Paul had started more than an hour earlier than he had intended, and would reach his destination before Lily had finished her day's work. Besides, he had a kind of affection for the place where he had lived two years. Just then it flashed upon his mind that he had never visited the hollow tree which had done duty as a safe for the two dollars and the gold rings belonging to his mother.
In the excitement of his last visit to the point at the invitation of the magnate, he had forgotten all about the treasure. His mother had spoken of it often, but Paul had no doubt it was safe in its hiding-place, for the money and rings had been put at a tin box.
His mother had spoken of it, and so had he, at the time of it, but latterly it seemed to have passed out of the memory of all the family. Paul pulled to the shore as soon as the treasure came into his mind, and he wondered that he had not thought of it before. His mother had plenty of money now, and that seemed to be the reason it had been forgotten.
When Paul swung the boat around, and headed it for the point, he took a look down the lake. Over in the direction of Button Bay he saw a steam yacht. There were several such craft on the lake, though all or nearly all of them were kept farther down. The yacht looked exactly like the Sylph, and he had no doubt it was she.
"I wonder what the Sylph is doing over there," said he, continuing to pull for the beach before him. "She went down to Port Henry towing the gundalow with a cargo of stone."
"I guess the fellers are taking a little turn in her while the men are unloadin' the stone," suggested Tom, who was not at all pleased to find the Beech Hill steamer in this part of the lake.
"She is headed this way, and perhaps she is going back to Beech Hill after something that was forgotten," added Paul, as the Dragon struck the sand on the beach.
Paul took the painter in his hand and stepped ashore. He paused a moment to take another look at the Sylph. She was coming up from Button Bay on the east shore of the lake, and this course would carry her within a mile of Sandy Point. It was now four o'clock in the afternoon, and the steamer, with her heavy tow, must have reached Port Henry by eleven at the latest. If anything had been forgotten, they must have found it out earlier in the day.
While he was looking at the steam yacht and wondering what she was doing in this part of the lake without her tow, she suddenly changed her course and stood over in the direction of Westport. This settled it that nothing had been forgotten, for she was not going back to Beech Hill. She was sailing very fast, and seemed to be shaken by the effort of her engine. They were certainly driving her at a very unusual speed.
Tom Topover was walking about the point, apparently engaged in a very minute inspection of the locality. Paul saw him looking at the former site of the cottage, and then he disappeared in the woods. The owner of the Dragon drew his boat a little farther up on the beach, but he continued to watch the movements of the steamer; and he was so absorbed in the effort to fathom her strange behavior that he was in danger of again forgetting the treasure in the tin box.