Every Man for Himself | Page 7

you please explain how you happened to be waiting for me at that particular spot?"
"Bless your heart, madam, I wasn't waiting for you! I happen to live nearby and was getting ready to step ashore when you grabbed my canoe and ordered me to keep quiet. I did so. Here we are."
"Your discretion was commendable," she approved. "It certainly is most extraordinary. I don't see where on earth--I guess my escort has taken French leave." She tried to laugh carelessly, but she could not hide the fact that she was greatly disturbed. "Will you paddle me across to the city?"
"And leave poor Joe out in the cold gray fog? Don't you think it would be better to turn back and give a holler or two?"
"Never mind him. He has gone home already very likely. I will pay you one dollar to paddle me over. Is that satisfactory?"
"It all depends. Supposing I refuse?"
"Then I would have to ask you to step into the water and swim to shore while I do my own paddling and keep down expenses."
"Presupposing, of course, that you own the canoe."
"It is too bad it is so dark," she retorted impatiently, "or you would know that a revolver is pointed straight at you this very moment."
Kendrick laughed in pure enjoyment of the situation.
"My dear young lady,"--he had decided that she was young and he wondered if she were pretty--"you force me to the conclusion that either you are bluffing outrageously or you are a desperate character! Please don't be frightened. I'm neither Steve Brodie, the Bridge Jumper, nor the famous Jack Dalton, and in this age of safety razors Bluebeards are extra muros. This isn't the opening spasm of some blood-and-thunder novel, you know. We're right here on Toronto Bay where one can get into trouble for not showing a light after dark. Will you oblige me by unhooking the lamp at the bow there and passing it back to me so that I can light up. I promise then to start earning that dollar without further delay."
He heard her fumbling with it. There was a splash in the water, a little cry of well feigned dismay.
"Oh, how careless of me! It--slipped out of my hand."
Phil grinned cheerfully as he began to dip his paddle, interest quickened. It was a neat sidestepping of his inconsiderate attempt to scrutinize her. She had taken the first trick.
"You do yourself an injustice, madam. Are you usually so careful when you are careless?"
"You have not told me your name yet," she reminded him, apparently more at ease now that she knew he intended to paddle her across the bay.
"My name? It's an Indian name--Watha--Hy. A. Watha, at your service, and I am very fond of canoeing. What's yours?"
"You need hardly ask that, Mr. Hiawatha, when you knew my sister, Minnie, so well," she laughed. "I am Mary Ha-ha!"
"You don't say!" chuckled Kendrick in appreciation. "The original little Merry Ha-Ha, eh?--Little Laughing-Gas!"
"If you are Hiawatha, why are you using a paddle?" she pursued. "I always understood from the Poet that all you had to do was to guide your canoe with your thoughts."
"Not when they're travelling in a circle. But this looks more like 'Blind Man's Buff' than 'Ring-Around-A-Rosy,' don't you think? Or are you trying to play 'Tag' with me? Well, you're 'It' anyway," he said, dropping all hint of banter in his tone. "I'd advise you to meet a few straight questions with straight answers. First, who is this Joe person you were expecting to do the canoeing for you?"
"My husband."
"And the people in the launch?"
"How should I know who they were? By what right do you ask me that?" she demanded.
"The circumstances are somewhat unusual, madam, you must admit," Kendrick reminded her sharply. "Do you wish me to play safe by handing you over to the police?"
"Police? My Good Gracious me! What crime have I committed?"
"That would be a matter for official enquiry. It may be that you and your husband are in the habit of wandering about the Island in a thick fog at two o'clock in the morning--picking daisies for the sick kiddies over at the Children's Home, I presume--but, to be perfectly frank with you, I doubt it. Besides, there is the little matter of the launch."
"Why are you so interested in that launch?"
"Because I happen to be the nephew of my uncle who happens to own it and to have left it in my charge during his absence," said Kendrick deliberately. "I'm laying the cards face up, madam. The launch is the property of Honorable Milton Waring, of whom you may have heard. Undoubtedly it has been stolen."
He was not prepared for the laughter with which his unknown passenger greeted this bold announcement. He knew she was trying to smother her mirth, but it finally