"Very likely," affirmed Jack. "I would not be surprised if we had to come around in the morning with nippers to get the kinks out. I see one forming, right now, in Lottie's cheek."

"We will be stiff, I am sure," added Bess, "although our muscles ought to be in good form."

"When you have finished," Freda whispered to Belle, "we want to give Denny something."

"Of course," Belle replied. "How selfish we are, sitting here 'gabbing,' and neither you nor your mother has had supper yet. I'll serve coffee at once."

"Don't hurry," Freda said. "We have time enough."

Everyone, however, seemed to guess at once that they should make room for the next "table," and the coffee was swallowed, hastily.

"What is it?" Lottie ventured to ask Freda. "We are just dying of curiosity. What has happened?"

"Oh, I can't tell you now," Freda answered, evasively. "I guess everyone knew we were shipwrecked this afternoon."

Cora appeared at the door. "May we come to eat now?" she asked. "I have only succeeded in making Denny stay with the understanding that we won't keep him long. He is anxious to get back to his cabin."

"I am that," said Denny, following Cora into the dining room. "Can't tell what'll happen now."

"Then something _did_ happen," Bess said aside, to Marita. "I can't imagine what."

"Now you must eat a good meal," Mrs. Lewis insisted to Denny. "I remember well how you always loved macaroni and cheese."

"And I remember well how you fixed it up," answered Denny, gallantly.

"This is a bit like the old days; isn't it? When I used to eat you out of house and home, when Len would fetch me into your house to tempt me appet.i.te," and he chuckled at the recollection. "Freddie, you were only a tot then, but you could climb on my knee right smart. I guess you were always a romp." This last was plainly intended as a compliment, for Denny smiled at Freda as she handed him his steaming coffee.

If the young folks thought that by special attention to Denny and his wants at the table they might get an inkling of the mystery that had so excited the old man they were disappointed, for he never betrayed a word of it, and only an occasional absent look in his sober gray eyes betokened anything unusual.

He scarcely took time to swallow the tempting food, however, when he jumped up and declared he could not stay another minute, although Cora, Freda, and Mrs. Lewis urged him to remain.

"I must run--I really must," he insisted, "and mind what I tell you,"

to Freda and Cora, "look out for yourselves!"

CHAPTER XIV

AN ANGRY DRUGGIST

"We didn't want to make a fuss over it before the boys," Cora explained to a number of the girls, who, next morning, were seated about the bungalow side porch, trying to get in a few st.i.tches of embroidery. "They would be sure to go straight at those land fellows, and we think--Denny and all of us--that the best way to do is to watch them carefully for a while."

"But what happened?" demanded Lottie, impatiently.

"We don't know exactly what, but it appears that while Denny was out, fishing us in, someone entered his shack and ransacked it."

"Burglars! What for? In that hut!" exclaimed Belle.

"We don't know that, either," continued Cora. "We can only surmise.

They must have been after something that was neither money nor table silver." She laughed a little at the idea of anyone trying to rob the humble cabin of a fisherman. "The little terrier is never tied up and never troubles anybody, but it seems he did object to the intrusion, for he has a cut on one leg, made, possibly, by a heavy shoe, and when Denny found him he was tied tight to a hook in the woodshed. Denny will never forgive whoever tied Brian."

"But did the thieves take anything?" Bess wanted to know.

"Not a thing. Of course there was nothing an ordinary thief would have any use for; but it looks as if they were searching for something in particular, for everything was turned inside out. Every strip of carpet was pulled up and loose boards in the floor pried away. It really is too bad for Denny. He will have a lot of trouble getting things in order again, and you know he is neat, for a lone fisherman."

"Isn't that outrageous!" exclaimed Belle. "I think, Cora, we should have told the boys and had them make a charge against whoever may be guilty. They will be ransacking here next."

"Oh, goodness! I hope not," cried Marita. "I think we should have police protection."

"And have officers ringing our door bell all hours of the night because someone forgot to turn out the dining room light, or the side window was found unlocked," said Cora. "They have very few officers here, I should imagine, and if we really gave them something to do they might insist on doing it."

"Tell us more about it," begged Marita, who was naturally fascinated with the "scary" part.

"I only know that his shack was entered and all but torn down," said Cora. "As to who did it, or why it was done, we can only surmise. But don't talk too much about it. We want to keep it quiet."

"Why?" demanded Marita.

"Because by letting other people talk about it we may be able to trace the perpetrators. We could easily find out who knew it had happened, in that way."

"Oh, I see," Marita answered vaguely, although her tone did not indicate comprehension. "Freda and Mrs. Lewis are going out; aren't they?" This question implied "why" also.

"Yes," Cora answered again. "They have some business to attend to. I told them not to hurry back for lunch--we would attend to it. We really need the exercise."

"But I am going canoeing directly after lunch," Lottie objected.

"After lunch?" repeated Belle. "This will be before lunch--the getting ready."

"Oh, you know what I mean," Lottie grumbled. "It makes one's hands so horrid to handle cooking things."

"Were you going to paddle?" asked Cora, innocently.

"I was going to try," admitted Lottie.

"Then your hands will be in better shape from some active work," Cora added, mischievously. "It is awful to try to paddle with soft hands."

"Oh, I guess mine are not any too soft," Lottie retorted, a bit abashed that she should have fallen into the trap.

"Where are you going, Lottie?" asked Marita. "You know it is only safe to canoe near the sh.o.r.e. The water can be very rough sometimes."

"I don't think you ought to go in a canoe until you can swim," said Cora. "You know a canoe is the most uncertain of craft, except that it is absolutely certain to upset if you draw a breath in, when you should send a breath out. Jack says a canoe is more than human, but I won't shock your ears by saying what he thinks it is."

"I am sure there is no danger when one sits still," Lottie insisted, "but if you don't want me to go, Cora----"

"Of course I want you to go, and have a nice time," Cora explained, "but I don't want you to upset. You should wear a bathing suit and be ready to swim in case of a spill."

"Oh, I couldn't do that!" exclaimed Lottie, rather shocked. "I am going with Clem."

"Well, I hope Clem will put you in the very bottom of the boat, and not trust to a seat. Even a big cushion is wobbly," finished Cora.