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"I think I had better go up to the hotel to prepare the girls for what
has happened," suggested Mr. Brown a short time afterward.

Miss Jenny Ann seemed surprised at the thought of his leaving her alone
with Mollie, and said so.

"Yes; I think I had better go at once," he announced decisively. "The
doctor will be here in a few minutes. I can do nothing for you or for
Mollie, but I can save the girls from the shock of returning to find
their houseboat damaged and their friend so ill."

Miss Jenny Ann agreed quietly. If Mr. Brown thought it best to go, it
did not really matter. "Ask the girls to come home as soon as they
can," she added. "Phil is so clever in cases of illness."

"I'll borrow the 'Water Witch.' I think I can get up to the Belleview
quicker if I go by water than if I wait for the street car to take me
there. The girls will bring the boat home with them."

Mr. Brown disappeared from the deck of the boat a few moments later.
He climbed into the "Water Witch" and rowed very swiftly up the bay.

Miss Jones had taken it for granted that their houseboat had caught
fire by accident. She had not had time to give much thought to the
matter. But Mr. Brown had other views. He remembered the boy who had
attempted the robbery, and he had other reasons for his suspicions. A
can of oil might very easily have turned over on the deck, but was
there any reason to suppose that a pile of matches would be left lying
at one side of the can? The young artist meant to make a thorough
search for the possible offender. He wished to get out on the water as
soon as he could, because he believed the incendiary had escaped that
way. Mr. Brown and Miss Jenny Ann had been walking down the embankment
at the very time the trespasser must have made his escape. If he had
gone by land, one of them must have caught sight of him.

Theodore Brown was an ex-member of a Yale boat crew. He made the
"Water Witch" skim through the waters, and at the same time he kept a
sharp lookout for a small boat. There were a number of skiffs filled
with young girls and men. But Mr. Brown was looking for a boat with
the single figure of a boy in it.

He went toward the hotel, believing that the boatman would feel more
secure if he were swallowed up in a crowd, than if he were seen in a
more deserted part of the bay. Mr. Brown had almost reached the hotel
pier before he came up to the character of skiff he desired to find.
Then he wa