Bess sighed. "Loch Lomond is just as beautiful as the songs and stories about it."

As far as the girls could see, the crystal-clear water was surrounded by wooded hills. Islands dotted the surface of the loch.

Nancy had pulled up beside a cove and sat staring ahead at a row of houseboats. They looked like huge square boxes with windows. All were one story high and painted white. Each was secured to its own dock.

"Girls," Nancy said excitedly, "those houseboats remind me of one of the pictures on that strange note we found in the hotel room!"

"Me too!" George agreed. "But do you think a houseboat has anything to do with our mystery?"

Nancy shrugged. "I'm going to keep it in mind as a clue."

Bess, meanwhile, had been looking at the sky. What had started out to be a bright day was now an overcast one, with dark clouds scudding over the sun. The wind had picked up considerably.

"Maybe we'd better not go much farther," she suggested. "If a storm breaks, I'd just as soon get back to the hotel. Wouldn't you?"

Nancy agreed and said she would drive only a short distance. In the main, the road kept fairly close to the water. At one point near the sh.o.r.e a small stone pedestal had been erected. At the top was the statue of a small boy.

"I wonder why it was put there," said George.

"I read about it in a guidebook," Nancy answered. "The poor little fellow was drowned at this spot, so his parents erected the statue in his memory."

"How sad!" Bess murmured.

The wind began to blow in great gusts and when the girls reached the small town of Luss, Nancy decided to turn around. At times the car shivered in the blasts. Nancy almost had to fight the wheel to keep in her lane.

"Let's hurry!" Bess urged. "I don't like this!"

Nancy put on more speed. By the time they reached the cove where the houseboats were tied up, the wind was blowing with gale force. The large craft were rocking violently.

"I sure wouldn't want to be living in one of those," George remarked. "Not in this weather."

Could they get close enough to the houseboat to a.s.sist the trapped victims?

Suddenly a tremendous rush of wind came directly at them from the loch. It actually forced the car to the other side of the road! Nancy jammed on her brakes and the car held its position.

Bess and George, meanwhile, were watching the tossing houseboats. Suddenly Bess gave a shriek.

"One of the boats is going over!"

Nancy turned to look. The gale had lifted the third houseboat out of the water and sent it crashing onto the beach! The next second it toppled over! The girls could hear screams and cries above the howling wind.

"There are people in it! We must do something to help them!" Nancy exclaimed.

Without thinking of the danger to themselves, the three girls took their raincoats and hats from the rear seat and quickly pulled them on. Nancy had shut off the engine and put on the hand brake.

Opening the door was like pushing against a gigantic wave, but the girls finally managed it and struggled out sideways. By this time rain was falling in a sheet. Loch Lomond was being whipped into white foam and small boats in the cove were tossing wildly.

As the girls endeavored to go forward along the sh.o.r.e, the screams from within the overturned houseboat increased. Could they get close enough to a.s.sist the trapped victims? No one had appeared from the other craft. Were their occupants away or afraid to come outside?

As the girls plowed toward the overturned boat, Bess gave a shout of alarm. She was behind the others, who turned quickly.

Nancy and George were horrified to see the force of the wind pushing Bess rapidly toward the angry water! Unable to keep her balance, she fell in headlong, the churning water crashing over her!

CHAPTER VII.

The Dungeon

IN a flash, Nancy and George splashed into the whipping water of Loch Lomond and went to Bess's a.s.sistance. She tried twice to get up, only to be knocked over again by a lashing wave.

Reaching her side, the two rescuers helped her stand up, though their own footing was precarious. Arm in arm, the three struggled to the beach.

Bess sank down. "Th-thanks for saving me."

"Do you want to go back to the car?" Nancy asked her. "George and I can investigate the houseboat."

"No, no," Bess replied quickly. "I'm all right. I want to help the poor people in there."

Above the wind the girls could hear a child crying, "Mama! Mama! Wake up!"

The three hurried forward and clambered onto the side of the overturned houseboat. There was no door but Nancy managed to open a window, and leaned down over the sill. She surveyed what was below her. Furniture and rugs lay scattered on the opposite wall, which now formed the floor of the houseboat. Stretched out was a woman and beside her knelt a little girl, sobbing.

The child looked up at Nancy. "Did you come to wake my mama up?" she asked.

Nancy gazed at the tear-stained face. She fervently hoped that the little girl's mother was only unconscious.

"I'm coming, honey," Nancy replied. Calling to her friends, she quickly described the scene below, then said, "Give me a hand so I can drop gently."

The cousins crawled over. Each held one of Nancy's hands as she eased her body downward.

"Okay. Let go!" she said.

Nancy hastened to the woman. After a quick examination she reported that the little girl's mother apparently had not suffered any broken bones. Probably she had struck her head when the boat tipped over.

"I'll put this table under the window," Nancy said to Bess and George. "Then you won't have so far to jump." She righted the st.u.r.dy pine table and helped steady George when she dropped. Then both girls a.s.sisted Bess down.

The child was crying and trying to hide behind an upended overstuffed chair. Bess went to her at once. "What's your name?"

"Isa Arden. Pl-please make my mama wake up!"

"We will," Bess promised. "Do come out and see me."

The little girl's shyness vanished. She ran to Bess. "Everything's upside down!" she wailed.

"It will be all right soon," Bess a.s.sured her.