as the second floor of Creek House came
into view, he said, "Give it all you've got. Cut sharply across Salt
Creek and the rushes will cover us."

"Hang on!" Scotty snapped. He threw the wheel hard over and the launch
rocked up like a banking plane, then he leveled off and the boat shot
across the creek's mouth to safety. Only then did he turn to Rick.
"What happened?"

"Someone took two shots at me," Rick replied shakily. "And dollars to
dill pickles it was our pal Carrots, because I didn't hear the shots."

"That air rifle," Scotty said. His mouth tightened. "I can't wait to
get my hands on that little playmate. Did he miss you by much?"

"About six inches. Both shots hit the same place, within an inch of
each other."

Scotty frowned thoughtfully. "Then my guess is that he wasn't trying
to hit you. If he's good enough to place two shots like that, he
wouldn't have any trouble picking you off. Did you see him?"

"No. I saw a window open just before I got down to look at the marks."

"Anything to them?"

"I don't know," Rick said. He was still a little shaken. "Listen, what
about reporting this to the police?"

Scotty shook his head. "No proof. No witnesses. It would be your word
against his, because he could claim he was just target practicing and
that you weren't on the tower when he fired. He could even claim he
didn't fire the shots, because the slugs would be so spattered that
the police couldn't make anything of them."

"I can see him laughing his head off," Rick said bitterly. "First,
because of dumping the fish scoop, and now because he sent us
hightailing out of there like a couple of frightened jack rabbits."

"It would have been stupid to stay and get shot at," Scotty pointed
out. "Even if he is a good shot, he might accidentally clip you."

Rick had to admit the truth of that. "Just the same," he said, "we're
going back and build a fire under Mister Carrots. Wait and see!"

CHAPTER IX

Night Watch

Less than a half-hour after arriving at Spindrift, Rick and Scotty
were back at Smugglers' Reef. But this time they were in the Cub. With
Scotty operating Rick's speed graphic camera, they took several photos
of Creek House, Salt Creek, and Brendan's Marsh from varying
altitudes. Then Rick swung in a wide circle, losing altitude, and
leveled off only a hundred feet over the marsh. He was headed straight
for Creek House.

Scotty paused in putting the camera in its case and looked at him