CHAPTER XVII
THE MYSTERIOUS MEN
As the machine drove away several street urchins came running toward thegirls, begging the privilege of carrying their bags. Nan would haverefused, the bags being not at all heavy and the walk to the end of thedock from the entrance not very far, but Bess nudged her sharply.
"Go ahead," she urged. "I have a quarter to pay for it. Don't be asilly."
So Nan obeyed and reluctantly handed over to one of the eager streeturchins the handsome bag which contained, among other things, Mrs.Bragley's papers. Bess had already loaded the small boy with her ownbelongings, and it seemed impossible to Nan that the lad could be ableto carry it all.
Yet he sauntered ahead quite cheerfully while the other boys turned awaydisappointed to wait for the next arrival.
As the girls emerged from the long, tunnel-like entrance into the brightsunshine of the dock they quickened their steps instinctively. Thesteamship _Dorian_, which was to carry them to Florida, was alreadywaiting for the passengers.
Nan had never seen a harbor like this before, and she gazed withfascinated eyes out over the glistening water, dotted thickly with craftof all sizes and descriptions.
There were a great many docks like the kind upon which she and Bess werestanding, and they stretched out into the harbor like so many legs of anoctopus, cleaving the brilliant water with dark ugly gashes.
Over all the bustling harbor was a sense of feverish activity, ofmystery and romance, of adventuring in far, fair lands that set Nan'sblood atingle and made her breath come quickly.
"What are you waiting for?" Bess asked impatiently, and Nan roused fromher reverie with a start.
"I wasn't waiting, I was just looking," said Nan in a soft voice, asthey started up the gangplank that led to the deck of the _Dorian_. "Inever saw anything so wonderful."
"Beg pardon, Miss," said a voice in her ear, and a small hand was laidupon her arm.
Nan turned quickly and saw that it was their small luggage carrier. Intheir preoccupation the girls had both of them forgotten about theirprecious bags.
With quick fingers Nan fished in her purse for the necessary quarter,gave it to the boy and received her bag in return.
"Oh, Bess!" she cried as the boy tipped his cap and started on, "howcould I ever have done such a thing? Why, if I had lost this bag I neverwould have dared face Mrs. Bragley again. Never in this wide world!"
"I wish Mrs. Bragley were in Guinea," said Bess crossly. "She and herold papers are just about going to spoil our trip. They are making youas nervous as a cat."
"Sh-h, Bess, not so loud," cautioned Nan, as they stepped upon the deckof the _Dorian_ and handed over the tickets which Papa Sherwood hadsecured for them.
It was perhaps fortunate for the girls' peace of mind that they did notnotice two men who were closely behind them. One of the men was fat andshort and had little eyes and a bald head, which he was now moppingvigorously with a rather soiled handkerchief.
His companion was his complete opposite. He was tall and thin, with asevere, straight line for a mouth and long, nervous hands, and had ahabit of caressing his beardless chin as though a beard had once grownthere.
As the tall thin man, whom his companion called Jensen, overheard Nan'sstartled reference to Mrs. Bragley's papers, he put a hand upon the fatman's arm and nodded once with a sort of jerk of satisfaction.
"What did I say, Davis?" he asked, in a carefully guarded voice. "I tellyou, I am never wrong." And his eyes followed the girls as they starteddown the deck in the direction of their cabin.
As they, in turn, stepped upon the deck, the short man looked up at histall companion and said rather enigmatically: "Sometimes I wonder,Jensen, whether you are a great man, or a great fool. It's certainlygreat to have them on this trip to Florida with us."
Although the girls knew nothing of this strange conversation, Nan wasextremely careful to stow her bag away in a corner of their stateroomand piled several things on it and about it so that it could not beeasily seen by curious eyes.
"Nan, if you don't leave that old thing alone I'm going to throw itoverboard," Bess finally said complainingly. "You act as if it containeddiamonds and rubies instead of----"
"Oh, please hush," said Nan, rising quickly from her knees and comingover to Bess. "I don't know what has gotten into me lately, Bess dear,"she said, speaking so earnestly that her chum regarded her in surprise;"but ever since I took charge of those papers I have had the strangestimpression that I am being watched."
"Nan!" cried Bess, looking uneasily over her shoulder, "what a terriblething. But, of course, it's only imagination," she added easily, for itwas instinct with Bess to cast aside anything that threatened to worryher or interfere with her fun. "I told you the old papers were gettingon your nerves."
"You're right," said Nan, with a little sigh as she rose to take off hercoat and hat and straighten her hair before the tiny mirror. "Theycertainly are getting on my nerves."
"Well, for goodness' sake get them off then," commanded Bess, bouncingimpatiently on a berth. "I never saw such a girl to take everybodyelse's troubles on her own shoulders. I'll be glad when you turn thepapers over to Mr. Mason."
Nan smiled a resigned little smile at her reflection in the mirror. Thenshe came over and put an arm about her pouting chum.
"All right," she promised gaily, "I won't ever do it again. Only come onand smile, honey. If you knew how pretty you look when you do, you wouldnever do anything else."
There are very few girls who can withstand an appeal like that, and Besswas not one of them. A smile replaced the frown immediately and the nextminute she was chatting merrily about their crowded little stateroom andthe two narrow berths, one above the other, wondering with a grimacewhether they would be seasick or not, and so, on and on, till Nan'smomentary depression forsook her and she felt again the thrill that hadquickened her blood as they had stood on the dock, gazing out over theharbor.
Yet, almost unknown to Nan herself, there lingered in the back of hermind a strange, uneasy premonition of trouble to come, and again andagain her eyes sought the spot where the bag with Mrs. Bragley's papersstowed safely inside lay hidden.
"I wonder which one of us is going to take the upper berth," Besschattered gaily on. "You had better, Nan, because you're thinner than I.And then if the berth should cave in it wouldn't hurt you so muchbecause there would be something soft to fall on. It's a snug littleplace, isn't it?"
"Snug is right," said Nan, with a giggle. "You can't turn around withoutrunning in to something."
"That's Linda's fault. She shouldn't have wrecked the heating system atschool in the Palm Beach season. If it had been in December now, orMarch, there wouldn't have been such a crowd and we could have had areal honest to goodness stateroom, instead of this two-by-one hole inthe wall."
"Elizabeth, how shocking," laughed Nan. "You must have been takinglessons from Walter." And then, for no apparent reason at all, orperhaps because of the expression in her chum's eyes as they restedupon her, Nan became suddenly confused and hurriedly changed thesubject.
"Let's go outside," she suggested, rising and making toward the door ofthe stateroom, which opened directly out upon the deck. "It--it'sawfully hot in here."
Bess laughed tantalizingly and stretched lazily as she prepared tofollow her chum.
"Nan, honey," she drawled, irrelevantly, or so it seemed to Nan, "youare a darling, but, oh, you're awfully foolish."
Nan Sherwood at Palm Beach; Or, Strange Adventures Among The Orange Groves Page 18