Jarley had first
been introduced to the two canoe clubs.

"And that's Polly and her father there now," said Dave, quickly.

"Yes. It's the _Coquette_," agreed Wyn.

"What are they doing in there?" asked Frankie. "See! he is standing up
and gesticulating--not to us. He's talking to Polly."

"That is the place where he had the misfortune to lose Dr. Shelton's
motor boat last winter," said Wyn. "Don't you remember?"

"You see," Dave cried, "he is showing her the place where the limb fell
again--and the direction the boat must have taken in the fog."

"A lot _he_ knows where it went," said Tubby, scornfully. "He was
swept overboard, and as far as he knows the _Bright Eyes_ might
have gone right up into the air!"

"But it didn't explode, you see, nor did it have wings," laughed
Wynifred. "So it took no aerial voyage--we may be sure of that. I'd give
anything to find where it sank."

"So would I, Wyn," cried Dave. "If we could locate the sunken boat, Mr.
Jarley could easily prove he had neither stolen it nor the silver
images."

"I'd give something handsome to have the mystery explained, myself,"
said Mr. Lavine, suddenly.

"What would you give, Father?" asked his daughter.

"I'll tell you," he replied, smiling. "I understand both of your
clubs--the Go-Aheads and the Busters--are anxious to really _own_ a
motor boat. Frank Dumont, here, tells me he has got to go home with the
_Happy Day_ to-morrow, as his vacation is ended.

"Now, I'll make you boys and girls an offer," pursued Mr. Lavine, more
earnestly. "You'll hunt in packs, anyway--the boys together and the
girls together. If the girls find the sunken boat I'll present them with
a motor boat as good as the _Happy Day_; and if the boys have the
luck, then the boat shall belong to the Busters. What say?"

"We say 'Thanks!'" cried Dave, instantly.

"_We_ think it is very handsome of you, sir," declared Wyn, coming
over to the gentleman and taking his hand. "And I know why you do it,
sir--so I thank you twice. If poor Mr. Jarley could be absolved of Dr.
Shelton's accusation, it would help a whole lot."

"Humph!" muttered Mr. Lavine, "I heard Shelton going on about Jarley
myself to-day, and it made me ashamed--I'm free to own it. I never
_did_ think John as bad as all that!"

"It sounds different when you hear somebody else say it," whispered Dave
in Wynifred's ear.

Mr. Lavine's proposal, however, met with enthusiastic favor on the part
of both clubs. A