CHAPTER XXVII
THE RED OAR AGAIN
"Cora Kimball, what are you going to do?" gasped Lottie, trying tohold back her chum.
"I'm going to go to Denny's aid. Why shouldn't I? It's four to one,but even if we are girls we can perhaps turn the tide in his favor."
"Oh, Cora, I don't dare!" admitted Belle.
"Nor I," added her plump sister. "I'll faint if you go in where thosehorrid men are."
"Faint if you like," returned Cora, calmly. "Somebody else will haveto look after you, then, for I'm going."
"But why?" asked Lottie. "We ought not to interfere when men are goingto fight, and I think that's what's going to happen in there."
"That is what's going to happen," said Cora, "but perhaps we canprevent it. For some unknown reason, though the boys promised to comehere and defend Denny, they haven't done so. Therefore, it's our placeto do it."
"Yes, and I'm going with you!" announced Marita, determinedly.
All this talk had taken but a few seconds of time, and, as it had beenin whispers, the men in the cabin had not heard it. The situation,however, was rapidly becoming acute.
With one accord, after Bruce had stepped toward old Denny, the othersadvanced. They were evidently going to lay violent hands on him. Butthe sturdy fisherman was not afraid.
"Stand back!" he cried. "Stand back or I'll do you harm--you cowards!"
"No use calling names!" sneered Kelly. "We're here to do you. We madeyou a fair offer, and you wouldn't take it. Now you'll have to abideby the consequences."
"Get behind him," said Bruce. "I can take him from where I stand."
"Get back! Get out of here!" ordered the old man.
He raised the red oar over his head, threateningly.
"Grab him!" cried Moran. "Grab that oar!"
"You'll get it over the head before you grab it!" threatened Denny."Mind that, now!"
The fisherman swung his weapon, but he either had not calculated onthe length of it, or he forgot that he was nearer to the wall than hehad been at first. The blade of the oar caught in a hanging picture,and was entangled in the wire.
Denny, putting all his strength into the blow he had hoped woulddisable one of his assailants, was thrown off his balance. He toppledand nearly fell.
"Now we've got him!" yelled Kelly.
The cowardly men, attacking the single fisherman with overwhelmingnumbers, made a leap forward.
"Stop! Let him alone. We'll call the police!" screamed Cora, and theother girls added their shrill voices to hers. They rushed into thecabin.
"The girls I raced with!" muttered Bruce. "We've no time to fool withthem. Don't mind them. Get at Shane!"
"Get at me, is it?" cried the fisherman. He had by this timedisentangled the oar from the picture wire. Again he raised it overhis head, intending to bring it down on Kelly.
As the red weapon descended Kelly shot up his hand and caught it. Hetwisted on the oar to wrest it from Denny's grasp, and the twosuddenly went to the floor, jarring the whole cabin.
And at that instant there was a sound of splintering, breaking wood.Some red slivers flew out from between the two prostrate men who werestruggling for possession of the weapon.
"The red oar! It's broken!" cried Denny. "Me old red oar, that savedme life in the hands of Grandfather Lewis! The red oar is broken, badluck to you! Cowards that you are!"
The girls were screaming, but even Cora, brave as she was, dared go nonearer to the two desperately struggling men. Bruce and Moran wereseeking an opening that they might get hold of Denny. The fourth manhad gone back to the boat, seemingly. He had leaped out of the windowas the girls entered.
The cabin was a place of wild excitement.
"Get that oar away from him!" cried Bruce. "Here's some rope. Tie himup, and then we'll get what we want out of him!"
"Don't you dare hurt him!" screamed Cora.
"Ah, would you?" gasped Denny, as he rolled out from under Kelly, whohad sought to pass a rope about the old man's wrists. "I'm not downand out yet!" he panted. "The red oar is broken, but I've got the bestend yet."
He staggered to his feet, holding the handle of the red oar. One endwas splintered where it had been broken from the blade.
"Come on! I'm not afraid!" yelled Denny. "Come on. You girls hadbetter leave----there's going to be trouble!"
"We won't go! Help is on the way. The boys are coming!" cried Cora,though she did not know when Jack and the others would arrive.
"Oh, if they were only here now! When we need them so!" gasped Lottie.
Again Denny swung what was left of the red oar around his head. Heaimed a blow at the face of Bruce, but it fell short and struck theman on the shoulder.
Then a strange thing happened. The handle of the oar split lengthwise,and from a hollow place inside there flew out a roll of papers, yellowwith age. And on one of them was a red seal--a legal-looking seal.
Bruce staggered at the blow, and a strange look came over his face. Itmight have been that he was dazed, but his eyes lighted on the roll ofpapers that had fallen to the floor. There they lay--a curious rollthat had come from the secret crevice in the red oar.
The struggle had come to a sudden end. The girls ceased screaming andstood looking on dumbly, unable to understand what had happened.
As for the men they, too, seemed startled by the strange turn of events.Kelly rose to his feet, and was creeping up on Denny from behind. Hisarms were outstretched, and his fingers worked convulsively, as thoughthey would like to close about the fisherman's throat, and force him totestify as the plotters desired.
Cora wanted to scream a warning, but some strange force seemed to holdher dumb.
"The red oar--it's broken--broken! Me old red oar, that saved melife!" murmured Denny Shane. "But I never knew 'twas hollow. Never! Iwonder did Grandfather Lewis----"
He did not complete the sentence, for at that instant Bruce leapedforward and caught up the roll of yellow papers from the floor.
"Give me those!" cried Denny leaping at him with the jagged piece ofthe red oar in his gnarled hands--the hands that had, so many yearsago, grasped the same oar in what was little short of a death-grip."Give me those papers!" fairly roared Denny. "I don't know what theyare, but they're not yours. Give 'em to me!"
"Give you these! I guess not!" sneered Bruce. "They are just what wewant--the land papers. They're the only ones by which the widow couldprove her shadowy claim to the property, and with them out of the wayit's all clear sailing for us.
"This is the luckiest thing that could have happened for us! Thebreaking of the red oar came at the right time. Kelly, give me a matchand we'll make a little bonfire of these same papers."
"Don't you dare!" cried Denny, and, making a leap forward he snatchedfrom Kelly's hands the precious documents that had so strangely comefrom the secret hiding place in the red oar.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE DISCOVERY--CONCLUSION
Wild with rage the three men with one accord made a leap for DennyShane. But the old fisherman was not to be easily taken. Holding theprecious papers close to him, he made a jump for a corner of the room,where hung an old musket.
"Oh, he's going to shoot!" screamed Bess.
"And small blame to him if he did," declared Cora. "Oh, those men mustnot destroy those papers, if I have to take them in charge myself!"
Denny Shane had reached the corner where hung his musket. It was notloaded. Cora knew this, for the old fisherman had said he was alwaysafraid of some accident happening, and he never kept a charge in thegun. It was for the effect of it, he said, that he had it hanging onhis wall. Now it would be useful as a club, at least--more useful thanthe easily shattered red oar had been.
But before Denny could reach the gun Kelly was upon him. With a fiercemotion the desperate plotter grasped the fisherman around the neck.Holding him thus with one arm, he snatched the papers from him withhis other hand.
"Here you go!" Kelly cried to Bruce. "Take the papers while I holdhim. Burn 'em
if you want to, but be sure you do the job well! Thenwe'd better get out of here. I think I hear a boat coming. This placewill soon be too hot for us!"
Bruce took the papers from his crony. Hastily scanning them, to makesure he had the right ones, he struck a match that Moran handed him.
Kelly and Denny were struggling in the corner of the room. But poorold Denny had not much strength left. The events of the night had beentoo much for him, and he was giving way under the cruel pressure ofKelly's arms.
"These are the very papers we want--or don't want, rather!" exultedBruce. "With them out of the way the property is ours."
The match flickered in his fingers.
"Don't you dare burn them!" cried Cora.
One corner of the papers had caught fire.
Then from without the cabin sounded a chorus of cries.
"Come on, fellows!"
"We're just in time!"
"The girls are here ahead of us!"
"What a night!"
They were the voices of Jack and his chums.
"Oh, the boys have come! The boys have come!" cried Lottie.
"Jack! Jack! In here! Quick!" screamed Cora. "He's burning the papers!Get them from him!"
Into the cabin, already crowded, the boys flung themselves.
"Just in time!" cried Cora, motioning to Jack. "Get those papers fromhim before they burn!"
Over in the corner poor Denny had fallen unconscious under the attackof Kelly.
"Cut it and run!" advised Moran, making for the door.
"No, you don't!" shouted Walter, blocking it. "Guard the windows,Dray--Ed!" he called.
"The papers! The papers!" voiced Cora. "Get them before they burn, orMrs. Lewis will lose the land!"
"I'll get them!" shouted Jack.
He flung himself upon Bruce as he had often flung himself upon aplayer in tackling him on the football field.
"Look out for yourself!" threatened Bruce.
But Jack was not afraid. He twisted himself about Bruce, and sought toreach the papers.
Bruce, to get them out of Jack's reach, held them high in the air,over his head. The two were struggling. Moran and Kelly were wrestlingwith Ed and Walter, while the other girls cowered behind Dray, who hadcaught up a chair as a weapon.
Cora saw her chance. She slipped around behind Bruce, and with a leapthat had often enabled her to outwit an opponent in playing basketball, the plucky motor girl snatched the papers from the man's hand.Full and clean was her jump, and the smouldering papers came away inher grasp.
"I have them, Jack!" she cried. "Look out for the men!"
And with that, to make sure that she would not lose the preciousdocuments, Cora held them tightly under her arm and ran out of thecabin door, after putting out the little blaze.
"All over!" cried Jack, putting out his foot, and tripping up Bruce,who aimed a savage blow at him. "All over!"
Bruce went down heavily. At the same time, from without the cabinthere flashed several lights, and the voices of men were heard asking:
"What's going on here?"
"Who's been screaming?"
The plotters gathered together. Bruce leaped from the floor.
"Come on!" he cried desperately. "It's all up. Get away!"
He leaped out of the window, followed by the other two.
"Get them!" yelled Ed.
"No, let them go--it's the easiest way," advised Jack. "Cora has thepapers."
"But maybe they've hurt Denny!" said Walter.
"I'm all right," asserted the fisherman, as he slowly arose. "He justcut off my wind for a minute. I'm all right. But where are thepapers?" and he looked about the floor, on which were scattered piecesof the broken red oar.
"They're safe," answered Jack. "Cora, my sister, has them. Guess we'dbetter look for her though."
There was no need, as Cora, holding the papers in her hand, re-enteredthe cabin at that moment. Only one edge of the legal documents wasburned, and no real harm had been done.
While the motor girls, and the boys and the neighboring men, who hadcome to the rescue all but too late, were looking at one another therewas heard, at the dock, the puffing of a motor boat.
"There they go!" exclaimed Walter.
"Well, that's the best way," said Jack. "We're glad to get rid ofthem."
"How did you girls get here?" asked Ed.
"How was it you boys _didn't_ get here?" demanded Cora, still pantingfrom her exertions.
Explanations were then in order. I will be as brief with them as Ican. How the girls came to go to the cabin is already known. And howthe boys, foolishly perhaps, went out on the bay while waiting forDenny to come back, and how they became stalled, is likewise known tomy readers.
In the meanwhile Denny came to his cabin.
Then came the unexpected help in the shape of a tow from the plottersthemselves.
"They left us at Buler's," said Jack, "and then we had our owntroubles. We tried to get a boat to come on, for the _Dixie_ stillrefused to move. But we couldn't get one for love or money, and it wastoo rough to row."
"What did you do?" asked Cora, looking at Denny, who was examining thebroken red oar.
"We hired a horse and carriage, and came around the land way," repliedWalter. "It took us a long time, too, for we missed the road."
"But we finally got here," spoke Ed.
"And just in time," added Cora. "We were wild about you--couldn'timagine what happened."
"Didn't you get the note we left pinned to the door?" asked Dray ofDenny.
"Nary a note," he said.
Later it was found where it had blown into a clump of bushes. So thataccounted for Denny's not being warned in time.
"But everything seems to be coming out right," said Cora, with arather wintry smile. All the girls were pale, and a trifle weak. Theboys, too, were tired.
"And what are those papers?" asked Jack, taking them from Cora.
"Those prove Mrs. Lewis's title to the land the plotters tried toget," she said. "Oh, I'm so glad we found them."
"Who found them?" asked Walter, giving Cora's hand a surreptitioussqueeze.
"They were in the red oar," said Denny. "And to think I never knew it!They were there all these years, and all of us worrying about them andwondering where they were. But I understand now. Grandfather Lewismust have hollowed out a hole in the handle, hid the papers in it, andthen plugged it up. Then he gave the oar to me to keep. I rememberwell at the time he said it would prove valuable some day. I oftenwondered what made the oar lighter than it had been. It was because itwas hollowed out.
"I asked him what he meant by sayin' the oar was valuable, but he keptputtin' me off. He said he'd tell me some time, but he never did. Thenthe day he died he sent for me, and was trying to tell me, I guess,but he couldn't. I remember I wondered what was on his mind, but hewas too weak to explain. So he died with his secret, and the red oarhad it and kept it all these years.
"But the oar broke, or those men and myself broke it between us, andthe papers fell out. Now the widder will get her rights."
And the Widow Lewis did. Leaving the valuable documents with Denny,the motor girls and the boys went back to their stopping places--thegirls to the bungalow, the boys to the tent.
And such a time as Cora and her chums had in telling the good news toMrs. Lewis and Freda! The latter could hardly believe it at first.
"Oh, how can we ever thank you!" cried Freda, as, with tears in hereyes, she embraced Cora.
"Don't try," was the whispered answer.
And so everything came out right after all. The papers so oddly hiddenin the red oar proved the widow's title to the valuable land beyondthe shadow of a doubt. As for the plotters, they were not seen againin that part of the country. They realized that the sharp trick theyhad tried to play had failed, thanks to the activities of Cora and herfriends.
Mrs. Lewis easily established her claim to the land, moved back to hercottage, and the project of spoiling the public park was abandoned.The factory comp
any was beaten in court and the members of thecorporation were forced to pay heavy costs.
Old Denny came in for his share of credit, and he was very happy. Hisone lament was that the red oar was broken, but he managed to patch ittogether, after a fashion. And the motor girls got him another dog.
The opening by which the papers had been put in the hollow handle hadbeen cleverly concealed, and, only for the accidental breaking of theoar, might never have been discovered.
It had probably been the intention of Grandfather Lewis to disclosethe secret hiding place of the land papers, but he had died before hecould do this.
"But 'all's well that ends well,'" quoted Cora the next day, at a latebreakfast. "We have done a little good here by our vacation at CrystalBay."
"A _little_ good!" exclaimed Freda. "I never can thank you enough,Cora."
"And we'll soon have to go back home--that's the worst of it!" sighedLottie. "It is so lovely here!"
"Oh, well, we can come back next year," spoke Bess.
"And then, too, Winter's coming on--something is sure to happen then,"added Belle. "Something always does."
And what did happen that Winter will be told of in the volume tofollow this, which will be called "The Motor Girls on Waters Blue; Or,The Strange Cruise of the _Tartar_."
It was the next day. The girls disposed themselves about the bungalowin picturesque attitudes, and the boys sat on the broad porch, tellingover again the adventures of the night.
"There's only one point we're shy on," said Jack, when everything hadbeen told and retold.
"And that's what?" asked Ed.
"We haven't found out yet who the strange woman was who tried to getinformation out of Freda, and who sent her the 'phone message."
"Oh, we're just as well off without knowing that," said Cora. "I'msure she was in with the plotters. You know that man Bruce called her'Confidence Kate,' as if he knew her well."
"You must have been terribly frightened, when you found out there wasno way of getting home from the Junction," said Marita. "I think Ishould have gone out of my mind."
"Don't believe her, Freda," laughed Cora, putting her arm around thetimid girl. "Marita is braver than she thinks. She offered to go intothe cabin with me when those horrid men were there, and none of theothers would."
"Come on over to Buler's and see 'em dance," proposed Jack. "The_Dixie_ is running again."
"We'll go in the _Chelton_," spoke Cora firmly, and in that boat theywent. And now for a time, we will take leave of the motor girls.
THE END
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