“He’s going to go away with all that stuff he took!” Vevi cried. “Let’s stop him, Connie.”
Both girls remembered that once at the circus when a pickpocket had tried to get away, all the Brownie Scouts had surrounded him. But now there was no one to help them.
Without stopping to think, Vevi ran out of the cabin.
“Stop!” she shouted at Mr. Curry, who had leaped off the Lady. “You’re a thief! We saw you take something from that boat.”
Mr. Curry paused. He looked up and down the waterfront, not seeing anyone. Then he came over to where the Adventurer was tied up. He was smiling, but not in a friendly way.
“So I’m a thief, am I?” he asked pleasantly. “You saw everything?”
“Yes, we did!” Vevi retorted. “You put back what you stole or we’ll tell the police! You took Miss Gordon’s watch too!”
“Well, well, what clever little girls you are!” Mr. Curry said. “So you saw everything? And you’ll run straight to the police with it?”
As the lifeguard talked, he bent down by the dock post. Vevi and Connie did not realize what he was doing until it was too late.
Then they saw that the man deliberately had untied the rope which held the Adventurer fast.