CHAPTER XIII.

A RACE ON THE LAKE.

To Frank's amazement, he found Rattleton reclining in a very comfortable position, with the handkerchief bound about his head.

"Hello, old boy!" Merriwell cheerfully called. "I reckon you are all right, for you are able to do up your own wound."

"I say, Frank," came eagerly but weakly from Rattleton, "what has become of her?"

"Her? Whom?"

"The fairy, the nymph, the beautiful queen of the woods! She was here a few moments ago--she was with me."

"By Jove! that crack on the head has knocked him daffy!" thought Merriwell. "He's off his trolley sure!"

"Why don't you answer me?" Harry impatiently demanded. "I closed my eyes but a moment, and when I opened them again she was gone."

"I hope you are not referring to the dwarf," laughed Frank, lightly. "I hope you do not mean him when you talk about a fairy, nymph and beautiful queen of the woods?"

"No, no! Of course I do not mean that horrible creature! I mean the girl--the girl who was here!"

"There has been no girl here."

"What? I know there has! I saw her, although it seemed like a dream. I saw her before I could fully open my eyes. She was kneeling here beside me, and she was so beautiful!"

"My dear fellow," said Merriwell, gently, "that tap on the head has mixed you somewhat--there's no doubt about it."

Harry made a feeble, impatient gesture.

"You think I am off," he said; "but I am not. I tell you I saw a girl--a girl with blue eyes and golden hair. Her cheeks were brown as berries, but the tint of health was in them. And her hands were so soft and tender and warm!"

Frank whistled.

"I'm afraid you are hurt worse than I thought," he said, with no small concern.

"Oh, scrate Gott!" spluttered Harry. "I am not hurt at all! I tell you I saw her--do you hear?"

"Yes, I hear."

"But you don't believe me, and that is what makes me hot."

"Keep cool."

"How can I? Look here, look at my head."

"Yes, you did a very good job. I was about to do it up when I saw that dwarf again, and I chased him."

"I didn't do it up at all."

"No?"

"Not on your retouched negative!"

"Then who----"

"The girl--the girl, I tell you! When I came to my senses, I felt some person at work over me, and through my eyelashes I saw her kneeling here at my side. I tell you, Frank, she was a dream--a vision! I thought I was in heaven, and I scarcely dared breathe for fear she would disappear."

Frank was watching Harry closely.

"Hanged if the fellow doesn't believe it!" muttered Merry.

Rattleton's ears were sharp, and he caught the words.

"Believe it!" he weakly shouted--"I know it! I not only saw her, but I felt her hands as she gently brushed back my wet hair and tied this bandage in place. Look at it, Merry, old fellow; I couldn't have put it on like that--you know I couldn't."

"Well, it would have been quite a trick."

"I think she saw us thrown into the water, for she murmured something about it. She must live near here, Frank."

Harry was fluttering with suppressed eagerness.

"If you saw such a girl, it is likely that she does."

"If I saw such a girl! Oh, smoly hoke! will you never be convinced?"

"Perhaps so," nodded Frank, as he examined the ground.

"What are you looking for?"

"Her trail."

"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, noble 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 assistance 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 sunshine 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!"

"We can't stop her by shouting to her, Rattles," declared Frank, quickly. "It would frighten her, that's all."

"But--but what can we do?"

"Unless we can find a boat, absolutely nothing."

Rattleton was desperate.

"It's terrible, Frank!" he cried. "We may lose the only chance of finding her! At least, she should be warned!"

"Look!" directed Merriwell, who was watching the girl closely. "She is looking back! See her use the paddle now! She is alarmed! She makes the canoe fly! She makes it spin along at great leaps! Surely something has frightened her! What is it?"

Harry's excitement grew.

"It's something, that's sure. She is using all her strength! How beautifully she handles the paddle! See the sunshine strike her hair! It is like gold! And now--look! look!"

Around a point just beyond the cove came a boat in which two men were seated. Both men were paddling, but the boat was heavy, and they were not gaining on the fleeing girl.

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Frank. "It is Apollo, the dwarf!"

"Yes; and the other--the other is----"

"Bernard Belmont!"

"Then he is here--he did not go East at all. That was a blind."

"Sure enough. They are here to find the girl."

"To put her out of the way, perhaps!"

"It would be like that man. If he gets hold of her, some terrible accident is likely to happen to Mildred Morris. But they are not gaining; she is keeping the lead with ease."

"Yes," nodded Frank, satisfaction on his face; "she will not be taken."

The boys watched the race with great interest, seeing the girl draw farther and farther from her pursuers, till, at last, they gave over the attempt in disgust, although they still paddled along after her.

She headed for a distant shore, and Frank and Harry did not cease to watch till both boats had disappeared in the shadow of the mountains and timber.

"There," said Merriwell--"over there somewhere must be the present home of that girl. It is a wild region, for I was there once myself, and I know. We will go there and see what we can find."

"But we must recover our wheels first."

"That is right; and now we can remove our clothes to do so, without fear of being seen. Come on."

It was no simple task to get the bicycles out of the lake, but the thought of the girl's possible danger seemed to have restored Harry's strength, and, between them, they succeeded, after many efforts, in accomplishing their object.

In the meantime their clothes, which had been hung where sun and wind would reach them, had partly dried.

"We can't wait for them to get entirely dry," said Frank. "We'll put them on just as they are. Nobody ever gets cold around Lake Tahoe at this time of year."

Harry did not object, but the garments were just wet enough so it was not an easy thing to get into them. This, however, was done, after a severe struggle and a small amount of startling and highly picturesque language from Rattleton.

"Woo!" said Harry. "If we had a fine road, we could get on our bikes and send them spinning at such speed that the breeze would soon dry us; but now--how do you propose to get over across this part of the lake, anyhow?"

"Well," said Frank, "you heard me speak of Big Gabe?"

"Of course."

"His cabin was not far from here."

"What of that?"

"He owned a sailboat."

"Wheejiz--no, jeewhiz! that's the stuff! That's what we want!"

"I rather thought so. With the aid of a sailboat we can get across the lake easily."

"Let's look for Mr. Big Gabe without delay."

Frank took the lead, and they went in search of the big hermit, trundling their wheels or carrying them, as was necessary.

The modern bicycle is so light, although it is strong and stanch, that it may be carried almost anywhere, and so the task of taking the wheels along was not as difficult as it might have been.

Within half an hour they came in sight of Big Gabe's hut, which lay on the shore of the little cove out of which the girl had sped in the light canoe.

"It was from this very spot that I first saw that building," said Frank. "I'll never forget it. Bart Hodge was with me. When we drew nearer, Big Gabe himself came out and threatened to shoot us, thinking we were trying to steal his boat, or something of that sort."

"Where is the boat now?"

"There it is, down where the tree overhangs the lake. See?"

They could see the single mast and stern of the boat.

"Good luck!" cried Rattleton. "With the aid of that, we won't do a thing but make a lively cruise across the lake, for the wind is rising, and we'll have a fair breeze."

Frank was looking steadily toward the hut, and there was something like a frown on his face, which his companion observed.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked.

"The hut looks deserted. The first time I saw it smoke was coming out of the chimney. Now the chimney is giving forth no smoke, and the door stands open. It doesn't look as if any one had been around the place for a year."

"That's right," admitted Harry, anxiously. "But the boat is there."

"It may be in bad condition, else why didn't Belmont and the dwarf take it?"

"There was no breeze a short time ago, and they could not have sailed it across the lake. Besides, they were in pursuit of the girl in the canoe, and they hoped to overtake her with the aid of a boat they could row or paddle."

"Your reasoning is all right, my boy. We will hope the sailboat is all right, too. Come on."