Laura Lee Hope

“ In the cabin, struggling against the old crone, were Betty and Amy, disheveled and almost hysterical, but otherwise safe and sound.
"Allen!" gasped Betty, holding out her hands to him. He clasped them warmly, and the old crone, seeing that the whole affair was over, slunk off, whining something about meaning no harm to the "dearies"!
"Just watch those fellows that they don't do any mischief," said Henry to Tin-Back, when he had comforted his sister.
"Oh, they won't do any harm. They know it's all up. ”

“ The wind is right, and you can get the Pocohontas before she goes on the rocks."
"She's got the idea," declared Allen, admiringly. "We can save our boat, if we hustle."
"Then—'hustle'!" cried Betty, with a little blush, as she shook her head to rid her flashing eyes of raindrops. "Put us ashore at the dock, and save the Pocohontas."
"But what will you do?" asked Allen. "I don't like to leave you on the beach alone."
"We four girls won't be lonesome," declared Mollie. "It isn't the first time we've roughed it. Besides, there is some sort of a fisherman's shanty there. ”

“ Betty shuddered as she thought of Mollie and Grace sleeping in the little clump of trees. Suppose these horrid men should go back there and find them. It was horrible to contemplate.
"Well, you've got half of 'em. That ought [169] to be enough for what you want," said Jake, hoarsely chuckling.
Betty was puzzling her brains, trying to think why she and Amy had been thus captured. What object had the old fisherman and, too, why had the old crone been so eager to get them to her hut? Betty could only guess. Her head ached. ”

“ When the boys went off in the motor boat, the ignition system of which was not working to their satisfaction, the girls strolled down to the shore, walking along it.
"Let's go as far as the place we found the diamonds," proposed Amy.
"Think you might find some more?" asked Betty, with a smile.
"No such luck. But I thought perhaps we might see——"
"Those men again? No, thank you!" cried Grace.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mollie. "The beach is free, and it is broad daylight. Come along." ”

“ But the schooner of which Betty had spoken rose and fell at her anchor, and there was no sign of life aboard.
"This is just perfect," remarked Grace, as she found a comfortable position, leaning back [161] against a tree. "Please don't disturb me, any one, I'm going to sleep."
"I believe I'll join you," added Mollie. "Salt air always makes me drowsy. Or perhaps it is the effect of the bright sun on the sand." ”

“ Mollie said, with a laugh. "They are far too pretty and valuable to lose sight of. Though of course I want whoever owns them to get his property back."
"Even those horrid men?" asked Grace.
"Well, if they have a right to the diamonds, the fact of their being horrid, as you call it, should not deprive them of the stones," Betty said.
"We ought to get a reward, anyhow," spoke Amy. ”

“ Nelson patted his pocket.
"I'll take the box to my room, and lock it in my trunk," Betty said.
The evening wore on. It was one of beautiful [117] moonlight, and the party of young people went out on the beach to have a marshmallow roast over a drift-wood fire.
"The sea sparkles—just like diamonds," said Mollie, as they turned to go back to the cottage, when the little frolic had ended.
"Hush!" cautioned Betty. "Some one might hear you," and she looked out over the bay as though she might catch a glimpse of the rough men in the boat.
"You have diamonds on the brain," chided Grace. ”

“ Grace wanted to know.
"Not all. We agreed that it would be better to say nothing to any one else about it until he was ready to act."
"Oh, of course," admitted Mollie. "The fewer the outsiders are who know about the—well, let's call them 'apples,' and then no one will suspect. The fewer who know about the 'apples' so much the better. But I do hope we each get one—'apple'—out of it," and she laughed.
"We ought to," returned Betty. She looked back toward the sand dunes, possibly for a sight of the old fishwife, but no one was in view.
The girls wandered on. ”

“ A fellow wouldn't dare talk that way about anyone but his sister," confessed Will.
Merrily they discussed the finding of the diamonds, and what disposition might be made of them. The strange actions of the men in the boat, too, came in for a share of attention. The girls were quite sure the men had hidden the box in the sand, though whether or not they knew of the valuable contents was a question.
"Well, they'll look in vain for it now," declared Betty. "We have it," and she glanced at the now empty receptacle. ”

“ CHAPTER XVIII ANXIOUS DAYS
"Come on, boys!" cried Allen, evidently the first to sense the meaning of the alarm.
"Oh, but shouldn't we have some sort of weapons, you know?" spoke Percy.
"Get out of my way!" cried Roy Anderson, brushing past the dude. "My fists are the only weapons I want."
Betty and the other girls hung back in a frightened group. The maid's voice continued to ring out, and now Mrs. Nelson could be heard demanding to know what was the matter.
"Around to the side, fellows!" commanded Allen. "There's an outer door they'll probably try for." ”

“ CHAPTER XX CAUGHT
"That woman seems to—persecute us!" burst out Mollie, when the girls were well on their way again, out of range of the sand dunes, going down the beach where the salty air of the ocean and bay blew in their faces.
"Oh, hardly as bad as that," remarked Amy.
"Well, she always seems to be following us," insisted Mollie, "and I am positively tired of being asked to her cottage to drink milk."
"I'd never touch a thing she offered," said Betty. "I would be afraid it wouldn't be—clean."
"She always seems to leer at one so," went on Mollie. ”

“ Are they diamonds, Father?"
Anxiously the young people hung on Mr. Nelson's answer.
He laid aside the packages he had brought from Boston, and turned for a moment to greet his wife, who had come into the room. She had been told of the find as soon as it was discovered, and had been properly astonished.
"It takes the young folks to do things nowadays," he said, with a smile.
"Doesn't it?" she responded.
"But are they diamonds? That's what we want to know!" chanted Betty, her arms around her father's shoulders.
Mr. Nelson tested the stones much as Allen had done, but he went farther. ”

“ As the girls made a turn around some high sand dunes they heard the staccato puffing of a motor boat.
"Can that be the boys?" asked Mollie, quickly.
"Of course not! They are away behind us," declared Betty, "and that sound came from in front. See, there it is—a motor boat," and she pointed to one just leaving the shore of a little cove. ”

“ She had, after some thought, hidden the precious stones in her own room, wrapping the box in some sheets of asbestos, which Allen had left over after putting some on the muffler of the motor boat.
"The asbestos will protect the diamonds in case of fire," Betty said, "and I'll protect them in case of thieves. Anyhow, no one, not even the servants, know where they are, and it would take a good while to find them in my room." ”

“ Nelson could return, and those days were anxious ones indeed for the outdoor girls. The morning after the scare in the cellar inquiries were made, but no trace of the mysterious men was found.
"I can't stand this much longer!" declared Betty, one night. "I almost wish we'd never found the diamonds."
"You're nervous," said Mollie. "We've been too much in the house. To-morrow we shall try one of our old stunts—a picnic!"
"Good!" cried Grace. "That will be fun!" ”

“ They ought to be back now. They knew this chance might come any time."
"They have been lying in wait for us," thought Betty. It was one of the many ideas that raced through her brain at express-train speed. "That is why this old woman wanted us to come to her hut."
"There's some one now!" exclaimed the man, leaning up from having put a cord around Amy's ankles as she lay on a sand hill.
"If it isn't some one she's brought by her yells," snarled the fishwife.
"No, it's Jake, thank goodness!" muttered the man, as a rough-looking specimen, the counterpart of himself, peered around a dune. ”

“ Only Betty said nothing about the faces at the window of the fisherman's hut.
"Pry the cover off!" cried Will. "An axe is the best thing to use!"
"Indeed not!" exclaimed Betty. "Let's see if [86] we can't open it with a key. You have some odd ones; haven't you, Daddy?"
"Yes," assented Mr. Nelson, who was down at the shore for the week-end. "Betty, get them. You'll find them in that desk in the living room."
Betty's father had looked at the box on all sides, had shaken it, and had examined the lock through a reading glass.
"It sure is a find, all right!" declared Roy Anderson. ”

“ Mollie agreed. "The folks here want to know what you had for breakfast and what you're going to eat for luncheon and dinner. I suppose they can't help it."
"No, the natives haven't much to do," affirmed Betty, "except to talk about the summer cottagers. But we'll keep quiet about the diamonds, at least down here."
"If the natives only knew what we know!" exclaimed Grace. "Think of having dug up buried treasure from the sand!"
"Poor Old Tin-Back would be heartbroken if he ever heard of it," said Amy, gently. ”

“ There was the usual scramble on the part of our friends, and other passengers, to alight, and when the girls stood on the rather dingy platform of the station Mollie, looking about her in some disappointment, said:
"Ocean View! I don't see why they call it that. You can't see the ocean at all."
"It's down that way," said Mr. Nelson, with a wave of his hand toward the east. "Property is too valuable along the shore to allow of the village being there. The town is about a mile back from the water. We'll take a carriage to the cottage. You see the railroad doesn't run very close to the ocean." ”

“ Now if you girls——"
"I say!" broke in Percy.
"Hello! He's come to life!" laughed Roy.
"Has your watch stopped again?" demanded Will.
"This is the first I heard about you fellows going on a cruise," went on Percy. "I—I really, I don't know that I can quite make it, don't you know."
"Oh, mercy! What a calamity!" whispered Allen, in the depths of a sofa cushion.
"Will you—will you go out where it is very rough?" asked Percy.
"Rough! You should see the water along the New England coast!" cried Henry Blackford. "Why, even when it's smoothest, a boat nearly turns on her beam ends." ”

“ Then the sailing craft was worked up to the little dock, and the girls sprang out.
"We'll come back for you," promised Will.
"If you can't it will be all right," Betty assured him. "We can walk back along the beach after the storm. It isn't more than a mile or two, and we haven't done very much walking lately."
"Well, we'll see what happens," spoke Allen, anxious to get out to the Pocohontas, which was dangerously near the rocks.
The girls paused on the dock a moment, to watch the boys beating back out over the bay, and then turned to go up the beach. ”

“ I don't blame you a bit!" comforted Betty, her arms around the shrinking figure of Grace. "Go on back, you boys!" she commanded the others. "Our—our hair isn't fit to be seen!" and the boys retired, [120] snickering. No girl likes to be looked at in a dressing gown, when suddenly aroused from sleep. And one's hair doesn't appear half so becoming in that state as it does even under a bathing cap.
"But what does it all mean?" asked Mrs. Nelson, who had waited to put on something smarter than a dressing sack before venturing out into the hall.
"Grace thought papa was a burglar," explained Betty. ”

“ Now, let me see. Some of you will come with me, others will go to the fisherman's cabin, and others will start a search along the beach, and notify the life saving station. We must neglect nothing."
"Isn't she splendid?" asked Grace of Mollie. "I feel better already."
"So do I."
There was a hasty consultation, and three parties were made up. Percy offered the use of his car, and Allen elected to go in it with Mrs. Nelson, to town. The others would go to the fisherman's shack and to the life saving station, though at this time of year there was only one man on duty. ”

“ That is—oh, I wish you'd let me alone!" burst [72] out the blushing Amy, whereas Grace teased her all the more, until Betty put an end to it saying:
"Well, let's get along. The men don't seem to be coming back, and mamma may be worried, knowing that we went out when a storm was brewing. Old Tin-Back is sure to tell her that we went off defying the elements."
"Isn't he a queer old character?" remarked Mollie.
"Yes, but I like him," Betty answered. "He says he has never yet given up hope of finding some treasure washed ashore from a wreck. He's always looking as he walks along the beach." ”

“ Of course those men may only have been acting for others."
"But what are we to do?" asked Amy.
"We must try to find out to whom these diamonds belong," Betty said. "We'll have to watch the advertisements in the paper, and if we see none we'll advertise for ourselves. That's the law, I believe," and she looked at Allen.
"Yes, the finder of property must make all reasonable efforts to locate the owner," he said, "though of course he could claim compensation for such effort. I think the papers are our best chance for finding clues."
"Has there been a big diamond robbery lately?" asked Mollie. ”

“ Never was there a cleaner, brighter, more manly boy than Frank Allen, the hero of this series of boys' tales, and never was there a better crowd of lads to associate with than the students of the School. All boys will read these stories with deep interest. The rivalry between the towns along the river was of the keenest, and plots and counterplots to win the champions, at baseball, at football, at boat racing, at track athletics, and at ice hockey, were without number. ”

“ Grace remarked. "Everyone walks along the beach, and I believe no one is allowed to claim any land below high water mark, so it couldn't have been that."
"Maybe there are quicksands here!" exclaimed Amy, looking nervously about. "There are such [71] things, you know. The Goodwin Sands, in England, are awful. If you once are caught in a quicksand you never get out."
"Nothing like that around here," asserted Betty. "If there was, you can depend on it, Daddy never would have hired a cottage." ”