May Thurston was assured by the continued absence of Masters that he had abandoned further vicious effort. In this view, the girl did the indefatigable scoundrel less than justice. As a matter of fact, the engineer was very busy indeed. He had kept away from the cottage because he feared that May might have guessed his agency in the attack directed against Saxe, although he had taken the precaution to remove the rifle and its accessories from the sapling on the day after the shooting. He suspected, too, that May would learn from Margaret the truth concerning his treachery in love--in which suspicion he was quite wrong--and he deemed himself safer out of the injured girl’s sight. So, he kept himself hidden from the household of the cottage, while still devoting himself to malevolent schemes. Hope developed in him that he might yet win Margaret West--if only Saxe were out of the path. In addition, the removal of this rival would allow him another chance, even if brief, to search for the treasure. He was determined that Saxe should die, straightway. To that consummation, he set himself with cold-blooded ingenuity.
It was on a splendid morning a week later that the four friends were taking another trip in the motor-boat, to examine the extreme northern end of the lake. Jake was at the steering-wheel, as always, for the abundant sunken rocks and shoals forbade a stranger as pilot in these waters. Roy sat beside the boatman, as his custom was, while Saxe and David were in chairs behind, and Billy, puffing his black cigar, lounged contentedly in the stern.
Saxe shook his head impatiently, as the smell of gasoline, instead of the balsamic fragrance of the shore, afflicted his nostrils. He spoke of the annoyance to David, who agreed that the scent was unusually strong in the boat that day.
“Must be a bit of a leak somewhere,” David vouchsafed. He called a question to Roy, who merely shook his head by way of answer. “They wouldn’t get the smell up there, anyhow,” David continued, to Saxe. “You see, it’s floating round in the bilge right under us, so that we get the worst of it.”
Saxe had just time to wonder, without much real concern, whether or not it were quite prudent of Billy to be smoking where so large a quantity of gasoline was loose--then, the catastrophe came--came with lightning swiftness--a huge burst of flame enveloped them.