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Page 63
Miss Jenny Ann had, so far, been unable to find Mollie. Now she looked
over the side of the boat, and Mollie's body could be plainly seen
lying in the shallow water. Mr. Brown and the stranger together
brought the girl back to the houseboat. She was insensible. In her
plunge into the water she had struck her head with great force against
the bottom of the bay. She was stunned by the shock, and when she
returned to consciousness the pain from the burn and the blow made her
delirious. As she alone could tell what had transpired in that brief
hour, the cause of the fire remained a mystery.
CHAPTER XXII
THE EVIL GENIUS
"I think I had better go up to the hotel to prepare the girls for what
has happened," suggested Mr. Brown a short time afterward.
Miss Jenny Ann seemed surprised at the thought of his leaving her alone
with Mollie, and said so.
"Yes; I think I had better go at once," he announced decisively. "The
doctor will be here in a few minutes. I can do nothing for you or for
Mollie, but I can save the girls from the shock of returning to find
their houseboat damaged and their friend so ill."
Miss Jenny Ann agreed quietly. If Mr. Brown thought it best to go, it
did not really matter. "Ask the girls to come home as soon as they
can," she added. "Phil is so clever in cases of illness."
"I'll borrow the 'Water Witch.' I think I can get up to the Belleview
quicker if I go by water than if I wait for the street car to take me
there. The girls will bring the boat home with them."
Mr. Brown disappeared from the deck of the boat a few moments later.
He climbed into the "Water Witch" and rowed very swiftly up the bay.
Miss Jones had taken it for granted that their houseboat had caught
fire by accident. She had not had time to give much thought to the
matter. But Mr. Brown had other views. He remembered the boy who had
attempted the robbery, and he had other reasons for his suspicions. A
can of oil might very easily have turned over on the deck, but was
there any reason to suppose that a pile of matches would be left lying
at one side of the can? The young artist meant to make a thorough
search for the possible offender. He wished to get out on the water as
soon as he could, because he believed the incendiary had escaped that
way. Mr. Brown and Miss Jenny Ann had been walking down the embankment
at the very time the trespasser must have made his escape. If he had
gone by land, one of them must have caught sight of him.
Theodore Brown was an ex-member of a Yale boat crew. He made the
"Water Witch" skim through the waters, and at the same time he kept a
sharp lookout for a small boat. There were a number of skiffs filled
with young girls and men. But Mr. Brown was looking for a boat with
the single figure of a boy in it.
He went toward the hotel, believing that the boatman would feel more
secure if he were swallowed up in a crowd, than if he were seen in a
more deserted part of the bay. Mr. Brown had almost reached the hotel
pier before he came up to the character of skiff he desired to find.
Then he was embarrassed how to accost the young man in it, as it was
possible for him to see only the oarsman's back. Mr. Brown. came as
close up alongside the stranger's boat as he could. Still he could not
see the man's face. He leaned out of his own boat and called: "I want
to drift along here and smoke. Would you be kind enough to lend me a
match?"
The other oarsman apparently did not hear him. He rowed on faster.
Again Mr. Brown caught up with him. He called, in an even more
friendly fashion, "Haven't you that match?"
The stranger fumbled a minute in his pocket. "Sorry to disoblige you,"
he answered. "I haven't a match about me."
Theodore Brown laughed. The two small boats were almost touching each
other. "Sorry to have troubled you," continued Mr. Brown, leaning as
far over the side of his boat as he could. "After all, I find I have
some matches in my own pocket. You had better take a cigar to show you
forgive me for annoying you."
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