“I certainly do,” said Eleanor, her lips firmly set, and an angry gleam in her eyes. “You did exactly the right thing. It was better for us to be worried for a few minutes than to take any chance of spoiling all you’d found out.”
“What do you suppose they’ll try to do now?” wondered Margery. “Oh, I’d like to find some way to beat them, so that they’d have to stop this altogether.”
“They’ll go too far, some time,” said Eleanor, indignantly. “Mr. Holmes seems to forget there is such a thing as the law, but if he doesn’t look out he’ll find that all his money won’t save him from it. And I think the time is coming very soon. My father has some money, too, and I’m pretty sure he’ll spend as much as he needs to to beat these criminals.”
“Can’t we go away from here to-night, Miss Eleanor?” asked Dolly. “They said we’d never do that, and it might fool them.”
Everyone looked at Dolly in astonishment. It was a strange proposition to come from her, since she usually was the one who wanted to fight if there seemed to be any possibility of success. Now, however, she looked nervous.
“I don’t see how we can, Dolly,” said Eleanor. “And, really, I don’t believe there’s any danger here. Mr. Holmes isn’t on the yacht, and these men won’t do anything until he is there to direct them. I shall telegraph to Mr. Jamieson in the morning, and he will probably come here. He can reach here by noon, and I think we will be all right here until then.”
Dolly said nothing more to her, but when she was alone with Bessie she expressed herself more freely.
“I’m afraid of those men,” she said, with a shiver. “I think they’re far more dangerous than the gypsies were. Didn’t you think, from the way they talked, that they would do anything if they thought they would get well paid for it?”
“Yes, but we’re warned, Dolly. It isn’t as if we didn’t have any idea, as they believe, that there is danger here. So I don’t think we need to be afraid.”
On the beach, between the sea and the tents, the blaze of the camp fire flickered in the darkness, casting an uneven light on the beach. On the yacht all was still and peaceful. One by one her lights had gone out, until only the anchor lights, which she was required by law to show, remained.