CONCLUSION
It was late in the evening when some sort of order had been restored in
the cabin of the "Red Rover." The boys had turned to and worked like
Trojans, helping to get the water out of the boat, to mend broken places
and throw the broken dishes overboard.
When all was done Miss Elting served a luncheon to them, mostly canned
stuff, all the other food having been ruined in the voyage across the
lake. It was during the luncheon that she made a confession for herself
and companions. She told the Tramp Club how they had dressed up in white
sheets and chased the boys from the island; how they had hidden in the
cave with their boat; how Jane had discovered the half-breed and
narrowly missed a double discovery herself.
"And now," concluded Miss Elting, "that is the way we played our tricks.
Perhaps we won the contest but after your bravery to-day we feel that
far greater honors are due to you boys."
The boys, whose faces had flushed during the recital, now broke into a
hearty laugh.
"That's the best joke ever played on a bunch of fellows," cried Billy.
"And you've won the wager fairly enough. You don't need to apologize for
the ghosts. The trouble is we tried to play worse jokes on you, but you
turned them on us every time. If we got you out of the lake it was by
good luck, not because we were so awfully brave. I'll never brag about
bravery after last night. And now good night. You folks are tired and
want to go to bed. We'll see that you aren't disturbed this evening. You
don't think of working your disappearing act to-night, do you?"
"No. We have had sufficient excitement for one day," answered Miss
Elting laughingly. "We are going to invite you over to dinner soon, then
we will have a happy good-bye party before we leave. By the way, boys,
we are going ashore in the morning on a shopping trip. As all of us wish
to go I am going to ask you if you will keep an eye on the 'Red Rover.'
There is very little possibility that our enemy will visit it in broad
daylight, still it is best to take proper precautions against further
attacks."
"We'll be very glad to look out for the 'Red Rover' while you're away,"
responded George heartily. "That is if you can assure us that you won't
try any new vanishing tricks."
"We give you our solemn promise," laughed Harriet. "The 'Red Rover' has
played her last trick."
Harriet's laughing assurance, however, was destined to prove truer than
she had dreamed. The next morning the girls rose early, and after a
hasty breakfast went ashore to do their shopping, secure in the thought
that the Tramp Club would keep an eye on the "Red Rover."
In the meantime the boys had posted a watch on the shore, in the person
of Billy Gordon, who seated comfortably on the ground, his back against
a big tree, glanced frequently out over the lake to where the "Red
Rover" lay at anchor, her red sides glistening in the sun.
It was well towards noon when Billy rose from the ground and strolled
lazily down to the beach. Suddenly his good-natured face took on a
startled look as he stared anxiously toward the houseboat. A moment
later he was running toward the tent at full speed.
"Fellows, come out here!" he shouted. "Hurry up!"
"What's the matter?" asked George Baker, hurrying out of the tent, the
other members of the Tramp Club at his heels.
"Look!" gasped Billy, pointing toward the "Red Rover." "What do you make
of that?"
"Why--why--" stammered George Baker. Then he uttered a sudden cry of
alarm. "By George, she's on fire. That scamp has sneaked in and set fire
to the boat under our very noses. I'm positive that he did it. Pile into
the launch with all the pails you can find and let's get out there. That
villain must have swum over, climbed aboard, and set fire to the side of
the boat away from the shore. That's why we didn't notice the smoke when
she first began to burn."
By the time they were on their way toward the doomed houseboat the fire
had made tremendous headway. Being an old boat, the "Red Rover" burned
like kindling. It seemed to be fairly wrapped in flames.
"It's no use," groaned George. "She'll be gone inside of the next five
minutes. We can't save the boat or anything on board. I'm thankful the
girls were all on shore. That villain must have watched them go, and
then swam out here. If he'd paddled out in his canoe this morning we'd
have seen him. Don't go too near her, fellows. She's likely to collapse
any minute."
"Look out! She's going!" exclaimed Larry Goheen. A moment later the
whole top of the unwieldy boat fell in, while the flames attacked the
hull with renewed fury.
* * * * *
When the Meadow-Brook Girls returned to the shore of the lake, that
afternoon, well laden with the fruits of their shopping, they were met
by the members of the Tramp Club, who looked unduly solemn. One glance
at their grave faces and Harriet cried out apprehensively, "What on
earth has happened to you, boys?"
"We're all right," stammered George, "but the 'Red Rover'--well, it
is--"
The Meadow-Brook Girls all looked involuntarily in the direction of
where the "Red Rover" had lain that morning.
"Why--why--where is our boat?" faltered Miss Elting.
Then George poured forth the story of the morning's disaster, while the
girls listened in consternation to the recital of the way in which the
houseboat had been set fire to and sunk.
"Of course that half-breed did it," concluded George, "and now that
we've told you all about it, we are going to start out after him. I'll
wager he's somewhere around this lake yet."
"I shall go back to the village at once and put the matter in the hands
of the constable," declared Miss Elting. "I shall also see Dee
Dickinson. I hold him indirectly responsible for all the disagreeable
things that have happened to us, and for this, too."
"Wait until to-night before you do anything about it," begged George.
"Give the Tramp Club a chance to distinguish themselves. If we don't get
our man by six o'clock to-night, then put the matter in the hands of the
authorities. In the meantime, won't you accept our hospitality for the
day? We offer you the use of our camp while we go out on a man hunt."
After some further conversation Miss Elting reluctantly agreed to the
boys' plan, and after considerable mourning over the lost "Red Rover,"
the girls settled themselves in the camp of the tramps to await the
return of the boys.
"It looks as though we would have to go back to Meadow-Brook a little
sooner than we expected, girls," declared Miss Elting.
"I'd rather go home than thtay around where there are crathy Indianth,"
retorted Tommy. "Thuppothe we had been on that boat when it thank."
"We wouldn't have been so foolish as to stay on it if it had been
sinking," laughed Harriet. "Besides all of us can swim. Our enemy took
good care to set fire to the boat when we weren't on it."
"I wonder what his object is in persecuting us so," mused Hazel. "None
of us have ever harmed him."
"Ask Dee Dickinson," advised Jane dryly.
"We certainly shall do so, this very night," returned Miss Elting, with
compressed lips.
Meanwhile the Tramp Club had pursued what bade fair to be a fruitless
quest. Search as they might they could find no trace of their quarry.
Late in the afternoon the launch reached the entrance to the hidden
creek where the "Red Rover" had recently lain snug and secure.
"This is certainly an ideal hiding place," declared George, as he
scanned the bank on both sides. "I don't wonder--"
He was interrupted by an excited shout from Larry, who had also been
keeping a sharp lookout. "There he goes!" he yelled.
A long dark green canoe had shot out from under an overhanging ledge of
rock. The sole occupant was paddling with swift, noiseless strokes
toward the mouth of the creek, intent on reaching the lake and making
his escape.
"It's the half-breed!" yelled Larry excitedly.
"He's been hiding up here waiting for night to come. He thought that we
didn't know about this place. Now that we've hunted him down, he's
trying to make a quick get-away. Once out of the creek he can give us
the slip. Fellows, we've got to get him!"
Billy, who was at the wheel, began backing the launch toward the mouth
of the creek. Not for an instant did the boys lose sight of their man,
and the moment the boat reached open water it was sent ahead at full
speed. Soon they began to gain on the fugitive, who was paddling with a
speed little short of marvelous.
"Hold on there!" shouted George. "We've got you anyway. You might as
well surrender!"
The man in the canoe refused to halt at command, but continued to paddle
desperately, until Billy deliberately ran him down. An instant later
George was holding on to their captive with an iron grip.
"Shut down. I've got him!" he yelled. Billy obeyed, and the half-breed
was hauled into the launch, kicking and struggling furiously.
"Get a rope," commanded George. "There's a coil of it in the bow of the
launch."
Five minutes later the Indian was lying in the bottom of the boat tied
beyond all possibility of escape, and the boys were triumphantly
heading for camp.
"We've got the Indian!" yelled Larry to the little group on shore as the
launch neared the landing in front of the Tramp Club's camp.
"We've been watching for you," called Harriet. "We saw you when you were
away up the lake. Have you really got him?"
"Indeed we have, and tied so that he'd have hard work getting away,"
laughed Gordon.
"What shall we do with him?" asked Larry as they bore the Indian ashore
in triumph.
"Stand him up against that tree for the present," ordered George, then
grimly wound coil after coil of rope around the half-breed, securing him
with many a hard knot. At last George stood back to survey his work with
admiration.
"I'd like to see even an Indian get out of that harness," Baker remarked
complacently.
Harriet and Jane walked over to the tree and looked searchingly at the
captive. Both recognized him as the man they had seen while the "Red
Rover" lay hidden in the creek.
"Larry and I are going up to the village at once to notify the
authorities," announced George. "We want to get rid of this fellow as
soon as possible."
"And I am going with you," announced Miss Elting firmly, "to hunt up Mr.
Dee Dickinson. He knows all about this man and the time has arrived for
him to tell me the truth."
* * * * *
Dickinson at first refused flatly to give Miss Elting any satisfaction
concerning the Indian.
"Then I shall have you arrested as a suspicious character, also,"
declared Miss Elting sternly. "Unless you give me a full explanation of
this whole affair I shall have you taken in custody by the authorities.
Understand you are to tell me everything."
Dickinson, however, seeing that Miss Elting would admit of no trifling,
decided that it would be better to make a clean breast of the matter.
"The Indian's name is Charlie Lavaille," he began sullenly, "though he's
commonly called French Charlie. He makes a sort of living at fishing,
and he hired the houseboat from me."
"Then you rented the boat to some one else, and afterwards turned it
over to us without letting us know?" asked Miss Elting.
"He rented the houseboat after a fashion," Dickinson explained lamely,
"though he didn't pay any rent down, and hasn't paid a penny since. He
was going to pay me, he said, at the end of the season. Now, of course,
when you came up here with a message from your brother, and claimed the
boat, I had to let you have it. If Charlie had paid any money, I would
have refunded it to him; but as he hadn't paid a cent there was nothing
to do but to turn the boat over to you."
"And you left us in ignorance of all this, when the knowledge of it
might have saved us much trouble, let alone the danger we ran and the
final loss of the boat?" Miss Elting asked accusingly.
"Well, you see, it was hard to explain," replied Dee Dickinson
reluctantly. "At any rate, at the time I thought it would be hard to
explain, so I let it go without telling you. I tried to make it all
clear to Charlie that, having paid no money, he had no claim on the
boat, but you can't explain a thing like that to an Indian. So Charlie
wouldn't listen to anything I could say. The half-breed isn't right in
his head, anyway, I'm inclined to think."
"So, without warning, you left us at the mercy of a possibly insane
Indian?" Miss Elting persisted. "Mr. Dickinson, you have acted in a very
cowardly fashion toward women who had been sent here believing that they
were to be in a measure under your protection. You should be compelled
to suffer for it. I shall write to my brother at once and tell him just
what sort of man you are."
Dickinson cringed at Miss Elting's severe words and fairly slunk from
the guardian's presence at the close of the interview.
The village constable and one of his men returned to the camp with Miss
Elting and the boys to take charge of the Indian. He was locked up for a
few days by the authorities at Wantagh, then subjected to a rigid
examination by a medical board, and being pronounced insane, was sent
away to one of the state institutions for the demented.
The Meadow-Brook Girls and Miss Elting said good-bye to the Tramp Club
that evening and spent the night at the village hotel.
"We've had a fine time at any rate," said Jane McCarthy as they
discussed all over again the exciting happenings of the day before, at
breakfast the next morning. "Where are we going next? Vacation isn't
half over yet."
"Why we're going home, aren't we?" asked Harriet, turning to Miss
Elting.
"Not so you could notice it!" exclaimed Jane slangily. "That is not if
Miss Elting will listen to my plan. Promise me you'll do as I ask, Miss
Elting."
"I never make rash promises," laughed Miss Elting. "Tell us what you
wish to do and then we'll see about it."
"I want to take you all for a week's drive in my car. You've been
through so much here at the lake that my peculiar style of driving will
hold no terrors for you. What do you say? Will you go?"
"If I thought you could be depended upon, for once, to drive safely--"
began Miss Elting somewhat dubiously. "What is your pleasure, girls?"
"We want to go with Jane," was the chorus.
"Hurrah!" cried Jane. "It's settled. I'll promise to bring you back home
all safe and sound."
The day was spent in shopping at the village store, as their belongings
had all been aboard the ill-fated "Red Rover." The Meadow-Brook Girls
decided to get along as best they could with their limited supply of
clothing, and depended on buying their meals at the various hotels and
farmhouses along the way. After a happy week on the road, during which
time Jane McCarthy proved herself to be a safe and careful driver, they
turned their faces toward their own town.
Once home, Miss Elting lost no time in sending in a report, to the Chief
Guardian of the Camp Girls' Association, of the "honors" won by the
Meadow-Brook Girls. In due time the girls received their honor beads,
which added considerably to the length of the strings of beads they had
already won for achievement and bravery.
The Meadow-Brook Girls were destined, however, to win many more of the
coveted beads, and shortly after their return home, Jane McCarthy held a
lengthy consultation with her father; then invited them and Miss Elting
to be her guests on a trip to the White Mountains. What befell them
during their outing in the New Hampshire hills will be fully set forth
in the next volume of this series entitled, "THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN
THE HILLS; Or, The Missing Pilot of the White Mountains."