“I’m afraid not. There might be danger,” said her father, not noticing her last remark.
“I’m not afraid.”
“I wouldn’t,” said Fenn quickly. “Those men that I saw, didn’t have any weapons, but they might be ugly customers, just the same.”
“I think you had better remain at home, my dear,” decided the girl’s father, and, somewhat against her will, she consented, after a whispered conference with Fenn.
The others were soon in the motor launch, and were cruising along the lake shore, as near as possible to where Fenn had leaped into the water. Narrowly they scanned the face of the cliff, for a sight of the opening from which Fenn had jumped. They went up and down for half a mile, in either direction, but there was no sign of it.
“Are you sure you jumped out of a hole, Stumpy?” asked Bart.
“Sure. I remember catching just a glimpse of that point of land before I went under water.”
“Then the opening into the cave ought to be somewhere near here,” remarked Mr. Hayward, bringing the boat to a stop.
Once more they scanned the cliff, going as close to shore as they could. There appeared to be no break in the surface of the palisade.
“I guess we’ll have to try the ledge,” announced Mr. Hayward. “We can go down that tree-trunk ladder, but it’s more risky than this way.”