CHAPTER XIII
A STRANGE PROCEEDING
They did not appear to see her until Harriet was within a few yards ofthem.
Then they halted sharply, dropped their burden and straightened up.The right hand of one of them slipped to his hip pocket, then a fewseconds later was slowly withdrawn with a handkerchief in it.
"It's a girl," exclaimed one of the pair in a low voice.
"Well, what do you think about that?"
"Hello, there, Miss! What is it? Who are ye?" demanded one of the men.
"I was about to ask the same question of you. What are you doinghere?"
"This here is free coast, young woman. We've as good a right to behere as yourself, and maybe more right," returned the stranger.
"That depends, sir. I wish you wouldn't speak so loudly, either. Youwill awaken my companions. I would just as soon they did not see you,for I don't like the looks of you in the dark."
"Companions!" exploded one of the men under his breath. "Whew! Whereare they?"
"In the cabin. We are occupying it now. Where were you going with thatbox? You know there is nothing but the sea beyond here. This is a bar.The mainland is the other way. Perhaps you thought you were headed upthe beach?"
"Sure we did, Miss. Thank you. We'll be going. Sorry to have disturbedyou. Got some provisions for a friend of ours who is down this part ofthe coast on a fishing trip. Thank you."
They gathered up their burden and started back toward the beach asfast as they could stagger, Harriet in the meantime standing wherethey had left her, gazing after them with forehead wrinkled intoridges of perplexity. Harriet watched the men all the way back to thebeach. She saw them put down the box they had been carrying and standlooking back at her. Harriet quickly retraced her steps to the cabin,in the shadow of which she halted and continued her watching.
The men stood for some time, evidently engaged in a discussion,though no sound of voices reached the listening girl. They then pickedup their box and walked down the beach with it.
"That is odd. They said they were going up the beach with provisionsfor a friend. I don't understand this proceeding at all, but it looksquestionable to me. I know what I'll do; I'll follow them."
The Meadow-Brook Girl did not stop to consider that she had decidedupon a possibly dangerous adventure. Stooping over as low as possibleand yet remain on her feet, Harriet ran full speed toward the beach.She saw the men halt and put down the box, whereat the girl flattenedherself on the sandy bar and lay motionless until, finally, theypicked up their burden and went on. She was able to make out thesailboat anchored some little distance out in the bay.
"They must have brought the box off from the boat," she mused. "Iwonder what is in it? I am positive that there is some mystery here.It isn't my affair, but my woman's curiosity makes me wonder what itis all about. There they go again." She was up and off, this timereaching the beach before they put down the box again. Now Harriet wasreasonably safe from discovery. She crouched close to the sandy bluffand lay watching. She saw one of the men put off in a rowboat, whichhe propelled rapidly over to the sailboat. He did not remain therelong, and she saw him pulling back to shore as if in more haste thanwhen he went out.
"Now they are going to do something," decided the watching girl. "Yes,they are going to take the box."
The men did. Picking it up, they carried it back in among the trees,Harriet following at a safe distance, picking her way cautiously, notmaking the slightest sound in moving about among the spindling pines.
Finally, realizing that the men had stopped, the girl crouched downwith eyes and ears on the alert. She could hear them at work. Theywere not going ahead, but they were engaged in some occupation thenature of which for the moment puzzled Harriet Burrell. Then all atonce the truth flashed into her mind.
"They are hiding the box!" exclaimed the girl under her breath. "Butwhy are they doing that? What secret could be so dark that it needshiding in the woods? I shall make it my business to find out. There,they are coming out."
She threw herself on the ground. She could hear the men approaching.They seemed, from the sound of their voices, to be coming directlytoward her. Harriet gathered herself ready for a spring in case ofdiscovery, which now seemed imminent, then again flattened herself onthe ground.
"I won't run until I have to," she decided. Courage was required for agirl to remain in Harriet's position under the circumstances, butHarriet Burrell had plenty of this and to spare. In the meantime themen were rapidly drawing near. They were conversing in low tones, butthe girl in hiding on the ground was unable to make out what they weresaying. Rather was her attention centered on what they were going todo, which was the all-important question at that moment. But Harrietwas not left long in suspense. The men were coming straight towardher. She could see them quite plainly now, and wondered why they didnot see her. It was evident that they had not yet done so, perhapsbecause they were so fully occupied with their own affairs.
Harriet Burrell braced herself. To rise would mean instant discovery;to remain as she was, possible avoidance of it. She decided upon thelatter course and lay still. Within a minute the expected occurred.The men had swerved to their right slightly, raising the hope in themind of Harriet that they were going to pass her without discoveringher. Instead a heavy boot came in contact with her own feet. Therefollowed a muttered exclamation, the man pitched headlong, the girlhaving stiffened her limbs to meet the shock the instant she felt thetouch of the boot against her feet.
The man's companion laughed uproariously and was called sharply toaccount by the one who had fallen.
Now came the supreme test for Harriet. She could scarcely restrainherself from crying out, springing up and running away. Instead, shelay perfectly quiet, breathing as lightly as possible. The man got upgrowling.
"Confound these dark holes," he snarled.
"Hurt yourself?" questioned his companion.
"No, only skinned my wrist. Let's get back to the boat. Why doesn'tthe Cap'n do it himself instead of asking us to take all the risks andall the knocks to boot?"
"Because he is paying us for doing it. I reckon you'd better do asyou're told if you want to come in for the clean-up. We'd better behustling, too, for Cap'n wants to get under way. We've lost too muchtime already and we'll be in bad first thing we know."
The man who had fallen answered with an unintelligible growl. He hadnot looked behind him to see what he had fallen over. Instead, hewrapped a handkerchief about his wrist and started on. The two mentrudged on down toward where they had left their boat. They werenearly at the beach before Harriet Burrell finally sat up.
"Wasn't that a narrow escape?" she breathed. "He fell over me andnever saw me. I wonder if my ankle is broken? It feels as though itwere. How it did hurt when he kicked me! It is a wonder I did notscream. I wonder what they are going to do now?"
She got up and limped toward the beach, using a little less cautionthan she had done when coming out. She paused just at the edge of thetrees, where she stood in the shadow observing the men. They shovedthe boat off and followed it out a little way, splashing in the waterwith their heavy boots, for the beach was too shallow to permit theirgetting into the rowboat and rowing directly away from the shore. Theyfirst had to shove it off into deeper water. This was quicklyaccomplished, and piling in, one of the pair began rowing out towardthe sailboat.
The Meadow-Brook girl sat down and began to rub her injured ankle. Therowboat was now merely a dark blotch out on the bay. The blotch nearedthe sailboat and was lost in the shadow that surrounded the largercraft. A few moments later Harriet heard the anchor being hauled in,then the creak of the rings on the mast as the sail was being raised.The boat got under way quickly and with very little disturbance, swungto the breeze, the boom lurching to the leeward side of the boat witha "clank." Then the sailboat began moving slowly from the bay. Therewere no lights to be seen either within or without. The boat was indarkness. Harriet gazed with straining eyes until the boat had finallymerged wit
h the sea and was lost to view. A few moments later shecaught the twinkle of a masthead light. She watched the light and sawthat it was moving slowly up the coast.
"That's the last of them for to-night," she reflected. "I wonder wherethey put that box and what is in it? However, I can't look for itto-night. I will see if I can find out anything about it in themorning. I hope Miss Elting hasn't awakened and missed me."
Harriet stepped quickly down to the beach. She gained the bar and ranuntil she reached the cabin. Listening outside the door, she foundthat her companions were still asleep. She crept cautiously into thecabin, undressed, rolled in her blanket and lay staring up at theceiling until her heavy eyelids closed and she was sound asleep. Hercompanions apparently had slept through the entire adventure, forwhich Harriet Burrell was thankful.
The Meadow-Brook Girls by the Sea; Or, The Loss of The Lonesome Bar Page 13