There was no answer. Then with a quick motion Henry darted forward and picked up something from the floor. It was a handkerchief.
"It's my sister's," he said. "They—they've been here!"
He and Allen looked at each other strangely.
CHAPTER XXIII
SMUGGLED DIAMONDS
Slowly the mysterious schooner gathered headway. Her sails creaked and groaned as the ropes slipped through the sheaves, and the chains squeaked around the drum of the steering wheel. There was a rattle of blocks, hoarse cries from several sailors on deck, and then, down in the cabin, where the horrid old woman slipped the pieces of cloth from the mouths of Betty and Amy, had the two girls the strength to utter cries it is doubtful if they would have been heard a hundred feet away.
There was no other craft within a mile of the vessel that was moving up the bay toward the more open water.
"There you are, my dear," leered the fishwife. "All nice and snug and comfortable."
"Oh—oh!" gasped Betty, as the creature stretched out her hands toward her. "Don't—don't you dare touch me!"