Part 8 (1/2)

Bess sighed. ”Loch Lomond is just as beautiful as the songs and stories about it.”

As far as the girls could see, the crystal-clear water was surrounded by wooded hills. Islands dotted the surface of the loch.

Nancy had pulled up beside a cove and sat staring ahead at a row of houseboats. They looked like huge square boxes with windows. All were one story high and painted white. Each was secured to its own dock.

”Girls,” Nancy said excitedly, ”those houseboats remind me of one of the pictures on that strange note we found in the hotel room!”

”Me too!” George agreed. ”But do you think a houseboat has anything to do with our mystery?”

Nancy shrugged. ”I'm going to keep it in mind as a clue.”

Bess, meanwhile, had been looking at the sky. What had started out to be a bright day was now an overcast one, with dark clouds scudding over the sun. The wind had picked up considerably.

”Maybe we'd better not go much farther,” she suggested. ”If a storm breaks, I'd just as soon get back to the hotel. Wouldn't you?”

Nancy agreed and said she would drive only a short distance. In the main, the road kept fairly close to the water. At one point near the sh.o.r.e a small stone pedestal had been erected. At the top was the statue of a small boy.

”I wonder why it was put there,” said George.

”I read about it in a guidebook,” Nancy answered. ”The poor little fellow was drowned at this spot, so his parents erected the statue in his memory.”

”How sad!” Bess murmured.

The wind began to blow in great gusts and when the girls reached the small town of Luss, Nancy decided to turn around. At times the car s.h.i.+vered in the blasts. Nancy almost had to fight the wheel to keep in her lane.

”Let's hurry!” Bess urged. ”I don't like this!”

Nancy put on more speed. By the time they reached the cove where the houseboats were tied up, the wind was blowing with gale force. The large craft were rocking violently.

”I sure wouldn't want to be living in one of those,” George remarked. ”Not in this weather.”

Could they get close enough to the houseboat to a.s.sist the trapped victims?

Suddenly a tremendous rush of wind came directly at them from the loch. It actually forced the car to the other side of the road! Nancy jammed on her brakes and the car held its position.

Bess and George, meanwhile, were watching the tossing houseboats. Suddenly Bess gave a shriek.

”One of the boats is going over!”

Nancy turned to look. The gale had lifted the third houseboat out of the water and sent it cras.h.i.+ng onto the beach! The next second it toppled over! The girls could hear screams and cries above the howling wind.

”There are people in it! We must do something to help them!” Nancy exclaimed.

Without thinking of the danger to themselves, the three girls took their raincoats and hats from the rear seat and quickly pulled them on. Nancy had shut off the engine and put on the hand brake.

Opening the door was like pus.h.i.+ng against a gigantic wave, but the girls finally managed it and struggled out sideways. By this time rain was falling in a sheet. Loch Lomond was being whipped into white foam and small boats in the cove were tossing wildly.

As the girls endeavored to go forward along the sh.o.r.e, the screams from within the overturned houseboat increased. Could they get close enough to a.s.sist the trapped victims? No one had appeared from the other craft. Were their occupants away or afraid to come outside?