that if they were
going to send a boat ashore she'd come straight in."

"Let's watch and see what happens, Dolly."

"You bet we will! I wouldn't go now until I knew what they were up to
for anything!"

"It's going straight out to sea, Dolly, and it's keeping so that the
yacht is between it and the shore. It does look as if they didn't want
to be seen, doesn't it?"

"It certainly does! Look, there it goes through the little gap in the
bar! See? Now it will be hidden from the people on shore--and it's going
toward West Point, too. See, I'll bet they're going to make a landing
there!"

They hurried along the bluff, and in a few minutes they saw the boat
graze the beach at the end of West Point. Three men jumped out and
hauled the little craft up on the shore, and then they began to move
inland, toward Bessie and Dolly.

"We'd better work back toward the camp," said Dolly, excitedly. "It
wouldn't do to have them see us--not until we know more about them."

"I wonder if they'll come back this way, toward the camp? And why do you
suppose they're acting that way? It seems very funny to me."

"It does to me, too. I'm beginning to think Miss Eleanor had a good
reason for being nervous, Bessie. I don't believe that yacht is here for
any good purpose."

"It's a good thing we came up this way, isn't it?"

"It certainly is, if we can manage to find out something about them. I
say, do you remember where the spring is? Well, right by it there's a
mound, with a whole lot of bushes. I believe we could hide there, and be
waiting as they come along."

"Let's try it, anyhow. Maybe there's something we ought to know."

They found it easy to hide themselves, and when, a few minutes later,
the three men came along, they were secure from observation.

"Do you think it's Mr. Holmes?" whispered Bessie, voicing the thought
both of them had had.

"It's just as likely as not! It's the sneaky way he would act," said
Dolly, viciously. "They're pretty careful about the way they walk--see?"

But then the men came into the range of their eyes, and the sigh of
disappointment that rose from them was explained by Dolly's disgusted,
"It's not Mr. Holmes, or anyone else I ever saw before."

The men came nearer, and seemed to be looking down at the camp.

"They're the ones! That's the outfit, all right," said one of them.
"Well, it's easy to keep an eye on them."

CHAPTER XIV

A NIGHT ALARM

Bessie and Dolly looked at one ano