The Corner House Girls on a Houseboat

by Grace Brooks Hill

  CHAPTER XVIII

  THE NIGHT ALARM

  Mr. Howbridge and Ruth quickly looked at one another. The same thoughtand suspicion came in each of their minds at the same time.

  "Who's that?" Dot asked, she and Tess having lingered behind the othersto pick some flowers from the bank of the stream.

  "Hush, children," cautioned Ruth in a whisper. "We must not disturbthe--fishermen."

  She added the last word after a look at her guardian. No further soundcame from the cove where the voice had been uttering a protest and hadbeen 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 shecalls 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 forAlice-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, thatRuthie will give us anything we want for a party."

  As the two little girls darted toward the clump of gay blossoms Ruthcalled:

  "Be careful. It may he swampy around here."

  "I'll look after them," offered Agnes, "and you and Mr. Howbridge can gosee if those men--"

  She did not finish her sentence, which she had begun in a whisper, butnodded in the direction of the clump of trees, around the eddy of theriver. 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 ofthe way. I don't suppose it could by any chance be the same men, but--"

  "Look!" suddenly exclaimed Ruth, pointing to something moving behind ascreen of bushes that hung over the river near the eddy. As she spokethe 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 revealedas occupants two roughly dressed men. They gave one quick glance alongthe bank toward Ruth and Mr. Howbridge, and then while one attended tothe wheel the other sprang to the engine to increase the speed.

  There was a nervous spluttering from the motor, and the boat shot outinto the river, the two men in her crouching down as though they fearedbeing fired at.

  "There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge's arm in herexcitement. "The same two men!"

  "Are you sure?" he asked.

  "Well, they're the same two we saw down near the canal lock, in theboat," Ruth went on. "I'm sure it's the same boat, and I'm as positiveas 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 Ithink the same men. Whether they are the thieves is, of course, open toquestion. But I should very much like to question them," he added. "Holdon there!" he called to the men. "I want to see you!"

  But the boat did not stop, rather she increased her speed, and it seemedthat one of the men laughed. They did not look back.

  "I wish there was some way of taking after them!" exclaimed Ruth'sguardian. "But, as it is, it's out of the question."

  They were on a lonely part of the river. No houses were near and therewas no other boat in sight, not even a leaky skiff, though some farmerboy might have one hidden along the shore under the bushes. But a rowingcraft would not have been effective against the speedy motor boat, andfinding another craft to match the one containing the two rough men wasout of the question.

  Farther and farther away the men were speeding now. Agnes and the twoyounger girls, having heard the shouts of Mr. Howbridge, turned backfrom their flower-gathering trip.

  "Is anything the matter?" asked Agnes.

  "Oh, no, nothing much. Mr. Howbridge saw two men in that boat," answeredRuth, with a meaning look at her sister. "But they did not stop." Andwhen she had a chance, after Dot and Tess had moved out of hearingdistance, 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 myability 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. MacCallis a tower of strength herself, even if she is getting old."

  "Oh, yes, I know," murmured Agnes. "But--well, don't let's talk aboutit," 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 nolonger in sight, but finally there drifted down on the night wind thesoft put-put of the motor.

  "We thought you had deserted us," said Neale when he saw, from the deckof 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 shehad begun to rely on the rugged and rough strength of the man who haddriven the mules.

  "Oh, he went off for a walk, and he said maybe he'd fish a while," Nealesaid. "He's a bug on fishing."

  Then, while Mrs. MacCall took charge of Tess and Dot, givingexclamations of delight at the flowers, even while comparing them withher Highland heather, Agnes and Ruth told Neale what had happened--theswift-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 hisvoice.

  "Yes, they certainly said that," agreed Agnes. "Oh, I do wish we wereaway from here." And from the deck of the boat she looked at the woodedshores of the river extending on either side of the moored craft. TheGentory was not very wide at this point, but the other shore was just aslonely and deserted as that where the voyagers had come to rest for thenight.

  "Don't be so nervous and fussy," said Ruth to Agnes. "Mr. Howbridgewon'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 ofstaying 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 hadgone to the dining-room for a glass of milk Mrs. MacCall had suggestedhe take before going to bed. "I tell her with you and Mr. Howbridge andHank 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 helooked at his watch.

  "You seem worried," said Agnes to her friend when they were alone for amoment. "Do you think these men--those Klondikers--are likely to maketrouble?"

  "No, not exactly that," Neale answered. "To tell you the truth I wasthinking of Hank. I may as well tell you," he went on. "I didn't see anyconnection between the two happenings before, but since you mentionedthose 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 thenNeale continued: "Hank sud
denly dropped his tools when we were workingover the motor and said he was going for a walk. He also mentionedfishing. I didn't think much of it at the time, for he may be odd thatway when it comes to a steady job. But now I begin to think he may havegone off to meet those men."

  "But he didn't meet them," Ruth said. "We saw them speed away in motorboat 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 youthink Hank is in with them, and wants his share of the 'swag' as one mancalled 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 whilehe's away. We could look through the place where he keeps what fewthings 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 muchrather accuse him openly. But we won't even do that now. We'll justwatch and wait, and we won't even tell Mr. Howbridge until we are moresure of our ground."

  "All right," agreed Neale and Agnes after they had talked it over atsome length.

  It was agreed that they should all three keep their eyes on Hank, andnote whether there were any further suspicious happenings.

  "Of course you want to be careful of one thing," remarked Neale, as thethree 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 handhe may be as deep as----"

  "The deep blue sea," finished Agnes.

  "Exactly."

  "He certainly doesn't appear very deep," remarked Ruth. "He looks rathersimple minded."

  "But sometimes those simple looking customers are the deepest," declaredthe youth. "I know we had that sort join the circus sometimes. You hadto 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 offish. 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 goto sleep. "I hope he has no connection with those robbers. And yet, whyshould he hide a ring? Oh, I wonder if we shall ever see our things andmother's wedding ring again."

  Ruth was too much of a philosopher to let this keep her awake. There wasa slight feeling of timidity, as was natural, but she made herselfconquer this.

  Finally Ruth dozed off.

  How long she slept she did not know, but she was suddenly awakened byhearing a scream. It was the high-pitched voice of a child, and afterher 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.