"Not much of anything."

"I can't hold you forever," Louise said, and released her hold. "Didn't you see anything at all?"

"Just a lot of machinery."

"Tools, you mean?"

"No, an electric motor and something which looked like it might be a pump. Oh, I get it now!"

"Get what?" demanded Louise.

"Why, the idea of this tower. It must be used as a pump house. I wondered how the lily pool was ever drained and this must be the answer."

"You didn't see any prisoners chained inside?" Louise teased.

"Not one. Well, let's be getting on to the lily pond. It must be somewhere close."

Louise could not understand why her chum was so determined that she should see the pool. But since Penny seldom did anything without a purpose, she speculated upon what might be in store. She knew from the girl's manner that certain facts had been withheld deliberately to make this visit the more impressive.

"Here we are," said Penny as they came to the clearing. "What do you think of it?"

Louise was aware of a deep sense of disappointment as she gazed at the lily pool.

"I really don't see anything so remarkable about it, Penny."

"This was the place where I found the wedding ring. And there were footprints indicating that a struggle probably took place."

"I read all that in the paper," Louise said. "From the hints you've been pa.s.sing out, I thought you brought me here to show me something mysterious."

"Go close to the pool."

"What for, Penny? You want to push me in?"

"Oh, you're too suspicious! Go on and look."

Louise went to the edge of the pool and peered down into the water.

"I don't see anything."

"You will in just a minute. Keep looking."

Louise was more than half convinced that Penny meant to play some prank, but she dropped down on her knees so her eyes would be closer to the water.

"Why, I do see some large object on the floor of the tank!" she exclaimed after a moment. "What is it, Penny?"

"An alligator."

Louise gave a smothered scream and drew back from the pool's edge.

"I--I might have fallen in. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

"I only wanted you to get a nice thrill," Penny grinned. "Pretty fellow, isn't he?"

"I didn't really see him," Louise admitted.

Overcoming her fear, she again leaned over the edge of the pool but with great caution. This time she could make out the alligator's form distinctly.

"Horrible!" she shuddered. "I wish you hadn't brought me--"

Her words ended in a little wail as a tiny object splashed into the water directly beneath her.

"My cameo pin!" she cried. "Oh, Penny, it slipped from my dress and now it's gone!"

CHAPTER 15 _A CAMEO PIN_

In dismay, the two girls watched the trinket settle slowly to the bottom of the pool.

"Oh, my beautiful pin," moaned Louise. "Aunt Lucinda gave it to me for my birthday. I wouldn't have lost it for anything in the world."

"I guess it was my fault," Penny said self-accusingly.

"No, it wasn't. I must have been careless about fastening the clasp. When I leaned over it slipped off. Well, it's gone, and that's that."

The cameo pin had fallen into the deepest part of the pool not far from where the alligator lay. The girls were unable to see it plainly because of the lily pads and plants which cluttered the water.

"If that old alligator would just behave himself we could wade in and get it easy," Penny said.

"Fancy trying it!"

"I'm afraid he would take special delight in snapping off an arm or a leg. And we don't dare ask anyone to help us get the pin or we'll be ejected from the grounds as trespa.s.sers."

"We may as well forget about it, Penny. Come along, I'm sick of this place."

"No, wait, Louise. We might be able to fish it out with a stick."

"I don't think we'd have a chance."

"Anyway, it will do no harm to try."

Penny searched the woods until she found a long stick with a curve at the end. Lying flat on the flagstones at the edge of the pool she prodded for the pin.

"I can touch it all right!" she cried. "I'll pull it over to the side."

"Be careful you don't tumble in," Louise warned, anxiously holding her chum by the waist. "If you should lose your balance--"