CHAPTER XIV
AN ANGRY DRUGGIST
"We didn't want to make a fuss over it before the boys," Coraexplained to a number of the girls, who, next morning, were seatedabout the bungalow side porch, trying to get in a few stitches ofembroidery. "They would be sure to go straight at those land fellows,and we think--Denny and all of us--that the best way to do is to watchthem carefully for a while."
"But what happened?" demanded Lottie, impatiently.
"We don't know exactly what, but it appears that while Denny was out,fishing us in, someone entered his shack and ransacked it."
"Burglars! What for? In that hut!" exclaimed Belle.
"We don't know that, either," continued Cora. "We can only surmise.They must have been after something that was neither money nor tablesilver." She laughed a little at the idea of anyone trying to rob thehumble cabin of a fisherman. "The little terrier is never tied up andnever troubles anybody, but it seems he did object to the intrusion,for he has a cut on one leg, made, possibly, by a heavy shoe, and whenDenny found him he was tied tight to a hook in the woodshed. Dennywill never forgive whoever tied Brian."
"But did the thieves take anything?" Bess wanted to know.
"Not a thing. Of course there was nothing an ordinary thief would haveany use for; but it looks as if they were searching for something inparticular, for everything was turned inside out. Every strip ofcarpet was pulled up and loose boards in the floor pried away. Itreally is too bad for Denny. He will have a lot of trouble gettingthings in order again, and you know he is neat, for a lone fisherman."
"Isn't that outrageous!" exclaimed Belle. "I think, Cora, we shouldhave told the boys and had them make a charge against whoever may beguilty. They will be ransacking here next."
"Oh, goodness! I hope not," cried Marita. "I think we should havepolice protection."
"And have officers ringing our door bell all hours of the nightbecause someone forgot to turn out the dining room light, or the sidewindow was found unlocked," said Cora. "They have very few officershere, I should imagine, and if we really gave them something to dothey might insist on doing it."
"Tell us more about it," begged Marita, who was naturally fascinatedwith the "scary" part.
"I only know that his shack was entered and all but torn down," saidCora. "As to who did it, or why it was done, we can only surmise. Butdon't talk too much about it. We want to keep it quiet."
"Why?" demanded Marita.
"Because by letting other people talk about it we may be able to tracethe perpetrators. We could easily find out who knew it had happened,in that way."
"Oh, I see," Marita answered vaguely, although her tone did notindicate comprehension. "Freda and Mrs. Lewis are going out; aren'tthey?" This question implied "why" also.
"Yes," Cora answered again. "They have some business to attend to. Itold them not to hurry back for lunch--we would attend to it. Wereally need the exercise."
"But I am going canoeing directly after lunch," Lottie objected.
"After lunch?" repeated Belle. "This will be before lunch--the gettingready."
"Oh, you know what I mean," Lottie grumbled. "It makes one's hands sohorrid to handle cooking things."
"Were you going to paddle?" asked Cora, innocently.
"I was going to try," admitted Lottie.
"Then your hands will be in better shape from some active work," Coraadded, mischievously. "It is awful to try to paddle with soft hands."
"Oh, I guess mine are not any too soft," Lottie retorted, a bitabashed that she should have fallen into the trap.
"Where are you going, Lottie?" asked Marita. "You know it is only safeto canoe near the shore. The water can be very rough sometimes."
"I don't think you ought to go in a canoe until you can swim," saidCora. "You know a canoe is the most uncertain of craft, except that itis absolutely certain to upset if you draw a breath in, when youshould send a breath out. Jack says a canoe is more than human, but Iwon't shock your ears by saying what he thinks it is."
"I am sure there is no danger when one sits still," Lottie insisted,"but if you don't want me to go, Cora----"
"Of course I want you to go, and have a nice time," Cora explained,"but I don't want you to upset. You should wear a bathing suit and beready to swim in case of a spill."
"Oh, I couldn't do that!" exclaimed Lottie, rather shocked. "I amgoing with Clem."
"Well, I hope Clem will put you in the very bottom of the boat, andnot trust to a seat. Even a big cushion is wobbly," finished Cora."Now, young ladies, are you ready for a tramp? We have to walk to theold village this morning to shop, unless you want to go to the dockand take Frank's ferry. He will take us across for ten cents each, andwe need things to eat."
"Oh, do let us walk," begged Bess. "I haven't seen half the thingsthat grow around here."
"Do _you_ grow around here?" asked Belle, maliciously, inferring thatthe desired walk was needed to "reduce." A withering look was theanswer she received from her twin sister. Just the same the walk wasdecided upon, and a little later the wintergreen path was alive withvoices. It was one of the delights of Summer to tramp and ramble; andin spite of the joys of motor boating the girls were not slow toappreciate the pleasures of dry land decked in various shades offoliage green and floral tints.
The mountain laurel was at its best--that little tasselled thing wecall "pfingster," but which looks quite aristocratic enough to belongto the orchid family, made bouquets of itself in every appropriatespot, while the glorious rhododendrons put forth a display sufficientlybeautiful and courageous to last all Summer.
"Oh, my, look at the style!" Lottie exclaimed as a party of youngfolks appeared before them. They were evidently coming from the CliffHotel, and made the most of that fact.
"There's Hilda Hastings!" Cora said, in surprise. "I didn't know shewas down here."
A remarkably pretty girl, light-haired and wearing lilac shades, witha parasol that reflected that becoming tint, was Hilda. She evidentlysaw, and recognized Cora just as the latter spied her.
"Cora Kimball!" cried Hilda, in the delighted way that usually marks ameeting with a home friend in the midst of vacation time. "Where didyou come from?"
"Oh, Hilda!" answered Cora, advancing to meet the girl who almost ranto greet her, "I am so glad to see you. We are stopping at our ownlittle bunk--the Motely Mote--on Pine Shade Way. And where do you putup?"
Introductions followed, and girls from the Mote were plainly delightedto meet the others from a fashionable hotel. The meeting also resultedin a general invitation from the Cliff girls to the Motes to attend ahop to be given the next evening at the hotel.
"And do bring every boy you can scrape up," Hilda enjoined. "We shallbe sure to need them."
"What dress?" asked Lottie the Vain.
"Linen or lace, doesn't matter in the least," declared a young girlwhom they called Madge. "We will wear whatever we fall into fordinner."
"All right," answered Lottie for all, fluttering at the prospect of areal hotel hop. "We will wear whatever we may find pressable--we havethe awfullest time with wrinkles down here."
"Don't mind them," answered Hilda. "Wrinkled clothes are a seasidefad, you know. If you have none you will be suspected of being thePress Club Trust. That's a clothing club--not literary."
With other pleasantries the two sets parted, but not until all sortsof invitations to come and visit had been extended and accepted.
"What nice girls," the timid Marita remarked as the fashionable onesturned into the lane. "Isn't Hilda pretty? Are they from Chelton?"
"She is and they are," answered Cora. "But I do not see how we aregoing to that hop. The boys were going to take us out in a sail boat,you know."
"Oh, I would be frightened to death in a sail boat," objected Lottie.
"And perfectly safe in a canoe," observed Belle. "Charlotte, that isscarcely understandable."
"Well," said Lottie, turning a deeper shade of pink, "I am afraid ofthat big pole in a sail boat. It look
s as if it would sweep one's headoff every time it veers around."
"Just duck," advised Belle. "It's a great teacher of the proper modeof ducking; and that is not to be despised, Lottie, whether one has toduck harsh words, or big poles. But I want to go sailing. I can't seewhat fun there is in going into a stuffy hotel on a beautifulmoonlight evening when we can go out on the water and see something."
"Don't you think we would see something in the Cliff ball room?"challenged Lottie.
"Peace!" called Cora, good-naturedly. "It looks as if we might have totake a vote on the question. But I can't say that the boys would bewilling to accept a negative answer."
"Oh, won't they come?" Lottie asked in surprise.
"I don't believe they will forego the sail," replied Cora. "However,we won't decide until we ask them. If they want to postpone the watersport we may take in the hop."
This was looked upon as a reasonable solution of the problem, andwhile some of the girls hoped for the sail, perhaps an equal numberwished to go to the dance.
It was a delightful morning, and the woods were fairly alive with youngfolk. It seemed there could be very few mothers or chaperones at CrystalBay, for even in marketing hours it was always the girls with baskets,or the boys with huge paper bags, who were encountered. On benches alongthe beach, to be sure, "elders" might be found sunning themselves andruining their fading sight with alleged art embroideries, but in thematter of housekeeping it was youth that prevailed at the bay.
It was a long walk to the general store at the point, but there was aresting place there, and if one wanted to tarry and felt like dancing,a very accommodating young man sat near the piano ready to play at theshortest notice. Belle and Lottie usually took a twirl while Bess andCora did the shopping, but to-day having walked instead of coming bymotor boat they sank into a seat at the water's edge and watchedothers try the newest steps.
Around the drug counter a number of men were engaged in earnestconversation with the salesman. Belle needed cold cream and waswaiting her turn to tell the clerk so.
"We just about have it," said one man to the man behind the counter."There is no question about the legal right; it is only a matter of alost document. We may get along without it, but we understood you werea life-long resident, knew the people, and thought perhaps you couldtell us something about it. Of course we don't want anyone's time fornothing."
The clerk scratched his head and looked over his glasses. The scalewas tipping with white stuff and a customer was waiting.
"That may be so," he replied, slowly, "but I should think, youngfellow, that them folks themselves would know more about their ownbusiness than anyone else. Why don't you go to them?"
"Do you think for a moment that anyone is going to do themselves outof house and home like that?" asked the taller man, angrily.
"Oh, that's the game; is it? Well, see here! Do you think for onemoment that I, Bill Sparks, am going to do a poor widow out of houseand home to suit you!"
He had raised his voice to angry tones, a remarkable thing for Bill todo in business hours, but those around who heard had no blame for him.The strangers left without taking up their cigars or paying for them.Bill looked after them quizzically.
"That's the way to answer that sort," he remarked to no one inparticular. "Too many of them speculators around the bay, lately. Coldcream?" he inquired of Bess.
Cora had seen the men, although she was in the grocery department, andwhen Bess told her what she had overheard she looked troubled.
"We must not put that off another day," she told Bess. "I am convincedthat those men are dishonest, for why should they go sneaking aroundthat way? Why not ask for information from the proper persons?"
Scarcely had she spoken than Mrs. Lewis and Freda appeared in thedoorway that led from the boat landing. Freda's face was flushed, andMrs. Lewis's was pale.
"What is it?" Cora asked, hurrying up to them.
"They have started a mill dam across the creek," replied Freda. "Ifthey turn that water into use for mill purposes the whole shore of thebay will be ruined!"
"Don't go so fast, daughter," urged Mrs. Lewis. "We can stop them; wemust get a lawyer at once."
"Of course," answered Cora, "I think they call it an injunction, orrestraining papers. Who is your lawyer, Mrs. Lewis?"
"We haven't any," Freda replied for her mother. "We were told if weengaged counsel they would eat up the whole thing. Oh, isn't itdreadful!" and the brave Freda was on the verge of tears.
"I'll see Jack at once," declared Cora, "and if there are nottrustworthy lawyers here we will fetch our own down from Chelton. Thesenior member of the firm would do anything reasonable for our family,and when mother is away she leaves Jack and me full discretion. Let ushurry back before the boys get out on the water. Bess, call Belle andLottie."
The look of relief that spread over the widow's face was a moreeloquent form of thanks than words could have been, so without furtherdelay they all hurried to the motor boat in which Mrs. Lewis and Fredahad come over. It was from a bay front hotel and had come over for theeleven o'clock mail.
The boy at the wheel started up as soon as all were seated, and as thelaunch was a good-sized one the trip across the bay was bothcomfortable and enjoyable. Of course Belle and Lottie wanted to knowmore than they could be told about the coming of Freda and Mrs. Lewis,so they had to content themselves with a word and a look from Cora.
The boys were at the landing as the boat came in. This was exactlywhat Cora had wished for.