The Motor Girls on the Coast: or, The Waif From the Sea

“Come, we will go back to the bungalow,” suggested Cora. “I must tell the lawyer about it. He may wish to take some action.”

A little later they were back in the summer cottage, where, to the wonderment of the others, the strange story was told with all the details, for when Cora’s car developed the tire trouble the rest had continued on, Jack and Ed remaining behind.

“Oh, I’m glad I was not along!” breathed Belle.

“And I wish I had been!” exclaimed Walter. “Jack, you and Ed had all the fun.”

“I didn’t do anything,” said Ed. “Jack was the hero.”

“Only a near-hero,” said Cora’s brother. “I didn’t get near enough to do any damage.”

Mr. Beacon, the lawyer, on hearing the account of what had happened, at once took steps to expedite the matter of the removal of Mr. Cross as guardian of Nancy Ford. He declared that the attempted abduction would operate against the unprincipled man. The matter of the loss of the money, for which Mrs. Raymond was once suspected, had been gone into, and the indications pointed in many ways to Mr. Cross and his crony.

“But it doesn’t seem as if Mrs. Raymond would ever be found,” sighed Cora. “Poor woman!”

“Yes, my sister must be having a hard time,” said the keeper of the light. “I wish she would come to me. I could give her a good home now. The work is almost too much for Rosalie.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, Daddy!” exclaimed the little “mermaid.”

Summer was wearing on. It had been a most glorious one and the bungalow residents had enjoyed it thoroughly. They went off on several motoring trips, but they were careful always to remain in one party, and even then Nancy could not forbear a nervous glance about whenever another auto approached.

But Mr. Cross appeared to have taken himself to parts unknown. Private detectives who were looking for him, on an order of the court to which Mr. Beacon had appealed, reported that they could get no trace of him. Nor was the whereabouts of the missing Mrs. Raymond discovered.

In their two motor boats the young people paid visits to many near-by resorts, occasionally, when the weather was fine, even venturing out on the ocean. But, save for Cora, the girls were always a little timid about this, and so the ocean trips were not numerous.

One day Mr. Haley came hurrying over to the girls’ bungalow from the lighthouse. He held a paper in his hand.

“Where is Miss Kimball?” he asked of Belle, who answered his knock. “I must see her at once.”

“Why, has anything happened?” Belle asked in sudden alarm. She looked down on the beach, and was relieved to see Nancy safe there.

“No, miss, nothing has happened–yet,” replied the keeper. “But I received a strange message just now, and I want to tell Miss Kimball.”

“Cora!” called Belle, and Cora, who had been in an inner room, came out.

“What is it?” she asked, and Mr. Haley handed her the piece of paper.

“I just found that on my doorstep,” he explained. “I was home all alone, my helper being in town buying supplies, and Rosalie and Dick being out in the boat. Read it.”

“But how did it get there?” asked Cora, as she stepped over to a window to see more plainly.

“I don’t know, except some boy must have brought it there, left it and run away. It was weighted with a stone.”

“Then that’s probably how it was left,” suggested Belle. “But what is so mysterious about it What does it say, Cora?”

Cora read:

“If you would have news of your sister come alone to Shark’s Tooth at nine to-night.”

CHAPTER XXIX

AT THE SHARK’S TOOTH

“What a strange note!”

“Isn’t it? And the odd way it was delivered!”

“What is the Shark’s Tooth, Mr. Haley?”

The boys and girls were all together in the bungalow of the latter–or, rather, were out on the broad porch, for, following the visit of the light keeper, with the strange letter, they had gathered to discuss the matter.

“The Shark’s Tooth,” said Mr. Haley, “is a long, low ledge of rock, jutting out in the water about a mile above the light. It looks somewhat like a big tooth–the end of it does, I mean.”

“Will you go there?” asked Jack.

“I sure will, my boy.”

“Maybe it’s a trap,” suggested Ed. “This fellow Cross may be trying to get hold of you, Mr. Haley.”

“I’m not afraid of him. I think I’ll be his match,” and certainly the sturdy keeper looked able to take care of himself.

“But he may not be alone,” suggested Walter.

“However, we could go with you,” he added hopefully.

“The note says to come alone, my lad, and alone I’ll go. I’d do more than that to get news of poor Margaret. I’m not afraid.”

“You boys might be within call,” suggested Cora. “You need not be seen.”

“Well, I’d consent to that,” agreed Mr. Haley. “And it might be a good thing. And yet, somehow, I’m not worried.”

“This is certainly a trap!” declared Norton. “They want you to go there, a lonely spot–after dark. Probably they’ll take you off in a boat! Ha! I have it! Wreckers!” and he struck a dramatic posture.

“Wreckers?” questioned Jack.

“Yes, don’t you see. They want to get Mr. Haley in their control. Then they’ll carry him off, some of them will put out the light and lure vessels ashore by means of a false beacon. Then they’ll get the booty!”

“Say, what sort of a dime novel have you been reading lately?” asked Ed, with a laugh. “Wreckers!”

“Sure!” maintained Norton, earnestly.

“No, lad,” said Mr. Haley, quietly, “it isn’t wreckers, for the light would be well defended by my helper, even if they got me. Besides it’s dead low water at nine to-night, and they couldn’t get a boat within a mile of the Shark’s Tooth without staving a hole in her. The only approach is from the beach. I’m not afraid.”

“Besides,” added Cora, “this note was written by a woman. That’s plain.”

“A trick!” declared Norton, who seemed to insist on the melodramatic theory.

“Is this like your sister’s writing?” asked Belle.