CHAPTER XII
MAKING AN EXCITING DISCOVERY
The Meadow-Brook girl did not dare to go on and enter the secret channel for fear of exposing the hiding place of the houseboat. She was watching for some other nook into which to drive her boat. In case her pursuers discovered her she determined to jump out and make her escape as best she could, leaving the boat on the beach. Then a sudden idea occurred to her.
Harriet picked up a tin dipper that lay in the boat and that had been used for bailing. This she hurled as far out in the lake as she could throw it. The dipper fell with a splash that was plainly heard both by herself and those in the pursuing boat.
"Out there he is!" cried a voice in the other boat. She heard the pursuers head out. Harriet took advantage of the opportunity to move her rowboat ahead a few rods. She then turned it sharply to the shore. The girl was fortunate in being able to find cover in the overhanging foliage, behind which she took refuge. The water was quite shallow there. The keel of the rowboat touched bottom. She heard the grating sound as the boat grounded, but knew that she was not so firmly aground that she could not get away.
The men in the rowboat found neither the dipper nor the boat of which they were in pursuit. Instead of rowing on, they craftily turned sharply in toward shore in order to get the benefit of the shadows. One within the shadow could see out fairly well, but to one who was out in the lake, the shores and the water for some rods about were enveloped in blackness.
"Pull out a little, but keep close to the shore," commanded a voice. "That fellow played some sort of trick on us and has gone on. It's curious we didn't hear him. Row fast and I'll keep watch. If he gets out into the lake we've got him."
The rowboat shot past Harriet Burrell's hiding place so close that she might have reached out an oar and touched it. She was tempted to give the person in the stern of the boat a poke with her oar, but wisely refrained from doing anything of the sort. After the boat had passed, Harriet sat perfectly still, arms folded, a quiet smile on her face.
"Harriet Burrell, you are a pretty good scout, after all. You wouldn't have made such a bad Indian. I'll rap on wood."
She drummed on the gunwale of the boat. "I hope they won't go far. The girls will worry if I do not return soon. Still, Miss Elting will know that there is a good reason for my remaining away so long. There they come."