CHAPTER XXII

OVERHEARING A PLOT

Noddy was so much engaged in making a landing at the dock that he did not observe the three boys until he had come up alongside the string piece. Then, as he glanced up, he muttered an exclamation below his breath.

“Oh, uncle, I had a lovely ride!” exclaimed Jessica, as she got out. “It was glorious! Oh, there are the boys who were almost shipwrecked the other night,” and she bowed to the motor lads.

“Well, now you must all come in and have a glass of milk and some cake,” said Mr. Hardack. “Jessica bakes fine cake.”

“That’s the way uncle flatters me!” exclaimed the girl with a laugh. “But come in, all of you; please do.”

The motor boys were in a quandary. They wanted to see the workings of the lighthouse, which they had been told were quite novel. Ned had to admit he wanted to see Jessica, and Jerry was anxious to get more information about Bill Berry. As for Noddy, he did not seem to know what to do. He was fumbling at the painter of the boat he was in.

“Aren’t you coming in, Mr. Nixon?” asked Jessica.

“I forgot--I have an engagement,” muttered Noddy. He bent over the engine and was cranking it up. “I’ll see you again, Miss Jessica,” he called, and with a bow, he steered his boat away from the dock.

“Well, you three boys come in,” insisted the keeper. “We have very little company here, and we must make the most of it. See the fine blue fish they brought me, Jessica.”

“They’re lovely,” the girl said, though she looked a little troubled. Ned wondered if she regretted Noddy’s departure.

Over the simple lunch which was soon set out the boys grew better acquainted with the keeper and his niece. She mentioned that she had met Noddy at a sociable where a girl companion had introduced her to him.

“He’s very nice to me,” Jessica confided to Ned. “He is going to take me for a long ride in the boat some day. It’s very fast, even if you did beat us to-day. His engine wasn’t working right, or he’d have come in first.”

Ned tried to turn the conversation. He did not want to talk about Noddy behind his back.

“There’s my assistant,” spoke Mr. Hardack, as he pointed out of the window. Jerry and his chums looked. Though they said nothing they had no difficulty in recognizing Bill Berry. He was filling some lanterns at an oil box in the yard.

“I don’t much fancy him,” the keeper went on. “He’s too silent. This is a lonesome place, and I like persons who can talk. I hope you boys will come again.”

“We’ll be glad to,” Jerry replied.

Mr. Hardack showed them all over the lighthouse. They inspected the machinery, which, by means of weights, revolved the frame containing the powerful lenses.

“We flash one white light and two red lights at intervals,” explained the keeper.

“And if anything should interfere with the proper workings of the machinery, I suppose there would be danger,” said Bob.

“Well, I guess so! The sailors depend on seeing a white flash and two red ones when they get here. It means keep out. Why we even have an emergency apparatus, so that if the automatic one breaks we can turn the lenses by hand. The government doesn’t want any failure of the light.”

The boys were shown through the store room, near the kitchen, where the oil and other supplies were kept. The lighthouse was some distance from any settlement, and in stormy weather it was hard to get food and other necessities. So a goodly supply was kept in stock.

“I think we’d better be going,” remarked Jerry, as he looked at his watch and noted it was four o’clock. He wanted to get off with his chums and talk over matters.

“Don’t be in a hurry,” spoke Mr. Hardack. “We don’t get enough company as it is, do we Jessica?”

“No, indeed, uncle.”

“Did you ask if there was any mail?” asked the keeper, of his niece.

“Yes, I stopped at the post-office when I was out with Mr. Nixon, but there were no letters.”

“Strange; we ought to hear pretty soon now,” and the keeper seemed worried about something.

“I’m sure we’re much obliged for showing us the place,” put in Ned, and then he started out, followed by his chums. Mr. Hardack went down to the dock with them. On the way Jerry tried to get a look at Bill Berry, who was still busy filling lamps, but the man kept his back turned.

“Now don’t forget to come again,” Mr. Hardack went on, as the boys got in their boat. “You see my niece is sort of lonesome. That’s the reason I let her go off with that Nixon fellow once in a while, though I don’t exactly like him. She wants cheering up.”

“Is anything the matter?” inquired Ned.

“Yes, you see her father, he--”

But the rest of what Mr. Hardack would have said was lost as, just then, Bob started the motor, and it made such a noise until Jerry slowed it down, that the keeper’s words were inaudible. When the noise had ceased the boat was some distance from the dock, and Mr. Hardack was waving them a farewell. Ned thought he saw a handkerchief shaken from a window in the lighthouse, but was not sure.

“I wonder what he was going to say about her father,” Jerry said, when they had headed the boat for home.

“He’s dead, probably,” Ned spoke. “She dresses in black, you notice.”

“I didn’t notice particularly, but it seems you did.”

“I’ve got eyes,” was all Ned replied.

“Queer Noddy should be sporting around there in a motor boat,” said Bob. “I wonder where he got it?”

“Bought it, same as we did,” came from Jerry, “or hired it. His father keeps him supplied with money, in spite of his escapades.”

The boys paid several other visits to the lighthouse, and each time received a warm welcome. They found Jessica home only once; the other occasions she was out riding with Noddy Nixon, her uncle said.

“He’s getting altogether too thick around here,” the keeper complained. “I don’t want to say anything, as Jess needs cheering up, and I guess he isn’t such a bad sort. One thing I don’t like though, he and that helper of mine, seem to have some sort of a secret between them.”

“How’s that?” asked Jerry, trying to speak as though he did not much care.

“Well, I was surprised to notice that a rich young chap, such as this Nixon boy seems to be, would know a fellow like Bill Berry. Bill’s a good enough worker, but he’s a sort of shiftless man, and I don’t know much about him. He’s tramped around considerable, he tells me, and I reckon there’s lots he hasn’t told me. But one day I saw him and young Nixon talking as though they had known each other all their lives. Now wouldn’t that strike you as being sort of queer?”

“Oh, well, maybe it’s all right,” spoke Jerry, warning his chums, with a look, to say nothing.

“But that’s not all. The other day I saw young Nixon pass Bill a note, and when he saw I was watching, he got red, as though it was something to be ashamed of. I don’t like it, and I’m going to be on the watch.”

On their way home that afternoon, from the lighthouse, the boys talked over what Mr. Hardack had said.

“What do you make of it?” asked Bob.

“It’s hard to say,” replied Jerry. “Maybe they’re up to some of their old tricks, trying to get us into trouble.”

“Yes, and maybe they’re trying to get Mr. Hardack and Jessica into trouble,” put in Ned.

“Jealous, eh?” asked Jerry.

“Well I guess you don’t like to see Noddy Nixon paying attention to Jessica, or to any other nice girl for that matter, any more than I do. I don’t know as that’s jealousy.”

“No, you’re right,” came from Jerry, who spoke in a serious tone. “Of course we have nothing to go by, but I think there’s something in the wind. I am almost certain Bill Berry stole that diamond ring from the bath house, and I’m going to tell Professor Snodgrass what I know about it. I shall also inform him where Bill is, and he can do as he pleases about having him arrested.”

“What about Noddy?” asked Ned.

“We’ll see what develops. Maybe Noddy is mixed up in it, though I don’t really believe he’d steal.”

That night the boys, in their boat, went to the amusement resort, where they had first seen Noddy walking with Jessica. There was a minstrel performance scheduled, for the benefit of the local hospital. As they tied the craft to the dock, among a score of other boats, Ned remarked:

“I guess I’ll stay here, fellows. I don’t much feel like taking in the show.”

“Want to sit and think of Jessica,” said Jerry, with a laugh. “Well you are certainly getting moony, old chap. You’d better take some liver medicine. Come on, Bob, we’ll see the fun.”

“Yes, and get something to eat, too. Better come, Ned.”

“No thanks, I’ll stay here.”

It was really nothing more than a whim on his part to remain behind in the boat. Ned was really getting quite fond of the girl at the lighthouse, but he did not admit it, even to himself. He had a vague feeling that he would like to be alone and think.

He stretched out on some cushions in the bottom of the craft, and was star-gazing to his heart’s content. Next to the _Dartaway_ was a large sailing sloop, which was there when the boys made fast to the dock. The high sides threw a deep shadow over the motor craft. Ned was disturbed from his reveries by the sound of some one walking along the dock. It had been silent for some time, save for the distant sound of the music, and at first he believed the boys were coming back. Then he heard voices he knew were not those of his chums.

“Is this the sloop?” asked a man.

“Yes,” was the answer. “Get aboard where we can talk without being overheard, though I guess there’s no one around.”

Ned could hear the men going aboard the sailing craft. They went into the cabin, and then some one opened a port just above the boy’s head, as he was stretched out in the motor boat.

“It’s beastly hot in here,” some one said.

“Yes, been shut up all day. Now, how much have you got done?”

“Well, I’ve found the steamer’s due here in a few days now, and it’s got a valuable cargo aboard. Stuff that will float easily. We ought to be able to pick up a lot of it.”

“How about the lights?”

“That’s all arranged. Bill has a job at the place and he is going to be in charge that night. It’s Hardack’s time off, and Bill will fix the lights so’s to fool the pilot of the steamer.”

“How’s he going to do it?”

“Just cover the one flash, and make only two flashes just like the North light gives.”

“Is there any one else likely to give trouble?”

“There’s only the girl, and we can easily get her out of the way. Oh, it’s going to be easy. We’ll be there to help Bill if he needs it. Now--what’s that?”

The voices suddenly ceased.