The Mystery on the Mississippi

word, till we talk to the police.”
    “What did you say?” the manager asked. “Did someone say something?”
    No one answered, so he went on. “I don’t understand any of this. I’m sure of one thing. No one deliberately tried to drown anyone. It’s too fantastic. Why would anyone do a thing like that? Do you kids have any idea?”
    “Trixie said a man ran from the pool just before she dived from the board, just before her accident,” Mart said.
    “A man ran from the pool? That couldn’t be. She must have imagined it. My apartment is right in the front of the motel. I didn’t héar a thing till the girl screamed. The restaurant is in front, too, and the pastry cook works at night—getting the baking done for the next day, you know. I’ll ask him if he heard anyone or saw anyone.”
    “Here I am,” the white-suited chef said. He had obviously been listening. “The kid’s right. She really did see someone. I did, too. It was a guy in swim trunks, running for the parking lot. I opened the door to yell at him, but he gunned his car and drove off.” Trixie had dressed hurriedly and joined the group in time to hear the cook’s words. “Was it a black car?” she asked anxiously.
    “All cars are black when it’s dark outside,” the cook said, grinning. “My granddad used to say, ‘At night, all cats are gray.’ ”
    “Yes, yes, I see,” the manager said impatiently. “It must have been some smart-aleck kid stealing a swim when he thought no one would see him. They’ll do any kind of damage, these smart kids, wreck anything just for kicks.”
    “I don’t think it was a boy I saw,” Trixie said slowly and quietly.
    “Whoever it was, I’ll make it my business to find out. I’ll put someone on it right away this morning. In the meantime, young lady, I’d better take you to the house physician. He must sleep like a dead man, not to have heard all this fuss. I want to know that you weren’t injured.”
    “There’s no need for me to see a doctor,” Trixie said hastily. “I was scared, more than anything. I don’t want to see a doctor. I’m all right. As soon as Mr. Wheeler gets here, we’ll all talk to you again. In the meantime—here’s Honey now—in the meantime, we’ll go back to our rooms. I’m sorry as I can be that I was the cause of all this bother.”
    “I might, just as a warning, call your attention to one thing, Miss Trixie,” the manager said sternly. “The hours for swimming are clearly posted above the pool. It may be a good idea if you observe them strictly in the future.”
    “I will. I will,” Trixie said meekly.
    “Boy, would you save us a lot of trouble if you were that humble all the time!” Mart remarked.
    Honey bristled. “I like Trixie just exactly the way she is all the time. So there, Mart Belden!”
    Trixie was still subdued when they lined up along the counter in the restaurant for hot chocolate.
    “Daddy said he’d be here right away,” Honey told them. “This is where he said for us to be, and he told us to get some hot chocolate. Trixie, your teeth are chattering.”
    “I guess I’m still nervous. I’m not cold. Was your father terribly angry at me?”
    “Heavens, no! Did you ever know a time when Daddy was terribly angry at any of us? He was worried, and that’s no surprise. He said for us not to move from this restaurant till he can get here. Do you really think that man you saw at the pool was Pierre Lontard?”
    “I’m just as sure of it as I can possibly be. He really must be desperate, to do a thing like that.”
    “That’s right. I don’t see why the authorities don’t arrest him right now. What are they waiting for?”
    “Evidence,” Dan said abruptly. “They haven’t confided in us, but they can’t just walk up to a man and arrest him, unless they have evidence. We don’t know if they know where he is or what he’s done.”
    “Well, I should think they have plenty of evidence,” Mart said.
    “No. There’s plenty of suspicion, but that’s not evidence,” Dan insisted.
    “Don’t they ever arrest anyone on suspicion?”
    “Sure they do, Mart,” Dan replied. “Sometimes they get into some pretty bad messes doing that, too. Don’t forget that Pierre Lontard is pretty smart. He might know that Mr. Wheeler is a millionaire. He may have destroyed any evidence that could convict him of whatever the authorities suspect he’s done. Then he’d like to be arrested and sue Mr. Wheeler.” Mart wasn’t