“You know there’s just one thing that occurs to me,” said Eleanor, looking worried. “Jake may have come here with some vague idea of telling us what he knew. But suppose he has seen Holmes or some of the others since Bessie got him to promise to go to Charlie Jamieson in the city?”
“I hoped you wouldn’t think of that,” said Trenwith, gravely. “I thought of it, too. You mean he might have been here just as a spy, with no idea of showing himself at all?”
“The way he acted makes it look as if that was just why he was here, too,” said Dolly. “He was sneaking around, and he certainly didn’t seem very pleased when Bessie found him.”
“He did his best to squirm away,” said Bessie. “If Zara hadn’t been so nervous while we were eating supper I would never have thought of going after him, either. But she seems to be able to see things and hear things, in some queer fashion, when no one else can.”
“That’s a good thing for the rest of us,” said Trenwith with a smile. “She’s a useful person to have around at a time like this. I’m going to have a couple of my men–detectives–stay around here to-night to keep an eye on things. It’s likely, of course, that there’s nothing to be afraid of, but just the same, we don’t want to take any chances.”
“I’m glad you’ve done that,” said Eleanor. “I don’t think I’m the ordinary type of timid woman, but I must confess that all these things worry me, and I’ll feel a lot safer if I know that we are not entirely at the mercy of any trick they try to play on us to-night. They seem to be getting bolder, all the time.”
“Well, after all you know, that’s one of the most hopeful things about the whole business. It means that they’re getting desperate–that their time is getting short. They feel that if they don’t succeed soon they never will, because it will be too late. All we’ve got to do is to stand them off a little longer, and the whole business will be settled and done with.
“I’ve got to get back to Bay City to-night. If anything happens, don’t hesitate to call me up, no matter what time it is. If I’m out at any time you do have to call me, I’ll leave word where I’m going, so that if you tell them at my house who you are, they’ll find me. Good-night!”
Neither Dolly nor Bessie slept well that night. Jake’s appearance had been disturbing; it seemed to both of them much more likely that his coming heralded some new attempt by Holmes, rather than a desire on his part to confess. But the night passed without anything to rouse them, and in the morning their fears seemed rather foolish, as fears are apt to do when they are examined in the sunlight of a new day.
“I don’t see what they can do, after all,” said Dolly. “There aren’t any woods around here as there were at Long Lake. We’re all in sight of the camp and of one another all the time, and they certainly won’t be able to work that trick of setting the tents on fire again.”