“Yes,” said Peggy, “and have Bill see that we stayed in there forever! ‘Sad loss of three bright young people at Steeple Rocks’, would be in the paper.”
Peggy was so funny as she said this that Leslie and Sarita both laughed, though the subject was far from laughable. Peggy was frowning now. “Let’s go right now and tell Jack,” she said. “I certainly heard enough about Dad, didn’t I?”
Neither Leslie nor Sarita replied to this question, for they knew that Peggy did not expect comment. They were helping each other around the jutting part of the cliff now and did not resume conversation until they were on the path. Then Peggy cried, “Oh, girls! I was going to watch to see where Bill came out, weren’t you?”
“Yes,” said Leslie. “I thought of it when Bill said that he was going to ‘swim under water a ways.’ What possessed us? But, after all, we could not have seen anything from the Retreat. Come on; let’s climb down sort of near your yacht dock, Peggy. Perhaps we can see Bill come out of the water yet.”
This was no sooner said than done. As quickly as possible, the girls found a spot which would command most of the shore around the bay. The girls looked over the surface of the cliff, as they had done many times before, without finding any opening. “If he has to swim under water, the cave must be at the bottom,” said Leslie, decisively, “and the only place, girls, where a boat could go in, is in Pirates’ Cove!”
“Then Bill will swim out there and get to the rocks outside on this side,—unless he has a boat tied in the channel.”
“I think that it would be too great a swim to the channel, unless it would be right near our dock around there, and Bill would run the risk of Mother’s coming down to the beach or of somebody’s seeing him from the house.”
“Your mother wouldn’t be surprised to see Bill there,—not very, would she, Peggy?”
“Perhaps not. Let’s get up a step higher. We can look over these rocks then, and duck down if Bill should come out anywhere near the dock. Then we shall have to scamper up and out of sight as quickly as possible.” In spite of Peggy’s evident chagrin at the implications about Mr. Ives in the conversation which they had overheard, she was enjoying the excitement, Leslie could see. There might be some compensations for Peggy, Leslie thought, in the discovery of Mr. Ives’ operations, if it led to her freedom from their shadow. But would it? What ought to be done now? She must tell Jack at once,—so much was clear. But it might be even dangerous for anyone who interfered. Could Jack and Peggy keep their knowledge from Mr. Ives and that household of suspicious foreign servants? The more Leslie thought, the more undecided she felt.
For some time the girls waited uneasily. Perhaps Bill had gone, or perhaps he was taking some time, making ready for the “enough people” who were to be there when the “schooner” came in! Probably they would miss him altogether. No! There he was!