“You call my act cheap?” the magician demanded, standing his ground. “I’ll show you about that! Nobody can talk to me that way and get away with it.”
He began to strip off his coat, and Dave, undaunted, followed his example. Marshmallow rushed forward and interposed himself between the two.
“Lay off!” he ordered. “Can’t you see that you’re ruining Doris’s chance of finding her uncle?, You and your silly quarrels make me sick!” Abashed, Dave permitted himself to be hauled away from the battle line, but the magician continued to cast baleful glances upon him.
“Please don’t quarrel,” Doris begged. “Marshmallow is right. We must all work together or my trip to Cloudy Cove will have been in vain.”
“I’m sorry,” Dave muttered, extending his hand to Weiser. “It was my fault.”
The magician hesitated, then accepted it, smiling broadly.
“No, it was mine. I guess I had my nerve blundering in here.”
“Now don’t start arguing about whose fault it is,” Marshmallow interrupted brutally. “We must be on our way, or we’ll never find Mr. Jay.”
“Is that who you are after?” Ollie questioned in surprise.
“Yes,” Doris informed him quickly, “but we don’t know where he went. It’s of the utmost importance that we find him at once.”
“Why didn’t you tell me what all the excitement was about?” the magician demanded. “I could have saved you all this mental anguish under which you are now laboring.”
He struck a pose, enjoying to the full the attention which he commanded.
“As it happens, I saw your friend, Mr. Jay, not half an hour ago, but by this time I judge he is beyond your reach!”
CHAPTER XXIV
The Chase
“You saw Mr. Jay!” Doris exclaimed. “Where?”
“In Cloudy Cove,” Ollie Weiser informed her. “He was standing at the corner waiting for the Thor Bay bus, or at least I suppose he was, for he had a suitcase in his hand.”
“The Thor bus goes straight to the steamship dock, doesn’t it?” Doris demanded tensely.
The magician assented, adding:
“There’s a steamship leaving about this time, too. I think it’s due to pull out about seven forty-five.”
“What time is it now?” Doris asked. “Seven-twenty,” Dave responded, looking at his watch. “If Mr. Jay took that bus, we’ll be too late to catch him. We can’t get to the bay before the steamer leaves.”
“We have twenty-five minutes!” Doris cried. “We must try to catch him!”
Still clutching the photograph and the bit of envelope, Doris ran from the cabin, followed by the others. Marshmallow had left his car standing in the open and the young people piled into it.
“Go on without me,” Mrs. Mallow called, for she had been unable to run as rapidly as the others. “Oh! I hope you make it in time!”
Marshmallow had taken the wheel, Doris and Dave crowding into the front seat beside him. Kitty and Ollie Weiser, not to be left behind, climbed into the back.
“I’ll bet the pesky thing won’t start,” Marshmallow muttered as he stepped on the starter.
For a wonder it did. In spite of its age, the car still had considerable pep, and Marshmallow knew how to make it perform to the best advantage. The engine roared loudly, the fenders rattled, but, had the car boasted a speedometer, it would have disclosed the fact that the state speed law was being broken.
“Didn’t think the old buggy had it in her!” Marshmallow exclaimed.
“Do be careful!” Kitty warned. “We don’t want to land in the ditch!”
At times the car did waver in the road, but, as Marshmallow later boasted, he always managed to keep it between the fence posts. Anxiously, Doris watched the time.
“How far is it to the dock?” she questioned. “Must be all of fifteen miles,” Weiser told her. “Then we’ll never make it!”
In a few minutes they came within sight of the bay and followed it southward. The road was congested with motorists who were out for pleasure, and Marshmallow was forced to reduce the speed.
“This settles it,” he groaned. “Unless that boat is late in leaving the dock, we haven’t a chance.”
The steamship dock was located on the bay near the city of Ashlow. As they caught a glimpse of the lights, Doris looked again at her watch. It was twenty, minutes to eight!
“Oh, Marshmallow,” she pleaded, “can’t you go a little faster? We have only five minutes.”
“This is the best she’ll do,” Marshmallow returned grimly. “We’re going so fast now, I’m afraid everything will fall to pieces.”
Doris kept her eyes fastened on the dial of Dave’s watch. Just as the car entered the outskirts of Ashlow, she sank back dispiritedly against the cushions.
“It’s no use,” she said quietly, trying to hide her disappointment. “The time is up.”
“Maybe we can make it yet,” Marshmallow insisted. “We haven’t heard the steamship whistle.” Even as he spoke, a loud, mournful blast sounded from the direction of the dock.
“There she goes!” Dave exclaimed. “She’s just pulling out!”
Doris was too disappointed to offer any comment. She felt that if Mr. Jay succeeded in getting away, she would never be able to locate him again. The mystery would remain forever unsolved.
A few minutes later Marshmallow found the street leading to the waterfront, but by that time everyone had given up hope. As the car came within sight of the dock, Doris and her friends saw that the steamship was far out from land.
“Maybe we can rent a motorboat and overtake her,” Ollie suggested.
“That’s a mighty good idea,” Dave approved, forgetting his bitterness toward the magician. He sprang from the car and helped the girls to alight.
The five raced to the waterfront, but could not find a motorboat in the vicinity. As they stood gazing hopelessly after the vanishing steamer, they were so discouraged and heartsick that they did not immediately notice the bus which was standing nearby. Kitty was the first to call attention to it.
“I’ll question the driver and find out if a man answering Mr. Jay’s description, boarded the steamer,” Doris said rather listlessly.
She crossed over to the bus, the others at her heels. In response to her question the driver smiled.
“I reckon that man was one of the passengers, all right, Miss, but he didn’t get on the steamer. We had a breakdown on the road and didn’t pull in here more than three or four minutes ahead of your car. Most of the passengers are over there at the station waiting for the next boat.”
“What a lucky break!” Dave exclaimed as they all hurried toward the station. “We’ll surely find him now.”
However, a search of the waiting passengers did not disclose Mr. Jay. At last Doris ventured to ask one of the men if he had seen the old miser.
“I think he took his baggage and went toward the city,” the stranger informed her politely. “He seemed quite disturbed because he had missed his boat.”
“We may catch him yet!” Doris declared, thanking the gentleman for