Shadows by the Sea by Farjeon J. Jefferson

Author:Farjeon, J. Jefferson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, British
Published: 1928-11-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Meanwhile At The Mermaid—

A minute later Leonard and Napoleon were leaning over the side of the wreck, hailing the occupants of the boat.

“Hallo there!” cried Leonard.

“Hallo!” sang back Mr. Griddle. “Are you all right?”

“Rather! Havin’ a rippin’ time,” replied Napoleon. “But what’s brought you along?”

“We heard a shot,” Jessica Fyne’s voice called anxiously. “Are you sure no one’s hurt?”

“There you are!” exclaimed Napoleon triumphantly to Leonard. “You see, I do the right thing by instinct!’? Then, turning toward the boat again, he said, “No, no one’s hurt.”

“Beastly shame!” It was Beryl’s voice now. “We’ve brought along such a perfectly lovely First Aid set!”

“Do you mean to say you heard the shot from the hotel?” asked Leonard, as the boat drew alongside.

“We didn’t. She did,” responded Beryl, glancing at Jessica. “If people will sit by open windows late at night, instead of going properly to sleep, they’re bound to hear unpleasant sounds. Particularly if the wind’s in the right direction. But what’s happened? Do tell us! We’ve had an awful scare! You don’t mean to say, Nappy—”

“Eh? Oh, I do, I do,” jerked Napoleon. “Call me names, if you like, but I did it to win five shillings. Yes, I expect I was a fearful ass, but I swore I’d show the world what a hero I could be—get the limelight turned on me just for once!”

“But the limelight seems to be on two of you,” said Jessica, looking at Leonard.

“Yes—I suppose I’m only half a hero, really,” returned Napoleon, “but half a hero’s better than none. I didn’t know where to find a blessed boat, so I asked Sefton to help me. When we found the boat, I refused to back out, and he refused to let me come alone.” He scanned the boat’s occupants. “Is that you, Morley? I rather hoped No. 4 would be Guy. I like prompt settlements. But where is Guy? Should have thought he’d have joined your merry party.”

No one replied for a moment. Then Beryl answered, quietly:

“I don’t know where Guy is, Nappy. We—we hoped we’d find him here.”

“Find him here?” murmured Napoleon—“good Lord!”

“Does that mean your brother isn’t in his room?” queried Leonard.

“No, he’s not there, Mr. Sefton,” responded Beryl. “When Miss Fyne came to my room—after hearing the shot, you know—I decided to rout up Guy first. You see, we thought he could then rout up you, if necessary. But Guy wasn’t there. So we tried your room—and you weren’t there. And then we tried yours, Nappy—and you weren’t there.”

“I guess I wasn’t,” murmured Napoleon.

“I believe I was next on the list of eligibles,” interposed Valentine Morley. “By the time they’d woken me up, the noise had roused Mr. Griddle also, so we thought we’d better make up a little party and come along to see what the trouble was. And we’re still waiting to know. What was that shot? And where’s your boat? Round the other side?”

“No—our boat’s been stolen,” answered Leonard, slowly. “We found some one on board here—”

“What’s that?” cried Mr.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.