"I declare," said Cora, "it"s a pity the bear didn"t get you boys after all."
"_We_ may get _him_ yet," said Walter. "I"m not willing to let those fish of mine go unavenged. Perhaps we can get some guns from Joel and round this old fellow up. It certainly would do me a lot of good to have his skin for a rug."
"He may have his own ideas about that," replied Bess. "You"d better let well enough alone."
"I see we"re not the only ones on the lake," remarked Cora, pointing to a small boat about a mile away.
"Some fellow out fishing in a rowboat," p.r.o.nounced Jack, after a moment"s examination. "Let"s go down that way and see what luck he"s having."
"He doesn"t seem to be fishing," observed Belle, as the _Water Sprite_ turned in the direction of the rowboat. "In fact, he seems trying to attract our attention. There, he"s waving at us. Let"s hurry. Perhaps he"s in trouble."
Jack sent the _Water Sprite_ flying at full speed, and the distance between the boats rapidly narrowed.
"Upon my word!" cried Belle, "I believe it"s Mr. Morley."
"So it is," acquiesced Cora.
"I don"t see any oars in his boat," said Paul.
"Looks as though he were adrift," remarked Walter.
When he was within a few yards, Jack shut off the engine, and the _Water Sprite_ drifted lazily down alongside the rowboat.
It was indeed the botanist, and he smiled cordially, if a little sheepishly, as they shouted greetings to him.
"I"m mighty glad to see you young people," he returned. "I rather thought it was your boat, but she looks so gay in her new coat that I wasn"t sure of it."
"Where are your oars?" asked Jack.
"Thereby hangs a tale," smiled Mr. Morley.
"Come aboard and tell us all about it," replied Cora. "We"ll fasten your boat to the stern and pull it along."
Mr. Morley climbed on board, helped by willing hands, and Walter secured the rowboat by a rope round a cleat in the stern.
"It"s a simple story," laughed Mr. Morley. "Indeed, simple is the only word that properly expresses it. The fact is that I rowed over to the other side of the lake to find some specimens that I had reason to think were growing there. I got them all right and rowed back to the island. I put the oars out of the boat on the dock, and was going to get out myself, when something peculiar about one of the specimens attracted my attention, and I sat down in the boat to examine it more closely. I got so engrossed in it that I forgot everything else. Then suddenly I woke up to the fact that the boat had drifted away from the dock, and I was in the middle of the lake without oars. I was trying to paddle with my hands, but wasn"t accomplishing much, when your boat came in sight. I"m always glad to see you young folks, but I don"t mind admitting that I"m especially glad to see you to-day."
"And we are to see you," returned Cora warmly. "How lucky it was that we made up our mind to spend to-day on the lake."
"We"ll take you right over to your island," said Jack.
"It"s awfully good of you," returned Mr. Morley. "I hope it won"t interfere with any other plans you may have made."
"Not a bit," answered Cora. "As a matter of fact, I was going to ask Jack to stop at the island before we went home to-night. I wanted to scold you for not having come over to see us at Kill Kare, as you promised."
"I ought to be scolded," admitted Mr. Morley. "It hasn"t been, however, because I didn"t want to come. But I"ve had a very painful and difficult problem that I"ve felt I must solve and that has taken up all my time.
But I shall certainly give myself the pleasure of calling before long.
"But you have had some very stirring adventures of your own since I saw you last, I understand," he continued. "What"s this I hear about your being lost in the woods and rescued by an aeroplane, Miss Kimball?"
"It"s true enough," smiled Cora, and she gave him some of the details.
"But how did you come to hear anything about it?" she asked curiously.
"I was talking with Mr. Baxter recently and he told me about it," replied Mr. Morley.
"Mr. Baxter!" exclaimed Cora in surprise. "We know him very well and he was very kind and helpful while the search was going on. But I didn"t know that you were acquainted with him."
"He"s doing some special work for me," Mr. Morley explained, "and we often have occasion to consult together. He"s a very clever man in his particular line."
Cora would have given the world to ask just then what Mr. Baxter"s line of work was, but she felt that she might be prying. She waited expectantly, hoping that the botanist would mention it of his own accord, but he did not, and they were soon talking of other things.
Of course they told him of their adventure with the bear, and he laughed heartily at the way the brute had made away with their fish dinner.
"If he didn"t leave you enough," he said heartily, "I"d be very glad to have you come up to the cabin with me and let me knock you up a meal."
"Oh, we had plenty without the fish," laughed Cora. "But thank you just the same. And by the way, we"re going to have an outdoor spread on the lawn at Kill Kare before long, in recognition of the kindness of those who tried to bring the prodigal daughter out of the wilderness. I expect that your friend Mr. Baxter will be there, and I"d dearly love to have you come, too."
"When you"ve fixed on the exact date, let me know, and I certainly will,"
replied Mr. Morley. "But here we are now, and there are the oars lying on the dock as a proof of my foolishness," he added with a laugh.
"You"ve put me under a great obligation," he said in parting. "I might have drifted along the greater part of the day, and perhaps the night, before I touched sh.o.r.e somewhere."
"One good turn deserves another," returned Jack, "and we haven"t forgotten how royally you helped us on the day the _Water Sprite_ got into trouble."
They waved to him as the boat drew away and shaped its course for Kill Kare.
"It"s mighty lucky we came along, just the same," observed Belle.
"Suppose, by any chance, he had drifted ash.o.r.e and found our friend the bear waiting for him."
"And he without any oars in his boat," added Bess, with a little shudder.
CHAPTER XXII THE GYPSY CAMP
Cora sat in a brown study as the boat hummed its way to the home landing.
"A penny for your thoughts, fair lady," said Walter, as he lounged lazily on the cushions.
"Why," said Cora, "I was wondering what were the special business relations between Mr. Morley and Mr. Baxter."
"Hard to tell," replied Walter lightly. "Perhaps Mr. Baxter is an author or an ill.u.s.trator, and they"re getting up a book together on botany, or something of the kind."
"I hardly think it"s that," put in Jack. "I told you before that I thought he was a detective, and something that he said when Cora was lost makes me believe it all the more. He said that he knew the authorities in some of the towns, and they"d be glad to oblige him. That sounds to me more like a detective than an author talking."
"It does for a fact," agreed Paul. "But what do you suppose a detective and Mr. Morley have in common?"