The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake Part 30

"Let's try some diving!" proposed Mollie, always a daring water sprite. "It's lovely and deep here," and she looked down from the end of the dock.

"I wish I dared dive," said Amy. She was a rather timid swimmer, slow and deliberate, probably able to keep afloat for a long time, but always timid in deep water.

"Here goes!" cried impulsive Mollie, as she poised for a flash into the water.

She went down cleanly, but was rather long coming up. Grace and Betty looked anxiously at one another.

"She is----" began Betty.

Mollie flashed into sight like a seal.

"I-- I found something!" she panted.

"Did you strike bottom?" asked Betty.

"Almost. But that's all right. I'm going down again. There is something down there. Maybe it's the ghost!"

"Oh, do be careful!" cautioned Betty, but Mollie was already in the water. She was longer this time coming up, and Betty was getting nervous. Then Mollie shot into view.

"I-- I found it!" she gasped.

"What?" chorused the others.

"The missing canoe those boys have been looking for! It is down there on the bottom, freighted with stones. We will get it up for them!"

CHAPTER XXIII

SETTING A TRAP

"Are you sure it is the canoe?" asked Betty, who did not want Mollie to take any unnecessary risks.

"Of course I am," came the confident answer, as Mollie poised, in her dripping bathing suit, on the little dock. She made a pretty picture, too, with her red cap, and blue suit trimmed with white. "I could feel the edge of the gunwhale," she went on, "and the stones in it that keep it down."

"But how can we get it up?" asked Grace, who was sitting on the dock, splashing her feet in the water. Grace never did care much about getting wet. Amy said she thought she looked better dry. Certainly she was a pretty girl and knew how to "pose" to make the most of her charms-- small blame to her, though, for she was unconscious of it.

"We can get it up easily enough," declared Mollie, wringing the water from her skirt, "All we'll have to do will be to toss out the stones, one by one, and the canoe will almost float itself. I can tie a rope to the bow, and we can stand on sh.o.r.e and pull. Those boys will be so glad to get it back."

"But can we lift out the heavy stones?" asked Amy, in considerable doubt.

"Of course we can. You know any object is much lighter in water than out of it, we learned that in physics cla.s.s, you remember. The water buoys it up. You can move a much heavier stone under water than you could if the same stone was on land. We can all try."

"I never could stay under water long enough to get out even one stone," declared Grace.

"Nor I," added Amy.

"I'll try," spoke Betty-- she was always willing to try-- "but I'm afraid I can't be of much help, Mollie. And I'm sure I don't want you to do it all."

"Well, wait until I make another inspection," said the diving girl.

"It may be more than I bargained for. I'll hold my breath longer this time."

"Do be careful!" cautioned Aunt Kate, coming out from the tent.

"We will," promised Betty.

Again Mollie dived. She had practiced the trick of opening her eyes under water, and this time she looked carefully over the sunken canoe.

She stayed under her full limit, and when she came up she was panting for breath.

"You must not stay under so long," warned Betty.

"There-- are-- a-- lot-- of-- stones," gasped Mollie. "But I think we can do it," she added a moment later.

"I'll see what I can do," spoke Betty. She was a good swimmer and diver, perhaps not so brilliant a performer as Mollie, but with more staying qualities. Down went Betty in a clean dive, and when she came up, panting and shaking the water from her eyes, she called:

"I lifted out two, but I think we had better let the boys do it, Mollie."

"Perhaps," was the reply.

"I'm sorry you can't count on me," sail Grace, "but really I'd have nervous prostration if I went down there, even though it's only ten feet deep, as you say."

"Well, getting nervous prostration under water would be a very bad idea," commented Betty.

"And I'm sure I never could do it," remarked Amy. "Do let the boys manage it, Bet. The lads who own the canoe will be glad of the chance."

"I'm going to move out a couple of stones, so Betty won't beat my record," laughed Mollie, diving again. She bobbed up a moment later.

"Oh, dear!" she cried. "An eel slid right over me. Ugh! I'm not going down again!" and she shivered. Even the fearless Mollie had had enough of the under-water work.

By means of a cord and a float the position of the sunken canoe was marked, so that the boys could locate it, and when they returned from a rather unsuccessful fishing trip, they readily agreed to raise the boat. It did not take them long to remove the stones, for Will, Frank and Allen were all expert swimmers, and could remain under water much longer than can most persons.

Then a rope was made fast to the canoe, which would not rise completely because of being filled with water. It was pulled ash.o.r.e and word sent to the young owners. That they were delighted goes without saying. They proffered the reward they had offered, but of course our friends would not take it. Later it was learned that the canoe had been taken by an unscrupulous fisherman, who was not above the suspicion of making a practice of such tricks. It was thought he intended to let it remain where it was until fall, when he would raise it, paint it a different color, and sell it. But Mollie's fortunate dive frustrated his plans.

"Seen anything more of the ghost?" asked Will of the girls, when the canoe had been moored to the sh.o.r.e.

"No, and we don't want to," returned Betty.

"Afraid?" Allen wanted to know.

"Indeed not!" she exclaimed, with a blush.

"I'll tell you what let's do," suggested Frank. "Let's take a look around and see if that ghost left any footprints."

"Ghosts never do," a.s.serted Will.

"Well, let's have a look anyhow. We should have done it before. Now, as nearly as I can recollect, the creature came about to here, and then rushed into the lake," and Frank went to a spot some distance from the tents. The others agreed that it was about there that the white object had been seen. Will was looking along the ground, going toward the lake. Suddenly he uttered an exclamation.

"Girls! Fellows!" he cried. "Come here!" They all hastened to his side. He pointed to some marks in the sandy soil.

"What are they?" he asked, excitedly.