"But, who could have done such a thing?" Harriet wondered.
"If I knew, I'd make him suffer for this piece of work," retorted Jane.
"I don't know; I can't even think," answered Harriet solemnly. "What do you suppose has become of the boat, Jane?"
"Goodness knows," replied Jane.
"I'm going to search the lake." Harriet ran around the end of the pier, where, shoving off the rowboat, she leaped in. Jane followed her. "I'm going to the west. The wind is blowing that way."
Jane McCarthy nodded understandingly. Harriet was rowing, Jane sitting in the stern of the boat.
"Watch the shore, Jane. I will do the rowing. I am going to tell you what I discovered that day we first went aboard the houseboat. I put my hand on the stove quite by accident that morning. The stove was so hot that it burned my hand."
"You don't say?"
"Yes. Now explain how that stove happened to be hot," continued Harriet.
"That's easy. Somebody had had a fire in it," nodded Jane.