The Secret at the Seashore

by Laura Lee Hope

  At that moment Bert gave a yell and held up his arm. A giant crab was clinging to his wrist! The boy jerked his arm as hard as he could. The crab flew off and landed some distance away.

  “Oh, Bert, did it nip you?” Nan asked anxiously as she ran to her brother.

  Bert examined his wrist. “I guess it didn’t bite me,” he admitted, “but it sure did pinch!”

  As Dorothy started to walk over the crab, Harry yelled, “Look out!”

  Dorothy bent over and picked it up. “Don’t worry,” she said. “He’s harmless!” With a quick movement she tossed it to Bert.

  The boy jumped aside and stared down at the crab. Then he looked sheepish. “The crab is made of rubber!” Bert exclaimed. “Okay, Dorothy!” he said with a grin. “I guess this makes us even for the alarm clocks!”

  Still laughing about the rubber crab, the children gathered up the remains of their picnic.

  When everything was tidy again Bert said eagerly, “Shall we explore the island now? I’d like to find out who scared Freddie and Flossie the other day.”

  “Just a minute,” Hal replied. “I want to make sure the boats are safe.” He ran over and pulled the craft up farther on the beach. “I’d hate to be marooned here!”

  “Does anyone live on this island, Dorothy?” Nan asked as the children walked into the woods.

  “I don’t think so. People come here for picnics,” Dorothy replied, “but I never heard that anybody lives here.”

  The woods seemed very quiet Even the birds were still. Then a queer little honking sound broke the silence.

  “What’s that?” Flossie asked in surprise.

  Dorothy put her finger to her lips and tiptoed over to a little bush. “There!” She pointed. “Tree frogs.”

  Clinging to a branch of the bush were two grayish-brown frogs not more than two inches long. Their throats were puffed out into round yellow sacs.

  “They’re blowing up!” Flossie whispered.

  “They do that when they’re talking to each other,” Dorothy explained.

  Freddie had joined his twin. “Let’s take the frogs home,” he suggested. He put out his hand to pick up a frog, but the little animals hopped farther up on the branch and disappeared behind the leaves.

  “Come on, Freddie and Flossie I” Bert called. “Stay with us so you won’t get lost.”

  The children went on into the woods, looking carefully for a sign that anyone had been there before them. They came to a little brook, and all of them took off their sneakers to wade across it.

  As Bert sat down on the ground to put his shoes on again, he glanced up the bank of the stream. “Say!” he called. “That looks like some sort of a shelter!”

  The others followed him to a crude lean-to. Several branches had been placed across the space between two trees, the ends resting in the notches where the limbs met the tree trunk. Leafy branches had been laid over these to form a roof.

  “And look!” Nan pointed out. “Someone had a campfire here!”

  Hal bent down and felt the bits of burned wood and ash. “They’re still warm!” he said. “Whoever built this fire hasn’t been gone long!”

  “Which way do you suppose he went?” Harry asked eagerly.

  “I suggest we fan out and search,” Bert said. “Nan, you and Hal go to the left; Harry and Dorothy go to the right and I’ll go straight ahead with Freddie and Flossie. The first person who sees anyone, call out and the rest of us will come!”

  They did as Bert suggested and once more the search went forward. But they had no success. After a half hour the three groups met back on the beach.

  “It’s no use,” Bert said in a discouraged tone. “Whoever was here must have left before we arrived.”

  Dorothy had been peering at the sky. “I think we’d better start home,” she said in a worried tone. “It looks as if a storm is coming up and this lake gets horribly rough.”

  Quickly the children put the picnic basket in Hal’s canoe and took their places. Just as Harry shoved off in the borrowed rowboat a brilliant streak of lightning flashed across the sky. Nan, who was seated in the canoe, suddenly called out:

  “Look! There’s a man in an outboard motorboat! Is it the Firefly, Dorothy?”

  CHAPTER XVI

  BOAT ADRIFT!

  “MOTORBOAT!” Dorothy echoed.

  “Just leaving that far stretch of beach,” Nan replied. “We didn’t see any boat there before. The man in it must have had it hidden under some overhanging trees.”

  Dorothy gazed at the boat intently. “It looks like our Firefly,” she said, “but I can’t see it too well so far away.”

  “Well, we sure can’t catch it in a canoe I” Hal said.

  The children watched as the motorboat sped toward the other side of the island and disappeared.

  “We can report it to the police,” Dorothy said. “Let’s have a race to shore !” She dug her oars into the water and sent the borrowed boat leaping forward.

  “Okay!” Bert and Hal called, and they, too, began to paddle furiously.

  The wind had come up and the lake water was very choppy. It took all the children’s strength to make any headway against the waves. Water kept splashing into both boats.

  “I hope we can get home before the rain starts!” Dorothy called over. “I wouldn’t like to be out on this lake in a bad storm. It’s shallow here, and you ought to see how rough it gets in a high wind!”

  The trip home seemed much longer than the one on the way to the island. But at last the children ran their craft up to the Bingham boathouse.

  “I’ll put them inside,” Hal said. “You kids run on before it rains.”

  Bert and Harry stayed to help, however, while Nan, Dorothy, and the small twins hurried to the Minturn house. Just as they reached the porch the rain poured down in torrents.

  Mrs. Bobbsey opened the door. “I’m so glad you’re home,” she said. “I was afraid you’d be caught in the storm!”

  Nan told her mother that Bert and Harry would be along as soon as the boats were locked in the boathouse. She mentioned having seen a motorboat that might be the Minturns‘.

  “I’ll call the police,” Dorothy’s mother said.

  Freddie went out to the kitchen for a cookie. Dinah looked worried. “Did you see Snoop anywhere?” she asked. “I’ve looked all over the house, and I can’t find him!”

  “Oh!” Freddie cried. “Snoop’s afraid of storms ! I hope he’s not outside.”

  Freddie reported Snoop’s disappearance to the others. Bert and Harry had reached home by this time, and all the children searched through the house for the cat. They peered under beds and in closets. But Snoop was not around.

  “I’m going to look outside,” Freddie said de terminedly.

  “Let’s all go,” Nan suggested. “It’ll be fun in the rain! ”

  So the six children put on slickers, rain hats, and boots and ran out into the storm. They searched under all the bushes without finding Snoop. Then Freddie went into the garage.

  “Here, Snoop,” he called as he peered about.

  A faint meow answered him. Stooping down, Freddie looked under Uncle William’s car. There, huddled up in a little black ball, was Snoop I “Come on out, Snoopy,” Freddie coaxed. But the cat refused to budge.

  “I guess I’ll have to get him,” Freddie said to himself. The little boy flattened himself on the floor of the garage and wriggled under the car. He reached out, managed to grasp Snoop in one hand, and inched his way back.

  “I’m glad you found him,” Flossie said happily when Freddie carried Snoop to the porch.

  “Put him in the house,” Nan suggested. “We’re all going to stay out here and watch the storm.”

  By this time the ocean was a mass of whitecaps. The waves crashed on the shore, and the rain came in great gusts.

  “Ooh, isn’t it ‘citing?” Flossie said, her blue eyes sparkling.

  At this minute Hal ran onto the porch. “Hey,” he called, “there’s an
outboard motorboat in trouble on the lake ! The water’s very rough, and the man in the boat doesn’t seem to be able to make any headway!”

  “We’d better call the police,” Dorothy said, starting for the door. “They have a rescue launch.”

  The officer in charge assured Dorothy that help would be sent at once.

  “Let’s go up to the police boathouse,” she suggested when she hung up the telephone. “It’s not far.”

  When Nan went in the house to tell her mother where they were going, Mrs. Bobbsey told the small twins to stay at home. “I’m afraid you would blow away,” she said with a smile.

  Freddie and Flossie were disappointed, but Aunt Emily brought out a new jigsaw puzzle and they were soon lost in the problem of trying to put it together.

  In the meantime the older children ran down to the lake shore. “I don’t see a boat,” Harry remarked as they reached the water.

  “Sure, there it is !” Hal pointed out over the gray lake.

  By straining their eyes the children could see a small boat tossing up and down on the choppy water. It seemed to be completely out of control.

  “Oh, it’ll be swamped!” Dorothy cried out fearfully. “Let’s see if the police have started yet!”

  She led the way along the shore until they came to the headquarters of the police lake patrol. As the five children ran up, two officers dressed in oilskins were just boarding a trim launch.

  “We’re going right out!” one of the men said, recognizing Dorothy. “Thanks for calling us. Anyone on that lake in this storm is really in trouble!”

  “Would you take us along?” Bert asked hopefully.

  “I’m afraid not, son,” the policeman replied. “It may be pretty dangerous.”

  “We’ll be careful, and I bet we could even help you,” Hal spoke up.

  The officer looked at the tall boy. “Well, we are shorthanded,” he said. “Maybe you fellows can help us. The girls may come along if they’ll stay in the wheelhouse with the pilot, Bill Cooper. I’m Fred Palmer.”

  “Thank you!” Nan said gratefully. “We’ll try not to get in your way.”

  Bill Cooper took his place at the wheel of the launch while Fred Palmer walked to the stem where there was a post with a rope around it.

  Dorothy climbed aboard the boat and followed the policeman into the wheelhouse. She sat down on the narrow bench which was built in the space under the window

  Nan came next As she stepped on the wet deck, her feet slipped from under her. Across the wood planks she skidded, straight for the open railingl

  Quickly Bert dashed forward. He grabbed the back of Nan’s raincoat and stopped her slide. “Whew! You were just in time, Bert,” Nan exclaimed as she scrambled to her feet. “I was sure I was going over the side!”

  She made her way forward to join Dorothy while Bert, Harry, and Hal clung to the railing near the stern. The launch sped through the choppy water.

  It was still raining heavily, and the visibility was bad. The policeman at the wheel peered into the distance. The little motorboat was still bobbing on the waves.

  “I don’t see how he has managed to keep afloat!” Cooper muttered. “These waves are certainly big enough to turn over a boat of that size!”

  As the police launch drew nearer the helpless boat, Dorothy stood up and looked through the window. “Why, that looks like our stolen boat! It is! It’s the Firefly!” she exclaimed in astonishment.

  In another minute the patrolman cut the launch’s motor. The man in the stem picked up a megaphone and called out to the man in the drifting boat, “Are you all right?”

  The occupant, who had been huddled in the bottom, sat up slowly. He cupped his hands and shouted back, “Yes. But my motor’s conked out!”

  The pilot of the launch came as close to the motorboat as he could without upsetting it. “I’ll throw you a tow!” Fred Palmer called to the helpless man.

  He unwound the rope from the post and tossed it toward the stranded boat Plop! It fell short as the Firefly drifted farther away.

  Fred hauled in the rope and tried again. This time it reached its goal.

  The man grabbed the rope and tied it around one of the seats. Then a particularly high wave struck, tilting the boat at a dangerous angle. The man teetered, crying out that he could not swim, and tried to regain his balance. The next moment he tumbled over the side !

  “I’ll get him!” Bert offered. He stripped off his slicker and boots and dived into the lake.

  “I’d better help!” Fred said.

  By the time he hit the water Bert had reached the stranger. The patrolman swam over to them and, between the two, they got the panicky man to the launch. Harry and Hal leaned over and pulled him up. Bert and Fred tied the disabled motorboat to the stem of the launch, then climbed back onto the launch. The rescued man sank to the deck, exhausted.

  Nan and Dorothy ran out of the wheelhouse with blankets which they put around Bert and the two men. After a few words from Patrolman Palmer, Hal hurried to the wheelhouse and returned with a thermos of hot tea.

  “Here, drink this,” he said, pouring some into a paper cup and offering it to the rescued man.

  The stranger sat up and took the tea. He was thin and blond and, though his hair was wet, one lock stood up on the crown of his head.

  Bert looked at him closely. Then he asked, “Aren’t you Albert Garry?”

  CHAPTER XVII

  GOOD NEWS !

  ON HEARING Bert’s question, the stranger acted startled. Then he closed his eyes and weakly shook his head.

  “I guess he’s about all in,” Officer Palmer remarked. “We’ll take him into the wheelhouse. At least he’ll be dry there.”

  When the shivering man had been seated in the pilothouse, the policeman came back on deck where the children were standing The rain had since stopped.

  “Do you know who this man is?” the officer asked Bert.

  “I think he’s Albert Garry,” Bert replied and told Palmer of the children’s efforts to catch the man who had stolen the large sum of money from the airline.

  The patrolman whistled in surprise. “If this boat thief is Albert Garry,” he said, “we’re in luck. The Ocean Cliff police have been looking day and night for him !”

  “Even if he isn’t Garry,” Dorothy spoke up, “he had our stolen boat!”

  “That’s right!” Palmer agreed. “We’ll take him to headquarters and question him.”

  The police launch was nearing the dock and in another moment pulled alongside it. Palmer grabbed a line to throw over the mooring post.

  As the rope coiled around the anchor, the suspect suddenly raced from the wheelhouse and vaulted over the railing onto the dock. “Catch him!” Bill Cooper shouted.

  Quick as a Bash Bert and Hal ran after the fleeing man. Palmer stopped only long enough to make the line fast, then joined in the chase.

  When the fugitive reached the end of the dock he hesitated a moment, as if trying to decide which way to run. Bert made a flying tackle and grabbed the man’s feet. With a crash, the stranger fell to the ground.

  “Good work, fellows!” Palmer cried as he pounded up. He jerked the man to his feet and snapped handcuffs on him.

  “You have some explaining to do,” he said. “We’ll take you to headquarters and give you a chance to talk there!”

  The policemen thanked the children for their help and herded the prisoner toward a waiting patrol car.

  “Do you suppose he is Albert Garry?” Nan asked excitedly. “Won’t it be wonderful if we’ve really caught him?”

  “At least we have the Firefly back!” Dorothy reminded them. “And there’s nothing the matter with it except the boat’s out of gas!”

  The boys carried over a can and poured in the fuel. The children went to the boathouse, then Hal said good-by. “Some excitement!” he added, grinning.

  The others hurried to the house to tell Freddie and Flossie and the grownups of their adventure on the lake.

  Di
nah listened with amazement to the story. When it came to the rescue of the man in the drifting boat, she threw up her hands. “That Bert!” she exclaimed. “He’s saved two men in two days I’m right proud of him!”

  Bert laughed. “I didn’t exactly save them by myself,” he reminded the cook.

  “I think all you children have done a good job on your puzzling cases at the seashore,” Mr. Bobbsey spoke up. “And I hope the criminal has been found.”

  The next morning Bert called police headquarters. “That man you caught yesterday,” Officer Weaver told him, “refuses to say anything. But an official from Allied Cargo Airlines is on his way here to try to identify him. If he does turn out to be Garry, I’ll call to let you know!”

  “Thanks, Officer Weaver,” Bert said. “We’ll be waiting to hear from you!”

  The children stayed within earshot of the telephone, but it was almost noon before it rang. Bert dashed to answer. “The man’s Albert Garry, all right,” Officer Weaver said. “The airline official identified him positively. But the fellow still won’t talk, and we don’t know where he has hidden the money I”

  “I’m glad you caught the bad man,” Flossie said when Bert told the others the news.

  “Yes,” sighed Nan, “but I wish we could find the money, too!”

  “Maybe he hid it on the island,” Harry suggested.

  “Could be. We might go over there again and look around,” Dorothy said.

  “Remember, Cindy said she saw that man,” Flossie reminded the others. “And he had a paper shopping bag.”

  “With the money in it!” Freddie exclaimed. “But we don’t know the money was in the bag,” Nan objected. “He could have hidden it anywhere!”

  “Why would he be running around with a paper shopping bag unless he had the stolen money in it?” Bert said thoughtfully. “I vote we go back to the amusement park and look for the bag!”

  After a little discussion the children decided to go to Lakeside that afternoon. When Nan told her mother their plan, Mrs. Bobbsey smiled. “Go ahead,” she said. “I know you’ll never be happy until you’ve solved this puzzle!”