CHAPTER TWELVE
THE LOOKOUT
Kitty had never felt so conscience-stricken in her life as when shefound Billy was lost.
“Maybe he went back and joined your father and Miss Dawson,” Bradsuggested.
“I don’t think so. We’d come too far. He trailed us all the way,pretending to be shooting at us from behind trees. Oh, Brad, do yousuppose he fell from that bluff into the water?”
“But he can swim like a fish.”
“You go along the bluff and I’ll go through the thicket,” she directed.
She ran from him, darting here and there, calling frantically. Ifanything had happened to Billy she would never forgive herself forbeing so preoccupied with this strange jig-saw puzzle she and Brad weretrying to work out.
Suddenly she stopped short under the towering pines, tears streamingdown her eyes. “Oh, Billy darling, where are you?” she wailed. “Kittywill die if anything has happened to you.”
Suddenly she caught the queer little noise he made in his throat whenpretending to fire a machine gun at her. She glanced around, startled.He was nowhere in sight. That must have been something she heard,because she so wanted to hear it.
“Billy,—where are you?” she called almost desperately.
Again there came the playful sound, and this time Kitty thought it wasoverhead. She must be having hallucinations surely. Hopefully she movedin the direction from which she thought the sound had come. Suddenly acone fell almost at her feet. Then there was a burst of childishlaughter from the nearest treetop. She looked up to see a mischievousface peering down at her from the high branches. Her overwhelmingrelief was only momentary, for it was followed by terror lest Billybreak his neck.
“Why, Billy Carter, how in the world did you climb that tall pine?”
“It was easy. Come up, Kit. You can see clear across the world.”
“I’m not coming up, and you’re coming down this very instant,” she saidfirmly.
“It’s fun up here! Let me stay,” pleaded Billy.
Kitty saw Brad running toward them, attracted by their voices.
“Oh, look at him! In the top of that pine,” she told Brad. “How will heever get down?”
“I can get down,” stated Billy, unexpectedly willing to show them thewonderful feat.
With the agility of a little monkey he swung through the wide-spreadingbranches that crowned the towering column of rusty brown. Kitty’s handswere clenched agonizingly as he reached the smooth trunk, which had nosupporting branches.
“Oh, dear God, bring him down safely,” she prayed. Seeing Brad take astep toward the tree, she whispered, “Don’t speak to him or make himnervous.”
Then they saw an amazing thing. Billy’s feet were seeking small nichescut in the trunk, and his hands holding to something that hugged thebark.
“I do believe there is wire wrapped all the way up that trunk,”whispered Brad, noting that she had seen it too.
“Put there so somebody could climb up and down that tree easily,” addedKitty. But at the moment she did not stop to realize how significant itmight be. She was too grateful to know it was there to make Billy’sdescent less dangerous.
Thirty feet above the ground the sturdy limbs of a young oak spreadaround the pine trunk. Billy stepped lightly to those limbs and a fewminutes later had scrambled safely to the ground.
Kitty caught him to her, moaning, “Oh, Billy darling, you might havebroken your neck! Never do such a thing again.”
“Huh!” he grunted, resenting being made a baby. “It was fun—likeclimbing our old magnolia back in N’ Orleans. Aunt Nina let me play upthere any time.”
“I’m afraid Aunt Nina spoiled you terribly.”
Billy stepped back and surveyed the tree with a proud air. “I neverwent so high before. You can see the ocean off yonder.” He swung hisarm seaward with a grandiose air. “The hospital, too. There was even aseat to sit on.”
“A seat!” exclaimed Brad. “You mean boards nailed across the limbs tomake a seat?”
Billy nodded. “I sat on it. The wind swings the top. It was fun. I wasa bird up there!”
“Kitty, I’m going up!” Brad said, with sudden decision. “Somebody has alookout here.”
“Oh!” The very idea seemed to take Kitty’s breath away.
A moment later Brad was scaling the tree by the route Billy had taken.
“He can climb ’most as good as me,” boasted Billy. “I’m going up, too.”
“Indeed, you’re not! You’re never going to climb such a high treeagain.”
While Billy picked up his imaginary gun once more and played atshooting them, Kitty’s mind was in turmoil. Finding this tree lookoutwas certainly a sequel to what Uncle Mose had told them. It seemedquite obvious that the man who had leased Terrapin Island wanted to besure that this end of the estate was kept entirely private, even to theextent of moving an ignorant old negro from his life-long home.
“Can you see very far?” she asked, when Brad reached the top.
“Plenty. The highest lookout that could be found in the entire marshes.”
Kitty felt sure he must be right, for the ancient pine looked to be thefather of all the pines in the entire thicket.
When Brad again stood beside her on the cushiony brown carpet ofneedles he said, “Kitty, that wire has been strung up there recently.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s still loose, and not embedded in the trunk anywhere.”
“You must be right. Even wisteria vines growing around pine trunks soonpress tightly into them.”
“Kitty, I’m sure glad we headed for this spot.”
“You’re telling me! The minute Dad told me Beeson came over to thehospital to haul stuff off for his swine I thought he might be mixed upin the dirty business.”
“Evidence is piling up bit by bit.”
“Looks as though we ought to be able to bring ’em to justice sometimesoon.”
“But when you come to think of it, Kit, we haven’t got a single thingthat would really convict anybody of anything.”
She looked puzzled and distressed. “That’s true,” she had to admit.“Just because some Bayshore Bakery bread was found on that sub, andbecause we saw a nailed-up box on a trash barge doesn’t prove anythingabout ‘who dunnit.’”
“And just because there’s an easy way to climb this pine that has aseat at the top doesn’t prove that anybody on this island is a spy.”
“Of course boys have been building seats in trees for hundreds ofyears. Maybe it was old Uncle Mose’s young ‘Massa’ when he was lasthere.”
“Not very likely. That seat was put up there so recently that the nailsaren’t even rusty—and you know that doesn’t take long in this saltyair. And what’s more, there’s a boarded up shield on the side towardthe Marine Base. It’s so cleverly camouflaged you’d hardly know it fromthe ground—see.”
Only after Brad pointed it out did Kitty see the brown painted wood inthe thick upper branches.
“If they are using light signals for subs out at sea the Coast Guardwould surely see them from the beach,” said Kitty.
“They probably don’t use lights, but some other signal code.”
They walked slowly toward their landing place and Kitty let Billy runahead to join her father and Hazel.
“He can hardly wait to tell them about climbing the pine,” Brad said.
“We can’t keep him from telling that,” said Kitty, “but let’s notmention how significant that pine seems. I—I’m afraid Dad may forbidmy nosing about. I think he already has an idea I’m up to something.”
“Maybe it would be better if he did forbid your nosing about, Kitty,”said Brad unexpectedly. “No sense in your taking chances of coming outhere to the marshes alone as you did yesterday.”
“Oh, I won’t do that again,” she promised. “Now that I know there’sreal danger. But to be perfectly frank with you, Brad, I have an
awfulfeeling that somehow Dad’s good name may be at stake in the dirtybusiness that’s going on.”
“You’re not alone in wondering about that.”
“You know Hazel Dawson let it slip out the other day that Dad asked forthis appointment, and she practically admitted that she asked to besent here, too. I know now that Dad and Hazel are old friends, and arepulling together with one purpose.”
“To clear Chief Pharmacist’s Mate Dawson.”
“Exactly,” said Kitty. “And if the same complications still exist myown dear dad may get in bad.”
They were too near the others now for further discussion. As theyjoined the older couple Mr. Carter said, “You must have taken a longwalk.”
“We really did,” Kitty told him.
“Billy has been telling us about his tree climbing.”
“He almost scared the life out of me,” Kitty reported. “Dad, you’llreally have to scold him again about this tree climbing.” However, shewanted to change the subject as quickly as possible and said, “Let’seat! I’m starved.”
She had brought a luncheon cloth which they spread on the clean pineneedles. Brad poured the iced tea from their thermos jug while she setout the sandwiches, cold ham, rolls, pickles and cookies. Food hadnever tasted quite so good to Kitty. As they ate, the pines made softmusic in the gentle breeze, while the lowering sun painted long shadowson the woodland carpet. It seemed hard to believe that any evil deedcould be done in so beautiful a spot, and that beyond these peacefultide-washed shores a world was in chaos because of such intrigueeverywhere.
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