human
Listen here! Listen here! cried Bobby, smothering some of the upper register, but still quite
gpt
We're listening, Bobby! Do tell us what it is,
human
The shell is gone!
gpt
Gone where?
human
What shell?
gpt
Our new shell. And if I knew where it was gone I wouldn't be telling you about how it was stolen, for it would be an old story then,
human
You don't mean to say that the new shell has been taken out of the boathouse--and a watchman there?
gpt
That's what I mean. It's gone, said Bobby, solemnly.
human
Mike, the watchman, doesn't know when it was taken. One of the big doors was forced open and our beautiful shell has disappeared. There are two launches out searching the lake for it.
gpt
But who would have done such a thing?
human
And what could be their object?
gpt
Ask me an easier one, said the grocery-man's daughter.
human
I only know it's gone, and the intention evidently is to make us Central High girls lose the race.
gpt
Oh, who would be so mean?
human
There are four other contestants in the eight-oared class,
gpt
You don't believe any of the other girls have stolen the shell?
human
Why, Bobby! how could they do it? And in the night, too?
gpt
I don't say who did it. But it may have been somebody hired to do it by some other crew.
human
Keyport?
gpt
They're the very best crew on the lake--next to ours,
human
And they probably think themselves the better of the two, said the shrewd Bobby.
gpt
I'd suspect either of the other three first.
human
But it's just awful to suspect any of the other Highs. What a mean, mean trick!
gpt
If they'd only taken the old shell,
human
That's it. They knew we had little chance to beat them in the old shell. But some spy must have watched us and timed us in the new boat, said Bobby with decision.
gpt
And so--it went!
human
I can scarcely believe it,
gpt
But it must be found before the Big Day!
human
I guess that's what all the girls of Central High will say. But Lake Luna is a large body of water, and there are plenty of wild pieces of shore where the shell could be hidden, in the mouth of a creek, or some such place. Or, perhaps it has been removed from the lake altogether. Oh, it may have been already destroyed.
gpt
Dreadful!
human
And we haven't paid for it, yet,