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Page 15
"No, I am not mistaken, Miss Jones. I can't be. You see, I came to
this very spot this morning and went aboard our boat. Then I have the
man's description of the landing place. I think we had better go back
to the village and see if we can get some men who know the shore along
here to come to help us look out for our boat. There is no use in
having our furniture brought here if we haven't any houseboat,"
finished Madge, her voice trembling.
"Come along, then; I will go back with you," volunteered Phil. "Miss
Jones, you sit under the tree. Lillian, you and Nellie keep a sharp
look-out. If any one comes along in a boat, ask him about ours."
"Do you think our boat has gone forever, Phil?" asked Madge dejectedly
as the two companions walked wearily back over the road they had
traveled so gayly a short time before.
"I don't know," replied Phil. "I should say it depended entirely upon
who had taken the trouble to spirit it away."
While the two girls stood gazing moodily out over the bay a hard, green
apple landed with a thump on top of Madge's uncovered head. Madge and
Phil looked up simultaneously. There in a gnarled old apple tree
directly above them appeared the grinning face of the small boy whose
acquaintance Madge had made earlier in the morning.
"Lost your boat, ain't you?" he asked cheerfully.
Madge nodded and walked on. She was not anxious to renew conversation
with the mischievous youngster.
Phil, however, was seized with an inspiration. "Have you been about
this place very long?" she inquired casually.
"Yep," the boy returned.
"Then, perhaps, you know what has become of our boat," suggested Phil.
"Yep," answered the voice from the tree, "I know all about it."
"Then tell us this minute what has become of it!" ordered Madge. "I
knew the moment I saw you that you were the very imp of mischief. Tell
us where our boat is at once."
"I won't tell," the urchin spoke firmly.
"You shall," declared Madge, her eyes flashing.
"I'd like to see you make me tell," dared the boy. "A girl can't climb
a tree." The grin on his impish face widened.
"I'll show you that a girl _can_ climb a tree, young man," exclaimed
Madge hotly, making her way toward the tree. "I have climbed a good
many more trees than you have ever climbed in your life."
"Listen to me, Madge," admonished Phil, laughing at her friend, "you
can't have a fight with a small boy in the top of a tree or shake him
out of it. Don't allow him to tease you. Let's go on into the village
and get a policeman. Then, if the boy really knows anything about the
disappearance of our houseboat, the policeman will make him tell us."
Phil tried to make her voice sound as threatening as possible when she
mentioned the word "policeman."
"I won't be here when you git back," was the imp's cheerful response.
Madge and Phil paid no further heed to him. They went on toward the
town. A few yards farther on they heard the patter of bare feet.
"Can't you wait a minute?" a voice pleaded. "I was only teasing you.
If you promise you won't give me away, I'll tell you what became of
your old boat. My pa took it."
"Your pa?" cried Madge in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"When I told Pa I'd seen a new-fangled kind of a boat hitched to our
post, where we most generally ties up our own boat, he said you hadn't
no right to be there. So he just hitched up our mule and he come down
here and untied your boat and dragged it up shore. I run after him
until I got too tired. Then I come back here to tell you," ended the
boy.
"Where is your father?" Phil asked quietly. Madge's eyes were flashing
dangerously, her temper was rising.
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