The Motor Girls on Cedar Lake | Page 7

he was fibbin'. But--say miss. There's this about Jim. He don't ever take
the trouble to make up a yam unless he has a motive. Now I'll bet Jim
knows something about them lads."
"Where does this man live?" asked Cora.
"He don't live no place in particular, but in general he stays at the
shanty, when he ain't on the water. But he's a regular fish. The young
'uns calls him a fish hawk."
"How could we get to his place? Do you think he is at the shanty now?"
went on Cora, determined to find out something of the man, for she had
reason to believe that the dock-hand knew what he was talking about.
"Bless you, child! It ain't no place for young girls like you to go to any
time, much less at night. But I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll jest take a look
around myself. I sort of like a girl who knows how to talk to old Ben
without being sassy."
"Thank you very much, Ben, but I really must hurry to trace the boys. I
suppose you have no police around the island?"
"Wall, there's Constable Hannon. He is all right to trace a thing when
you tell him where it is, but Tom Hannon hates to think." Ben raised
the lantern above his head and then, as if satisfied that the signaling

was all finished, he placed the lantern on a hook that hung over the
edge of the dock.
"Oh, Cora," put in Bess, "it is almost eight O'clock. We must hurry
along."
"I know, Bess dear, but I had to find out all this man knew. Now I am
satisfied to start for the other end of the lake."
Cora's voice betrayed the emotion she was feeling in spite of her
outward calm. The matter was now assuming a very serious aspect.
"One thing seems certain," she said to all who were listening, "they
could not all have been drowned. They were all expert swimmers. Nor
would they go to any merry-go-'round and leave us waiting for them.
The question now is, what could have detained them?"
"Well, here comes Jim now," said Ben. "Just you keep quiet, and I'll
pump him."
A man came slouching along the dock. He had the way of seeming
much younger than he pretended to be--that is he walked with his head
down although his shoulders were straight and broad as those of any
well trained athlete. The three girls instantly decided that this man had
some strange motive in his manner. He was shamming, they thought.
"Hello there, Ben," he called to the dock hand jokingly. "How's the
tide?"
"Not much tide on this here lake," replied Ben sharply. "Never knowed
much about them tides, as I've lived at this hole most all my born days.
But how was business to-day? That was quite a fleet. How'd you make
out?"
"Oh, same as usual," and Jim Peters looked from under his big hat at
the girls. "Got company?"
"Yes, a couple friends of the old lady's. They're camping here."

"Oh," half-growled the man understandingly as he made his way to the
water's edge.
"Where're you goin' now?" asked Ben.
"Up the lake," replied the man.
"Oh, say," spoke Ben as if the thought had just occurred to him, "where
did you say them young fellers went? The ones who started out in a
canoe?"
Now Cora saw that this was the man who had come down the lake with
the canoe trailing behind his rowboat. He stepped into the lantern's light,
and both Bess and Belle must also have recognized him, for they shot a
meaning glance at Cora.
"What fellows?" drawled the man in answer to Ben's question.
"The ones I asked you about. You said they went to the
merry-go-'round. Did they?"
"Yep," replied the man sententiously.
"Where is that?" asked Cora, unable to restrain herself longer.
"At the Peak," he said vaguely. Then he stepped into his rowboat and
before anyone could question him further he was pulling up the lake.
"Well, I'll be hung! Excuse me ladies, but I am that surprised," said Ben
apologetically. "Say, that fellow knows about the kids, and we've got to
follow him. But how?"
"In my motor boat," proposed Cora quickly. "We could overtake him in
that before he had any idea we were following him!"
"Have you a motor boat? Good! Where is it? Here, I'll call Dan. He kin
run faster than a deer. Dan! Dan! Dan!" shouted the old man, and from
a nearby rowboat, where, evidently, some boys were having some sort
of a harmless game, Dan appeared. He was a tall youth, the sort that

seems to grow near the water. "Hey Dan, I want you to go where