"No; and we were called at three o'clock this morning, and came to Westport. Our fellows were all as mad as hops when they did not find the schooner there. It was a horrible storm in the night, and I suppose that was the reason she was not there. A young fellow in a handsome little steamer came near the shore where we were waiting, and I hailed her. After some teasing, he consented to take us down the lake. When we saw the La Motte, we asked him to put us ashore on that point, which he did."
"How did you know it was the La Motte when you saw her?" asked Dory.
"By that signal," replied Ripples, pointing to what looked like a red handkerchief in the main rigging. "Angy told me that would be his signal."
"Did you tell the young fellow in the small steamer that you were looking for the La Motte?"
"For some reason, which he did not explain in his letter, Angy told us not to mention the name of the vessel, or to say any thing about her," replied Ripples. "We told the young man, who appeared to be in command of the steamer,--I believe she was called the Marian,--that we were going to camp out on Camp-Meeting Point; for we had all studied the charts of the lake."
"Did all the members of the club pay fifty dollars?" inquired Dory.
"No, indeed! Not more than four of them did it; and Angy wrote me, a week ago, that the money was all gone."
"Did he ask for more?"
"He did not. He said he would raise the money; though I could not see where he was to get it, for his father is a poor man now. But all the fellows that came up with me have from fifty to a hundred dollars apiece. Angy must be short of cash by this time."
"I think he has made some money since he reached the lake," added the skipper quietly.