“You all better get in my boat and leave yours here until later,” said the chief when it was found that Dimitri, after a long drink of water, was able to walk with more ease. “We’ll make better time that way. More haste the quicker you get over it.”
Sim shook her fist at him behind his back.
They all piled into the motorboat, Tania never leaving her master’s side, and in a short time they were at the Merry Jane. After it was seen that Dimitri, though obviously suffering from neglect, was not seriously harmed, it came to Arden’s mind that she and her chums must make a confession.
They had looked at the forbidden picture. It was very likely that Dimitri’s trained vision would detect that the cloth had been removed and put back. Of course, he might think Clayton had done it, but it was better to tell. So Arden said:
“We discovered your secret.”
“My secret?” He appeared not to understand.
“That picture,” she added. “We looked at it.”
The whiteness of Dimitri’s face, blanched by many days of confinement in a dark cellar, was changed to a deep red as he murmured:
“I hope you do not think me too presumptuous.”
“It is lovely!” declared Sim.