The latter obeyed and Leonard scrambled up above.
“Be careful,” whispered Shirley.
Leonard struck a match and looked around. There was no one there.
“Nobody home,” he said, after he had dropped down again.
“Where did they go?” demanded Shirley anxiously.
“My gracious!” exclaimed Mabel. “Why didn’t we think of it before?”
“Think of what?” asked Shirley quickly.
“Why, the creek. They have probably escaped in a launch.”
Without pausing to reply, Shirley turned and darted from the house toward the creek, the others following closely. Several rowboats lay idly by, and in one of them, fishing, were two men.
“Did you see anything of Briggs?” demanded Shirley.