And, as he spoke, gazing at Ruth, the barking of the dog and the shouting grew apace.

"She is excited, thinking the rascals about whom we have been inquiring might now make their appearance," Mr. Howbridge answered.

"Mr. Martin laughed so heartily that his black beard waved up and down like a bush in the wind, and Dot and Tess watched it in fascination.

"Excuse me, friend," the dweller in the cabin went on, "but I couldn't help it. Those are my two boys coming back. They always cut up like that. Seems like the quietness of the lake and this island gets on their nerves sometimes, and they have to raise a ruction. No harm in it, not a bit. Jack, the dog, enjoys it as much as they do."

This was evident a few moments later, for up the slope came two st.u.r.dy young men, one carrying a gun, and the dog was frisking about between the two, having the jolliest time imaginable.

"There are my boys!" said Mr. Martin, and he spoke with pride.

"Oh, will you excuse me?" asked Ruth, in some confusion.

"That's all right--they do look like tramps," said their father. "But you can't wear your best clothes fussing around boats and fish and taking parties out. Well, Tom and Henry, any luck?" he asked the newcomers.

"Extra fine, Dad," answered one, while both of them stared curiously at the visitors.

"That's good," went on Mr. Martin. "These folks," he added, "were blown ash.o.r.e last night in their houseboat. They want help to get it off."

"Will you go and look at her, and then we can make a bargain?"

interposed Mr. Howbridge.

"Oh, shucks now, friend, we aren't always out for money, though we make a living by working for summer folks like you," said Mr. Martin, smiling.

"Is that your boat over there?" asked one of the young men whose name, they learned later, was Tom.

"Yes," a.s.sented Neale, for the fisherman pointed in the direction of the stranded _Bluebird_, which, however, could not be seen from the cabin.

"We saw her as we came around," went on Henry. "I wondered what she was doing up on sh.o.r.e, and we intended to have a look after we tied up our craft."

"Will you be able to help us get her afloat?" asked Ruth, for she rather liked the healthful, manly appearance of the two young men.

"Sure!" a.s.sented their father. "This is that O'Neil man's son," he went on, speaking to his boys.

"What, O'Neil; the Klondiker?" asked Tom quickly.

"Yes," a.s.sented Neale. "Can you tell me about him? Where is he? How did he make out in Alaska?"

"Well, he's on an island about ten miles from here," was the answer of Henry. "As for making out, I don't believe he did very well in the gold business, to tell you the truth. He doesn't say much about it, but I guess the other men got most of it."

"What other men?" asked Neale, and again his heart sank and that terrible suspicion came back to him.

"Oh, a bunch he is in with," answered Henry Martin. "They all live together in a shack on Cedar Island. Your father hired a boat of us. I trusted him for it, as he said he had no ready cash. But I reckon it's all right."

This only served to make Neale more uneasy. He had been hoping against hope that his father would have found at least a competence in the Klondike.

Now it seemed he had not, and, driven by poverty, he might have adopted desperate measures. Nor did Neale like the remarks about his father being in with a "bunch" of men. True, Mr. O'Neil had been in the circus at one time, and they, of necessity, are a cla.s.s of rough and ready men.

But they are honest, Neale reflected. These other men--if the two who had escaped in the motor boat were any samples--were not to be trusted.

So it was with falling spirits that the boy waited for what was to happen next.

Agnes' quick mind and ready sympathy guessed Neale's thoughts.

"It will be all right, Neale O'Neil. You know it will. Your father couldn't go wrong."

"You're a pal worth having, Aggie," he whispered to the girl.

"I would like to see my father," he said to the lawyer. "Do you think we could go to Cedar Island in the houseboat?"

"Of course we can!" exclaimed Mr. Howbridge. "We'll go as soon as we can get her afloat."

"And that won't take long; she didn't seem to be in a bad position,"

said Tom. "Come on, we'll go over now," he went on, nodding to his father and his brother.

"I have an Alice-doll on the boat," said Dot, taking a sudden liking to Henry.

"You have?" he exclaimed, taking hold of her hand which she thrust confidingly into his. "Well, that's fine! I wish I had a doll!"

"Do you?" asked Dot, all smiles now. "Well, I have a lot of 'em at home.

There's Muriel and Bonnie Betty and a sailor boy doll, and Nosmo King Kenway, and then I have twins--Ann Eliza and Eliza Ann, and--"

"Eliza Ann isn't a twin any more--anyway not a good twin," put in Tess.

"Both her legs are off!"

"Oh, that's too bad!" exclaimed Henry sympathetically.

"And if you want a doll, I can give you one of mine," proceeded Dot.

"Only I don't want to give you Alice-doll 'cause she's all I have with me. But if you want Muriel--"

"Muriel has only one eye," said Tess quickly.

"I think I should love a one-eyed doll!" said the young man, who seemed to know just how to talk to children.

"Then I'll send her to you!" delightedly offered Dot.

"And I'll send you one of Almira's kittens!" said Tess, who did not seem to want her sister to do all the giving.

"Hold on there! Don't I get anything?" asked Tom, in mock distress.

"Almira's got a lot of kittens," said Dot. "Would you like one of them?"

"Well I should say so! If Henry's going to have a kitten and a doll, I think I ought at least to have a kitten," he said.

"Well, I'll send you one," promised Tess.

And then, with the two children, one in charge of Henry and the other holding Tom's hand, the trip was made back to where the _Bluebird_ was stranded.

"It won't be much of a job to get her off," declared Mr. Martin, when he and his sons had made an expert examination. "Get some long poles, boys, and some blocks, and I think half an hour's work will do the trick."