat, they heaved +the improvised anchor over the side. It fell into Lake Macopic with a +great splash. + +"What was that?" cried Neale, coming out on deck, followed by Agnes, who +had been down watching him work at the engine. + +"Our new anchor," replied the lawyer. "It may serve to hold us if you +can't get the engine to working," and he explained what he and Ruth had +done. + +"Good!" exclaimed Neale. "I hope it does hold, for it doesn't seem as if +we were going to get that monkey wrench out in a hurry. I'm looking for +a long bar of iron to see if we can use it as a lever." + +"There may be one in the storeroom where we found the anchor," remarked +Ruth. + +"I'll have a look." + +The _Bluebird_ was not living up to her name. Instead of skimming more +or less lightly over the surface of the lake she was rolling to and fro +in the trough of the waves, which were really high. Now and then the +crest of some comber broke over the snub bow of the craft, sending back +the spray in a shower that rattled on the front windows of the cabin. + +Anxiously the four on deck waited to see the effect of the anchor. If it +held, catching on the bottom of the lake, it would mean a partial +solution of their troubles. If it dragged-- + +Neale hastened to the side and looked down at the anchor cable. It was +taut, showing that the weight had not slipped off. But the drift of the +boat was not checked. + +"Why doesn't it hold?" asked Ruth. + +"Is it dragging?" came from the lawyer. + +"I don't believe it is touching bottom," replied Neale. "I'm afraid the +rope is too short. We are moving faster than before." + +Just as he spoke there came a vivid flash of lightning. Involuntarily +they all shrank. It seemed as though they were about to be blasted where +they stood. And then, as a great crash followed, they trembled with the +vibration of its rumble. + +The next instant Ruth and Agnes cried simultaneously: + +"Look! We're being blown ashore!" + +Neale and Mr. Howbridge peered through the darkness. Another lightning +flash showed their peril. + +"We're going to hit the island!" shouted Neale. + +A few seconds later the wind blew the _Bluebird_, beams-on, upon a rocky +shore. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +SUSPICIONS + + +The shock of the sudden stop, the tilting of the craft, which was +sharply careened to one side, the howl of the wind, the rumble of the +thunder, the flash of the lightning, and the dash of the rain--all these +combined to make the position of those aboard the _Bluebird_ anything +but enviable. + +"Are we lost! Oh, are we lost?" cried Mrs. MacCall, rushing out of the +cabin. "Ha the seas engulfed us?" + +"No, nothing of the sort!" answered Mr. Howbridge. "Please don't get +excited, and go back to the children. We are all right!" + +"Yes, I believe we are," added Neale, as another flash showed what had +happened. "At least we are in no danger of sinking now." + +For they had been sent before the fury of the storm straight upon the +rocky shore of one of the large islands of Lake Macopic. And there the +houseboat came to rest. + +As Neale had said, all danger of foundering was passed, and in case of +need they could easily escape to substantial land, though it was but an +island. But tilted as the _Bluebird_ was, forming a less comfortable +abode than formerly, she offered a better place to stay than did the +woods of the island, bending as they were now to the fierce wind, and +drenched as they were in the pelting rain. + +"We're here for the night, at least," said Neale, as the continued +lightning revealed more fully what had happened. "We shall not drift any +more, and though there's a lot of excitement going on, I guess we can +keep dry." + +He and Mr. Howbridge, with Ruth and Agnes, stood out on the open, lower +deck, but there was a shelter over their heads and the sides of the +house part of the boat kept the rain from them. The storm was coming +from the west, and they had been blown on the weather side of the +island. The lee shore was on the other side. There they would have been +sheltered, but they could not choose their situation. + +"We'd better take a turn with a rope around a tree or two," suggested +Hank, as he came up to join the little party. "No use drifting off +again." + +"You're right," agreed Neale. "And then we can turn in and wait for +morning. I only hope--" + +"What?" asked Agnes, as he hesitated. + +"I hope it clears," Neale finished. But what he had been going to say +was that he hoped no holes would be stove in the hull of the boat. + +It was no easy task for him and Hank to get two lines ashore--from bow +and stern--and fasten them to trees. But eventually it was accomplished. +Then, as if it had worked its worst, the storm appeared to decrease in +violence and it was possible to get a little rest. + +However, before turning in again, Mrs. MacCall insisted on making a pot +of tea for the older folk, while the small children were given some +bread and milk. As the berths where Dot and Tess had been sleeping were +uncomfortably tilted by the listing of the boat, the little girls were +given the places occupied by Ruth and Agnes, who managed to make shift +to get some rest in the slanting beds. + +"Whew!" exclaimed Neale as he went to his room when all that was +possible had been done, "this has been some night!" + +As might have been expected, the morning broke clear, warm and sunny, +and the only trace of the storm was in the rather high waves of the +lake. Before Mrs. MacCall served breakfast Neale, Mr. Howbridge, Agnes +and Ruth went ashore, an easy matter, since the _Bluebird_ was stranded, +and made an examination. They found their craft so firmly fixed on the +rocky shore that help would be needed before she could be floated. + +"But how are we going to get help?" asked Ruth. + +"Oh, there may be fishermen living on this island," said Mr. Howbridge. +"We'll make a tour and see." + +"And if there is none," added Neale, "Hank or I can row over to the next +nearest island or to the mainland and bring back some men." + +The _Bluebird_ carried on her afterdeck a small skiff to be used in +making trips to and from the craft when she was at anchor out in some +stream or lake. This boat would be available for the journey to the +mainland or to another island. + +An examination showed that the houseboat was not damaged more than +superficially, and after a hearty breakfast, Neale and Mr. Howbridge +held a consultation with Ruth and Agnes. + +"What we had better do is this," said the lawyer. "We had better turn +our energies in two ways. One toward getting the disabled motor in +shape, and the other toward seeking help to put us afloat once more." + +"Hank can work on the motor," decided Neale. "All it needs is to have +the monkey wrench taken out of the pit. In fact the space is so cramped +that only one can work to advantage at a time. That will leave me free +to go ashore in the boat." + +"Why not try this island first?" asked Ruth. "If there are any fishermen +here they could help us get afloat, and it would save time. It is quite +a distance to the main shore or even to the next island." + +"Yes, it is," agreed Neale. "But I don't mind the row." + +"It is still rough," put in Agnes, looking over the heaving lake. + +"Then I think the best thing to do," said Mr. Howbridge, "is for some of +us to go ashore and see if we can find any men to help us. Three or four +of them, with long poles, could pry the _Bluebird_ off the rocks and +into the water again." + +"Oh, do let's go ashore!" cried Agnes, and Tess and Dot, coming up just +then, echoed this. + +Mrs. MacCall did not care to go, saying she would prepare dinner for +them. Hank took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and started to work +on the motor, while the others began their island explorations. + +The houseboat had been blown on one of the largest bits of wooded land +that studded Lake Macopic. In fact it was so large and wild that after +half an hour's walk no sign of habitation or inhabitants had been seen. + +"Looks to be deserted," said Neale. "I guess I'll have to make the trip +to the mainland after all." + +"Perhaps," agreed the lawyer, while Ruth called to Tess and Dot not to +stray too far off in their eagerness to see all there was to be seen in +the strange woods. "Well, we are in no special rush, and while our +position is not altogether comfortable on board the _Bluebird_, the +relief from the storm is grateful. I wonder--" + +"Hark!" suddenly whispered Ruth, holding up a hand to enjoin silence. "I +hear voices!" + +They all heard them a moment later. + +"I guess some one lives here after all," remarked Mr. Howbridge. "The +talk seems to come from just beyond us." + +"Let's follow this path," suggested Neale, pointing to a fairly well +defined one amid the trees. It skirted the shore, swung down into a +little hollow, and then emerged on the bank of a small cove which formed +a natural harbor for a small motor boat. + +And a motor boat was at that moment in the sheltered cove. All in the +party saw it, and they also saw something else. This was a view of two +roughly dressed men, who, at the sound of crackling branches and +rustling leaves beneath the feet of the explorers, looked up quickly. + +"It's them again! Come on!" quickly cried one of the men, and in an +instant they had jumped into the motor boat which was tied to a tree +near shore. + +It was the work of but a moment for one of them to turn over the +flywheel and start the motor. The other cast off, and in less than a +minute from the time the Corner House girls and their friends had +glimpsed them the two ragged men were on their way in their boat out of +the cove. + +"Look! Look!" cried Ruth, pointing at them. "They're the same ones!" + +"The men we saw at the lock?" asked Neale. + +"Yes, and the men who robbed us--I am almost positive of that!" cried +the oldest Corner House girl. + +"The rascals!" exclaimed the lawyer. "They're going to escape us again! +Fate seems to be with them! Every time we come upon them they manage to +distance us!" + +This was what was happening now. The tramps--such they seemed to be, +though the possession of a motor boat took them out of the ordinary +class--with never a look behind, speeded away. + +"How provoking!" cried Agnes. "To think they have our jewelry and we +can't make them give it up." + +"You are not sure they have it," said Mr. Howbridge, as the motor craft +passed out of sight beyond a tree-fringed point. + +"I think I am," said Ruth. "If they are not guilty why do they always +hurry away when they see us?" + +"Well, Minerva, that is a question I can not answer," said her guardian, +with a smile. "You are a better lawyer than I when it comes to that. +Certainly it does look suspicious." + +"Oh, for a motor boat!" sighed Neale. "I'd like to chase those rascals!" + +"Yes, it would be interesting to find out why they seem to fear us," +agreed Mr. Howbridge. "But it's too late, now." + +"I wonder why they came to this island," mused Ruth. "Do you think they +were fishermen?" + +"They didn't have any implements of the trade," said Mr. Howbridge. "But +their presence proves that the island is not altogether uninhabited. +Let's go along, and we may find some one to help get the boat back into +the water." + +They resumed their journey, new beauties of nature being revealed at +every step. The trees and grass were particularly green after the +effective washing of the night before, and there were many wild flowers +which the two little girls gathered, with many exclamations of delight. + +Turning with the path, the trampers suddenly came to a small clearing +amid the trees. It was a little grassy glade, through which flowed a +stream of water, doubtless from some hidden spring higher up among the +rocks. But what most interested Neale, Agnes, Ruth and the lawyer was a +small cabin that stood in the middle of the beautiful green grass. + +"There's a house!" cried Dot. "Look!" + +"It's the start of one, anyhow," agreed Mr. Howbridge. + +"And somebody lives in it," went on Ruth, as the door of the cabin +opened and a heavily bearded man came out, followed by a dog. The dog +ran, barking, toward the explorers, but a command from the man brought +him back. + +"I hope we aren't trespassing," said Mr. Howbridge. "We were blown on +the island last night, and we're looking for help to get our houseboat +back into the lake." + +"Oh, no, you aren't trespassing," the man replied with a smile, showing +two rows of white teeth that contrasted strangely with his black beard. +"I own part of the island, but not all of it. What sort of boat did you +say?" + +"Houseboat," and the lawyer explained the trouble. "Are there men here +we can get to help us pole her off the shore?" he asked. + +"Well, I guess I and my two boys could give you a hand," was the slow +answer. "They've gone over to the mainland with some fish to sell, but +they'll be back around noon." + +"We'll be glad of their help," went on the lawyer. "Do you live here all +the while?" + +"Mostly. I and my boys fish and guide. Lots of men come here in the +summer that don't know where to fish, and we take 'em out." + +"Were those your two sons we saw in a motor boat back there in the +cove?" asked Neale, indicating the place where the tramps had been +observed. Rather anxiously the bearded man's answer was awaited. + +"What sort of boat was it?" he countered. + +Neale described it sufficiently well. + +"No, those weren't my boys," returned the man, while the dog made +friends with the visitors, much to the delight of Dot and Tess. "We +haven't any such boat as that. I don't know who those fellows could be, +though of course many people come to this island." + +"I wish we could find out who those men are," said Mr. Howbridge. "I +have peculiar reasons for wanting to know," he went on. + +"I think they call themselves Klondikers, because they have been, or +claim to have been, to the Alaskan Klondike," said Neale. "Do you happen +to know any Klondikers around here?" + +Somewhat to the surprise of the boy the answer came promptly: + +"Yes, I do. A man named O'Neil." + +"What!" exclaimed Neale, starting forward. "Do you know my father? Where +is he? Tell me about him!" + +"Well, I don't know that he's your father," went on the black-bearded +man. "Though, now I recollect, he did say he had a son and he hoped to +see him soon. But this O'Neil lives on one of the islands here in the +lake. Or at least he's been staying there the last week. He bought some +fish of me, and he said then he'd been to the Klondike after gold." + +"Did he say he got any?" asked Neale. + +The man of the cabin shook his head. + +"I wouldn't say so," he remarked. "Mr. O'Neil had to borrow money of one +of my boys to hire a boat. I guess he's poorer than the general run. He +couldn't have got any gold in the Klondike." + +At this answer Neale's heart sank, and a worried suspicion crept into +his mind. If his father were poor it might explain something that had +been troubling the boy of late. Somehow, all the brightness seemed to go +out of the day. Neale's happy prospects appeared very dim now. + +"Poor father!" he murmured to himself. + +Suddenly, from the lake behind them came some loud shouts, at which the +dog began to bark. Then followed a shot, and the animal raced down the +slope toward the water. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CLOSING IN + + +"Perhaps these are the men!" exclaimed Ruth to the lawyer. + +"What men?" he asked. + +"Those tramps--the ones who robbed us in the rain storm that day. If +they come here--" + +"What's the matter?" asked the man of the cabin--Aleck Martin he had +said his name was. "What seems to be the trouble with the young lady?" +And, as he spoke, gazing at Ruth, the barking of the dog and the +shouting grew apace. + +"She is excited, thinking the rascals about whom we have been inquiring +might now make their appearance," Mr. Howbridge answered. + +"Mr. Martin laughed so heartily that his black beard waved up and down +like a bush in the wind, and Dot and Tess watched it in fascination. + +"Excuse me, friend," the dweller in the cabin went on, "but I couldn't +help it. Those are my two boys coming back. They always cut up like +that. Seems like the quietness of the lake and this island gets on their +nerves sometimes, and they have to raise a ruction. No harm in it, not a +bit. Jack, the dog, enjoys it as much as they do." + +This was evident a few moments later, for up the slope came two sturdy +young men, one carrying a gun, and the dog was frisking about between +the two, having the jolliest time imaginable. + +"There are my boys!" said Mr. Martin, and he spoke with pride. + +"Oh, will you excuse me?" asked Ruth, in some confusion. + +"That's all right--they do look like tramps," said their father. "But +you can't wear your best clothes fussing around boats and fish and +taking parties out. Well, Tom and Henry, any luck?" he asked the +newcomers. + +"Extra fine, Dad," answered one, while both of them stared curiously at +the visitors. + +"That's good," went on Mr. Martin. "These folks," he added, "were blown +ashore last night in their houseboat. They want help to get it off." + +"Will you go and look at her, and then we can make a bargain?" +interposed Mr. Howbridge. + +"Oh, shucks now, friend, we aren't always out for money, though we make +a living by working for summer folks like you," said Mr. Martin, +smiling. + +"Is that your boat over there?" asked one of the young men whose name, +they learned later, was Tom. + +"Yes," assented Neale, for the fisherman pointed in the direction of the +stranded _Bluebird_, which, however, could not be seen from the cabin. + +"We saw her as we came around," went on Henry. "I wondered what she was +doing up on shore, and we intended to have a look after we tied up our +craft." + +"Will you be able to help us get her afloat?" asked Ruth, for she rather +liked the healthful, manly appearance of the two young men. + +"Sure!" assented their father. "This is that O'Neil man's son," he went +on, speaking to his boys. + +"What, O'Neil; the Klondiker?" asked Tom quickly. + +"Yes," assented Neale. "Can you tell me about him? Where is he? How did +he make out in Alaska?" + +"Well, he's on an island about ten miles from here," was the answer of +Henry. "As for making out, I don't believe he did very well in the gold +business, to tell you the truth. He doesn't say much about it, but I +guess the other men got most of it." + +"What other men?" asked Neale, and again his heart sank and that +terrible suspicion came back to him. + +"Oh, a bunch he is in with," answered Henry Martin. "They all live +together in a shack on Cedar Island. Your father hired a boat of us. I +trusted him for it, as he said he had no ready cash. But I reckon it's +all right." + +This only served to make Neale more uneasy. He had been hoping against +hope that his father would have found at least a competence in the +Klondike. + +Now it seemed he had not, and, driven by poverty, he might have adopted +desperate measures. Nor did Neale like the remarks about his father +being in with a "bunch" of men. True, Mr. O'Neil had been in the circus +at one time, and they, of necessity, are a class of rough and ready men. +But they are honest, Neale reflected. These other men--if the two who +had escaped in the motor boat were any samples--were not to be trusted. + +So it was with falling spirits that the boy waited for what was to +happen next. + +Agnes' quick mind and ready sympathy guessed Neale's thoughts. + +"It will be all right, Neale O'Neil. You know it will. Your father +couldn't go wrong." + +"You're a pal worth having, Aggie," he whispered to the girl. + +"I would like to see my father," he said to the lawyer. "Do you think we +could go to Cedar Island in the houseboat?" + +"Of course we can!" exclaimed Mr. Howbridge. "We'll go as soon as we can +get her afloat." + +"And that won't take long; she didn't seem to be in a bad position," +said Tom. "Come on, we'll go over now," he went on, nodding to his +father and his brother. + +"I have an Alice-doll on the boat," said Dot, taking a sudden liking to +Henry. + +"You have?" he exclaimed, taking hold of her hand which she thrust +confidingly into his. "Well, that's fine! I wish I had a doll!" + +"Do you?" asked Dot, all smiles now. "Well, I have a lot of 'em at home. +There's Muriel and Bonnie Betty and a sailor boy doll, and Nosmo King +Kenway, and then I have twins--Ann Eliza and Eliza Ann, and--" + +"Eliza Ann isn't a twin any more--anyway not a good twin," put in Tess. +"Both her legs are off!" + +"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Henry sympathetically. + +"And if you want a doll, I can give you one of mine," proceeded Dot. +"Only I don't want to give you Alice-doll 'cause she's all I have with +me. But if you want Muriel--" + +"Muriel has only one eye," said Tess quickly. + +"I think I should love a one-eyed doll!" said the young man, who seemed +to know just how to talk to children. + +"Then I'll send her to you!" delightedly offered Dot. + +"And I'll send you one of Almira's kittens!" said Tess, who did not seem +to want her sister to do all the giving. + +"Hold on there! Don't I get anything?" asked Tom, in mock distress. + +"Almira's got a lot of kittens," said Dot. "Would you like one of them?" + +"Well I should say so! If Henry's going to have a kitten and a doll, I +think I ought at least to have a kitten," he said. + +"Well, I'll send you one," promised Tess. + +And then, with the two children, one in charge of Henry and the other +holding Tom's hand, the trip was made back to where the _Bluebird_ was +stranded. + +"It won't be much of a job to get her off," declared Mr. Martin, when he +and his sons had made an expert examination. "Get some long poles, boys, +and some blocks, and I think half an hour's work will do the trick." + +"Oh, shall we be able to move soon?" asked Mrs. MacCall, coming out on +deck. + +"We hope so," answered Ruth, as she went on board and told of the visit +to the cabin, while Neale hurried to the engine room to see what success +Hank had met with. The mule driver had succeeded in getting the monkey +wrench out from under the flywheel, and the craft could move under her +own power once she was afloat. + +"What's the matter with Neale?" asked Mrs. MacCall, while the men were +in the woods getting the poles. "He looks as if all the joy had departed +from life." + +"I'm afraid it has, for him," said Ruth soberly. "It seems that his +father is located near here--on Cedar Island--and is poor." + +"Nothing in that to take the joy out of life!" And Mrs. MacCall strode +away. + +"Well, being poor isn't anything," declared Agnes. "Lots of people are +poor. We were, before Uncle Peter Stower left us the Corner House." + +"I think Neale fears his father may have had something to do with-- Oh, +Agnes, I hate to say it, but I think Neale believes his father either +robbed us, or knows something about the men who took the jewelry box!" + +"But we know it isn't true!" exclaimed Agnes. + +"Anyway, the Klondike trip was a failure." + +"Yes, and I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Agnes. "Couldn't we help--" + +"I think we shall just have to wait," advised her sister. "We can talk +to Mr. Howbridge about it after we find out more. I think they are going +to move the boat now." + +This task was undertaken, and to such good advantage did Mr. Martin and +his sons work, aided, of course, by Neale, Mr. Howbridge and Hank, that +the _Bluebird_ was soon afloat again. + +"Now we can go on, and when I get back home I'll send you a doll and a +pussy cat!" offered Dot to Henry. + +"And I'll send you two pussy cats!" Tess said to Tom. + +The young men laughed, their father joining in. + +"How much do I owe you?" asked the lawyer, when it was certain that the +houseboat was afloat, undamaged, and could proceed on her way. + +"Not a cent!" was the hearty answer of Mr. Martin. "We always help our +neighbors up here, and you were neighbors for a while," he added with a +laugh. + +"Well, I'm a thousand times obliged to you," said the guardian of the +Corner House girls. "Our trip might have been spoiled if we couldn't +have gone on, though I must say you have a delightful resting spot in +this island." + +"We like it here," admitted the fisherman, while his sons were looking +over the houseboat, which they pronounced "slick." + +Neale seemed to have lost heart and spirit. Dot and Tess, of course, did +not notice it so much, as there was plenty to occupy them. But to Ruth +and Agnes, as well as to Mr. Howbridge, Neale's dejection was very +evident. + +"Is the motor all right?" asked the lawyer of Neale, when the Martins +had departed with their dog. + +"Yes, she runs all right now." + +"Then we might as well head for Cedar Island," suggested the lawyer. +"The sooner you find your father the better." + +"Yes--I suppose so," and Neale turned away to hide his sudden emotion. + +Once more the _Bluebird_ was under way, moving slowly over the sparkling +waters of Lake Macopic. All traces of the storm had vanished. + +"Mrs. Mac wants to know if we are going to pass any stores," said Agnes, +coming up on deck when the island on which they had been stranded had +been left behind. + +"We can run over to the mainland if she wants us to," the lawyer said. +"Is it anything important, Agnes?" + +"Only some things to eat." + +"Well, that's important enough!" he laughed. "We'll stop at that point +over there," and he indicated one. "From there we can make a straight +run to Cedar Island. You won't mind the delay, will you?" he asked +Neale, who was steering. + +"Oh, no," was the indifferent answer. "I guess there's no hurry." + +They all felt sorry for the lad, but decided nothing could be done. Mr. +Howbridge admitted, after Ruth had spoken to him, that matters looked +black for Mr. O'Neil, but with his legal wisdom the lawyer said: + +"Don't bring in a verdict of guilty until you have heard all the +evidence. It is only fair to suspend judgment. It would be cruel to +raise Neale's hopes, only to dash them again, but I am hoping for the +best." + +This comforted Ruth and Agnes a little; though of course Agnes, in her +loyalty to Neale, did not allow doubt to enter her mind. + +The point for which the boat was headed was a little settlement on the +lake shore. It was also the center of a summer colony, and was a lively +place just at present, this being the height of the season. + +At the point were a number of stores, and it was there the supplies for +the Scotch housekeeper could be purchased. Ruth and Agnes had made their +selections and the things were being put on board when a number of men +were observed coming down the long dock. + +One of them wore a nickel badge on the outside of his coat, and seemed +to have an air of authority. Neale, who had been below helping Hank +store away some supplies of oil and gasoline that had been purchased, +came out on deck, and, with the girls and Mr. Howbridge, watched the +approach of the men. + +"Looks like a constable or sheriff's officer with a posse," commented +Ruth. "It reminds me of a scene I saw in the movies." + +"It is an officer--I know him," said Mr. Howbridge in a low voice. "He +once worked on a case for me several years ago. That's Bob +Newcomb--quite a character in his way. I wonder if he remembers me." + +This point was settled a moment later, for the officer--he with the +nickel badge of authority--looked up and his face lightened when he saw +the lawyer. + +"Well, if it ain't Mr. Howbridge!" exclaimed Mr. Newcomb. "Well now, +sufferin' caterpillers, this is providential! Is that your boat?" he +asked, halting his force by a wave of his hand. + +"I may say I control it," was the answer. "Why do you ask?" + +"'Cause then there won't be no unfriendly feelin' if I act in the +performance of my duty," went on the constable, for such he was. "I'll +have to take possession of your craft in the name of the law." + +"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Howbridge, rather sharply. "Is this craft +libeled? All bills are paid, and I am in legal possession. I have a bill +of sale and this boat is to be delivered to a client of mine--" + +"There you go! There you go! Ready to fight at the drop of the hat!" +chuckled the constable. "Just like you did before when I worked on that +timber land case with you. But there's no occasion to get roiled up, Mr. +Howbridge. I only want to take temporary possession of your boat in the +name of the law. All I want to have is a ride for me and my posse. We're +on the business of the law, and you, being a lawyer, know what that +means. I call on you, as a good citizen, to aid, as I've got a right to +do." + +"I recognize that," said the lawyer, now smiling, and glancing at Ruth +and the others to show everything was all right. "But what's the game?" + +"Robbery's the game!" came the stern answer. "We're going to round up +and close in on a band of tramps, robbers and other criminals! They have +a camp on an island, and they've been robbin' hen roosts and doin' other +things in this community until this community has got good and sick of +it. Then they called in the law--that's me and my posse," he added, +waving his hand toward the men back of him. "The citizens called in the +law, represented by me, and I am going to chase the rascals out!" + +"Very good," assented Mr. Howbridge. "I'm willing to help, as all good +citizens should. But what am I to do? Where do I come in?" + +"You're going to lend us that boat," said Constable Newcomb. "It's the +only large one handy just now, and we don't want to lose any time. As +soon as I saw you put into the dock I made up my mind I'd commandeer the +craft. That's the proper term, ain't it?" he asked. + +"Yes," assented the lawyer, smiling, "I believe it is. So you want to +commandeer the _Bluebird_." + +"To take me and my posse over to Cedar Island, and there to close in on +a bunch of Klondikers!" went on the constable, and Neale, hearing it, +gave a startled cry. + +"Anybody on board that's afraid to come may stay at home," said the +constable quickly. "I mean they can get off the boat. But we've got to +have the craft to get to the island. Now then, Mr. Howbridge, will you +help?" + +"Certainly. As a matter of law I have to," answered the lawyer slowly. + +"And will you help, and you?" went on the constable, looking in turn at +Neale and Hank, who were on deck. "I call upon you in the name of the +law." + +"Yes, they'll help," said Mr. Howbridge quickly. "Don't object or say +anything," he added to Neale in a low voice. "Leave everything to me!" + +"Fall in! Get on board! We'll close in on the rascals!" cried the +constable, very well pleased that he could issue orders. + +Neale's heart was torn with doubts. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE CAPTURE + + +Constable Newcomb and his posse disposed themselves comfortably aboard +the _Bluebird_, and, at a nod from Mr. Howbridge, Neale rang the bell to +tell Hank to throw in the gear clutch and start the boat. + +The girls, much to Agnes' dissatisfaction, had been left ashore, since +there was likely to be rough work arresting the "Klondikers," as the +constable called the tramps on Cedar Island. Mrs. MacCall stayed with +them. + +They had disembarked at the point dock and when the boat pulled off went +to the hotel there to await the return of their friends. + +"Now, Mr. Newcomb, perhaps you can explain what it's all about," +suggested the lawyer to the constable, when they sat on deck together, +near Neale at the steering wheel. The lawyer made the boy a signal to +say nothing, but to listen. + +"Well, this is what it's about," was the answer. "As I told you, a +parcel of tramps--Klondikers they call themselves because, I understand, +some of 'em have been in Alaska. Anyhow a parcel of tramps are living on +Cedar Island. They've been robbing right and left, and the folks around +here are tired of it. So a complaint was made and I've got a lot of +warrants to arrest the men." + +"Do you know any of their names?" asked the lawyer. + +"No, all the warrants are made out in the name of John Doe. That's +legal, you know." + +"Yes, I know," assented Mr. Howbridge. "And how many do you expect to +arrest?" + +"Oh, about half a dozen. Two of 'em have a motor boat, I understand, but +they had an accident in the storm last night and can't navigate. That's +the reason we're going over there now--they can't get away!" + +"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Howbridge. "I fancy, Mr. Newcomb, I may be able to +add another complaint to the ones you already have, if two of the men +turn out to be the characters we suspect." + +"Why, have they been robbing your hen roost, too?" asked the constable. + +"No, but two of my wards, Ruth and Agnes Kenway, were robbed of a box of +jewelry just before we started on this trip," said the lawyer. "Two +rough men held them up in a hallway on a rainy morning and snatched a +jewel box. The men were tramps--and the day before that two men who +called themselves Klondikers had looked at vacant rooms in the house +where the robbery occurred. Since then the girls think they have seen +the same tramps several times. I hope you can round them up." + +"We'll get 'em if they're on Cedar Island!" the constable declared. "Got +your guns, boys?" he asked the members of his posse. + +Each one had, it seemed, and the nervous tension grew as the island was +neared. Hank drove the _Bluebird_ at her best speed, which, of course, +was not saying much, for she was not a fast craft. But gradually the +objective point came into view. + +"It's just as well not to have too fast a boat," the constable said. "If +the Klondikers saw it coming they might jump in the lake and swim away. +They won't be so suspicious of this." + +"Perhaps not," the lawyer assented. But he could not help thinking how +tragic it would be if it should happen that Neale's father was among +those captured. Neale himself guided the houseboat on her way. + +"Put her around into that cove," Constable Newcomb directed the youth at +the wheel, when the island was reached. + +Silently the _Bluebird_ floated into a little natural harbor and was +made fast to the bank. + +"All ashore now, and don't make any noise," ordered the officer. "They +haven't spotted us yet, I guess. We may surround 'em and capture 'em +without any trouble." + +"Let us hope so," said Mr. Howbridge. "Have they some sort of house or +headquarters?" + +"They live in a shack or two," the constable replied. "It's in the +middle of the island. I'd better lead the way," he went on, and he +placed himself at the head of his men. + +"Don't make any outcry or any explanation if your father is among these +men," said Mr. Howbridge to Neale, as the two walked on behind the +posse. This was the first direct reference to the matter the lawyer had +made. + +"I'll do whatever you say," assented Neale listlessly. + +"It may all be a mistake," went on the lawyer sympathetically. "We will +not jump at conclusions." + +Hank had been sworn in as a special deputy, and was with the other men +who pressed on through the woods after Constable Newcomb. + +Suddenly the leader halted, and his men did likewise. + +"Something's up!" called Mr. Howbridge to Neale. They went on a little +farther and saw, in a clearing, a small cabin. There was no sign of life +about it. + +"I guess they're in there," said the constable in a low tone to his men. +"The motor boat's at the dock, and so is the rowboat, so they're on the +island. Close in, men!" he suddenly cried. + +There was a rush toward the cabin, and Mr. Howbridge and Neale followed. +The door was burst in and the constable and his posse entered. + +Three men were asleep in rude bunks, and they sat up bleary-eyed and +bewildered at the unexpected rush. + +"Wot's matter?" asked one, thickly. + +"You're under arrest!" exclaimed the constable. "In the name of the law +I arrest you! I'm the law!" he went on, tapping his nickel shield. + +One of the men made a dart for a window, as though to get out, but he +was knocked back by a deputy, and in a few seconds all three men were +secured. + +Neale, who had pressed into the cabin as soon as possible, looked with +fast-beating heart into the faces of the three tramps. To his great +relief none was his father. + +"Now, what's all this about?" growled one of the men. "What's the game?" + +"You'll find out soon enough," declared the constable. "Are either of +these the men you spoke of?" he asked the lawyer. + +"Yes, those two are the ones that several times went off in a hurry in +the motor boat," said Mr. Howbridge. "But I can not identify them as the +ones who took the jewelry. Ruth and Agnes Kenway will have to do that." + +As he spoke the two men looked at him. One shook his head and the other +exclaimed: + +"It's all up. They got us right!" + +"Come on now lively, men!" cried Constable Newcomb. "Search this place, +gather up what evidence you can, and we'll take 'em to jail." + +"Are there any others?" asked Neale, hoping against hope as the men were +taken outside the shack and the search was begun. + +"I guess we have the main ones, anyhow," answered Mr. Newcomb. "Oh, look +at this bunch of stuff!" he cried, as he threw back the dirty blankets +of one of the bunks. "They've been robbing right and left." + +It was a heterogeneous collection of articles, and at the sight of one +box Mr. Howbridge exclaimed: + +"There it is! The jewelry case I gave Miss Ruth! These men were either +the thieves or they know something about the robbery. See if anything is +left in the box." + +It was quickly opened, and seen to contain a number of rings, pins, and +trinkets. + +"Well, there's a good part of it," the lawyer remarked. "It will need +Ruth and Agnes to tell just what is missing." + +Mr. Howbridge and Neale were watching the constable and his men finish +the search of the cabin, while others of the posse had taken the +prisoners to the boat, when suddenly into the shack came another man, +whose well-worn clothing would seem to proclaim him as one of the +"Klondikers." + +But at the sight of this man Neale sprang forward, and held out his +hands. + +"Father!" cried the boy. "Don't you know me?" + +"It's Neale--my son!" was the gasping exclamation. "How in the world did +you get here? I was just about to start for Milton to look you up." + +"Well, I guess, before you do, we'll look you up a bit, and maybe lock +you up, also," said the constable dryly. "Do you belong to the Klondike +bunch?" he asked. + +"Well, yes, I might say that I do; or rather that I did." said Neale's +father, and though the boy gasped in dismay, Mr. O'Neil smiled. "I +understand the crowd has been captured," he added. + +"Yes. And you may consider yourself captured also!" snapped out the +officer. "Jim, a pair of handcuffs here!" + +"One moment!" interposed Mr. Howbridge, with a glance at Neale. "I +represent this man, officer. I'll supply bail for him--" + +Mr. O'Neil laughed. + +"Thank you," he said. "Your offer is kind, and I appreciate it. But I +shan't need bail. I believe you received a letter telling you to make +this raid, did you not?" he asked the constable. + +"I did," was the answer. "It was that letter which gave us the clue to +the robbers. I'd like to meet the man who wrote it. He said he would +give evidence against the rascals." + +"Who signed that letter?" asked Neale's father. + +"I have it here. I can show you," offered Mr. Newcomb. "It was signed by +a man named O'Neil," he added as he produced the document. "He said he'd +meet us here, but--" + +"Well, he has met you. I'm O'Neil," broke in the other. "And it was I +who gave you the information." + +"Oh, Father!" cried Neale, "then you're not one of the--" + +"I'm not one of the thieves; though I admit my living here among them +made it look so," said Mr. O'Neil. "It is easily explained. One of the +men made a fraudulent claim to part of a mine I own in Alaska, and I had +to remain in his company until I could disprove his statements. This I +have done. The matter is all cleared up, and I concluded it was time to +hand the rascals over to the law. So I sent the letter to the +authorities, and I'm glad it is all ended." + +"So am I!" cried Neale. "Then you did strike it rich after all?" + +"No, not exactly rich, Son. I was pretty lucky, though, and I struck pay +dirt in the Klondike. I wrote your Uncle Bill about it, but probably the +letters miscarried. I never was much of a letter writer, anyhow. And I +never knew until the other day that you were so anxious to find me. I +couldn't have left here anyhow, though, for I had to straighten out my +affairs. Now everything is all right. Do you still want to arrest me?" +he asked the constable. + +"No," replied Mr. Newcomb. "I reckon you're a friend of the law and, in +consequence, you're my friend. Now come on, boys, we'll lock up the +other birds." + +Neale walked by the side of his father and it was difficult to say who +talked the most. Mr. Howbridge accompanied the constable and from him +learned how the raid had been planned through information sent by Mr. +O'Neil. + +When the party reached the houseboat, whither some of the deputies had +preceded with the prisoners, the sight of a figure on the upper deck +attracted the attention of Neale and the lawyer. + +"Agnes!" gasped her guardian. "How did you get here?" + +"On the _Bluebird_. I just couldn't bear to be left behind, and so I +slipped on board again after you said good-by on the dock. There wasn't +any shooting after all," she added, as if disappointed. + +"No, it was easier than I expected," admitted the lawyer. "And, while +you should not have come, this may interest you!" + +"Our jewelry!" cried Agnes as she took the extended box. Quickly she +looked over the contents. + +"Only two little pins are missing!" she reported. "We shan't mind the +loss of them. Oh, how glad I am to get my things! And mother's wedding +ring, too! How did it happen?" + +"I think you have Neale's father to thank," answered Mr. Howbridge. + +"Oh, I am so glad!" cried Agnes, and she was happy in more ways than +one. "What did I tell you, Neale O'Neil?" + +The _Bluebird_ made a quick trip back to the point and the rascals were +locked up. Two of them proved to be the thieves who had robbed Ruth and +Agnes, though their ill-gotten gains did them little good, as they dared +not dispose of them. The third prisoner was not involved in that +robbery, though he was implicated in others around the lake. Eventually, +all three went to prison for long terms. + +Neale's father, of course, was not involved. As he explained, he had +located a mine in Alaska and it made him moderately well off. But he had +a rascally partner, and it was necessary for Mr. O'Neil to stay with +this man until a settlement was made. It was this partner who had +dealings with the thieves; and that had made it look bad for Neale's +father. This man was arrested later. + +As soon as he saw how matters were on Cedar Island Mr. O'Neil decided to +give the evil men over to the law, and he carried out his plan as +quickly as possible. The two "Klondikers" who had inquired about rooms +from the Stetson family were part of the thieving gang, and they were +also later arrested. They were planning a bank robbery in town, and the +two men who took the jewelry from Ruth and Agnes were part of the same +crowd. The robbery of the girls, of course, was done on the spur of the +moment. The two ragged men had merely taken shelter in the doorway, +after having called at the Stetson house to get the "lay of the land." +And as such characters are always on the watch to commit some crime they +hope may profit them, these two acted on the impulse. + +For some reason the bank robbery plans miscarried, and the two jewelry +robbers started back for Lake Macopic, where they had left some +confederates, including Mr. O'Neil's partner. The rascals imagined the +Corner House girls were following them, hence the several quick +departures in the motor boat. Whether one of these men looked in the +window of Tess was never learned. + +"I'm so glad our suspicions of Hank were unfounded," said Ruth, when +later the events of the day were being talked over in the _Bluebird_ +cabin. + +"Yes, that ring was his mother's," said Neale. "He told me about it +after I had hinted that we had been watching him. And, oh, Father, I'm +so glad I found you!" he added. "You're through with the Klondike; +aren't you?" + +"Yes, I'm going to sell out my mine and go into some other business." + +"Do you mean back to the circus?" asked Mr. Howbridge. + +"No. Though I want to see Bill and the others." + +"Why don't you stay with us and finish the trip on the houseboat, Mr. +O'Neil?" Ruth asked. + +"Thank you, I will," he answered, after the others had added their +urgings to Ruth's invitation. + +And so, after the somewhat exciting adventures the trip was resumed, and +eventually the craft was delivered to her owner. + +Before this, however, happy days were spent cruising about Lake Macopic, +the children and Mrs. MacCall enjoying life to the utmost. There were +days of fishing and days of bathing and splashing in the limpid waters +near sandy beaches. Tess and Dot were taught to swim by Neale, and his +father made the children laugh by imitating seals he had seen in Alaska. + +Hank, too, seemed to enjoy the vacation days, and he proved a valuable +helper, forming a great friendship with Mr. O'Neil. During those days +Ruth received two more letters from Luke and one from his sister. Luke +was still working hard at the summer hotel, and Cecile reported that the +sick aunt was now much better. Luke congratulated Neale on finding his +father. And then, as was usual, he added a page or two intended only for +Ruth's eyes,--words that made her eyes shine with rare happiness. + +"Oh, we had a lovely time!" said Agnes when they disembarked for the +last time. "The nicest summer vacation we ever spent." + +"Indeed it was," agreed Ruth. + +"And when I get home I'm going to send Mr. Henry my doll and a kitten so +he won't be lonesome on that island in winter," observed Dot. + +"And I'm going to send Mr. Tom something," declared Tess. "He likes me, +and maybe when I grow up I'll marry him!" + +"Oh, what a child!" laughed Ruth. + +"I'm glad you liked the trip," said the lawyer. "And I think we can +agree that it accomplished something," he added as he looked at Neale +and his father. + +"It made my Alice-doll a lot better!" piped up Dot, and they all +laughed. + +And so, in this jolly mood, we will take leave of the Corner House +Girls. + +THE END + + + + +CHARMING STORIES FOR GIRLS + +(From eight to twelve years old) + +THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SERIES + +BY GRACE BROOKS HILL + +Four girls from eight to fourteen years of age receive word that a rich +bachelor uncle has died, leaving them the old Corner House he occupied. +They move into it and then the fun begins. What they find and do will +provoke many a hearty laugh. Later, they enter school and make many +friends. One of these invites the girls to spend a few weeks at a +bungalow owned by her parents; and the adventures they meet with make +very interesting reading. Clean, wholesome stories of humor and +adventure, sure to appeal to all young girls. + + 1 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS. + 2 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AT SCHOOL. + 3 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS UNDER CANVAS. + 4 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS IN A PLAY. + 5 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS' ODD FIND. + 6 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A TOUR. + 7 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS GROWING UP. + 8 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS SNOWBOUND. + 9 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A HOUSEBOAT. + 10 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS AMONG THE GYPSIES. + 11 CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON PALM ISLAND. + +BARSE & HOPKINS, PUBLISHERS + +Newark N.J.--New York, N.Y. + + + + +THE POLLY PENDLETON SERIES + +BY DOROTHY WHITEHILL + +Polly Pendleton is a resourceful, wide-awake American girl who goes to a +boarding school on the Hudson River some miles above New York. By her +pluck and resourcefulness, she soon makes a place for herself and this +she holds right through the course. The account of boarding school life +is faithful and pleasing and will attract every girl in her teens. + + 1 POLLY'S FIRST YEAR AT BOARDING SCHOOL + 2 POLLY'S SUMMER VACATION + 3 POLLY'S SENIOR YEAR AT BOARDING SCHOOL + 4 POLLY SEES THE WORLD AT WAR + 5 POLLY AND LOIS + 6 POLLY AND BOB + +Cloth, Large 12mo., Illustrated. + +BARSE & HOPKINS, PUBLISHERS + +Newark N.J.--New York, N.Y. + + + + +CHICKEN LITTLE JANE SERIES + +By LILY MUNSELL RITCHIE + +Chicken Little Jane is a Western prairie girl who lives a happy, outdoor +life in a country where there is plenty of room to turn around. She is a +wide-awake, resourceful girl who will instantly win her way into the +hearts of other girls. And what good times she has!--with her pets, her +friends, and her many interests. "Chicken Little" is the affectionate +nickname given to her when she is very, very good, but when she +misbehaves it is "Jane"--just Jane! + + Adventures of Chicken Little Jane + Chicken Little Jane on the "Big John" + Chicken Little Jane Comes to Town + +With numerous illustrations in pen and ink + +By CHARLES D. HUBBARD + +BARSE & HOPKINS, PUBLISHERS + +NEWARK, N. J.--NEW YORK, N. Y. + + + + +Dorothy Whitehill Series For Girls + +Here is a sparkling new series of stories for girls--just what they will +like, and ask for more of the same kind. It is all about twin sisters, +who for the first few years in their lives grow up in ignorance of each +other's existence. Then they are at last brought together and things +begin to happen. Janet is an independent go-ahead sort of girl; while +her sister Phyllis is--but meet the twins for yourself and be +entertained. + +6 Titles, Cloth, large 12mo., Covers in color. + + 1. JANET, A TWIN + 2. PHYLLIS, A TWIN + 3. THE TWINS IN THE WEST + 4. THE TWINS IN THE SOUTH + 5. THE TWINS' SUMMER VACATION + 6. THE TWINS AND TOMMY JR. + +BARSE & HOPKINS, PUBLISHERS + +NEWARK, N. J.--NEW YORK, N. Y. + + + + +THE MARY JANE SERIES + +BY CLARA INGRAM JUDSON + +Cloth, 12mo. Illustrated. + +With picture inlay and wrapper. + +Mary Jane is the typical American little girl who bubbles over with fun +and the good things in life. We meet her here on a visit to her +grandfather's farm where she becomes acquainted with farm life and farm +animals and thoroughly enjoys the experience. We next see her going to +kindergarten and then on a visit to Florida, and then--but read the +stories for yourselves. + +Exquisitely and charmingly written are these books which every little +girl from five to nine years old will want from the first book to the +last. + + 1 MARY JANE--HER BOOK + 2 MARY JANE--HER VISIT + 3 MARY JANE'S KINDERGARTEN + 4 MARY JANE DOWN SOUTH + 5 MARY JANE'S CITY HOME + 6 MARY JANE IN NEW ENGLAND + 7 MARY JANE'S COUNTY HOME + +BARSE & HOPKINS, PUBLISHERS + +NEWARK, N. J.--NEW YORK, N. Y. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat, by +Grace Brooks Hill + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CORNER HOUSE GIRLS ON A *** + +***** This file should be named 38609-8.txt or 38609-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/6/0/38609/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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