CHAPTER XXV
THE STRANGE BATEAU
Polly laughed a little. Yet she spoke seriously.
"You needn't be so worried, Wyn. I know most of the men who do businesson the lake. Some of them are mighty fine fellows, and others are justthe opposite; but I'm not afraid of the worst of them."
"If they followed us, and we _did_ find the sunken motor boat,couldn't they grapple for the box of silver images, and steal them?"demanded Wyn.
"Not easily. You see, they don't know where the box was stowed. Fathertold nobody but me. The _Bright Eyes_ was a good-sized boat, andthey'd have some trouble getting up the box without raising the boatherself."
"I suppose that's so," admitted Wyn, less anxiously, as the_Coquette_ carried them swiftly toward Gannet Island. "But thesemen you speak of might interfere with us."
"Yes. That's so. But they'd get as good as they sent, I reckon," saidPolly, who didn't seem to have a bit of fear.
Wyn was no coward; she had shown that the time she and Bessie Lavinewere spilled out of their canoes in the middle of the lake. But she hadnot lived, like Polly, in the woods with few but rough people forassociates.
Soon they passed Green Knoll Camp, lying peacefully in the light of themoon that was just then rising above the Forge. Its rays silvered allthe knoll and made the camp a charming spot.
"I hope none of them will wake up and find me gone," remarked Wyn,chuckling.
Polly gave the tiller and sheet to her friend and stood up to get abetter view of the lake astern of them. At first she saw nothing but thedim shores and the silvering water. Then, some distance out, Pollycaught sight of a ghostly sail drifting across the path of moonlight.
"A bateau!" she exclaimed. "And--with the wind the way it is--she musthave come right out of our cove, Wynnie."
"Do--do you really think anybody was listening to us when we weretalking there on the landing, Polly?" Wyn asked. "And are they aboard_that_ bateau?"
"I don't know. But I know I heard something then."
"But that boat isn't following us."
"It may be. We can't tell. They can watch us just as easily as we canwatch them."
But when the _Coquette_ got around to the side of Gannet Islandwhere the boys' camp was established, the shadow of the high, woodedridge was thrown out so far across the lake that the swimming raft andits neighborhood were in darkness.
The catboat, with her sail dropped and her nose just touching the edgeof the float, was quite hidden by this shadow of the island, which wasall the darker in contrast with the brilliant moonlight lying on thewater farther out.
"I'll carry the kedge to the float," whispered Polly, "and then we'llpay out the line till the _Coquette_ floats about over the spotwhere you think the thing you hit lies."
"Let's get my canoe out of the way, too," urged Wyn. "Oh! I hope theboys will not wake up."
"What's that light up there?" exclaimed Polly, suddenly.
"That's the spark of their campfire. It's in the rocks, so no harm cancome from it; they don't trouble to cover it when they go to bed."
"Now, Wyn--push the boat off."
They worked the catboat from the float for several yards. "Wait,"whispered Wyn. "Let's try here."
"Are you going to dive?"
"Yes. It will make some splash; but I don't believe I can reach thebottom of the lake otherwise, it is so deep here."
"Careful!" cautioned Polly. "You may hurt yourself on whatever is downthere."
"I'll look out," returned Wyn, again filling her ears with cotton. Sheslipped off the skirt of her bathing suit, too, so as to have morefreedom. Then she poised herself for a moment on the decked-over part ofthe sailboat--a slim, lithe figure in the semi-darkness--and graduallybent over with her arms outstretched to part the water.
As she dived forward she thought she heard a quick exclamation fromPolly; but Wyn believed it to be an encouraging cry. At least, she gaveit no attention as she clove the water and went down, down, down intothe depths of the lake.
She opened her eyes, but, of course, saw nothing but a great, shadowymass below her. Toward this mass she swam eagerly; the lake seemed muchdeeper than it had by daylight.
Struggling against the uplift of the water, she beat her way down intothe depths for more than a minute. That was a goodly length of time forthe first submersion. And she did not reach the bottom, nor find anyobject like the thing she had struck against some hours before.
It was necessary for her to rise. As she turned over, a luminous spotappeared over her head, and toward this spot she sprang. With achingchest she reached the surface, and sprang breast high out of thewater--some yards from the catboat. There was a strong current here.
"Polly!" she gasped.
"Sh!" hissed her comrade's voice, in warning.
Surprised, Wyn obeyed the warning. Causing scarcely a ripple in thewater, she paddled to the boat. There she clung to the rail andlistened. She could not see Polly.
"Dunno where they went to in that cat, Eb," growled a hoarse voice outof the darkness.
Wyn darted a glance over her shoulder. There, looming gray and ghostly,was the tall sail they had seen once before. The strange, square-nosedbateau was drifting by, but at some distance. Evidently the catboat waswell hidden in the shadow of the island.
Suddenly Polly reached over the edge of the boat and seized Wyn'sshoulders. "Don't try to climb in," she whispered. "They'll see or hearthe splash."
"All right," breathed back the captain of the Go-Aheads.
"It's Eb Lornigan and some of his friends. Eb is a disgrace to the lake.He's been in jail more than once," whispered Polly.
But Wyn's shoulders began to feel cold. The night air, after all, wasnot really warm. "I'm going down again," she whispered.
"Did--did you find it?" queried Polly.
"No. But I will," declared the other girl, confidently, and slipped intothe water.
She ventured under the bottom of the catboat and, turning suddenly,braced her feet against it, and so flung herself down into the depths.
She descended more swiftly with the momentum thus gained, travelingtoward the bottom on a different slant than before. With her hands farbefore her she defended her head from collision with any sunken objectthere might be down here. And this time she actually did hit somethingagain.
She turned quickly and grabbed at it with both hands. It seemed like asharp, smooth pole sticking almost upright in the water. There was a bitof rag, or marine plant of some kind, attached to it.
She struggled to pull herself down by the staff, but she had been belownow longer than before. Just what the staff could be she did not imagineuntil she had again turned and "kicked" her way upward.
"It's the pennant staff of the sunken boat!" she gasped, as she came tothe surface and could open her mouth once more.
"Hush! what's the matter with you?" demanded Polly, in a low voice,directly at hand.
"Oh! have they gone?"
"The bateau is out of hearing distance. But you _do_ splash like aporpoise."
"Nonsense! Let me climb up."
Polly gave her some help and in a few moments Wyn lay panting in thetiny cockpit of the boat.
"Did--did you find anything?" queried Polly, anxiously.
Wyn told her what she believed she had found underneath the water, andthe position of the staff. "It must be lying bow on to us here," shesaid.
"Oh! do you suppose it really _is_ the _Bright Eyes_?"
"It's something," replied Wyn, confidently, pulling one of the blanketsaround her.
"I'm going down myself," declared Polly, sharply.
"All right. Maybe you can find more of the boat. It's there."
Polly sprang up into the bow of the catboat, poised herself for a momentand then dived overboard. She could outswim and outdive any of theGo-Ahead girls--and why not? She was in, or on, the lake from earlyspring until late autumn.
Polly was under the surface no longer than Wyn; but when she came up shestruck out for the _Coquet
te_ and scrambled immediately into theboat.
"What is it? Am I right? Is it a boat?" cried the anxious Wynnie.
"Yes! It's there. Oh, Wynifred Mallory! My father is going to be sorelieved! It's--it's just heavenly! How can we ever thank you?"
Wyn was crying softly. "I'm so delighted, dear Polly. It--it is_sure_ the _Bright Eyes_?"
"It is a motor boat. I went right down to the deck, and scrambled aroundit. There are surely not _two_ motor boats sunk in Lake Honotonka,"declared Polly.
"Hush, then!" urged Wyn. "We'll keep still about it. It is my find andI'll telegraph to Mr. Lavine as quick as I can. The Go-Ahead girls aregoing to own a motor boat! Won't that be fine?"
"Say nothing to any of the others. I'll tell father," said Polly,beginning to haul in on the kedge line. "And he'll know what to do aboutraising the launch. He'll have to go to the Forge----"
"Then he can send the message to Mr. Lavine for me. Tell him the girlshave found the sunken boat, and sign my name to it. That will bringBessie's father up here in a hurry."
The girls got their anchor and the canoe, and put up the sail again. Asthe _Coquette_ shot away from the boys' swimming float, the ghostlysail of the strange bateau again crossed the path of moonlight at theother end of the island.
"I'd feel better," muttered Polly, "if those, fellows were not hangingabout so close."