"What if they do?" demanded Billy, belligerently. "They all said _I_ helped burglarize that department store last summer--didn't they? And I never did it at all."

"No. It was another monkey," chuckled Lance.

The others laughed, for Billy Long had gotten them into serious trouble on the occasion mentioned, and it was long enough in the past now to seem amusing. But Chet added:

"It's a wonder to me that Norman Halliday had a chance to get hold of all those securities and forge people's names to them. And he knew just which papers to take. Looks fishy."

"Well, he ran away, anyhow," Lance said.

"So did Billy," Bobby said. "And for the same reason, perhaps. He was scared."

"My father says," Chet pursued, "he has his doubts about Halliday's guilt. He believes he is a catspaw for somebody else."

"Anyhow," said Billy, "the papers say he's gone into the Big Woods south of Lake Dunkirk. And Purt wants to carry a gun to defend himself from outlaws."

"If he does," Chet said, seriously, "I'll see that there are no cartridges in the gun. Huh! I wouldn't trust Purt Sweet with a pop-gun."

Bobby, meanwhile, was saying to Laura: "I wonder why Old Dimple was interested enough in that Albany bank robbery to carry around that clipping out of the paper?"

"Maybe he lost money, too," Laura suggested.

"What's that about the old Prof?" put in Chet. "Do you know he's gone out of town already?"

"No!" was the chorus in reply.

"Fact. I saw him with his suitcase this forenoon. He took the boat to Lumberport."

"Well, as we shall all start in that same direction to-morrow morning, bright and early----"

"Not all of us bright, but presumably early," put in Bobby, sotto voce.

"Anyway, it's time we were in bed," finished Mother Wit. "Off with you all!"

Whether Laura's advice had a good effect, or not, n.o.body was really late at the rendezvous the next morning. Prettyman Sweet's motorboat _d.u.c.h.ess_, a very nice craft, and the larger powerboat belonging to Chet Belding and Lance Darby, named _Bonnie La.s.s_, were manned by the boys before the girls appeared.

These two boats were large enough to transport both parties of campers, and would likewise tow the flotilla of canoes. The _d.u.c.h.ess_ tailed behind it three double canoes belonging to the girls and the _Bonnie La.s.s_ towed five belonging to their boy friends.

It was a fine day and the lake was as blue as the sky--and almost as smooth to look upon. A party of parents and friends came to see the campers start. The girls and Mrs. Morse went aboard the _Bonnie La.s.s_.

Lizzie Bean, with a bulging old-fashioned carpet-bag, appeared in season and joined the girls.

In the bustle of departure not many noticed the odd looking maid. The girls and boys were too busy shouting goodbyes to those ash.o.r.e, and the crowd ash.o.r.e was too busy shouting good wishes, or last instructions, to the campers.

Mrs. Pendleton had been driven down to the wharf, early as the hour was, to see her daughter off.

"And be sure to wear your rubbers if it rains, Lily!" the lady shrieked after the departing _Bonnie La.s.s_.

"Gee!" whispered Bobby, to Jess. "I s'pose somebody'll have to hold an umbrella over her, too, if it starts to shower."

CHAPTER VI

PRETTYMAN SWEET MAKES A FRIEND

Lake Luna was a beautiful body of water, all of twenty miles long and half as broad, with Centerport on its southern sh.o.r.e and Lumberport and Keyport situated at either end.

The first named stood at the mouth of Rocky River which fed the great lake, while Keyport was at the head of Rolling River through which Lake Luna discharged its waters.

Centerport was a thriving and rich city of some 150,000 inhabitants, while the other two towns--although much smaller--were likewise thriving business communities. There was considerable traffic on Lake Luna, between the cities named, and up and down the rivers.

Cavern Island was a beautiful resort in the middle of Lake Luna; but man's hand was shown in its landscape gardening and in the pretty buildings and the park at one end.

Acorn Island, in Lake Dunkirk (thirty miles above Lumberport, and connected with Lake Luna by Rocky River) was a very different place.

It was heavily timbered and had been held by a private estate for years. Therefore the trees and rubbish had been allowed to grow, and one end of the island, as the girls of Central High knew, was almost a jungle.

But at the eastern end--that nearest the head of Rocky River--was a pleasant grove on a high knoll, where the old cabin stood. There they proposed to camp.

Indeed, Mr. Tom Hargrew, Bobby's father, had been kind enough to send the girls' tents up to the island with the men he had directed to repair the cabin, and the party expected to find the camp pitched, and everything ready for them when they arrived at Acorn Island.

This would scarcely be before dark, for there was some current to Rocky River, although its channel was deep and there were no bridges or other barriers which the powerboats and their tows could not easily pa.s.s.

The boys expected to have to rough it at the site of _their_ camp for the first night, and they had come prepared for all emergencies of wind and weather.

All, did we say? All but one!

In the confusion of getting under way the details of Prettyman Sweet's outing suit, and his general get-up for camping in the wilds, was scarcely noticed. Once the boats were steering up the lake toward Lumberport, a sudden shriek from Billy Long drew the attention of the girls and Mrs. Morse to the object to which he pointed.

"It's not! it's not! my eyes deceive me!" panted Short and Long, who was the third member of the crew of boys aboard the _Bonnie La.s.s_, Chet and Lance being the other two.

Short and Long was pointing to the other powerboat that was drawing in beside the _Bonnie La.s.s_, Pretty himself was at the wheel of the _d.u.c.h.ess_ for he had learned to manage her.

"What _is_ the matter with you, Billy?" Chet demanded.

"What _is_ it I see?" begged the younger boy, wringing his hands and glaring across the short strip of water between the powerboats. "I know there ain't no sech animile, as the farmer said when he first saw the giraffe at the circus."

"What's eating you, Billy?" asked Lance, who was giving his attention to the steering of the _Bonnie La.s.s_. "Don't frighten the girls and Mrs. Morse to death."

"It's just some joke of Billy's," began Jess, when the very short boy broke in with:

"If _that's_ a joke, may I never see another! It is a phantom! It's a nightmare! It's something that comes to you in a bad dream."

"_What?_" demanded Chet, suddenly shaking Short and Long by the collar.

"Don't, Chetwood," begged Billy. "I'm not strong. I'm sea-sick. That thing yonder has queered me----"

"What thing?" asked Laura. "We don't see the joke, Billy."