On the beach, between the sea and the tents, the blaze of the camp fire flickered in the darkness, casting an uneven light on the beach. On the yacht all was still and peaceful. One by one her lights had gone out, until only the anchor lights, which she was required by law to show, remained.
"They"ve gone to sleep on board the yacht," whispered Bessie. "That looks as if they didn"t mean to do anything to-night, doesn"t it, Dolly?"
"I suppose so, Bessie. But I"m not satisfied."
Neither, wholly, in spite of her rea.s.suring words, was Eleanor. Had there been any way of moving from the camp that night, she would probably have taken it. But there seemed to be nothing for it but to wait there until morning, at least.
"We"ll stay here," she said, as good-nights were being exchanged, "but we"ll set a guard for the night. Margery, I wish you and Mary King would take the first watch. You"ll be relieved at one o"clock. You"re not too tired, are you?"
"No, indeed," said both girls.
"I think I ought to take the watch. This is partly on my account," said Bessie.
"Sleep first, and perhaps you can take the second spell, with Dolly,"
said Eleanor. "You"ve had a harder day than the rest of us, and you must be tired now."
Bessie and Dolly were, indeed, very tired. The fact that the camp was not to be left unguarded while they slept seemed to rea.s.sure Dolly, and she and Bessie were soon sound asleep. Only the noise of the light surf disturbed the intense stillness, and that had a soothing, musical quality that made it far from a disturbance to those who slept.
But that peace was to be rudely shattered before the first watch was over. It was just after midnight when a wild tumult aroused the camp, and Bessie and Dolly, springing to their feet, saw that the beach was as light as day--and that the light did not come from the camp fire.
Confused and sleepy as they were, they saw the cause in a moment--the big living tent, in which meals were to be eaten in case of rainy weather, was all ablaze, and the wind that had sprung up during the night was blowing the sparks to the other tents, which caught fire as the girls, frightened and almost panic stricken, rushed out.
For a moment there was no concerted effort, but then Eleanor took command of the situation, and in a moment a line had been formed, and pails full of water from the sea were being handed from one girl to another.
The yacht had sprung into life at the first sign of the fire, and now, as the girls worked, they heard the sound of oars, as boats were hurriedly pushed ash.o.r.e. In a minute a dozen men had joined them in their fight against the fire, and, thanks to this unexpected aid, one or two of the tents, which had been furthest from the one in which the blaze had started, were saved.
The men from the yacht worked heroically, but their presence and their shouts created a new confusion. And in the midst of it Bessie, a pail of water in her hand, saw a man seize Zara and carry her, struggling, toward a boat. She was just about to cry out when a hand covered her mouth, and the next instant she was lifted in strong arms, carried to the boat, and pushed in. Then two men sprang aboard, and one held the girls, while the other pulled quickly toward the yacht. They were prisoners!
CHAPTER XV
DOLLY RANSOM MAKES GOOD
"Keep still, and you won"t be hurt!" commanded the man who held them.
Bessie had no choice in the matter for his hand covered her mouth, and, even had she wished to do so, she could not have cried out.
In a moment, too, looking toward Zara, she saw that she had fainted, and her own predicament was made worse than ever, since the ruffian who held her could now devote all his attention to her. So, utterly helpless, and almost ready to despair, Bessie had to submit to being carried up the little companion ladder that ran to the yacht"s deck.
As soon as she was on deck a handkerchief was slipped over her eyes, and, though she could hear the low murmur of voices, and was almost sure that one was that of Mr. Holmes, her arch enemy, she could not be positive. Her one hope now was that Dolly or some one of the others on the beach would have seen her abduction. But, even if they had, what could they do?
"Suppose they did see," poor Bessie thought to herself; "they couldn"t do anything. It would take a lot of strong men to come on board this yacht and get us off, and the girls wouldn"t be able to do anything at all."
She was not left long on the yacht"s deck. Almost at once she was carried below, and in a few minutes she found herself in a cabin, where the handkerchief was taken from her eyes. The cabin was a pretty one, but Bessie was in no mood to appreciate that. She hated the sight of its luxury; all she wanted was to be back with the girls on the beach, no matter how great the discomfort after the fire might be.
Zara, who had not yet revived, was brought down after her and laid on a sofa. Then she and Bessie were left alone with the big man who had carried Bessie from the beach. She thought that he was Jeff, the man who had left the two faithless sentinels to watch the path from the cliff.
And she noticed, to her surprise, that, though his speech and manners were rough, there was a look about him that was not unkindly.
"Now, see here, sis," he said, gently enough, "we don"t aim to treat you badly here. You"ve run away from home, and that"s not right. We"re going to see that you get back to them as has the best right to look after you, but we don"t want you to be uncomfortable."
"How can I help it?" asked Bessie, indignantly.
"Just you behave yourself and keep quiet, and you"ll be all right," said Jeff. Bessie was sure of his ident.i.ty now. "You"ll have this pretty room here to yourselves, and you"ll have lots to eat. It"ll be better food than you got with that pack of chattering girls, too. We"ll up anchor and be off pretty soon, and then you can come up on deck and have a good time. But as long as we"re here, why, you"ll have to stay below."
Bessie got her first gleam of hope from that speech. If they stayed in Green Cove a little while, there was always the chance that something might happen.
"You see, sis," said Jeff, with a grin, "after a while your folks there will find you"re missing, and, like enough, they"ll suspicion that we done it; took you off, I mean. "Twouldn"t make no great difference if they did know it," Jeff went on. "But the boss thinks it"s just as well if we throw them off a bit--guess he wants to have some fun with them."
"Who is your "boss"?" asked Bessie, quickly. "I should think you would be ashamed of yourself, treating girls who can"t fight back this way! Do you call yourself a man?"
"Easy there, sis!" said Jeff, with a roar of laughter. "You can"t make me mad. Orders is orders, you know, and you did wrong when you run away like you did. And I ain"t tellin" you who the boss is. What you don"t know won"t hurt you--and that goes for your friends, too."
He left them alone then, and a faint hope was left behind him. Now that she had the chance, Bessie turned her attention to Zara. There was water in the cabin, and in a few minutes she had revived her chum, and was able to tell her what had happened. Poor Zara seemed to be completely overcome.
"Oh, Bessie, we haven"t got a chance this time!" she said. "I"ll have to go back and work for Farmer Weeks, and you--will they make you go back to Maw Hoover?"
"Never say die, Zara! As long as the yacht stays in the cove there is a chance that we"ll be rescued. That man didn"t know it, but he"ll never be able to make Miss Eleanor believe we"re not on this yacht.
Listen--what"s that?"
There was a sound of hasty footsteps outside, and Jeff came in hurriedly. He slipped back a panel at one side of the cabin, and revealed a little closet.
"In there with you--both of you!" he said. "And I"m sorry, but you"ll have to be quiet, and there"s only one way."
In a trice their hands and feet were bound, and handkerchiefs were stuffed into their mouths. Then they were pushed into the closet and the panel was slipped back into place. They were helpless. Unable to speak, or to beat hands or feet against the thin wood, there was no way in which they could make their presence known. And in a moment they knew the reason for this precaution. For, through the wood of the panel, wafer thin, they heard Miss Eleanor"s voice.
"You can"t deceive me, sir!" they heard her say. "Those girls must be on this yacht, and I warn you that you had better give them up. Kidnapping is a serious offence in this state."
"You can see for yourself they"re not here, ma"am," said Jeff. "And I don"t take this kindly at all, ma"am. Why, when I saw the fire in your camp, I went ash.o.r.e with my men to try to help you--and now you make this charge against us."
"I certainly do!" said Eleanor, with spirit. "I am quite sure that this is the only place where my girls can be, and I mean to have them back.
As to the fire, you helped us, it is true. But I am as certain as I can be of anything that you had something to do with starting it before you tried to put it out!"
"There"s no use talking to you, ma"am, and I won"t try it," said Jeff.
"If you"re crazy enough to believe anything like that, I could talk all day and you"d still believe it. Here"s the yacht--you"re welcome to go over her and see for yourself. You won"t find the girls, because they"re not aboard. That"s a good reason, I guess."
"Then let me see Mr. Holmes."
"There you go again, ma"am! Didn"t I tell you on deck that there"s no such party aboard, and that I never even heard of him? If you"re satisfied now, we"ll be glad to have you go ash.o.r.e, because I want to sail. I"ve got business down the coast."
"I shall not go ash.o.r.e until I have found my girls," said Eleanor. There were tears of baffled anger in her voice, and Bessie thrilled with indignant sympathy at the idea that she was within a few feet of her best friend without being able to let her know that she was there.
"Then you"ll be put ash.o.r.e--gently, but firmly, as the books say," said Jeff. "You"re dead right, ma"am, kidnappin" is a bad sort of business in this state, and I don"t aim to give you a chance to say we carried you off with us against your will. Sail we will--and you"ll stay behind.
This is my boat, and I"ve got a right to put off anyone that is trespa.s.sin"."
"You brute!" gasped Eleanor. "Don"t you dare to touch me!"
"Will you go of your own accord, then?"