CHAPTER XXIV
THE NIGHT ALARM
Wyn Mallory had "another mind," as the saying is, before the Go-Aheadsleft the island and paddled swiftly for their own camp.
She determined not to say anything to her girl friends of the club aboutthe sunken object she had hit under the water. Perhaps it was nothing ofany consequence; then they would laugh at her. If it _was_ the lostmotor boat, to tell the girls might spread the story farther than itought to be spread at once.
The Go-Aheads and the Busters were rivals. Mr. Lavine had promised theprize to whichever club found the sunken boat and the box of silverimages that Dr. Shelton had accused John Jarley of stealing.
"And it may not be anything, after all," thought Wyn. "It may be a falsealarm. Then the _boys_ would have the laugh on us."
To make sure of what she had hit when she dived seemed to Wyn to be theprincipal thing. And how could she make sure of this without going downspecially to examine the mystery?
"How under the sun am I going to do that without the boys seeing me?"she mused. "And if I take the girls into my confidence they will allwant to be there, too--and then sure enough the Busters will catch us atit. Dear me! I don't know what to do--really."
She had half a mind to take Frank into her confidence; but, then, Frankwas such a joker. The girls and boys had often talked about hunting forthe missing motor boat; but since Mr. Lavine had gone back to Denton,after the regatta, neither club had seriously attempted a search for the_Bright Eyes_.
Polly had told Wyn how men from Meade's Forge had searched for the boatwhen she was first lost; and some of the bateau men had kept up thesearch for a long time. Had the motor boat and the silver images beenfound, Dr. Shelton might have been obliged to pay a large reward toobtain them, for not all of the bateau men of the lake were honest.
"Some of them bothered father a good deal while he was first laid upfrom his accident, coming by night and trying to get him to give themdetails which he hadn't given to the other searchers. They thought hemust know just where the _Bright Eyes_ was sunk," Polly had toldthe captain of the Go-Ahead Club. "But they got tired of that after awhile. They saw he really did not know what had become of the boat."
Polly! She was the one to confide in, Wyn decided. And the captain ofthe Go-Ahead Club did not decide upon this until after the other girlsin the big tent, and Mrs. Havel, were all asleep. Wyn had been awake anhour wondering what she would better do.
Now, convinced that the boatman's daughter would be a wiser as well assafer confidante at this stage than Frank or the others, Wyn wriggledout of her blanket and seized her bathing suit. It was a beautiful warmnight. She was no more afraid of the woods and lake at this hour thanshe was by daylight.
So she slipped into the suit, got out of the tent without rousing any ofthe others, selected her own paddle from the heap by the fireplace, andran barefooted down to the shore. It took but a minute to push her canoeinto the water.
She paddled away around the rushes at the end of the strip of sand belowthe knoll, driving the canoe toward the Jarley Landing. Out of therushes came a sudden splashing, and some water-fowl, disturbed by herpassing, spattered deeper into hiding.
Wyn only laughed. The warm, misty night wrapped her around like a cloak;yet there was sufficient light on the surface of the lake for her to seeher course a few yards ahead.
_This_ was a real adventure--out in her canoe alone in the dark.And how fast she made the light craft travel through the still water!
She reached the landing in a very short time. Hopping out, she hauled upthe canoe. Was that the water splashing--or was there a sound behind heron the float? Was it a footstep--somebody hastening away?
Now, for the first time, Wyn felt a little tremor. But she was naturallytoo brave to be particularly disturbed by such a fancy. Who would belurking about the Jarleys' place at this hour?
So, after a moment, she shook off her doubt, and ran lightly up thefloat and along the path to the little cottage. She knew Polly's windowwell enough, and dark as it was, she soon found the spot.
It was shuttered, and the shutter was bolted on the inside; but Wynscratched upon the blind and after doing so a second time she heard amovement within.
"Polly!" she breathed.
She did not want to awaken Mr. Jarley. She just felt that she could notexplain to _him_. Of course, what she had hit under the water mighthave nothing to do with the sunken boat, and Wyn shrank from disturbingthe boatman himself about it.
"Polly!" she exclaimed, again in a whisper, "it's I--Wyn--Wyn Mallory."
At once she heard her friend's voice in return. The shutter opened.Polly blinked at Wyn through the darkness.
"My _dear_! What do you want? What has happened?" asked the girl ofthe woods.
"Come on out--do, Polly. I've got something to tell you. Just put onyour bathing suit," Wyn whispered.
"For pity's sake! What is it?"
"Don't awaken your father. Come."
"Just a minute," whispered the sleepy Polly, and in not much longer thanthe time stated she crept through the window.
"I'd wake father if I went out by the door," she said. "Now come down tothe landing. What are you doing 'way over here at this time o' night?"
"I have the most surprising thing to tell you."
"What about?"
"I wish you'd go over to Gannet Island with me and see if I'm right. Themoon will be up bye and bye; won't it?"
"Yes. But what do you mean? What is the mystery?" inquired Polly. Thenshe seized Wyn's arm and demanded that she "Hush!" although Wyn's lipswere not open at the moment.
"I declare I thought I heard something just then," whispered Polly.
"You're bound to hear things in the dark," returned Wyn, cheerfully.
"But it was somebody coughing."
"A bird?" ventured Wyn. "I heard one splashing in the sedges as I camealong in the canoe."
"A bird clearing its throat?" laughed Polly. "Not likely!"
She did not bother about it again, but squeezed Wyn's arm. "Tell me whatthe matter is. It must be something very important to bring you 'wayover here alone at night."
"That's right. It is," replied Wyn, and she related to Polly the thingthat was troubling her.
"And, oh, Polly! if that thing I hit under the water should be thatboat----"
"Oh, Wyn! What would father say?"
"He'd be delighted. So would we all. And we must find out for sure."
"I'll tell him in the morning. We'll go there and see----"
But Wyn stopped her. She showed her how necessary it was for the matterto be looked into secretly. Mr. Lavine had promised to give a motor boatto whichever club found the sunken _Bright Eyes_ and the silverimages. And the Busters must not know a thing about it until they weresure----
"Then Mr. Lavine believes father's story about the boat?" burst inPolly.
"I believe he does, Polly, dear. I think, Polly, that he would be very,very glad to have Mr. Jarley cleared of all suspicion. He is sorry foryour father's trouble. I think his attitude, toward your father haschanged from what it must have been at one time."
"It ought to be!" exclaimed Polly.
"Of course. But we none of us always do all we ought to do," observedWyn mildly.
"If we are going to try and find that place where you dived to-day, Wyn,we'd better be about it," Polly urged.
"You'll go now?" cried Wyn.
"Of course I will. The boys will be asleep up in their camp. We willtake the _Coquette_. There is a breeze."
"Let's tow my canoe behind, then," said Wyn, eagerly. "Come on! I'm justcrazy to dive for the thing again. If it _is_ the _BrightEyes_----"
Polly insisted upon hunting out a couple of old blankets to wrap aboutthem if the wind should turn chill.
"And after you have been overboard you'll want something to protect youfrom the night air," she said.
"Oh, Polly! do you suppose I can find the place again?" cried Wyn,infinitely more eager than the boatman's daughter.
"You say it's right off the boys' float? Well! we can look, I guess."
"Feel, you mean," laughed Wyn. "For _I_ couldn't see anything downthere even by daylight--it was so deep."
"All right. We'll look with our hands. I shall know if it's a boat, Wyn,once I reach it."
"And I hope it _is_" gasped Wyn. "Not alone for _your_ sake,Polly. Why, if it is the _Bright Eyes_, the Go-Aheads will own amotor boat their very own selves. Won't that be fine?"
But Polly was too busy getting the catboat ready to answer. The_Coquette_ was moored just a little way off the landing, and thetwo girls went out to her in Wyn's canoe.
There was a lantern in her cuddy and Polly lit it. Then they slipped thebuoyed moorings and spread a little canvas. There was quite a breeze,and it was fair for their course to Gannet Island. Soon the catboat waslaying over a bit, and the foam was streaking away behind them in abroad wake.
"What a lovely night!" sighed Wyn. "And it will be the very gladdestnight I ever saw if that thing I hit proves to be the _BrightEyes_."
Polly had glanced behind them frequently. "Don't you hear anything?" sheasked finally.
"Hear what?"
"Hush! that's somebody getting up a sail. Can't you hear it?"
Wyn listened, and then murmured: "Your ears must be sharper than mine,Polly. I hear nothing but the slap of the water."
"No. There is another sailboat under weigh. Where can it be from?"
"You don't suppose your father was aroused, and is coming after us?"asked Wyn.
"Of course not. Beside, the _Coquette_ is the only sailingboat--except a canoe--that we have at present. The other cat is loanedfor a week. And I heard the hoops creaking on the mast as a heavy sailwent up."
"Some crowd of fishermen?" suggested Wyn.
"But where's their light?"
Wyn stared all around. "You're right," she gasped. "There isn't a singletwinkling lantern--except ashore."
Polly, sitting in the stern seat, reached for their own lantern andsmothered its rays. "We won't show a gleam, either," she muttered.
"Why! who could it possibly be?" cried Wyn. "Do you think somebody maybe following us?"
"I don't know," returned Polly, grimly. "But I thought I heard somethingback there at our house. We were talking loud. If those silver imageswere worth all Dr. Shelton says they were, there are more than us girlswho would like to find them."
"My goodness me! I didn't think of _that_," observed Wyn Mallory,with a little shiver. "Do you suppose we really are being followed?"
Wyn's Camping Days; Or, The Outing of the Go-Ahead Club Page 24
