CHAPTER XXIV

THE BLACK PACKET

"Meg, show Florence your stateroom." Aunt Bobby rose after her soliloquy. "Mine's more plain-like," she apologized. "The men set a heap of store on Meg, so they took what was the stateroom of the captain in the balmy days of that old ship and set it up for Meg, right here on the island.

"It's all there, walls and cabinet all done in mahogany and gold, wide berth, and everything grand."

"It's not like sleeping on the water with a good hull beneath you." Meg's tone was almost sullen. "Just you wait! I'm going back!"

Once inside her stateroom her mood changed. It became evident at once that she was truly proud of this small room with its costly decorations that had come down from the past. Two great lanterns made of beaten bronze hung one at the head and one at the foot of her berth.

"It's wonderful!" Florence was truly impressed. "But this island, it is a lonely spot. There must be prowlers about."

"Oh, yes. All the time. Some good ones, some bad."

"But are you not afraid?"

"Afraid? No. I laugh at them. Why not?

"And besides. Look!" Her slender finger touched a secret button. A cabinet door flew open, revealing two revolvers. Their long blue barrels shone wickedly in the light.

"But you couldn't fire them."

"Oh, couldn't I? Come over some day just before dark, when the waves are making a lot of noise. I'll show you.

"You see," she explained, "I must be careful. If the police heard, they'd come and take them from me.

"But on board ship!" Her eyes danced. "I could out-shoot them all. You know how long a freighter is?"

"Yes."

"We used that for a shooting range. I could out-shoot all the men. It was grand! If we missed the target, the bullet went plump into the sea! And that was all.

"No," she said thoughtfully as she dropped into a chair, "I'm not afraid. There was one man, though, who had me almost scared. His face was so dark! He had such ugly eyes!"

"Dark face, ugly eyes!" Florence recalled Jeanne's description of the man who had hounded her footsteps.

"But I fooled him!" Meg chuckled. "I fooled him twice. And I laughed in his face, too."

Rising, she pressed a second button in the wall to reveal still another secret compartment. "See that!" She pointed to a black packet. "That was his. It's mine now.

"I wonder why he put it where he did?" she mused.

"Where?"

"In Snowball's net."

"What?"

"That's just what he did. I was sitting alone among the rocks at night. He came out, acting mysterious. He poured two buckets of water on Snowball's windlass so it wouldn't creak and then he threw this package into the net and lowered away.

"It is heavy. Went right to the bottom. I slipped into the water and went after it. Got it, too. See! There it is!

"And do you know," her voice fell to an excited whisper, "that's to be my birthday present to myself. It's to be my surprise."

"Surprise! Haven't you unwrapped it?"

"No. Why should I? That would spoil my fun."

Florence looked at this slim girl in overalls, and smiled. "You surely are an unusual child!"

"He came back next day." Meg ignored this last. "He made Snowball dive down and look for his package. He didn't find it. The man was angry. His face got blacker than ever, and how his eyes snapped! An ugly red scar showed on his chin. Then I laughed, and he chased me.

"I dropped into the water and came up where there is a hole like a sea grotto. I watched him until he went away. He never came back. So now this is mine!" Pride of ownership was in her voice.

"But ought you not to open the package? It may have been stolen. It may contain valuables, watches, diamonds, pearls." Florence was thinking of the lost necklace.

"Ought!" Meg's face was twisted into a contemptuous frown. "Ought! That's a landlubber's word. You never hear it on a ship. Many things _must_ be done--hatch battened down, boilers stoked, bells rung. Lots of things _must_ be done. But nothing merely _ought_ to be done. No! No! I want to save it for my birthday. And I shall!"

At that she snapped the cabinet door shut, then led the way out of her stateroom.

Ten minutes later Florence was on the dark winding path on her way home.

"What an unusual child!" she thought. And again, "I wonder who that man could be? What does that packet contain?"