A Runaway Boat

The speeding boat which had struck the girls' craft now veered sharply away and raced downstream.

Meanwhile, the impact had caused Bess to lose her balance. She hit her head on the side of the boat and toppled into the water. Instantly Nancy turned off the motor. If Bess were unconscious, there was no time to lose! George had already dived over the side. When she located her cousin, she grasped the inert form with her left arm and struck out with the other for the boat. Nancy leaned over and helped pull the unconscious Bess aboard. «Is she-?» Nancy began.

At that moment Bess opened her eyes and coughed several times. Nancy patted her on the back.

«I'm-all-right,» Bess said weakly. «Our boat-» She tried to point.

For the first time the others realized that water was filling the craft at an alarming rate through a small hole in its side.

«Quick, George! Bail!» Nancy cried. George picked up the bucket she had been using before and started to work. Nancy crumpled up a newspaper lying on the bottom of the boat and stuffed the hole with it. In a tackle box she found a small burlap sack, which she rolled up and added to the paper. In a moment the inflow of rushing water was reduced to a trickle. «Good!» George panted and sat down. «Now we can chase that other boat!»

It was not in sight, however, and Nancy decided it would be useless to try pursuing the faster craft. She turned her attention to Bess. «How are you feeling?» she asked.

«All right. But I'd like to go home.» «We will,» said Nancy. «I'm afraid this boat can't stand much more.»

«I wish we hadn't lost the fellow who ruined it,» said George. «If I ever see him-» «Would you recognize him?» Nancy asked. George said she would not, and Bess had not gotten a good look at him either. «I saw him,» Nancy said slowly. «I'm sure I'd recognize his face. And he was thin and wore a light-blue cap.»

The girls dreaded returning to Campbell's Landing with their damaged craft. But when the owner saw the damaged craft, he was not angry. «It won't cost more than twenty-five dollars to repair it,» he assured them. «My boat rental insurance will take care of it.»

After saying good-by, Nancy drove her friends home. As Bess got out of the car, she said, «I'm sorry our trip to Heath Castle was ruined.» Nancy smiled. «We'll go another time.» The following day's investigation unearthed no clue to the identity of the boatman. Though Nancy described him and his blue-and-white craft to several persons, not one of them was able to identify it. Finally she thought of Salty the clam digger.

«I'll drive down to his place on the river and talk with him,» she told Hannah Gruen. «He might also know something about the Heath estate.»

Nancy invited Bess to go along and proceeded toward the river. Sally's home was very quaint. Once it had been a small, attractive yacht. Now it was a beached wreck, weathered by sun and rain. Its only claim to any former glory was the Hag which flew proudly from the afterdeck. «Anyone here?» Nancy called.

«Come in, come in!» the former sailor invited. He was sitting with his feet up on a built-in table and eating beans out of a can.

When he saw the girls, he stood up. «Ye honor me, comin' here,» he said, his blue eyes twinkling. «But I'm goin' to have to disappoint ye. I've nary a clam today.»

«Oh, we didn't come to buy clams,» Nancy replied, glancing curiously at the furnishings of the yacht. The room was small and cluttered, but very clean. Salty's bunk was neatly made. On a shelf above it was an amazing array of sea shells. «I collect 'em,» the sailor explained, following Nancy's gaze. «Some o' those shells came from the Orient, an' some from right here in the Muskoka.»

He walked over to the shelf and pointed to a curious specimen. «That's called the washboard clam. It's one o' the biggest of our river clams. And this is a whelk from the seashore. You can get dye out of it when the critter's fresh.» «How interesting!» the girls exclaimed. Pleased by their attention, the man showed them other shells which were too large to stand on the narrow shelf. One, measuring three feet across, had come from an island in the Pacific. Nancy grinned. «What a pearl that might hold!» She told of her own loss, saying she was glad the pearl was not large and valuable. The former sailor showed the girls other treasures from the sea; huge fluted specimens and tiny, delicate shells. Amazed at the variety, Nancy asked Salty if he had collected them during his travels.

«No.» The clam digger laughed. «Mr. Heath gave 'em to me.»

The name startled Nancy. «Not Walter Heath?» «No. Ira Heath-Walt's father,» Salty answered. «He gave me the shells when he had his button factory on the inlet.»

«A button factory near here?» Bess asked in surprise.

«It's been closed for years. It was shut down when the supply o' fresh-water mussels gave out. Mollusk mother-of-pearl shells are used, you know, to make pearl buttons.»

«What became of Mr. Heath?» Nancy inquired. «Ira was born in England an' went back there on a visit. He died in London. His son Walt was left in charge here.»

«Did Ira build the castle?» Bess asked. Salty nodded, warming to the story. «Yes, Heath Castle was built to look like one o' those fancy English places. The gardens were beautiful a sight to set your eyes ablaze with admiration. Stone walls everywhere, with flowers an' vines, an' all kinds o' trees from everywhere in the world.»

Nancy was becoming more eager every minute to see the estate.

«But for me,» Salty went on, «the place is too lonesome. No houses close by. The old gent built it 'bout a mile up the river from the button factory. Walter lived in it, too, an' he used to do some o' his scientific experimentin' there.» «What kind of experiments?» Nancy asked. «Don't know,» said Salty. «Since Walt died, no one ever goes near the castle, or the factory on Harper's Inlet.»

«Harper's Inlet?» Nancy repeated thoughtfully.

«Someone must have been there yesterday.» «That's right,» Bess agreed. «We saw a motor-boat coming out of the inlet. It crashed into our boat.»

«Queer,» Salty commented. «I don't know what business anyone would have at the factory. Who was the fellow?»

«That's what we came to ask you,» Nancy replied.

She gave a complete account of the incident. Salty could not identify the man or his boat from her description, but he promised to watch for such a person.

«I'll keep an eye out for the boat, too,» he added. «Can't figure what the fellow would be doin' there. Fishin's no good there. Maybe I'll run up an' have a look.»

Satisfied that Salty would be able to locate the boat if anyone could, Nancy and Bess thanked him and left.

As they stepped onto the dock they saw that the weather had changed. Dark clouds filled the sky and the wind was whipping the river into whitecaps.

«I wanted to visit Heath Castle today,» Nancy said, «but it wouldn't be wise to take a boat out now.»

«Let's do it tomorrow,» Bess suggested.

«Then George can go with us,» Nancy said. A surprise awaited Nancy when she reached home. While she and Mrs. Gruen had been away, the two rosebushes had been replanted in the garden. They were only slightly wilted from having been moved twice.

«Oh, I'm so glad Joan brought them back!» Nancy declared. «I'm sure she wouldn't have taken them if that Hooper boy hadn't urged her to.»

Nancy was pressing earth firmly about the bushes when her father drove into the garage. She stopped her work and ran to greet him. Mr. Drew was a distinguished-looking man, tall and handsome.

«I'm happy you're back from your trip,» she said.

«Hello, Nancy.» He smiled. «How's the garden?»

«Better today. The rosebushes that were taken day before yesterday are home again.» The Drews went into the house together and Nancy told him about the boat, the Fenimore problems, and the mystery of Juliana's disap-pearance.

«Dad, tell me all you can about Ira Heath and his son Walter,» she said. «Did you know them?» «Only by reputation. For years they operated a very successful pearl button factory. Then the business went to pieces.»

«I already know that part,» Nancy said. «What about Heath Castle? After Walter Heath died, who took charge of the place?»

«Daniel Hector is the executor, I believe.» Nancy's mind flew to the unpleasant customer in the curio dealer's shop.

«The lawyer?» she asked.

«Yes,» Mr. Drew replied. «But I must say his sharp practice of law never appealed to me.» «Do you think Mr. Hector did everything possible to find Juliana?» Nancy asked thoughtfully. «I believe so.»

«Did you know her?»

«I saw her perform many times, and admired her dancing very much,» Mr. Drew replied. «Why she disappeared at the height of her career has always puzzled me.»

«Apparently she left no clues behind.»

«The case was a strange one,» her father said. «I guess her fiance was pretty broken up over her disappearance. I've always wondered if he might have had something to do with it.» After a pause he added, «Heath Castle might provide a key to the mystery.»

«I was thinking the same thing!» Nancy exclaimed with a mysterious twinkle in her eyes. «Tomorrow I'll go there and take a look around that castle and those old walls!»