THE BURGLARS
Wink Wheeler reached the little channel first and gingerly climbed out
on a brown ledge that flanked it on one side. Others joined him there to
lie panting in the sunlight. Only Joe and Phil kept on and were
presently swimming within a short distance of each other well outside.
They were both strong rather than fast swimmers, and, although Han
frowned slightly as he watched them bob in and out of sight in the long,
smooth swells, the others soon turned their attention to Wink's
suggestion that they dive from the rock and race around the anchored
boats and back again. Wink offered the others a ten-yard start. All save
"Brownie" accepted the challenge--"Brownie" was built for comfort rather
than speed--and in a moment they were lined up rather unsteadily on the
edge of the boulder awaiting the word. Then three bodies launched
themselves through the air and the race was on. When the others had
taken the first half-dozen strokes after reappearing Wink plunged after
them. "Brownie" watched until the foremost swimmer disappeared beyond
the boats and then turned his gaze seaward. For a moment he could not
find the two venturesome ones, but presently he spied them. They had
turned and were coming back straight for the mouth of the little
harbour, Phil leading and Joe a dozen yards behind. It looked like a
race from the way in which both boys were keeping under and "Brownie"
found it more exciting than the other contest. And then, while he
watched, something happened, and he sprang to his feet and gazed seaward
with wildly beating heart.
Joe had stopped swimming and was on his back with one brown arm held
aloft. If he made any outcry "Brownie" failed to hear it, but apparently
he had, for Phil was turning now and hurrying back with short, quick
strokes. But before he had covered half the distance separating him from
the other, the watcher on shore uttered an involuntary cry of alarm. Joe
was no longer in sight!
"Brownie" looked despairingly toward the boys in the pool, but the
nearest was still a long way from the channel. Confused thoughts of the
boats were cast aside and "Brownie" threw himself from the rock, hitting
the water like a barrel, and turned into the channel. As he felt the
tug of the tide he experienced a revulsion of fright, for he had no
stomach for the task ahead of him. "Brownie's" swimming was usually done
in safer water than that he was making for. But he tried his best to
forget the depths below him and the long swim ahead, to remember only
that Joe was in trouble out there and that Phil, probably by now
somewhat exhausted, would never be able to bring him to shore
unassisted.
The long swells hid the others from him. Once, though, poised for a
moment on the round summit of a bank of water, he glimpsed ere he
descended into the green valley beyond, a darker spot ahead and so found
his direction. He knew better than to tire himself out by desperate
strokes. His only hope of getting there and getting back was to conserve
his strength. All sorts of thoughts came and went in a strange jumble.
Sometimes it seemed that he was making no progress, that the slow waves
were bearing him remorselessly back to the cove, or, at least just
defeating the strokes of his arms and legs. Breathing became laboured
and once a veritable panic seized him and it was all he could do to keep
from turning and swimming wildly back toward shore. Instead, though,
fighting his fears, he turned on his back for a moment with his round
face to the blue breeze-swept sky, and took long, grateful breaths of
the sun-sweet air. Above him a grey gull swept in a wide circle,
uttering harsh, discordant cries. Then, his panic gone, "Brownie" turned
over again and struggled on with renewed strength and courage. And
suddenly, the long swells were behind him and there, but a few yards
away, was Phil, Phil very white of face but as calm as ever.
He was swimming slowly on his side, one arm cleaving the water and the
other supporting the nearly inert body of Joe. "Here comes 'Brownie,'"
the rescuer heard him say cheerfully. "All right now, Joe. We'll get you
in in a jiffy! Roll over, 'Brownie,' and get your breath," he added.
"We're all right for a minute. That's the trick."
"I'm--a bit--tuckered," gasped "Brownie," as he lay and puffed with
outstretched arms.
"Don't blame you," said Phil. "How are you now, Joe?"
"Punk," muttered the other. "Don't you fellows bother too much. If
you'll just stay by for a minute or two--I'll be--um--all right, I
guess."
"No need to do that," replied Phil quietly. "'Brownie' and I will take
you between us. Put a hand on my shoulder. Easy, son! That's it. Now the
other on 'Brownie's.' Right you are. Just let yourself float. Ready,
'Brownie?' Don't hurry. Easy does it. We've got an eighth of a mile or
so and there's no use getting tired at the start. I guess the tide will
help us, though."
There were no more words until the shore was nearly reached. By that
time "Brownie" was frankly all-in and Phil was in scarcely better
condition. Joe had so far recovered then, however, as to be able to aid
weakly with his legs, and before they reached the channel half a dozen
eager helpers splashed to their assistance. Anxious questions were
showered on them, but only Joe had the breath to answer them.
"I had a cramp," he explained apologetically. "It hit me all of a sudden
out there. It was fierce!"
"Legs?" asked Steve.
"No--yes--about everywhere below my shoulders. It seemed to start in my
tummy. I got sort of sick all over. Thought--um--thought I was a goner
until--"
"All right! Shut up now. Someone give Phil a hand. He's about ready to
quit. 'Brownie,' too." Steve and Wink had taken the places of the
rescuers and Joe was finishing his journey at top speed. It was no easy
task getting him aboard, but they finally accomplished it and hurried
him below. "Brownie," too, had to be pushed and pulled over the side,
and while Phil got aboard almost unaided he slumped onto a seat and, to
use Perry's expression, "passed out." Hot coffee and many blankets and
at least three different remedies from the medicine chest presently left
Joe out of pain, while in the case of Phil and "Brownie" the hot coffee
and rest were alone sufficient.
Breakfast was rather late that morning, and Joe's place was vacant, for
that youth was enjoying a sleep in the after cabin. "Brownie" and Phil,
however, recovered wonderfully at the sight of bacon and eggs and did
full justice to the repast. Steve laid down the law during breakfast as
follows:
"After this there'll be no more swimming away from the boats, fellows.
We came on this trip for fun and not funerals. You took a big chance,
Phil, when you went that far out. This water's about ten degrees colder
than what you and Joe are used to. It's a wonder you didn't both have
cramps and drown."
"I guess it was rather foolish," agreed Phil. "The water was a lot
colder out there than inside, too. Still it didn't bother me any." He
lowered his voice, with a glance toward the companion way and the other
cabin. "I thought old Joe was a goner, though, fellows. I was about
forty feet away, I suppose, when I heard him yell, and before I could
get back he'd gone down. I was afraid he meant to keep on going, but he
thrashed his way up again and I managed to grab him. The trouble was
then that he wanted to drown both of us and I had a hard time making him
see reason."
"Someone ought to recommend you for the Carnegie Medal, Phil," said Han,
with a laugh that didn't disguise his earnestness.
Phil shook his head. "I wasn't the hero of the adventure," he replied
quietly. "I'm fairly at home in the water and I've done four miles
without tiring much. It's 'Brownie' who deserves the medal, fellows. He
saw Joe go down and jumped right in and beat it out there; and you all
know that 'Brownie' isn't any swimmer. I think he was just about scared
to death!"
"I'll bet he was," agreed Steve. "He's never been known to go ten yards
from shore or boat. Yes, I guess 'Brownie' is the real hero, as you say,
Phil."
"He certainly is, because I'll tell you frankly that I never could have
got Joe in alone. I was just about used up by the time we'd tried to
drown each other out there."
"We didn't know anything about it," explained Ossie, filling Phil's cup
again unasked, "until someone happened to look from the _Follow Me_ and
saw you three out there. It was Tom Corwin, I think. I heard him
yelling--I was getting my clothes on down here--and I ran up on deck and
then grabbed the megaphone and shouted to Steve and Wink and the others
who were over on the rock near the inlet. By the time they got it
through their thick heads--"
"Thick heads be blowed!" exclaimed Steve disgustedly. "You were just
yelling a lot of words that didn't mean anything. If you hadn't kept on
pointing we'd never have known what was up. We all thought you had a
fit."
All's well that ends well, however, and an hour after breakfast the
incident was, if not forgotten, dismissed. Joe reappeared, looking
rather pale still, but announcing himself quite all right. "I was nice
and sick at my tummy," he explained, "and now I feel fine."
"Being sick at your tummy," remarked Perry unkindly, "is quite the best
thing you do, Joe. If you can't be sea-sick you go and try to drown
yourself!"
Of course "Brownie" was allowed to surmise that he had done something
rather big, and Joe thanked him very nicely, but Mr. Carnegie is still
in ignorance of his exploit!
The two boats floated out of the pool about ten and set off for Bar
Harbor. The barely averted tragedy somewhat modified their regret at
leaving Titania's Mirror and Mystery Island. Later, Steve and Joe tried
to locate that island on the charts but without certain success. There
were so many islands thereabouts that neither dared to more than guess
at the identity of the one they had visited. Looking back at it from a
distance of a half-mile they saw that it was in reality much smaller
than they had supposed, being scarcely more than a huge rock pushed up
from the ocean bed. Ossie, who had a leaning toward geology, furnished
the theory that Mystery Island was no more nor less than the top of an
extinct volcano and that Titania's Mirror was the crater.
"It probably sank, like lots of them did," he elaborated, "and the sea
wore away part of it and flowed into the crater. I'm pretty sure that
that rock we climbed out on this morning when we were swimming was
volcanic."
"Sure," agreed Perry. "It was pumice stone. I meant to bring a bit of it
along for you to clean your hands with."
"I didn't say pumice," replied Ossie haughtily. "It was more probably
obsidian."
"My idea exactly! In fact, it had a very obstinate feeling. It--it left
quite an impression on me!"
The _Follow Me_ developed engine trouble that morning and they lay by
for a half-hour or more while Tom Corwin toiled and perspired, argued
and threatened. It was well after two o'clock when they ran up the
eastern shore of Mount Desert Island and finally dropped anchor in
Frenchman's Bay. They ate only a luncheon on board and then clothed
themselves in their gladdest raiment and went ashore. They "did" the
town that afternoon, mingling, as Wink said, with the "haut noblesse,"
and had dinner ashore at an expense that left a gaping hole in each
purse. But they were both hungry and glad to taste shore food again, and
no one begrudged the cost.
It was when they were on their way back to the landing that the glow of
coloured lanterns behind a trim hedge drew their attention to the fact
that someone was conducting a lawn party. The imposing entrance, through
which carriages were coming and going, met their sight a moment later
and inspired Perry with a brilliant idea.
"Say, fellows, let's go," he said, as they paused in a body to allow a
handsome landau to enter. "I've never been to one of these lawn fĂȘtes,
or whatever they call them in the society papers, and here's the
chance."
"Anybody invited you?" drawled Joe.
"No, but maybe they meant to. You can't tell. Maybe if they knew we were
here--"
"Might send word in to them," suggested Wink Wheeler. "Say that the
crews of the _Adventurer_ and the _Follow Me_ are without and--"
"Yes, without invitations," agreed Perry. "I get you, but that might
cause our hostess embarrassment, eh? Why not just save her all that by
dropping in sociably?"
"Are you crazy?" demanded Steve.
"Crazy to go and see all the pretty lanterns and things, yes. And maybe
they'll have a feed, fellows! Come on! Take a chance! They can't any
more than put us out! Besides, they probably won't know whether they
invited us or not. It's just a lark. Be sports, fellows!"
The notion appealed to most of them, but Steve and Phil and Bert Alley
declined to countenance it. "What will happen to you," said Steve
grimly, "is that you'll all spend the rest of the night in the town jail
for impersonating gentlemen!"
"Oh, if that's all you're afraid of," responded Perry sweetly, "you
might as well come, too, Steve. They'd never charge _you_ with that."
"Sub-tile, sub-tile," murmured Cas Temple.
"Anyhow, our clothes are perfectly O.K.," continued Perry. "White
trousers and dark coats are quite _de rigor_. Come on, fellows."
They went on, all save the disapproving trio, Perry and Wink Wheeler
leading the way up the winding avenue toward the glow of fairy lights
ahead. No one challenged them, although they were observed with
curiosity by several servants before they came out on a wide lawn in
front of a spacious residence. Fully a hundred guests were already
assembled. A platform overhung by twinkling and vari-coloured electric
lamps had been laid for dancing and, as the uninvited guests paused to
survey the scene, an orchestra, hidden by shrubbery and palms in tubs,
started to play. Chairs dotted the lawn and a big marquee was nearby. On
a low terrace in front of the hospitable doorway of the residence the
hostess was receiving as the carriages rolled around the immaculate
drive and stopped to discharge the guests. The boys viewed each other
questioningly. Perry pulled down his waistcoat and walked boldly across
the lawn and the drive and stepped to the terrace. Wink followed
unhesitatingly, but the others hung back for a moment. Then they, too,
approached, their assurance oozing fast. They reached the terrace in
time to witness Perry's welcome.
"Good evening," said that youth in bored and careless tones, shaking
hands with the middle-aged lady. "Awfully jolly night, isn't it!"
"How do you do, Mister--ah--so glad you could come. Yes, isn't it
splendid to have such perfect weather? Marcia, you remember
Mister--ah--"
Perry was passed on to a younger lady, evidently the daughter of the
house.
"Howdy do?" murmured the latter, shaking hands listlessly.
"How do!" returned Perry brightly. "Bully night, eh!"
"Yes, isn't it?" drawled the young lady. Then Perry gave place to Wink.
"Good evening," said Wink, grinning blandly.
"Howdy do? So nice of you to come," murmured the lady. Wink joined
Perry and they crossed to the other side of the terrace and maliciously
watched the embarrassment of the other boys. Joe and Harry Corwin
carried things off rather well, but the others were fairly speechless.
Perry chuckled as he saw the growing bewilderment on the face of the
hostess. But finally the ordeal was over and Perry led the way back to
the festivities. Ossie groaned when they were safely out of ear-shot.
"She's on to us," he muttered. "I could see it in her eye! I'm off
before they throw me out!"
"Don't be a jay," begged Perry. "The evening's young and the fun's just
starting. Mrs. Thingamabob doesn't know whether she asked us or not. I'm
going to see what's in the big tent over there. Come on, fellows."
They went, dodging their way between chattering groups and impeding
chairs, but when Perry peered through the doorway of the marquee he was
met with a chilly look from a waiter on guard there. "Supper is at ten
o'clock, sir," said the servant haughtily.
"That's all right," replied Perry kindly. "Don't hurry on my account,
old top!"
What to do for the succeeding hour was the question, for, while all
save Perry and Ossie danced more or less skilfully, they knew no one to
dance with. "If you ask me," remarked Cas Temple, yawning, "I call this
dull. I'd rather be in my bunk, fellows."
"Well, let's find something to do," said Joe. "Maybe they've got a
roller-coaster or a merry-go-round somewhere. Let's--um--explore."
By this time the dancing had begun in earnest and the platform was well
filled with whirling couples. The boys paused to look on and, since the
throng was growing larger every minute, were forced to change their
position more than once with the result that presently Perry, Wink and
Ossie found themselves separated from their companions. They looked
about them unavailingly and waited for several minutes, and then, as the
others did not appear, went on.
"We'll run across them," said Perry cheerfully. "Let's stroll around and
see who's here."
"Awfully mixed crowd," said Wink. "Really, you know, Mrs. Jones-Smythe
should be more particular. Why, some of the folks don't look as though
they had ever been invited!"
"I know," agreed Perry, with a sigh. "Society's going to the dogs these
days. One meets all sorts of people. It's perfectly deplorable."
"Beastly," agreed Ossie, stumbling over a chair. "Bar Harbor's getting
very common, I fear."
"Hello, that's pretty!" exclaimed Perry. They had emerged onto a walled
space that looked straight out over the water. Hundreds of lights dotted
the purple darkness and the air held the mingled fragrance of sea and
roses. "This isn't so punk, you know," continued Perry, leaning over the
wall. "Maybe this would suit me as well as an island."
"You're on an island," Ossie reminded him.
"I meant a real island," murmured Perry. Ossie was about to argue the
matter when footsteps approached and they moved off again. A flight of
steps led to a stone-floored verandah and they went up it and perched
themselves on the parapet, to the probable detriment of the ivy growing
across it, and watched the colourful scene. They were quite alone there,
for the porch was detached from the terrace that crossed the front of
the house. Two French windows were opened and beyond them lay a
dimly-lighted library. Perry, hugging one foot in his hands, looked in
approvingly.
"Whoever owns this shanty knows what's what," he said. "Just have a
squint at all those books, will you? Millions of them! Wonder if anyone
has ever read them."
"Well, I'm glad I don't have to," said Wink feelingly. "But that's a
corking room, though. These folks must have slathers of money, fellows."
"Oh, fairly well fixed, I dare say," responded Perry carelessly. "Say,
what time is it! Feed begins at ten, and with all that mob down there
it's the early bird that's going to catch the macaroons. Wonder if
they'll have lobster salad."
"Nothing but sandwiches and ices, I guess," said Ossie. "I wouldn't
object to a steak and onions, myself. Funny how hungry you get up in
this part of the world."
"You sure do," agreed Wink. "Let's move along. If the Corwin family gets
in there ahead of us we might just as well pull in our belts and beat
it."
"Let's go in through here," said Perry. "It's nearer, I guess." He
started toward the first window.
"Oh, we'd better not," Ossie objected. "They might not like it."
"Piffle! They'll be tickled to death. They like folks to see their
pretties." He stepped through the window and, dubiously, his companions
followed. The library was a huge apartment, occupying, as it seemed to
them, more than half the length of the house, with several long windows
opening onto the terrace at the front. The furnishings were sombrely
elegant and the dim lights caught the dull polished surface of mahogany
and glinted on the gold-lettered backs of the shelf on shelf of books
that hid the walls. Deep-toned rugs rendered footsteps soundless as they
made their way toward the wide doorway at the far end of the room. They
had traversed barely a third of the distance when a sudden sound brought
them up short.
One of the windows that opened onto the terrace further along swung
inward and a middle-aged man in evening attire stepped into the room.
Perry, in spite of his former assurance, drew back into the shadow of a
high-backed chair, stepping on Wink's foot and bringing a groan from
that youth. The newcomer, however, evidently failed to hear Wink's
protest, for, closing the window behind him in a stealthy manner, he
crossed the further end of the library and paused beside a huge stone
fireplace. Wink and Ossie had dropped to the protecting darkness of a
big table, but Perry still peered, crouching, from behind the chair. In
the dim light of an electric lamp the intruder's face had shown for an
instant, and in that instant Perry had sensed it all! The stealthy
manner of the man's entrance from the terrace instead of by the door,
the plainly furtive way in which he crossed the room and the anxious
expression of his face, a face which Perry saw at once to be criminal,
was enough! The watcher was not in the least surprised when the man,
hurriedly and still stealthily, drew out a square of mahogany paneling
at the left of the fireplace and revealed the front of a small safe.
Perry's heart began to thump agitatedly at the thought of witnessing a
robbery. The man's fingers worked deftly at the knob. Perry could hear
in the silence the click of the tumblers as they slid into place. Then
the door was pulled open.
Between Perry and the robber lay a full thirty feet of floor, and a big
table impeded his progress, but it took the boy less than a second to
cover the distance, to seize the robber from behind, pinioning his arms,
and to bear him heavily back to the floor.