They were afraid, yet they knew they must go in.
(Frontispiece) (MISSING AT THE MARSHLANDS)

MISSING AT
MARSHLANDS

By
CLEO F. GARIS

A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers
New York Chicago

The Arden Blake Mystery Series

BY CLEO F. GARIS

The Orchard Secret
Mystery of Jockey Hollow
Missing at Marshlands

COPYRIGHT, 1934, BY
A. L. Burt Company

Missing At Marshlands

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO MY FRIEND
DOROTHY O’CONNOR

Who saw the Czar’s snuffbox
and told me its tragic story.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I A Stalled Car 9

II A Man, a Dog, and a Girl 19

III The Russian 29

IV A Girl and a Bracelet 42

V The Stranger 50

VI The Unwelcome Guest 56

VII A Noise in the Night 65

VIII Hard to Believe 72

IX The Snuffbox 78

X Beauty That Dazzled 85

XI Still They Come 92

XII A Friend in the Deep 98

XIII The Tragic Messenger 105

XIV Missing at Marshlands 110

XV Downhearted; Not Discouraged 115

XVI That Dark Woman 123

XVII Olga Makes Light of It 130

XVIII Reilly on the Case 136

XIX Tania Howls 142

XX Mrs. Landry Helps 147

XXI Melissa Has a Pin 157

XXII The Policewoman 164

XXIII On the Water Trail 170

XXIV The Man Arrives 178

XXV The Man in the Marsh 187

XXVI Melissa Again 192

XXVII Terry’s Tactics 199

XXVIII Driven Away 205

XXIX The Barking of Tania 219

XXX All Is Well 227

CHAPTER I
A Stalled Car

A bold morning sun thrust its warm glow into the crowded, cheerful room at Cedar Ridge, glinting on half-filled suitcases and revealing with a cruel indifference the dust gathered on the abandoned textbooks flung in a pile on the window seat. It was a hot sun, for summer was upon the land, and the school term was at an end. Arden, Terry, and Sim were packing to go home.

It had been a year full of interesting activity and some genuine fun, but it had not been without hard work in the scholastic field. So, happy that examinations were over at last, and overjoyed that they had passed all subjects, except for a condition in mathematics for Sim, the three girls were losing no time in leaving their beloved college behind them and heading for a summer of rest and hoped-for adventure.

Sim Westover was sitting on a suitcase that refused to close and bouncing up and down in an effort to