2. On consulting map find unnamed lake only a few miles away. Shall
investigate to-morrow.
3. Steamer has just gone. Detective now has canoe, blue in color. Also
food. He sent off his letter.
4. Fed worms. Lizzie thinks they know me. How kindness is its own
reward! Mr. McDonald is drawing in his anchor, which is a large stone
fastened to a rope. Shall take bath.
Tish's notes ended here. She did not take the bath after all, for Mr.
McDonald made us a call that afternoon.
He beached the green canoe and came up the rocks calmly and smilingly.
Hutchins gave him a cold glance and went on with what she was doing,
which was chopping a plank to cook the fish on. He bowed cheerfully to
all of us and laid a string of fish on a rock.
"I brought a little offering," he said, looking at Hutchins's back.
"The fishing isn't what I expected but if the young lady with the hatchet
will desist, so I can make myself heard, I've found a place where there
are fish! This biggest fellow is three and a quarter pounds."
Hutchins chopped harder than ever, and the plank flew up, striking her
in the chest; but she refused all assistance, especially from Mr.
McDonald, who was really concerned. He hurried to her and took the
hatchet out of her hand, but in his excitement he was almost uncivil.
"You obstinate little idiot!" he said. "You'll kill yourself yet."
To my surprise, Hutchins, who had been entirely unemotional right along,
suddenly burst into tears and went into the tent. Mr. McDonald took a
hasty step or two after her, realizing, no doubt, that he had said more
than he should to a complete stranger; but she closed the fly of the
tent quite viciously and left him standing, with his arms folded,
staring at it.
It was at that moment he saw the large fish, hanging from a tree. He
stood for a moment staring at it and we could see that he was quite
surprised.
"It is a fish, isn't it?" he said after a moment. "I--I thought for a
moment it was painted on something."
He sat down suddenly on one of our folding-chairs and looked at the
fish, and then at each of us in turn.
"You know," he said, "I didn't think there were such fish! I--you
mustn't mind my surprise." He wiped his forehead with his handkerchief.
"Just kick those things I brought into the river, will you? I apologize
for them."
"Forty-nine inches," Tish said. "We expect to do better when we really
get started. This evening we shall go after its mate, which is probably
hanging round."
"Its mate?" he said, rather dazed. "Oh, I see. Of course!"
He still seemed to doubt his senses, for he went over and touched it
with his finger. "Ladies," he said, "I'm not going after the--the mate.
I couldn't land it if I did get it. I am going to retire from the
game--except for food; but I wish, for the sake of my reason, you'd tell
me what you caught it with."
Well, you may heartily distrust a person; but that is no reason why you
should not answer a simple question. So I showed him the thing I had
made--and he did not believe me!
"You're perfectly right," he said. "Every game has its secrets. I had no
business to ask. But you haven't caught me with that feather-duster
thing any more than you caught that fish with it. I don't mind your not
telling me. That's your privilege. But isn't it rather rubbing it in to
make fun of me?"
"Nothing of the sort!" Aggie said angrily. "If you had caught it--"
"My dear lady," he said, "I couldn't have caught it. The mere shock of
getting such a bite would have sent me out of my boat in a swoon." He
turned to Tish. "I have only one disappointment," he said, "that it
wasn't one of _our_ worms that did the work."
Tish said afterward she was positively sorry for him, he looked so
crestfallen. So, when he started for his canoe she followed him.
"Look here," she said; "you're young, and I don't want to see you get
into trouble. Go home, young man! There are plenty of others to take
your place."
He looked rather startled. "That's it exactly," he said, after a moment.
"As well as I can make out there are about a hundred. If you think," he
said fiercely, raising his voice, "that I'm going to back out and let
somebody else in, I'm not. And that's flat."
"It's a life-and-death matter," said Tish.
"You bet it's a life-and-death matter."
"And--what about the--the red-headed man over there?"
His reply amazed us all. "He's harmless," he said. "I don't like him,
naturally; but I admire the way he holds on. He's making the best of a
bad business."
"Do you know why he's here?"
He looked uneasy for once.
"Well, I've got a theory," he replied; but, though his voice was calm,
he changed color.
"Then perhaps you'll tell me what that signal means?"
Tish gave him the glasses and he saw the red flag. I have never seen a
man look so unhappy.
"Holy cats!" he said, and almost dropped the glasses. "Why, he--he must
be expecting somebody!"
"So I should imagine," Tish commented dryly. "He sent a letter by the
boat to-day."
"The h--l he did!" And then: "That's ridiculous! You're mistaken. As
a--as a matter of fact, I went over there the other night and
commandeered his fountain pen."
So it had not fallen out of his pocket!
"I'll be frank, ladies," he said. "It's my object just now to keep that
chap from writing letters. It doesn't matter why, but it's vital."
He was horribly cast down when we told him about Hutchins and the pen
and ink.
"So that's it!" he said gloomily. "And the flag's a signal, of course.
Ladies, you have done it out of the kindness of your hearts, I know; but
I think you have wrecked my life."
He took a gloomy departure and left us all rather wrought up. Who were
we, as Tish said, to imperil a fellow man? And another thing--if there
was a reward on him, why should we give it to a red-haired detective,
who was rude to harmless animals and ate canned corn for breakfast?
With her customary acumen Tish solved the difficulty that very evening.
"The simplest thing," she said, "of course, would be to go over
during the night and take the flag away; but he may have more red
handkerchiefs. Then, too, he seems to be a light sleeper, and it would
be awkward to have him shoot at us."
She sat in thought for quite a while. Hutchins was watching the sunset,
and seemed depressed and silent. Tish lowered her voice.
"There's no reason why we shouldn't have a red flag, too," she said. "It
gives us an even chance to get in on whatever is about to happen. We can
warn Mr. McDonald, for one thing, if any one comes here. Personally I
think he is unjustly suspected."
[But Tish was to change her mind very soon.]
We made the flag that night, by lantern light, out of Tish's red silk
petticoat. Hutchins was curious, I am sure; but we explained nothing.
And we fastened it obliquely over the river, like the one on the other
side.
Tish's change of heart, which occurred the next morning, was due
to a most unfortunate accident that happened to her at nine o'clock.
Hutchins, who could swim like a duck, was teaching Tish to swim, and
she was learning nicely. Tish had put a life-preserver on, with a
clothes-line fastened to it, and Aggie was sitting on the bank holding
the rope while she went through the various gestures.
Having completed the lesson Hutchins went into the woods for red
raspberries, leaving Tish still practicing in the water with Aggie
holding the rope. Happening to sneeze, the line slipped out of her hand,
and she had the agonizing experience of seeing Tish carried away by the
current.
I was washing some clothing in the river a few yards down the stream
when Tish came floating past. I shall never forget her expression or my
own sense of absolute helplessness.
"Get the canoe," said Tish, "and follow. I'm heading for Island Eleven."
[Illustration: "Get the canoe and follow. I'm heading for Island Eleven"]
She was quite calm, though pale; but, in her anxiety to keep well above
the water, she did what was almost a fatal thing--she pushed the
life-preserver lower down round her body. And having shifted the
floating center, so to speak, without warning her head disappeared and
her feet rose in the air.
For a time it looked as though she would drown in that position; but
Tish rarely loses her presence of mind. She said she knew at once what
was wrong. So, though somewhat handicapped by the position, she replaced
the cork belt under her arms and emerged at last.
Aggie had started back into the woods for Hutchins; but, with one thing
and another, it was almost ten before they returned together. Tish by
that time was only a dot on the horizon through the binocular, having
missed Island Eleven, as she explained later, by the rope being caught
on a submerged log, which deflected her course.
We got into the motor boat and followed her, and, except for a most
unjust sense of irritation that I had not drowned myself by following
her in the canoe, she was unharmed. We got her into the motor boat and
into a blanket, and Aggie gave her some blackberry cordial at once. It
was some time before her teeth ceased chattering so she could speak.
When she did it was to announce that she had made a discovery.
"He's a spy, all right!" she said. "And that Indian is another. Neither
of them saw me as I floated past. They were on Island Eleven. Mr.
McDonald wrote something and gave it to the Indian. It wasn't a letter
or he'd have sent it by the boat. He didn't even put it in an envelope,
so far as I could see. It's probably in cipher."
Well, we took her home, and she had a boiled egg at dinner.
The rest of us had fish. It is one of Tish's theories that fish should
only be captured for food, and that all fish caught must be eaten. I do
not know when I have seen fish come as easy. Perhaps it was the worms,
which had grown both long and fat, so that one was too much for a hook;
and we cut them with scissors, like tape or ribbon. Aggie and I finally
got so sick of fish that while Tish's head was turned we dropped in our
lines without bait. But, even at that, Aggie, reeling in her line to go
home, caught a three-pound bass through the gills and could not shake
it off.
We tried to persuade Tish to lie down that afternoon, but she refused.
"I'm not sick," she said, "even if you two idiots did try to drown me.
And I'm on the track of something. If that was a letter, why didn't he
send it by the boat?"
Just then her eye fell on the flagpole, and we followed her horrified
gaze. The flag had been neatly cut away!
Tish's eyes narrowed. She looked positively dangerous; and within five
minutes she had cut another flag out of the back breadth of the
petticoat and flung it defiantly in the air. Who had cut away the
signal--McDonald or the detective? We had planned to investigate the
nameless lake that afternoon, Tish being like Colonel Roosevelt in her
thirst for information, as well as in the grim pugnacity that is her
dominant characteristic; but at the last minute she decided not to go.
"You and Aggie go, Lizzie," she said. "I've got something on hand."
"Tish!" Aggie wailed. "You'll drown yourself or something."
"Don't be a fool!" Tish snapped. "There's a portage, but you and Lizzie
can carry the canoe across on your heads. I've seen pictures of it. It's
easy. And keep your eyes open for a wireless outfit. There's one about,
that's sure!"
"Lots of good it will do to keep our eyes open," I said with some
bitterness, "with our heads inside the canoe!"
We finally started and Hutchins went with us. It was Hutchins, too, who
voiced the way we all felt when we had crossed the river and were
preparing for what she called the portage.
"She wants to get us out of the way, Miss Lizzie," she said. "Can you
imagine what mischief she's up to?"
"That is not a polite way to speak of Miss Tish, Hutchins," I said
coldly. Nevertheless, my heart sank.
Hutchins and I carried the canoe. It was a hot day and there was no
path. Aggie, who likes a cup of hot tea at five o'clock, had brought
along a bottle filled with tea, and a small basket containing sugar and
cups.
Personally I never had less curiosity about a lake. As a matter of fact
I wished there was no lake. Twice--being obliged, as it were, to walk
blindly and the canoe being excessively heavy--I, who led the way, ran
the front end of the thing against the trunk of a tree, and both
Hutchins and I sat down violently, under the canoe as a result of the
impact.
To add to the discomfort of the situation Aggie declared that we were
being followed by a bear, and at the same instant stepped into a swamp
up to her knees. She became calm at once, with the calmness of despair.
"Go and leave me, Lizzie!" she said. "He is just behind those bushes. I
may sink before he gets me--that's one comfort."
Hutchins found a log and, standing on it, tried to pull her up; but she
seemed firmly fastened. Aggie went quite white; and, almost beside
myself, I poured her a cup of hot tea, which she drank. I remember she
murmured Mr. Wiggins's name, and immediately after she yelled that the
bear was coming.
It was, however, the detective who emerged from the bushes. He got Aggie
out with one good heave, leaving both her shoes gone forever; and while
she collapsed, whimpering, he folded his arms and stared at all of us
angrily.
"What sort of damnable idiocy is this?" he demanded in a most unpleasant
tone.
Aggie revived and sat upright.
"That's our affair, isn't it?" said Hutchins curtly.
"Not by a blamed sight!" was his astonishing reply.
"The next time I am sinking in a morass, let me sink," Aggie said, with
simple dignity.
He did not speak another word, but gave each of us a glance of the most
deadly contempt, and finished up with Hutchins.
"What I don't understand," he said furiously, "is why you have to lend
yourself to this senile idiocy. Because some old women choose to sink
themselves in a swamp is no reason why you should commit suicide!"
Aggie said afterward only the recollection that he had saved her life
prevented her emptying the tea on him. I should hardly have known
Hutchins.
"Naturally," she said in a voice thick with fury, "you are in a position
to insult these ladies, and you do. But I warn you, if you intend to
keep on, this swamp is nothing. We like it here. We may stay for months.
I hope you have your life insured."
Perhaps we should have understood it all then. Of course Charlie Sands,
for whom I am writing this, will by this time, with his keen mind,
comprehend it all; but I assure you we suspected nothing.
How simple, when you line it up: The country house and the garden hose;
the detective, with no camp equipment; Mr. McDonald and the green
canoe; the letter on the train; the red flag; the girl in the pink
tam-o'-shanter--who has not yet appeared, but will shortly; Mr.
McDonald's incriminating list--also not yet, but soon.
How inevitably they led to what Charlie Sands has called our crime!
The detective, who was evidently very strong, only glared at her. Then
he swung the canoe up on his head and, turning about, started back the
way we had come. Though Hutchins and Aggie were raging, I was resigned.
My neck was stiff and my shoulders ached. We finished our tea in silence
and then made our way back to the river.
I have now reached Tish's adventure. It is not my intention in this
record to defend Tish. She thought her conclusions were correct. Charlie
Sands says she is like Shaw--she has got a crooked point of view, but
she believes she is seeing straight. And, after a while, if you look her
way long enough you get a sort of mental astigmatism.
So I shall confess at once that, at the time, I saw nothing immoral in
what she did that afternoon while we were having our adventure in the
swamp.
I was putting cloths wrung out of arnica and hot water on my neck when
she came home, and Hutchins was baking biscuit--she was a marvelous
cook, though Aggie, who washed the dishes, objected to the number of
pans she used.
Tish ignored both my neck and the biscuits, and, marching up the bank,
got her shotgun from the tent and loaded it.
"We may be attacked at any time," she said briefly; and, getting the
binocular, she searched the river with a splendid sweeping glance. "At
any time. Hutchins, take these glasses, please, and watch that we are
not disturbed."
"I'm baking biscuit, Miss Letitia."
"Biscuit!" said Tish scornfully. "Biscuit in times like these?"
She walked up to the camp stove and threw the oven door open; but,
though I believe she had meant to fling them into the river, she changed
her mind when she saw them.
"Open a jar of honey, Hutchins," she said, and closed the oven; but
her voice was abstracted. "You can watch the river from the stove,
Hutchins," she went on. "Miss Aggie and Miss Lizzie and I must confer
together."
So we went into the tent, and Tish closed and fastened it.
"Now," she said, "I've got the papers."
"Papers?"
"The ones Mr. McDonald gave that Indian this morning. I had an idea he'd
still have them. You can't hurry an Indian. I waited in the bushes until
he went in swimming. Then I went through his pockets."
"Tish Carberry!" cried Aggie.
"These are not times to be squeamish," Tish said loftily. "I'm neutral;
of course; but Great Britain has had this war forced on her and I'm
going to see that she has a fair show. I've ordered all my stockings
from the same shop in London, for twenty years, and squarer people never
lived. Look at these--how innocent they look, until one knows!"
She produced two papers from inside her waist. I must confess that, at
first glance, I saw nothing remarkable.
"The first one looks," said Tish, "like a grocery order. It's meant to
look like that. It's relieved my mind of one thing--McDonald's got no
wireless or he wouldn't be sending cipher messages by an Indian."
It was written on a page torn out of a pocket notebook and the page was
ruled with an inch margin at the left. This was the document:--
1 Dozen eggs.
20 Yards fishing-line.
1 pkg. Needles--anything to sew a button on.
1 doz. A B C bass hooks.
3 lbs. Meat--anything so it isn't fish.
1 bot. Ink for fountain pen.
3 Tins sardines.
1 Extractor.
Well, I could not make anything of it; but, of course, I have not Tish's
mind. Aggie was almost as bad.
"What's an extractor?" she asked.
"Exactly!" said Tish. "What is an extractor? Is the fellow going to pull
teeth? No! He needed an _e_; so he made up a word."
She ran her finger down the first letters of the second column.
"D-y-n-a-m-i-t-e!" she said triumphantly. "Didn't I tell you?"