The Deserted Yacht Part 7

Since there was slight chance he would return, the girls went back to their boat and soon reached The Flora. They were informed by a sailor that during their absence Rex had been there. A number of reporters had called too, but had not been permitted to board the vessel.

"After lunch I must straighten up Father's cabin," Enid remarked to her chum. "I'd do it now only I have a headache. I believe I'll lie down for an hour or so."

After her friend had gone to her room, Madge sat out on deck and tried to read. Soon the magazine fell to her lap and she stared thoughtfully out across the bay. At length she arose.

"I may as well put Mr. Burnett's cabin to rights," she decided. "I know it's a task Enid dreads."

She found the cabin door unlocked and entered. Everything was just as she had discovered it the morning of her arrival at Cheltham Bay. After a preliminary survey, she began at one corner of the room, straightening rugs and rearranging furniture. She picked up newspapers, books and articles which had been hurled to the floor in the desperate struggle.

In righting the objects on the desk, her attention was attracted to a sc.r.a.p of paper which had fallen to the floor. Madge did not recall having noticed it there before. Thinking that it must have blown from the desk when the door was opened, she bent down and picked it up.

She gave it a casual glance and then stared in blank astonishment.

"Great jumping snakes!" she exclaimed. "Where did this come from?"

With the paper clutched tightly in her hand, she darted out the door and ran toward Enid's cabin.

CHAPTER VIII An Important Communication

Madge flung open the cabin door and burst in upon Enid who was lying upon the bed, though fully awake.

"Look at this!" she cried. "I found it in your father's cabin just now."

"What is it?" Enid demanded, abruptly rising.

"It's a communication from those men who kidnapped your father. Read it!"

Enid s.n.a.t.c.hed at the paper and eagerly scanned the message. It read:

"Deliver the Zudi Drum Bowl on midnight of the 29th at the white birch on Cedar Point if you wish to save your father. Come alone and communicate with no one. If the police learn of this note, your father's life will be the forfeit."

The note was signed with three triangles and a strange symbol, unlike anything the girls had ever seen before.

"How dreadful!" Enid gasped.

"What does it all mean?" Madge demanded. "Did you ever hear of this thing they call the Zudi Drum Bowl?"

Enid nodded soberly. Her face was very white.

"Oh, Madge, I'm afraid we're dealing with a band of the worst sort of criminals," she half whispered. "This isn't an ordinary kidnapping case.

It's the Zudi Drum that has caused all the trouble."

"Tell me what it's all about," Madge commanded. "This note is Greek to me."

"You know Father collects antiques and the like," Enid explained. "He has things from all over the world. The Zudi Drum Bowl is one of his most cherished trophies."

"Just what is it?"

"It's a sort of drum used in former times by a primitive tribe of Indian natives. It looks like a huge jar, elaborately decorated, but the mouth has an overhanging lip so that when a dried skin is stretched over the opening, it can be used as a drum. It was used only for special ceremonial meetings, I believe."

"How did your father get possession of it?"

"It was during our trip to India, two years ago. He purchased it from an antique dealer and paid a steep price for it too."

"If it is so valuable that may explain why the kidnappers are trying to get it."

"The drum would have slight value to anyone not interested in antiques. I can't understand how the news leaked out that it was in Father's possession. He took pains to keep the matter quiet."

"Where is Cedar Point?" Madge questioned next.

"Up the bay about fifty miles, I'd judge. In a most desolate locality."

"You have no intention of going there, of course."

"Oh, but I must!" Enid cried. "It's the only way to save Father. The Zudi Drum is valuable, but I can't consider the cost."

"I was thinking of other things besides the value of the trophy," Madge said slowly. "I was thinking of your own safety. You mustn't go to Cedar Point alone, Enid. Turn the note over to the police. They'll know how to deal with the situation."

"Oh, no, I can't do that! For Father's sake we must obey orders implicitly. I'll give them the Zudi Drum Bowl-anything they ask."

Madge saw that it was useless to argue with Enid in her present distraught state of mind. However, she did not give up the idea of trying to persuade her chum to her way of thinking at a later time. She believed that they were dealing with a clever band of criminals, a group of men who would stop at nothing to further their own schemes. It seemed to her that if Enid went alone to Cedar Point, she would only invite trouble.

Even if the Zudi Drum were turned over to the kidnappers, there was no a.s.surance that Mr. Burnett would be released.

"I wish Jack French were here," she thought, "he would know what to do."

"I'm not sure where the Drum Bowl is," Enid broke in upon her reflection, "but I know it's not here on the yacht. Father must keep it with his other valuables at home. The place has been closed up for weeks."

"But your home is two hundred miles up the coast, Enid."

"I know, I must find some way to get there."

"Today is the twenty-seventh," Madge reminded.

"Perhaps Rex will take me in his amphibian. I'll get there somehow."

Madge made no further attempt to discourage Enid, for she scarcely knew what was the wisest course to follow if they were not to disclose their information to the police. It struck her as most singular that the kidnappers would go to such lengths to secure possession of a trophy which apparently was highly valued only by collectors. She could have understood a demand for a large sum of money but no such request had been made.

"I wonder how the note was left in Father's room?" Enid mused. "I'm sure it wasn't there yesterday."

"No, the detectives surely would have found it for they went over the place with a fine tooth comb."

"I don't see how it could have been left while we were away this morning either," Enid went on reflectively. "With the sailors here, it would have been impossible."

"My guess is that the note was left by last night's prowler."