ADRIFT
At first, Connie and Vevi could not guess what the lifeguard was trying
to do. They saw him push hard against the cabin door.
When it did not open, he brought forth a small metal tool from inside
his bathing trunks.
“Why, he must have a deep pocket inside his bathing suit!” Vevi
exclaimed in amazement. “How funny!”
“Imagine trying to swim with a heavy piece of metal,” added Connie. “I
never heard of such a thing before!”
As the girls watched from behind the curtains, they were shocked to see
the lifeguard deliberately break the door lock of the nearby cruiser.
“He shouldn’t have done that!” Vevi declared. “The owner of _Miss Lady_
won’t like it.”
Connie gave the Brownie sign for complete silence.
Vevi realized then that something was dreadfully wrong. Connie, she
noticed, looked rather frightened.
Unaware that anyone was near, Raymond Curry had entered the cabin of
_Miss Lady_.
Vevi and Connie could see him going hurriedly through drawers and
boxes. Most articles he threw on the floor. But the girls saw him stuff
two small items into the inner pocket of his bathing trunks.
Vevi no longer could remain silent.
“Connie, he’s a thief!” she whispered tensely. “He’s taking something
that doesn’t belong to him!”
“And last night we saw him trying car doors,” added Connie. “He must
have been trying to get in.”
“He’s been doing his stealing at our beach, so no one would suspect
him! Oh, Connie, I’ll bet he was the one who took Miss Gordon’s wrist
watch!”
“We saw him swimming on our beach that day! He may have been the one
who took Mrs. Allison’s purse too!”
By this time the girls were so excited they scarcely could contain
themselves. In trying to see, Vevi accidentally scratched her hand
against the window glass.
Though the noise was slight, it was heard on the next boat. Mr. Curry
whirled around, seeing the children watching him from the cabin of the
_Adventurer_.
The lifeguard came quickly out of the cruiser, closing the door behind
him.
“He’s going to go away with all that stuff he took!” Vevi cried. “Let’s
stop him, Connie.”
Both girls remembered that once at the circus when a pickpocket had
tried to get away, all the Brownie Scouts had surrounded him. But now
there was no one to help them.
Without stopping to think, Vevi ran out of the cabin.
“Stop!” she shouted at Mr. Curry, who had leaped off the _Lady_.
“You’re a thief! We saw you take something from that boat.”
Mr. Curry paused. He looked up and down the waterfront, not seeing
anyone. Then he came over to where the _Adventurer_ was tied up. He was
smiling, but not in a friendly way.
“So I’m a thief, am I?” he asked pleasantly. “You saw everything?”
“Yes, we did!” Vevi retorted. “You put back what you stole or we’ll
tell the police! You took Miss Gordon’s watch too!”
“Well, well, what clever little girls you are!” Mr. Curry said. “So
you saw everything? And you’ll run straight to the police with it?”
As the lifeguard talked, he bent down by the dock post. Vevi and Connie
did not realize what he was doing until it was too late.
Then they saw that the man deliberately had untied the rope which held
the _Adventurer_ fast.
“You’ll not tell the police anything for an hour or so,” said Mr.
Curry. “You’re taking a little ride out into the bay.”
As he spoke, he gave the cruiser a hard shove. It shot several feet
away from the wharf, barely clearing another boat tied on the other
side.
“You’ll not be carried too far out,” Mr. Curry called. “The drifting
boat will be sighted eventually by the lighthouse keeper or from shore.
So relax and have a nice time, kiddies. You’ll not be seeing me again!”
Mr. Curry stood a moment, watching the boat drift slowly away. Then he
turned and was lost to view behind another cruiser.
Connie and Vevi were so frightened that for a moment or two they could
not speak.
Already the cruiser was so far from the wharf that they could not leap
ashore. The water was much too deep for them to jump off and try to
wade in.
“What’ll we do?” Vevi wailed.
“Scream for help!” Connie advised. “Yell as loudly as you can.”
Both girls called for help, over and over again. Although it now was
nearly seven o’clock, no one seemed to be on the beach. Captain Tarwell
was not in sight either, nor were any of the Brownies.
“Oh, Connie, we’re being carried out to sea!” Vevi gasped.
“And Mr. Curry will get away from Silver Beach with everything he’s
stolen,” added Connie in despair. “That’s why he cut our boat loose! So
we wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what we saw, until after he’s safely
away!”
“Oh, we’ve got to do something--quick! Let’s yell for help again.”
Cupping hands to their lips, the girls shouted until they were nearly
hoarse. Although the cruiser had not as yet drifted far from shore, no
one was abroad to hear or see them.
“It’s no use,” moaned Vevi, grasping the _Adventurer’s_ railing for
support. “We’re going to be carried way out into the ocean. I’m
getting seasick too! I feel just awful.”
Big tears splashed down the little girl’s cheeks. Running into the
cabin, she flung herself on the cushioned seat and buried her head in a
pillow.