THE NIGHT ALARM
Mr. Howbridge and Ruth quickly looked at one another. The same thought
and suspicion came in each of their minds at the same time.
"Who's that?" Dot asked, she and Tess having lingered behind the others
to pick some flowers from the bank of the stream.
"Hush, children," cautioned Ruth in a whisper. "We must not disturb
the--fishermen."
She added the last word after a look at her guardian. No further sound
came from the cove where the voice had been uttering a protest and had
been so suddenly hushed.
"Oh, look at those big red flowers! I'm going to get some of those!"
cried Dot, darting off to one side. "My Alice-doll loves red flowers,"
she added.
"I'll get some, too," said Agnes. "Mrs. MacCall also loves red flowers,
though she says there's nothing prettier than 'Heeland hither' as she
calls it."
"Oh, yes, we'll get her some, and she'll have a bouquet for the table,"
assented Dot. "And then maybe she'll let us have a little play party for
Alice-doll to-morrow, and we can have things to eat."
"Oh, you're always thinking of your old Alice-doll!" complained Tess.
"You'd think all the play parties and all this trip were just for her,
and the things to eat, too."
"We can eat the things Mrs. MacCall gives us--if she gives us any,"
corrected Dot. "Come on, help me get the flowers."
"Oh, all right, I will," said Tess. "But you know, Dot Kenway, that
Ruthie will give us anything we want for a party."
As the two little girls darted toward the clump of gay blossoms Ruth
called:
"Be careful. It may he swampy around here."
"I'll look after them," offered Agnes, "and you and Mr. Howbridge can go
see if those men--"
She did not finish her sentence, which she had begun in a whisper, but
nodded in the direction of the clump of trees, around the eddy of the
river. It was from there the stifled exclamation had come.
"Yes, I think it would be a good plan to take a look there," said Mr.
Howbridge to Ruth in a low voice. "Especially if the children are out of
the way. I don't suppose it could by any chance be the same men, but--"
"Look!" suddenly exclaimed Ruth, pointing to something moving behind a
screen of bushes that hung over the river near the eddy. As she spoke
the bushes parted and a motor boat shoved her bow out into the stream.
In another instant the boat came fully into view, and there was revealed
as occupants two roughly dressed men. They gave one quick glance along
the bank toward Ruth and Mr. Howbridge, and then while one attended to
the wheel the other sprang to the engine to increase the speed.
There was a nervous spluttering from the motor, and the boat shot out
into the river, the two men in her crouching down as though they feared
being fired at.
"There they are!" cried Ruth, clasping Mr. Howbridge's arm in her
excitement. "The same two men!"
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Well, they're the same two we saw down near the canal lock, in the
boat," Ruth went on. "I'm sure it's the same boat, and I'm as positive
as I ever was that they are the ones who robbed us."
"It is the same boat we saw the other day," agreed the lawyer. "And I
think the same men. Whether they are the thieves is, of course, open to
question. But I should very much like to question them," he added. "Hold
on there!" he called to the men. "I want to see you!"
But the boat did not stop, rather she increased her speed, and it seemed
that one of the men laughed. They did not look back.
"I wish there was some way of taking after them!" exclaimed Ruth's
guardian. "But, as it is, it's out of the question."
They were on a lonely part of the river. No houses were near and there
was no other boat in sight, not even a leaky skiff, though some farmer
boy might have one hidden along the shore under the bushes. But a rowing
craft would not have been effective against the speedy motor boat, and
finding another craft to match the one containing the two rough men was
out of the question.
Farther and farther away the men were speeding now. Agnes and the two
younger girls, having heard the shouts of Mr. Howbridge, turned back
from their flower-gathering trip.
"Is anything the matter?" asked Agnes.
"Oh, no, nothing much. Mr. Howbridge saw two men in that boat," answered
Ruth, with a meaning look at her sister. "But they did not stop." And
when she had a chance, after Dot and Tess had moved out of hearing
distance, Ruth added: "They're the same men, Agnes!"
"You mean the ones who robbed us?"
"I'm pretty sure; yes!"
"Oh dear!" voiced Agnes, and she looked around the now darkening woods.
"I wish we hadn't stopped in such a lonely place," she murmured.
"Nonsense!" laughed Mr. Howbridge. "I shall begin to think you doubt my
ability as guardian. My physical, not my mental," he added.
"Oh, no, it isn't that," Agnes made haste to say. "Only--"
"And we have Neale, and Hank, too," broke in Ruth. "While Mrs. MacCall
is a tower of strength herself, even if she is getting old."
"Oh, yes, I know," murmured Agnes. "But--well, don't let's talk about
it," she finished.
"And I think we'd better be going back. It will soon be quite dark."
"Yes," agreed the lawyer. "We had better go back."
He looked up the river. The boat containing the two rough men was no
longer in sight, but finally there drifted down on the night wind the
soft put-put of the motor.
"We thought you had deserted us," said Neale when he saw, from the deck
of the _Bluebird_, the lawyer and the girls returning.
"We went farther than we intended," answered Ruth.
"How's the motor?" asked the lawyer.
"Hank and I will have it fixed in the morning."
"Where is Hank now?" Agnes wanted to know, and it seemed as though she
had begun to rely on the rugged and rough strength of the man who had
driven the mules.
"Oh, he went off for a walk, and he said maybe he'd fish a while," Neale
said. "He's a bug on fishing."
Then, while Mrs. MacCall took charge of Tess and Dot, giving
exclamations of delight at the flowers, even while comparing them with
her Highland heather, Agnes and Ruth told Neale what had happened--the
swift-departure of the motor boat and its two occupants.
"They were evidently having a dispute when we came along," said Ruth.
"We heard one of them say something about the Klondike."
"The Klondike!" exclaimed Neale, and there was a queer note in his
voice.
"Yes, they certainly said that," agreed Agnes. "Oh, I do wish we were
away from here." And from the deck of the boat she looked at the wooded
shores of the river extending on either side of the moored craft. The
Gentory was not very wide at this point, but the other shore was just as
lonely and deserted as that where the voyagers had come to rest for the
night.
"Don't be so nervous and fussy," said Ruth to Agnes. "Mr. Howbridge
won't like it. He will think we don't care for the trip, and--"
"Oh, I like the trip all right," broke in Agnes. "It's just the idea of
staying all night in this lonely place."
"We have plenty of protectors," asserted Ruth. "There's Neale and--"
"What's that?" asked the boy, hearing his name spoken.
"Agnes was saying she was timid," went on Ruth, for Mr. Howbridge had
gone to the dining-room for a glass of milk Mrs. MacCall had suggested
he take before going to bed. "I tell her with you and Mr. Howbridge and
Hank to protect us--"
"Aggie timid! Oh, yes, we'll look after you!" he promised with a laugh.
"At the same time--Oh, well, I guess Hank won't stay late," and he
looked at his watch.
"You seem worried," said Agnes to her friend when they were alone for a
moment. "Do you think these men--those Klondikers--are likely to make
trouble?"
"No, not exactly that," Neale answered. "To tell you the truth I was
thinking of Hank. I may as well tell you," he went on. "I didn't see any
connection between the two happenings before, but since you mentioned
those men there may be."
"What are you driving at?" asked Agnes, in surprise.
"Just this--" answered Neale. "But let's call Ruth." Ruth came and then
Neale continued: "Hank suddenly dropped his tools when we were working
over the motor and said he was going for a walk. He also mentioned
fishing. I didn't think much of it at the time, for he may be odd that
way when it comes to a steady job. But now I begin to think he may have
gone off to meet those men."
"But he didn't meet them," Ruth said. "We saw them speed away in motor
boat alone."
"They may have met Hank later," the boy said.
"But what makes you suspicious of him?" Ruth asked.
"I'll tell you." And Neale related the episode of the gold ring.
"Oh, do you think it could be one of ours that the men took? Do you
think Hank is in with them, and wants his share of the 'swag' as one man
called it?" questioned Agnes eagerly.
"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Neale. "But he certainly had a ring.
It rolled to the deck and he picked it up quickly enough."
"Say, Ruthie!" exclaimed Agnes impulsively, "now's a good chance while
he's away. We could look through the place where he keeps what few
things he has--in that curtained off corner by his cot."
Ruth shook her head.
"I'd rather not," she remarked. "I couldn't bear to do that. I'd much
rather accuse him openly. But we won't even do that now. We'll just
watch and wait, and we won't even tell Mr. Howbridge until we are more
sure of our ground."
"All right," agreed Neale and Agnes after they had talked it over at
some length.
It was agreed that they should all three keep their eyes on Hank, and
note whether there were any further suspicious happenings.
"Of course you want to be careful of one thing," remarked Neale, as the
three talked it over.
"What is that?" questioned Agnes quickly.
"You don't want that mule driver to suspect that you are watching him.
If he did suspect it he'd be more careful to hide his doings than ever."
"We won't let him suspect us, Neale," declared Ruth.
"Of course he may be as innocent as they make 'em, and on the other hand
he may be as deep as----"
"The deep blue sea," finished Agnes.
"Exactly."
"He certainly doesn't appear very deep," remarked Ruth. "He looks rather
simple minded."
"But sometimes those simple looking customers are the deepest," declared
the youth. "I know we had that sort join the circus sometimes. You had
to watch 'em every minute." And there the talk came to an end.
The mule driver came along some time later. He had a goodly string of
fish. Agnes was asleep, but Ruth heard him putting them in the ice box.
She heard Neale speak to the man, and then, gradually, the _Bluebird_
became quiet.
"Well, he got fish, at any rate," Ruth reasoned as she turned over to go
to sleep. "I hope he has no connection with those robbers. And yet, why
should he hide a ring? Oh, I wonder if we shall ever see our things and
mother's wedding ring again."
Ruth was too much of a philosopher to let this keep her awake. There was
a slight feeling of timidity, as was natural, but she made herself
conquer this.
Finally Ruth dozed off.
How long she slept she did not know, but she was suddenly awakened by
hearing a scream. It was the high-pitched voice of a child, and after
her first start Ruth knew it came from Tess.
"Oh, don't let him get me! Don't let him get me!" cried the little girl.