CHAPTER VII
RIGHTS ASSURED
On Leslie's arrival in camp, she found only Beth there. Something savorywas steaming on the portable stove, which stood out under the trees,protected from any breeze too strong both by the natural screen and onemanufactured from canvas.
"Soup to-night, Leslie," said Beth. "Sarita thought that she could enjoyit. Step into the tent and see what you think of that water color. Ifinished it. Tell me that the sky looks like the one we see here!"
"Oh, it does, Beth," called Leslie in a moment from the tent. Then shecame out to help. "It is lovely, Beth, the prettiest thing you have doneyet. Where is Sarita?"
"Back in the woods with her glass. The last I saw of her she wastrailing a warbler and trying to find its nest. I think that she calledit a redstart. She is ever so much better, though rather weak after thatheadache. Her throat is a little raw, but she will escape any furthertrouble, I think. I hope that Dal will get back in time for supper. Iwas almost worried about you, gone so long."
"Peggy and Jack picked me up from the beach and I had a trip to SteepleRocks. There doesn't seem to be anything to do, Beth,--do you care if Igo to hunt Sarita?"
"Not at all."
Back into the fragrant woods Leslie strolled and met Sarita coming withDalton by the little trail, now quite a path of their making, that ledthrough the woods from the road.
The two were laughing and talking as they came and Dalton wavedtriumphantly a letter as he saw Leslie. "Letter from Jim Lyon, Leslie.We have the abstract of title safely reposing in our deposit box, whereJim says it had better stay. We are to refer Mr. Ives to him. This landnever _did_ belong to Mr. Ives. He sent me a little list of names of theowners. So Mr. Ives is--mistaken! In other words, it's all a bluff, forsome unknown reason, to get rid of us, or grab the land, or something."
"Then we can go right on and have our shack! How grand! Sarita, if yourhead wasn't shaky, we'd have a war-dance right here where they used tohave 'em!"
"What's the matter with Sarita?" Dalton inquired. "She does look alittle peaked."
"Oh, I'm all right now, Dal. Beth was sure that I was going to be sick,but it was only a sick headache, I think. Beth's been doctoring me allday. My throat is a little raw and that's all. Let's hurry up to tellBeth the good news."
"You have forgotten that she does not know the bad news."
"Sure enough. Why not tell her now?"
"No,--I--think not," hesitatingly said Dalton. "I've another letter forher from Jim,--I told him that she did not know what Mr. Ives said andthat we are trying to keep her from worry. I transacted some businessabout the building, and that will be enough news for Beth about my trip.If Beth and Peggy don't know, it will make relations less strained, Ithink."
"I told Peggy to-day, Dal. I almost had to. Do you mind?"
"You have as much right as I have, Leslie, to manage affairs with Peggy.Tell me about it."
"I will. I'll tell nearly everything at supper, then we'll have aprivate confab later. What do you think? I was at the very stronghold ofthe enemy,--Steeple Rocks!"
Leslie enjoyed the surprise of Dalton and Sarita, but she continued tospeak of Beth. "We'd better let her have a little longer time to rest.This doesn't spoil _our_ fun at all, but she might worry and not sleep."
Dalton wore a wide grin. "Your freedom from care shows your confidencein your natural protector," said he, tapping his chest.
Leslie laughed with Sarita, but told her brother that he was more nearlyright than he thought. "Under these circumstances I'd certainly hate tobe here without you!"
"Thanks for the tribute, Les; I'm almost overcome, but I think that Ican manage to get into camp without assistance."
But Dalton pretended to stagger a little, while both laughing girls ranto his support just as they emerged from the deeper wood into theclearing. Elizabeth, watching the soup, looked up, startled to seeDalton apparently in need of help, but it was evident in a moment thatit was only what she termed "some silly joke" as she summoned them tosupper.
"Now Beth, don't look at me in that tone of voice," jovially urgedDalton. "See this letter that I have for you? Don't halt supper, though,while you read it. I'm half starved."
"I think that I can manage to wait until after supper," dryly returnedElizabeth, but she flushed when she saw the letter.
"Nice old Beth," crooned Leslie. "I'm doing all the clearing up aftersupper, and you shall have a free day to-morrow, too, shan't she,Sarita?"
"I _think_ so! Poor Beth would just get into some inspiring mood for herlatest masterpiece, when she would happen to think that I ought to havesome medicine, or a drink, or something."
"Nonsense! I had a lovely, quiet day."
But Beth was tired and after reading her letter she went to bed, whileLeslie cleared away the evidences of the meal and washed the dishes withSarita's help. Dalton then built a fire out on the rocks whichoverlooked bay and sea and there they toasted marshmallows and talked,Sarita wrapped like a mummy, as she declared, to keep her from toostrong a breeze. They put her in a sheltered spot, but they sat for along time about the cheerful blaze, talking over the events of the dayand other things.
Dalton gave the details of his trip to town more fully than he had donebefore Beth at supper. By the firelight the girls read again the letterfrom Mr. Lyon to Dalton. "Here's what he says, Sarita," said Leslie,leaning where the light would fall upon the page.
"'I'm glad that you suggested our coming to Maine, Dalton. It may bepossible, though we do not want to drive with a big camping outfit. Cansuch things be purchased near you? I believe that you ordered yours senton. I may as well take my vacation there.'" Here Leslie pursed up hermouth and gave Sarita a comical glance.
"'You may imagine how the children shouted when I read them yourmessage. Marsh can not come, but Mary looked as if the mere suggestionof Maine breezes were refreshing. We are having very hot weather. I willwait to hear again from you before making definite plans.'"
"He will also wait to hear what Beth thinks, I imagine," said Sarita.
"We can let them use the bungalow tent if we get some building done bythe time they want to come," Dalton suggested. "Now that we've had thebrilliant idea of an Eyrie first, here on the rocks, that ought to befinished _pronto_, and its one big room will do for you girls if ourcompany comes before the shack in the woods gets finished. That willtake longer. But I've ordered lumber for the Eyrie and it's going toback right up against the rocks. We are going to have a frame inside,then use the rocks around here for the outside, a real stone house, yousee, girls, and I shall have it built with a little window looking overthe rocks and out to sea, our real 'lookout.' You girls can help gatherthe smaller stones if you want to, and Beth may have, some artisticideas.
"A man is coming to help me. I've ordered a wheelbarrow and a lot ofthings. Just wait till the truck comes to-morrow!"
"Shall you begin to cut down the trees that you have marked, Dal, nowthat you know our title is all right?"
"I am not sure. Cutting down trees will mean that someone from SteepleRocks will be right over. I think that it might be better to get theEyrie right up, with a lock on the door."
"Aha! Our castle, Sarita!" cried Leslie. "You are right, Dal. Now let metell you all about Peggy. She wants to be with us as much as possible,Sarita. It was too pathetic. Imagine not being happy with all theadvantages that she has! But she told me that Mr. Ives is not her realfather."
Leslie paused to let this statement take effect. "Good!" Saritaexclaimed, and Dalton, too, nodded his approval.
"Then, her governess, too, is Some queer foreigner and an old CountSomebody, that is in some business or other with Mr. Ives, is there andher mother has worried ever since he appeared on the scene somewhere inFlorida,--"
"I admire your definite way of telling the facts," Dalton remarked.
"I want you to get only the main fact, Dal, the 'atmosphere' of SteepleRocks. From what Peggy says it is clear t
hat she is uneasy and thatthere is some mystery there. If we take Peggy into our society, Sarita,we are very likely to find out what it is, and anyhow the kiddie needsus, I think. She may be as old as we are in some ways, and again she isjust a little girl. But she is true blue, I believe, nothing deceitfulabout her."
"You can take her around on our launch, Les," Dalton suggested. "I'll betoo busy for a while to take out the boats, and you can run the launchas well as I can now."
"I'll do it. We'll cruise around and fish sometimes. By the way, JackMorgan may come over to 'help you with the building,' he said, when hedeposited me on our rocks; and Peggy announced that both of them wouldbe over to-morrow."
Dalton's grin was again in evidence. "We'll see who wins out, the folksthat want to get rid of us, or those that want us to stay," and toemphasize his remark, he threw another stick on the fire.
By the flickering light they strolled around to look at the place wherethe Eyrie was to be built. As in the case of the Steeple Rocks home, itcould be built against the protecting rocks, in a natural "corner,"where the rocks of the headland might form almost two walls. But Daltonexplained that it would be better to have a good frame inside, and bothgirls said that as Dal always knew what he was about they would leave itto him to show them by doing it.
It was quite late when Dalton left them, but Sarita and Leslie lingered."Be in pretty soon, Dal," said Leslie. They turned into a favoritecorner of the rocks, where they, could perch upon one and see over aledge. "Why, look, Sarita," continued Leslie. "There is a big ship. Seeall the lights!"
"It is either moving very, very slowly out there," said Sarita, "orstanding still. Look! There's a signal of some sort."
Climbing around the rocks, careful of slipping in the dark, Leslie andSarita found a post from which they could see the entire bay and itssurrounding waters. Neither had said so, but each was wondering whetherthere might not be some answering lights from the village or fromSteeple Rocks.
It was from the village, however, that a motor boat put out. They couldhear the chugging sound of its engine and watched its light. It waseerie there, with the sound of the breakers, the faint noise of thelittle engine as it went farther away, the great dark headlands andwoods, the misty air from the ocean. Sarita drew dose to Leslie and tookher hand. "It is all so big that it scares me," she whispered.
"I love it," Leslie whispered back, "but I imagine that it's just aswell for nobody to see us here."
"Let's go back," hastily said Sarita.
"If you want to, but who could see us in this dark?" Leslie looked up atthe sky glittering with stars. "If it were moonlight it would bedifferent. But perhaps we'd better not talk. Somebody might be snoopingaround to see if any of us were up."
Sarita, not quite herself yet, sat down on the rocks at hand, but Lesliestood with deepest interest, watching the moving light. "Now they arethere," she whispered to Sarita; "Come on, child, I'm going to see youto bed and then come back with my flashlight to see where that motorboatcomes back to,--don't you admire my English?"
"I'll wait with you, Leslie."
"No, not after the day you have had. I ought to have been morethoughtful. Come on, honey-child, if only to save me from Beth'sreproofs."
Leslie never knew how wise a move she had made, for when she and Saritahad been in the tent for a little while, moving carefully, with only anoccasional flash of the flashlight, in order not to disturb Beth, awatcher among the rocks moved slowly away toward the village. Their fireon the rocks had been noted.
It was just as well, too, that Leslie waited for some little time afterSarita was in her cot before leaving the tent again. She knew that itwould be some time, very likely, before the launch would return,especially if, as she thought, they were engaged in rum-running. Inconsequence, she, too, undressed, slipping on her warm bathrobe and herrubber-soled tennis shoes for her little venture. She grew sleepy as shesat for a little while on the edge of her cot, wrapped in a blanket.Then, when she found herself nodding, she roused with a start! Oh, shemust have gone to sleep and it would be too late!
But she looked at her watch and found that only twenty minutes hadpassed since she and Sarita had come in.
It _was_ a little spooky, Leslie thought, to go out to the rocks alone.She had half a notion to call Dalton, but when she tiptoed to his tentshe heard his even breathing and had not the heart to waken him. Comingfrom the darkness of the tent, it did not seem so black under thestarlight. She kept to the path and occasional flashes from her lightshowed her the ground before her. Their fire was out.
When she reached the spot where she and Sarita had stood, she wassurprised to see the launch half way toward the bay. It had not takenthem long to load, she thought. And a second surprise, though not somuch of one, either, was to see the launch speeding in the direction ofSteeple Rocks, not by way of the bay and the channel, but from theocean, doubtless to the Ives' bay.
Something, then, was to be taken from the ship to Mr. Ives. Perhaps itwasn't liquor. Perhaps Mr. Ives was a jewel smuggler. Perhaps he wasn't!Leslie laughed to herself at another idea. Mr. Ives was away. It mightbe that he himself was on board the vessel and was delivered hereinstead of being taken further down to the port. That was probably it.Still--