CHAPTER I
PUTTING OUT
There was nothing in that clear, calm day, with its blue sky and its
flooding sunshine, to suggest in the slightest degree the awful tragedy so
close at hand - that tragedy which so puzzled the authorities and which
came so close to wrecking the happiness of several innocent people.
The waters of the inlet sparkled like silver, and over those waters
poised the osprey, his rapidly moving wings and fan-spread tail
suspending him almost stationary in one spot, while, with eager and farseeing
eyes, he peered into the depths below. The bird was a dark blotch
against the perfect blue sky for several seconds, and then, suddenly
folding his pinions and closing his tail, he darted downward like
a bomb dropped from an aeroplane.