Frank Merriwell's Alarm Part 27

"If you were an Indian, you might find it; but no white man could find it here, as the ground is not favorable."

"I think that is right," admitted Frank, as he gave over the attempt.

"If you saw such a girl, I have a fancy I know who she is."

Harry started up, shouting:

"You do?"

"Sure."

"Then you saw her when you visited the lake before?"

"No."

"How is it that you are sure you know who she is if you never saw her before?"

"You are little numb just now, Harry, or you would have thought of it yourself. She must be the buried heiress."

Rattleton caught his breath.

"Right you are!" he exclaimed. "Why, it must be her!"

"It strikes me that way," nodded Frank.

"By Jove!" palpitated Harry; "she is a peafect perch--I mean a perfect peach! Merry, old chap, she takes the bun!"

Frank laughed.

"It's not often you get this way, Rattles," he said. "She must have hit you hard."

"Right where I live, old man. I'd like to win her."

"But you must not forget she is an heiress."

"Oh, come off! That doesn't cut any ice in this case. She was dressed like anything but an heiress, and----"

"You know why. She is living like anything except an heiress, and still she is one, just as hard."

"And that infernal dwarf is here searching for her!"

"Sure."

"We supposed he had gone East, with Bernard Belmont."

"Yes."

"Instead of that, Belmont sent him here to find the girl."

"Correct me, n.o.ble dook."

Harry started up, in great excitement.

"We must defend her, Frank--we must protect her from that wretched creature!" he cried. "I am ready."

"I see you are," smiled Merry. "The thought that she might be in danger has aroused you more than any amount of tonics. We can't protect her unless we can find her."

"And you said a short time ago that we would not fail to find her."

"We will not, and I hope we may be able to find her in time to be of a.s.sistance to her. To begin with, we must get our bicycles out of the lake. It is a fortunate thing they fell in the water."

"Fortunate?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It is pretty certain the dwarf would have smashed them if they had not."

"That's right. I never thought of it. He would have had a fine opportunity. It is fortunate."

"We can remove our clothes and hang them in the suns.h.i.+ne to dry while we are getting the wheels."

A look of horror came to Harry's face.

"No, no!" he cried, wildly. "We can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"The girl--she is somewhere near here. What if she should see us? Good gracious; it hakes my mart--I mean it makes my heart stand still to think of it!"

Harry's expression of horror and the way in which he uttered the words caused Frank to shout with laughter.

"Oh, my dear fellow!" he cried; "if you could do that on the stage! It would be great! You'd make a great hit!"

For once in his life Harry failed to see the humorous side of a thing, and he did not crack a smile.

"What's the use to 'ha-ha' that way, Merry?" he cried, "You wouldn't want a thing of that kind to happen, and you know it."

"Of course not, old man, so we'll have to keep on part of our clothing while we are recovering the wheels."

They approached the edge of the bluff, and, as they did so, a canoe shot out from the mouth of a small cove nearly half a mile away.

There was a single person in the canoe and, immediately on seeing her, Harry cried:

"There she is--that is the girl!"

It was a girl, and she was handling the paddle with the skill of an expert, sending the light craft flying over the bosom of the lake.

"We must call to her!" exclaimed Harry. "She must stop!"