CHAPTER III The Abandoned Yacht

The door had swung back to reveal a wrecked stateroom. Everything was in confusion. Chairs were upset, papers strewn over the floor and a table lamp had toppled to the floor. Obviously, the room had been occupied by Mr. Burnett, for his clothing hung on nails along the wall, but there was no sign of the noted yachtsman. The bed had not been slept in on the previous night.

Madge was thoroughly alarmed. It was immediately apparent to her that something was radically wrong. She saw clearly that there had been a struggle, and from the condition of the furniture and fixtures, it had been a desperate one. What had become of Mr. Burnett and Enid?

“It’s a case for the police,” she decided instantly. “I must return to the city as quickly as I can and bring someone here!”

Closing the door behind her, she ran back to the railing. Peering down, she searched in vain for her boatman. Her eyes turned shoreward and she saw him several hundred yards away, rowing hurriedly toward the harbor.

“Come back!” she called frantically. “I want to go with you!”

She shouted until she was nearly hoarse, but the boatman gave no indication that he heard. He kept his face lowered and not once did he glance back toward the yacht.

“Now what shall I do?” Madge asked herself in desperation. “I believe that man left me stranded here on purpose! Oh, I could scalp him!”

She gazed resentfully after the retreating boatman, observing that he made far greater speed than on the trip out to the yacht. Not for a moment did she believe he had mistaken her order to wait.

She consoled herself with the thought that she would have him arrested for carrying away her luggage. However, unobserved by her, the boatman had brought the suitcase aboard. She saw it on the deck as she turned around.

“He came aboard quickly enough when he wanted to!” she exclaimed. “I wonder why he ran away? Perhaps he had a suspicion that something was wrong here.”

She recalled his reluctance to rent his boat and his unwillingness to make the trip to The Flora. Having taken an instant dislike to him, she decided without further consideration, that he was a questionable character and would bear investigation. She determined to speak of him when she acquainted the authorities with the situation as she had found it aboard the yacht.

For the present, her one desire was to reach shore as quickly as possible. She gazed anxiously about for help. Several small boats were plying in and out of the harbor, but they were too far away to be of aid. As if by a preconceived plan, they kept beyond hailing distance.

“It looks as though I’ll be here for some time,” Madge commented inwardly. “Oh, dear, and it’s so important that I notify the police without delay. Something dreadful may have happened to Enid and her father.”

Since it availed her nothing to stand helplessly by the railing, she decided to look about the ship more carefully and see if she could make further discoveries. It was difficult for her to believe that the yacht had been entirely abandoned.

After visiting the kitchen and the lounge, she noticed a second cabin not far from the one occupied by Mr. Burnett. The door was unlocked and she entered, half expecting to find everything in disorder.

She found herself in Enid’s room. Nothing seemed to have been disturbed. Toilet articles were neatly arranged on the dressing table, and in opening a closet door, Madge saw a long line of pretty frocks. An empty traveling bag occupied the shelf above.

“Enid couldn’t have gone away for the weekend or she would have taken her things,” she reasoned.

Only the bed gave evidence that the room had been occupied within the past twenty-four hours. The sheets were wrinkled and the blankets lay upon the floor, as though the occupant had tossed them hurriedly aside upon arising.

“It’s beyond me,” Madge mused. “Evidently, Enid slept here last night—or at least a portion of the night, but Mr. Burnett didn’t.”

In her mind, the conviction was steadily growing that her friends had met with violence. She had read that robberies were not an infrequent occurrence aboard luxurious yachts, and Mr. Burnett was known to have valuables and art treasures in his possession.

Sorely troubled, she returned to the upper deck to watch for a boat, but as there was none close by, she wandered restlessly about.

“It’s odd what became of all the sailors,” she thought. “Surely someone would be here to tell the story, even if there had been a robbery. It’s the most mysterious thing I ever encountered.”

Presently, she reentered Mr. Burnett’s cabin to look again for clues. Crossing to the desk, she jerked open a drawer. To her astonishment, she saw, tucked beneath some papers, a leather billfold. A glance disclosed that it contained two twenty dollar bills.

“This doesn’t look like robbery after all,” Madge told herself. “I don’t know what to make of it now.”

She was even more puzzled when she entered the bathroom adjoining the cabin and found a silver watch lying upon the shelf above the wash bowl. She was still examining it when she became aware of a slight scraping sound in the bedroom. At first she thought she must be mistaken, but as she heard it again, she hastily retraced her steps.

All was quiet in the stateroom. Madge looked about but could see no cause for the strange sound. She was about to turn away when it was repeated, and this time she distinctly traced it to a closet on the opposite side of the room.

“There’s some one in there!” she thought in excitement.

She ran to the door and tried to jerk it open. It was locked.

As she moved the handle, she heard the same scraping noise, louder than before. Now she knew that someone was imprisoned within and pulled frantically at the knob. Realizing that she was only wasting her strength, she looked about the room for some object with which to break the lock. Instead, her eye fell upon a key that lay on the carpet at her feet. Evidently, it had fallen from the door or had been dropped purposely.

With nervous fingers she fitted it into the lock. It refused to turn. She worked with it and after several attempts, was rewarded by a sharp click.

She jerked open the door and stepped back in amazement and horror. There at her feet, bound and gagged, lay Enid.