Part 35 (1/2)

Sheriff Larkin was some rods from the sh.o.r.e. With a sudden roar Barnacle slipped his leash and tore down the slope. The dog had run a lot of game on Acorn Island since being landed here; but never a quarry like this.

The big man gave one glance behind and then lost all hope of reaching the boat. There was a low-branching tree before him: He leaped for the nearest branch and swung his booted legs for a moment while he tried to hitch up on the limb.

The Barnacle jumped for him. The dog fastened to his heel, and for the first time the girls saw that the mongrel-cur really had a terrific grip.

Sheriff Larkin scrambled up into the tree; but for half a minute Barnacle swung from him, clear of the ground. When he dropped to the ground the heel of the sheriff's boot came with the dog's jaws!

Barnacle crouched down and began to masticate the heel. But the glare that he turned upward at the man, from his red-rimmed eyes, proclaimed the fact that he would ”just as lives” chew on the sheriff's anatomy.

The camp on the top of the knoll had been left in confusion. The girls were talking rather wildly--some praising Liz and others deploring the happening.

Mrs. Morse commanded silence. She walked over to where the maid-of-all-work stood before the cook-tent.

”What does this mean, Lizzie Bean?” she demanded.

”I tell you I ain't workin' for you no more,” cried Liz, wildly. ”I've give up me job.”

”But you had no right to do what you have done.”

”I don't care, I'd done more. I'd gone at that sheriff with my finger-nails if he'd come nearer. Don't I hate him--_just_?”

”Why--why, Lizzie!” gasped the gentle Mrs. Morse.

Here Laura interfered. ”I believe I know what is the matter with Lizzie, Mrs. Morse,” she said.

”Well!” snapped Lil, in the background. ”Let's hear it. The girl's crazy. My mother would never have paid for such a creature to come here with us if she'd known.”

”Your ma needn't give me a cent, Miss,” returned Liz, sullenly.

”What _is_ the matter with her, Laura?” asked Mrs. Morse again.

”She has somebody hidden in that tent,” said Mother Wit, calmly.

”Isn't that the truth, Lizzie? Isn't Mr. Halliday in there--Mr. Norman Halliday?”

”The bank robber!” shrieked Lil.

”Oh, oh!” gasped Nellie.

”Hurray for Liz!” exclaimed Bobby, but in a low tone.

”It cannot be?” queried Mrs. Morse.

”Yes he is. I got him here while youse folks was down talkin' to that red-faced sheriff. He was good to me when I lived at that boardin'

house, in Albany, he was! I wouldn't give him up to that sheriff.”

Mrs. Morse looked at Laura very gravely. ”_You_ have known about this for some time, Laura? You knew that the young man was on the island?”