"What have you found, girls?" demanded Lance Darby, whose boat was nearest to the twins' canoe at the moment. "Is there some deep sea monster down there?"

"Come and look, Lance," cried Dora.

The moment the young Darby saw the submerged craft he exclaimed:

"Here it is, by gracious!"

"Here is what?" demanded Laura.

"The boat. Hey, Chet! we've found it!" he called to his chum, who quickly turned his own boat's prow in their direction.

"What you found?" demanded Laura's brother, coming nearer.

"Here's Mr. Norman's boat that he lent Short and Long," declared Lance, eagerly. "It was just as you said, Chet. Billy came over here to the island."

"Oh, my!" cried Jess. "And if that is so, perhaps he is still here."

"We must find him," said one of the twins, earnestly. "His sister Alice is just about worried to death about him; and the longer he remains in hiding, the worse it will be for him, anyway."

CHAPTER XII

IN THE CAVE

The other boats of the flotilla began to make the cove and soon there was a loudly chattering crowd around the sunken boat.

"Are you sure that's the old rowboat Billy got from Mr. Norman?" asked one of the other boys of Chet.

"Yes, sir! I've been out in it more than once with Short and Long,"

declared Laura's brother.

"But where can Billy be?" cried Josephine Morse.

"Surely, the poor fellow isn't drowned?" queried Nellie Agnew.

"Oh, don't suggest such a thing!" returned one of the twins. "If you'd seen how badly his sister felt about his absence----"

"I expect the Longs are all broken up about it. And they have no mother," said Laura Belding, softly.

"And Billy could swim like a fish," quoth Lance Darby.

"No chance of his being drowned," declared Chet.

"But, do you suppose he sank the boat here to hide it--sank it purposely?" cried another girl. "Maybe he's hiding here. Why don't they search the island for him?"

"And the caves?" cried another.

"_I'd_ like to get hold of him," Chetwood Belding said, gravely. "But Billy never in this world crawled through that bas.e.m.e.nt window and opened the door for those burglars. I'll never believe it----"

"Not even if Billy said so himself, dear boy?" interposed Prettyman Sweet.

"I'd doubt it then," rejoined Chet, grimly. "And let me tell you fellows, this absence of Short and Long is a very bad thing for Central High. We lost the game with Lumberport just because Billy wasn't at short; you all know that. I'm mighty glad the game with West High was called off for to-day. Without Billy Long, Central High is very likely to win the b.o.o.by prize on the diamond this season."

"Right you are, Chet," declared Lance Darby.

"I admit Billy is some little ball player," agreed another boy. "But it looks bad, his running away."

"What would _you_ have done?" flashed out Dora Lockwood, for the twins had become strong partisans of the absent Billy since talking with Alice Long, "if that store detective had come and bullied _you_?"

"Put him through the third degree, did he?"

"Yes. And scared him by all sorts of threats. And then, everybody around the neighborhood got hold of it, and said that Billy was just the boy to do such a thing," Dorothy broke in.

"He _was_ up to all sorts of mischief," Nellie Agnew observed.

"Never did a mean thing in his life, Billy didn't," declared Chet.

"Come on ash.o.r.e," said Lance, he and Otto Sitz pulling their heavy boat in to a sloping landing. "No use ga.s.sing here about that old boat. We can't raise it. But I'll tell Mr. Norman where it is when I go back."

"You're very right, Lance," said Purt Sweet. "It's time to have the luncheon--don't you think? I'm getting howwibly hungry, dontcher know?"

"To see you eat strawberries up at Eve's house last Monday, I thought you would never be hungry again--if you recovered," laughed Jess.

"Aw--now--Miss Josephine--weally, you know," gasped the dude. "You are too, too cwuel!"

"Somebody throw that fellow overboard!" growled Chet. "He's getting softer and softer every day."

"Never mind," whispered his sister, laughing, "he is dressed much less gaudily to-day. What Bobby did to that sash of his last Monday seems to have made Purt less vociferous in his sartorial taste."

"Gee, Laura!" cried Bobby Hargrew, from the next boat, "if Mammy Jinny heard that, she sure would think that schools ought to teach only 'words of one syllabub.'"

"Never mind Mammy Jinny," laughed Laura. "We've got some of Mammy's finest efforts in pie and cake in our hamper. And I admit, like Purt, I am hungry myself. Let's eat before we do another living thing!"

That was indeed a hilarious picnic. The girls had brought paper napkins and tablecloths, as well as plenty of paper plates. No trouble about washing dishes, or packing them home again, afterward. Chet had bought a big tin pail and in this he made gallons of lemonade, and everybody ate and drank to repletion.

"Now, if we were only at the park for just a little while, and could top off on ice cream," said Lance, lying back on the greensward with a contented sigh despite his spoken wish.

"I'd rather see that monkey again," laughed Jess. "That's the cutest little beast."

"It weally is surprising how much the cweature knows," said Purt Sweet.

"It is weally almost human."

"So are you!" scoffed Lance. "It's an ugly little animal. Never did like a monkey. And I think Tony Allegretto and his trained monkey are fakes.

We didn't see him do anything wonderful."

"Oh, they say that the monkey does lots of other tricks when Tony gets a big crowd into his booth," said Laura.