United States or United States Virgin Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"The Mademoiselle is from the school the institute where learning is taught the lo-fe-ly Misses?" He thus made three syllables of "lovely" and Ruth knew that he leered like a Billiken in the dark. "I am at Briarwood Hall yes," she said. "I have seen the kind Mademoiselle before," said the man. "On the boat on that other so-beeg lake Osago, is it?" "On the Lanawaxa yes," admitted Ruth. "Ah!
When the train ran down to the dock where they were to take the steamboat Lanawaxa for the other side of the lake, there was a crowd of a dozen or more girls in waiting. A welcoming shout greeted Ruth as she headed the party from the vestibule coach: "S. B. Ah-h h! S. B. Ah-h-h! Sound our battle-cry Near and far! S. B. All! Briarwood Hall!
Tom had met some of his friends who attended the Seven Oaks Military Academy, among them big Bob Steele and little Isadore Phelps. Of course the boys joined the girls, and necessary introductions were made. Before the Lanawaxa pulled out of the dock, they were all having great fun.
But Tom said he was alone in that intention among the few boys aboard; and there were no girls upon the Lanawaxa, as the little steamboat was named, save Ruth and Helen. Tom did not neglect the comfort of the girls, but he really could not keep away from the engine-room of the Lanawaxa. Tom was mightily interested in all things mechanical, and in engines especially.
There wasn't time then, however, to make any toilet before the train left. They were off on the short run to Seven Oaks in a very few minutes after leaving the Lanawaxa. Tom was very much excited now. He craned his head out of the car window to catch the first glimpse of the red brick barracks and dome of the gymnasium, which were the two most prominent buildings belonging to the Academy.
The absence of the French teacher from the dormitory, the connection of the little lady with the obese foreigner who played the harp on the Lanawaxa, and the sounding of harp-strings on the campus in the middle of the night, were all dovetailed together in Ruth Fielding's mind. She wondered what the mystery meant.
Then all three went aft to repeat their concert. An hour later the Lanawaxa docked at Portageton. When our young friends went ashore and walked up the freight-littered wharf, Ruth suddenly pulled Helen's sleeve. "Look there! There behind the bales of rags going to the paper-mill. Do you see them?" whispered Ruth. "I declare!" returned her chum. "Isn't that mysterious?
She said: "There was an orchestra on that boat that was frozen into the ice, Miss Picolet. One of the musicians spoke to me. He knew you or said he did " The girl hated to go on, Miss Picolet turned so pale and looked so frightened. But it had to be done, and Ruth pursued her story: "I had seen the man before the day we came to school here, Helen and I. He played the harp on the Lanawaxa."
"Well, what do you know about that?" demanded Tom, almost before the girls were in the forward cabin. "Isn't that the big man with the red waistcoat that frightened that little woman on the Lanawaxa? You know, you pointed them out to me on the dock at Portageton, Helen? Isn't that him at the harp?" "Oh! it is, indeed!" ejaculated his sister. "What a horrid man he is! Let's come away."
Tellingham's curiosity was no idle matter. "Where?" "On the Lanawaxa the boat coming down the lake, Mrs. Tellingham." "Miss Picolet was alone aboard the boat?" Ruth signified that she was. "Did you see her speaking with anybody?" "We saw a man speak to her. He was one of the musicians. He frightened Miss Picolet. Afterward we saw that he had followed her out upon the wharf.
Word Of The Day