HEY were not able to take Harry into their confidence right away, however, as by the time they reached school it lacked but a few minutes of dinner time. And after that meal, when they called at the Cottage, they found that Harry had not returned from Silver Cove but had remained to take dinner with one of her girl friends in the village. In the dining-room Roy and Chub had treated Dick with contemptuous indifference and afterward had observed him pass out of the building and across to the library with supreme unconcern. He smiled tauntingly as he passed them in the corridor, but both Roy and Chub looked impassively by him.
“Who’s your friend?” asked Chub audibly.
“Never met him,” responded Roy loftily. “Some low person.”
At two Roy had to go and get ready for the hockey game, and as Chub had nothing better to do he went with him. During the half-hour of practice preceding the game and during the contest itself he watched from the side of the rink and, with Sid, Whitcomb, Pryor, Post and others cheered the home team on to a well-deserved victory. Harry didn’t turn up at the game—an unusual thing for her—and so it was not until after supper next day that Roy and Chub found Harry. They called again at the Cottage and were ushered by Mrs. Emery into the little parlor. Harry joined them soon afterward and in a few moments was made acquainted with the situation relating to Dick.
“It’s a mystery!” she declared excitedly.
“It surely is,” Roy answered. “And we want you to help us find out what the silly chap is up to. Will you?”
“Yes, and I’ll be a detective too!”
“All right,” answered Chub, “but I don’t think I ever heard of a female detective; did you, Roy?”
Roy shook his head, but Harry protested vigorously.
“There are female detectives,” she asserted stoutly. “I read of one once in some book. She was awfully smart and found the stolen diamonds after every one else had failed!”
“All right,” said Chub. “What was her name?”
“Why, it was—was—oh, dear, I’ve forgotten it!”
“Then I don’t see how you can be her,” teased Roy.
“I shall recall it,” answered Harry with dignity. “Besides, detectives have aliases, don’t they?”
“Oh, the cheap ones do,” replied Roy. “Sherlock Holmes didn’t change his name.”
“Did Vi—Vi—Vidocq?” asked Harry anxiously.
“Yes, often,” answered Chub. “He was the real thing, too. He caught more desperate criminals than Sherlock Holmes ever thought of! And he was great for disguising himself, too.”
“Oh, that’s it!” cried Harry. “I must have a disguise!”
“Wear your hair on top of your head,” suggested Roy laughingly.
“Put your shoes on the wrong feet,” added Chub.
“Never you mind,” said Harry with sparkling eyes. “I know what I shall do. You wait and see. But if you recognize me—if you penetrate my disguise, I mean, you mustn’t let on. You won’t, will you? Because it might spoil everything.”
“You may depend upon us,” replied Roy gravely.
“We ought to have a password,” Harry continued. “So when we meet each other we can communicate.”
“‘R-r-r-revenge!’” muttered Chub with a ferocious scowl. Harry clapped her hands.
“That’s it! That’s the password! ‘Revenge!’ Don’t forget it.”
“Trust us,” said Roy. “We think of nothing else. ‘Revenge!’”
“‘Revenge!’” echoed Harry.
“‘Revenge!’” growled Chub.
Then they looked at each other and laughed enjoyably. And suddenly Harry gave an exclamation of triumph.
“I remember!” she cried. “It was Estrella!”
“What was?”
“The name of that lady detective. Estrella—Estrella—oh, I can’t remember her last name, but I guess Estrella will do, won’t it?”
“Yes, I should think so,” Chub said. “It’s a fine-sounding name, all right. Roy, allow me to present you to Miss Estrella, the Lady Sleuth.”
“What’s a sleuth?” asked Harry anxiously.
“Oh, that’s just a slang name for detective.”
“Well, I don’t believe lady detectives would use slang,” she said. “So I guess I won’t be a sleuth, if you don’t mind, Chub.”
“Have your own way about it. It doesn’t make much difference what you call yourself, Harry, if you’ll only find out what Dick is up to. He’s got to be punished for the way he has treated us all. It—it’s a low-down trick, that’s what it is!”
“Yes, we owe him something,” Roy agreed. “And we’ll pay him back, too. But we must try and make him think that we aren’t watching him any more.”
“Yes, lull his suspicions,” said Chub.
“Then maybe he will get careless and we’ll catch him red-handed.”
“Red-handed!” echoed Harry with gusto. “Isn’t it lovely? I do wish I could start to-morrow, but I suppose you can’t detect on Sunday!”