The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat Part 25

"And pleathant nightmareth," mumbled Tommy from under the blanket. She was found curled up in a ball when the guardian went over to see that the little girl was comfortable for the night. The light was blown out just as Harriet sought her cot. Miss Elting was in bed a moment afterwards, and peace and quiet again settled over the clumsy "Red Rover." This peace, however, was not destined to last long. It was to be rudely broken ere the morning dawned. From down the lake a canoe was coming, propelled swiftly and silently by a pair of muscular arms. The canoe, if it continued on its present course, would hit the "Red Rover"

fairly on its nose. But just before reaching the houseboat, the canoe veered to one side a little and the paddle trailed the water behind.

The canoe glided along to one side of the "Red Rover," then stopped.

CHAPTER XVI

A MIDNIGHT VISITOR

The same dark canoe that Harriet Burrell had seen shoot out into the lake before her the night she was reconnoitering near the camp of the Tramp Club was now hovering about the houseboat. It would have appeared almost uncanny to one not experienced in canoeing to observe the absolute noiselessness with which the frail little craft was propelled about the larger boat. When it was turned, it was as though the boat were swinging on a pivot. When the half of its length was let down to the water after such a swing, there followed not the slightest suggestion of a splash.

Lulled by the gentle lapping of the water against the side of the boat, the Meadow-Brook Girls slept soundly. On sh.o.r.e the boys of the Tramp Club also were sleeping. The girls on board the "Red Rover," as already mentioned, had no fear of a second attack that night, nor had the youthful pirates the slightest intention of repeating the experiment that had turned out so badly for them and so triumphantly for the Meadow-Brook Girls. It was quite evident that the newcomer did not belong to the Tramp Club. His face looked dark and swarthy in the moonlight. He had straight black hair and high cheek bones and there was a revengeful light in his sharp black eyes as he scanned the silent houseboat.

Once more the canoe s.h.i.+fted its position and slid to a point directly under one of the little windows. The window was open, the curtains were streaming out through the opening. The intruder stood up in his canoe without disturbing its balance in the least.

Just about this time Tommy Thompson awoke with a little gasp. She had been dreaming that Buster, in the guise of a pirate, was trying to smother her with a sofa pillow. Tommy had been skirting the edge of one of the "pleathant nightmareth" she had prophesied for the girls on retiring. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Suddenly she uttered a terrified scream.

For the second time that night the Meadow-Brook Girls scrambled from their beds in alarm.

"Tommy, Tommy, what is the matter?" cried Harriet, springing to the little girl's side.

"I thaw the motht terrible fathe," moaned Tommy. "Oh, thave me."

"Nonsense, Tommy," laughed Harriet.

"You've just had one of those nightmares you were talking about when you bade us good night."

"No, thir," reiterated Tommy. "I thaw thomething. It wath a man and he thtood right in front of the window. You thee I wath dreaming that Buthter wath a pirate, and wath trying to thmother me with a thofa pillow and all of a thudden I that up in bed and thaw thith fathe looking in the window at me. That ith why I thcreamed," concluded Tommy, with dignity. "I didn't have the nightmare. I tell you I thaw a fathe."

"How ridiculous," sniffed Buster. "How could she see a face when we are away out here on the lake. Why look!" she continued, stepping to the window. "It's bright moonlight, and there isn't a boat to be seen on the water."

"Buthter doethn't know what I thaw," retorted Tommy angrily. "Thhe hathn't my eyeth hath thhe? Buthter maketh me tired."

"There, there, girls," reproved Miss Elting. "That will do. Harriet, I think you and I had better dress, then get into the rowboat and do a little investigating. Perhaps some prowler has visited the boat while we were asleep. Light the lamp, Jane, and we'll see if all our belongings are safe."

Jane and Hazel made a rapid search about the boat while Harriet and Miss Elting were dressing. Meanwhile Tommy and Margery sat on the edges of their cots and conducted a spirited argument as to whether Tommy really had seen a "fathe" at the window.

"All ready," called Harriet as she ran to where the rowboat was fastened. Then she gave a little cry of alarm that brought Miss Elting and the others to her side on the run.

"What is it, Harriet?" cried the guardian.

Harriet stood looking out over the water, a piece of rope in her hand.

"Some one has stolen our rowboat," she gasped. "See, the rope has been cut."

"Then the Tramp Club must have come over here again in the night and stolen it," decided Miss Elting. "Still that would hardly account for the face Tommy saw at the window, and she is positive that she really saw some one. I am inclined to think, however, that she had the nightmare, and simply dreamed about that frightful face."

"I can't see that there is anything particularly clever or original about stealing a rowboat in the dead of night," said Harriet slowly, "and I don't believe that the boys would think so either. There is something peculiar about this affair and I believe that the Tramp Club have had nothing to do with this latest puzzle."

"That ith what I think," agreed Tommy. "It wathn't thothe boyth that thcared me tho."

"Nothing has been stolen from the boat," declared Hazel, "so it looks as though our midnight prowler vanished when he heard Tommy's first scream."

"I'm going to mount guard for the rest of the night," announced Jane.

"It's half past two now, and by five o'clock it will be light. The rest of you can go back to bed, and if any one else comes sneaking around this boat, he'll have to come forward and state his business to Jane McCarthy."

CHAPTER XVII

A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE

It seemed to the tired girls as though they had hardly closed their eyes when they heard Jane call out: "Seven o'clock. All hands on deck."

"I'm tho thleepy," murmured Tommy as she struggled into her clothes.

"I'm pretty near dead," growled Hazel. "I think I'll never get rested."

"Do let's hurry and have breakfast," pleaded Margery, "I'm so hungry."

"Chronic thtate," murmured Tommy.

"I don't have nightmares and wake every one up in the middle of the night," retorted Margery, "even if I do get hungry sometimes."

"My nightmare wath utheful, Buthter," returned Tommy calmly. "It helped uth to dithcover that our boat wath gone. But your appet.i.te ithn't the leatht bit utheful, not even to yourthelf."

"I'll never speak to you again, Tommy Thompson," declared Buster wrathfully.

"That maketh me feel very thad, Buthter," replied Tommy sarcastically.

Breakfast was prepared and eaten in record time that morning. Then the dishes were speedily washed and put away. The Tramp Club's camp showed no activity until after eight o'clock, when the smoke from their cook fire was observed curling up through the foliage on the sh.o.r.e of the Island of Delight. A long-drawn "Hoo-oo-oo" from the camp told the girls that they had been observed by some of the boys.

Before nine o'clock the launch put out and sailed rapidly over to the "Red Rover."

"We didn't come to call. We just ran over to see what time you wished to go for a sail?" asked Billy Gordon.

"Come right on board, boys. We finished our work shortly after daylight this morning. You see we are early risers," replied Miss Elting.

The lads needed no urging. They hopped to the after deck of the houseboat. But no sooner had they come aboard than they perceived that something was amiss. George glanced at Harriet inquiringly.

"What's the matter with you girls, this morning?" he asked lamely.

"We had considerable excitement here last night. We were visited by pirates," said the guardian.

The boys flushed guiltily.