MOONLIGHT AND MYSTERY
The moon made a rippling path of silver upon the water, a soft wind
whispered drowsily through the trees, and far off in the depths of
the woodland, an owl hooted plaintively. Ordinarily, the romantic
paddle back to the island would have been filled with delight for the
Outdoor Girls and their four boy friends, but tonight the profuse
beauty all about them passed unnoticed.
Betty, sitting beside Allen in the bottom of the canoe, while Frank
and Grace paddled, was very pale and silent. However, the others
talked enough to make up for her silence.
"What do you suppose is in the letter?" said Mollie, for perhaps the
hundredth time.
"How do you suppose we know?" responded Will, exasperated. "We can't
very well read it until we get home; and then perhaps there won't be
anything important in it. Gee, if we'd only gotten that fellow!"
"Well, it's of no use to cry over spilled milk," said Frank
philosophically. "We were mighty lucky to get the letter. Allen's the
only one that ought to kick--he got the rough end of the deal."
"Yes," said Betty fiercely; "and we ought to get that man for
shooting him. The coward!"
Allen laughed softly, and put a hand over Betty's little clenched
one.
"I don't suppose he meant to shoot me, especially," he said. "It was
my fault for getting in the way of the bullet."
"Yes, that's a mighty bad habit to get into," remarked Roy dryly,
"especially in these times, when we're more than likely to get a
chance to exercise it."
"Ooh!" squealed Amy, giving a sudden splash with her paddle, that
sent a geyser of spray all about her, causing several loud protests.
"I wish you'd stop talking about such things. I'd like to stop
shivering for about five minutes."
The girls giggled hysterically and felt more natural.
"Goodness," sighed Grace, after five minutes of silence, during which
each had been busy with his or her own thoughts. "This paddle never
seemed so long to me before."
"Thanks," said Frank. "May I ask whether you are referring to the
company?"
"I wasn't even thinking of the company," retorted Grace ungraciously.
"Gee, we must be impressive," murmured Roy. "She doesn't even know
we're around."
"Stop paddling, Frank," suggested Mollie maliciously, "and see how
soon she'd know you weren't around."
Obediently Frank drew his paddle from the water, and Grace, who had
only been making a pretense of doing her share, looked around
indignantly.
"Well, you can't expect me to do it all," she said, and with a sigh
of utter resignation, Frank resumed his work.
"Say, fellows," he said, "isn't that just like a girl?"
"What's that?" cried Amy suddenly, making them jump nervously.
"What?" queried Grace in a voice scarcely above a whisper, while the
rest looked for an explanation from Amy to the shadowy woodland and
back again.
"It--it was a noise," explained Amy, incoherently, "like a man
moving, and I was sure--I--saw a--couple of eyes watching us--"
"For heaven's sake!" cried Allen, raising himself suddenly in the
canoe, "put on more steam, you fellows! We've got to get the girls
out of this. What do you say, Mrs. Irving?" turning to their
chaperon, who had been a silent spectator until the moment.
"By all means," she said decisively. "We can face these mysteries
better by daylight, and we've had enough excitement for one night."
So they all paddled hard while the girls' eyes remained fixed in
half-fearful, half-hopeful expectation upon the shadowy shore. For
these girls were outdoor girls, and adventure was the breath of life
to them.
However, nothing else happened to disturb the calm of a perfect
summer night, and a few minutes later they landed at the pier, and
hastily fastened the canoes.
"Now for a light and the contents of that letter," cried Will, his
eyes gleaming with anticipation. "We'll soon find out whether Mr.
Adolph Hensler was a regular, honest-to-goodness spy, or just an
impostor. How about it, Allen?" he went on, as the latter stumbled
over a stone, and Will hooked an arm through his. "Feeling pretty
much all in, are you?"
"A little unsteady on my pins, as our friend Captain Kidd would say,"
Allen replied, though his lips were set with the effort to walk
steadily. "It's funny what a little scratch will do to a fellow."
"It wasn't such a little scratch, old man," said Will soberly. "If it
had hit you more directly, you'd have been in for a pretty long
siege. As it is, I'm afraid you'll have to lie low for a week or so.
Here we are. Now, just a couple of steps, old fellow--"
Allen was, in truth, weaker than he thought, for each step seemed
mountains high, and Frank had to grasp his other arm, before they
finally made the floor of the porch, and succeeded in getting him
across the threshold.
"Never mind," whispered Mollie, slipping a comforting arm about
Betty's shoulders as they followed slowly. "He isn't hurt seriously,
dear, and by to-morrow he'll be feeling all right again."
"I know," said Betty, a little catch in her breath. "It isn't so bad
now, but I was just thinking what it would be like, if he were
wounded on the battlefield, with no one to look after him--and--and--"
"Oh, Betty, we just mustn't think of things like that!" said Mollie,
her voice quivering. "No matter how we feel, we've just got to keep
on smiling for the boys' sake."
"I know," said Betty, straightening up with a pathetic little attempt
at a smile. "We'll all have to say like the little boy that fell down
and hurt himself, 'I'm not cryin'; I'm laughin'.' Yes, we're coming."
This last was interpolated by way of encouragement to Frank, who had
been sent back to look for them.
They found Allen propped up in a huge armchair before a fire, which
had been hastily laid in the grate, looking rather pale and wan, but
tremendously interested in the proceedings, nevertheless.
"Betty," he said pleadingly, stretching out a hand to her.
Without a word she went over to him, taking it in both her own.
"I don't want you to go out of my sight," he whispered, while the
others thoughtfully looked the other way. "My shoulder doesn't ache
when you're around," he added whimsically, knowing how clearly Betty
saw through him; "but when you go away, the ache in it is--fiendish!"
"I won't go away," Betty promised, touching the bandaged shoulder
gently.
"Never?" he queried eagerly, twisting around so he could see her
face. "Is that a promise, Betty?"
"While your shoulder hurts," she added quickly, while the color,
which did not come from the fire, flooded her face. "I--I hate to be
cross with you when you're not feeling well," she added, trying to be
severe, "but if you don't stop--looking at me--Allen... See,
they're waiting to read the letter!"
[Illustration: WILL LEANED FORWARD, REGARDING THE PAPER CLOSELY.]
"Does that mean I have to stop looking at you?" queried Allen, with a
smile. "Oh, well, I'll not complain, if you'll only keep on holding
my hand, Betty. I'd have a chronic bullet wound all the rest of my
life--"
"Well, when the invalid and hero of the occasion is ready," Will
broke in, his patience at an end, "we should be pleased to read a
document, which probably will seem dull and uninteresting to him
beside what he has to say--"
"Oh, Will, please don't talk so much," cried Grace. "If you don't
hurry I'll be so sleepy it wouldn't bother me if Adolph Hensler
turned out to be the Kaiser himself."
"Yes, speed up, old man," Roy added. "Expectation may be better than
realization, but I don't believe it."
"Well," said Will, opening the letter which had not been sealed, with
exasperating deliberation, "we shall see--what we shall see."
He leaned forward, regarding the paper closely in the yellow
lamplight, while the others crowded eagerly about him.
"Well--what-do-you-know-about-that!" he said slowly, pushing the
paper from him disgustedly. "All in code--and a code that will need
an expert to figure it out. Gee, that's a mean trick, that is!"
Frank picked up the paper and pored over it for a moment, while the
rest watched him anxiously.
"Yes, that's a stiff one," he said at last. "I guess there's no use
in our wasting time over it."
"It proves one thing anyway," put in Allen, from his corner. "The
paper is important, and our friend to-night is undoubtedly what we
thought he was."
"Much good that does us," said Will, morosely folding the paper and
stuffing it carefully into his pocket. "Of course, it's better than
nothing, and we'll get it into official hands just as soon as we can;
but we certainly ought to have caught that rascal."
"Say!" exclaimed Roy suddenly, his eyes gleaming with the light of
adventure, "maybe it isn't too late yet. Unless Adolph, the spy, had
a boat or swam to the nearest island, which is more than a mile away,
he's still on this island somewhere. We've got our good old trusties
over in the big tent, and there's a bare chance we might be able to
round him up."
"No, you don't!" said Grace decidedly, while all the girls looked
startled. "You're going to use your guns to keep that man away from
here. Do you suppose we're going to lie awake all night listening for
shots?"
"Oh, all right," said Roy, "I'm properly squelched."
"Let's go to bed," yawned Grace, "I'm dying by inches. And, oh,
Mollie, dear, don't forget to bring the candy box!"
Half an hour later the lights in the little cottage were out and the
boys, all except Allen, who had been made as comfortable as possible
in the house, were taking turns at standing guard outside.
Despite the quiet beauty and peace of the night, the girls found it
almost impossible to sleep. They tossed and dozed, and waked and
dozed again until, toward daylight, they fell into a restless, uneasy
sleep.