The Secret of Steeple Rocks

  CHAPTER IV

  "SNOOPERS"

  The camping adventure developed rapidly and more pleasantly during thenext few days. Elizabeth was enthusiastic, sleeping soundly, taking adaily dip or two with the other girls and adding to the really goodsketches which she was making either in the woods or on the cliffs andshore.

  Dalton returned from his trip to the county seat with the news forLeslie and Sarita that the deed had been properly recorded. Someone atthe courthouse had asked Dalton, in connection with some inquiry of his,whether he had an abstract of title or not. This Dalton did not know andhe promptly wrote to their lawyer friend to inquire.

  "If we have, Leslie, I'd like to see Mr. Ives get around that."

  "Perhaps he just wanted to frighten us and get us away. Could he beconnected with rum-running, do you suppose?"

  "Men apparently as honest as he _are_," Dalton replied, "but unless itis on a large scale, I scarcely think so. I've put it up to Jim Lyon,anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if he took a vacation and came on. Ioffered him a bunk with me,--you wouldn't mind, would you, Les?"

  "It wouldn't do, especially as he likes Beth; but there would be someplace that he could stay, or he could have a camp of his own."

  "He could bring his sister and the kiddies, too," Sarita suggested.

  "Of course! There is a lovely place for a camp right on our little lake.It would have been much more convenient for us, too, only we wanted tobe nearer the ocean. Write again and suggest it, Dal. Mrs. Marsh lookedsort of wistful when we were talking about going and wished that theycould afford a trip. If Mr. Marsh can't get away, why couldn't they putthe youngsters in the old Ford and drive through?"

  "Write and suggest it, Leslie. Jim has a key to our deposit box, and Iimagine that if we have an 'abstract' or a 'guarantee of title' it's inthere. I don't remember; but there were a lot of papers and things thatI never looked at. Now I'm going to have a good time fishing. I foundout who sold the place to Father, and I've written to him,--so letnature take its course while we camp. I met a chap on the train that hasa motor boat, a regular little yacht, he says, and he has invited me togo out with him. Then I'm getting a little boat of our own _with anengine in it_, Les, and it is big enough to sail the briny all right,except in a storm, perhaps."

  This was a great surprise to Leslie and Sarita, who greeted the newswith enthusiasm, though Leslie remarked that she did not suppose heought to have taken the money.

  "Well, Leslie, it is my money, and I got this at a wonderfulbargain,--you will be surprised. It belongs to a man at the county seatand he is starting to leave the state altogether, after being accustomedto spend the summers here, you know. He almost gave the little boataway. I took a big chance, of course, for I haven't seen it, but he saidthat if it wasn't what he said it was, I needn't finish paying for it.He took a chance on me, too, for I only gave him a small payment. ButI'll send him a check as soon as I see it. It's in a boat house at thevillage."

  The girls could scarcely realize their good fortune, but Dalton ratherdreaded telling Elizabeth. He spent some little time thinking how toapproach the subject diplomatically and then gave it up when the timecame. Elizabeth did look sober and warned Dalton that he was using moneywhich should be saved for his further education; but she, too, waspleased with the thought of the trips that they would take together. Wasthe outdoor life making her think less of the "welfare of the children?"

  The boat was in fairly good condition, Dalton found, though he had itcarefully gone over, helping in this himself. At odd times, he andLeslie began to make a way down to the bay from the rocks, to a placewhich Dalton thought would be suitable for the boat. Nature had providedmost of the steps, but there was one stretch where it was necessary toassist nature and make a safer footing. Then a rope, fastened above andbelow, would give confidence, for a fall would not be pleasant if itended on the rocks on the edge, or in the water. On a ledge above thewater, one then walked to a small cove.

  There, at the most protected part of the bay, where the higher part ofthe cliff began to start out into the curving point or arm which formeda real breakwater, the new boat should lie. But Dalton spent only a partof his time on these preparations. In a rented boat he and the girlsrowed out on the bay and examined its every cove. "Snoopers," Saritasaid they were, and Leslie remarked that so far their observations _had_been "healthy" for them, which reference Elizabeth did not understand.But then she did not always understand the jokes of the younger girls.She had her own thoughts and dreams and seldom inquired about apparentlytrivial matters.

  Several times when they were on the bay they saw the rough man ofDalton's first acquaintance. But he paid no attention to them and gaveDalton no opportunity to nod or speak, if he had wanted to do so.

  Bay and sea were often dotted with fishing boats that either remained orwent out to a greater distance or to other points along the coast. Thegirls began to talk learnedly about codfish and mackerel, lobster,haddock and halibut. They did not tire of the sea food and Elizabethcame back to earth enough to discover how to cook most effectively thefish which Dalton, Leslie and Sarita caught.

  At last the day came when the new boat was ready. Launched at thevillage, it contained its young owner at the wheel and a boy of aboutDalton's age, who was fussing about the engine to see that it wasworking properly. Leslie and Sarita were in the bow, uttering mildsqueals of delight at the way the little vessel cut the water, as theywent some distance out into the ocean, preparatory to entering the broadmouth of the bay.

  When they were ready to turn and enter the bay, the young mechanic, TomCarey by name, took the wheel and showed Dalton what part of the bay toavoid, though the entrance was large enough and without any rocks in itsdeep waters. "But keep away from the little bay or cove under SteepleRocks," said Tom. "The buoys, of course, warn you."

  "It is safe enough with a flat boat, isn't it?" Dalton inquired. "I camevery near rowing in there the other day, but there was that buoy with'Danger' on it and I put off my going till I should ask what is thematter."

  "Matter enough. I suppose that it is years since anyone has tried to gointo the bay from this side. Around the other side of the headland,though, there are the boats that belong to the Ives' place and they getout into the bay here by that rocky channel you see. It's wide enough,and luckily there is that sort of a long bar of broken rocks thatseparates their dock from Pirates' Cove. That is what the smaller bay iscalled. There is a terrible current or undertow, they say, and the lastperson that ever went in over there never came back. Folks saw the boatdrift in under the rocks and not a scrap of the boat was ever seenagain, and the man seemed to be knocked over by the rocks. Nobody eversaw him again, either. He was some sort of a foreigner. It's funny howmany foreigners we get here."

  "Where do they come from?" asked Leslie, who had come to watch theproceedings when the bay was entered.

  "I guess that some of them come over from Canada," replied Tom. "Theydon't stay very long, as a rule, though there is one family of Russiansthat has been here for several years. They seem to have a lot ofrelatives that visit them, especially in the summer. Bill Ritter, too,always has a lot working for him that can't speak good English or don'tspeak English at all. They may come from the fisheries down the coast.Bill's Swiss, they say."

  "What does he do?" idly asked Leslie, watching the waves.

  "He fishes; and I think that he supplies the Steeple Rocks folks withfish and lobster. He's always going there. You've probably seen him.There he is now in a rowboat."

  Dalton looked in the direction to which Tom nodded and saw the darklyred, sunburned features of the man who had spoken to him in his ownwoods. "Yes, I've seen him before. And that is the boat from whichsomebody waved to me, when I was over by Pirates' Cove. It was probablyBill that pointed out the buoy with the danger sign. When he saw me rowto it and read it, he rowed away. He must have been rowing towards mebefore. I'm much obliged to Bill. Look at him, Leslie. That is the man I
was telling you about."

  Leslie, with a quick, understanding look at her brother, gazed in thedirection of the rowboat to which they were now nearer. But itsoccupant, after a glance in their direction, rowed farther away andseemed to be making preparations to cast his line.

  Sarita now came from where she had been leaning over to look at thedepths and asked what Tom thought of Dalton's boat and its engine.

  "They're all right. That engine is almost new. Keep her oiled and youcan go to Europe with her."

  "We'll go to Europe in a larger boat, I think," laughed Leslie."Honestly, though, could we put out to sea in this boat?"

  "It would be less rough out farther than here about the coast and theserocks, except inside the bay, of course. But I wouldn't advise you toget out there in stormy weather. You are going to keep your launchinside the bay, aren't you?"

  "Yes, just as soon as we get the place fixed for it. Dal wants you tosee the place, don't you Dal?"

  "Yes. I can't imagine the boat's getting beaten on the rocks badlythere, even in a gale; but I want you to look at the cove and see whatyou think."

  Leslie thought that gales seemed almost impossible on a day like that.The sky was serene, with gently floating masses of white clouds againstthe blue. The sea was almost calm, except where a line of breakers camein close to the shore. In the bay there were only ripples, with the saltwater gently bathing the rocks of the cliffs and washing them with alight spray. "Cathedral Rocks" towered at the northern end of the bayand their own smaller cliff made a low headland at its southern side.

  As they carefully approached the lower end, they could see Elizabeth upon the rocks with her big umbrella and her easel. She was too deeplyengaged to see them at first, but when she heard their hail, she came tolook over and wave joyfully.