CHAPTER IX
THE SPY
"That was bad luck. You really deserved to win that race, Gladys," Dollycalled out, as the _Defiance_ came within hailing distance of the_Eleanor_ again.
Gladys looked at her old friend but said not a word. It was very plainthat the loss of the race, which she had considered already won, was asevere blow to her, and she was not yet able, even had she been willing,to say anything.
"That's very nice of you, Dolly," called Mary Turner. "But it isn't soat all. You sailed your boat very cleverly. We didn't think of going offafter the wind until it was too late. I think it was mighty plucky ofyou to keep on when we had such a big lead. Congratulations!"
"Oh, what's the use of talking like that?" cried Gladys, furiously. "Itwas a trick--that was all it was! If we had had a real wind all the way,we'd have beaten you by half a mile!"
"I know it, Gladys. It was a trick," said Dolly, cheerfully. "That'sjust what I said. We'll have another race, won't we? And we'll pick outa day when the wind is good and strong, so that it will be just the samefor both boats."
"Oh, you'd find some other trick to help you win," said Gladys, sulkily."Don't act like that--it's easy enough for you to be pleasant. They'llall be laughing at me now for not being able to win when I had such alead."
"I'm ashamed of you, Gladys," said Mary Turner, blushing scarlet."Dolly, please don't think that any of the rest of us feel as Gladysdoes. If I'd known she was such a poor loser, I wouldn't have let herrace with you at all. And there won't be another race, Gladys doesn'tdeserve another chance."
"Gladys is quite right," said Dolly, soberly. "It's very easy to be niceand generous when you've won; it's much harder to be fair when you'velost. And it was a trick, after all."
"No, it wasn't, Dolly," said Eleanor, seriously. "It was perfectly fair.It was good strategy, but it wasn't tricky at all. Gladys knew just asmuch about the wind as you did. If she had done as you did in time,instead of waiting until after she'd seen you do it, she would have wonthe race."
"We're going to have trouble with that Gladys Cooper yet," said Margery."She's spoiled, and she's got a nasty disposition to start with, anyhow.You'd better look out, Dolly. She'll do anything she can to get even."
"I think this race was one of the things she thought would help her toget even," said Bessie. "She was awfully sure she was going to be ableto beat you, Dolly."
"I almost wish she had," said Dolly. "I don't mean that I would havedone anything to let her win, of course, because there wouldn't be anyfun about that. But what's an old race, anyhow?"
"That's the right spirit, Dolly," said Eleanor. "It's the game thatcounts, not the result. We ought to play to win, of course, but we oughtto play fair first of all. And I think that means not doing anything atall that would spoil the other side's chances."
"Oh, that's all right," said Margery, "but I'm glad we won."
"I'm glad," said Dolly. "And I'm sorry, too. That sounds silly, doesn'tit, but it's what I mean. Maybe if Gladys had won, we could have patchedthings up. And now there'll be more trouble than ever."
While they talked they were furling the _Eleanor's_ sails, and soon theywere ready to go ashore. Dolly had brought them up cleverly beside theskiff, and, once the anchor was dropped and everything on board theswift little sloop had been made snug for the night, they dropped overinto the skiff and rowed to the beach. There the other girls, who hadbeen greatly excited during the race, and were overjoyed by the result,greeted them with the Wo-he-lo song. Zara, especially, seemed delighted.
"I felt so bad that I cried when I thought you were going to be beaten,"she said. "Oh, Bessie, I'm glad you won! And I bet it was because youwere on board."
Bessie laughed.
"You'd better not let Dolly hear you say that," she said. "I didn't havea thing to do with it, Zara. It was all Dolly's cleverness that won thatrace."
"I'm awfully glad you're back, Bessie. I've had the strangest feelingthis afternoon--as if someone were watching me."
Bessie grew grave at once. Although she never shared them, she had grownchary of laughing at Zara's premonitions and feelings. They had beenjustified too often by what happened after she spoke of them.
"What do you mean, dear?" she asked. "I don't see how anyone could bearound without being seen. It's very open."
"I don't know, but I've had the feeling, I'm sure of that. It's just asif someone had known exactly what I was doing, as long as I was out hereon the beach. But when I went into the tent, it stopped. That made mefeel that I must be right."
"Well, maybe you're mistaken, Zara. You know we've had so many strangethings happen to us lately that it would be funny if it hadn't made younervous. You're probably imagining this."
Though Bessie tried thus to disarm Zara's suspicions, she was by nomeans easy in her own mind. She felt that it would be a good thing toinduce Zara to forget her presentiment, or feeling, or whatever it was,if she could. But, just the same, she determined to be on her guard, andshe spoke to Dolly.
"She's a queer case, that Zara," said Dolly, with a little shiver. "Ifany other girl I knew said anything like that, I'd just laugh at her.But Zara's different, somehow. She seems sort of mysterious. Perhapsit's just because she's a foreigner--I don't know."
"I spoke to you so that we could be on the look-out, Dolly. And I guesswe'd better not say anything to anyone else. I think a lot of the girlswould laugh at Zara if they knew that she had such ideas."
Bessie and Dolly managed to find occasion to cover most of the beachbefore supper, and they went up to the spring at the top of the bluffthat overlooked the beach. The water had been piped down, and there wasno longer any need of carrying pails up there to get water, but it wasstill a pleasant little walk, for the view from the top of the path wasdelightful. And Bessie and Dolly remembered, moreover, that it was therethat the men who had watched the camp on the night of the fire hadhidden themselves. But this time they found no one there.
Supper was a merry meal. The race of the afternoon was, of course, theprincipal topic of conversation, and in addition there were adventuresto be told by those who had missed it and gone into Bay City to shop.
But Bessie, watching Zara, noticed toward the end of the meal that herstrange little friend, who happened to be sitting near the entrance ofthe tent in which they ate, was nervous and kept looking behind her outinto the darkness as if she saw something. And so, with a whisperedexplanation to Dolly, she rose and crept very silently toward the door.As she passed Zara, she let her hand fall reassuringly on her shoulder,and then, gathering herself, sprang out into the night.
And, so completely surprised by her sudden appearance that he could notget out of the way, there was Jake Hoover! Jake Hoover, who was supposedto be in the city, telling his story to Charlie Jamieson! Jake Hoover,who, after having done all sorts of dirty work for Holmes and hisfellow-conspirators, had told Bessie that he was sorry and was going tochange sides!
"Jake!" said Bessie, sternly. "You miserable sneak! What are you doinghere?"
No wonder poor Zara had had that feeling of being watched. Jake's workfor Holmes right along had been mostly that of the spy, and here he wasonce more engaged in it. Bessie was furious at her discovery. Big andstrong as Jake was, he was whimpering now, and Bessie seized him andshook him by the shoulders.
"Tell me what you're doing here right away!" commanded Bessie. Gone werethe days when she had feared him--the well-remembered days of herbondage on the Hoover farm, when his word had always been enough tosecure her punishment at the hands of his mother, who had never beenable to see the evil nature of her boy.
"I ain't doin' no harm--honest I ain't, Bessie," he whined. "I--jestwanted--I jest wanted to see you and Miss Mercer--honest, that's why I'mhere!"
"That's a likely story, isn't it?" said Bessie, scornfully. "If that wasso, why did you come sneaking around like this? Why didn't you comeright out and ask for us? You didn't think we were going to eat you, didyou?"
"I--I didn't want them to
know I was doin' it, Bess," he said. "I'mscared, Bessie--I'm afraid of what they'd do to me, if they found out Iwas takin' your side agin' them."
Despite herself, Bessie felt a certain pity for the coward coming overher. She released his shoulder, and stood looking at him with infinitescorn in her eyes.
"And to think I was ever afraid of you!" she said, aloud.
"That's right, Bess," he said, pleadingly. "I wouldn't hurt you--youknow that, don't you? I used to like to tease you and worry you a bit,but I never meant any real harm. I was always good to you, mostly,wasn't I?"
"Dolly!" called Bessie, sharply. She didn't know just what to do, andshe felt that, having Jake here, he should be held. It had been plainthat Charlie Jamieson had considered what he had to tell valuable.
"Hello! Did you call me, Bessie?" said Dolly, coming out of the tent."Oh!"
The exclamation was wrung out of her as she saw and recognized Jake.
"So he's spying around here now, is he?" she said. "I told you he was abad lot when you let him go at Windsor, didn't I? I knew he'd be up tohis old tricks again just as soon as he got half a chance."
"Never mind that, Dolly. Tell Miss Eleanor he's here, will you, and askher to come out? I think she'd better see him, now that he's here."
"That's right--and, say, tell her to hurry, will you?" begged Jake. "Ican't stay here--I'm afraid they'll catch me."
Dolly went into the tent again, and in a moment Eleanor Mercer came out.She had never seen Jake before, but she knew all about him for Bessieand Zara had told her enough of his history for her to be more intimatewith his life than his own parents.
"Good evening, Jake," she said, as she saw him. "So you decided to talkto us instead of to Mr. Jamieson? Well, I'm glad you're here. I'll haveto keep you waiting a minute, but I shan't be long. Stay right theretill I come back."
"Yes, ma'am," whined Jake. "But do hurry, please, ma'am! I'm afraid ofwhat they'll do to me if they find I'm here."
Eleanor was gone only a few minutes, and when she returned she wassmiling, as if at some joke that she shared with no one.
"I'm sure you haven't had any supper, Jake," she said. "The girls havefinished. See, they're coming out now. Come inside, and I'll see thatyou get a good meal. You'll be able to talk better when you've eaten."
Jake hesitated, plainly struggling between his hunger and his fear. Buthunger won, and he went into the tent, followed by Bessie and Dolly,who, although the service was reluctant on Dolly's part, at least, sawto it that he had plenty to eat.
"Just forget your troubles and pitch into that food, Jake," saidEleanor, kindly. "You'll be able to talk much better on a full stomach,you know."
And whenever Jake seemed inclined to stop eating, and to break out withnew evidences of his alarm, they forced more food on him. At last,however, he was so full that he could eat no more, and he rosenervously.
"I've got to be going now," he said. "Honest, I'm afraid to stay hereany longer--"
"Oh, but you came here to tell us something, you know," said Eleanor."Surely you're not going away without doing that, are you?"
"I did think you'd keep your word, Jake," said Bessie, reproachfully.
"I can't! I've got to go, I tell you!" Jake broke out. His fright wasnot assumed; it was plain that he was terrified. "If they was after you,I guess you'd know--here, I'm going--"
"Not so fast, young man!" said a stern voice in the door of the tent,and Jake almost collapsed as Bill Trenwith, a policeman in uniform athis back, came in. "There you are, Jones, there's your man! Arrest himon a charge of having no means of support--that will hold him for thepresent. We can decide later on what we want to send him to prison for.He's done enough to get him twenty years."
Jake gave a shriek of terror and fell to the ground, grovelling at thelawyer's feet.
"Oh, don't arrest me!" he begged. "I'll tell you everything I know.Don't arrest me!"
"It's the only way to hold you," said Trenwith. "You've got to learn tobe more afraid of us than of Holmes."
The Camp Fire Girls at the Seashore; Or, Bessie King's Happiness Page 9