A BATH HOUSE MYSTERY
For a few seconds it would have been hard to tell who was the more
surprised, Noddy or the three boys. They stood confronting each other,
while the crowd surged this way and that. Then Noddy spoke again:
“I want to know what you fellows mean, coming here trying to take my
whale?” he asked.
“Your whale, Noddy Nixon?” inquired Jerry.
“Yes, my whale. Didn’t I discover it ashore early this morning? I put a
paper with my name on it. I claim it under the law.”
Salt Water Sam thrust himself forward. His one eye gleamed with an
angry light.
“Who’s this young whipper-snapper that claims my whale?” he asked. “Let
me get at him!”
“Don’t you touch me!” cried Noddy, as the sailor confronted him. “I’ll
have you arrested if you put your hands on me; that’s what I will!”
“I’ll not touch you unless there’s an occasion for it. How did you get
this whale?”
“I was walking along the beach, and I saw it come in. I ran out and put
my card on it. I got my feet wet, too, and I’m going to get paid for
all my trouble. Now all you people get away. I’m going to have a tent
put up, and charge admission.”
The crowd gathered closer about the boys, the sailor, Noddy and the
whale. The big creature lay in a little hollow scooped in the sand by
the action of the waves. It had been stranded at high tide.
“If I thought you knew better I’d spank you, sonny,” spoke Sam, in
quiet but determined tones. “I guess you’d better run along home to
your mother now.”
This made Noddy furious. He drew back his hand as though to strike the
sailor. The latter, however, only laughed. He thrust the angry youth to
one side, and, striding to the whale, placed his hand on the harpoon
handle and exclaimed:
“Friends, this is the whale I and the three boys here killed yesterday.
We made fast to him, and he towed us quite a ways out, before we had
to cut loose. My harpoon killed the whale and it’s mine. There’s my
initials on the handle, and there’s the notches to show how many other
creatures my iron has gone into.”
“What’s all the trouble?” asked a tall, bronzed man, pushing his way
into the crowd.
“Hello, Captain Trembly!” cried Sam, recognizing the master of a
near-by life saving station. “Here’s a whale of mine that’s come
ashore, and this young man lays claim to it because he saw it first.”
“Nonsense!” spoke the captain. “It’s your property, of course, Sam.
Only I wouldn’t advise you to let it stay here very long. This isn’t
good keeping weather for dead whales.”
“Couple of days will do me,” the sailor said with a laugh. “There, now,
sonny,” turning to Noddy. “Maybe you’ll believe the captain.”
Seeing that the game had gone against him, Noddy made his way out of
the crowd without speaking. But the looks he cast at the sailor and the
three chums were anything but kind.
“Wonder how he got here?” asked Jerry.
“Seems as if he followed us,” spoke Ned.
They learned afterward that Noddy’s father had, at his son’s urging,
taken a cottage at Glen Cove, the next summer resort on the coast below
Harmon Beach.
“Now, friends,” went on Sam to the crowd, “you’re welcome to look at
this whale as long as you like, until I get a tent over it. Then it’ll
be ten cents to see it. Part of the money I’m going to give to the
hospital here.”
Sam’s spirit, so different from Noddy’s mean and selfish one, met with
quick response on the part of the assemblage.
“We’ll all come and see it when you’ve got it under a tent,” one man
called out, and there was a chorus of assents.
Sam got some sailor friends to help him, and with a couple of horses,
hauled the whale higher up on the beach. Then he put a tent over the
big creature and did a thriving business, exhibiting the monster.
The three chums assisted him, and acted as lecturers to the curious,
telling over and over again their part in the capture and harpooning.
As for the sailor, he was in his glory. He related the incidents of the
chase with great minuteness, not omitting the one about the steamer. He
even sold small slivers from the handle of his harpoon.
“Sure I can easy make another handle,” he confided to the boys, “but
it’s not every day I can sell a bit of wood for twenty-five cents. I
must make money while the whale lasts.”
It only lasted three days, however, and the final one the patronage
visibly fell off. Even the boys did not seem very keen about going to
the tent.
“If it was ambergris in that whale, it would be all right,” Jerry
remarked, as he held a perfumed handkerchief to his nose. “But it isn’t
and that’s the fault of it.”
The others agreed with him, and that night a gang of men dug a big hole
in the beach and tumbled the whale into it. But Sam made a goodly sum,
which he wanted to share with the boys. They would take none of his
money, however, so the sailor made a liberal donation to charity.
“Seen anything more of Noddy?” asked Jerry of his chums one morning,
when they were out in their boat, cruising about the harbor.
“No, and I don’t want to,” replied Bob. “Noddy wouldn’t be so bad, if
we could know when he’s coming so as to avoid him, but combined with
Bill Berry the two are the limit.”
“That reminds me of something,” put in Ned. “I heard Bill Berry had a
job down here somewhere.”
“How’d you hear it?” Jerry asked.
“Got a letter from Andy Rush. He said he was talking with old Pete
Bumps, and Pete told him Bill had a job at some lighthouse along
the coast. Andy said he thought it was in this neighborhood, and he
went on to say that Pete wanted us to try and get him a job also.
Andy suggested perhaps Pete thought the work was as easy as the name
suggested. Andy says he may come down for a week or so a little later.”
“Queer Andy, with his rapid-fire talk,” remarked Ned. “I’d like to see
him. Wonder if it’s true about Bill? He might be at the lighthouse we
saw the other night.”
“We’ll have to find out,” spoke Jerry. “Now let’s talk about something
pleasant. What do you say to running ashore and having a bath? There’s
a nice place just ahead.”
The boys voted it would be a good plan, and the boat was steered
for the beach, where there were a number of bathing pavilions. The
_Dartaway_ was made fast to a dock and soon the boys were putting on
suits which they hired.
They remained in the water about an hour, enjoying the gentle surf, and
floating lazily beyond the line of breakers.
“This is something like life,” remarked Bob, as he let the waves carry
him toward shore.
“Surprised you’re satisfied without a sandwich while you’re floating,”
came from Jerry.
With a rapid motion of his hand, Bob splashed a small wave into Jerry’s
face, causing him to cough and splutter.
“That’s enough!” cried the joker. “I’ll quit.”
“Speaking of sandwiches reminds me it’s nearly dinner time,” remarked
Ned. “I’m going ashore.”
The others followed his example, and were soon in the booths, dressing.
Jerry had nearly completed his toilet, when he heard quite a commotion
in the compartment next to him. He knew it could not be caused by Ned
or Bob, as they were farther down the line. Some one was pounding on
the thin wooden walls and shouting:
“Help! Help! I’ve been robbed!”
“What is it?” cried Jerry.
“Some one has taken my diamond ring!” was the reply, and, as Jerry
peered from the door of his room, he saw a man, partly dressed, rush
from the one next him, crying at the top of his voice:
“I’ve been robbed! I’ve been robbed!”