Missing at Marshlands

  CHAPTER XIV Missing at Marshlands

  "Oh, Tania!" Sim exclaimed, taking the intelligent head in her hands."What happened?"

  But the dog only wagged a bedraggled tail and blinked her eyes withpleasure.

  "We must go over at once and see," Arden decided. "We'll have to walk,too. We couldn't row in this wind."

  Quickly they got into old coats and heavy shoes, pulled soft hats welldown, and started for the _Merry Jane_.

  Outside the little cottage the wind tore at them fiercely, and the blownsand mingled with rain stung their legs and faces. Carried through theair by the gale, flakes of foam from the ocean were borne far up thebeach like a strange summer snowstorm.

  Tania slunk along behind them as they bent to the wind, clearly hating tobe out in such nasty weather when she apparently had hoped to remain inthe warm dryness of "Buckingham Palace."

  "Isn't this wild?" Sim said holding her coat close to her. "I do hopenothing serious has happened."

  "We all do," Arden answered. "Terry, can you find your way through themarsh?"

  "I think we'd better follow the shore line of the bay. It will be safer,"Terry decided. "There isn't much shore left now the water has blown in sofar, we'll have to walk single file."

  Terry took the lead, followed by Arden and Sim, with Tania picking herway along daintily after them.

  They made good time, for the wind was at their backs and served to pushthem forward. Just ahead, its sides slapped by the lapping waves, theycould see the old houseboat looming up darkly in the rain.

  Silently they went around to the land side, where the wooden steps led tothe narrow promenade that ran completely around the boat.

  There on the rain-swept deck they hesitated. Not a sound, except thenoise of the storm, reached them. They were a little afraid, yet theyknew they must go in.

  Arden went forward, found the door unlocked, and pushed it open. Hercompanions followed her, and cautiously they entered the picturesque mainroom. It was just as they had last seen it. The mysterious paintingcovered on the easel, the jars of paint brushes on the table, and theodds and ends Dimitri had left lying about, were all, apparently,untouched. But the artist himself was not there.

  Terry pushed aside the faded curtains that kept the little kitchenseparate from the rest of the boat.

  "He's not here," she said simply.

  "From the looks of this place he hasn't been here for quite a while," Simamended. "See the grease on that pan."

  Arden, however, made a more important discovery. She pointed to a littlewall cupboard. The door hung crazily on its hinges, disclosing the emptyspace within.

  "Look," she exclaimed. "That door has been broken open. I'll bet that'swhere Dimitri kept the snuffbox!" The words came so suddenly, the girlsgasped involuntarily.

  "I believe you're right, Arden," Terry said quickly. "Then either Dimitrileft and took the box with him, or somebody broke in and stole it. But ifDimitri took the box he wouldn't have had to break the cupboard open. Hehad a key. Some thief has been here."

  "If that happened--where is Dimitri?" Sim asked excitedly.

  "That's what we've got to find out," Arden declared. "We'll have to lookvery carefully in case there are any clues about. Come on."

  Systematically they went over the old boat, but after a careful searchthey had learned no more. When they completed their tour, they assembledagain in the main room.

  There the covered canvas loomed up as large, in their disturbedimaginings, as a forbidding specter. Sim touched a corner of the cloth.

  "Don't, Sim," Arden stopped her.

  "Perhaps we ought to," Sim suggested. But Arden shook her head. Theyshould not raise the cloth.

  In their search they had found nothing significant except the place whereTania had been tied up; it was outside, near the stern of the boat. Therewas no dust, of course, to tell them how long the place had beenunoccupied, but an open window through which the rain had come, soakingcushions and the floor, gave evidence that at least no one had been theresince the storm had begun. Or, if they had, they had not troubled toclose the window.

  "These brushes are stiff with paint," Terry remarked, picking up along-handled one that lay near a color-filled palette. "And the paint onthe palette is hard too," she continued. "That's unusual; all the otherbrushes are soaking in turpentine, and when we were here before, Dimitrihad just cleaned his palette."

  "He must have left suddenly, then," Arden guessed. "He was very neat inhis painting. It looks pretty serious to me," she concluded.

  Terry shook out her damp coat. They were all quite wet, but the day,despite the storm, was warm, and they had given no thought to themselvessince they left home. Following Terry's example, the others now shooktheir coats.

  Tania curled up in a dry corner and prepared to sleep. The adventure wasnot to her liking; besides, though the girls did not know it, she hadbeen over the boat countless numbers of times looking for her master. Itwas not until hunger had driven her that she left her home and sought outher friends. Instinctively she went to them--trusted them.

  Sim, still standing by the covered picture, took hold again of the cloth.Some power she could not resist made her pull it off before Arden hadtime to stop her.

  "Oh, Sim!" Arden exclaimed reproachfully. "I asked----"

  A change came over Arden's expressive face. Her blue eyes clouded withtears. Surprised and startled, the three girls stood looking at thecanvas, almost unable to believe their own eyes at what was revealed tothem.