aunch close in shore at the sandy
strip near the Creek House fence, and Scotty jumped to the beach with
the anchor as before.

Rick joined him on the sand. "Now for a look at the tower. Where did
you see the marks?"

Scotty pointed to the rusted structure. There were four upright
girders slanting inward from the base to where the top platform had
been. Horizontal girders held the structure together one-third and
two-thirds of the way up. "The marks are on the first row of
cross-pieces," he said. "On this side."

The steel climbing ladder was on the Seaford, or opposite side, of the
tower halfway between the uprights. Rick looked at it dubiously. "It's
pretty rusty. Think it will bear our weight?"

"Maybe only one of us had better go," Scotty conceded. "I'll try it."

Rick looked at his friend's solid frame and shook his head. "I'm the
lightest. I'd better do it."

"You're not that much lighter," Scotty objected. "Tell you what, let's
flip for it."

"Okay." Rick produced a coin, tossed it in the air, and called,
"Tails."

It was. Scotty picked up the coin and turned it over, as though making
sure it wasn't tails on both sides, then handed it to Rick with a
grin. "Can you always call your shots like that?"

"Only on Wednesdays." He gestured toward the high board fence that cut
them off from Creek House. "Look, just to be on the safe side, you
keep an eye open for the Kelsos. If you see them coming, give me a
yell. I don't think they'd dare try anything in broad daylight, but
you can never tell."

"All right. I'll stick near the boat."

As Scotty walked back to the launch, Rick went to the base of the
tower and looked up. The frame seemed secure enough in spite of the
rust. He jumped for the first rung of the ladder and hauled himself
up. In a moment he was on the horizontal girder. The scratches Scotty
had seen from the air were clearly visible. To reach them, he had to
work around the girders to the opposite side. He stood up and found
his balance, then walked easily to the corner girder, rounded it and
crossed to the other side. The marks were only a few feet away.

The upper stories of Creek House were on and above his level now. He
could look right into the windows of the second floor--except that the
windows were so dirty that he couldn't see much. Suddenly he froze.
One of the second-floor windows was being raised. He saw a vague
figure behind it, but it was dark in the room and he couldn't see
clea