The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat.

by Janet Aldridge.

CHAPTER I

SCENTING A MYSTERY

"I wouldn't advise you young ladies to take the boat out."

Miss Elting instantly recalled the message from her brother. The telegram was in her pocket at that moment, "If you have any trouble, Dee d.i.c.kinson will see that you are protected," read the message. It was Dee d.i.c.kinson who had spoken to her that moment.

Dee had made a distinctly unfavorable impression on Miss Elting, the guardian and companion of the Meadow-Brook Girls. Her brother's fishing boat had been left in the care of this man by her brother Bert, who had now turned it over to his sister and the Meadow-Brook Girls for their summer vacation.

"Why not?" questioned the young woman in answer to his words of warning.

"Isn't the boat in good condition?"

"Oh, yes. That is, it isn't by any means in a sinking condition."

"Then why do you advise us not to use it?"

"The lake gets rather rough at times, you know," he replied evasively.

"My brother wrote you that we were coming up here, did he not?"

"Oh, yes. But you see it's been a year since he used the old scow. She is a year older, now, and--"

"I am quite sure that my brother would not have permitted us to take the houseboat were it not perfectly safe for us to do so. Please tell me what is the matter with it?"

"There's nothing the matter with it, I tell you, except that it's an old fishing scow with a roof over it. It isn't a fit place for a party of young ladies," Dee replied, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Of course, if you are set on taking the boat, I'll have to get it ready for you; but, if anything happens to it, remember that I warned you."

"We shall not forget," answered the guardian dryly. "If it stays on top of the lake we surely cannot expect anything more. Where is the boat?"

"A couple of miles down the lake."

"Kindly direct us so that we may find it, and--"

"No, no," interposed d.i.c.kinson hastily. "I'll have it brought up here to the dock, so you can get at it more easily. There'll be some things you will wish to do to it. Having it here at Wantagh will be much more convenient for you. I'll try to have it here for you by to-night, or early in the morning. But you'll be sick of your bargain, I promise you that."

"Do you mean us to infer that the boat is not safe?" interjected Harriet Burrell.

"I haven't said so," answered the man rather sharply, turning to her.

"I've told you that it isn't the kind of craft for young women to live on all summer."

"We shall decide that matter ourselves," returned Miss Elting coldly.

"Very good. Suit yourselves."

"I think you had better take us to the boat now before anything further is done in the matter."

"No. You had better have it brought here," persisted d.i.c.kinson. "Do you know where Johnson's dock is?"

The guardian hesitated. She was regarding the man with some suspicion.

"It's at the foot of the second street beyond, down that way. I'll have the boat down there in a couple of hours. I've got to get a motor boat, or something of the sort to tow it down. It probably will leak some, not having been in the water this season until yesterday. You had better go over to the hotel and get your dinner. I'll come up and let you know when the scow is ready. Go right over and make yourself at home. I'll do the best I can. Bert's an old friend of mine."

d.i.c.kinson hurried away, without further words. The girls looked at each other and laughed.

"Well, if Dee d.i.c.kinson is a friend of your brother, I must say I don't admire your brother's friends," declared Harriet.

"That ith what I thay," agreed Grace Thompson.

"Tommy, you shouldn't have said that," reproved Hazel Holland.

"She didn't. Harriet said it," retorted Margery.

"Buster is right," laughed Jane McCarthy. "Come on, girls! Let's go to dinner, as the shifty-eyed gentleman advised. I hope it is dinner. I never could get used to luncheon in the middle of the day when Nature intended that a girl should have a full meal of the real food. Where is the old hotel?"

"I don't know, Jane. There is something strange about this affair. I am sure that Bert must have known what he was about, or he wouldn't have sent me the message he did. However, we shall see. There is no need to borrow trouble. We shall know how to deal with it when we meet it face to face. Let's go and look for this hotel that our friend, Mr. Dee, has recommended."

Getting into the automobile Jane started her car, and they drove through the town in search of the hotel, which they found after a few inquiries.

The prosperous village of Wantagh was located on the sh.o.r.e of Lake Winnipesaukee. It was there that Miss Elting's brother had begun to practice law, but after one year's practice in the little village had listened to the call of the West. He had left in Wantagh the old scow, dignified by the name of "houseboat" to which was attached the further t.i.tle of "Red Rover." It was in this lumbering craft that Miss Elting and her young friends, the Meadow-Brook Girls, had planned to spend part of their summer vacation. Their meeting with d.i.c.kinson, in whose care the boat had been left, was quite discouraging. Dee was not a prepossessing fellow; what impressed them most unfavorably about him was his shifty eyes. He seldom permitted himself to meet the gaze of the person with whom he was talking.

Some inquiry, after reaching the hotel, developed the fact that Dee d.i.c.kinson was a notary, did a little real estate business, and drew a few papers for his neighbors, thus managing to eke out a precarious living. So far as the girls were able to find out, d.i.c.kinson's character was above reproach. Miss Elting chided herself for having formed a wrong opinion of the man. Still she could not overcome her irritation at his evident reluctance in getting the boat ready.

It was quite late in the afternoon when Dee appeared at the hotel, red of face, his clothes soiled and wet.

"Well, we got the old thing," was his greeting.

"Is the boat here?" inquired the guardian coldly.

"Yes, Miss Elting. It's down at Johnson's dock this very minute. You can go down there and look at it. I've got some business to--"

"Please go with us. There will be things about it which we shall wish to ask you. Does the boat leak much?"

He shook his head.

"It's all right," he said. "I can't spare the time to go to-day."

"If I might venture to offer to pay you for your trouble," suggested the guardian, not certain whether he would resent her offer of money.

d.i.c.kinson, however, was not easily insulted.

"Of course, if--if you wish, I--yes, of course," he mumbled.

Miss Elting handed him two dollars. d.i.c.kinson led the way down to the dock, though without enthusiasm.

"There's the tub," he said, pointing toward what appeared, at first glance, to be a huge box. "That is it."