ling of the overheard conversation.

"Well, what do you know about that?"

"The nerve of that chap wanting a race!"

"We'll race _him_, all right!"

"And so they're going to do up old Denny, eh?"

"Well, I guess we'll have a hand in that!"

These were the comments of Jack and his chums.

"Now don't do anything rash," begged Cora.

"We've got to do _something_," insisted Jack.

After some consultation it was agreed that the boys should go over and
have a talk with the fisherman, and then, among themselves, they would
decide on what was best to be done.

Meanwhile the girls would go back to the bungalow, there to await the
report of the boys. Nothing would be said to Mrs. Lewis, for she had
had alarm enough.

It was anxious waiting for the girls, and they were so nervous that
they did not enjoy the dinner Mrs. Lewis had prepared, at which lack
of appetite she wondered much. But she ascribed their distraction, and
their rather strange comments, to the alarm of the day before.

Finally the _Lassie_, which had somehow been induced to "mote," was
descried coming across the bay from the direction of the old
fisherman's cabin.

"Come on, girls!" called Cora as she saw the boys. "We'll go down and
meet them." She did not want Mrs. Lewis to hear the talk.

"Well, Jack?" asked Cora, as the boat came in.

"Not well--bad," he said. "Denny wasn't at home, and no one knew where
he had gone. So we left a note for him, and we'll be on hand
to-night."

"What about us?" asked Bess.

"You'd better stay here," said Jack. "No telling what sort of a row we
may run into, and you're better at home."

"I think so, too," agreed Cora, but the look she gave her chums had
more meaning in it than the mere words indicated. Bess and the others
understood.

"And now," went on Jack, "we'll proceed to find out why the _Dixie_
won't mote. We want her in shape to-night."

"That's right," assented Dray. "I think it's the carbureter. I'll get
a man from the garage to look it over."

"We'll want a fast boat if the one those fellows have is as speedy as
you girls say," remarked Walter.

"Couldn't we take the _Chelton_?" asked Ed.

"The _Pickerel_ beat us to-day," said Cora. "Besides, it might be good
to have her in reserve. Try and have the _Dixie_ fixed up."

"We will!" promised her owner.

The remainder of the day seemed like a dream to the girls. Never had
time passed so slowly. They were waiting for what the night might
bri