The Girls of Central High on Lake Luna; Or, The Crew That Won
CHAPTER I
THE LONE MAN ON THE ISLAND
"There! I see him again," whispered Dora Lockwood.
A half-minute's silence, save for the patter of the drops from the paddles as the light cedar canoe shot around East Point of Cavern Island.
"So do I!" cried Dorothy, but in a low tone. "My! what frightful whiskers."
"He looks just like a pirate," declared her sister.
"He is a pirate – or a robber – I wager," returned Dorothy.
"Maybe he's one of those horrid men who robbed Stresch & Potter Tuesday night."
"Oh, Dora! Let's hurry by."
Both girls redoubled their efforts at the paddles and the canoe shot past the little cove which lay at the foot of the eminence known as Boulder Head. The black hair and ferocious whiskers of the person upon whom they made these comments dipped down behind a big rock on the shore and disappeared.
"There! he's gone," sighed Dora, with relief.
"I'm glad. Do you suppose he had anything to do with the robbery at Stresch & Potter's department store? They say the thieves got more than ten thousand dollars."
"I don't know whether the lone pirate is one of them or not," laughed Dora; "but somebody must have committed the robbery – and why not he?"
"That's heartless," sniffed Dorothy. "They say that a small boy helped the robbers, too. They had to push a boy through the wire screen they cut out, and he opened a cellar door to let the robbers in."
"Don't I know that? And don't I know who is suspected, too?" returned Dora.
"Oh, Dora! Don't say it!" protested Dorothy, in horror.
"I don't say I believe it. But you know very well that Billy is up to all sorts of mischief."
"But Billy Long is one of our own boys."
"I know he goes to Central High. But all the boys who go to our school are not angelic."
"Far from it," sighed her sister, pensively.
"And 'Short and Long' is a regular little snipe, sometimes!" said Dora, with emphasis.
"But to rob a store!" gasped her twin sister.
"He was seen around there the afternoon before. Why, I know that a policeman has been to his house looking for him, and nobody has seen Short and Long since Thursday night."
"But the robbery was committed some time Tuesday night."
"He wasn't suspected at first. Perhaps he thought nobody had noticed him helping the men in the afternoon."
"If they were the men – those surveyors."
"Of course they were!" cried Dora. "The city engineer's office sent no men to run that street line. Those fellows were taking measurements right back of Stresch & Potter's building – and Short and Long was helping them. And, now, when the hue and cry is raised, he's gone."
"Oh, Dora! It would be dreadful," sighed Dorothy. "One of our Central High boys."
"And one that's always been just as full of mischief as an egg is full of meat," snapped Dora.
Now, supposing there had been a blind person in the canoe with the Lockwood sisters, that unfortunate person could never in this world have told which girl spoke at each time. Their voices were exactly alike – the same inflection, the same turning of phrases, the exact tone.
Nor could this supposititious blind person – had his eyes been suddenly opened – have been able to tell the girls apart, either!
For Dora and Dorothy Lockwood were exactly the same height, of the same physical development, and with the same mannerisms and carriage. Both had a wealth of rather light brown hair, and that hair was tied with ribbons of exactly the same shade, and tied in exactly the same kind of bow. They possessed two pairs of very nice gray eyes, usually sparkling with fun. Each had a dimple at the left side of her pretty lips, and when they smiled that dimple came into prominence at once. The turn of their chins, the shape of their noses and ears, the breadth of their foreheads – every feature was the same. One's reflection in the looking-glass could be no more exactly like the original than was her sister.
So, unless some person was near enough to watch the play of the twins' lips, it would have been impossible to tell which girl spoke.
They had been paddling for some time – from the boat landing at the Girls' Branch Athletic Field of Central High, at Centerport, to the East Point of Cavern Island, and beyond.
Lake Luna was a beautiful body of water some twenty miles in length and a half-mile broad. Cavern Island lay in its middle directly opposite the city of Centerport. At the upper, or west end of the lake, lay Lumberport, another lively town, at the mouth of Rocky River; and at the far eastern end of the lake its waters flowed out through Rolling River at the city of Keyport.
Back of the city of Centerport, which was by far the largest and most important of the three, was a range of beautiful hills – hills which were now clothed in their mantle of full summer verdure. There was, about in the middle of the big town, a slight elevation occupied by the best residences. This "hill section" of Centerport was flanked on either hand by business portions of the city; but on the lake shore side of the Hill there were beautiful estates, boat clubs, bathing pavilions, and the new Athletic Field established for the use of the girls of Central High School, at which institution the Lockwood twins were pupils in their sophomore year.
The twins were, too, dressed alike, in very pretty blue and white boating costumes, with broad-brimmed canvas hats; but despite these hats they were as brown as berries, and the red blood showed through the tan on their cheeks like the hue of blush-roses. Their arms, bared to the elbow, were very brown, too.
A number of the girls of Central High were possessed of canoes; but none was a better paddler than the Lockwood twins. Either singly, or together, Dora and Dorothy, in competition with most of their mates, whether of sophomore, junior or senior class, could hold their own. Besides the twins rowed respectively Number 6 and Number 2 in the eight-oared shell.
For some few months now the girls of Central High had been particularly enthusiastic about athletics of all kinds. They were rivals for all athletic honors with the two other high schools of Centerport – the East and West Highs – as well as with the high school girls of Lumberport and Keyport.
Recently there had been a rowing race between these high school crews of eight, and the girls of Central High had been beaten. There were coming soon, however, the annual boat races and other aquatic sports on Lake Luna which were each year contested and supported by the athletic clubs of the three cities of the lake.
It was an all-day tournament, and it always embraced swimming, rowing and paddling for prizes, as well as fun in the shape of "bunting," water-polo, marine hare and hounds, and other games. But if the truth were told, the main interest of the Lockwood twins and their girl friends was at present centered in the eight-oared shell race between the five high schools.
As the twins swept on in their canoe, and turned Boulder Head, hiding the place where they had seen the bewhiskered poll of the individual whom Dora had called the lone pirate, she said:
"Do you suppose, Dory, that anybody will be good enough to really present the crew with a new shell?"
"Somebody's got to – if Central High is to win," declared Dorothy, vigorously.
"That's so. We can never beat East High with our old tub – let alone the Lumberport or Keyport eight."
"Leave it to Mother Wit," laughed Dorothy. "She has her thinking cap on."
"But we can't leave everything to Laura Belding," declared Dora. "She shouldn't be called upon to do everything. She got Colonel Richard Swayne interested in our Girls' Branch Athletic League, and so we are to have a fine new field, they say. That's enough for Laura to do."
"But Mother Wit is always turning up unexpectedly with something