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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16091-h.zip b/16091-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b799f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/16091-h.zip diff --git a/16091-h/16091-h.htm b/16091-h/16091-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc682f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/16091-h/16091-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6961 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dorothy Dale's Camping Days, by Margaret Penrose</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 + { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.center {text-align: center;} + div.content {width: 69%; margin-left: auto; text-align: left;} + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + table.pg {border: solid black 2px; } + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .right {text-align: right;} /* right aligning */ + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} /* small caps, normal size */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .card {border: solid 2px; + margin-right: 15em; margin-left: 15em; + border-color: #000000; + white-space: nowrap; + text-align: center; + padding: 1em;} /* putting border around ads */ + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 65%; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} /* aligning cell content to the right */ + .tdc {text-align: center;} /* aligning cell content to the center */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* aligning cell content to the left */ + .tdlsc {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdrsc {text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdcsc {text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + + + .poem {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dorothy Dale's Camping Days, by Margaret +Penrose</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Dorothy Dale's Camping Days</p> +<p>Author: Margaret Penrose</p> +<p>Release Date: June 18, 2005 [eBook #16091]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY DALE'S CAMPING DAYS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<br /> + +<div class="img" style="width: 50%;"> +<a href="images/dorothy1.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/dorothy1.jpg" width="90%" alt="She slid into the frail bark, and started off." /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">SHE SLID INTO THE FRAIL BARK, AND STARTED OFF.<br /> +<i>Dorothy Dale's Camping Days — Page 195</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h1>DOROTHY DALE'S<br /> +CAMPING DAYS</h1> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>MARGARET PENROSE</h2> + +<h5>AUTHOR OF "DOROTHY DALE: A GIRL OF TO-DAY," "DOROTHY<br /> +DALE AT GLENWOOD SCHOOL," "DOROTHY DALE'S GREAT<br /> +SECRET," "THE MOTOR GIRLS," "THE MOTOR<br /> +GIRLS AT LOOKOUT BEACH," ETC.</h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h4>ILLUSTRATED</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>NEW YORK<br /> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY</h5> +<h4>1911</h4> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="center"> +<table class="pg" cellpadding="20"><tr><td> +<span style="font-size: 125%; font-weight: bold;">BOOKS BY MARGARET PENROSE</span><br /> +<br /> +Cloth. Illustrated.<br /> +<br /> +<b>THE DOROTHY DALE SERIES</b><br /> +<br /> +<div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; width: 65%; white-space: nowrap;"> +DOROTHY DALE: A GIRL OF TO-DAY<br /> +DOROTHY DALE AT GLENWOOD SCHOOL<br /> +DOROTHY DALE'S GREAT SECRET<br /> +DOROTHY DALE AND HER CHUMS<br /> +DOROTHY DALE'S QUEER HOLIDAYS<br /> +DOROTHY DALE'S CAMPING DAYS<br /> +</div> +(Other volumes in preparation)<br /> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /><br /> + +<b>THE MOTOR GIRLS SERIES</b><br /> +<br /> +<div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; width: 65%; white-space: nowrap;"> +THE MOTOR GIRLS<br /> + Or A Mystery of the Road<br /> +THE MOTOR GIRLS ON A TOUR<br /> + Or Keeping a Strange Promise<br /> +THE MOTOR GIRLS AT LOOKOUT BEACH<br /> + Or In Quest of the Runaways<br /> +THE MOTOR GIRLS THROUGH NEW ENGLAND.<br /> + Or Held by the Gypsies<br /> +</div> +(Other volumes in preparation)<br /> +<br /> +<i>Cupples & Leon Co., Publishers, New York</i><br /> + +</td></tr></table> +</div> + + + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="centered"> + <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="60%" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdrsc">chapter</td> + <td colspan="2" class="tdrsc">page</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td width="12%" class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td> + <td width="80%" class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Out of a Hayrick</td> + <td width="8%" class="tdr">1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Tavia Goes Bo-peeping</td> + <td class="tdr">8</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Disastrous Drag</td> + <td class="tdr">24</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Premature Camp</td> + <td class="tdr">36</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Search</td> + <td class="tdr">45</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Off for Camp</td> + <td class="tdr">60</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Camp C.C.</td> + <td class="tdr">67</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Wild Animal</td> + <td class="tdr">77</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">A Strange Meeting</td> + <td class="tdr">86</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Disappearance of Tavia</td> + <td class="tdr">94</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">When the Boys Came</td> + <td class="tdr">100</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Edgy-Edge!</td> + <td class="tdr">107</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Sad Awakening</td> + <td class="tdr">113</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Tavia's Mistake</td> + <td class="tdr">119</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">When the Train Came in</td> + <td class="tdr">126</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">A Harrowing Experience</td> + <td class="tdr">133</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Stranger Still</td> + <td class="tdr">141</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Mistaken Identity</td> + <td class="tdr">149</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Camping Days</td> + <td class="tdr">157</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Hapless Tavia</td> + <td class="tdr">166</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">At the Sanitarium</td> + <td class="tdr">171</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Clew</td> + <td class="tdr">181</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Dorothy's Escape</td> + <td class="tdr">188</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">A Lonely Ride</td> + <td class="tdr">196</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Looking for Tavia</td> + <td class="tdr">203</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Dorothy's Success</td> + <td class="tdr">212</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">One Kind of Camp</td> + <td class="tdr">219</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">Good News</td> + <td class="tdr">226</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX.</a></td> + <td class="tdlsc" style="padding-left: 1em;">The Round-up—Conclusion</td> + <td class="tdr">233</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>DOROTHY DALE'S CAMPING DAYS<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> +<br /> + +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>OUT OF A HAYRICK</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Oh, my!" exclaimed one girl.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mine!" amended another.</p> + +<p>"Oh, ours!" called out a third.</p> + +<p>Then there was one awful bump, and the chorus was understood.</p> + +<p>The old-style hay wagon, which was like a big crib, wobbled from side +to side. The young ladies followed its questionable example, and some +of them "sort of" lapped-over on the others.</p> + +<p>"Dorothy Dale!" gasped one particularly sensitive member of the party, +"we thought when you vouched for this affair that it would turn out +all right!"</p> + +<p>"But it hasn't turned out anything yet," replied Dorothy, "although we +all came pretty near it—that time."</p> + +<p>She clasped her hand around one of the braces <a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>of the hayrick, +evidently determined that should she be "turned out" her arm would be +responsible.</p> + +<p>"That's just like you, Nita Brant," declared Tavia Travers, the latter +really being manager of the occasion. "When I go to work, and hire a +car like this, and especially stipulate that the ride shall +be—rural—you kick on the bumps."</p> + +<p>But scarcely had she uttered these words, when a "bump" came, with +neither time nor opportunity for Nita's "kick." In fact, it was +remarkable that the old hay wagon did not actually carry out its +threat, to roll over in the direction toward which it wobbled.</p> + +<p>"If you young ladies care to ride any farther," called out a man from +the front of the wagon, "you better be still. I ain't put no corks in +the holes in the bottom of this autymobile."</p> + +<p>He chuckled at his own joke. The holes were only too apparent to the +fair occupants of the hay wagon.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all right, Sam," called back Tavia, "the only thin member of +the party, who might by any chance fall through a hole, is dying from +bumps, and we have a good hold on her. If you could see through the +hay you would behold the human chain in action," and she gave Nita +such a jerk that the latter declared the bumps were <a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>lovely, and +begged to be allowed to do her own experimenting with them.</p> + +<p>"He laughs best who laughs least," misquoted Dorothy, as the wagon +continued to jog along. "I don't exactly like the—er—contour of the +hill we are approaching."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's the real thing in hills," declared Tavia. "I planned this +road purposely to 'tobog' down that hill."</p> + +<p>"I hope the old horses are hooked up securely," remarked Rose-Mary, +whom the girls called Cologne. "I don't mind making a hill, but I hate +to have the wagon make it in solo. I have had a try of that sort."</p> + +<p>"Now say your prayers, Nita," ordered Tavia, "and don't forget to +repent for snibbying my chocolates."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" screamed Edna Black, <i>alias</i> Ned Ebony, "I do believe something +is going to happen!"</p> + +<p>"Sure thing," continued Tavia, in her joking way. "Do you suppose the +girls from Glenwood ever go out without having 'something happen'?"</p> + +<p>The old man was pulling at the reins, but his horses were starting to +slide.</p> + +<p>"Watch that fellow waltz," remarked Tavia. "Now, wouldn't he be great +in a circus?"</p> + +<p>The "waltzing horse" tried to sit down, but the <a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>farmer tugged at the +lines, and otherwise objected to such conduct, and the unfortunate +animal did its best to comply with the orders, which were now being +flung at him, not only from the driver but from the girls in the +wagon.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hold them!" pleaded Nita.</p> + +<p>"Let them run," suggested Tavia. "It will be over sooner!"</p> + +<p>"Mercy!" exclaimed Dorothy, "there's a river!"</p> + +<p>This remark was followed by a most significant pause. Evidently even +Tavia saw the danger now.</p> + +<p>And the old horses were frightened as well, for they backed, side +stepped, and made every possible effort to avoid having the wagon, and +its precious load, overturned into the deep river at the very side of +the roadway.</p> + +<p>"Don't yell so!" called Dorothy to the driver. "That won't help any +and it hurts our ears."</p> + +<p>"Is there no brake?" wailed Nita.</p> + +<p>"There is likely to be one soon," Tavia assured her.</p> + +<p>The girls were becoming more and more alarmed, and only Tavia kept up +the jesting. The hill was very steep, the river fairly curled around +it, and the horses grew more nervous each <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>moment, under the strain +that was being put upon them.</p> + +<p>Deep in the bed of hay the girls from Glenwood School had ensconsed +themselves. The horses were now going at such a pace that it would be +rash to attempt to jump from the rick. Nita Brant actually made her +way forward, and had now fairly grasped the old driver about the neck. +She felt that he must know how to save himself, at least, and she +determined to "take chances" with him.</p> + +<p>Tavia did deign to sit up and notice the rate of speed the old horses +had acquired. Her dark eyes shot glances of daring admiration, and she +reminded her companions that Roman chariot races were "not in it," +just then.</p> + +<p>Dorothy stood up bravely and agreed to call out, when they should be +too near the river.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a crash, and then the horses bolted!</p> + +<p>"Something snapped!" called Dorothy. "Something is broken!"</p> + +<p>No need to announce this, for, with the ominous sound, one of the +horses broke from its traces, and the other was now dragging the old +wagon along by the straps that had withstood the jerks and plunges.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>Oh, we will be killed!" screamed Nita, "There's the river!"</p> + +<p>The girls made ready to jump.</p> + +<p>"Don't!" begged Dorothy. "You will be dragged along in this stuff. You +cannot jump through these braces."</p> + +<p>Truly they were imprisoned by the uprights of the old-fashioned +hayrick! But if they could not jump what could they do? Each face +showed its panic of fear. If only the one remaining horse would break +loose, it might not be so dangerous to fall over in all that hay!</p> + +<p>A shriek from Nita turned all eyes to her. "The man!" she screamed. +"He has fallen—under the wheels!"</p> + +<p>By a single impulse Dorothy and Tavia grasped one of the rungs of the +rick, and they threw their full weight on it until it snapped—then +broke!</p> + +<p>"Quick!" cried Dorothy. "Jump after me!"</p> + +<p>Tavia needed no second invitation. In an instant she had followed +Dorothy Dale, and, as they landed in the dusty roadway, shaken up, but +not otherwise hurt, the runaway horse, freed from the interference of +its mate that had broken loose, continued to drag the hayrick toward +the dangerous river, which bubbled over the black and sharp <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>rocks, +scarcely concealed by the foam that broke upon them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the girls! The girls in the wagon!" gasped Dorothy, and she +pressed bravely on, followed by Tavia.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h2><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>TAVIA GOES BO-PEEPING</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Well might Dorothy exclaim in terror at the fate that seemed imminent +for the girls left in the wagon—the girls of Glenwood School—her +dearest chums. Those of my readers who are familiar with the previous +volumes of this series, will, perhaps, pardon the rather unceremonious +manner in which I have just introduced the young ladies of this book. +To those who are reading of Dorothy Dale for the first time, a few +words of explanation may be necessary. And, in presenting the young +ladies of Glenwood School, I must at once apologize for, and criticise +Tavia Travers.</p> + +<p>From the very first book of the series entitled "Dorothy Dale, a Girl +of To-day," we find Dorothy striving bravely to induce Tavia to give +up her stagey ways. Every predicament in the story was a "scene" to +Tavia, while but for Dorothy's intervention, and gentle determination, +these scenes would have been turned into tragedies for the wily Tavia. +Then, in the second book, "<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>Dorothy Dale at Glenwood School," Tavia +and the young ladies of that institution got into many a "scrape" and, +while Dorothy was one of the girls, in the true sense of the word, she +managed to discriminate between fun and folly.</p> + +<p>But what sacrifices Dorothy was actually capable of making for a +friend were more clearly related in "Dorothy Dale's Great Secret," +where she shielded Tavia from the consequences of her daring and +foolish venture, of running away with a theatrical company. Through +two more books of the series, "Dorothy Dale and Her Chums," and +"Dorothy Dale's Queer Holidays," we find Dorothy still busy trying to +reform Tavia, and while in each of the books there is plenty of other +work for Dorothy to attend to, it seems that Tavia is her one +perpetual charge. What Tavia thinks fun is not always of the safe +sort, and what Dorothy thinks necessary Tavia often thinks may be +passed by as some subtle joke. So it will be seen that each of these +two interesting characters always has her own particular following, +while the friendship between Tavia and Dorothy has withstood every +possible test.</p> + +<p>So we find the same young ladies in the present story, still indulging +in their favorite pastime—getting into and out of mischief.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>They had been out riding on an improvised chariot—a hayrick of the +old-fashioned kind, like a cradle, filled with the fragrant timothy +and redtop, when the accident, narrated in the first chapter, took +place.</p> + +<p>As Tavia and Dorothy ran after the wagon containing their friends, +while the vehicle swayed from side to side in the road, they saw it +give a sudden lurch, and almost topple over on the steep embankment +which descended to the river.</p> + +<p>Dorothy gave a gasp of fear, and Tavia covered her eyes with her hand. +The next moment Dorothy saw the driver of the wagon crawling out from +a clump of bushes. Guessing that he was not badly hurt, she ran on, +for she had halted momentarily when she saw the vehicle sway so +dangerously. Together she and Tavia sprang forward, to reach, if +possible, before it toppled over, the swaying, bounding wagon.</p> + +<p>Whether from an unconquerable spirit of fun, or from motives purely +humane, Tavia had snatched up armful after armful of the loose hay, +which had been spilled out on the road. In doing this she never halted +in her running, but stooped over, like some gleaner in a field, urged +on by the approach of night.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>Oh!" cried Dorothy. "If we can only reach them before——"</p> + +<p>A figure darted out on the road just ahead of them, and the unexpected +move interrupted Dorothy's exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a man!" shouted Tavia, who was somewhat in advance. "Now we—will +be—all right!"</p> + +<p>Yes, a man had started down the hill after the runaway, but just how +or why Tavia was sure that this would make things right, was not clear +to Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"He can run!" she called, "Can't he, Tavia?"</p> + +<p>"Can't he!" replied Tavia. "But I'm not going to let him have all the +glory. Here," and she tossed a bundle of hay to Dorothy. "Take it +along for the—hospital beds. I'm going—to—run!"</p> + +<p>"Going—to!" repeated Dorothy, all out of breath from her own efforts +to catch up to the runaway.</p> + +<p>But Tavia darted on. The strange man kept well ahead. Dorothy paused +one moment from sheer exhaustion. Then she saw the wagon overturn!</p> + +<p>The next instant she noted that the stranger had grabbed the horse by +the trailing reins.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>Quick!" shrieked Tavia. "The girls may be under the cart!"</p> + +<p>With strength gathered from every desperation Dorothy ran on.</p> + +<p>She was beside the overturned wagon now, and without uttering a word +she crawled in through the upright sticks, down amid the dust and hay.</p> + +<p>Three girls, so wound together as to look like one, lay on one side of +the wrecked vehicle.</p> + +<p>"Dorothy!" gasped Rose-Mary. "Are you safe!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but you—Nita and Edna?" gasped Dorothy, pantingly.</p> + +<p>"I think Nita has fainted," replied Rose-Mary. "But Edna is all right. +Where is Tavia?"</p> + +<p>"Safe," answered Dorothy. "A strange man stopped the runaway. Tavia is +helping hold the horse. We must get the traces loose before we can +attend to Nita."</p> + +<p>She made her way out of the overturned wagon. The traces were +unfastened and the horse was free, and the strange man was actually +astride the animal.</p> + +<p>"Why," exclaimed Dorothy, "that horse will bolt again. You had best +make him fast somewhere!"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>The stranger looked at her with the air of a Chesterfield.</p> + +<p>"By kindness we alone subdue," he said.</p> + +<p>Dorothy stared at him. What could he mean?</p> + +<p>Tavia seemed to have forgotten the predicament of her companions—she +appeared charmed by the stranger—who really was good looking.</p> + +<p>"There comes the man who owns the horse," remarked Dorothy, as the +frenzied farmer, whip in hand, ran toward the stranger, yelling all +sorts of unintelligible things in the way of threats and predictions. +He would see to it personally, he declared, that these things would +happen to the man who dared ride his used-up horse.</p> + +<p>"A fight to finish it off," exulted Tavia, and Dorothy, for the +moment, felt as if she could find it in her heart to despise so +frivolous a girl. The next second she remembered Nita, and turned back +to the wrecked hayrick.</p> + +<p>"It's all well enough for you to laugh," complained the +badly-frightened Nita, "but I can't see where the joke comes in. Just +look at me!"</p> + +<p>"A perfect beauty!" declared Tavia. "The rips are all in one piece. +That rent near the hem is positively artistic—looks like the river +Nile!"</p> + +<p>It was some time later, but they were still in the roadway. The farmer +had patched up his <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>damaged rig, but would not listen to the girls' +appeals to give them a lift toward town. He insisted it was all their +fault for laughing and scaring the horses, and he vowed vengeance on +the man who really had saved the team from positive destruction in the +river.</p> + +<p>The strange young man, after considerable gusto, all of which was +wasted on the farmer, but hugely enjoyed by Tavia at least, had made +his way off, leaving the girls discreetly to their woes. No one was +actually injured, although, as Nita said, costumes had suffered +severely.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't he queer?" remarked Cologne, as she shook small bundles of hay +from her Glenwood cap and blouse. "I thought I would laugh outright +when he mounted the old horse a second time. He looked like somebody +on a variety stage."</p> + +<p>"Yes," added Tavia, "and Dorothy had to spoil the show by inducing him +to give up the act. What if the farmer did ply the whip? That would +only heighten the effect."</p> + +<p>"Since we have to walk," Nita reminded the others, "it might be +advisable to start."</p> + +<p>"Great head," commented Tavia, "but do you realize that we shall be +locked out? That the <a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>ogresses of 'Glen' will be ready—axe in hand, +block in evidence, grin prominent——"</p> + +<p>"Tavia!" exclaimed Dorothy, "do gather yourself up! That bundle of hay +seems enchanted. As Nita says, we must be going."</p> + +<p>Tavia almost lolled over on the soft hay, then she gathered it up with +conspicuous tenderness, pressed it fondly to her heart, and agreed to +start on. Each of the other girls was taking with her, back to the +school, a similar souvenir; but Cologne and Dorothy threw theirs over +their shoulder, in true rustic fashion, while Nita complained that she +was not able to carry hers; though she did manage to bribe Tavia with +a promised return of the chocolates to tie hers in with the extra +sized bundle that Tavia was lugging along.</p> + +<p>"Five miles of this will just about do me," declared Cologne. "I think +it would have been infinitely better for us to have hitched on to the +hay wagon, in spite of the old farmer."</p> + +<p>"And to think that we paid him in advance! It's a wonder we have never +had a single lesson in financial economy at gloomy Glenwood. 'How to +cheat farmers; or, how to die game in a hayrick!' I must suggest the +text to Mrs. Pangborn, our honored principal," declared Edna, as she, +<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>too, made her way along under the uncertain weight of a bundle of hay.</p> + +<p>"But what are we dragging this stuff along for?" asked Dorothy. "Sure +as fate, we will have to drop them when we get within the city, and +why not anticipate? I vote for a drop right here!"</p> + +<p>"Never!" declared Tavia. "These are to make up the sacrificial altar. +If old Pangborn growls—won't allow the doors open—we will do it with +a match!" and she signified that the hay would make a spontaneous +blaze in that lamentable instance.</p> + +<p>Dorothy saw more than a joke in the remark. Tavia was so ridiculously +daring! It would be very wise to get rid of the hay before entering +the sacred precincts of Glenwood.</p> + +<p>The sight was most absurd. Five pretty girls, each dressed in the +Glenwood blue and white, and each with a bundle of fragrant hay on her +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"There's a lamb!" declared Cologne. "I could do worse than give Mary's +pet a treat," and she ran to the rail fence, jumped up on one of the +queer crossed posts, and called all sorts of names to the surprised +sheep, that scarcely stopped grazing to notice the girls outside of +the barrier.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>This spectacle induced the other students to climb up on the crooked +fence, and presently the old rails were ornamented with the five girls +in blue, with the hay bundles in hand!</p> + +<p>It was getting dusk, and the sunset did not detract from the unusual +scene. Great shafts of gold and scarlet fell down on that old fence, +and a prettier sight could scarcely have been worked up, much less +imagined.</p> + +<p>"Here, sheepy, sheepy!" called Tavia.</p> + +<p>"Here, lamby, lamby, lamby!" pleaded Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Here, woolly, woolly, woolly!" invited Nita.</p> + +<p>"Here, kinky, kinky, kinky!" induced Edna.</p> + +<p>"Here, Flossy, Flossy, Flossy!" persuaded Cologne.</p> + +<p>But never a lamb, sheep or other species of animal named made a move +toward the fence.</p> + +<p>"I'll get a few!" declared Tavia, jumping down over the fence, into +the meadow, and racing wildly among the sheep.</p> + +<p>"The ram! The ram!" shouted Edna. "Tavia! He is coming directly for +you!"</p> + +<p>This was a signal for Tavia to turn back to the fence. The ram did +follow her. She pulled down a rail, and bolted through the opening +just as the <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>savage animal and the great herd of sheep followed.</p> + +<p>"Run, sheep, run!" yelled Edna, as the much-terrified girls scattered +hither and thither, along the road, fully conscious that they were +responsible for the safety of the frantic flock that had broken loose +from their pasture.</p> + +<p>"Now for the farmer and his whip!" gasped Dorothy. "I thought we had +had enough of that for one afternoon!"</p> + +<p>"Too much is enough," answered Edna dryly, "but Tavia likes it. May +she have a real account of the little lamb story for the English class +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Look! They are all following her!" moaned Nita.</p> + +<p>"And they seem to think she is taking them home to supper!" added +Cologne.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" wailed Nita. "We will surely all be arrested!"</p> + +<p>"Wish the police van would hurry up, then," sighed Edna, "I am getting +tuckered out," and she glanced back again, to behold Tavia in the very +midst of the flock of the now somewhat quieted sheep.</p> + +<p>"A nice cool cell wouldn't be so bad," declared Cologne, who, being +inclined to flesh, was apt to <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>give out before her companions would +give in.</p> + +<p>"How are the 'Bo-Peepers'?" yelled Tavia, with a flourish of a stick +meant to represent a shepherdess crook. "Or do you prefer the old +Roman? There will be all kinds of conflagrations when Nero comes!"</p> + +<p>"Isn't she dreadful!" retorted Nita, whose face was really a sickly +white. "She gets us all into trouble, and then gloats over it."</p> + +<p>"You wanted something real to write about to-day," Edna reminded her. +"This would make a regular thriller!"</p> + +<p>"But, as a matter of fact," began Dorothy seriously, as she stopped, +and her companions halted with her, "what had we best do? We cannot +walk into Glenwood Hall with a herd of sheep at our heels," for the +animals were now following the girls along the road.</p> + +<p>"Let's shoo them," suggested Cologne. "Maybe they'll shoo nicely."</p> + +<p>"We'll get shooed when we try to get in to-night," murmured Edna. "And +just when we were finishing up the year in rather good style. I hadn't +a single thing against my name——"</p> + +<p>"There's that man who saved the team," gasped Dorothy. "Mercy! +Wherever does he come from? <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>A man is worse than two herds of +sheep—in our scrape with Mrs. Pangborn!"</p> + +<p>Just as mysteriously as he had appeared before, the man with the +Chesterfieldian walk, and the big slouch hat, turned into the road. +Where he had come from, nobody could imagine.</p> + +<p>"He has followed us!" breathed Nita. "Oh, dear me!" and she pressed +her handkerchief to her eyes.</p> + +<p>"If you cry we will tell him you are too ill to walk, and then, maybe +he'll offer to carry you," blurted out Edna. "If one insists on being +a baby, she must be babied."</p> + +<p>This charge rather frightened Nita back to courage, or at least she +pretended to it, for she promptly quickened her pace, and even hid +away her handkerchief.</p> + +<p>Tavia, too, saw the strange man as he emerged, seemingly, from +nowhere, for she started on a run, laughing uproariously at the herd +of sheep that trotted as she increased her pace, turned as she turned, +and, in fact, seemed to be at a regular game of "follow the leader."</p> + +<p>The young man stood carefully posed in the path, just where a huge +stone afforded him a setting for his rather dusty boots.</p> + +<p>"What a chap!" commented Edna. "Seems to <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>me he has enough strikes and +poses to make a good cigar box picture."</p> + +<p>"Any particular brand?" asked Dorothy. "I might label it +'Spectacular,' with all rights reserved."</p> + +<p>"Look at Tavia," begged Cologne with a smile. "The rights are +'reserved' in her particular direction."</p> + +<p>"She's welcome," finished Dorothy, just as Tavia reached the spot +where the other girls were now waiting, and where the young man stood +like a statue.</p> + +<p>"Another situation?" remarked the man, doffing his hat in the most +gorgeous bow.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the climax," answered Tavia. "What do you think of the scenery?"</p> + +<p>"Mercy!" breathed Edna aside. "If they start that sort of talk we may +as well camp out to-night."</p> + +<p>But the young man did not express his opinion publicly. Instead, he +stepped up to Tavia, and presently the two were conversing in subdued +voices.</p> + +<p>Dorothy did not like that. She, in fact, did not fancy this young +man's "apparition" habit, and she now determined to force Tavia to a +sense of her <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>own obligations to reach Glenwood School without further +delay.</p> + +<p>"Girls," called Dorothy, "we really must hurry! Thank you, very much" +(this to the strange man), "for your kindness this afternoon, but you +see now, we have to get back to school. We would not have been out so +long but for the fact that this is privilege day—school closes +Thursday."</p> + +<p>"Then why not make use of the privilege?" the young man asked, with a +sly look at Tavia. "We don't meet—professional friends every +afternoon."</p> + +<p>The thought that Tavia might have met this man while engaged in her +brief and notable stage career, as related in "Dorothy Dale's Great +Secret," flashed across Dorothy's mind. With it came a thought of +danger—Tavia was scarcely yet cured of her dramatic fever.</p> + +<p>The sheep stood around in the most serio-comic style, and the seminary +girls were scarcely less comic.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" screamed Nita, suddenly, "there comes that awful farmer! And he +has a whip!"</p> + +<p>"Can't ride off on a sheep this time," remarked Tavia with ill-chosen +levity. "Let's run!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, let's!" chimed in Dorothy with a knowing look at Cologne.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>At this the girls started off; and they did run!</p> + +<p>When they reached the foot of the steep hill, Dorothy stopped to look +back.</p> + +<p>There, on the summit, stood the unmistakable form of the young man. +Beside him posed the equally unmistakable form of the farmer and his +whip.</p> + +<p>And the sheep were flocked around them!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h2><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE DISASTROUS DRAG</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"It was perfectly delicious!"</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you think so, Tavia. No, I am not, either; I am very sorry."</p> + +<p>Dorothy put aside her notes, and sighed the last sigh for one +night—that sort of content signal with which young girls usually put +the final period to labor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dorothy!" and Tavia flung herself down directly upon her friend's +nicely pressed robe. "You always want to put the damper on. What's the +use of being girls if we can't be——"</p> + +<p>"Idiots!" added Dorothy, and she wondered why she so strongly opposed +Tavia. "I'll tell you, Tavia, this business of chatting with strange +young men is nothing less than foolish. I can't see where it becomes +funny."</p> + +<p>"It begins," said Tavia, balancing her pencil on her third finger, "at +the point where Dorothy Dale turns preacher. A poor sermon is +absolutely—funny."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>Thank you," returned Dorothy, without recovering her good nature, +"but you must remember, Tavia, that we are leaving Glenwood in two +days."</p> + +<p>"I may leave to-night if you keep on," declared Tavia. "Dorothy, I +never knew you to be so obstinate."</p> + +<p>"Nor have I ever known you to be so foolish. Tavia, that young man +is—queer. He is mysterious, and I have a feeling that he means harm."</p> + +<p>"Pure jealousy, Doro," and Tavia jumped up and flung herself almost +upon the girl who sat in the shade of the study lamp. "I am so sorry +he did not take the notion to you."</p> + +<p>Dorothy was accustomed to these outbreaks, and they merely meant a +gesture, or whatever fling came with the speech; the words indicated +absolutely nothing. She gave Tavia an answering smile. "Well, dear, we +won't quarrel, at least this time. But see that it doesn't happen +again."</p> + +<p>"When shall we go home? Dear me! It does seem a long time between +holidays," and Tavia tumbled down in the most nondescript heap.</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to see dear old Dalton," replied Dorothy. "Father and +the boys are going with me to settle things up there. Then we will go +to Aunt Winnie's. I hope you and I will be able to <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>spend our +vacations together. You know I am going to camp with Cologne, and she +has included you in the invitation."</p> + +<p>"As Dorothy's paper-weight—no, it can't be that—I could never keep +anything down—it must have been Dorothy's watch-charm," interrupted +Tavia, with a slight show of sarcasm.</p> + +<p>"Rose-Mary was particularly anxious that you should come, Tavia," +declared Dorothy, with emphasis, "and she has the reputation of never +giving an insincere invitation. She likes you, and wants to enjoy you, +as well as to have you enjoy yourself."</p> + +<p>"Three cheers for the enjoys," retorted Tavia, "and may their shadow +never grow less. But say, Dorothy, how did you get out of the scrape? +I was a traitor to run, but somehow I couldn't stand for Higley's +look. When she puts her alleged features at half mast, and sounds +taps, I have to quit."</p> + +<p>"But we had to stand. I can't see any good reason for telling you +about it—making a report to the deserter."</p> + +<p>"Now, Doro," and Tavia fairly melted into sweetness, "I simply cannot +slumber until I have heard. Did Nita peach?"</p> + +<p>"There was nothing to hide in our part of the—<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>comedy," declared +Dorothy. "Of course, we skipped the man part, and left out the hay +cart dump, besides omitting the sheep act, and forgetting the farmer's +whip——"</p> + +<p>"Hip! Hip!" threatened Tavia. "Couldn't have done better myself. And +no one ordered to the guard house?"</p> + +<p>"You have not yet been accounted for," said Dorothy, with well-aimed +meaning. "Miss Higley said she would see to your account herself."</p> + +<p>"Will, eh? Not if I see her first. Did any one say I was there? I +should think, with such remarkable skill at omitting, that you might +have had the good taste to omit me."</p> + +<p>"Tavia, does it strike you that this is packing-up night? That +to-morrow we make all our bouquets of remembrance, more or less +artificial, and that the day following——"</p> + +<p>"We flit the flutter! And good riddance! I just abhor school—notice +how I have improved? Last year I 'hated' it."</p> + +<p>"And I must admit you have improved otherwise than in your +vocabulary," said Dorothy. "Seems to me you have grown almost tall."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, pretty maiden. Any more in stock like that?" and Tavia jumped +up to get a look in the glass. "Tell me, before I shrink—in your +<a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>opinion," she begged, making queer passes before the mirror. "But say, +Doro, do you ever take a look at yourself? I have to say you are +simply splendid, and that's putting it mild. The Dalton youths will be +suiciding on account of the returned Calla—that lily is the one that +stands beings boxed up without food or—atmosphere—for half the year, +I believe, hence my comparison: you have withstood Glenwood, and come +out of the ring more beautiful than when you entered. Oh, you need not +protest! Everybody admits that you are a perfect Dresden, animated, of +course," and Tavia gazed with unstinted admiration at the girl under +the study lamp.</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope I have not actually grown homely," conceded Dorothy, +"for Aunt Winnie is so fond of a good appearance."</p> + +<p>"Your hair is darker—that is, on the ripe corn shade. I like that +better than the fourteen karat variety. I only wish mine would turn +mahogany. I have a mind to turn it."</p> + +<p>"I wonder the thoughts do not poison the roots—the idea of you saying +a word against your hair! Why, it's simply wonderful! Edna says it +sings in the sunshine."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Ned pities me I suppose—she has such a <a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>fine crop herself. But I +would—love—to—be handsome!"</p> + +<p>"Suppose you start in to drag down some of that stuff you insist on +taking home, Tavia," said Dorothy, indicating the decorations that +hung on Tavia's side of the room. "Then it will be handsome is as——"</p> + +<p>"Handsome didn't," misquoted Tavia. "I don't mind dragging it down, +but I have a mind to get some one to help me. I might give out that we +were having a 'doings' and so entice Ned Ebony, and a couple of the +others."</p> + +<p>"You compendium of laziness! You proverbial prolonger! There, I have +used up more energy in giving expression to those expressions——"</p> + +<p>"Than I should have used up in expressing the whole art gallery <i>via</i> +the Amalgamated Express Company. Now, Doro, I am going to give a +dragging-down evening. If you have anything you value, that might get +in the drag, take notice," and she left the room, to gather in the +innocent victims of her plot.</p> + +<p>Dorothy laughed. She did love Tavia, and once more they were +separating from the days and nights spent together at dear old +Glenwood. The girls had occupied room "nineteen" in spite of the fact +that their advance in class entitled <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>them to other quarters, but each +loved the apartment, and they had "grown into it," as Tavia remarked.</p> + +<p>"I believe I had better rescue my things," mused Dorothy, "for there +is no telling where the dragging may end," and, suiting her act to the +words, she promptly put a pile of cushions on the highest chair, and +began to take from her side of the room such trinkets as are +inconceivably dear to the heart of every schoolgirl.</p> + +<p>How differently her division of the room was decorated! Tavia had +actually drawn a line—clothes line—straight across the room, marking +out the territory of each. Dorothy had put up pictures, birds' nests, +flags and the home colors, while Tavia had revelled in collapsed +footballs, moth-eaten slouch hats, shot through and through, and +marked with all sorts of labels, of the college lad variety. Then she +had a broken bicycle wheel, in and out of which were laced her hair +ribbons and neckties, this contrivance being resorted to in order to +save the junk from the regulation pile—it being thus marked as a +useful article. There were pictures, too, on Tavia's side of the room, +but how they got there one could never guess from a birds-eye +view—for the hanging indicated a sudden storm on "art day," without +paper-weights. This <a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>same blow included the mottoes, and wise sayings; +trophies of certain victories in the way of narrow escapes from +dismissals, or such mementos as suspicious games outside the school +grounds.</p> + +<p>"No wonder Tavia wants help," thought Dorothy, as she hurried to get +her own things safely put in the box that stood ready. "I declare, she +has the queerest taste—if such things are included in the taste +faculty."</p> + +<p>A shuffle and hum at the portal indicated the arrival of Tavia's +guests.</p> + +<p>"Enter!" called Tavia, as she threw open the door, "and with the kind +permission of the fair hostess, proceed to drag. 'Drag if you must +this good old bed, but spare my sister's rags, she said,'" and she +deliberately kicked Dorothy's box across the room, while Edna, or Ned, +proceeded to "shoot up" everything she could reach or at which she +could lunge. Cologne, being Dorothy's friend, did the same thing on +Tavia's side, Molly Richards, known as Dick, was not particular on +which side she dragged, just so long as she got a hold on something.</p> + +<p>"Oh, girls, do be careful!" pleaded Dorothy. "I have a tea set here I +am so fond of—"</p> + +<p>But the warning came too late, for at that very moment Ned had thrown +a picture, frame and all, <a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>into the box that Dorothy had started to +pack the tea set in. There was a crash, and even the reckless girls +paused, for the sound of broken china is as abhorrent to any girl as +is the bell for class to the Glenwoods.</p> + +<p>Tavia dropped the pop gun she had been holding. "Doro, I am so sorry," +she said. "I know you valued that set so highly. Take mine for it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, indeed," replied Dorothy, her voice strained, for the set had +been a gift from her little brother Roger, and he had used the first +money he ever earned to buy it. "Perhaps I can have it mended."</p> + +<p>Cologne, Edna, and Tavia put their heads together. Presently they +apologized to Dorothy and left the room.</p> + +<p>"Wonder what's up now?" Dorothy asked herself. She did feel +badly—that tea set of all the things in her room!</p> + +<p>She recalled how Roger had written that he had a surprise for her; +then the arrival of the blue cups and saucers, and the note saying +that the boy had sold lemonade, and thus earned his first money. Then, +that he had spent the money for that set. And to think that it was +ruined, for the crash told the woeful story of many pieces!</p> + +<p>Dorothy did not feel like finishing her packing. <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>She felt more like +having a good cry. She was thinking of home, of her father, the major, +then of her brother Joe, older than Roger, and lastly of dear, +impetuous Roger himself.</p> + +<p>Soon she would be home to them again! Was she not their mother ever +since she could remember? For her own darling mother had been called +away from her little ones so early in a promising life!</p> + +<p>Sounds of voices in the hall roused her from her reverie.</p> + +<p>Tavia entered first. But her following! Girl after girl crowded into +the small room, until its very capacity was taxed beyond its +possibilities.</p> + +<p>"We've come!" announced Cologne.</p> + +<p>"So I see," replied Dorothy, all confusion.</p> + +<p>"To make amends for our damage," continued Cologne. "Every girl on the +floor has contributed to the collection and we venture to present to +you the most unique tea set that has ever gone in or out of Glenwood. +Here," and she set her contribution down, "is my prettiest piece."</p> + +<p>"And here is mine," followed Edna, placing on the table a real +gold-and-white creamer.</p> + +<p>"And mine—with my love," whispered Nita, putting down an egg-shell +cup and saucer.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" gasped Dorothy. "How lovely!"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>And, Doro, dear," added Lena Berg, "I brought my tankard. It was the +best piece, and nothing else would satisfy the committee."</p> + +<p>"I am sure——" began Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Not too sure," interrupted Dick, or Molly Richards. "For here is +mine—it came all the way from Holland!"</p> + +<p>"Girls! How can I take all these beautiful things? I am sure you must +want them your own selves——"</p> + +<p>"Not half as much as we want you to have them," declared Cologne. "The +fact is, we were just waiting for such a chance as this. We are all +gone—soft to-night. Take care we don't kiss you, Doro."</p> + +<p>Tears were in Dorothy's eyes. She loved her school friends, and this +was an affecting parting.</p> + +<p>Tavia snatched up the banjo. She sang:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>"Good night! Good night! Good night! Good night!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Good night again; God bless you.<br /></span> +<span>And, oh, until we meet again,<br /></span> +<span>Good night! Good night!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">God bless you!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The strain swelled into a splendid chorus, and, while they sang, the +girls wrapped up the china pieces, putting each safely in the box +beside the damaged ones.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>Speech! Speech!" came the demand from Tavia's corner, and without +further ceremony Dorothy was lifted bodily up on the table and +compelled to make a speech. It was a dangerous, undertaking, for the +sofa pillows that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere put in so +much punctuation that the address might have been put down as a series +of stops. However, Dorothy did manage to say something, for which +effort she was roundly applauded.</p> + +<p>The night bell called them to the sense of school duties still +unfinished.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that old bell!" complained Nita, pouting.</p> + +<p>Cologne drew Dorothy over in the corner. "Ask Tavia about the man on +the horse," she whispered. "She got a letter from him!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE PREMATURE CAMP</h3> +<br /> + +<p>After all, the last days of school came and went, and the Glenwood +girls had started off for their respective homes before Dorothy had a +chance to fully realize that the vacation had really begun, and that +each day of that delightful calendar now seemed suspended from the +very skies, illumined with the prospects of the very best of good +times.</p> + +<p>Dorothy had promised to spend a greater part of the summer with +Rose-Mary Markin at the Markin summer place, a delightful spot on Lake +Monadic in Maine. This plan was particularly fortunate, as Mrs. +Winthrop White, Dorothy's Aunt Winnie, with whom the Dales had lately +made their home, was to go abroad, while Ned and Nat, Dorothy's +cousins, had arranged such a varied itinerary for their summer sports, +that one might imagine, to hear the schedule, that the particular +summer involved must have been of <a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>the brand which has neither night +nor autumn to mark its limits.</p> + +<p>Then Major Dale, and Dorothy's brothers, Joe and Roger, were to take a +long-promised cruise on the St. Lawrence, so that Dorothy was quite at +liberty to plan for herself.</p> + +<p>But these plans could never interfere with a visit to the Cedars, the +White's summer home, and here, on the afternoon of which we write, +Dorothy found herself at last surrounded by her family, and submerged +in their joyous welcome.</p> + +<p>"Roger, how you have grown!" she kept saying as her eyes, time after +time, sought out the "baby" brother of whom Dorothy was so fond. "And +Joe! Why, you are getting to look so much like Nat——"</p> + +<p>"Here, now! No knocking!" called out the jolly Nat. "I don't want to +be handsome, but I simply refuse to look ten years younger!" This last +was said in imitation of the "lady-like way" girls are supposed to +have in expressing their compliments.</p> + +<p>"And me?" asked Ned, pulling himself up out of his high-enough height +before his cousin. "What is the verdict? Am I not—ahem—stunning?"</p> + +<p>"You are big enough, that's sure," admitted <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>Dorothy, giving him a +look of unstinted admiration, "and as to being stunning—I just +imagine that you are even that—in your golf suit."</p> + +<p>"There now!" and Nat went off into kinks; "he has to wear knickers to +look cute. You ought to see me in my football togs if you want to +behold something really magnificent."</p> + +<p>"Here, here!" called out Major Dale. "When I was a lad it was +considered a crime to keep a mirror in one's room. We used to keep one +blind shut to get a reflection on the window pane for the neck-tie +business, and we took a chance at the hair-part. But to hear you young +ones! What you actually need, boys, is a little of the real thing in +training. Why don't you pitch a tent out on your own river here, and +go in for roughing it?"</p> + +<p>"Great!" declared the boys' chorus.</p> + +<p>"Now that's something like," continued Nat, "and it would do a lot +toward patching up a fellow's finances. Let's see. Where's that +itinerary? Suppose we make it two weeks at home—on the co-operative."</p> + +<p>Like the proverbial wildfire, the suggestion spread, until within a +short hour the boys, with Dorothy, were out on the river edge, +selecting the spot upon which to pitch the "War Tent"—for war they +declared it would be, "against masculine <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>beauties." Dorothy found +herself so busy planning the boys suits, figuring out what they would +require in the way of supplies and furniture, though this last was to +be cut down to mere necessities, that she almost felt her own camping +days had begun, as Nat expressed it.</p> + +<p>"Now that comes of having a girl around," declared Ned. "If you had +not come, Dorothy, we would never have had that admiration conference, +and then we could never have discovered our own beautiful river, for +in this case, I don't mind using a correct, and all right adjective, +although usually I consider anything adjectivey rather too much of a +spread."</p> + +<p>He sauntered once more to the river's brink, where a short distance +down stream could be seen the <i>Lebanon</i>, the family rowboat. Surely +the place did warrant the boy extravagant use of "a correct +adjective," and did look "adjectivey" away into the superlative.</p> + +<p>Nat found just the spot for the tent, Roger and Joe were racing about +like little human greyhounds, intent upon the scent of fun, and +Dorothy took time to decide that perhaps this camp would prove as +delightful as she expected that one to be, whither, in a few days, she +must journey, and leave the dear home-folks, reluctantly, indeed. <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>But +then boys' fun always seemed like their idea of Fourth of July—just +as noisy and just as unreliable. At the same time they always managed +to put it off with a roar, and this roar had already set in for the +Blanket Indians of "Cut-it-out-Camp."</p> + +<p>Dorothy had promised her Aunt Winnie not to stay too long away from +her, as there were so many things to be discussed before the aunt and +her favorite niece should part for the summer. So that, now, Dorothy +was hurrying to finish up her part of the camp map, and go back to the +Cedars.</p> + +<p>"We fellows must get a few good strong poles over there on the knoll," +said Nat, "and I see no better time to get them than right now."</p> + +<p>"Then I must go home," spoke Dorothy. "I have already overstayed my +leave of absence."</p> + +<p>"Can you go back alone?" asked Ned. "If not, I'll cut the trees by +cutting out the work. See how well we have named the camp. It's in +working order already."</p> + +<p>"No you don't," interrupted Nat. "You've got to do your share of +everything."</p> + +<p>"I'll run back while you are talking about it," declared Dorothy. "I'm +sure I know the way perfectly well."</p> + +<p>"Be sure," called Ned, "for there are turns and <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>twists in that +woodland, that I think you are scarcely familiar with."</p> + +<p>But Dorothy was gone. She ran along through the twilight-tinted woods, +stopping now and then to look at the gray squirrels that capered up +and down the trees, some making so bold as to run along the fence at +her very side.</p> + +<p>"This will make an ideal camping grounds," she was thinking. "I wonder +the boys never thought of using it before."</p> + +<p>Suddenly she heard a rustle in the brush. She stopped and listened. It +sounded again, this time nearer. She looked about her, and, for the +first time, realized that she was, indeed, in deep woods.</p> + +<p>To call for the boys, Dorothy knew would be worse than useless, for it +would simply notify any listener of her fears, so, instead, she walked +along boldly enough, even whistling lightly as any Glenwood girl would +do "when in doubt," according to the Glenwood code.</p> + +<p>But she had not more than crossed the first small stream, made up of a +number of springs, running through this wood toward the river, when +something—a most grotesque figure—stepped out in her path!</p> + +<p>It was too absurd to really frighten her at first, for it apeared to +be a boy dressed up as a bandit, <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>and surely any such prank could mean +nothing serious, she thought.</p> + +<p>"Good afternoon," Dorothy said, attempting to pass.</p> + +<p>A queer growl was her answer, and the figure in the Indian suit, with +a mask of red cloth, and all sorts of trappings hanging about from +belts and straps, actually pointed what seemed to be a real gun at +her.</p> + +<p>"Hands up!" came the command.</p> + +<p>Dorothy still felt like laughing. Surely this must be a trick of some +boy in the neighborhood, she decided.</p> + +<p>"Hands up!" again came the command, this time the gun being +deliberately aimed at her head!</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" demanded Dorothy. "Why should you stop me—with +your nonsense?"</p> + +<p>Dropping the old-fashioned gun the boy (for such she decided the +person was) jumped at her, and grasped her hands, at the same time +making an effort to tie them, with a bit of rope from the belt +trappings.</p> + +<p>"Stop! Stop!" Screamed Dorothy, now thoroughly frightened. "Help! +Help!" she yelled at the very top of her terrified voice.</p> + +<p>"Easy, easy," came the exasperating, sneering words from the bandit. +"Take it easy or it will <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>be all the worse for you. Now where do you +keep the goods?"</p> + +<p>He had actually succeeded in tying her hands and now held her prisoner +with one strong arm about her waist, and with the other hand he was +endeavoring to unclasp her beautiful little gold bracelet. Fearing to +lose her footing, in her frantic efforts to get free, Dorothy thought +quickly. It would be better to lose her jewelry, than to have her life +perhaps imperiled.</p> + +<p>"You may take my—gold," she panted. "You seem to be stronger than I, +and if you are not crazy you must be—a thief!"</p> + +<p>"If you shout—I'll gag you," came the astonishing declaration, while +the bandit struggled with the bracelet, and almost cut Dorothy's wrist +on the knife with which he was trying to cut loose the circlet.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't," pleaded Dorothy. "Let go my hand and I'll give it you!"</p> + +<p>How she wanted to yell! But if he should tie her mouth!</p> + +<p>Voices sounded!</p> + +<p>"Oh, it must be the boys," thought Dorothy. "If only they come this +way!"</p> + +<p>Her assailant heard the same voices, and desperately he pulled at the +locked bracelet. As he <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>made one final attempt to wrench it from +Dorothy's wrist, his knife slipped, and cut clear across his own hand, +the blood spurting from a long wound. With a cry he dropped his hold +on Dorothy, and attempted to staunch the flow of blood.</p> + +<p>Freed, Dorothy ran—ran as she felt she had never known she could run! +She did not stop to call, although she judged that the boys might be +near by; but ran on, across the marshes without any heed to the water, +that even splattered up in her face, as she jumped from edge to edge +of the rivulets, making her way out to the open roadway.</p> + +<p>How her heart pounded! It did not seem to beat, but rather to strike +at her breast and almost to strangle her.</p> + +<p>It was getting quite dusk, but once on the road and she would feel +safe.</p> + +<p>"Hey there!" came a call in a familiar voice.</p> + +<p>The boys were just coming out of the woods at the far end of the oaks.</p> + +<p>"What's your hurry!" demanded Nat.</p> + +<p>Dorothy felt like sinking down. The relief was almost as overwhelming +as had been her fear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do hurry!" she called rather feebly. "I am almost dead!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h2><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE SEARCH</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When Dorothy told her folks of what had happened, the boys could +scarcely believe the strange story. That any one should actually make +such a wild-west attempt at robbery, within reach of the Cedars, +certainly did seem incredible. However, there was no disproving the +marks on the girl's arms, where they had been rudely tied, nor could +any one deny that in the attempt to remove her bracelet her delicate +wrist had been badly bruised. At first it was thought best to at once +notify the police, but, upon further consideration, Major Dale advised +keeping the matter quiet, hoping that some one in the neighborhood +would fall upon a clue to the daring young highwayman.</p> + +<p>"I do hope the mystery will be cleared up before I leave for camp," +remarked Dorothy, as the family sat in the beautiful library at the +Cedars, discussing the strange affair. "I should <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>never be satisfied +with a written account of what may happen, when you find the culprit."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we can tell you that right now," declared Nat, warmly. "When we +find him we will lynch him, burn him at the stake, and have him +imprisoned for life. When that sentence shall have been served we will +make a fresh charge against him, and perhaps——"</p> + +<p>"Put him in a reformatory until he is twenty-one," finished Ned. +"Well, he deserves it! And to think that we should be almost within +call! Dorothy, I am inclined to question the wisdom of your silence. +Why didn't you yell like thunder?"</p> + +<p>"And have him put some terrible gag down my throat?"</p> + +<p>"And get all sorts of germs therefrom," added Joe. "Doro, you did just +right, and we are thankful that you got off as well as you did," and +her brother shook his head proudly, as if to say that a mere cousin +could hardly know how a closer relative would feel on such a matter.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could have seen him," mused Roger, to whom the whole story +seemed like a wonderful tale of the West.</p> + +<p>"Just for effect," put in Nat, with a laugh. "Roger is rather sorry he +missed the show—he always falls for the scary part."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>But Dorothy did not mind the child's natural curiosity. In fact she +told him again just how the strange robber was dressed, and how fierce +he looked at her through the holes in the red handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"Maybe he'll come around to the camp," said Roger hopefully. "I'm +going to have my rifle all ready."</p> + +<p>"And I haven't yet told you of the adventure we had at Glenwood, just +before school closed," went on Dorothy, realizing fully how delighted +Roger would be with the tale of the hay wagon accident, as well as +that of the scattered sheep. "We very nearly all lost a week's +vacation through it, the principal was so indignant."</p> + +<p>With splendid description, and with nothing startling left out, +Dorothy went over the story. Even the larger boys became interested, +and when she mentioned about the queer man, who sprang from nowhere, +and who did things so unlike other people, Ned and Nat exchanged sly +glances.</p> + +<p>"You say he rode horseback like a real Indian?" queried Nat. "And that +he sort of made up to my old friend Tavia?"</p> + +<p>"I knew you would be jealous, Nat," answered Dorothy. "But you really +must put Tavia out of your heart."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>Never!" and Nat struck a most tragic attitude. "Tavia will ever be +the queen of my heart!" and he made a thump toward that organ, with +seeming suicidal intent.</p> + +<p>Dorothy laughed merrily. She knew very well how devoted Nat really was +to her own best girl friend, and she also knew that Tavia fully +appreciated the friendship of the handsome young cousin.</p> + +<p>"When's Tavia coming?" asked Roger, another special friend of the girl +without wisdom.</p> + +<p>"I hope she will be here before I start for the Lake," replied +Dorothy. "She always enjoys the Cedars more than she does any other +summer place."</p> + +<p>"Hope she does, too," replied Nat, with unhidden warmth. "I want to +put a flea in her ear before she runs any further risks with the +knight of the horse."</p> + +<p>"Really," said Dorothy, aside to Ned, when she had an opportunity of +speaking privately, "there is something very mysterious about that +man. I have an uncanny feeling regarding him, and Cologne told me he +had written a letter to Tavia."</p> + +<p>"Did, eh?" and Ned, the elder of the White boys, instantly put on a +defensive air. "Well, <a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>whoever he may be, he had better be careful. We +happen to have a——"</p> + +<p>"Children," called Major Dale, "if you are going out to look for your +bandit, you had best be at it. He will have all his best +holding-up-ing done and be off to his cave with the spoils before +you—beard him outside of his lair."</p> + +<p>Just what Ned was going to confide in Dorothy about the strange man +was left unfinished much to Dorothy's disappointment, for she felt +that the boys had some important clue as to the identity of the queer +character. However, there was no time for further confidences, and she +was obliged to run off to her little personal duties, while the boys +made ready to explore the woods.</p> + +<p>They proposed to lie in wait for the bandit for some time, and, if he +did not put in an appearance, they planned to explore the woodland for +at least half a mile around. They felt sure that they would come upon +his tracks not far from the spot where Dorothy had been attacked, for +it seemed reasonable to them, that any boy, or man, dressed as he was +described to have been gotten up, would not attempt to go far from his +hiding place.</p> + +<p>With the White boys were two college friends, also home in North +Birchland on their vacation, <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>so that when the party actually started +out they made up quite a squad.</p> + +<p>"All got your guns?" asked Ned, as they sketched out their separate +lines of advance, and made secret marks to show the starting points.</p> + +<p>"Yep," replied Ben Nichols, the biggest boy in all North Birchland, +whose particular "gun" was a golf driver.</p> + +<p>So they started off. Roger insisted upon going, so Ned took him under +his protection, while Joe kept within safe distance of Don Aikins, the +young man from Bergen who claimed to be able to do anything, and any +one, in the athletic world. He swung his light stick expectantly at +the underbrush. Evidently he would be very pleased to have a swing at +the boy with the roped-on armor.</p> + +<p>It was splendid to have something real to hunt for—what boy, or girl +either, would not have enjoyed the prospect—when there was not a +question of being held up, but of holding up?</p> + +<p>Then they separated.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Dorothy was very anxious. What if the boys should really +come upon this daring young villian? What if little Roger should run +off, and be overtaken? She almost wished she had never told the whole +story, for as she believed it all a wild whim of some foolish boy, she +also <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>felt that he would quickly see the danger of his sport. It was +the morning after her adventure, and she was able now to regard it +with less terror. Still her wrist did pain and she still trembled when +she recalled how the knife had slipped, and how easily it could have +severed her own vein, instead of severing the skin of the masked +bandit.</p> + +<p>She was thinking this all over, while shaking the creases from her +lately-packed clothes, brushing the walking skirt, in which she had +traveled to North Birchland, and generally putting her things in +order, when Mrs. White, gowned for the street, entered the room.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she began, "I am afraid you will lose the out-door joy of +this delightful morning. Why not slip into your riding habit, and take +a run on Cricket? He would be so glad to do it himself, poor pony! The +boys are so busy with their camping that they forget a young horse +wants some fun too."</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to, Auntie, but I feel I must get my things +straightened out. The night I was packing up, the girls cut up so I +had to hurry everything into my boxes in all shapes," replied Dorothy. +"But I will take a canter as soon as I have finished," and she +gathered up the pieces of broken crockery that had remained in her +box <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>after the "fall of China," as Tavia designated the accident to +her tea set. "How lovely you do look, Aunt Winnie," exclaimed the +girl, gazing with sincere admiration at the superb figure in rose +broadcloth. "I do believe you have grown taller!"</p> + +<p>"It's the style of this gown, my dear. These lines affect the Venus +length. Ned declared when he first saw me in this that I was put +together in sections—couldn't possibly be all in one piece," and she +laughed in the deep, velvety tone that, perhaps, more than anything +else about her interesting personality, proclaimed her the woman of +unmistakable culture.</p> + +<p>When she was gone, and Dorothy looked out into the inviting sunlight, +she hurried with her unpacking, and was soon dressed in the simple +tan-colored riding habit, that so well matched herself, as to make her +look like a shade of the morning, when she mounted the pretty little +bay pony, and set off at a canter along the North Birchland roads.</p> + +<p>She soon forgot the fright of her boy-bandit, although she did wonder +just where the boys were, and if they had found any evidence of that +person's depradations.</p> + +<p>"Come Cricket," she spoke to her pony. "We must try a cross-cut. I +want some mandrakes."</p> + +<br /> + +<div class="img" style="width: 55%;"> +<a href="images/dorothy2.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/dorothy2.jpg" width="80%" alt=""I don't want to strike you," She said, "But you know +prisoners must obey."" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"I DON'T WANT TO STRIKE YOU," SHE SAID, <br />"BUT YOU KNOW +PRISONERS MUST OBEY."<br /> +<i>Dorothy Dale's Camping Days Page 54</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>The horse pricked up his ears in response. Dorothy turned into a field +where she thought the plum-shaped fruit would be found.</p> + +<p>Dismounting, she threw the reins over Cricket's head and allowed him +to nibble at the sweet grass. Yes, there were the mandrakes with their +finger-shaped leaves. And they were turning yellow. Dorothy gathered a +few, then stood up to look about her.</p> + +<p>"The bandit!" she gasped in a whisper.</p> + +<p>He had his hand on Cricket's rein!</p> + +<p>"Drop that!" she shouted. "You need not think I am afraid of you now!"</p> + +<p>"What?" asked the boy, dropping his disguise like a thing held by one +single fastening and moving as if to spring up into the saddle.</p> + +<p>Dorothy fairly jumped over the tall grasses, and was beside the horse +before the boy could mount. She grasped the bridle, and, at the same +time, more firmly grasped her riding crop.</p> + +<p>"Now I have you," she declared, gazing in wonderment at the very +good-looking boy who tried in vain to escape from the stirrup in which +his boot had stuck. Seeing her opportunity, Dorothy dropped the bridle +and crop, and, with both hands, grasped the boy very much in the same +manner as he had seized her the day before.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>Let me go!" he snarled, struggling to free himself.</p> + +<p>"Not just now," replied Dorothy, coolly, for she saw that she was +quite able to hold him, and that he was really only a very slight +young boy. "I am going to have a try at your game," she added, smiling +at her versatility.</p> + +<p>The boy almost fell under the horse, but Cricket was so well trained +that he did not attempt to go beyond Dorothy's orders.</p> + +<p>"Steady, Cricket!" she said softly. "Now young man," to her prisoner, +"I am going to do something very original. I am going to tie you to +that pretty tree."</p> + +<p>"You are not!" he yelled, but she had her whip in her hand and she +raised it threateningly.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to strike you," she said, "but you know prisoners must +obey. Just step over there a foot or two!"</p> + +<p>There was such authority in her voice that the boy looked up +frightened.</p> + +<p>"Don't hit me," he pleaded, "and I'll go!"</p> + +<p>This was more than Dorothy expected, and as the lad moved to obey, she +raised, with her foot, the rope he had dropped with his disguise, and +grasped it in her hand with the riding crop.</p> + +<p>"You see school girls learn a lot about 'team <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>work,'" she said. "We +have to do it in all sorts of games."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with me?" asked the boy, who actually seemed +more interested than frightened.</p> + +<p>"Well, first I am going to make you secure. See, I just slip this rope +around you—you had it all ready with that slip knot," and she put it +over his head before he had a chance to protest. It fell over his +hands, and she pulled the cord tight. Then, as he was standing near +the tree, she dropped the rope to his feet, gave it a jerk, and +springing around the tree she had him secure with two turns of the +hemp, and a knot made after the style of one Nat had showed her how to +fashion.</p> + +<p>The boy burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"You're all right!" he declared. "You beat me! Where did you learn?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I often played bandit with my brothers, but never with a stranger +before. Aren't you afraid? Don't you want to say your prayers?"</p> + +<p>"I've forgotten them," he said with a smile. "Guess I forgot them when +I started in at this—the two don't hitch."</p> + +<p>"Not exactly," and Dorothy was fixing the rope more tightly. "But you +did know some once. I can tell."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>How?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Because you don't swear. Didn't even when you cut your hand. How is +it?"</p> + +<p>"Sore," he replied. "Please don't pass the rope over the bandage."</p> + +<p>"I won't," answered Dorothy with some tenderness.</p> + +<p>The humor of the situation was apparent to both of them.</p> + +<p>Dorothy, however, was determined not to relent, she would hold him a +prisoner, she decided, until she found the boys. They would know best +what to do. Certainly such a desperado was unsafe to be at large.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to make the fire now?" he asked, in a mocking tone.</p> + +<p>"No, I am just going to jump on my horse and leave you here to think +of your sins. I am sure you will be here when I come back."</p> + +<p>"Oh please, miss, don't go for the police," he begged, tears welling +into his deep blue eyes. "I have never done anything wrong before—and +I can see, now, how silly I was."</p> + +<p>"I am not going after the officers," said Dorothy, "but you must know +that you have done very wrong—you might have hurt me seriously."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please let me go!" he pleaded. "I will <a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>promise you anything, and +I never want to play Wild West again!"</p> + +<p>"It was too real for play," retorted Dorothy. "But you need not be too +alarmed. My cousins are good boys."</p> + +<p>"Your cousins?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the White boys. Do you know them?"</p> + +<p>"Ned and Nat? Of course I do! Oh, don't tell on me! Really I shall be +disgraced forever."</p> + +<p>He was crying. Dorothy felt herself weakening.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you where everything is, and I'll promise you anything in +the world if you will only not—give me up. I can't bear to think +of—poor mother. I could stand it—but she——"</p> + +<p>"Is she ill?" and Dorothy quickly counted what a disgrace it would be +to a good mother to find her son in such a plight.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she is away from me all the time—with the nurses, and I haven't +seen her in a week. It would kill her to know what I've been doing."</p> + +<p>"Who takes care of you?" asked Dorothy. "Whom do you play with?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, father is away, and I have plenty of money to buy guns and +things. Then I go to plays a lot."</p> + +<p>This was the sequel to the story, Dorothy <a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>thought. Would it possibly +be safe for her to take the boy's word, and let him go? As he said he +would be disgraced, and perhaps her kindness to him might be his +clearest lesson.</p> + +<p>How good-looking he really was! Even standing there, tied, his clear +face, and light hair, could not be undervalued, from the point of fine +looks.</p> + +<p>Somehow he was just a bit like Roger—that same round baby face, and +that one unmanageable curl that would hang down on his forehead in +spite of years, and in spite of barbers.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you where I put all the things," he fairly sobbed, "and +I'll give them all back, if you will only give me one more chance. I +remember the Bible always gave folks a second chance."</p> + +<p>Dorothy could not repress a smile. Yes, that was true—the Bible +taught forgiveness.</p> + +<p>"Quick! They're coming!" he pleaded. "Untie me, and I—I'll run."</p> + +<p>Dorothy heard the voices. Quickly she untied the slip knot and almost +as speedily as he had been tied, the lad was made free.</p> + +<p>"No, don't run," ordered Dorothy. "You can just stay with me—get some +grass for Cricket and——"</p> + +<p>"The togs! Where can I hide them?"</p> + +<p>"Give them here! Hello, there boys! Did <a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>you find him?" called +Dorothy, as that very moment she raised a clump of brush to hide the +"togs" under, and at the same time she hailed the boys who just turned +into the open field from the search through the woods.</p> + +<p>"Nary a find!" called back Nat. "Guess you were 'seeing things,' Doro. +We have come to the conclusion that the bandit lit on your brain."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," replied Dorothy. "But see, my Sir Galahad," indicating the +captive, who stood beside her. "He saved Cricket from a ditch, and I +haven't had a chance to get his other name."</p> + +<p>"Hello, Roy!" greeted Ned. "Glad to see you. Where have you been +keeping yourself? We wanted you the other day for the town games, but +couldn't find you."</p> + +<p>"Hello, Roy!" shouted the approaching Joe.</p> + +<p>"'Low there, Royal!" came from Roger, who just then threw away his +bandit stick.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you are all acquainted," added Dorothy. "I must ask Roy to +come up to the house this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I'll be there!" declared the boy, but only Dorothy knew why he spoke +so earnestly.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>OFF FOR CAMP</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"But Cologne won't wait another day. I have got to be off to camp," +Dorothy insisted.</p> + +<p>"Isn't our camp good enough?" asked Joe. "We have not seen you for so +long—and now off you go again."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I thought she was going to cook for us. I guess I don't want +to camp with the fellows cooking," murmured the disappointed Roger.</p> + +<p>"I am sure I would love to stay at the Cedars longer," their sister +assured them. "But you know I must keep my engagements, and I am to +live in a real camp this summer."</p> + +<p>"And Tavia is going, too," Roger went on. "If she was around here +there might be some fun."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you both can come to Maine for a stay. Then you would see the +great big moose you hear so much about. If they are not to be found +alive I am sure we could manage to see some dead," said Dorothy. "Now +be good boys, and I'll see if I can arrange that."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>She was saying good-bye to her brothers, and a half hour later she had +taken her chair in the train bound through New England <i>en route</i> for +Maine. The few days spent at home had been so delightful—even her +Wild-West adventure had ended up happily, for Royal Drake, the +erstwhile bandit, did all he could to make up for his "crimes," and +even went so far as to take Dorothy to a big tree, in the hollow of +which he had hidden considerable loot, during his try at the "wild and +wooly." This loot Roy took back to his own home, which had been the +first scene of his juvenile depredations. He declared he did get out +of a window with the stuff, and otherwise fulfilled the attempt in +true desperado fashion, but before Dorothy left him, she felt that he +had changed his mind as to the propriety of this line of "fun."</p> + +<p>"I hope I meet Tavia on time," Dorothy was thinking, as she neared the +station where her companion was expected to board the train. "If she +keeps up her reputation, though, I won't. Something is sure to happen +when Tavia goes traveling."</p> + +<p>Summer folks were taking themselves and their luggage into the crowded +cars. It did seem that the privilege of carrying freight personally +was <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>being abused, for old and young were simply bending down under +the weight of the stuff for which they struggled to find room in the +passenger coaches.</p> + +<p>"That would simply spoil my vacation," Dorothy reflected. "It seems to +me each season evolves some new sort of hamper to be hampered with."</p> + +<p>"Doro!"</p> + +<p>It was Tavia!</p> + +<p>"Oh, hello—Tavia. I was so afraid——"</p> + +<p>"You don't look it. I fancied I saw you sizing up that piece of +architecture at the door. Gothic; isn't it?" and Tavia fell into the +chair Dorothy had emptied for her. The "piece of architecture" took +the sofa at the end of the car, and she appeared to need every bit of +it for her hat, and other pieces of luggage.</p> + +<p>"Funny how the porters always like that sort of thing," remarked +Dorothy. "I don't believe they ever get a cent for it, either."</p> + +<p>"But look at the glory," said Tavia. "Every eye in the car is on that +sofa. My gaze is simply crowded out. Let's want something. Oh, yes. I +have lost my—'Porter!'" called Tavia sweetly, at the same time +touching the button at the <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>window. The man in the brass-buttoned +uniform turned promptly. "I have lost my hand bag," said Tavia. "I +surely had it when I entered."</p> + +<p>Persons in several seats around disturbed themselves. Dorothy's face +flushed. How absurd Tavia was to make that confusion, just for fun.</p> + +<p>Every time Tavia stooped to look under the seat, or about it, she +would pinch Dorothy, which act did not add to the latter's comfort.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have it," exclaimed the wily one. "Thank you so much," and she +smiled clear up and down the aisle. "I was sure I had it," and taking +her seat, she managed, in the most conspicuously discreet way, to slip +into the porter's palm something shiny.</p> + +<p>"There," she added, when he was gone, "wasn't that neat, Doro? He is +ours now for the rest of the trip, and the lady on the sofa is <i>nil</i>."</p> + +<p>Dorothy knew it was worse than useless to protest, but this was not +the sort of thing she considered fun.</p> + +<p>"Did you have a pleasant time at Dalton?" she asked, hoping to get +Tavia's attention. "I was so sorry I could not go up for a day."</p> + +<p>"You might be glad," replied Tavia. "Of all <a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>the stupid times—I would +have run away but for Johnnie. He took me fishing, and I—wore +overalls! Oh, only out in the woods, of course, but it was sport, and +I caught fish! It's skirts that hoodoo the catch. I have come to that +conclusion."</p> + +<p>"In what woods did you wear—overalls?" and Dorothy looked almost +frightened. Might Tavia have the garb with her?</p> + +<p>"Oh, away out Mushroom way. And I stretched out just like any +respectable boy, and cast the line! Dear me, Doro! I would just loved +to have smoked! That would have made it—perfect!"</p> + +<p>"There isn't a shock left in me," Dorothy assured her, "so don't try +so hard Tavia. I am simply immune. You must have looked +just—sweet—in overalls. I hope they were dark blue."</p> + +<p>"<i>Are</i>," corrected Tavia, "<i>are</i> dark blue," and she wheeled around +out toward the aisle just as a young chap in white flannels passed +along. He looked down at her in that pardonable way common even in the +best style of traveling. Dorothy breathed more easily when he passed +out to the next coach.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't he dear?" commented Tavia. "Doro, <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>I just know we are going to +have a perfectly bang-up time, this summer."</p> + +<p>"Take care you come out of it without too much 'banging' up," +cautioned Dorothy. "This summer business is getting exciting."</p> + +<p>"Wonder if we will see the man of the horse? He who made such +beautiful bows, and acted so—actly. Wasn't he lovely? My, I have +dreamed of him, Doro!"</p> + +<p>"Foolish," replied the other. "Nat said he fancied that chap would +make trouble."</p> + +<p>The thought that Cologne might have whispered to Dorothy something +about Tavia getting a letter from this man just flashed across her +mind. Tavia was always getting into some foolish scrape, and kept +Dorothy busy getting her out, and it just occurred to Dorothy that it +might not be a bad idea to let Tavia try getting herself out, should +she repeat her usual indiscretions of risking too much for the sake of +some trifling whim.</p> + +<p>"Bangor! Bangor!" called the porter, and our friends gathered +themselves up to make the change for Lake Monadic.</p> + +<p>"I must get a shoe shine," said Tavia, as they stepped on the platform +of the big depot. "Just wait here. I won't be three minutes."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>We only have five," Dorothy told her, "and if you are late—I must go +on. Cologne is going to meet us away out from camp."</p> + +<p>"Oh I'll be back," promised Tavia, and then she was lost in the +throng.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>CAMP C.C.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"There is not another train out this evening," Cologne was telling +Dorothy. "Wasn't it perfectly dreadful for her to leave you!"</p> + +<p>"I expected something like that to happen from the start," Dorothy +replied. "Tavia has a faculty for missing trains. I wonder what she +will do?"</p> + +<p>"There is just a chance that she may be able to make the way train, +and switch off at the Junction, then, if she is lucky, she may flag +the shore train and get to this spot about midnight. But what would +she do then? Better stay out in civilization until daylight."</p> + +<p>"I feel dreadfully, Rose-Mary, that she should give you so much +trouble. I sometimes think Tavia ought to be——"</p> + +<p>"Spanked," finished the girl, with a smile. "Well, with all her faults +we love her still," and she tightened her hands on the horse reins. +"Let us hope she will be more fortunate than we anticipate."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>Isn't this lovely!" exclaimed Dorothy, as they started over the hill +in the depot wagon. "These are real Maine woods, aren't they?"</p> + +<p>"Not the big-game kind. Those are farther out. But wait until you see +our camp. Then you may say lovely!"</p> + +<p>"And your camping suit," went on Dorothy. "Surely I may say lovely to +that. It is perfectly splendid, and your cap is so becoming!"</p> + +<p>"Think so? Yes, I like the cap, and it's handy. I've got one for you +and one for Tavia—if she ever gets here to claim it," and Cologne +handed the cap to Dorothy for close inspection. It was a jaunty blue +affair with the letters "C.C." in gilt. These, Cologne explained, +might stand for anything, but they mostly stood for Camp Cologne, or +Camp Cozy, or Camp Clamor, although some of the members wanted it Camp +Capital, Cologne said.</p> + +<p>"We will end up by making it 'See See,'" declared Dorothy, "for it +does seem one or other of us is constantly calling upon some one else +to see something—there is lots to see."</p> + +<p>A party of other campers came trooping along the shady roadway. +Cologne knew them, and hailed them pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"They are our neighbors," she said, "and they <a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>have the nicest +brothers! I just want you to meet Teddy—he is too funny!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you think that variety would suit Tavia better than me?" asked +Dorothy. "I thought you always picked out the real good kind for me, +the sort that wear collars all summer," and Dorothy laughed at the +idea, for the day was warm, and the thought of a stiff collar was +rather incongruous.</p> + +<p>"Well, he must be nice, at any rate," replied Cologne, as they turned +into a lane, a short cut over the woodland. "But, say, Dorothy, do you +know I believe that fellow—the one who rode the farmer's horse—is +out this way? I saw some one who had that same queer gait, and who +wore his hat on the side of his head, and I am almost sure it was he. +I was not near enough to see his face, but there is something so +characteristic about his swing, I am sure I could not be mistaken. Did +Tavia tell you anything about the letter?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied Dorothy slowly, "but I do hope he is not going to spoil +our camping days. I should never feel safe with him loitering about +the woods. What could fetch him away out here?"</p> + +<p>"Well, this is a great rendezvous for swell invalids and nature +lovers," Cologne told her, "and <a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>of course, it may be a mere +coincidence. I even might be mistaken."</p> + +<p>"Let us hope you are," said Dorothy fervently. "I would not mind so +much—but Tavia—Oh well, you know how queer she is."</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed I do, but never mind, Doro, we are going to have the time +of our lives this summer, and we must not go into the missionary +business for it's awfully wearing."</p> + +<p>"It's quite a long drive out here, isn't it? I shouldn't think you +would often take it after dark?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we never do, unless we have a whole party and go merry-making. +But this evening I fear we will have to go for Tavia. Isn't it too +provoking? It spoils my plans for to-night."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what ever could have kept her? She had five minutes, and I +warned her."</p> + +<p>"Likely she saw something interesting, and determined to make those +five minutes grow into ten. She has no respect for time, I know that, +and as for the railroads, why it would tickle her to miss a train and +make trouble for the next one."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there are the tents! I see the white specks over that way. And +there is the little lake!" exclaimed Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we are getting there. Come on, hurry <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>up Jeff" (this to the +horse), "we must get home by five and we have only three minutes. I +promised mother to be back at five, and punctuality is an unbreakable +rule of our camp. We made it so because we have always found that +tardiness is the ruination of all good summers; even camp life must +have rules," and Cologne urged the steed to a little faster gait.</p> + +<p>"Is this your own horse?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No, but we have him for the summer. Mother insisted on us having a +real old timer—safer, she thinks."</p> + +<p>"And he knows all the roads, that's something," added Dorothy. "If we +should get lost he could find our way home for us."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, he could. I often give him the lines, and he goes along to +the post office, and back again, without the slightest prompting. Here +we are!"</p> + +<p>Cologne drew up, not in front of a canvas tent, but beside a fine old +barn.</p> + +<p>"Is that the—tent—the camp?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but just wait until you see how we have it settled. There's +mother," as Mrs. Markin appeared at the door and extended the most +cordial welcome to Dorothy.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>Swinging aside the great old-fashioned door, that opened in two parts, +Cologne ushered Dorothy into the camp.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how perfectly splendid!"</p> + +<p>It was like a picture from an art magazine. The real rafters—no +boxed-shaped beams set up like an uncovered porch roof—but rafters, +that hung down low, fragrant with the scent of hickory, soft in tint, +and brown with the polish and glow of years. Then the big field stone +fire-place, with the "side walk" all around it, and the pieces of rag +carpet!</p> + +<p>"I have never seen anything so perfectly splendid!" chimed Dorothy, +"how ever did you find such a camp?"</p> + +<p>"The mater's idea," replied Cologne, enthused with Dorothy's delight. +"There used to be a big house on this farm, but it was burned down. +Mother knew the place and we got it. Isn't it a perfect mansion? Mater +would not hear of us sleeping in the open—says tents fly away in the +night. Let me show you the whole house."</p> + +<p>The first floor—for there was a loft—was laid out in a living room, +with many luxuries even to a hired, old-fashioned, square piano; the +chairs, Cologne explained, had been bought at a second-hand shop along +the mountain road; and <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>the man who kept the shop was so surprised to +have a call for such odd chairs and tables that Mrs. Markin was able +to pick up some splendid pieces for a mere trifle. Then the sleeping +rooms, Mrs. Markin's and her daughter's, besides the guest room, were +on the first floor, while Jack, the big boy of the family, had his +"bunk" on the loft, and up there also was a "bunk" for any of Jack's +friends who might pay him a visit.</p> + +<p>The first floor rooms were divided by cretonne partitions, or +curtains, made secure top and bottom, and the coloring of these +screens gave the place an ideal tone in color. The kitchen was outside +under a lean-to tent.</p> + +<p>And the dining room! A broad porch with an uncovered roof. A canvas +flap was hung over the roof to be used, or thrown aside, just as the +weather ordained. The table was a matter of two "horses" and three +planks, and the seats were of the same brand, only in a lower grade. +The cover was of oilcloth, and the dishes were some wooden and some +white enamel.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Cologne, "Mother did not want us to be working always, +so she made the table service a la Indian. We burn most of the dishes +when we've used them, and they keep our camp fire going, or rather, +they only start it. Then <a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>the metal plates are so easy to wash, and so +hard to break. Oh, we have camping down to a system! I hope you will +like the system."</p> + +<p>"How could I help liking it! Why it's just ideal. It makes our +pretentious homes look like cheap bric-a-brac," Dorothy declared.</p> + +<p>"Well, come now and have tea—we are to have it alone, you and I, for +mother is busy helping Jennie can berries, and Jack is never home +until the cows come—we can see herds of them troup over that hill +every night."</p> + +<p>Cologne put a match to the small oil stove, and then when the kettle +boiled she made tea in the proper way, pouring the water over the +leaves as they nestled in the blue Delft pot on the table. The edibles +were produced from an improvised cupboard, and in a remarkably short +time Dorothy and her friend were seated at the long table, enjoying a +meal, the like of which the visitor declared she had never before +fallen heir to.</p> + +<p>"It must be the air," she remarked, helping herself to a sandwich, +"for I have never felt so alarmingly hungry."</p> + +<p>"Jack says they are 'standwiches,'" remarked Cologne, "for he never +gets a chance to eat one while sitting down."</p> + +<p>"That's true," replied Dorothy, "for at the <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>places where one gets +them one is never supposed to sit down. 'Standwiches' they really are. +I am anxious to see Jack. He gave me such a nice time when I visited +you at Buffalo."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's a perfect giant," Cologne told her. "He grows while you +wait. He's off fishing to-day. Promised to fetch home some nice fish +for to-morrow's dinner. We get trout for breakfast in the stream over +there. It's jolly to fish. I know you will like it up here, Dorothy."</p> + +<p>"<i>Will</i> like it! I <i>do</i> like it! There is no future tense on that +score. I have always longed for a visit 'way down east.' And how +strange people talk! Just as soon as we passed Connecticut it was like +going into a new country, the accent is so different. Tavia declared +it was nothing but a left-over brogue of the Mayflower vintage. Of +course, that's what it really is. But Tavia! I had almost forgotten +her. Could we go out anywhere and look for her?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly," replied Cologne. "But we could drive out to the station +again, and send a message to the Junction. I wish Jack was here. He +would know best what to do. It is too provoking!"</p> + +<p>"And she is so apt to fall in with a 'friend,'" <a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>mused Dorothy. "I +never saw her equal for picking up friends."</p> + +<p>"There's an automobile," exclaimed Cologne, listening to the ripping +of the atmosphere as a machine tore down the road. "We don't have many +cars around here, it's too hilly."</p> + +<p>"They're coming in the lane! It's Tavia!"</p> + +<p>Both girls jumped up, and ran to the lane that wound around the camp.</p> + +<p>Tavia was standing up waving her hand bag.</p> + +<p>"She made friends this time," declared Dorothy. "Just like her to fall +into something easy."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE WILD ANIMAL</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Perfectly delicious," Tavia was exclaiming, in her reckless way, +"never believed a barn could be thus converted into a home." She +tossed aside her traveling things. "And so sweet of you, Cologne, to +ask poor me. The old joke, as if Rose-Mary-Cologne-Lavender could be +other than sweet!"</p> + +<p>"And so dear of you to get here," said Dorothy, with mocking voice. +"We really thought——"</p> + +<p>"Doro, dear, if you only would get over that abominable thinking +habit! See what happened to me when I thought I was was going to be +locked up for the night in the little railroad station! Why, along +whisked an auto, and the lady with the scared-to-death-hair looked at +me. Seeing me was believing. The chaufferine (it was a lady and my +French is packed up) asked me in. That was what I got for thinking on +the wrong stoop. And weren't they dears? Did <a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>you mind the veils? +First I thought they were hoisted for rain clouds, and again, when I +saw the blues and pinks, I decided for fair weather. There were enough +colors to make a rainbow look like the milky way. And they asked me to +come see them! Asked me! Why they begged me and made me give a +cross-my-heart yes."</p> + +<p>"But you won't go?" asked Cologne. "You know the Lamberts +are—well—they are a troup of theatrical folks, and no one knows much +about them."</p> + +<p>"The only profession that hides the ego," broke in Tavia. "Now that is +what I call cozy, to get away from the dear old nosey public. I wonder +the whole world does not go in for the stage, and get a chance to walk +through the streets, and have folks say, 'Isn't she perfectly sweet!' +All the while one could be sticking out her tongue, and otherwise +enjoying herself—"</p> + +<p>"Tavia!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Do talk something akin to common sense if +you cannot do better. And don't mix up your pronouns. You keep one +bobbing through tenses and pronouns as if the thinker were a +jack-in-the-box."</p> + +<p>"All the same I would love to go over to that big white house in the +cherry trees, and see a dress rehearsal. They play Shakespeare."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>You must not think of such a thing," declared Dorothy. "Since Cologne +does not wish you to go in the strange set, you will surely comply, +but I do not have to tell you that I am sure you will," and she turned +away in evident distress.</p> + +<p>The next morning the three girls started to camp in earnest. Tavia +insisted that it was her share of work to fetch one pail of water from +the spring, because, she said, she had to stoop down so low, and walk +so far the effort was equal to Dorothy's dish-washing or Cologne's +muffin-making.</p> + +<p>"While you do the rest," she said, "I'll just run up, and look over +the loft, the boys are out now, and Dorothy won't be afraid I'll +forget my manners."</p> + +<p>"You come here directly, and set this table for lunch," ordered +Dorothy. "We are going out for trout, and will not be in until eating +time, so we will get everything ready now."</p> + +<p>"All right," answered Tavia, at the same time climbing up the ladder, +and making her way to the loft.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let her explore," said Cologne. "Then when she gets enough of it +she will be satisfied."</p> + +<p>"Don't touch any of the old guns up there," called Dorothy, "Jack says +there are dangerous."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>All righty!" yelled Tavia from above. "But say wouldn't this be a +handsome place to drop from?"</p> + +<p>She was in the opening of the hay loft, lying on the floor with her +head over the edge.</p> + +<p>"Oh don't" begged Cologne. "Tavia, that is dangerous!"</p> + +<p>Her voice was rather strained, Cologne was annoyed. Tavia jumped up, +and, with a most unladylike "whoop," ran from one end of the loft to +the other, exclaiming at every new found article of interest. Suddenly +she stopped.</p> + +<p>"Now what do you suppose she is at?" asked Dorothy, as she and Cologne +listened.</p> + +<p>"Maybe Jack's pipes. I am sure she would be interested in them. He has +quite a collection."</p> + +<p>"Oh! G-i-r-l-s!" came a shout from the loft. "Come quick! A wild +animal!"</p> + +<p>The voice left no room for doubt. Tavia did see something.</p> + +<p>Cologne and Dorothy dropped their work and scrambled up the ladder.</p> + +<p>"Over here!"</p> + +<p>Tavia was on all fours, peering behind an old door that lay close to +the side timbers of the barn. "Just look! His hair stands up like a +porcupine, and his eyes! Oh, my! such eyes!"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>Cologne and Dorothy looked.</p> + +<p>"There certainly is something," admitted Cologne.</p> + +<p>"It has straight black hair," exclaimed Dorothy, "and it does look +fierce!"</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" asked Cologne. "Jack will not be back until +night."</p> + +<p>"And if we take our eyes off it we run the risk of having it under the +bed to-night," said Tavia. "Now if only we could shoot a gun," and she +looked at the line of weapons that decorated the side of the loft.</p> + +<p>"I can load and fire a gun," declared Dorothy. "Wasn't my father a +soldier?"</p> + +<p>"Wasn't her father a soldier!" repeated Tavia. "Cologne you hump down +there, and keep your eye on the bear, while we get a gun, and load it. +Then if it's all the same to you, I'll do down stairs, and out in the +back yard until it is all over. I hate murder close by."</p> + +<p>"I'll choose my own gun, if you please," said Dorothy, as Tavia was +about to hand her an old musket. "I like the vintage of the last +century at least."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you won't hurt yourself?" asked Cologne anxiously. "I +think perhaps we had best <a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>try to box the thing in here. Shooting is +rather risky."</p> + +<p>"Not if I can get a gun I happen to know," said Dorothy. "You may both +go out in the back yard if you choose. I must try the rifle first—oh, +here is one just like father gave Joe his last birthday. I had a mind +to borrow it to come out here to Maine woods, but I never dreamed of +getting game right in camp."</p> + +<p>"Don't shoot dis niggah!" pleaded Tavia, actually making for the +ladder.</p> + +<p>Dorothy went over to the open window and put the rifle to her +shoulder. She pulled the trigger. There was no discharge. Not +satisfied with one trial she worked the rifle until there was +positively no possibility of any load being in the weapon.</p> + +<p>"There, that's clean," she said. "Now for the cartridge."</p> + +<p>Over on the wall hung Jack's ammunition box. Cologne was watching at a +safe distance. Tavia had gone downstairs by way of a rope that Jack +Markin used for descending. Dorothy put the load in, made sure it was +all right, then went over to the beast's hiding place. She crouched +down and took aim.</p> + +<p>"Do—be—careful, Dorothy."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>Crack!</p> + +<p>"There! That fetched him!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I saw him roll over."</p> + +<p>"Make sure he is dead before you pull the door away," again cautioned +Cologne.</p> + +<p>"Dead as a carpet tack," declared Dorothy. "Let's call Tavia and get +her to pull him out. She ought to do something in this, our first +hunt."</p> + +<p>Tavia was called, and being assured that the thing had rolled the +death roll, she came up the ladder, and with the aid of a long handled +hay rake, she just ventured to touch the strange thing.</p> + +<p>"It's dead!"</p> + +<p>This was the signal for a series of antics such as Tavia might imagine +to be popular in the Figi Islands when some real dainty morsel fell +into the camp kettle.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let us see what it is!" ordered Cologne. "Maybe we won't have to +go trout fishing, it may do for dinner."</p> + +<p>"It may, then again it may not," replied Tavia. "But May or Mamie, +let's haul her out."</p> + +<p>Dorothy put her shoulder to the frame door, back of which the thing +was hidden.</p> + +<p>"One, two, three!" she shoved it over. "Are you ready?"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>Let her go!" called Cologne, springing up on an old trunk.</p> + +<p>But it didn't go, neither did it come.</p> + +<p>The girls waited breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Pull him out, Tavia! What's the use standing there with a rake in +your hand," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"I want to make sure he does not revive," she replied, gingerly poking +the rake handle a little further under the hidden corner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, here," exclaimed Dorothy impatiently. "Let me take that implement +and you hold this door. We ought to get the animal out in time for +lunch."</p> + +<p>They shifted positions. Dorothy jabbed the rake recklessly into the +corner. Tavia moaned, and Cologne groaned.</p> + +<p>Drag—drag—It was coming out.</p> + +<p>"Mercy!" exclaimed Tavia.</p> + +<p>"Goodness me!" gasped Cologne.</p> + +<p>But Dorothy, who was the only one near the thing, simply dropped the +rake and stood aghast—too dumbfounded to utter a syllable!</p> + +<p>"What is it?" begged Cologne.</p> + +<p>"<i>A WINDOW BRUSH!</i>" she gasped, at the same moment stooping to pick up +the beast—<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>the thing with the straight, long black hair that stood +up in fierce bristles!</p> + +<br /> + +<div class="img" style="width: 55%;"> +<a href="images/dorothy3.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/dorothy3.jpg" width="80%" alt=""A WINDOW BRUSH!" SHE GASPED."" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"A WINDOW BRUSH!" SHE GASPED.<br /> +<i>Dorothy Dale's Camping Days Page 84</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p>"But the eyes!" asked Tavia. "I saw terrible eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Might have been imported fire flies," answered Dorothy. "I believe +Jack has a penchant for odd bugs!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't that too mean!"</p> + +<p>"And Jack's good cartridges!"</p> + +<p>"But the brush is all right," declared Cologne. "We just needed a +window brush to make the camp outfit complete. But don't let's tell +the boys," she pleaded hastily.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" chimed Tavia and Dorothy. Then all three in turn took the +rope route down to the lower floor.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>A STRANGE MEETING</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For several days after the "hunt" the girls kept up the joke on +themselves. Time after time they threatened to let Jack, and his +friend Percy, guess the truth, but Tavia, the most to be feared, did +manage to keep the laugh purely feminine.</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Cologne were gathering berries this morning, while Tavia +ran off to a spot where she declared she could get the better kind of +fruit, better than any they had yet secured. She turned in back of the +big barn, then ran over behind the ice-house, and then she smelled +apples, ripe apples.</p> + +<p>"There are harvest apples around here, somewhere," she told herself. +"I simply must find them."</p> + +<p>From tree to tree she scampered along until she was out in the lane +that ran into the next estate.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>That's a road," she was thinking. "And there's a man."</p> + +<p>Glancing around to see if she could discern Dorothy or Cologne, Tavia +had a sudden thrill of terror.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know I had gone so far," she thought, "and that man is +coming this way."</p> + +<p>Something familiar about the manner in which the stranger advanced +toward her attracted her attention.</p> + +<p>"Looks like that man! It is he! The fellow who stopped the hay-wagon +runaway!"</p> + +<p>She was still frightened, but a trifle more at ease, since she +recognized the man in the big slouch hat. "Whatever could have brought +him here?" she asked herself. The next moment she was glad—glad that +Cologne and Dorothy were out of reach.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not afraid of him," she thought. "Perhaps he knows I'm +here——"</p> + +<p>He was almost up to her. Yes, it was he—the same queer smile lurked +about his face, and he had that indefinable air—was it attractive, or +only different?</p> + +<p>"Good morning, Maud Muller," he said doffing that unlimited hat. "I'm +so glad to see you alone."</p> + +<p>"Good morning," answered Tavia, "but I am <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>not alone, I just ran away +from my friends; they are over there."</p> + +<p>"But not over here. It's all the same. I want to speak to you, and +this is the best opportunity I could have wished for."</p> + +<p>Tavia unconsciously picked up a stick. She felt queer, and he looked +queer, so that altogether it was a very queer proceeding.</p> + +<p>"I have news for you," the man resumed. "Is not your name Tavia +Travers?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Then you must follow my advice closely and you will come into your +own. Are you not from the town of Dalton?"</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"Then I am right, as I was sure I was from the start. Your father is +a—is an officer in Dalton?"</p> + +<p>"A squire," replied Tavia, bewildered now at his knowledge of her and +her family.</p> + +<p>"The same. I want to tell you"—he stepped up uncomfortably near to +her so that his sleeve touched her—"I want to tell you there is a +fortune coming to your family, and I can put you on the track to +secure it. My uncle Abe"—he seemed to chuckle—"knew about it, he +told me, and I <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>had to swear on a Bible covered with blood, that I +would never betray his secret!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my!" shuddered Tavia stepping away. "I don't think I can wait +now." She was thoroughly frightened. "Couldn't you come down to the +camp, and tell me? Then we could talk comfortably. The sun is very hot +up here."</p> + +<p>"But what I have to say is best said in the open," he answered +vaguely. "I prefer this to all spots on earth." He paused and Tavia's +first impulse was to run, but then——</p> + +<p>"I won't ask you to believe me now," he said, his voice softening, +"but if you will come to where I say I can prove my assertion."</p> + +<p>"That there is a fortune left to my family? That is too absurd," and +Tavia smiled. "Money does not run in our family."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. That is why it has to be run into it—put on the track, so +to speak. Well, I know what I am talking about. But if you are not +interested——"</p> + +<p>He turned as if to go. What if it could be true, and Tavia was +throwing away the only chance she would ever have of learning the +truth?</p> + +<p>"Where did you want me to go?" she stammered.</p> + +<p>"Meet me at the old stone bridge to-morrow <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>at three, and I will +convince you of the actuality of this wonderful inheritance—this +inheritance which you so long have been deprived of—which you have +been fleeced out of by my scheming Uncle Abe!"</p> + +<p>His eyes flashed, and his voice trembled. Tavia thought she had never +before seen such glassy eyes, and the way he fastened them on her gave +her a most uncomfortable feeling. She even felt compelled to promise +what he asked, and she did so.</p> + +<p>He sauntered off, leaving the girl's head in a whirl. Who was he, and +what did he know about her family?</p> + +<p>He was right in his assertions about Dalton, also about her father. +Surely there could be no harm in listening to his story, and the stone +bridge was not far from camp.</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Cologne were just appearing above the hill, Dorothy's +yellow head bobbing up like some animated flower.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you dreadful girl!" called Cologne. "We thought the gypsies had +taken you."</p> + +<p>"No such luck," answered Tavia, as the two came up to the apple tree. +"But I did find some splendid apples. Help yourselves. I must sit down +for a minute. I've been up the tree—no, up <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a><i>a</i> tree," she finished +with a laugh that neither of her companions understood.</p> + +<p>"Harvests!" cried Cologne in delight. "I never knew they were here."</p> + +<p>"Neither did I until I found them," replied Tavia foolishly.</p> + +<p>"The climb gave you lovely red cheeks; Tavia," said Dorothy. "You +ought to take climbing in the next school course."</p> + +<p>"No sarcasm now, please, Doro. I don't feel a bit funny."</p> + +<p>"But you look it," declared Dorothy, keeping up her teasing manner. +"You always look funny when your cheeks get so red—"</p> + +<p>"Danger of ignition, I suppose," and Tavia's voice was anything but +pleasant. "Oh, there go the Lamberts!" as an auto swished around the +road. "I must run away and see them some day—just before we go home, +when Cologne won't have time, or heart, to scold."</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't!" spoke Cologne. "Mother particularly warned me that we +were not to take up with those theatrical folks, and mother is the +boss."</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well, if you really feel that way about it," and Tavia +shrugged her shoulders.</p> + +<p>Dorothy was shaking a limb of the apple tree. "<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>What ghost have you +seen Tavia?" she asked. "Someone has stolen away all your good +nature."</p> + +<p>"He's welcome," she replied. "Stagnant good nature doesn't keep well, +and I have been keeping mine bottled up ever since you shot that +window brush. The shock to my system—" and she imitated the manner of +one affected with nerves.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was dreadful on all of us," agreed Dorothy, from whom the +change in Tavia's manner could not be hidden. "But you must forget it, +and think of the good time we are going to have to-morrow. Think of +it! Going out in the real mountains, with real boys for guides! Of +course you will have your pick of the boys, Cologne and I must be +satisfied with what remains."</p> + +<p>Cologne had scarcely spoken since Tavia mentioned the Lamberts, and +Dorothy was doing her best to restore good nature and peace to both of +her companions. Yet she was greatly annoyed at Tavia's rudeness. Why +should she persist in ignoring common courtesy and thus keeping up +that Lambert question?</p> + +<p>"We must hurry back to the camp with our berries," Cologne at last +ventured, "or mother will think some snake has eaten us up."</p> + +<p>"And I particularly want to try my hand at <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>berry tarts," declared +Dorothy. "I was, at one time, considered quite a 'tarter.'"</p> + +<p>Tavia gathered up some apples, and the others took their berry +baskets. They walked slowly over the hill back to the camp. Jack was +waiting for them.</p> + +<p>"Say, girls!" he began as they neared the dining room steps, "the boys +have a great scheme on for to-morrow. But I am not to tell you about +it."</p> + +<p>"Isn't that lovely," came from Tavia in rather mocking tones.</p> + +<p>"But I am commissioned to tell you," he went on with an arch look at +Tavia, "that you are to rest this afternoon for sufficient unto +to-morrow is the weariness thereof."</p> + +<p>Then they began to prepare lunch, but Tavia remained outside, asking +Jack some seemingly foolish questions.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TAVIA</h3> +<br /> + +<p>After a morning spent in anticipation of the good time Jack had +promised (and Jack and his friends did know how to give the girls a +good time) something happened just as they were about to start off to +the woods.</p> + +<p>Tavia was missing!</p> + +<p>At first the matter was taken as a joke, as it would be quite like +Tavia to run off and hide in the hay loft, or in any other outlandish +place; but when, after all kinds of calls, and a thorough search of +the premises, she failed to be located, there was reasonable alarm +among the campers. The Hays girls from Camp Happy-go-Lucky, had joined +the party that intended going into the deep woods, so they, too, aided +in the search for Tavia.</p> + +<p>"I give up," said Jack finally, mopping his forehead, for in spite of +the beautiful bracing air of the mountains, the act of running over +the hill and into the valleys made him perspire.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>Isn't it queer!" exclaimed Dorothy, thoroughly alarmed. "I have a +feeling that something has happened to her."</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry," Jack suggested. "You will be sure to find out that +Tavia has happened to something. She has a faculty for that sort of +thing. Let us go off on a day's fun. No use spoiling it all on account +of a whim—I am sure it is nothing more."</p> + +<p>"She did complain of a headache," Cologne remembered, "and I gave her +a little soda. She may have thought it best to hide with the headache +rather than to worry us about it."</p> + +<p>"We haven't tried the brook," suggested pretty Hazel Hays. "I am +always afraid of brooks."</p> + +<p>"But Tavia swims like a fish," declared Dorothy. "I would never think +of harm coming to her in the water."</p> + +<p>"Let's try, at any rate," agreed Jack, who never opposed Hazel. +"Although, unless that big frog gobbled her up, I cannot imagine any +possible danger."</p> + +<p>At this the party set off over the hill to the frog pond. Hazel +trudged along with Jack, Brendon Hays divided his attention between +Dorothy and Cologne, while a very little young man, Claud Miller, by +name, and the midget by <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>reputation, took care of Nathalie Weston, a +visitor at Camp Lucky.</p> + +<p>Every one could joke but Dorothy. To her the situation was beyond +that.</p> + +<p>"I'll wager we find her up a tree eating apples," lisped Claud. "I +never saw a girl so fond of sweet apples as Miss Tavia. She told me so +herself."</p> + +<p>"Told you, you never saw a girl—now Claud! Don't get excited that +way. It's dreadfully hard on your nerves and on your friends."</p> + +<p>"But I say, now, Jack——"</p> + +<p>"Claud, dear, don't. Save it until we find Tavia, and then say to your +heart's content."</p> + +<p>Dorothy had run on ahead and was now looking over the little rustic +bridge into the frog pond. The water was not deep, but there were +plainly footprints along its muddy edge.</p> + +<p>"There has been some one here to-day," declared Cologne, "and no one +ever comes on our grounds—away up here at any rate."</p> + +<p>"They are the footprints of a man," Jack decided. "Did Tavia, by any +means, know a man who wore boots size ten?"</p> + +<p>"The only folks she knew in these parts are the Lamberts," answered +Cologne. "And she did say, even as late as yesterday, that she would +<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>run over to see a rehearsal there—when I wasn't looking."</p> + +<p>"Jolly!" exclaimed Claud. "I have been wishing so much for a chance to +know that younger Lamb. She's the very sweetest——"</p> + +<p>"Spring lamb?" asked Cologne, teasingly. "Claud, you should never take +spring lamb upon the recommendation of a strange butcher. It might +turn out to be mutton."</p> + +<p>This sally caused Claud to laugh so vigorously, that he held his hand +over his watch pocket apprehensively.</p> + +<p>Dorothy was looking under the black bridge. The footprints seemed to +turn in beneath the culvert, and then they were lost in the deep, dark +mud.</p> + +<p>Not one, except perhaps Cologne, knew the thoughts that stirred +Dorothy so riotously. What if Tavia had gone over to Lamberts, and so +would incur the displeasure of their hostess? Or, if she had met that +queer man? But she could not have done that! Reckless as she was, she +could not be unaware of the danger of doing such a fool-hardy thing as +that!</p> + +<p>"I'm going down under that oak tree," declared Hazel, with an arch +glance at Jack. "There's trout in that stream, and it's too late to +<a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>go over to Moose Hill, or Deer Hollow which ever it is."</p> + +<p>"Neither," replied Jack. "It's Moose on the level. Yes, we may as well +explore Trout Trammel—though I doubt if they'll come up even at the +sight of those fly colors you wear, Hazel."</p> + +<p>"Don't you like this suit? Why it's the very thing—all the way from +New York. And just see the navy emblem."</p> + +<p>The invitation brought Jack up very close to the sleeve of Hazel's +sailor suit. Yes, he liked that emblem, first rate, and he said so, +once or twice.</p> + +<p>"I vote for a trip to the Lambs," voiced the dainty Claud. "If no one +else wants to go I don't mind, in the least, running over and making +inquiries."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't run, Claud;" cautioned Jack. "It's dreadful on your watch +pocket. Just walk over and give my love to the girl who wears the +rainbow around her head. Tell her that I saw her and she will guess +the rest."</p> + +<p>"Well, if she happens to be out on the lawn, might I ask her to join +in this girl-hunt?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're hunting a lot!" exclaimed Cologne in something like +impatience. "Now, Claud, this it no joke! We are out to find our +lively-loving, luckless little friend, Tavia."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>I'm afraid it's useless," sighed Dorothy. "We may just as well +wait—perhaps she will return at lunch time."</p> + +<p>But lunch time came, and lunch time went by, without any trace or +track of Tavia being discovered.</p> + +<p>Finally Dorothy broke down, and went to her own room. Cologne followed +her, and there, in the secret nook in the big camp farm, the two girls +discussed every possible clause of the case, and tried with heroic +effort to shed some light on the mystery.</p> + +<p>"Was it the Lamberts? Or could it be——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she would never go off with a stranger," declared Dorothy over +and over again. "Surely our Tavia has more common sense than that."</p> + +<p>"But it is so lonely up here—no," Cologne corrected herself, "you are +right, of course, Dorothy. She will be back—just as soon as she feels +like coming. That's Tavia!"</p> + +<p>But they little knew the danger to which the younger girl had +unwittingly exposed herself.</p> + +<p>No wonder Tavia could not be found within or without the precincts of +the camp.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>CHAPTER XI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>WHEN THE BOYS CAME</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Dorothy had always loved her cousins, Ned and Nat, but when they +arrived at the camp, the day after Tavia's disappearance, she fancied +she had never before fully appreciated them. They came in the +<i>Firebird</i>, their automobile, and declared that they would camp out in +the open Maine woods, cook in the open, make soups of lily bulbs, +stirred with the aromatic boughs of the spruce, and otherwise conform +to all the glorious hardships peculiar to the pioneers—according to +the stories told by said pioneers.</p> + +<p>But the absence of Tavia put a damper on everything.</p> + +<p>"We have got to start out and trace her," Jack Markin told Ned and +Nat. "It is inconceivable where she could have gone to."</p> + +<p>"We certainly shall start out at once," declared Nat, who was always +Tavia's champion, to say nothing of his being her special friend and +<a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>admirer. "I have known her to do risky things before, but this is the +utmost."</p> + +<p>"I never saw such a girl," growled Ned. "Just when a fellow expects to +have a first-rate time, she puts up something that knocks it out."</p> + +<p>Dorothy was disconsolate. Her eyes showed the result of a sleepless +night, and her usually pink cheeks were quite pale.</p> + +<p>"She would never stay away of her own accord over night," she sighed, +"whatever she might do during the day."</p> + +<p>"Now, Doro, dear," consoled Cologne, "you must not look at it that +way. It is perfectly surprising what may happen, in a perfectly safe +way, after one has found out, while before that time such things seem +utterly impossible. Haven't we had lots of that at Glenwood?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, things do happen that seem anything but likely," Dorothy +admitted. "And I do hope that such will be the case this time. I wish +we knew!"</p> + +<p>"We had a great time in Dalton," said Nat, "the day we went over to +see the old place—your old place, Dorothy. The major asked us to go +in to look after a leak in the roof, and just as we went into the old +plumbing shop we heard a racket. It seems that a fellow named +<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>Mortimer Morrison, a stage-struck chap, played a part on the local +stage, and while delivering his lines he gave his audience a +treat—the real thing in tragics. He went crazy—wild, stark, staring +mad! He was an escaped sanitariumite—he got out, found the stage at +Dalton, and was having a gay old time when the——" Nat suddenly +stopped. "What's the matter, coz?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Dorothy was sitting on the rustic bench, at the side of the old corn +crib, and she went pale as her cousin told the story. Cologne was +beside her, and, as Nat asked what the matter was, Cologne grasped +Dorothy's trembling hand.</p> + +<p>"What, Dorothy?"</p> + +<p>"Why the—man! That man! He is the one who saved the team—the one who +wrote the letter to Tavia. I found a part of it. She never told me, +but it blew open at—my very feet. And that name was on the piece of +paper!"</p> + +<p>"Tavia know that—loon!" Ned exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"We all knew him—if he is the same one," declared Cologne, for +Dorothy was too agitated to speak. "We happened to get in trouble with +a hay wagon, and an old team of horses, and he helped us out. Come to +think of it he did act queer!"</p> + +<p>"And he is around here—now?" asked Nat.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>Yes, I saw some one the other day whom I am sure could be no one +else. He had the most peculiar walk. Did you see him in Dalton, Nat?"</p> + +<p>"I was just going to tell you that while we were in the plumbing shop +a fellow sauntered by. He wore a hat—like a cowboy, and otherwise +looked queer. Well, when the plumber sighted him he rushed to the +'phone and called up the only officer in Dalton—Tavia's father, and +told him the lunatic was just sauntering down the road. But from last +accounts he was still sauntering—the squire didn't overhaul him."</p> + +<p>"And likely he was just wise enough to get far away," commented Ned. +"Now why on earth would Tavia have anything to do with a specimen of +that kind?"</p> + +<p>"It would be impossible to guess to what trick he might resort in +order to get Tavia to meet him, or to even become interested in his +stage schemes. You know Tavia has a very pardonable weakness for +anything theatrical," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"All Tavia's weaknesses are pardonable, as far as you are concerned, +coz," ventured Ned.</p> + +<p>"But the hunt," interrupted Jack. "We had better get at it. The girl +we malign may actually——" He looked at Dorothy and so left the +surmise unsaid.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>An hour later Ned and Nat, with Jack and Claud, started out in the +<i>Firebird</i>, it having been decided that it would be best for all the +boys to go together in the auto, as they could then cover any amount +of ground, and not have to worry about Dorothy and Cologne. The two +girls went their way in the cart, old Jeff, the horse, being looked +upon as quite a competent guide.</p> + +<p>It was really the first good opportunity that Dorothy had had to see +the glories of the Maine woods, but what were they to her to-day? What +mattered the long lines of spruce, the dainty larch, or the tangled +arbor-vitae, to her now?</p> + +<p>To all Cologne's enthusiastic efforts to point out these beauties, as +well as to distract Dorothy, she only answered with the most vague +acquiescence.</p> + +<p>"If we don't find her to-day——" she faltered.</p> + +<p>"But we shall," insisted Cologne. "I feel it! Tavia will be back at +camp for supper!"</p> + +<p>"Are we far from camp now?" asked Dorothy, looking along the fir-lined +road to the wilderness beyond.</p> + +<p>"No, we are only just around the bend. Would you like to get out and +walk? I think I hear the honk of the <i>Firebird</i>."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>I believe I would like to walk," said Dorothy. "I have such +a—stagnant feeling. The walk in this air ought to dispel it."</p> + +<p>"Suppose we tie Jeff up here, and let him graze, while I go over to +that camp"—indicating a white speck between the trees—"and then I +may inquire if any one has seen a girl like Tavia pass up Oldtown +way?"</p> + +<p>"And I might take the other direction, and ask at those camps. I see +quite a colony over that way," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"And we will both meet here in——"</p> + +<p>"An hour," finished Dorothy. "If we are to search, there is no sense +in running back and forth—so long as we can keep our directions +straight."</p> + +<p>"And you are sure you won't get lost?" asked Cologne, with a smile. +"Perhaps losses are like accidents—they come in groups."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have a compass on my watch guard. Let me see," and after +consulting the instrument, she faced north. "I will go due west and +come back due east. I surely can't get lost if I follow that."</p> + +<p>"Now, Doro, don't go too near the edge of anything. I never saw such +edgy-edges as they are up here in Maine. Looks to me as if this part +<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>of the world was made last, with the jumping-off places for the men +who did the making."</p> + +<p>"For the jump back into—eternity? Quite an idea, Cologne," said +Dorothy, as the two girls prepared to part.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Jeff," called Dorothy. "Eat a good meal. We may not get +back to camp for lunch," and she patted the old horse.</p> + +<p>"Pity we didn't fetch some 'standwiches,'" shouted Cologne, who was +already making her way through the thickets that carpeted the path. +"If you find any dwarf cherries bring me some, Dorothy."</p> + +<p>"Wild strawberries will do me," responded Dorothy, as she, too, got +away from the tree where Jeff was tied. "I don't fancy either of us +will die of hunger!"</p> + +<p>"Not in the Maine woods!" Cologne predicted.</p> + +<p>Then they lost sight of each other.</p> + +<p>Only Jeff was left to mark the spot from which they started.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>CHAPTER XII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE EDGY-EDGE!</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Dorothy stood and looked down. It was a very steep descent, and the +bottom, a black sheet of water, that looked like ink.</p> + +<p>The danger of the spot seemed to fascinate her. Then the thought that +perhaps poor, wilful Tavia had fallen down such a place; that perhaps +at that very moment, she lay alone, helpless, at the bottom of a +cliff!</p> + +<p>"But there is a road down there," Dorothy mused. "I never would have +thought to find a roadway along those rocks. Even the Indians, who +very likely, made most of these trails, might easily have found a +better and safer road to and from the same woodland ways."</p> + +<p>Then she remembered that the lumbermen had use of streams in their +traffic, and she decided that this was one of the roads made for their +log teams.</p> + +<p>Still fascinated with the danger, she looked over again. A sudden +dizziness seized her. She tried <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>to step back, but the ledge seemed to +crumble beneath her feet!</p> + +<p>Staring wildly at the black water below, she was pitched +forward—down, down, down!</p> + +<p>Then she thought the water would save her; that it was not rough and +sharp like the rocks! She thought she would rest awhile on that soft +bed! After that she ceased to think!</p> + +<p>Dorothy Dale lay there alone, unconscious!</p> + +<p>Trundling along the narrow roadway, old Josiah Hobbs and his wife, +Samanthy, rode in their farm wagon. They had been to town with berries +and in the back of the covered vehicle the empty crates told quite as +plainly as the contented smile on the wrinkled faces of the couple, +that berries were in demand that morning, and that the Hobbs' kind had +met a ready market.</p> + +<p>Near the elbow in the lower road, at the foot of the precipice, where +lay so still the form of pretty Dorothy Dale, the old horse slowed up. +Mrs. Hobbs saw the girl lying by the water's edge.</p> + +<p>"Mercy on us, Josiah!" she cried. "It's a girl!"</p> + +<p>"Sure as you live!" replied the old man, giving the reins a jerk. +"What can have happened to the little one?"</p> + +<p>"Pray to goodness she ain't dead!" went on Samanthy. "Let me get to +her!" and before her <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>husband could straighten his cramped limbs, she +had crawled out, and was beside Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Is she?" asked Josiah, hesitating.</p> + +<p>"She is," replied the wife. The pair seemed to define each other's +meaning in spite of the vagueness of their words.</p> + +<p>"But she's awful weakish," whispered the wife. "We got to get her +somewhere."</p> + +<p>"Samanthy!" and the farmer's voice trembled, "mebby she the gal from +the asylum! She that escaped! Let's load her up on the cart and fetch +her home."</p> + +<p>"You old skinflint! To cal'late on the half-dead girl," and she raised +Dorothy's head tenderly. "But all the same she got to get somewhere, +and ours is as near as any other house. Here, take hold," she put her +arms about the helpless form. "Mercy on us! Lucky if she don't die +before we get her there. Make that horse know he's to go. If that whip +won't do, yank up a tree and let him have it."</p> + +<p>The farmer trembled visibly as he helped put poor Dorothy in the +wagon. If she could only have known!</p> + +<p>The woman dragged off her apron and her jacket to make something of a +pillow for the pretty <a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>yellow head, that lay so still. Suddenly +Dorothy opened her eyes.</p> + +<p>"As sure as you live," whispered Samanthy, "It <i>is</i> that girl from the +san—sanitation! I saw her once out with the nurse, and this is her!"</p> + +<p>"And there's a reward——"</p> + +<p>"Shet up!" she snapped. "Lay still, dearie. You're awful weak and +we're taking you home."</p> + +<p>"Home!" murmured Dorothy in a dazed way.</p> + +<p>"Yes, to mommer and popper!" This from the farmer.</p> + +<p>"Shet up, you, Josiah! How do you know she wants to go to them folks! +There, dearie, is your head hurt?"</p> + +<p>Dorothy only moaned and closed her eyes again.</p> + +<p>"Heven't you got a drop of anything? Not even a peppermint? I told you +not to eat them all at a gullup," growled the woman. "I never saw the +like of you fer gluttonin', Josiah!"</p> + +<p>"And I never saw the beat of you fer growlin'. How do you feel, +missy?"</p> + +<p>"Will—you—shet—up? Josiah Hobbs! Don't you see she's sleepin' like +a babe?"</p> + +<p>"And do you think it's her? The one from the sanitation?"</p> + +<p>"Shet up!"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>And there's a lot of money in that. Well, we need it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Samanthy Hobbs simply pulled the farmer's long shaggy beard that +bobbed up and down, goat fashion. Her "shet-ups" seemed exhausted.</p> + +<p>Dorothy heard a little—she could hear the rumble of the wagon, and +she could feel the hard, rough, but kind hand of the woman who +smoothed her brow in a motherly way. That in itself was enough to make +her close her eyes and feel content.</p> + +<p>What a power is the hand of woman! Even though it be hardened by the +hardest kind of work it has in it the magic stroke of tenderness.</p> + +<p>"Now, there," Samanthy would murmur, "soon you will be in bed. Then we +will fix you all up nice."</p> + +<p>Bed! Dorothy thought she was in bed—it was so much better than the +stones, and that black water.</p> + +<p>But she was getting her senses and with them came pain. Her head hurt, +and the wagon jolted so that she was sore all over.</p> + +<p>"We have only a few more trots, then we will be at home," soothed +Samanthy. "After that you kin sleep in a feather bed—as soft as your +own white hands."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>She was smoothing those hands—they were very white, and very soft. +What had turned Dorothy Dale's camping days into this tragedy? Where +was Tavia? And what was to become of Dorothy?</p> + +<p>Strange how illness melts the strongest! Dorothy just wanted to +rest—to rest—yes, to rest!</p> + +<p>At the dingy back door, the old horse stopped. The farmer and his wife +almost carried Dorothy in, and the strain made her close her eyes +again; made her forget everything.</p> + +<p>After much talk between the farmer and his wife, and many contrary +directions, Dorothy was finally enveloped in a nightdress that even +Tavia in her palmiest days could not have anticipated. It was big, it +was broad, it was long, and it was roomy!</p> + +<p>But it was sweet and clean, and Dorothy closed her eyes directly after +Samanthy Hobbs put to her lips a drink of catnip tea!</p> + +<p>"She's the girl from the asylum," whispered the farmer's wife. "Jest +keep still and we will git her back all right."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>CHAPTER XIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE SAD AWAKENING</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Such a long, lovely sleep, on that fluffy feather bed! Everything so +sweet, so wholesome, even in her half-conscious state Dorothy knew +that things about her were right—that they were "homey."</p> + +<p>Then the smooth-roughness of that woman's hands, the life of them +seemed to cry out comfort, while the harsh flesh told another story.</p> + +<p>Twice Dorothy had opened her eyes over a pan of chicken broth. She had +to take it, and she was glad of it.</p> + +<p>Then, outside in the hall room, that was really nothing more nor less +than a landing for the unrailed stairs, she thought she could hear the +old-fashioned voice of a very old-fashioned man—he wanted to fetch +her something, and he didn't seem to care just what.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't I git her a hunk of thet sausage that we brung home?" he +begged.</p> + +<p>"You loon," was his answer. "Are you set on murder? Do you want to +kill her outright?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>This repressed his enthusiasm. "Never do I," he declared, "spite of +the reward, Samanthy. Don't she look like what our little 'un ought to +look like if—she grew to look?"</p> + +<p>"You loon! How could you tell what she ought to have looked like when +her own mother never saw her try? Oh, Josiah," and the lines of +hardship melted into possibilities, "wouldn't it have been lovely—if +she did—live—to look!"</p> + +<p>"'Tweren't your fault—nor mine, Samanthy. He knows, and mebby thet's +why He sent this 'un. Ain't she purty? And I don't care a durn about +the sanitarition folks. Of course—if we've found her—and they want +her——"</p> + +<p>It was a strange sight. Those two wrinkled old faces peering into the +blossom that lay on that feather bed!</p> + +<p>"Josiah Hobbs! You are an old loon! I can't see how you kin make out +that this is heaven-sent," and she brushed a fly from the white +forehead.</p> + +<p>"Oh—yes—you—kin, Samanthy. Else why did you shoo thet fly?"</p> + +<p>"Shet up! Do you want to rouse her?" and she went over, and pulled +down the green curtain with the pink rose border.</p> + +<p>"Are you sartin thet—she's the one?"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>Didn't I say I seen her? Are there so many cornsilk heads around +here? Now, the question is——"</p> + +<p>"Jest what I was a-thinkin': The question is——"</p> + +<p>"We kin lock this room—and put the bars ag'in the shutters. But I +don't want to scare her."</p> + +<p>"It's the best, though. We hev got to make it s'cure. I don't 'magine +she'll care fer awhile, any way. And then we kin tote her back to the +sanitation."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll see. Now, you sneak off and I'll tuck her in. Poor lamb! +To think that she's looney!"</p> + +<p>"Ain't it a shame! If our'n was alive we wouldn't care if she could +think or not—we would think fer her—wouldn't we, Samanthy?"</p> + +<p>"Mebby," she answered, giving the quilt a smoothing. "But there's no +tellin'. She might have run off——"</p> + +<p>The remainder of the soliloquy was lost in the red and white quilt.</p> + +<p>There Dorothy slept. The tin dipper of fresh water was on the wooden +chair at her side. The green curtain was drawn down to the very sill +of the window. The door was shut—and it was hooked on the outside.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>How long she slept she could not by any means know, but certainly the +sun had sailed around to the window, that wore no curtain, and through +which the glint of a fading day cut in like a faithful friend to poor +Dorothy Dale.</p> + +<p>She groped her way over to the door. It was bolted, and the windows +were securely fastened.</p> + +<p>The awful truth forced itself into her fagged brain. She was a +prisoner! Why? What had she done? Wasn't that woman kind? And did not +the man go to the spring for water? She heard him say so, and he was a +feeble old man. Why was she locked—barred in that smothering attic +room?</p> + +<p>She picked up a heavy block that lay near, and with it rapped +vigorously on the bare floor.</p> + +<p>A shuffling of feet on the stairs told that she had been heard, and +presently the not unkindly face of Samanthy Hobbs made its way into +the room.</p> + +<p>"Why am I locked in?" gasped Dorothy. "Why do you not let me go back +to my friends?"</p> + +<p>"Hush there, now, dearie," and she smoothed the hand that lay idly on +the red and white quilt, as Dorothy stood beside the bed. "You'll be +all right. Don't you go and get bothered. We've sent fer the doctor, +and when he comes, he'll fetch you right home to your maw. But you +have got<a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a> to keep quiet, or else the fever will set in, and then +there's no tellin'. I told Josiah that we would do fer you like as if +you was our'n, but you must not talk, dearie. You must be mournful +still."</p> + +<br /> + +<div class="img" style="width: 55%;"> +<a href="images/dorothy4.jpg"> +<img border="0" src="images/dorothy4.jpg" width="80%" alt=""WHY AM I LOCKED IN?" GASPED DOROTHY." /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">"WHY AM I LOCKED IN?" GASPED DOROTHY.<br /> +<i>Dorothy Dale's Camping Days Page 116</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p>Dorothy looked keenly into the face that leaned over her. What did it +mean? Whom did they take her to be?</p> + +<p>"Do you know who I am?" she ventured.</p> + +<p>"Why of course we do, lovey. But don't you bother to talk. The doctor +will be here in the morning, and he'll take you back to your maw."</p> + +<p>"I have no mother," sighed Dorothy. "I am a stranger around here, and +I hope you will not keep me from my friends. They are probably looking +for me now."</p> + +<p>"Course they be. But now a little chicken soup? No? Then a sip of tea. +It's revivin'. Josiah! Josiah! Come with that milk! How long does it +take to milk a brindle cow?"</p> + +<p>The fresh milk was brought, and crowded upon the already well-filled +wooden chair.</p> + +<p>"Thank you very much," murmured Dorothy, "but I cannot eat or drink. I +must go to my friends!"</p> + +<p>In spite of her will the tears came. At the sight <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>of them the woman +shuffled off. Evidently tears were too much for Samanthy Hobbs.</p> + +<p>"I'll leave you a candle—no, I guess I had better jest raise the +lattice, and if you wants anything I'll hear you if you knocks. Don't +you worry, dearie. Samanthy Hobbs ain't no—well, she ain't, that's +all!"</p> + +<p>Then Dorothy was alone—all alone in the stuffy room. Could she +escape; get out of a window—anything to be in the free open air, and +to run—run back to dear old camp?</p> + +<p>She tried every crack, every window, the old door, even the hole that +opened out on the slant roof.</p> + +<p>Barred! Locked! Everything was locked against her!</p> + +<p>"Oh, must I die here?" she murmured. Then she fell back on the bed, on +the red and white quilt. Sobbing, too weak to cry, too weak to think, +but not too weak to know!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>CHAPTER XIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>TAVIA'S MISTAKE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Meanwhile Tavia Travers, the light-hearted, reckless Tavia, realized +that she had made a dreadful mistake. It was the second afternoon +since she had left the camp, and she was at the railroad station, +waiting for something unforseen to develop that would enable her to +get back to her friends.</p> + +<p>It was such a lonely place—away out there in the woods, and she had +spent one awful night locked up in that station!</p> + +<p>"I'll walk," she declared, "if I cannot get away from here before +dark!"</p> + +<p>Walk! Fifteen miles to Innernook! With hardly a chance of a single +town in between!</p> + +<p>It was at the little rustic bridge that she had met the man, according +to the appointment made under the harvest apple tree.</p> + +<p>"Come with me and I will prove to you that what I say is absolutely +correct," he declared. "I have an old uncle out at Breakaway, and he +will <a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>tell you about the fortune with his own lips—I shall make him +do so."</p> + +<p>"But is it far?" Tavia had demurred, for she did not just like that +glassy stare in the man's eyes, handsome though he was.</p> + +<p>"Only a pleasant little train ride—it will do you good to get away +from this place. They call it camp—I would call it 'cramp,'" and he +chuckled at his attempted joke.</p> + +<p>Tavia had not been inclined to go. He had seen that she hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Well, if you think I am not brotherly enough, I can take you to my +sister Belle. She is surely sisterly enough—she will meet us at +Durham."</p> + +<p>This had convinced Tavia. Surely if they met his sister at the first +station, there could be no harm in her going. And though the story +about the fortune might be vapory, it was fun to have had such an +experience—to actually run away!</p> + +<p>Poor foolish Tavia! <i>Was</i> it fun to run away?</p> + +<p>At the station, of course, there had been no sister Belle, but Tavia +could not turn back now. This man seemed so compelling—so completely +her master! What was his strange power?</p> + +<p>On they had gone, he telling all sorts of absurd stories about the +money, which, he claimed, was actually secreted in his uncle's house. +But long <a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>before he reached the station at Breakaway Tavia had decided +that he was insane—and that <i>she</i> had been insane not to have +realized this awful truth before.</p> + +<p>Then she knew that she must humor him—what might happen if she +crossed this strange man of iron will, who had only to ask her to do +such a ridiculous thing and she did it?</p> + +<p>To run away from camp! Fun! Yes, it was funny, very——</p> + +<p>"When we get to the station I will go on ahead," he had said, to her +immense relief. "Then, when I have told uncle you are coming, and I +have gotten him into his good clothes—uncle is very vain when there +are ladies around—then I shall return for you," and he had waved +himself like a tall young sapling, in that conceited self-conscious +pose peculiar to the stage and to—but Tavia was not sure. Perhaps, +after all, he might not be altogether unbalanced.</p> + +<p>With many protestations of his earnestness he had left her at the +little railroad station, and as she saw him saunter down the +tan-barked path, she had been glad; then again she was sorry.</p> + +<p>It was dreadful to be all alone there, and night coming on. Even the +station was locked; to <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>whom could she go or whom could she ask for +money to get back to the dear old camp?</p> + +<p>For two long hours she had sat there, then the old station agent +hobbled along, and opened the ticket office. Tavia told him something +of her plight, but instead of saying that she had come away from her +friends on the word of a perfect stranger, she pardonably made the man +out to be a distant cousin.</p> + +<p>"Hum! That fellow with the long hair? Well, I guess they'll git him +to-night. He's got loose from the sanitarium on the hill, and there's +been a lot of looking for him in the last two weeks. Seems to me he's +jest about toured the country," said the old man as he dusted the +window shelf with his cap. "I reckon they'll git him now. And you was +out with that chap?"</p> + +<p>"Why—yes, no, that is——"</p> + +<p>"Your cousin, eh? Say, miss, he ain't nobody's cousin. But like as not +he thinks he is cousin to the president himself."</p> + +<p>"If I could only borrow a dollar!" sighed Tavia.</p> + +<p>"Well, you could if I hadn't been caught with that trick twice this +summer. Why, if I gave you a dollar, girl, you would make me believe I +was your cousin, too."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>This retort angered Tavia, and she determined to ask no further favors +from this old man. Though he did wear the uniform of a Civil War +veteran, he certainly had poor manners.</p> + +<p>"What will happen?" she asked herself, confident that something must +happen to relieve the situation.</p> + +<p>"The best I kin do," growled the old station agent, "will be to fetch +you a bite to eat back from my boardin' house; and then let you sleep +here till mornin'——"</p> + +<p>"Sleep alone in a station!" exclaimed Tavia. "I'm not afraid of +anything—but—I don't believe I'd like to stay in this—place all +night. I have a horror of rats."</p> + +<p>"Rats! No rats around here. I've got the best cat in the country. +Switch is his name, an' that's him—he's no slouch."</p> + +<p>"But shut up alone with a big strange cat——" and Tavia looked at the +animal curled up under the beautifully-blacked and summer-shined +stove.</p> + +<p>"Well, you kin do as you please, miss, but there ain't no more trains +your way to-night, supposin' you did have a ticket."</p> + +<p>Tavia looked out over the gloom that was quickly descending upon the +little hamlet. Soon it would be night! No one but that station agent +<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>in sight! No place to go, but over the hills to his boarding house, or +perhaps to some farm house; where, should she have the courage to make +her way through the fields up to a cabin, perhaps fierce dogs, that +were already howling and barking, would become more her enemies than +would be the cat, and the solitude of the station.</p> + +<p>"And is there no church—no minister's house where a stranded girl +might get shelter?"</p> + +<p>"Nice young girls don't often get stranded," replied the old man not +unreasonably, "and if I was you I'd keep my trouble purty much to +myself. You kin depend upon Sam Dixon. If I say I'll do a thing I'll +do it; and no harm will come to you in this here station for a night. +Besides, I come over for the ten o'clock train, and I'm back for the +milk train before daylight."</p> + +<p>Something about this speech convinced Tavia she was unfortunate, and +it would be best to keep her trouble to herself, for what would +strangers care about her predicament? Could she deny that it was +through her own fault that she had been thus situated?</p> + +<p>"I'm goin' along now, and say," said the agent, "if you like I'll just +lock the office, and give you the outside door key. There ain't no +tramps, but <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>if you should be timid, before I come back, just turn the +key in the door."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you," Tavia was compelled to say, for this was a +condescension; "I'm sure I shall not be afraid—in the twilight."</p> + +<p>"Well, take the key anyhow," and locking the inner office he came out +in the open room. "I'll fetch you a bite—I'm glad I ain't got no gals +to—get left over from way trains."</p> + +<p>How Tavia Travers ever choked down the biscuit and the slice of ham +that Sam Dixon brought back to her that night—how she actually +fondled old gray Switch, and was glad of his friendly purring during +that long, dreary night, as she lay cuddled up in the very farthest +corner bench—how the night did, after all, go by, and a very gray +dawn bring the welcome step or limp of the station agent, only +Tavia—poor unfortunate Tavia—could ever know!</p> + +<p>And it was the next day—daylight at last!</p> + +<p>To-day she must get back to camp if she had to walk!</p> + +<p>Oh, she <i>must</i> get back! Surely something would happen to assist her!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>CHAPTER XV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>WHEN THE TRAIN CAME IN</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In a very dark corner of the station Tavia found a broken washbowl, +and from the water pail she carried two cups full of water, with which +to refresh her worn and haggard face.</p> + +<p>Sam Dixon had brought her word that she might ride back to his +boarding house with him, and share his coffee, but she was to say that +she was his niece, and that she was on her way to her grandmother's, +"like little red riding hood," chuckled Sam, when he disclosed his +plan.</p> + +<p>Tavia cared little for coffee, but she was weak, and the fear of being +again left in the station alone prompted her to accept the well-meant +invitation. In fact, she had in her hours of desolation become quite +fond of the little old man with the blackthorn cane.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll go gladly," she answered, and his pleasure could not be +doubted.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, when the milk train had pulled out, and the station was +again locked, Tavia <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>jumped into the narrow carriage beside the old +man, and, asking if he would not like to have her drive, she pulled up +the reins, and they started off.</p> + +<p>Here was a new experience. If only now she could forget the agony that +Dorothy must be experiencing, it would not be so dreadful to go at +this early morning hour, over the dewy roads, in the ramshackle buggy +with her benefactor at her side.</p> + +<p>"At any rate," she thought to herself, "I'll have a good story to tell +when I <i>do</i> get back to camp."</p> + +<p>"Is your place far?" she asked of Sam, more for the sake of talking +than of asking.</p> + +<p>"Not so very. You see, it has always been rather rough out this +way—lumbermen and the like always puttin' up at Dobson's. That's why +I thought you was better off in the station, than to try to make your +way about last night. And some of them rough fellows stop at my +place—that's Dobson's—so while they're out now is your chance to get +a hot drink."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, a rough man, indeed, passed the carriage in which Tavia +and Sam were riding! Wasn't he rough! Tavia instinctively shrugged up +closer to the old man beside her.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Sam, was that a—woodman?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>Tavia fell in quite naturally to calling the station agent Uncle Sam.</p> + +<p>"Yep, he's one of the sort," taking care to keep his smile focussed on +the man, who although he was going in the opposite direction was able +to keep his eye on Tavia. "You see they are the most suspicious +set—takes a man a lifetime to know them, a woman an eternity, and +then she has to depend upon their good nature."</p> + +<p>Tavia smiled, and hurried the old horse until his ears "sassed her +back." They jogged along—every moment nature was getting more and +more wideawake, until Tavia feared she would really wake up to the +magnitude of her own personal offence, everything else seemed so +straightforward and so upright!</p> + +<p>Why in the world had she ever listened to the ravings of that man with +the soft hat and the hard smile?</p> + +<p>After all, Dorothy must be right—and she, Tavia, was wrong. Yes, it +was indisputably wrong to do the things that had seemed so smart +before—things that Dorothy could never laugh at.</p> + +<p>She sighed heavily. Sam heard it.</p> + +<p>"What's wrong?" he asked, looking over his glasses, and under his +wrinkles.</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing," Tavia sighed further. "Only <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>I am wondering what my +friends are thinking—of—me—about me."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's scarcely any doubt about that think," he replied. "Like +as not they think you are drowned—no good friend would ever think you +were—stranded!"</p> + +<p>Sam's logic was irresistible. Tavia had not thought of this +contingency; they might think her drowned!</p> + +<p>"I must hurry to get back," she said suddenly. "I wonder could I do +any little work, at your boarding house, to earn the price of +my—ticket?"</p> + +<p>"You couldn't manage to stay over until the afternoon, do you think? I +have some mending I'd be mighty glad to get done—and then I could +give you a ticket," said Sam.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that would be splendid!" exclaimed Tavia. "I would willingly wait +over even if I had a chance to go sooner, for you have been so good to +me, Uncle Sam," she said warmly. "I shouldn't want to go until I had +done something for you."</p> + +<p>"Then it's a bargain. While you're eatin' your coffee, I'll grab up +the things, and you kin mend over in the station. We'll stick to the +story that you are my niece, and you kin come inside the office and +mend all you like, and it ain't nobody's <a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>business. You see, sister +died last year, and I ain't had nobody to fix up the things for me +since."</p> + +<p>"I'll be very glad to do what I can," said Tavia, "but I never was +much good at sewing. However, I'll do the very best I can, Uncle Sam."</p> + +<p>"Sure you will, and that'll be all right. Here we are. Now, you just +wait while I get the horse's oats, and then we'll get ours."</p> + +<p>The house before which he drew up was of the old Colonial type—the +posts had been white, and imposing at some time, but they were now +neither white nor any other true color. Also, they threatened to +topple over on the vines, that so kindly did their part in trying to +make the old place look alive.</p> + +<p>An old man sat on the porch, smoking his pipe. Sam Dixon spoke to him +as he passed around the house to get the horse his breakfast. +Presently a woman, enveloped in gingham dress, and lost in a gingham +sunbonnet, came out and stood in wonderment, looking at Tavia. She +glared at her for a moment or two, and then, without speaking a word, +entered the house again. This was not a very cordial welcome for +Tavia, but she patted the horse, and pretended not to notice the +slight. Then Sam came limping along with the oats in a nose bag for +Major.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>Now eat," ordered Sam, "and——" Then it struck him that he had not +fixed on a name for his "niece." Tavia saw his embarrassment, but +before she could suggest a name, he added, "Betsy, you and me's hungry +too, I reckon. Let's see what Sarah has to eat in the kitchen."</p> + +<p>"All right, Uncle Sam," replied "Betsy," with a smile, "I am hungry."</p> + +<p>They entered the house, and soon were seated on the old-fashioned +hickory chairs, before some steaming cakes, and equally steaming +coffee. Tavia was indeed hungry, and she "fell to," as did Sam, +without any unnecessary ceremony.</p> + +<p>How strange it was! But what if the folks at camp thought her drowned? +At any rate she must earn her ticket back.</p> + +<p>What an eternity it seemed since she stole away to that little +bridge—she could not bear to think of it now! And what would Dorothy +think. Ah, how little Tavia knew what poor Dorothy was thinking at +that very moment!</p> + +<p>"Now, when you're ready, we'll hop along," said Sam as Sarah came in +the room, and looked to see if her guests would take more coffee. +"How's things to-day, Sarah?"</p> + +<p>"Ain't you heard?" she replied ambiguously.</p> + +<p>"No, what?" pressed Sam.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>Why, a girl has 'scaped from the hospital. 'Tain't very safe fer a +strange girl to be around here now. It might be her," and she shot an +unmistakable threat at Tavia. "Ain't never heard you speak, before, of +Betsy, Sam. Where's she bin?"</p> + +<p>"Say, Sarah. Is there any money up fer findin' the girl?" he asked, +and there was no mistaking <i>his</i> meaning. "'Cause it ain't no use fer +you to—speculate on Betsy. She's no house-pital breakaway."</p> + +<p>But Sarah looked at Tavia with unveiled suspicion. Tavia felt it—and +the thought that she was a stranger, and might be mistaken for the +escaped girl, made her most uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>It was a relief when Sam returned from up-stairs, his articles that +needed mending done up in a clumsy bundle, and his hat cocked on his +head with the army badge over the back of his neck.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>CHAPTER XVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>A HARROWING EXPERIENCE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When Dorothy awoke, to find herself still in that attic room, to know +that it was not all an awful dream, but a terrible reality, the full +meaning her position flooded into her strained mind, like some awful +deluge of horror!</p> + +<p>That the people who held her captive did so for some undefinable +reason was perfectly clear; but why they did so, was just as +mysterious as was their reason for plying her with coddling words, as +if she were a baby.</p> + +<p>Realizing that they would not let her go her way, Dorothy determined, +as she lay there, with the moonlight making queer shadows on the slant +wall, that she would escape that day!</p> + +<p>How little did Tavia know of the danger into which she had thrown her +best friend!</p> + +<p>"And I wonder," thought Dorothy, "if Tavia is safely back at camp? And +what do the folks think of me?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>A sigh, as deep as it was sincere, escaped from her lips, and she +crawled out of bed to see if daylight was near.</p> + +<p>"Such a long night!" she sobbed, "and to think that I am a prisoner!"</p> + +<p>The low windows were shut, and the air of the room was stifling. +Dorothy groped around to see if she might find the candle that she had +noticed on the stand, but it was gone.</p> + +<p>"They haven't even left me a match," she told herself. "Did they think +I would eat matches?"</p> + +<p>Then she decided she would raise a window if she had to break it open. +A curtain roller lay on the floor. With this she tried to pry up the +uncertain sash, and in doing so she fell over a low stool.</p> + +<p>The noise disturbed the folks in the lower rooms, for directly Dorothy +heard a shuffle of feet on the stairs.</p> + +<p>At first she felt indignant, then her helplessness prompted caution, +and she hurried into bed.</p> + +<p>The door opened softly.</p> + +<p>"What is it, dear?" asked Mrs. Hobbs, who, as Dorothy could see, was +enveloped in a robe of the same pattern as that which she herself +wore. "Did you call?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you. I only wanted a little air," <a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>replied Dorothy. +"Couldn't we open a window?"</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps we had best not, dearie," replied the woman. "There +might be a draught."</p> + +<p>"I wish there was," Dorothy could not help replying. Then she quickly +added: "Don't you think fresh air is very good at this warm season?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, for some folks," said Mrs. Hobbs, tucking the warm bed +clothes more warmly about the sweltering girl. "But, you see—well, +this room—we don't always open the windows—fer company."</p> + +<p>"I will be able to go back to my friends in the morning," said Dorothy +promptly. "I am sure it has been very kind of you to take care of me +as you have done."</p> + +<p>"Now, don't talk too much dearie," ordered the woman. "You see, head +troubles—that is, when a girl falls on her head—she has got to be +dreadful careful, fer a long time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, my head is not hurt," declared Dorothy, as she leaned upon her +elbow. "I feel able to walk back to camp now."</p> + +<p>"Camp?" asked the woman.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes. Didn't you know I came from a camp out Everglade way? I was +with one of the other girls from camp when I—got lost," finished +Dorothy quite helplessly.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>Some folks don't call them places 'camps,'" Mrs. Hobbs ventured. "But +of course the name ain't got anything to do with it."</p> + +<p>"What do they call them?" pressed Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, now, you never mind. You will be all right. Jest go off to sleep, +and as soon as Josh milks, I'll fetch you a nice drink of the warm +suds—it's splendid fer nerves."</p> + +<p>Dorothy was completely mystified. Perhaps the old woman was queer, and +she might better humor her.</p> + +<p>"Well, I may sleep a little more," she said, "and then when daylight +comes, I shall be ready to start off. Would you mind handing me my +jacket. It has my purse in it, and I want to make sure that it is all +right."</p> + +<p>Samanthy Hobbs hobbled over to where Dorothy's clothes lay in a heap. +She fumbled through the garments, and Dorothy distinctly saw her take +the beaded purse in her hand.</p> + +<p>"That's it," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No pocketbook here," replied the woman.</p> + +<p>"Why, that little beaded bag I saw you take from my pocket; that is my +purse!"</p> + +<p>"Ain't no sign of sech a thing here," declared the woman, who was at +that very moment trying to secret the purse in the folds of her robe.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>Dorothy was more puzzled than ever. Would this woman steal her +pocketbook? How could she ever get away from the place if penniless?</p> + +<p>"Give me that purse," the girl demanded, jumping up out of bed, and +attempting to get hold of the beaded trifle.</p> + +<p>"Josh! Josh!" called the woman. "Come up here and help me! She's +gettin' vi'lent!"</p> + +<p>"Violent!" repeated Dorothy, "I ought to get—crazy, to be shut up +here—this way."</p> + +<p>"Well, dearie, I didn't want to scare you," said the woman, in that +tantalizing voice, "but if I was you, I wouldn't get any crazier than +I was—if <i>I</i> was <i>you</i>."</p> + +<p>"Crazy! Do you think I'm crazy? Is that it?" and poor Dorothy fell +back upon the bed.</p> + +<p>Fortunately Josiah did not hear his wife call, and of course did not +come in answer.</p> + +<p>"There now, there now!" and Mrs. Hobbs smoothed out the bed things. "I +will fetch you some nice, warm milk. And perhaps to-day I'll be able +to send you back to your ma."</p> + +<p>"I have no mother," insisted Dorothy. "I told you that my name is +Dorothy Dale, and my father is Major Dale of the United States army. +If any one attempts to—wrong me, <i>he</i> will see that they are +punished."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>With all the vehemence she could muster up Dorothy spoke these words, +and she saw that they had some effect upon Mrs. Hobbs. Would she +believe her, and let her go?</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, you are a stranger to me," said the woman, "and, as +I live, girlie, I intend to do right by you. But it's finding out the +right that sometimes makes the wrong."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am sure Mrs. Hobbs you have been kind," Dorothy said, in a +sobbing voice, "but you see how dreadfully hard it is to be kept away +from one's friends. Why, I don't dare to think how they feel! How my +cousins are worrying, and, of course, they have sent word to father. +Oh, dear Mrs. Hobbs, help me to get back! Help me to get away to-day, +for if I don't—they will think I am—dead!"</p> + +<p>Dorothy had actually seized the woman's hands, and was almost kneeling +before her. To be away for two days and a night!</p> + +<p>The woman looked keenly into Dorothy's blue eyes. She smoothed back +the pretty, neglected yellow hair, and she brushed the flaming cheek +kindly. "I would not harm you for the world," she declared, "for if +you are not the lost girl—you are—an angel!"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>Here, Samanthy!" called Josiah, from below stairs. "Come and git me a +cup of coffee. I ain't got all day to wait around! I've got to git to +town!"</p> + +<p>"All right, Josh. I'll be there right away. Now, dearie, jest you be +patient, and everything will come out all right."</p> + +<p>"But can't I have a window open? I am almost smothered. You know I am +used to almost living out doors."</p> + +<p>"Well," then, she whispered, "wait till Josh gets off and I'll slip up +and fix you. He's awfully fussy about some things."</p> + +<p>There was nothing for Dorothy to do but wait. But how long it seemed! +How close the day was, as the sun opened up on that hot roof! Oh, if +she did not get away, surely she <i>would</i> go crazy!</p> + +<p>She could hear the old farmer grumbling. Evidently he was not pleased +about something. But Mrs. Hobbs was cautioning him not to speak so +loud. Of course they were afraid of being overheard. "If she opens the +window," Dorothy decided, "I'll drop to the piazza roof! Then I can +escape! Oh, I must escape!"</p> + +<p>She dare not, however, make any preparations to get away until after +the farmer had gone to <a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>town; until after Mrs. Hobbs had opened the +window and until after—she hoped this would happen—after Mrs. Hobbs +went off to the fields for her berries.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>CHAPTER XVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>STRANGER STILL</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"You kin mend furst rate, Betsy," complimented old Sam Dixon, as Tavia +plied her needle in the little ticket office, "and do you know, I've +taken quite a shine to you? You might be my niece if you liked. I have +a penny or two, and there ain't no pockets in shrouds."</p> + +<p>Tavia looked up in surprise! After all, might there be "a fortune" +somewhere for her or for her family? The thought seemed too absurd.</p> + +<p>"Why, Uncle Sam, what do you mean?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Even Sam Dixon can't live forever, sis, and you know it's sort of +lonely to think, that, when he goes, there won't be no one to think of +him, like he thinks of them. That's why I want your name and address. +But there comes the train from the city. Would you mind attendin' to +the window while I run out with the mail bag?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly I will—I know where the tickets <a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>are, and can ask you the +price if any one wants to buy one." Wasn't it queer to sell tickets?</p> + +<p>But that was the train to the city!</p> + +<p>"Oh, Uncle Sam!" called Tavia. "Isn't that the train I should go on?"</p> + +<p>"Without giving me your address?" and he was running down the platform +with the mail bag. "Couldn't you wait till the next?"</p> + +<p>There seemed nothing else to do! But to stay longer away from camp?</p> + +<p>Well, she might as well be content now. It was too late to get a +ticket, too late to say good-bye to Sam, too late to do anything but +attend to the people who came in the station after the train pulled +out.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen the carriage from the sanitarium?"</p> + +<p>The speaker, who had just alighted from the train, addressed Tavia, +but the latter was so surprised that she caught her finger in the +ticket stamper. Before the little window stood a young woman in the +garb of a nurse—and she wanted the carriage from the sanitarium.</p> + +<p>"If you will wait a minute or two the agent will be back," said Tavia +in her very nicest voice. "He is just putting the mail on the train."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>Dear me!" and the nurse turned away. Then she returned. "Are you his +daughter?"</p> + +<p>"No, his—his niece," quibbled Tavia. What else could she do just +then? And didn't Sam say he would adopt her?</p> + +<p>"Well, since you are going to be around here we may as well get +acquainted—I shall probably have plenty of calls at the station. I +see you are the whole service outfit. The telephone, telegraph, and, I +suppose, the—Press Bureau."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," replied Tavia, not grasping the sarcasm of the "Press" +remark. "Uncle Sam has a great deal to attend to."</p> + +<p>The nurse laughed to show her pretty teeth, Tavia thought. She was +pretty, and her immaculate white linen was immensely becoming.</p> + +<p>"My name is—Bell—Mary Bell," she said, "and yours is——"</p> + +<p>"Betsy Dixon," replied Tavia. (Oh, what a tangled web we weave!)</p> + +<p>"What a charming name—Betsy Dixon! Quite like a—bullet from Molly +Pitcher's gun," said the nurse. Tavia smiled but failed to catch the +significance of that remark. Betsy was a good old name. Why like a war +bullet?</p> + +<p>"Here is the station agent," said Tavia, as <a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>Sam limped back. "Uncle +Sam, have you seen the carriage from the sanitarium?"</p> + +<p>Tavia could not overlook the joy in that name—Uncle Sam. It was so +simple, and so mouth-fitting.</p> + +<p>"Here it comes," replied Sam, also noting how nicely Tavia fell into +her role. "But is this the new nurse? I have an important message for +Miss Bennet. That's her—in the carriage."</p> + +<p>"Miss Bennet! Why, she's my classmate! I never expected to find her, +out here in the hills," spoke the stranger.</p> + +<p>The carriage drew up to the little platform. Miss Bennet alighted and +Miss Bell hurried out to meet her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you dear thing!"—this was very extravagant for trained and +graduated nurses—"to think I should meet you here! Isn't it just too +nice!" It was Miss Bell who said that.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mary Bell!" replied Miss Bennet. "How glad I am to see you! And +what a surprise! You are the new nurse! And I never knew it. I'm just +starting out on such an interesting case! A young girl, the dearest +little thing, has escaped from the sanitarium, and I came out with the +carriage to hunt her up. We had word last night that an old +farmer—named Hobbs—had caught <a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>her. It may not be true, but I am +going out there to see. It's a lovely ride. Can you come?"</p> + +<p>The girl who escaped! Tavia remembered Sarah's story.</p> + +<p>"Miss Bennet, I have a message for you," said Sam, very slowly. "It +came in over the wire a half hour ago." And he handed her the yellow +slip of paper.</p> + +<p>Miss Bennet looked at it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my!" she gasped. "My mother!" and she dropped upon a nearby +bench. "She—is—dying!"</p> + +<p>Her face turned as white as the linen she wore. Instinctively Tavia +ran for the water at the corner of the room. Miss Bell snatched up a +paper and started to fan her.</p> + +<p>"There, dear, don't faint," said the new nurse. "Of course, you must +go to her."</p> + +<p>"But! I must go after the escaped girl!" gasped Miss Bennet, and she +again almost swooned. "Oh, my darling mother! All I have in the whole, +wide world!"</p> + +<p>"You go to her. Take my coat and hat, and I will take your case. +Agent, what time does a train leave for Mountainview?" She had the +telegram in her hand.</p> + +<p>"In just two minutes. There's the bell now."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>Come Laura, get into this coat and take my hat. You will reach home +before anything serious happens, and perhaps, when your dear mother +sees you——. We must hope for the best."</p> + +<p>Laura Bennet slipped into her friend's coat and took the little Panama +hat that Miss Bell handed to her. "Then you will go after the girl and +return her to the sanitarium? It will be your first case. Can you +manage it?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly I will. You run along for the train. Have you a ticket? +Mountainview," she called to Tavia.</p> + +<p>Tavia stamped the ticket. Sam was inside, but she had it ready before +he had made his way to the window.</p> + +<p>"And how shall I know the girl?" asked Miss Bell.</p> + +<p>"Know her? Oh, yes! Why, you can't mistake her. She's the prettiest +little thing, with yellow hair and blue eyes—there is not another +like her. Oh, how frightened I am! It is so good of you, Mary!"</p> + +<p>And she was on the train.</p> + +<p>Miss Bell got into the wagon with the driver from the sanitarium. +Tavia was wishing that the drive had been in the other direction, for +then she could have gone in the carriage perhaps, and <a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>have caught a +train at the switch station. That she was staying so long away from +camp now began to worry her. What would Dorothy think!</p> + +<p>"Uncle Sam, couldn't I get a train earlier by going over to the +station I heard you telephone to?" she asked. "I don't mind a good +walk."</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, that's so," replied Sam. "Of course I'd like to keep you, +Betsy. You make a first-class assistant agent. But I know how you +feel, and I wouldn't have you stay longer than you wanted to. There'll +be a train here soon for the Junction, and if you are sure you can +make the other—you'll have to flag it with your handkerchief—then, +if you get left, there will be no train either way. I don't know as +you ought to risk it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can manage very well," she assured him. "I'll take the train, +and get the other from the Junction, all right. I am so much obliged +to you. I would love to stay longer, if I could, but perhaps I may be +able to come up again while I'm at camp." She tried to fix up a +little, it was so miserable to have had one's clothes on all night.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's the train," and he pulled open the switch, which was +operated by a lever in the <a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>ticket office. "Good-bye, Betsy, and I +won't forget you."</p> + +<p>"Nor will I forget you, Uncle Sam," said Tavia with something like +real sentiment in her voice. "I am glad I got lost just to have found +you."</p> + +<p>"Now, don't mix up the instructions," Sam Dixon warned her. "There +ain't no agent around the Junction—in fact, there ain't nothin' +around there but wild animals."</p> + +<p>"Oh, really, wild animals?" she asked in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Used to be a great place fer huntin', but beasts don't like the +railroad, so you don't need to be afraid of them. Good-bye, Betsy; +good-bye!"</p> + +<p>And Tavia started for camp.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>MISTAKEN IDENTITY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mrs. Hobbs came back to Dorothy as she had promised, and also, as she +had promised, she did open a window.</p> + +<p>This open window was Dorothy's hope. If she could only slip out of it, +and drop to the little piazza below!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hobbs had brought up a cup of warm milk, and a slice of toast. +Dorothy took it thankfully, and felt stronger.</p> + +<p>"You feel better now?" asked the woman. "I have to go over the hill +for berries—we have a great crop to-day, and Josh had to go away on +business." If only Dorothy knew what business! "Do you think you'll be +all right if I fetch you something to read?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course. I feel very well to-day, and I shall be glad to sit +by the window and read," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Here's a book. I got it off last year's Christmas tree, but I ain't +had no time to read it." She <a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>handed Dorothy a volume bound in red and +inscribed "Myrtle and Ivy." There was nothing to show whether it was +an agricultural guide, a spiritual retreat, or a love song.</p> + +<p>"It's a pretty book," said Dorothy, "and I am sure I shall enjoy it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, then I'll be off. Only let me tell you one thing dear," and the +woman came up very close to Dorothy, "you must promise me not to try +to get away until I can take you to the station. Josh has the wagon."</p> + +<p>"All right," replied Dorothy with an amused smile. "Why should I try +to get away?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know, dear, only I must have your promise."</p> + +<p>Dorothy felt queer—she had reason to be grateful to Mrs. Hobbs, and +to give a promise would involve an obligation. Yet she must make her +escape. Some disturbance downstairs saved the girl further anxiety on +the question of the promise. Mrs. Hobbs ran down to the door, and she +did not return.</p> + +<p>The summer morning hours sent in their greeting through the small +window that opened above the porch. Dorothy was nervous, she must +leave just as soon as she saw Mrs. Hobbs disappear over the hill, when +she would be out of the sight <a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>of the house. And her purse was gone! +Well, once out on the clear roadway, surely some one would befriend +her. What a dreadful thing it was to be a prisoner! And not to know +why she was imprisoned! Her beautiful hair had not been combed in two +days. Dorothy did the best she could to make it smooth with her side +comb, but the depth of the hair, and the size of the comb, made the +matter of actual hair-dressing a difficult task. But there was fresh +water in the basin, and she could wash, which was one comfort. "If +only I had my purse," she thought, "with my little looking glass. +Well, it will scarcely matter how I look—so long as I do not attract +attention."</p> + +<p>As if Dorothy could help attracting attention!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Hobbs's generous form had dropped behind the hill. There was +nothing to wait for now, Dorothy must get out of that window.</p> + +<p>The window frame was that sort that runs to the roof and has not far +to go. It was really not half a window, but it was large enough for +the girl's slim form to slip through. It was no distance to the roof, +then she could slide down the post.</p> + +<p>Dorothy was out. She sat upon the roof and with a careful move slid +toward the edge.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>She must stop near a post, as she could not stand up!</p> + +<p>Yes, what blessing! She was directly above the post!</p> + +<p>Dorothy was not an athlete, but she was always able to climb. She +swung around the post—down—down—to the ground!</p> + +<p>But no sooner had her feet touched the welcome earth that a shrill +scream startled her!</p> + +<p>She was puzzled and alarmed until she saw a big, green parrot in a +cage. And the bird was screeching to the limit of its capacity. Mrs. +Hobbs could hear it! Should Dorothy throw a mat from the porch over +its cage!</p> + +<p>No, the door was opened, the bird was out,—and it was actually flying +at Dorothy!</p> + +<p>"Mama! Mama!" it yelled. "Come quick! Come quick!"</p> + +<p>Snatching up a stick, Dorothy made an attempt to strike the green +thing as it flapped toward her. But she could not hit it! And if she +turned to run it would likely settle its claws into her head. Yet she +must run! Mrs. Hobbs—</p> + +<p>Without time for further thought Dorothy did run; down the lane, and +into the road.</p> + +<p>The parrot had not followed! Dorothy was <a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>out on the road, she could +surely get back to camp now. Oh, how glorious it was!</p> + +<p>Gratefully she raised her eyes to the clear sky. Her heart sent up its +thanks—to the Friend who is never hidden from those who seek Him.</p> + +<p>"And there comes a carriage," she told herself, as a rumbling of +wheels took her attention. "Perhaps the driver will give me a lift."</p> + +<p>The wagon was hidden from view as the road turned sharply just under +the oaks. Dorothy waited. Yes, and there was a young woman in the +carriage. Wasn't that fortunate?</p> + +<p>The carriage turned so close to Dorothy that she had no need to take a +single step to hail it. And it was almost stopped, yes; it did stop +now.</p> + +<p>The young woman in the carriage was garbed in white—a nurse.</p> + +<p>"Is this the Hobb's place?" she asked of Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied the girl in surprise.</p> + +<p>Then the nurse jumped out of the carriage. She looked keenly at +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Do you—stop there?" she asked curiously.</p> + +<p>"I have been stopping there," answered Dorothy, now completely +mystified by the young woman's manner.</p> + +<p>"Is your name——"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>My name is Dorothy Dale, and for some reason I have been—hidden away +from my friends," said Dorothy bravely. "I was just about to ask you +to assist me to get back to them. I was in camp at Everglade."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course I will assist you!" replied the nurse in the most +affable manner. "Get right into the carriage, and we will have you +back at camp in no time." Dorothy hesitated. The nurse consulted a +small note book.</p> + +<p>"Come right in, dear. We are going straight down to Everglade," and +she touched Dorothy's arm to urge her.</p> + +<p>"Strange, I feel so nervous about falling into traps," said Dorothy +honestly, looking deeply into the eyes that were investigating every +feature of her own fair face. "But you see I did fall, literally, +and——"</p> + +<p>"Of course, and you were hurt." Dorothy could not understand that +caressing manner. It was identical with that exercised by Mrs. Hobbs. +"Now, come," and Dorothy did step into the carriage. "We will drive +along quickly, so that we may reach camp before luncheon. James, hurry +your horse."</p> + +<p>For a few moments Dorothy felt as if she must collapse. The strain of +her escape from the old <a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>house, then her fright from the bird, and her +fear that Mrs. Hobbs would overtake her. And now to be actually riding +back to camp! What would her friends say to her? Oh, how good it would +be to relieve them of all their anxiety, and to be really going back +well—comparatively well, at any rate.</p> + +<p>"I've had quite a time of it these last two days," she remarked, +glancing timidly at the figure in white beside her, "but it seems all +things come out right—if we only have patience."</p> + +<p>"But I wouldn't talk dear—the sun has been warm, and you are quite +overheated. Wouldn't you like to rest your head here, on my lap?"</p> + +<p>Dorothy sat up erect. This was surely unheard of. Who was this nurse? +Where was she taking her?</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly well, thank you," she said in the firmest tones she +could command, "and I really would like to know where we are going? +Why do you treat me as if I were ill or a child?"</p> + +<p>"There, there," and the nurse touched Dorothy's hand. "Of course you +are perfectly well, and of course, we are going to camp. James, is +your horse asleep?"</p> + +<p>But Dorothy was frightened. There was <a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>something mysterious in it all. +Another wagon approached. It drew slowly along.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hobbs!</p> + +<p>Dorothy's heart gave a leap as his old wagon stopped! The nurse put +her head out of the little curtained window and made signs to him.</p> + +<p>"All right! All right!" he replied. "Yes, that's her!"</p> + +<p>"That's her!" repeated Dorothy. "That's me! What is this trick? Let me +out of this carriage instantly, or I will call for help!"</p> + +<p>"If you do not keep quiet, I shall be obliged to restrain you," said +the nurse. "Miss Harriwell, we are taking you back to the sanitarium. +I am your new nurse."</p> + +<p>"Sanitarium! New nurse! Miss Harriwell! I am Dorothy Dale, and I have +never been inside a sanitarium!"</p> + +<p>The carriage dashed into a driveway! A big brownstone building +confronted them.</p> + +<p>A corps of nurses hurried out to the path!</p> + +<p>When Dorothy saw them she fainted!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>CHAPTER XIX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>CAMPING DAYS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Tavia got off the train at the Junction, but she did not get on the +one that went toward Clamberton—it flew by. She waved her +handkerchief—she waved her coat, she told herself she waved her soul, +but that train simply would not stop.</p> + +<p>And she was miles from nowhere!</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll walk it!" she declared. "I don't care how I get there, I'm +going to keep my nose toward camp!"</p> + +<p>To walk the railroad ties! That was one thing Tavia loathed—they were +so regular, so straight, so abominably correct.</p> + +<p>"Of course railroad ties were never built for human feet, even the +straight and narrow are not as straight as these."</p> + +<p>She moved along for a hundred or so of ties, then she threatened to +sit down. Tavia was desperate, but even in her present surprising +state of mind, the railroad ties were too much for her, and she kept +on.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>I might fly," she reflected, looking boldly at the ocean of blue +above, "but there isn't a machine in sight."</p> + +<p>More and more ties until she came to a small bridge.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose if I try to walk this thing I shall presently find +myself holding a session with some slimy, muddy frogs. Ugh!" and she +looked between the ties at the lurking depths of mud and other things +on either side of the railroad embankment. "I just hate—uncertainties."</p> + +<p>She stepped cautiously a little farther. "Well, if I fall it serves me +right. I shouldn't have done this!"</p> + +<p>Tavia—poor Tavia!</p> + +<p>The place was very lonely. Tavia realized this. She knew instantly +that she was in the woods. It may have been her primitive hatred of +the forest that inspired this sentiment, but there was always +something about the depths of solitude that made her want to laugh—it +was positively funny to her. Something must happen.</p> + +<p>"If there were a single human being in sight," she sighed. Then she +repeated, "I said 'single.'"</p> + +<p>It was almost dusk. She thought of old Sam. Wasn't that funny! Then of +her mending—<a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>shirring socks! When he tried them on he might change +his mind about making her his heir.</p> + +<p>"And that loon!" This last referred to Morrison. "When I believed him, +I may, some day, believe myself!"</p> + +<p>She picked out a few more ties, and came to another and larger +culvert. "Suppose a train should come," she gasped. The strain of the +past few days was having its natural revenge—reaction. Her depression +had soured into hilarity. "Well, I'll run the bridge—I have always +heard it is the only safe way." She looked up, far beyond the ties. +She would have closed her eyes, but that strange feeling of +sight-security, which does not depend upon sight, compelled her to +look—but not at the ties.</p> + +<p>Every time she planted her foot down she expected to go through, foot +and all, but, somehow, she did not sink down between the ties.</p> + +<p>"It would take a funnel to put me safely down that way," she decided. +"I guess I would have to have a very big hole to drop through."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Tavia that everything she had to do must be made easy for +her, even dropping through railroad ties!</p> + +<p>She had crossed the bridge and now she stood for a moment mocking it.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>I should burn my bridges behind me," she mused, "but it takes time +and talent, even to burn bridges."</p> + +<p>Those who knew Tavia would scarcely have recognized her now, could +they have viewed her through the glass with which she was magnifying +her faults. Tavia had been tried, she had tried herself, and after +having had an opportunity to board any of three trains going toward +camp, here she was again—stranded!</p> + +<p>"I'm a first-class simpleton," she decided. "Dorothy was right; always +right. I'm a rattle-brain; and they think I am drowned. That is more +reasonable, and more charitable, than to think I could be so foolish."</p> + +<p>"I guess I couldn't get along very well without Dorothy," she went on +thinking, as she trudged forward. "She always kept me together. But at +least I'll try to do her training justice now. I'll try to walk back +to camp."</p> + +<p>A narrow path ran beside the rails. This, Tavia thought had been +trodden down by tramps. Beyond, there seemed nothing but woods, and it +was getting dusk. Well, there must be houses or huts somewhere, and +she would walk on.</p> + +<p>Peering through the trees, Tavia thought she <a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>saw a white speck. It +might be a bird—no, it was too large! What could it be?</p> + +<p>It moved swiftly—now she could see it was—not a person! But it +couldn't be anything else, since there really were no ghosts. But were +there really none? Just now Tavia felt as if nothing was certain, not +even her own personality.</p> + +<p>There it was again, out in the clear path! All in white! Oh, it must +be a spirit!</p> + +<p>How silly!</p> + +<p>"It's a girl," Tavia said aloud. "Oh, how glad I am to see the face of +a human being!"</p> + +<p>It was a girl, and she moved swiftly toward Tavia.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how do you do?" she began. "I was afraid you would not come."</p> + +<p>Tavia wondered. Did the girl take her for some one else?</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully glad to meet you," answered Tavia, noting how pretty the +creature was, what splendid blond hair, and such eyes! "I was just +getting—frightened."</p> + +<p>"Frightened! Why, we will soon be all right. I have ordered my +airship. Can you fly?"</p> + +<p>Could she fly? Was the girl crazy?</p> + +<p>Then Tavia noticed a strange glare in the wonderful blue eyes. She +might be insane! Maybe <a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>she was the girl who had escaped from the +sanitarium!</p> + +<p>"I love to fly—it is my one ambition in life. But they would never +let me, so I just came away by myself; and isn't it sweet of you to +meet me away out here? There, did you see that bird? That's the way to +fly," and the strange girl threw her arms up and down, until Tavia +wondered whether she could be fooling, or was really insane.</p> + +<p>"I have never tried to fly," replied Tavia, feeling very silly, "but +lots of people have gone crazy over it."</p> + +<p>The moment she had said "crazy" she felt that she had made a mistake. +The girl turned on her as if to strike her.</p> + +<p>"Crazy! You call flying crazy! It's crazy to walk, crazy to stand, but +it is noble to fly!" and again she worked her arms bird-like.</p> + +<p>For the moment Tavia felt like running away. Then she thought that +would not be wise, for how did she know but that the girl might have +the strength they say insane people have; and that she might hit her +with a stone, or do something to injure her? Besides, it seemed better +to be with her than alone in that woods. Tavia decided she would humor +her.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>Of course, we shall all fly, some day," she said, as the girl turned +almost upon her. "I would love to learn how!"</p> + +<p>"You shall! I will teach you! My airship is not far away."</p> + +<p>"Do you know the road to Everglade?" asked Tavia, without the +slightest hope of getting an intelligent answer.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; Everglade?" and her eyes set more deeply. "I have a friend +in camp out that way."</p> + +<p>In camp! Then she was not altogether insane, for there were many +campers at Everglade.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tavia, "so have I. We can walk along together."</p> + +<p>This seemed to satisfy the girl, and she did start to tramp along. +Tavia noticed how neatly she was dressed, and did not fail to see a +beautiful chain and ornament about her slender white throat.</p> + +<p>"But it's a long way," spoke the girl. "My name is Bird of Paradise. +What might yours be?"</p> + +<p>"Betsy Dixon," replied Tavia aptly. "Yours is a much prettier name. +May I call you Birdie?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, and I shall call you Betty. I have a friend named Betty."</p> + +<p>For some moments they walked along in <a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>silence. The two girls were as +different in dress and manner as were Dorothy and Tavia, and the +latter noticed how much like Dorothy the strange girl was. About the +same height, same colored hair, and the same deep, blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"Are there no houses near here?" asked Tavia. "I am afraid night will +catch us soon."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, there is a hotel over that ledge. It is there I am taking +you."</p> + +<p>Tavia hoped it was true. She had passed through the stage of +sensitiveness, and was now only anxious to get somewhere or near +somewhere, for the night. She had made up her mind that she would ask +the first person she met to help her, with money or by directing her +to shelter. There was no longer any doubt as to her distress—night +was coming and she was almost worse than alone, and in the woods.</p> + +<p>The girl in white walked along humming now, waving her arms every time +a bird passed, and when she did speak to Tavia her remarks seemed more +rambling than ever.</p> + +<p>"We seem miles from every place," remarked Tavia weakly. "I do +wish——"</p> + +<p>"There! There!" exclaimed the strange girl. "There is my flying +station! See that precipice?" pointing to a cliff far out on the ledge +of the hill <a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>over which they were walking. "Just over there is my +station. I told you I was Bird of Paradise. I am not—I am Madam +Fly-Fly, the French balloonist. Now watch me!"</p> + +<p>"Don't!" shrieked Tavia. But it was too late. The girl had rushed to +the edge of the cliff, and with a wild wave of her arms had thrown +herself over!</p> + +<p>Tavia, stunned at the suddenness of her tragic action, stood for a +moment looking down at the heap of white that lay so far below her.</p> + +<p>Then she turned cautiously, and started down the dangerous descent +herself, clutching at brush and bramble as she tried to reach the +girl, who might be dead, in the moss and rocks that made such a +beautiful setting for the stream rambling on, unmindful of the terror +on its brink.</p> + +<p>Tavia must reach the girl; but what then?</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>CHAPTER XX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>HAPLESS TAVIA</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Step by step, or rather, move by move, Tavia struggled to reach in +safety that heap of white.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if she is only alive!" moaned Tavia. "Why did I not induce her to +go back to the Junction? I saw she was insane—and now!"</p> + +<p>A huge stone offered her a pause in the dangerous descent. She stopped +and listened.</p> + +<p>Then she called: "Birdie! Birdie!" No answer. "Perhaps she hears and +does not know—that name. Madame Fly-Fly?" she called again, and she +thought the sleeve moved—always that attempt to fly.</p> + +<p>Tavia slid down from the rock, trembling in limb and throbbing in +nerves. She had a terrible fear that the girl was either dying or +dead. There with her alone!</p> + +<p>On a perfectly flat stone the form lay. Tavia was beside it now. She +stooped and listened.</p> + +<p>"Thank the good Lord she is alive!" gasped Tavia fervently. "I +must—lift—her!"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>But there was little trouble in turning the light form over, so that +the white face looked up into Tavia's.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" sighed the girl. "Where am I? Who are you?" There was a +change—a great change in her manner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am so glad you are alive!" breathed Tavia. "And how do you +feel?"</p> + +<p>"As if something—moved in—my head. Where is mother?"</p> + +<p>There was no rambling, she spoke coherently!</p> + +<p>"Are you hurt?" pressed Tavia. "If only you can move?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure I can," the sufferer replied, at the same time making an +effort to sit up. "I feel better—somehow. How did you come to me? I +had a terrible dream."</p> + +<p>"I met you. Do you remember your name?"</p> + +<p>The girl did not answer at once. Then she said very slowly: "I am +Mary, but they call me Molly."</p> + +<p>"Mary what?"</p> + +<p>"Mary Harriwell."</p> + +<p>Tavia knew better than to ask more questions just then. She almost +forgot their predicament in the joy of seeing the girl apparently +sane.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you can walk?"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>I am going to try. Just give me your hand—there, that's it," and the +sufferer pulled herself up and stood beside Tavia.</p> + +<p>"I wonder might there be a path? I was so alarmed when you fell, that +I did not take time to look for one, I just slid down the rocks. But +to get up would be very different."</p> + +<p>"It is—dark, almost. We will have to look—I can't talk—just now. I +have that strange feeling in my head."</p> + +<p>"You must not talk. Just follow me, lean on me! Oh, I am sure we will +get up safely; and once upon the road we must find some help!"</p> + +<p>Tavia was afraid to look with too much scrutiny into the white face, +afraid she might again see that wild-eyed warning.</p> + +<p>Following the mossy way they trudged along. How far away even the sky +was! Could two girls be more desolate?</p> + +<p>Thoughts of camp, and of Dorothy, almost crushed Tavia. Young and +strong as she was, her experience was beginning to leave its mark. She +felt weak, and was hungry!</p> + +<p>But the strange girl seemed to have recovered her reason! Tavia must +not falter, she must get up, out to the roadway.</p> + +<p>"This looks like a path," she said. "Yes, it is <a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>a path. See, the +brush is trodden down, and the ferns are broken. Oh, some one must +have been here lately, and that means that they can not be very far +away now!"</p> + +<p>"What is your name?" asked the strange girl suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Tavia—Tavia Travers. And I am lost—far away from every one!"</p> + +<p>Tears welled into Tavia's eyes. Yes, she was lost!</p> + +<p>"And I am—lost! How strange that we should meet."</p> + +<p>"But are you not hurt? You walk——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, something does hurt, but I don't mind, for that awful dream is +gone. I can walk, and then when—we are—found——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. I am sure you will be all right as soon as we—are—found!"</p> + +<p>They had almost reached the crest of the hill. Up there at least they +could see.</p> + +<p>"I hear a step," said Tavia. "We must hurry."</p> + +<p>It was difficult to do that, however, for Mary, or Molly, limped +painfully.</p> + +<p>The step was plain now, as it crushed the dried leaves and brush.</p> + +<p>The figure of a man was next seen. The girls waited. He came along +with a free air, and <a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>swinging gait. The man wore a slouch hat——</p> + +<p>"Oh!" screamed Tavia. "We must run, or hide! It is that dreadful man! +That—other—that lunatic!" and she clutched the arm beside her, and +dragged the frightened girl to the edge of the roadway.</p> + +<p>Mortimer Morrison, with his big, rough, mountain stick, was about to +pass!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>CHAPTER XXI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>AT THE SANITARIUM</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When Dorothy recovered consciousness she lay on a white cot, by an +open window, and the strange nurse sat beside her.</p> + +<p>"Where am I? What am I here for?"</p> + +<p>"Your doctor is away, he will be back to-morrow—soon," the nurse +corrected herself. "Then perhaps you—may go out."</p> + +<p>"But why am I here? This is a hospital, and I am not ill."</p> + +<p>"No, not exactly ill," and Mary Bell had her own very serious doubts +about the condition of the young patient—never had she seen a +demented girl so perfectly sane. "But it is best for you to await your +own doctor's orders," she finished.</p> + +<p>"My own doctor? What is his name, please?"</p> + +<p>"Dr. Ashton. Do you remember him?"</p> + +<p>"I have never heard the name before," replied Dorothy, looking about +her anxiously at the sanitary appointments of the white room. "I +suppose this is a sanitarium for nerves."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>You have been here long enough to know that much," said the nurse +with a smile, "but you seem to have a new kind—of nerves."</p> + +<p>"I have only been here a few hours, I should judge, but it did seem an +eternity. Are they not going to send for my friends? They will be +distracted. I have been away from them for so long."</p> + +<p>Again that uncertain look came into the face of the nurse. Surely if +this girl had been demented she must now be very much better. Her talk +was entirely rational.</p> + +<p>And Dorothy was thinking: "Surely if they believe I am crazy they must +be crazy themselves! The sounds around here are enough to shake any +one's nerves."</p> + +<p>Some one was singing. The shrill voice rent the air like some weird +cry from a lost mind. It made Dorothy shiver.</p> + +<p>"You think I am—demented," she asked finally. "But there is some +great mistake. I am Dorothy Dale of—Dalton. I was camping at +Everglade—and I have had a dreadful time of it since I fell, and was +picked up by that old farmer."</p> + +<p>Dorothy's eyes were full. She had made up her mind, since her escape +from the Hobbs house, <a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>that she must wait—wait until those around her +saw their mistake. At any rate, it was something to be among +intelligent people, if they were nurses and doctors, and as they +plainly believed her to be an escaped patient she must wait until some +one came to identify her. But now it was very hard, and she was very, +very lonely, and very nervous with those poor demented people singing, +sighing, laughing and calling from all over the place.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry Miss Bennet had to go away, before I saw you," said the +nurse, vaguely. "It would have been better——"</p> + +<p>"Miss Bennet?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, your regular nurse."</p> + +<p>"I never had a nurse since I had the measles," said Dorothy, and she +really felt inclined to laugh. "Would you mind if I sat up at the +window? I feel perfectly strong now, and I want to remember what the +blessed world is like."</p> + +<p>"Of course you may sit by the window," replied Miss Bell, assisting +Dorothy into a robe. "And I don't blame you for wanting to see out of +doors. Sometimes I hate being a nurse."</p> + +<p>"I should think you would. It is enough to turn one's own head. Oh, I +do wish some one who knows me would come! My father and all my <a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>folks +will be frantic. Is there anything more dreadful than being lost in +the Maine woods!"</p> + +<p>"You are the strongest sick girl I ever saw," declared the nurse. "I +hope I have made no mistake."</p> + +<p>"Well, indeed you have," replied Dorothy. "I tell you I am not and +have never been a patient at any institution. I thought there was some +test of mentality—the eye, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"But nurses cannot make tests," answered Miss Bell. "We have to wait +for the dear professional, all-powerful doctors to do that. This is my +first day here, and I think I am going to be almost as lonely as you +are."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for you, but <i>you</i> may <i>leave</i> if you wish. It is quite +different in my case!"</p> + +<p>"My dear, if you can only be content to-night, I promise you some one +will come to-morrow. They have sent for your mother—Mrs. Harriwell."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the mother of the lost girl? Well, she will know. But I must stay +all night in this dreadful place—all night?"</p> + +<p>"I promise not to leave you. They will send another nurse to relieve +me, but I will decline to go. Somehow you have almost convinced me +there is a mistake."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>Thank you," replied Dorothy. "Perhaps it will be best not to +complain."</p> + +<p>She was looking out at the beautiful grounds and thinking of the dear +ones whose hearts must be torn with anguish for her. If only she could +telegraph!</p> + +<p>"Do you think I could send a message?" she asked, "to my friends—to +my cousins, at Everglade?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid not—until after the doctor sees you. You see, some other +patient—a man named Morrison—is blamed for having helped you to +escape."</p> + +<p>"Morrison?" repeated Dorothy. "That is the name of the man who is to +blame for all this trouble; that is, we blamed him for inducing a +friend of mine to leave our camp."</p> + +<p>"He has a faculty for inducing people to leave," said Miss Bell. "We +hope we will soon be able to catch him—then it is not likely that he +will get another chance to exercise that faculty. Three patients left +the day that you did."</p> + +<p>"The day that <i>she</i> did," corrected Dorothy. "Well, nurse, since you +are so kind to me, we must be friends, and I must not make you any +unnecessary trouble."</p> + +<p>"One has to be kind to you," said the nurse, <a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>putting her cheek close +to Dorothy's. "I must comb out your hair. It has been neglected."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but that will be easily fixed up again. Such matters seem +scarcely to trouble me now. There are so many bigger things to think +of."</p> + +<p>The nurse got comb and brush, and started to smooth out the long, +light tresses.</p> + +<p>"What is that scratch?" she asked, stopping to look at a mark on +Dorothy's neck.</p> + +<p>"It may have been the mark left there by Mrs. Hobbs' parrot," said +Dorothy, "or it may be one of the scratches I got when I fell over the +cliff. You see, I have been having a dreadful time. But when it is all +over I will have something worth talking about, to tell at camp. I +hope you will call upon us there. You would not be lonely if you knew +our boys."</p> + +<p>"But if you are not Mary Harriwell, what can have become of her?" +asked the nurse with sudden conviction. "And I was sent to find her!"</p> + +<p>"But you were directed to find me, were you not?" said Dorothy, in her +quick way of helping one out in distress. "I do not see how you could +be held responsible."</p> + +<p>"But the girl—if she is still at large, she may be dead or injured," +said Miss Bell, showing more and more that she did not believe Dorothy +to be <a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>the person wanted in the sanitarium. "I must ask—did no one +here know you—or her? Must we wait for that one doctor?"</p> + +<p>"At any rate," said Dorothy, "I was almost ill, and you have saved me +from those dreadful people. My folks will never blame you."</p> + +<p>"If there is a mistake—I'll run away. I could never stand the +disgrace," and the nurse buried her face in her hands.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me a perfectly plain case of mistaken identity, and as +you knew neither me nor the girl wanted, I do not see how you could +have done otherwise than to take me. I am sure I must have looked and +acted—demented."</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly positive that you are not now," declared Miss Bell. +"And no time should be lost in searching for Mary Harriwell."</p> + +<p>"Then I could send a message to camp? Let them know I am safe?" and +Dorothy sprang up with more emotion than she wished to show, for her +every move was being watched.</p> + +<p>"Well, the doctor will be here in the morning, and it is night now. +There would be no way of straightening this out until you are +positively identified."</p> + +<p>"What a dreadfully lonely place Maine is! If <a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>I were near home—or +near any place where people would know me——" Dorothy was saying.</p> + +<p>"Miss Bell, you are wanted at the 'phone," interrupted an attendant, +appearing at the door. "I'll stay until you get back."</p> + +<p>Miss Bell left the room, and Dorothy did not look at the young woman +who had taken her place. There was something so humiliating about +being suspected of insanity!</p> + +<p>"How do you like it here?" asked the newcomer.</p> + +<p>"Very well," replied Dorothy, hurt by the sarcasm apparent in the +voice.</p> + +<p>"Then why did you run away? Didn't we treat you all right?"</p> + +<p>Dorothy made no reply. The nurse came over, and glanced at her keenly.</p> + +<p>"You look pretty fine. Guess the tramp did you good. They have sent +for your mother. She will be here to-morrow. I sent the message, and I +told her your mind had cleared up. I hope I made no mistake."</p> + +<p>"I hope not," replied Dorothy, feeling that it was useless to try to +explain. "I shall be glad—when she comes."</p> + +<p>"I'm the night attendant. I will be here in an <a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>hour to give you your +bath," said the young woman.</p> + +<p>"I am perfectly capable of taking my own bath," replied Dorothy, with +indignation.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps; but we don't trust patients in the water alone. I hope you +won't give me any trouble. I'm tired to death to-night."</p> + +<p>"I will try not to," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>Soon Miss Bell returned. Her face was flushed and she appeared greatly +excited.</p> + +<p>"That <i>man</i> Morrison has been seen," she said to the other nurse. "And +two more Mary Harriwells have also been seen. Strange thing how many +girls can get demented when <i>one</i> is looked for. But the man—they say +he is not safe."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's the greatest case we ever had here. He kept us all busy as +his audience. He's stage-struck, you know," said the other.</p> + +<p>"Have you heard anything of a girl named Tavia Travers?" asked Dorothy +timidly. "It was searching for her that brought about all this +trouble, and I wonder have they found her yet."</p> + +<p>"Tavia Travers," repeated Miss Bell. "A girl who says she is Tavia +Travers was seen going along the road with the supposed Mary +Harriwell, and of course if she is helping her hide, she may be +arrested. Is she a friend of yours?"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>Yes," sighed Dorothy. Then she fell to thinking how terrible it all +was.</p> + +<p>"It began the day we had the hay wagon accident," she decided. "The +moment that man crossed our path he—left his shadow, as dear father +would say. Well, to-morrow I must be set free again."</p> + +<p>The nurses were talking quietly together. A shuffling in the hall +disturbed them.</p> + +<p>"A new patient?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No, likely an old one returned," was all the information she got.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>CHAPTER XXII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE CLEW</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"I cannot go another step," sighed the girl with Tavia, just as +Morrison passed.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" cautioned Tavia. "I would rather die than have him see us! I +simply cannot stand the thoughts of it all, and on <i>his</i> account."</p> + +<p>They had succeeded in getting behind a huge tree at the side of the +path. The man sauntered along and stopped within five feet of them.</p> + +<p>The sick girl was cringing with pain. The injured foot became more +painful every moment.</p> + +<p>"What is he looking for?" whispered Tavia. "If he only——"</p> + +<p>"There's some one else coming," said Molly. "I hear voices."</p> + +<p>"Yes. A crowd of men! They must not see us," declared Tavia. "Oh, they +are in uniform! They are after some one!"</p> + +<p>"Me!" moaned Molly. "Oh, don't let them take me! I must stay with you. +I can get help——"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>They crouched down in the deep grass. The man out on the path was +still there, beating a tree with his stick. He did not seem to notice +the approaching crowd.</p> + +<p>The strangers were up to him now.</p> + +<p>"That's him!" the girls heard them say. "That's Morrison."</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" demanded the queer man.</p> + +<p>"Well, we are just friends," said a tall man with a gold-trimmed cap. +"We have been looking for you. Won't you come over to the hotel and +stay for the night?"</p> + +<p>"Not much," replied Morrison. "I never go into hotels—I only go on +the legitimate stage. I was never a cheap actor."</p> + +<p>"Well, come along to the legitimate stage then," said the man kindly. +"We will take good care of you."</p> + +<p>"I have lost a friend," went on Morrison, in a rambling way, "and +until she is found I do not leave these woods."</p> + +<p>Tavia's heart stood still. Would the men find them?</p> + +<p>"Oh," sighed the girl with the injured foot, "I will throw myself into +the creek before I will go back to the——"</p> + +<p>"Hush! They have got him!"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>Two strong men had taken hold of Morrison. At the signal of a shrill +whistle two other men came up the path.</p> + +<p>Morrison struggled frantically. In the excitement Tavia and Molly +stepped out of their hiding place, but there was so much confusion +trying to overcome Morrison, that the girls were not noticed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mercy!" gasped Molly, "they will hurt him."</p> + +<p>"Not likely," said Tavia. "They are hospital attendants."</p> + +<p>"There is the wagon! Oh, I remember it! They took me in that!"</p> + +<p>"Molly, dear! You are not to remember anything—except that you are +with me!"</p> + +<p>"But what shall we do when they go? It is night!"</p> + +<p>"We will find shelter some place. I am an expert on finding shelter!"</p> + +<p>The girl rested her head against Tavia's shoulder. Whatever +compunction Tavia had felt for her part in the unfortunate state of +affairs, she felt at ease now in the thought that she had saved this +girl. That the hospital men were attending to Morrison, and that he +would soon be out of reach of harming her, also consoled Tavia.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>It is not bad here," she said. "I am sure there are cottages near +by."</p> + +<p>"I—don't—remember," breathed Molly. "I guess I was never out this +way before."</p> + +<p>"If only I knew—— But what is the use of my acting like a baby?" +exclaimed Tavia. "I am sure the folks at camp think me dead. Dorothy, +especially, will be heartbroken."</p> + +<p>"They are taking him away!"</p> + +<p>The men had seized the struggling Morrison, and were carrying him to +the roadside, where the wagon stood waiting.</p> + +<p>Tavia wondered if she was doing right or wrong in not making her +presence known. Then she thought how hard it would be to have Mary +again placed in a sanitarium, and she decided to fight her way alone. +But it was getting dark. They could now barely see the men lifting +that struggling form into the closely-covered wagon.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how they knew he was here?" mused Tavia. "If they had not +found him what would have become of us?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, my foot! I am sure something is broken!"</p> + +<p>With these words Molly sank down, helpless. The wagon had rattled off, +and again the girls were alone in that deep wood, with night settling +down.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>I am strong," declared Tavia. "I can carry you."</p> + +<p>"But where can we go? Oh, I did not know I was hurt! I am afraid my +leg is broken!" sobbed Molly.</p> + +<p>"There must be some house or hut near here," declared Tavia, "and I +will carry you along until we reach it. We can not spend the night +here, starving."</p> + +<p>The strange girl was indeed light in weight. Naturally slight, her +sickness had also taken flesh from her, so that when Tavia put her +arms about her, and the other threw her arms over Tavia's shoulders, +the two trudged along over the rough path, and soon were out on a +roadway.</p> + +<p>"There is a camp over there," said Tavia, as they came in sight of +something white, just showing through the sunset. "We must go to +that."</p> + +<p>"I can walk," insisted Molly. "It is too much——"</p> + +<p>"So can I carry you," argued Tavia, "and if you have any bones broken +you must not strain them further."</p> + +<p>It did seem a long way to the tent, but the road that led up to it +showed travel, and was therefore more easily followed.</p> + +<p>"Strange I am not afraid of anything," <a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>murmured Molly. "If we do have +to stay in the woods all night, I shall not be afraid."</p> + +<p>"That is because you are stunned—you had a very bad fall," said +Tavia. "I feel that way myself—I have gone through a great deal, +lately, too."</p> + +<p>"Now, let me walk—it is only a step," begged Molly, at the same +moment getting down from Tavia's arms. "Here we are right at the +tent."</p> + +<p>Welcome shelter! Never were two girls more in need of it.</p> + +<p>"And the queer part of it is," said Tavia, "I am supposed to be a +joke—to get and take everything funny. This is certainly no joke. How +do you feel, dear? I hope these people will let us in. We may get some +camping days after all."</p> + +<p>They timidly made their way to the tent. It was closed!</p> + +<p>"No lights," remarked Molly. "Oh, Tavia. My head hurts again!"</p> + +<p>"Mercy!" exclaimed Tavia, without showing why she was so alarmed. "Do +you suppose it is just a headache or——"</p> + +<p>Molly had sunk down on her knees. Tavia sprang to the flap of the +tent, and dragged the rope from the stake.</p> + +<p>"Empty!" she cried. "But we must get in. <a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>Come, Molly, I can lift you, +and whoever may be the owners of the camp, surely they will not turn +us out to-night."</p> + +<p>"But if they are rough men——"</p> + +<p>"No, rough men do not furnish a tent like this. See the pictures +pinned up; and what is this?"</p> + +<p>Tavia had lighted a candle that was placed conveniently near the flap, +with matches at hand, showing that whoever lived in the tent intended +to return at dark, and so had their light ready. Beside this candle +was a printed slip of paper. Tavia read:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"A thousand dollars reward for information that will lead to + the finding, dead or alive, of Dorothy Dale and Tavia + Travers."</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Dorothy gone too!" shrieked Tavia. "Then they are scouring the woods +for us, and that is why this camp is deserted!"</p> + +<p>"If only I could walk!" breathed Molly.</p> + +<p>"Never mind. We will stay here—until something else happens—but who +can tell what that may be!"</p> + +<p>The shock of the news about Dorothy absolutely stunned Tavia. With it +went all her strength, all her courage, and she felt then like lying +down to die!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>DOROTHY'S ESCAPE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When Miss Bell returned to Dorothy's room in the sanitarium, after her +talk over the telephone, Dorothy saw that her anxiety had reached a +state of prostration. She seemed convinced that she had taken to the +institution the wrong girl, and the dread of disgrace, especially as +she was a new nurse in the house, seemed to weigh very heavily upon +her. She would come up and look into Dorothy's face, examine the +pupils of her eyes, and then go away sighing.</p> + +<p>"Are you sorry I am not demented?" asked Dorothy, with as much in her +voice as she could command. "Just think what a good time you will +have, when we get back to camp."</p> + +<p>"I will run away," was the only reply the new nurse would make.</p> + +<p>Night came, and the nurse lay down to rest. Dorothy pretended to do +the same thing, but she had resolved to get out of that sanitarium, +<a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>without bringing disgrace on this young woman. But the attempt would +be fraught with danger. If she were caught, not only would she be +returned to the sanitarium, but she knew there was another ward——</p> + +<p>Dorothy did not permit herself to think of this. "I am going to get +away before daylight," she said. "Then, when the mother of the missing +girl comes and I have gotten away, they will not know whether it was +her daughter, or me."</p> + +<p>But to get away would mean trouble for the nurse also. She would be +blamed for leaving Dorothy unguarded!</p> + +<p>"The other attendant comes in at five in the morning," decided +Dorothy, "then I must—go!"</p> + +<p>It was an awful thought! She could hear the guards pacing up and down +the corridors, she had seen the high fence with its iron palings, and +as to gates—there were guards all about them.</p> + +<p>"The nurse's clothes!" thought Dorothy. "If I could get into Miss +Bell's things! They are here—in her suit-case. Then I might walk out! +But I would faint if they spoke to me? No, I would not, I must have +courage! I must be brave! In getting out I may save my dear folks more +anxiety, and I can save this poor little woman!"</p> + +<p>She looked kindly down at the sleeping nurse. <a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>The face, even in +sleep, was troubled, and the young woman tossed uneasily.</p> + +<p>Every hour the clock struck in the outside hall, but Dorothy heard it +in her prison room. Her mind was first forming this plan, and then +that, until she felt, if she did not get some sleep, she would never +be able to carry out any plan at all. Finally, as the steps and voices +in the hall grew fainter, Dorothy did fall asleep, but only to wake +with a start just as the clock struck five.</p> + +<p>A tap sounded at the door. Miss Bell was dressed and waiting. The +nurses were going down to breakfast, and as she left Dorothy, with a +pleasant word, the other attendant stepped in, picked up a novel, and +without noticing Dorothy, any more than if she had been wooden, she +sank lazily down in a chair, and started to read.</p> + +<p>How could Dorothy get on her disguise now? She sighed heavily, and +almost gave up her plan. But not quite, for in desperate straits one +clings to the proverbial straw, and now Dorothy was clutching +frantically at—anything—at hope.</p> + +<p>A man poked his head in at the door.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Tom!" said the attendant, in no polite voice, "What have you +got for me?"</p> + +<p>The man winked, and Dorothy turned away. "Can't you leave her?" he +whispered.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>The woman looked at Dorothy, who pretended to be almost stupid. She +had hidden her face in her hands.</p> + +<p>"I guess she'll keep," Dorothy heard her say, and with that the nurse +stepped out of the door, and Dorothy heard a laugh in the hall. But +she did not yet dare to move. In another moment the woman returned. "I +have got to go out for a minute," she said; "just take this pill and +sleep. You look tired."</p> + +<p>Dorothy saw in the woman's hand a slip of yellow paper. Of course it +was some message that would violate the rules. And the woman had given +her some medicine to make her sleep.</p> + +<p>"I am <i>too</i> sleepy now," said Dorothy. "Let me alone."</p> + +<p>That was all the attendant wanted. Quickly she went out, and then +Dorothy jumped up. It was but a moment's work to open the suit-case, +and slip on the plain, white, linen dress. Then for something on her +head. Yes! the cap, there it was all ready to be put on for the day's +work. The looking glass reflected a new Dorothy!</p> + +<p>She did look like a nurse, and then no one yet knew Miss Bell. But she +might be back from breakfast at any moment!</p> + +<p>Hurry, Dorothy! Hurry!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>One more look! The long dress seemed strange, but not so strange as +the agitation that filled her heart and tingled her nerves.</p> + +<p>She opened the door, and went out into the hall, just as an attendant +was turning out the electrics, for it was daylight.</p> + +<p>"Good morning!" said the first guard, sitting in his big chair, while +the marble hall seemed like an ocean to Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Good morning!" replied Dorothy lightly.</p> + +<p>Then the nurses were leaving breakfast. She could hear the voices. If +only she could get out before Miss Bell came!</p> + +<p>"Did you see the new girl?" she heard some one say.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and she has been called into the office!"</p> + +<p>That would give Dorothy time!</p> + +<p>More guards—so many there seemed to be now, and each with his "good +morning!" But Dorothy had taken courage. She felt better out of that +room; it was glorious to be so near freedom.</p> + +<p>"Is that the new nurse?" said a big man, who actually stood at the +door.</p> + +<p>"Looks like her," replied another, with something like a sneer.</p> + +<p>"She'd be a lot of good with any one but—<a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>babies," said a third. Then +he stepped up to Dorothy. She felt as if she would drop down. "Out +early," he said, peering into her frightened face.</p> + +<p>"Yes, is that time right?" she asked on the spur of the moment, +thinking to divert his attention from her face.</p> + +<p>He looked up at the big clock. "If it was right—it wouldn't be here," +he replied with a laugh. "But don't get lost. You are on duty at +seven," he went on, "but I guess a sniff of air won't do you any harm. +We all take what we can get in that line."</p> + +<p>"Yes," and Dorothy tried to smile. He had not discovered her! But when +Miss Bell reached the room——</p> + +<p>Oh, if she could only fly—over those big stone walls. But the outside +was even more closely guarded than was the inside, especially since +two patients had so lately escaped.</p> + +<p>Down the steps went the trembling girl. How splendid it was in the +fresh morning air!</p> + +<p>"And if I can only get a message back to camp," she was thinking. +"What will happen to dear father if I am not soon discovered?"</p> + +<p>Over the stone walk she sped. She glanced down the path. The front +gate was impossible. <a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>Back of the institution she saw a great +barn—then water! Oh, if she could but pass the stablemen. They would +not be as keen to suspect as would be the guards.</p> + +<p>Every one seemed busy. They were cleaning the horses, and fixing up +the big stables. Merry morning words floated through the air, and it +seemed to Dorothy that her presence, that of a nurse, as they +supposed, was always the signal for some joke, or some frivolous +remark. But there was no harm in this, she thought. Inside of stone +walls everybody must be akin.</p> + +<p>"Hello, there!" called a rather young man, who in shirt sleeves, was +rubbing down a horse. "Where are you going so early?"</p> + +<p>Dorothy scarcely dared answer. But fate saved her, for at that moment +the horse took fright at something and broke away from its post.</p> + +<p>Instantly there was confusion, and Dorothy was forgotten. Up on the +terrace were patients out in the air with guards, and in that +direction dashed the horse, while every man from the stable ran after +it.</p> + +<p>This left Dorothy almost free.</p> + +<p>She saw a summer-house on the edge of a lake. Yes, and there was a +canoe!</p> + +<p>What a chance!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>She shoved that canoe over the smooth grass, straight for the water. +The paddles were inside, and Dorothy knew that once she was upon the +water she could escape.</p> + +<p>Shouts from the terrace almost stunned her. She pushed the canoe into +the stream, slid into the frail bark, and started off, just as the +stablemen came back over the grounds with the fractious horse!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>A LONELY RIDE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>No sooner had Dorothy paddled around the bend in the stream that led +into the river, than she heard the alarm bell of the sanitarium ring.</p> + +<p>"That's the alarm for me!" she told herself, "but they can never see +me in this narrow pass. How fortunate that no one saw me take the +boat. And I suppose they think I escaped from the front gate during +the excitement about the horse."</p> + +<p>Dorothy was right in her surmise. So reasonable did it seem that she +had passed out by the front gate, when the guards came to the rescue +of those in danger from the frightened horse, that no one thought of +looking at the rear of the institution.</p> + +<p>"I wonder where I am going?" she thought. "Perhaps this river runs +into a dangerous rapid. I have always heard that Maine waters are full +of surprises."</p> + +<p>"At any rate, this is lovely," she went on musingly, "and, somehow, I +feel that I will get back to camp before nightfall."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>The water was as smooth as glass, and in the sunshine that every +moment became more insistant, Dorothy, in her linen dress, paddled +away with all the skill she had acquired in dear old Glenwood School +lake. She had discarded the nurse's cap, and the coat, and as her own +suit was beneath the linen, she was only waiting for an opportunity to +discard the skirt.</p> + +<p>"It pulls," she thought. "I might as well drop it now."</p> + +<p>At this she stood up in the canoe very cautiously, and with one move +of her hand dropped the skirt into the bottom of the boat. "There, +that's more like paddling," she thought.</p> + +<p>Adjusting herself again, she picked up the blade and plied it through +the clear water.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the report of a gun startled her! Was it at her that the shot +had been fired?</p> + +<p>Glancing over at the bank she saw something fall.</p> + +<p>Could some person have been shot? The season for shooting was not +opened, but perhaps——</p> + +<p>Then her alarm subsided. A man, who looked like an Indian, or a +lumberman, was pulling at something—it was a beautiful young deer!</p> + +<p>Indignation filled her heart. But what could <a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>she do? Alone on that +water, and that man so near with his gun!</p> + +<p>Fortunately, he was so interested in looking at his game that he +thought it not worth while to look at whoever might be passing in the +skiff; so, once more, Dorothy slid out of danger down the placid +stream.</p> + +<p>In all her trouble she had kept the little watch and her compass, and +just now it occurred to her that by consulting the magnetic instrument +she could tell whether she was going in the direction of Everglade.</p> + +<p>She paused in her action to look at the trembling needle.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am going toward camp—due east."</p> + +<p>How lightly she paddled along! It seemed now that the sanitarium was +past finding, for the noise of the bell and the whistle had ceased, +and that everything, even the talking of the man to himself as he +pulled the deer over his shoulders, was gone, and Dorothy was all +alone on the delightful lake, moving toward camp. It all seemed like +some horrible dream—all but the thought that she was going back—back +to her dear ones, who must be so anxious.</p> + +<p>"I hope I have saved poor Miss Bell," she thought. "That girl seemed +to dread something <a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>more than the mere mistake in taking me in instead +of the other patient."</p> + +<p>She slowed up, to gather some water lilies. "I'll take them to +Cologne," she thought. "I wonder where the girls are? I suppose +scouring the country for me. Well, Tavia must have been found, at any +rate. Poor foolish Tavia! I hope they have not blamed her."</p> + +<p>A gentle swish of the water startled her. She turned to see two canoes +approaching!</p> + +<p>"Are they after me?" she thought, and her heart jumped. "I must have +some excuse ready if they question me. I will just say I am from Camp +Capital, and have come out for exercise. They may not know how far +away our camp is."</p> + +<p>She heard the other paddles in the lake. Then they ceased to cut the +water. On either side of her canoe the two other craft suddenly +appeared.</p> + +<p>"What if this boat is marked!" she thought. "If it should have some +lettering to show it is from the sanitarium!"</p> + +<p>That was the first time this had occurred to her. But the canoeists +were now actually looking very pleasantly at her—two young men. They +seemed too well-mannered to speak, and Dorothy wanted so much to speak +with them, now that she felt they had no idea of her predicament.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>Finally one said: "We beg your pardon, but might you have a bit of +canvas, that you could let us take? We have a small leak in the side +of this canoe and the water is coming in."</p> + +<p>Dorothy breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked about her +boat—although she knew it was quite empty when she slid it into the +water.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not," she replied. "I never carry anything for such an +emergency."</p> + +<p>"It's a delightful morning," said the other young man, out of pure +civility. "Have you been out long?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not very—that is, it does not seem long to me," stammered +Dorothy still afraid that she would be caught in some new trap. "I +love the water."</p> + +<p>"You seem to," agreed the young man with the college cap. "We have +been out with a searching party. Have you heard of the strange +disappearance of two young girls?"</p> + +<p>Dorothy gasped. "Two?" she repeated.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we ought to say three, since one from a sanitarium has not +yet been discovered. But the insane, they say, have some weird manner +of attracting self preservation."</p> + +<p>"Have they been dragging the lake?" asked Dorothy, her voice all +a-tremble.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>No, not yet, although many have wanted to. But we have so many people +lost in these woods every summer, that we feel it is a case of that +kind. We suppose the girls, who did not go off together, met later +somehow, and in trying to make their way back, got deeper into the +woods."</p> + +<p>"And their folks from camp?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"We have not been to see them," said the young man, "but some of the +boys there are friends of ours, and as soon as we have looked this +place over, as well as we can do it, we are going up to Everglade. The +girl's father is an old soldier, and they say he is still a soldier in +this trouble."</p> + +<p>Dorothy felt as if she must speak—must ask them to take her back to +the camp, wherever it might be. But suppose they should take her for +that demented girl? No, she must find her way on alone. Perhaps she +could follow them.</p> + +<p>By this time the two canoeists had glided on ahead. Dorothy felt as if +her heart would choke her! Then her father was still bearing up, +waiting for her! She must soon reach him!</p> + +<p>A shout from the bank, and the two young men turned into shore. "Come +on," some one called. "We have a clew. Get in here. We must get over +to——"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>But that was all Dorothy heard, and again she was alone on the lake.</p> + +<p>For the space of a moment or so she felt that she had made a mistake, +then came the awful thought of that sanitarium, and the knowledge that +the people from there were searching everywhere for her.</p> + +<p>"No, I will go down the lake a little farther. At least I am free +now," she told herself.</p> + +<p>It was nearing noon, she could tell by the sun, and she felt the need +of food. Just below her she could see that the lake broadened, and +there she determined to stop.</p> + +<p>Her arms were getting stiff, and the sun burned down on her head, +which was uncovered.</p> + +<p>"Seems to me I hear voices," she thought. "I must go in to shore."</p> + +<p>Gracefully she swung into the grassy bank. No sooner had her paddle +sent her boat within reach of shore than she saw——</p> + +<p>"Oh, my! It is our camp!" she yelled frantically, jumping out, and +attempting to run up the hill toward the barn. But eager ears had +heard her voice.</p> + +<p>The next moment Dorothy Dale was clasped in the arms of her father.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>CHAPTER XXV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>LOOKING FOR TAVIA</h3> +<br /> + +<p>What joy there was in that camp when Major Dale actually carried in +Dorothy!</p> + +<p>A signal had been arranged to notify those in the woods if any good +news came, and as Major Dale placed his daughter in the arms of +Cologne, Mrs. Markin ran out of doors, and blew the big horn, until +she had no more breath left.</p> + +<p>This was heard by Jack, Ned and Nat, who were just then preparing to +drag the lake.</p> + +<p>There were no words to express the joy all felt, but Dorothy looked +around for Tavia, and asked frantic questions.</p> + +<p>"You must not think of her," insisted Mrs. Markin, bringing in some +warm tea. "You have done enough for her. Of course," she hurried to +add, seeing the look that came into Dorothy's face, "we will find her, +but you are not to leave this camp—well, I don't know when we will +let you leave it again."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>Oh, you darling!" Cologne was crying hysterically. "I can never let +you out of my sight again! To think that I should have done so in +those deep woods."</p> + +<p>"I have had a great time exploring," said Dorothy, sipping the +refreshing tea, "and I think, Cologne, that there are many kinds of +camping days. But if you will only let me go out, I have an idea I +know where Tavia might be."</p> + +<p>Then she told of her trip on the lake, and how quickly the young +canoeists left the water to answer a call of a clew having been found.</p> + +<p>Ned stood looking down at Dorothy, to make sure that she was in the +flesh. Mrs. White had not been told of Dorothy's disappearance. They +felt, however, that they would have had to notify her had Dorothy +remained away until another sundown.</p> + +<p>Nat was speechless. His handsome face showed the signs of his days and +nights of anxiety, and he was not entirely relieved since there was +even now no clew to Tavia.</p> + +<p>"Let's go up the river," he suggested. "At least Dorothy is safe, and +we can leave her, but Tavia——"</p> + +<p>"I could not stay indoors," declared Dorothy. "I should go to pieces! +The only thing that will <a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>save me is action. Let me help look for +Tavia!"</p> + +<p>She pleaded and begged, and at last Mrs. Markin agreed that it might +be best to let her have the freedom of the air. Of course, Dorothy had +not yet told all of her story—all the folks knew definitely was that +the lost had been found.</p> + +<p>It took scarcely no time for the searching party to be made up again. +The boys from the next camp had their craft already on the water, +while Ned and Nat had but to push off their rowboat.</p> + +<p>"Why do you think Tavia is somewhere about the river edge?" asked Ned +in his practical way.</p> + +<p>"Because, when I came down I heard some one call, and two young men +from their canoes answered promptly that they would follow the clew. +Now, if I can only find the spot——"</p> + +<p>"Where in the world did this canoe come from?" exclaimed Jack Markin, +as he espied the boat in which Dorothy had escaped from the +sanatarium. "It is marked 'Blenden!'"</p> + +<p>"Blenden!" repeated Ned. "Why that's the asylum over the hill!"</p> + +<p>Everybody looked at Dorothy, awaiting a word from her. She was almost +like herself now, after the manner in which blessed youth alone can +recuperate.</p> + +<p>"I was not particular about whose boat it was," <a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>she said simply. "So +long as I found something to get back to camp in."</p> + +<p>"I don't think it right that Dorothy should leave mother," began +Cologne. But Dorothy interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever notice, Cologne dear, how a storm clears? It takes a +light wind, doesn't it? Well, this little excitement will clear things +up for me."</p> + +<p>Wise Dorothy was, of course, not opposed. She belonged to the class of +persons who seem to be capable, and who really are, except where their +own personal safety or comfort is concerned. They always have a reason +and an answer, simply because others do not take the trouble to fathom +the motive for this sacrifice. Dorothy had determined to find Tavia, +and whatever her excuses, they were all subservient to that motive.</p> + +<p>"I would rather get in with Nat and Ned," she said, as the party +prepared to get off in the boats. "I am really too tired to scull."</p> + +<p>"What's this?" asked Jack, picking up the nurse's garb from the bottom +of the sanitarium canoe. "I declare! Dorothy has been masquerading!"</p> + +<p>He held up the linen skirt, and the white cap. <a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>Of course the very +next thing he did was to put the cap on his head.</p> + +<p>Every one but Cologne laughed—she seemed too stunned to so soon +forget the horror of the loss of Dorothy.</p> + +<p>The young ladies from the neighboring camp had decided not to go on +the water—in fact their chaperon had refused to allow them to go; +"there had been so many horrible accidents around there of late," she +declared.</p> + +<p>Major Dale stood upon the bank, and watched his daughter. To the +others it might seem like a dream, but to him it was very real. +Dorothy had been such a daughter, and even now she was proving herself +the Major's "little corporal." Nor did Dorothy miss the look that had +buried the smile on her father's face.</p> + +<p>"Now, when we get that naughty Tavia back," she called, "we will have +a celebration, Daddy."</p> + +<p>"You bet we will," replied the major warmly. And then the party +started down the river.</p> + +<p>"I cannot see how Tavia could be along the river bank and not hear +us," argued Ned. "Dorothy, you have not told us your story at all. +Were you both kidnapped?"</p> + +<p>"I have never seen Tavia since that morning we <a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>went for berries," she +declared. "But my! What an age it has been since then!"</p> + +<p>"I guess it has," blustered Nat, in his whole-hearted way, and he bent +over his oars. "I don't want another batch of time as long as the +last."</p> + +<p>"And, of course, you could not get us any word," ventured Ned. "We +fell down on that—it was my one mile-stone."</p> + +<p>"But it is strange how secret some places can be kept," said Dorothy, +cautiously. "It seems that they are so afraid of—publicity. There! +That looks like the place where the canoeists went ashore. No, it is +farther up, near the willow. We must pull in there and search. I do +wish I could have—but what is the use of wishing."</p> + +<p>"Mere waste of tissue," said Ned with a smile. He was only a boy—a +big boy, but the fright of having lost Dorothy had not left him +unscathed.</p> + +<p>The others in the boats took the signal from Nat, and were making for +shore. It was a rough place indeed; first rocky, then a matter of +holes, and after that it was trees—dense, stubborn trees.</p> + +<p>A sense of horror stole over Dorothy as she again stepped into the +woods, but in her brave way she instantly decided that it was merely a +matter of reflection, and the question in hand was not one of memory, +but one of facts. Tavia was still <a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>somewhere in those woods, or she +was—No, she must be in the woods!</p> + +<p>First calling, then running from point to point, the party searched, +but Cologne would not lose her hold on Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"You are not going to get away from me this time," declared the girl. +"I shall always blame myself for losing sight of you."</p> + +<p>"Cologne! As if I am not big enough to take care of myself!" cried +Dorothy, thinking how she had cared for herself through more +difficulties than any of them could possibly imagine.</p> + +<p>All through the woods could be heard shouts and signals from the +parties that were out searching for Dorothy, for Tavia and for the +girl from the sanitarium.</p> + +<p>"Lots of people get lost in these woods," commented Ned. "I have been +reading of them all my life, but now I guess I can write tales +myself."</p> + +<p>The voices of our friends had attracted a party from the sanitarium. +Dorothy was the first to recognize a guard, and as he came toward her, +she screamed and ran into Ned's arms.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't let them take me again!" she begged. "They think I am that +other girl! Stay near! Hold me! Don't let them take me!"</p> + +<p>Instantly the excitement was intense. From <a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>the hospital party two men +had come up, while of the campers, Jack, Nat and Ralph hurried close.</p> + +<p>"Why should they take you?" demanded Ned.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they made the mistake before, and I suppose they have seen their +boat."</p> + +<p>Quick to act as to think, Ned picked Dorothy up in his arms and turned +into a natural hiding place.</p> + +<p>"There, they have not seen you! Let them look—further on!" he +whispered.</p> + +<p>Of course the others could not even guess what had caused the sudden +change in Dorothy's manner, but Ned knew it was not mere excitement.</p> + +<p>"Here," he said, "is a pillow of moss. You and Cologne stay here, +while I go out and see the hospital men. I will assure them no patient +of theirs is with us."</p> + +<p>Dorothy lay back exhausted. If only they would go along! But suppose +they should find Tavia, and take her to that dreadful asylum!</p> + +<p>Voices, very near, gave her a chance to listen. She heard some one say +that a young girl had that morning escaped from the institution in the +house canoe, and that the boat was now lying close by.</p> + +<p>But in turning into the deep brush the strange men had not actually +caught sight of the <a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>frightened girls, as the heavy woodland offered +all sorts of excuses for visions.</p> + +<p>"Well, we must get her," said one of the men. "She walked right past +me, and said 'good morning.' But how was I to know who the new nurse, +or the new patient was? The trouble is now with the mother. She is +beyond consolation."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>DOROTHY'S SUCCESS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The boys from Camp Capital, together with their neighbors, held a +consultation there in the woods. They had heard from the sanitarium +attendants that, not only had a young girl escaped, and not yet found, +but that some weeks previously, a man, "stage-struck," as they put it, +had gotten away, and it was to his help that the departure of the girl +was attributed. Dorothy, from her hiding place, heard all this, and +knew only too well that the man referred to was none other than +Morrison.</p> + +<p>"And this fellow has been caught?" asked Ned, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied one of the men. "We took him in again yesterday +afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Is he too demented to tell anything? That is, to know who was with +him while he was free?" went on Ned.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he just talks in a rambling way about a girl who, he declares, +should have a fortune that <a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>his uncle has hidden away. He has really +never been entirely off, but one of the kind who rides a hobby, you +know," said the man. "His hobby is theatricals."</p> + +<p>"But has he an uncle? Might he have taken a girl to that man?" +persisted Ned. "You see, we have reason to believe that the girl we +are in search of, met this man. Now, if he has been captured, what has +become of her?"</p> + +<p>"That's one of the questions we may have to answer before our Board of +Inquiry," replied the man with no small concern. "It is easy enough +for those lunatics to get away, but to get them back is harder. And +the girl's mother is a widow, with all kinds of money."</p> + +<p>Dorothy could scarcely keep still. Only the pressure of Cologne's +hands kept her from telling what she knew of the story. Then the fear +of again being mistaken for Mary Harriwell—that was too great a risk.</p> + +<p>"Is there absolutely no clew?" asked Nat, almost in despair, for he +was always fond of Tavia.</p> + +<p>"Yes. The station agent at Lexington tells a story about a girl coming +to him and staying in the station alone all night. But he declares she +had dark hair and brown eyes, while Mary Harriwell is a blonde. Others +about the station agree <a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>with him. That girl left for the Junction +night before last, and was not picked up dead or alive since. The +officials of the road have had searched every inch of the track. Seems +that old Sam Dixon is very worried about this because he let the girl +go. He did not know just who she was, but to hear him talk you would +think it was his daughter. Well, we must go beating farther along. +This searching, and with night coming, is no fun. We wish you luck, +and if you find your girl let us know."</p> + +<p>So the parties separated and then Dorothy was free to leave her hiding +place. She longed to tell her friends the strange story, but she knew +that the finding of Tavia was the one and only thing to be thought of +just then.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure that this is the direction in which the boys went?" +asked Nat, with something like a sigh.</p> + +<p>Dorothy looked over the rough woodland. "No," she said, "there was a +swamp, for I distinctly remember that they picked their way through +tall grass, and about here the grass is actually dried up."</p> + +<p>"Then to find a swamp," said Nat. "Seems to me there are more kinds of +trees in Maine, and more kinds of things to catch at a fellow's——"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>A cry from Ned stopped the speech.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he yelled. "Something has my foot! Come quick!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, maybe it is a rattlesnake!" gasped Cologne.</p> + +<p>"Or maybe a big rat," added Jack, as they all ran back to where Ned +lay in the grass, trying to free himself from whatever it was that +held him.</p> + +<p>"It hurts!" he said. "Get it off!"</p> + +<p>Jack was the first to get down and look at the struggling boy.</p> + +<p>"A trap!" he announced. "Easy! Don't pull it, Ned."</p> + +<p>"More things than trees and lost girls in the Maine woods," exclaimed +Nat. "Gee whiz! I wonder what we'll strike next."</p> + +<p>"Just take a strike at this trap," begged Ned. "Seems to me it +takes—oh! be careful, Jack, that hurts!"</p> + +<p>"Let me!" suggested Dorothy. "I can open it, without hurting him," and +she stooped over her cousin. "Oh, you poor boy! It has cut right +through your shoe. Now, Jack, just hold the end of the chain so that +it cannot slip back," she ordered. "Cologne, dear, can you unlace this +shoe?"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>Oh, of course," growled Nat, "it takes a girl!"</p> + +<p>"Any objections?" asked Ned, getting back to his good humor. "Now if +this were Nat it would take a whole boarding school of girls."</p> + +<p>Dorothy and Cologne very gently helped the boys get the steel trap +free from the shoe. It took some time to do it without pressing the +jaws still farther in through the leather, but they succeeded.</p> + +<p>"Now, you must go back in the boat," decided Dorothy. "We cannot run +the risk of having your foot poisoned."</p> + +<p>"Never!" declared Ned. "I have often had worse than this, and have +gone on after the game."</p> + +<p>He got to his feet, but limped as he walked The foot had been +lacerated.</p> + +<p>"What foolish hunters ever put that trap there?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I would not be surprised if it were the man who shot the deer," +replied Dorothy, as if the others knew of that happening.</p> + +<p>"Shot a deer! At this season!" exclaimed Jack.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I think he was an Indian. I saw him as I came along in the +canoe," replied Dorothy. "I thought at the time it was against the +law. Can <a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>you walk, Ned? I do wish you would go back."</p> + +<p>"Seems to me we ought to separate," interposed Ralph. "We can never +make any headway by searching all together."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will not leave Dorothy," declared Cologne, stoutly. "I left +her once——"</p> + +<p>"No, I left <i>you</i> once," corrected Dorothy, in her own way of always +taking the blame. "I think, however, Ralph is right. Suppose the boys +keep along the water, and Cologne and I go farther in."</p> + +<p>"Then I go with you," said Ralph gallantly. "It is not altogether safe +in the deep woods. There might be lunatics——"</p> + +<p>"Or muskrat traps," groaned Ned, who walked with difficulty.</p> + +<p>At this they separated.</p> + +<p>For some time they heard nothing more than their own voices calling +back and forth.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it awful?" sighed Cologne. "Dorothy, I think it is utterly +useless. I am afraid she is—dead."</p> + +<p>"I know she is not," declared Dorothy, "and I am not going to give up +until I have searched every inch of this wood. Now I am going to +shout!"</p> + +<p>"Tavia! Tavia!" she yelled, and her clear voice <a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>struck an echo +against the hills. "Tavia! Tavia!" she called again.</p> + +<p>"Hark!" said Cologne. "Didn't I hear——"</p> + +<p>"I heard something!" declared Dorothy, and the sound came from back of +the hill. "Boys! Boys!" she shouted, but they were now too far away to +answer promptly. "Don't try to follow, Cologne. I feel that I can run +like the wind. I heard Tavia's voice, and I heard it—right—over—there!"</p> + +<p>As she flew through the woods Cologne, in distress, tried to summon +the boys. She feared Dorothy would fall again, over some rock or +cliff. But there was no use trying to stop her. She had heard Tavia's +voice, and that was enough.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>ONE KIND OF CAMP</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Oh, Tavia! Where are you?"</p> + +<p>It was Dorothy who jumped from rock to stone, and over bush and +bramble, through that deep dark wood, which now, in the shadow of +sunset, threatened again to bring anguish to our young friends. "I +heard you," she called. "Answer again!"</p> + +<p>But this time there was no response.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what can have happened?" wailed Dorothy. "Surely she is—not too +ill—when she called and whistled just now."</p> + +<p>She was talking, but no one was at hand to hear her.</p> + +<p>Cologne was doing her best to reach Dorothy, but she had made a turn +to notify the boys, and was really too surprised, and frightened, to +make anything like the progress that her friend was able to make +through the rough forest.</p> + +<p>Dorothy stopped and listened. She had reached <a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>a cleared spot, where +the branches of a beautiful fir stood out over a greensward, like a +natural tower. Without hesitating a moment, Dorothy easily scaled the +strong branches, and presently could see from the height of the fir +tree a spot—ideal! Yes, and there was something white on it!</p> + +<p>"Cologne!" she called. "I see a tent!"</p> + +<p>By this time Cologne had reached Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do come down," she begged. "If you should slip——"</p> + +<p>"But I shall not slip. There was no use in running wild through the +woods, when I could get a distinct view from here. It may be a gypsy +camp. Where are the boys?"</p> + +<p>"They seem to have gotten away, somehow," sighed Cologne. "Oh, what +shall we do? We cannot go alone to that camp."</p> + +<p>"Indeed I am going," declared Dorothy. "I heard Tavia's voice, and now +I see a tent. If she is held there, we must go to her at once."</p> + +<p>Cologne was terrified, but the experience through which Dorothy had +passed in the last few days seemed to make all other fears look +insignificant.</p> + +<p>She had slid down the tree, and was now making her way in the +direction of the tent. It was <a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>near the edge of a natural bank, that +stood like a wind-shield against the rocks.</p> + +<p>This shelf made a covering for the spot, so that only from some +elevation such as from the tree could it be seen for any distance.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Cologne," said Dorothy. "I see a path to the place. It must +be somebody's camp."</p> + +<p>"Why not wait for the boys? Give me your whistle. I must call them. +Where can they have gone to?"</p> + +<p>"I am not going to wait one moment," declared Dorothy. "She may be +suffering!"</p> + +<p>The bent grass and weeds showed the way, Dorothy hurried along, only +stopping to listen for the hoped-for voice. But there was no word from +Tavia.</p> + +<p>Cologne was almost behind Dorothy, but she could not conquer her fear. +She hesitated to make the first attempt to reach the tent.</p> + +<p>Jumping over a small stream, Dorothy was beside the camp furnace. The +next moment she stood looking at Tavia!</p> + +<p>"Tavia!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" whispered Tavia. "We must not wake her. Oh, Dorothy!"</p> + +<p>Like a poor, crushed bird Tavia fell at <a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>Dorothy's feet. She sobbed +convulsively, but choked back every possible sound.</p> + +<p>"Darling!" whispered Dorothy. "What is it?"</p> + +<p>"The sick girl! She has almost died!" sighed Tavia. "Oh, I dared not +answer again. She was so frightened at my voice!"</p> + +<p>"Run back, Cologne, and meet the boys," said Dorothy. "Tell them to go +for a doctor!"</p> + +<p>Glad to get away, Cologne turned, just as the boys came racing over +the hill. They stopped, at her raised hand of warning, but Nat would +not go back when he heard that Tavia had been found. Softly he made +his way along, Ralph following at some distance, while Ned and Jack +hurried to the shore near where they had left their boats. They knew +that just across the river they would find a camp, in which might be +found Dr. Ashton, from New York.</p> + +<p>It was almost pitiable to see how Tavia clung to Dorothy, never +suspecting, of course, that Dorothy had herself gone through an +experience more trying than her own.</p> + +<p>"Let me see her," suggested Dorothy. "I will be very careful."</p> + +<p>She stepped within the tent. Instantly she was struck with the +resemblance between herself and the girl who lay on the cot.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>The sick girl opened her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Tavia!" she murmured.</p> + +<p>"What, dear?" asked Dorothy, for Tavia had not yet recovered herself.</p> + +<p>"I—am so—much better. I would—like to—sit up."</p> + +<p>"Not just yet, dear," soothed Dorothy, putting her hand to the hot +forehead. "It will be better to rest to-night."</p> + +<p>"But you—must not stay—longer—from your friends," she said. "Leave +me, and look for them. Then come back."</p> + +<p>"We are here," ventured Dorothy, aware that the girl was worrying +about Tavia. "We have come to take you both home."</p> + +<p>"Not back there!" and the girl sat bolt upright, and looked into +Dorothy's pale face.</p> + +<p>"No, to camp, with us, with Dorothy and with Tavia. Then we will send +for your mother."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am so glad," she sighed, lying back on the pillow.</p> + +<p>Nat had Tavia in his arms. She was now almost hysterical, and like the +Nat he had always been, he turned the tables by accusing Tavia of +having all the camping to herself.</p> + +<p>"While we were digging up frog ponds looking for you," he scolded, +"here you had set yourself <a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>up in one of the best establishments in +the State."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Nat," she sobbed. "If you only knew!"</p> + +<p>"Every girl says that," he replied. "I suppose it would be a first +rate thing if a fellow did only know—about a girl like you." He was +doing his best to quiet her, and he knew that to scold is a good sort +of treatment for too much nerves.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Cologne and Ralph had ventured nearer. They seemed afraid +that a voice would harm some one, and Cologne only whispered.</p> + +<p>"Tavia dear," she said, "whatever has happened?"</p> + +<p>"She has promised to tell me first," said Nat, again showing his good +sense in saving Tavia just then. "And we are not to hear one word +until we get back to camp."</p> + +<p>"Here come Ned, and Jack, and Doctor Ashton," interrupted Ralph. "Who +is sick?"</p> + +<p>"A friend of Tavia's, with whom she was stopping," said the wily Nat. +"That was why she could not get word to us. Her friend was very sick, +and her folks were all away."</p> + +<p>Tavia looked her gratitude into Nat's manly face. The boys and the +doctor had reached the tent.</p> + +<p>"Wait here," ordered the doctor as he stepped within.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>And it was Dorothy Dale who took up her place by the physician's side, +as he did all that he could to unfold the case of Mary Harriwell.</p> + +<p>"And how ever did you find this camp, one of the best for miles +around?" asked Nat of Tavia, as they awaited the doctor's verdict.</p> + +<p>"We fell into it. Whose is it?"</p> + +<p>"Why the Babbitts left in a hurry last week—some one ill. They have +not sent down for their things yet."</p> + +<p>"Lucky for us," remarked Tavia. Then they heard the doctor moving +about in the tent, and lowered their voices.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>GOOD NEWS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"Oh, such good news!" exclaimed Dorothy, emerging from the tent. "It +is worth all our trouble."</p> + +<p>"What!" asked a chorus.</p> + +<p>"She will be better! She has recovered her reason. The doctor says +some shock——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it was an awful shock," interrupted Tavia. "I believe if I +had any reason it would have destroyed mine."</p> + +<p>"Always knew there was a method in your madness, Tavia," said Nat. +"Now, that's something like!"</p> + +<p>"We are going to take her to camp to-night," went on Dorothy, too +serious to take a joke. "Doctor Ashton says nothing could be better +for her."</p> + +<p>"There are camps, and camps," persisted Nat.</p> + +<p>Ned was talking to the doctor. "We can carry her on the cot, just as +well as not," insisted Nat. "There are four of us."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>And put her in the boat—well, I think that will be all right," +answered the doctor. "The present trouble is more of a morbid fear +than anything else," and he put his stethoscope in its case. "As soon +as she feels the fresh air, and realizes that she is out of all harm's +way, I think she will——"</p> + +<p>"Sit up and take notice," interrupted Nat, for he could not help +making light of the troubles with which he felt the girls were too +heavily burdened.</p> + +<p>"Exactly that," agreed the doctor. "Miss Harriwell could not have +fallen into better hands. I will, however, see her safely into the +boat."</p> + +<p>It was a delightful task to assist the sick girl, realizing what it +would mean ultimately. Dorothy insisted that Tavia go on ahead with +Cologne, as she had had, Dorothy said, enough of nursing. But Tavia +wanted to leave some word at the tent—a written word about its use. +To this no one would agree, so she was obliged to go on without doing +as she wished.</p> + +<p>Down the cliffs started the party. Tavia, with Cologne, was soon +joined by three of the Hays girls, from the next camp, who, although +they had not been allowed to go with the searching party, managed to +follow them at a distance, and who <a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>had heard of the discovery when +the boys went for the doctor.</p> + +<p>Then came the boys, Ned, Nat, Ralph, and Jack, carrying Molly on a +cot. Dorothy held Molly's hand, and talked cheerfully to her as they +all moved carefully along.</p> + +<p>Doctor Ashton had reason to be particularly interested. It was he who +had taken his vacation from the sanitarium when Molly made her escape.</p> + +<p>He, too, had been impressed by the similarity between Dorothy and +Molly, but, of course, he did not speak of it; neither did he know of +the trouble which that resemblance had made for Dorothy.</p> + +<p>The trip on the water was made without a mishap, and, as the doctor +said, Molly gained strength and courage with almost every new breath.</p> + +<p>Then to the camp! Dorothy ran on ahead, for Molly was walking.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what has happened now?" asked Mrs. Markin, seeing the boys +supporting Molly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing but good news this time," replied Dorothy. "We have found +Tavia, we have found a sick girl, and we have brought them all back to +have a good time at Camp Capital."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>This was good news indeed—Dorothy always knew how to cheer.</p> + +<p>"Welcome!" announced the lady, planting a kiss on Dorothy's now +flushed cheek. "There is a visitor waiting for you," he added.</p> + +<p>"For me?"</p> + +<p>Mary Bell, the nurse, stepped out on the camp porch. She was smiling, +and all the anxiety had left her face.</p> + +<p>"You little robber!" she said to Dorothy. "Where are my clothes?"</p> + +<p>But before she could get a reply she saw Mary Harriwell. She was too +well trained to need an explanation of the case as it stood now.</p> + +<p>There were, to her, two Mary Harriwells!</p> + +<p>"Twins!" was all that Mrs. Markin could say, as she helped the sick +girl up the steps.</p> + +<p>Miss Bell instantly took charge of Molly. She was removed to a quiet +room in the camp barn, away from all noise and all confusion.</p> + +<p>"Daddy," whispered Dorothy, as the major stood looking lovingly at +her, "come on."</p> + +<p>She led him to the stable, where the old horse Jeff stood waiting to +take his part in the important work.</p> + +<p>"Let's hitch up and drive over to Blenden. We can make it before dark, +and I want to be the first <a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>to tell Mrs. Harriwell. I could never +trust to a message."</p> + +<p>With a word to Mrs. Markin, the major agreed. It was not so long a +journey when the straight road was taken—it was the turns and twists +that led every one astray. But Major Dale knew the road, and he and +Dorothy went merrily on, with words of love and tenderness that only +such a father and daughter know how to exchange.</p> + +<p>Dorothy learned that the boys, Roger and Joe, had not heard a word of +her trouble, and she at once determined not to tell even her father +all that she had suffered. She had to explain, of course, about being +in the sanitarium, but about the Hobbs imprisonment, she decided to +say nothing.</p> + +<p>Reaching the sanitarium, Dorothy shuddered as she asked the guards at +the gate if she might see the superintendent, but when the man doffed +his cap to the distinguished looking major, Dorothy again gained her +composure.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Harriwell sat in the hall, and was evidently much distressed.</p> + +<p>Dorothy stepped up to her, and the woman started.</p> + +<p>"Molly!" she gasped. Then she saw her mistake.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>But we have come to take you to Molly," said Dorothy, "and I want to +be the first to tell you the good news! Molly is better!"</p> + +<p>"Better!" repeated the woman vaguely, the deep lines of trouble +shadowing her pale face.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she wants to see you—she knows all about everything——"</p> + +<p>"Your daughter, madam," said Major Dale, "has recovered her reason."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" gasped the poor mother.</p> + +<p>"Not at all," declared the major. "But come along, and you will see +for yourself."</p> + +<p>An attendant had stepped up, and was looking curiously at Dorothy. She +took her father's hand.</p> + +<p>"Any word?" asked the nurse.</p> + +<p>"Not for you," replied Mrs. Harriwell with dignity, "I find there are +better places than sanitariums for—nervous girls. Come along, sir. +Thank you," as she took the major's arm, and left the place.</p> + +<p>How that mother listened to Dorothy's words! That her daughter had +talked as Dorothy said, that she was at a nearby camp—— Oh, it was +good news indeed!</p> + +<p>"And she is going to stay with us," Dorothy warned her. "We will not +let her go to any more hospitals."</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>Never!" exclaimed the mother firmly. "Molly may stay any place she +chooses. She is all I have, and I so nearly lost her!"</p> + +<p>It was a beautiful evening. The sun had just set. Over the hills could +be seen tents, their flags flying and their happy young and old owners +could be heard singing, calling, and shouting; could be seen building +fires, and doing all the thousand and one absurd things that humanity +insists upon doing every time it gets the chance.</p> + +<p>"It is lovely to camp," ventured Dorothy. "We have had rather an +interrupted season, but I hope now we shall make up for it."</p> + +<p>"If money will help you, it shall be yours," declared the anxious +woman, "for my daughter has more than she can ever use."</p> + +<p>Dorothy looked at her in silence. Then it was well indeed to have been +lost and found, for the sake of this dear girl!</p> + +<p>"This is our camp," said Dorothy, as they reached it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Harriwell fairly ran up those barn steps.</p> + +<p>But who would try to tell what happened when she found her daughter?</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE ROUND-UP—CONCLUSION</h3> +<br /> + +<p>"It's up to Tavia!"</p> + +<p>"I have told you every word I am going to tell," she declared.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no you haven't," objected Nat. "I want to know about that stagey +fellow. I don't quite fancy his interference."</p> + +<p>"He didn't interfere," declared Tavia, "and I am not going over that +thing again."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, he didn't interfere," repeated Ned. "He merely had it all his +own way. Now, if I had long hair——"</p> + +<p>"Ned," interrupted Dorothy, "please don't. You must remember that the +poor fellow was not responsible."</p> + +<p>"Lucky dog," murmured Ned, giving Cologne one of his favorite looks +(Ned had a fancy for Cologne).</p> + +<p>"Then I think that Dorothy ought to tell her part," insisted Jack. "We +have heard rumors of terrible things!"</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>Mere rumors," said Dorothy with a laugh, "Why shouldn't I be entitled +to my own experience? Haven't I paid it all back to you?"</p> + +<p>"Nope. Not for the shoe that caught in the trap," said Ned +facetiously.</p> + +<p>"Nor for visiting absolute strangers like those Hobbses," added +Cologne, "and they are completely out of our set."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't mind," agreed Jack. "We have found Molly."</p> + +<p>"Jackie, you do know a good thing when you see it," complimented Ned.</p> + +<p>Molly sat out on the low camp stool very close to Jack, and it was +plain there was no objection on the part of either as to this +particular closeness.</p> + +<p>"Ralph says nothing——" began Tavia.</p> + +<p>"But saws wood," added Ned, with a wink, for Ralph seemed to have +appropriated Dorothy.</p> + +<p>Altogether they were a happy set of campers. It was only ten days +since the close of that distressing search, that had taken up so many +of their camping days, but there was still left plenty of time for the +best of outings, which their keenness after their troubles made the +more merry.</p> + +<p>Camp Dorothy was the name of the new tent that Mrs. Harriwell had sent +up immediately after her daughter's installation with the <a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>campers. +With the express came two maids, one for work, and the other to look +after Molly. Mrs. Harriwell had to be content with stopping at a +nearby hotel, but every day she came over to the camp, and really was +almost like a young girl herself, so great was her joy in the sudden +restoration of her daughter's health. It developed that the sick +girl's case had been one of pure melancholia, following a shock of +grief, and that her association with Dorothy and her friends was the +one thing she most needed. The second shock, in falling, had restored +her reason.</p> + +<p>But Tavia could not forget that her fault had caused great trouble to +Dorothy, and try as the latter did, she could not get Tavia to resume +her usual good spirits.</p> + +<p>"But it takes Nat," whispered Cologne, as he and Tavia sauntered off +to catch imaginary trout. "Needn't worry about Tavia's nerves."</p> + +<p>"I move," said Ralph, "that the—heroine—ahem, be excused from duty +for the period of two weeks. Every time I ask Dorothy to go for a +sail, she has to wash dishes."</p> + +<p>Dorothy blushed prettily. "I must do my share of the housekeeping," +she insisted. "Besides—it's fun."</p> + +<p>Ralph was not to be put off this time, however, <a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>and he declared that +if Dorothy did not go for a sail with him that very +afternoon—he—would—drown—himself.</p> + +<p>"Oh, such luck!" shouted Ned. "Too many fellows around here——"</p> + +<p>Major Dale stood watching, but hardly listening.</p> + +<p>"What's the answer, Uncle?" asked Ned, seeing that the major had +something to say.</p> + +<p>"I have just been wondering," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "what +would have happened if Dorothy had not gone up that tree. And you +boys——"</p> + +<p>"That's all," interrupted Nat, who had returned to the group. "You are +excused."</p> + +<p>"I have been wondering," put in Mrs. Harriwell, who, with Mrs. Markin, +was enjoying the afternoon on the porch within hearing distance, "what +would have happened if Dorothy had not been mistaken for Molly. It was +a lucky mistake."</p> + +<p>But Dorothy insisted she had done nothing extraordinary. Yet she could +not help but wonder what would happen next. And what did happen will +be told in another book, to be called, "Dorothy Dale's School Rivals," +in which we shall learn the particulars of some stirring doings at +Glenwood Academy.</p> + +<p>"<a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>All the same," declared Tavia, a little sheepishly, "I don't believe +it pays to try to keep Dorothy out when there's a question of——"</p> + +<p>"Common sense," finished Cologne. "There's the cowbell. And it's +Tavia's turn to cook supper!"</p> + +<p>Tavia sprang up and darted down the path. Nat followed.</p> + +<p>"She hasn't learned to work yet," commented Cologne. She never knew a +thing about how Tavia darned the station master's socks.</p> + +<p>Camp Dorothy had been closed tight all day. As tea-time struck, the +maid threw up the big flap. "Surprise! Surprise!" she called, and such +a feast as was spread! The very best that could be obtained for miles +about Everglade.</p> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY DALE'S CAMPING DAYS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 16091-h.txt or 16091-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/0/9/16091">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/0/9/16091</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Dorothy Dale's Camping Days + + +Author: Margaret Penrose + + + +Release Date: June 18, 2005 [eBook #16091] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY DALE'S CAMPING DAYS*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 16091-h.htm or 16091-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/0/9/16091/16091-h/16091-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/0/9/16091/16091-h.zip) + + + + + +DOROTHY DALE'S CAMPING DAYS + +by + +MARGARET PENROSE + +Author of "Dorothy Dale: a Girl of To-Day," "Dorothy Dale at Glenwood +School," "Dorothy Dale's Great Secret," "The Motor Girls," "The Motor +Girls at Lookout Beach," etc. + +Illustrated + +New York +Cupples & Leon Company + +1911 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: She slid into the frail bark, and started off.] + + + + + +------------------------------------------------+ + | BOOKS BY MARGARET PENROSE | + | | + | Cloth. Illustrated. | + | | + | THE DOROTHY DALE SERIES | + | | + | | + | DOROTHY DALE: A GIRL OF TO-DAY | + | DOROTHY DALE AT GLENWOOD SCHOOL | + | DOROTHY DALE'S GREAT SECRET | + | DOROTHY DALE AND HER CHUMS | + | DOROTHY DALE'S QUEER HOLIDAYS | + | DOROTHY DALE'S CAMPING DAYS | + | (Other volumes in preparation) | + | | + | * * * * * | + | | + | THE MOTOR GIRLS SERIES | + | | + | THE MOTOR GIRLS | + | Or A Mystery of the Road | + | THE MOTOR GIRLS ON A TOUR | + | Or Keeping a Strange Promise | + | THE MOTOR GIRLS AT LOOKOUT BEACH | + | Or In Quest of the Runaways | + | THE MOTOR GIRLS THROUGH NEW | + | ENGLAND. Or Held by the Gypsies | + | (Other volumes in preparation) | + | | + | _Cupples & Leon Co., Publishers, New York_ | + +------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER + + I. OUT OF A HAYRICK + + II. TAVIA GOES BO-PEEPING + + III. THE DISASTROUS DRAG + + IV. THE PREMATURE CAMP + + V. THE SEARCH + + VI. OFF FOR CAMP + + VII. CAMP C.C. + + VIII. THE WILD ANIMAL + + IX. A STRANGE MEETING + + X. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TAVIA + + XI. WHEN THE BOYS CAME + + XII. THE EDGY-EDGE! + + XIII. THE SAD AWAKENING + + XIV. TAVIA'S MISTAKE + + XV. WHEN THE TRAIN CAME IN + + XVI. A HARROWING EXPERIENCE + + XVII. STRANGER STILL + + XVIII. MISTAKEN IDENTITY + + XIX. CAMPING DAYS + + XX. HAPLESS TAVIA + + XXI. AT THE SANITARIUM + + XXII. THE CLEW + + XXIII. DOROTHY'S ESCAPE + + XXIV. A LONELY RIDE + + XXV. LOOKING FOR TAVIA + + XXVI. DOROTHY'S SUCCESS + + XXVII. ONE KIND OF CAMP + + XXVIII. GOOD NEWS + + XXIX. THE ROUND-UP--CONCLUSION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +OUT OF A HAYRICK + + +"Oh, my!" exclaimed one girl. + +"Oh, mine!" amended another. + +"Oh, ours!" called out a third. + +Then there was one awful bump, and the chorus was understood. + +The old-style hay wagon, which was like a big crib, wobbled from side +to side. The young ladies followed its questionable example, and some +of them "sort of" lapped-over on the others. + +"Dorothy Dale!" gasped one particularly sensitive member of the party, +"we thought when you vouched for this affair that it would turn out +all right!" + +"But it hasn't turned out anything yet," replied Dorothy, "although we +all came pretty near it--that time." + +She clasped her hand around one of the braces of the hayrick, +evidently determined that should she be "turned out" her arm would be +responsible. + +"That's just like you, Nita Brant," declared Tavia Travers, the latter +really being manager of the occasion. "When I go to work, and hire a +car like this, and especially stipulate that the ride shall +be--rural--you kick on the bumps." + +But scarcely had she uttered these words, when a "bump" came, with +neither time nor opportunity for Nita's "kick." In fact, it was +remarkable that the old hay wagon did not actually carry out its +threat, to roll over in the direction toward which it wobbled. + +"If you young ladies care to ride any farther," called out a man from +the front of the wagon, "you better be still. I ain't put no corks in +the holes in the bottom of this autymobile." + +He chuckled at his own joke. The holes were only too apparent to the +fair occupants of the hay wagon. + +"Oh, it's all right, Sam," called back Tavia, "the only thin member of +the party, who might by any chance fall through a hole, is dying from +bumps, and we have a good hold on her. If you could see through the +hay you would behold the human chain in action," and she gave Nita +such a jerk that the latter declared the bumps were lovely, and +begged to be allowed to do her own experimenting with them. + +"He laughs best who laughs least," misquoted Dorothy, as the wagon +continued to jog along. "I don't exactly like the--er--contour of the +hill we are approaching." + +"Why, that's the real thing in hills," declared Tavia. "I planned this +road purposely to 'tobog' down that hill." + +"I hope the old horses are hooked up securely," remarked Rose-Mary, +whom the girls called Cologne. "I don't mind making a hill, but I hate +to have the wagon make it in solo. I have had a try of that sort." + +"Now say your prayers, Nita," ordered Tavia, "and don't forget to +repent for snibbying my chocolates." + +"Oh!" screamed Edna Black, _alias_ Ned Ebony, "I do believe something +is going to happen!" + +"Sure thing," continued Tavia, in her joking way. "Do you suppose the +girls from Glenwood ever go out without having 'something happen'?" + +The old man was pulling at the reins, but his horses were starting to +slide. + +"Watch that fellow waltz," remarked Tavia. "Now, wouldn't he be great +in a circus?" + +The "waltzing horse" tried to sit down, but the farmer tugged at the +lines, and otherwise objected to such conduct, and the unfortunate +animal did its best to comply with the orders, which were now being +flung at him, not only from the driver but from the girls in the +wagon. + +"Oh, hold them!" pleaded Nita. + +"Let them run," suggested Tavia. "It will be over sooner!" + +"Mercy!" exclaimed Dorothy, "there's a river!" + +This remark was followed by a most significant pause. Evidently even +Tavia saw the danger now. + +And the old horses were frightened as well, for they backed, side +stepped, and made every possible effort to avoid having the wagon, and +its precious load, overturned into the deep river at the very side of +the roadway. + +"Don't yell so!" called Dorothy to the driver. "That won't help any +and it hurts our ears." + +"Is there no brake?" wailed Nita. + +"There is likely to be one soon," Tavia assured her. + +The girls were becoming more and more alarmed, and only Tavia kept up +the jesting. The hill was very steep, the river fairly curled around +it, and the horses grew more nervous each moment, under the strain +that was being put upon them. + +Deep in the bed of hay the girls from Glenwood School had ensconsed +themselves. The horses were now going at such a pace that it would be +rash to attempt to jump from the rick. Nita Brant actually made her +way forward, and had now fairly grasped the old driver about the neck. +She felt that he must know how to save himself, at least, and she +determined to "take chances" with him. + +Tavia did deign to sit up and notice the rate of speed the old horses +had acquired. Her dark eyes shot glances of daring admiration, and she +reminded her companions that Roman chariot races were "not in it," +just then. + +Dorothy stood up bravely and agreed to call out, when they should be +too near the river. + +Suddenly there was a crash, and then the horses bolted! + +"Something snapped!" called Dorothy. "Something is broken!" + +No need to announce this, for, with the ominous sound, one of the +horses broke from its traces, and the other was now dragging the old +wagon along by the straps that had withstood the jerks and plunges. + +"Oh, we will be killed!" screamed Nita, "There's the river!" + +The girls made ready to jump. + +"Don't!" begged Dorothy. "You will be dragged along in this stuff. You +cannot jump through these braces." + +Truly they were imprisoned by the uprights of the old-fashioned +hayrick! But if they could not jump what could they do? Each face +showed its panic of fear. If only the one remaining horse would break +loose, it might not be so dangerous to fall over in all that hay! + +A shriek from Nita turned all eyes to her. "The man!" she screamed. +"He has fallen--under the wheels!" + +By a single impulse Dorothy and Tavia grasped one of the rungs of the +rick, and they threw their full weight on it until it snapped--then +broke! + +"Quick!" cried Dorothy. "Jump after me!" + +Tavia needed no second invitation. In an instant she had followed +Dorothy Dale, and, as they landed in the dusty roadway, shaken up, but +not otherwise hurt, the runaway horse, freed from the interference of +its mate that had broken loose, continued to drag the hayrick toward +the dangerous river, which bubbled over the black and sharp rocks, +scarcely concealed by the foam that broke upon them. + +"Oh, the girls! The girls in the wagon!" gasped Dorothy, and she +pressed bravely on, followed by Tavia. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TAVIA GOES BO-PEEPING + + +Well might Dorothy exclaim in terror at the fate that seemed imminent +for the girls left in the wagon--the girls of Glenwood School--her +dearest chums. Those of my readers who are familiar with the previous +volumes of this series, will, perhaps, pardon the rather unceremonious +manner in which I have just introduced the young ladies of this book. +To those who are reading of Dorothy Dale for the first time, a few +words of explanation may be necessary. And, in presenting the young +ladies of Glenwood School, I must at once apologize for, and criticise +Tavia Travers. + +From the very first book of the series entitled "Dorothy Dale, a Girl +of To-day," we find Dorothy striving bravely to induce Tavia to give +up her stagey ways. Every predicament in the story was a "scene" to +Tavia, while but for Dorothy's intervention, and gentle determination, +these scenes would have been turned into tragedies for the wily Tavia. +Then, in the second book, "Dorothy Dale at Glenwood School," Tavia +and the young ladies of that institution got into many a "scrape" and, +while Dorothy was one of the girls, in the true sense of the word, she +managed to discriminate between fun and folly. + +But what sacrifices Dorothy was actually capable of making for a +friend were more clearly related in "Dorothy Dale's Great Secret," +where she shielded Tavia from the consequences of her daring and +foolish venture, of running away with a theatrical company. Through +two more books of the series, "Dorothy Dale and Her Chums," and +"Dorothy Dale's Queer Holidays," we find Dorothy still busy trying to +reform Tavia, and while in each of the books there is plenty of other +work for Dorothy to attend to, it seems that Tavia is her one +perpetual charge. What Tavia thinks fun is not always of the safe +sort, and what Dorothy thinks necessary Tavia often thinks may be +passed by as some subtle joke. So it will be seen that each of these +two interesting characters always has her own particular following, +while the friendship between Tavia and Dorothy has withstood every +possible test. + +So we find the same young ladies in the present story, still indulging +in their favorite pastime--getting into and out of mischief. + +They had been out riding on an improvised chariot--a hayrick of the +old-fashioned kind, like a cradle, filled with the fragrant timothy +and redtop, when the accident, narrated in the first chapter, took +place. + +As Tavia and Dorothy ran after the wagon containing their friends, +while the vehicle swayed from side to side in the road, they saw it +give a sudden lurch, and almost topple over on the steep embankment +which descended to the river. + +Dorothy gave a gasp of fear, and Tavia covered her eyes with her hand. +The next moment Dorothy saw the driver of the wagon crawling out from +a clump of bushes. Guessing that he was not badly hurt, she ran on, +for she had halted momentarily when she saw the vehicle sway so +dangerously. Together she and Tavia sprang forward, to reach, if +possible, before it toppled over, the swaying, bounding wagon. + +Whether from an unconquerable spirit of fun, or from motives purely +humane, Tavia had snatched up armful after armful of the loose hay, +which had been spilled out on the road. In doing this she never halted +in her running, but stooped over, like some gleaner in a field, urged +on by the approach of night. + +"Oh!" cried Dorothy. "If we can only reach them before----" + +A figure darted out on the road just ahead of them, and the unexpected +move interrupted Dorothy's exclamation. + +"Oh, a man!" shouted Tavia, who was somewhat in advance. "Now we--will +be--all right!" + +Yes, a man had started down the hill after the runaway, but just how +or why Tavia was sure that this would make things right, was not clear +to Dorothy. + +"He can run!" she called, "Can't he, Tavia?" + +"Can't he!" replied Tavia. "But I'm not going to let him have all the +glory. Here," and she tossed a bundle of hay to Dorothy. "Take it +along for the--hospital beds. I'm going--to--run!" + +"Going--to!" repeated Dorothy, all out of breath from her own efforts +to catch up to the runaway. + +But Tavia darted on. The strange man kept well ahead. Dorothy paused +one moment from sheer exhaustion. Then she saw the wagon overturn! + +The next instant she noted that the stranger had grabbed the horse by +the trailing reins. + +"Quick!" shrieked Tavia. "The girls may be under the cart!" + +With strength gathered from every desperation Dorothy ran on. + +She was beside the overturned wagon now, and without uttering a word +she crawled in through the upright sticks, down amid the dust and hay. + +Three girls, so wound together as to look like one, lay on one side of +the wrecked vehicle. + +"Dorothy!" gasped Rose-Mary. "Are you safe!" + +"Yes, but you--Nita and Edna?" gasped Dorothy, pantingly. + +"I think Nita has fainted," replied Rose-Mary. "But Edna is all right. +Where is Tavia?" + +"Safe," answered Dorothy. "A strange man stopped the runaway. Tavia is +helping hold the horse. We must get the traces loose before we can +attend to Nita." + +She made her way out of the overturned wagon. The traces were +unfastened and the horse was free, and the strange man was actually +astride the animal. + +"Why," exclaimed Dorothy, "that horse will bolt again. You had best +make him fast somewhere!" + +The stranger looked at her with the air of a Chesterfield. + +"By kindness we alone subdue," he said. + +Dorothy stared at him. What could he mean? + +Tavia seemed to have forgotten the predicament of her companions--she +appeared charmed by the stranger--who really was good looking. + +"There comes the man who owns the horse," remarked Dorothy, as the +frenzied farmer, whip in hand, ran toward the stranger, yelling all +sorts of unintelligible things in the way of threats and predictions. +He would see to it personally, he declared, that these things would +happen to the man who dared ride his used-up horse. + +"A fight to finish it off," exulted Tavia, and Dorothy, for the +moment, felt as if she could find it in her heart to despise so +frivolous a girl. The next second she remembered Nita, and turned back +to the wrecked hayrick. + +"It's all well enough for you to laugh," complained the +badly-frightened Nita, "but I can't see where the joke comes in. Just +look at me!" + +"A perfect beauty!" declared Tavia. "The rips are all in one piece. +That rent near the hem is positively artistic--looks like the river +Nile!" + +It was some time later, but they were still in the roadway. The farmer +had patched up his damaged rig, but would not listen to the girls' +appeals to give them a lift toward town. He insisted it was all their +fault for laughing and scaring the horses, and he vowed vengeance on +the man who really had saved the team from positive destruction in the +river. + +The strange young man, after considerable gusto, all of which was +wasted on the farmer, but hugely enjoyed by Tavia at least, had made +his way off, leaving the girls discreetly to their woes. No one was +actually injured, although, as Nita said, costumes had suffered +severely. + +"Wasn't he queer?" remarked Cologne, as she shook small bundles of hay +from her Glenwood cap and blouse. "I thought I would laugh outright +when he mounted the old horse a second time. He looked like somebody +on a variety stage." + +"Yes," added Tavia, "and Dorothy had to spoil the show by inducing him +to give up the act. What if the farmer did ply the whip? That would +only heighten the effect." + +"Since we have to walk," Nita reminded the others, "it might be +advisable to start." + +"Great head," commented Tavia, "but do you realize that we shall be +locked out? That the ogresses of 'Glen' will be ready--axe in hand, +block in evidence, grin prominent----" + +"Tavia!" exclaimed Dorothy, "do gather yourself up! That bundle of hay +seems enchanted. As Nita says, we must be going." + +Tavia almost lolled over on the soft hay, then she gathered it up with +conspicuous tenderness, pressed it fondly to her heart, and agreed to +start on. Each of the other girls was taking with her, back to the +school, a similar souvenir; but Cologne and Dorothy threw theirs over +their shoulder, in true rustic fashion, while Nita complained that she +was not able to carry hers; though she did manage to bribe Tavia with +a promised return of the chocolates to tie hers in with the extra +sized bundle that Tavia was lugging along. + +"Five miles of this will just about do me," declared Cologne. "I think +it would have been infinitely better for us to have hitched on to the +hay wagon, in spite of the old farmer." + +"And to think that we paid him in advance! It's a wonder we have never +had a single lesson in financial economy at gloomy Glenwood. 'How to +cheat farmers; or, how to die game in a hayrick!' I must suggest the +text to Mrs. Pangborn, our honored principal," declared Edna, as she, +too, made her way along under the uncertain weight of a bundle of hay. + +"But what are we dragging this stuff along for?" asked Dorothy. "Sure +as fate, we will have to drop them when we get within the city, and +why not anticipate? I vote for a drop right here!" + +"Never!" declared Tavia. "These are to make up the sacrificial altar. +If old Pangborn growls--won't allow the doors open--we will do it with +a match!" and she signified that the hay would make a spontaneous +blaze in that lamentable instance. + +Dorothy saw more than a joke in the remark. Tavia was so ridiculously +daring! It would be very wise to get rid of the hay before entering +the sacred precincts of Glenwood. + +The sight was most absurd. Five pretty girls, each dressed in the +Glenwood blue and white, and each with a bundle of fragrant hay on her +shoulder. + +"There's a lamb!" declared Cologne. "I could do worse than give Mary's +pet a treat," and she ran to the rail fence, jumped up on one of the +queer crossed posts, and called all sorts of names to the surprised +sheep, that scarcely stopped grazing to notice the girls outside of +the barrier. + +This spectacle induced the other students to climb up on the crooked +fence, and presently the old rails were ornamented with the five girls +in blue, with the hay bundles in hand! + +It was getting dusk, and the sunset did not detract from the unusual +scene. Great shafts of gold and scarlet fell down on that old fence, +and a prettier sight could scarcely have been worked up, much less +imagined. + +"Here, sheepy, sheepy!" called Tavia. + +"Here, lamby, lamby, lamby!" pleaded Dorothy. + +"Here, woolly, woolly, woolly!" invited Nita. + +"Here, kinky, kinky, kinky!" induced Edna. + +"Here, Flossy, Flossy, Flossy!" persuaded Cologne. + +But never a lamb, sheep or other species of animal named made a move +toward the fence. + +"I'll get a few!" declared Tavia, jumping down over the fence, into +the meadow, and racing wildly among the sheep. + +"The ram! The ram!" shouted Edna. "Tavia! He is coming directly for +you!" + +This was a signal for Tavia to turn back to the fence. The ram did +follow her. She pulled down a rail, and bolted through the opening +just as the savage animal and the great herd of sheep followed. + +"Run, sheep, run!" yelled Edna, as the much-terrified girls scattered +hither and thither, along the road, fully conscious that they were +responsible for the safety of the frantic flock that had broken loose +from their pasture. + +"Now for the farmer and his whip!" gasped Dorothy. "I thought we had +had enough of that for one afternoon!" + +"Too much is enough," answered Edna dryly, "but Tavia likes it. May +she have a real account of the little lamb story for the English class +to-morrow." + +"Look! They are all following her!" moaned Nita. + +"And they seem to think she is taking them home to supper!" added +Cologne. + +"What shall we do?" wailed Nita. "We will surely all be arrested!" + +"Wish the police van would hurry up, then," sighed Edna, "I am getting +tuckered out," and she glanced back again, to behold Tavia in the very +midst of the flock of the now somewhat quieted sheep. + +"A nice cool cell wouldn't be so bad," declared Cologne, who, being +inclined to flesh, was apt to give out before her companions would +give in. + +"How are the 'Bo-Peepers'?" yelled Tavia, with a flourish of a stick +meant to represent a shepherdess crook. "Or do you prefer the old +Roman? There will be all kinds of conflagrations when Nero comes!" + +"Isn't she dreadful!" retorted Nita, whose face was really a sickly +white. "She gets us all into trouble, and then gloats over it." + +"You wanted something real to write about to-day," Edna reminded her. +"This would make a regular thriller!" + +"But, as a matter of fact," began Dorothy seriously, as she stopped, +and her companions halted with her, "what had we best do? We cannot +walk into Glenwood Hall with a herd of sheep at our heels," for the +animals were now following the girls along the road. + +"Let's shoo them," suggested Cologne. "Maybe they'll shoo nicely." + +"We'll get shooed when we try to get in to-night," murmured Edna. "And +just when we were finishing up the year in rather good style. I hadn't +a single thing against my name----" + +"There's that man who saved the team," gasped Dorothy. "Mercy! +Wherever does he come from? A man is worse than two herds of +sheep--in our scrape with Mrs. Pangborn!" + +Just as mysteriously as he had appeared before, the man with the +Chesterfieldian walk, and the big slouch hat, turned into the road. +Where he had come from, nobody could imagine. + +"He has followed us!" breathed Nita. "Oh, dear me!" and she pressed +her handkerchief to her eyes. + +"If you cry we will tell him you are too ill to walk, and then, maybe +he'll offer to carry you," blurted out Edna. "If one insists on being +a baby, she must be babied." + +This charge rather frightened Nita back to courage, or at least she +pretended to it, for she promptly quickened her pace, and even hid +away her handkerchief. + +Tavia, too, saw the strange man as he emerged, seemingly, from +nowhere, for she started on a run, laughing uproariously at the herd +of sheep that trotted as she increased her pace, turned as she turned, +and, in fact, seemed to be at a regular game of "follow the leader." + +The young man stood carefully posed in the path, just where a huge +stone afforded him a setting for his rather dusty boots. + +"What a chap!" commented Edna. "Seems to me he has enough strikes and +poses to make a good cigar box picture." + +"Any particular brand?" asked Dorothy. "I might label it +'Spectacular,' with all rights reserved." + +"Look at Tavia," begged Cologne with a smile. "The rights are +'reserved' in her particular direction." + +"She's welcome," finished Dorothy, just as Tavia reached the spot +where the other girls were now waiting, and where the young man stood +like a statue. + +"Another situation?" remarked the man, doffing his hat in the most +gorgeous bow. + +"Yes, the climax," answered Tavia. "What do you think of the scenery?" + +"Mercy!" breathed Edna aside. "If they start that sort of talk we may +as well camp out to-night." + +But the young man did not express his opinion publicly. Instead, he +stepped up to Tavia, and presently the two were conversing in subdued +voices. + +Dorothy did not like that. She, in fact, did not fancy this young +man's "apparition" habit, and she now determined to force Tavia to a +sense of her own obligations to reach Glenwood School without further +delay. + +"Girls," called Dorothy, "we really must hurry! Thank you, very much" +(this to the strange man), "for your kindness this afternoon, but you +see now, we have to get back to school. We would not have been out so +long but for the fact that this is privilege day--school closes +Thursday." + +"Then why not make use of the privilege?" the young man asked, with a +sly look at Tavia. "We don't meet--professional friends every +afternoon." + +The thought that Tavia might have met this man while engaged in her +brief and notable stage career, as related in "Dorothy Dale's Great +Secret," flashed across Dorothy's mind. With it came a thought of +danger--Tavia was scarcely yet cured of her dramatic fever. + +The sheep stood around in the most serio-comic style, and the seminary +girls were scarcely less comic. + +"Oh!" screamed Nita, suddenly, "there comes that awful farmer! And he +has a whip!" + +"Can't ride off on a sheep this time," remarked Tavia with ill-chosen +levity. "Let's run!" + +"Yes, let's!" chimed in Dorothy with a knowing look at Cologne. + +At this the girls started off; and they did run! + +When they reached the foot of the steep hill, Dorothy stopped to look +back. + +There, on the summit, stood the unmistakable form of the young man. +Beside him posed the equally unmistakable form of the farmer and his +whip. + +And the sheep were flocked around them! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE DISASTROUS DRAG + + +"It was perfectly delicious!" + +"I'm glad you think so, Tavia. No, I am not, either; I am very sorry." + +Dorothy put aside her notes, and sighed the last sigh for one +night--that sort of content signal with which young girls usually put +the final period to labor. + +"Oh, Dorothy!" and Tavia flung herself down directly upon her friend's +nicely pressed robe. "You always want to put the damper on. What's the +use of being girls if we can't be----" + +"Idiots!" added Dorothy, and she wondered why she so strongly opposed +Tavia. "I'll tell you, Tavia, this business of chatting with strange +young men is nothing less than foolish. I can't see where it becomes +funny." + +"It begins," said Tavia, balancing her pencil on her third finger, "at +the point where Dorothy Dale turns preacher. A poor sermon is +absolutely--funny." + +"Thank you," returned Dorothy, without recovering her good nature, +"but you must remember, Tavia, that we are leaving Glenwood in two +days." + +"I may leave to-night if you keep on," declared Tavia. "Dorothy, I +never knew you to be so obstinate." + +"Nor have I ever known you to be so foolish. Tavia, that young man +is--queer. He is mysterious, and I have a feeling that he means harm." + +"Pure jealousy, Doro," and Tavia jumped up and flung herself almost +upon the girl who sat in the shade of the study lamp. "I am so sorry +he did not take the notion to you." + +Dorothy was accustomed to these outbreaks, and they merely meant a +gesture, or whatever fling came with the speech; the words indicated +absolutely nothing. She gave Tavia an answering smile. "Well, dear, we +won't quarrel, at least this time. But see that it doesn't happen +again." + +"When shall we go home? Dear me! It does seem a long time between +holidays," and Tavia tumbled down in the most nondescript heap. + +"I shall be glad to see dear old Dalton," replied Dorothy. "Father and +the boys are going with me to settle things up there. Then we will go +to Aunt Winnie's. I hope you and I will be able to spend our +vacations together. You know I am going to camp with Cologne, and she +has included you in the invitation." + +"As Dorothy's paper-weight--no, it can't be that--I could never keep +anything down--it must have been Dorothy's watch-charm," interrupted +Tavia, with a slight show of sarcasm. + +"Rose-Mary was particularly anxious that you should come, Tavia," +declared Dorothy, with emphasis, "and she has the reputation of never +giving an insincere invitation. She likes you, and wants to enjoy you, +as well as to have you enjoy yourself." + +"Three cheers for the enjoys," retorted Tavia, "and may their shadow +never grow less. But say, Dorothy, how did you get out of the scrape? +I was a traitor to run, but somehow I couldn't stand for Higley's +look. When she puts her alleged features at half mast, and sounds +taps, I have to quit." + +"But we had to stand. I can't see any good reason for telling you +about it--making a report to the deserter." + +"Now, Doro," and Tavia fairly melted into sweetness, "I simply cannot +slumber until I have heard. Did Nita peach?" + +"There was nothing to hide in our part of the--comedy," declared +Dorothy. "Of course, we skipped the man part, and left out the hay +cart dump, besides omitting the sheep act, and forgetting the farmer's +whip----" + +"Hip! Hip!" threatened Tavia. "Couldn't have done better myself. And +no one ordered to the guard house?" + +"You have not yet been accounted for," said Dorothy, with well-aimed +meaning. "Miss Higley said she would see to your account herself." + +"Will, eh? Not if I see her first. Did any one say I was there? I +should think, with such remarkable skill at omitting, that you might +have had the good taste to omit me." + +"Tavia, does it strike you that this is packing-up night? That +to-morrow we make all our bouquets of remembrance, more or less +artificial, and that the day following----" + +"We flit the flutter! And good riddance! I just abhor school--notice +how I have improved? Last year I 'hated' it." + +"And I must admit you have improved otherwise than in your +vocabulary," said Dorothy. "Seems to me you have grown almost tall." + +"Thanks, pretty maiden. Any more in stock like that?" and Tavia jumped +up to get a look in the glass. "Tell me, before I shrink--in your +opinion," she begged, making queer passes before the mirror. "But say, +Doro, do you ever take a look at yourself? I have to say you are +simply splendid, and that's putting it mild. The Dalton youths will be +suiciding on account of the returned Calla--that lily is the one that +stands beings boxed up without food or--atmosphere--for half the year, +I believe, hence my comparison: you have withstood Glenwood, and come +out of the ring more beautiful than when you entered. Oh, you need not +protest! Everybody admits that you are a perfect Dresden, animated, of +course," and Tavia gazed with unstinted admiration at the girl under +the study lamp. + +"Well, I hope I have not actually grown homely," conceded Dorothy, +"for Aunt Winnie is so fond of a good appearance." + +"Your hair is darker--that is, on the ripe corn shade. I like that +better than the fourteen karat variety. I only wish mine would turn +mahogany. I have a mind to turn it." + +"I wonder the thoughts do not poison the roots--the idea of you saying +a word against your hair! Why, it's simply wonderful! Edna says it +sings in the sunshine." + +"Oh, Ned pities me I suppose--she has such a fine crop herself. But I +would--love--to--be handsome!" + +"Suppose you start in to drag down some of that stuff you insist on +taking home, Tavia," said Dorothy, indicating the decorations that +hung on Tavia's side of the room. "Then it will be handsome is as----" + +"Handsome didn't," misquoted Tavia. "I don't mind dragging it down, +but I have a mind to get some one to help me. I might give out that we +were having a 'doings' and so entice Ned Ebony, and a couple of the +others." + +"You compendium of laziness! You proverbial prolonger! There, I have +used up more energy in giving expression to those expressions----" + +"Than I should have used up in expressing the whole art gallery _via_ +the Amalgamated Express Company. Now, Doro, I am going to give a +dragging-down evening. If you have anything you value, that might get +in the drag, take notice," and she left the room, to gather in the +innocent victims of her plot. + +Dorothy laughed. She did love Tavia, and once more they were +separating from the days and nights spent together at dear old +Glenwood. The girls had occupied room "nineteen" in spite of the fact +that their advance in class entitled them to other quarters, but each +loved the apartment, and they had "grown into it," as Tavia remarked. + +"I believe I had better rescue my things," mused Dorothy, "for there +is no telling where the dragging may end," and, suiting her act to the +words, she promptly put a pile of cushions on the highest chair, and +began to take from her side of the room such trinkets as are +inconceivably dear to the heart of every schoolgirl. + +How differently her division of the room was decorated! Tavia had +actually drawn a line--clothes line--straight across the room, marking +out the territory of each. Dorothy had put up pictures, birds' nests, +flags and the home colors, while Tavia had revelled in collapsed +footballs, moth-eaten slouch hats, shot through and through, and +marked with all sorts of labels, of the college lad variety. Then she +had a broken bicycle wheel, in and out of which were laced her hair +ribbons and neckties, this contrivance being resorted to in order to +save the junk from the regulation pile--it being thus marked as a +useful article. There were pictures, too, on Tavia's side of the room, +but how they got there one could never guess from a birds-eye +view--for the hanging indicated a sudden storm on "art day," without +paper-weights. This same blow included the mottoes, and wise sayings; +trophies of certain victories in the way of narrow escapes from +dismissals, or such mementos as suspicious games outside the school +grounds. + +"No wonder Tavia wants help," thought Dorothy, as she hurried to get +her own things safely put in the box that stood ready. "I declare, she +has the queerest taste--if such things are included in the taste +faculty." + +A shuffle and hum at the portal indicated the arrival of Tavia's +guests. + +"Enter!" called Tavia, as she threw open the door, "and with the kind +permission of the fair hostess, proceed to drag. 'Drag if you must +this good old bed, but spare my sister's rags, she said,'" and she +deliberately kicked Dorothy's box across the room, while Edna, or Ned, +proceeded to "shoot up" everything she could reach or at which she +could lunge. Cologne, being Dorothy's friend, did the same thing on +Tavia's side, Molly Richards, known as Dick, was not particular on +which side she dragged, just so long as she got a hold on something. + +"Oh, girls, do be careful!" pleaded Dorothy. "I have a tea set here I +am so fond of--" + +But the warning came too late, for at that very moment Ned had thrown +a picture, frame and all, into the box that Dorothy had started to +pack the tea set in. There was a crash, and even the reckless girls +paused, for the sound of broken china is as abhorrent to any girl as +is the bell for class to the Glenwoods. + +Tavia dropped the pop gun she had been holding. "Doro, I am so sorry," +she said. "I know you valued that set so highly. Take mine for it." + +"Oh, no, indeed," replied Dorothy, her voice strained, for the set had +been a gift from her little brother Roger, and he had used the first +money he ever earned to buy it. "Perhaps I can have it mended." + +Cologne, Edna, and Tavia put their heads together. Presently they +apologized to Dorothy and left the room. + +"Wonder what's up now?" Dorothy asked herself. She did feel +badly--that tea set of all the things in her room! + +She recalled how Roger had written that he had a surprise for her; +then the arrival of the blue cups and saucers, and the note saying +that the boy had sold lemonade, and thus earned his first money. Then, +that he had spent the money for that set. And to think that it was +ruined, for the crash told the woeful story of many pieces! + +Dorothy did not feel like finishing her packing. She felt more like +having a good cry. She was thinking of home, of her father, the major, +then of her brother Joe, older than Roger, and lastly of dear, +impetuous Roger himself. + +Soon she would be home to them again! Was she not their mother ever +since she could remember? For her own darling mother had been called +away from her little ones so early in a promising life! + +Sounds of voices in the hall roused her from her reverie. + +Tavia entered first. But her following! Girl after girl crowded into +the small room, until its very capacity was taxed beyond its +possibilities. + +"We've come!" announced Cologne. + +"So I see," replied Dorothy, all confusion. + +"To make amends for our damage," continued Cologne. "Every girl on the +floor has contributed to the collection and we venture to present to +you the most unique tea set that has ever gone in or out of Glenwood. +Here," and she set her contribution down, "is my prettiest piece." + +"And here is mine," followed Edna, placing on the table a real +gold-and-white creamer. + +"And mine--with my love," whispered Nita, putting down an egg-shell +cup and saucer. + +"Oh!" gasped Dorothy. "How lovely!" + +"And, Doro, dear," added Lena Berg, "I brought my tankard. It was the +best piece, and nothing else would satisfy the committee." + +"I am sure----" began Dorothy. + +"Not too sure," interrupted Dick, or Molly Richards. "For here is +mine--it came all the way from Holland!" + +"Girls! How can I take all these beautiful things? I am sure you must +want them your own selves----" + +"Not half as much as we want you to have them," declared Cologne. "The +fact is, we were just waiting for such a chance as this. We are all +gone--soft to-night. Take care we don't kiss you, Doro." + +Tears were in Dorothy's eyes. She loved her school friends, and this +was an affecting parting. + +Tavia snatched up the banjo. She sang: + + "Good night! Good night! Good night! Good night! + Good night again; God bless you. + And, oh, until we meet again, + Good night! Good night! + God bless you!" + +The strain swelled into a splendid chorus, and, while they sang, the +girls wrapped up the china pieces, putting each safely in the box +beside the damaged ones. + +"Speech! Speech!" came the demand from Tavia's corner, and without +further ceremony Dorothy was lifted bodily up on the table and +compelled to make a speech. It was a dangerous, undertaking, for the +sofa pillows that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere put in so +much punctuation that the address might have been put down as a series +of stops. However, Dorothy did manage to say something, for which +effort she was roundly applauded. + +The night bell called them to the sense of school duties still +unfinished. + +"Oh, that old bell!" complained Nita, pouting. + +Cologne drew Dorothy over in the corner. "Ask Tavia about the man on +the horse," she whispered. "She got a letter from him!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE PREMATURE CAMP + + +After all, the last days of school came and went, and the Glenwood +girls had started off for their respective homes before Dorothy had a +chance to fully realize that the vacation had really begun, and that +each day of that delightful calendar now seemed suspended from the +very skies, illumined with the prospects of the very best of good +times. + +Dorothy had promised to spend a greater part of the summer with +Rose-Mary Markin at the Markin summer place, a delightful spot on Lake +Monadic in Maine. This plan was particularly fortunate, as Mrs. +Winthrop White, Dorothy's Aunt Winnie, with whom the Dales had lately +made their home, was to go abroad, while Ned and Nat, Dorothy's +cousins, had arranged such a varied itinerary for their summer sports, +that one might imagine, to hear the schedule, that the particular +summer involved must have been of the brand which has neither night +nor autumn to mark its limits. + +Then Major Dale, and Dorothy's brothers, Joe and Roger, were to take a +long-promised cruise on the St. Lawrence, so that Dorothy was quite at +liberty to plan for herself. + +But these plans could never interfere with a visit to the Cedars, the +White's summer home, and here, on the afternoon of which we write, +Dorothy found herself at last surrounded by her family, and submerged +in their joyous welcome. + +"Roger, how you have grown!" she kept saying as her eyes, time after +time, sought out the "baby" brother of whom Dorothy was so fond. "And +Joe! Why, you are getting to look so much like Nat----" + +"Here, now! No knocking!" called out the jolly Nat. "I don't want to +be handsome, but I simply refuse to look ten years younger!" This last +was said in imitation of the "lady-like way" girls are supposed to +have in expressing their compliments. + +"And me?" asked Ned, pulling himself up out of his high-enough height +before his cousin. "What is the verdict? Am I not--ahem--stunning?" + +"You are big enough, that's sure," admitted Dorothy, giving him a +look of unstinted admiration, "and as to being stunning--I just +imagine that you are even that--in your golf suit." + +"There now!" and Nat went off into kinks; "he has to wear knickers to +look cute. You ought to see me in my football togs if you want to +behold something really magnificent." + +"Here, here!" called out Major Dale. "When I was a lad it was +considered a crime to keep a mirror in one's room. We used to keep one +blind shut to get a reflection on the window pane for the neck-tie +business, and we took a chance at the hair-part. But to hear you young +ones! What you actually need, boys, is a little of the real thing in +training. Why don't you pitch a tent out on your own river here, and +go in for roughing it?" + +"Great!" declared the boys' chorus. + +"Now that's something like," continued Nat, "and it would do a lot +toward patching up a fellow's finances. Let's see. Where's that +itinerary? Suppose we make it two weeks at home--on the co-operative." + +Like the proverbial wildfire, the suggestion spread, until within a +short hour the boys, with Dorothy, were out on the river edge, +selecting the spot upon which to pitch the "War Tent"--for war they +declared it would be, "against masculine beauties." Dorothy found +herself so busy planning the boys suits, figuring out what they would +require in the way of supplies and furniture, though this last was to +be cut down to mere necessities, that she almost felt her own camping +days had begun, as Nat expressed it. + +"Now that comes of having a girl around," declared Ned. "If you had +not come, Dorothy, we would never have had that admiration conference, +and then we could never have discovered our own beautiful river, for +in this case, I don't mind using a correct, and all right adjective, +although usually I consider anything adjectivey rather too much of a +spread." + +He sauntered once more to the river's brink, where a short distance +down stream could be seen the _Lebanon_, the family rowboat. Surely +the place did warrant the boy extravagant use of "a correct +adjective," and did look "adjectivey" away into the superlative. + +Nat found just the spot for the tent, Roger and Joe were racing about +like little human greyhounds, intent upon the scent of fun, and +Dorothy took time to decide that perhaps this camp would prove as +delightful as she expected that one to be, whither, in a few days, she +must journey, and leave the dear home-folks, reluctantly, indeed. But +then boys' fun always seemed like their idea of Fourth of July--just +as noisy and just as unreliable. At the same time they always managed +to put it off with a roar, and this roar had already set in for the +Blanket Indians of "Cut-it-out-Camp." + +Dorothy had promised her Aunt Winnie not to stay too long away from +her, as there were so many things to be discussed before the aunt and +her favorite niece should part for the summer. So that, now, Dorothy +was hurrying to finish up her part of the camp map, and go back to the +Cedars. + +"We fellows must get a few good strong poles over there on the knoll," +said Nat, "and I see no better time to get them than right now." + +"Then I must go home," spoke Dorothy. "I have already overstayed my +leave of absence." + +"Can you go back alone?" asked Ned. "If not, I'll cut the trees by +cutting out the work. See how well we have named the camp. It's in +working order already." + +"No you don't," interrupted Nat. "You've got to do your share of +everything." + +"I'll run back while you are talking about it," declared Dorothy. "I'm +sure I know the way perfectly well." + +"Be sure," called Ned, "for there are turns and twists in that +woodland, that I think you are scarcely familiar with." + +But Dorothy was gone. She ran along through the twilight-tinted woods, +stopping now and then to look at the gray squirrels that capered up +and down the trees, some making so bold as to run along the fence at +her very side. + +"This will make an ideal camping grounds," she was thinking. "I wonder +the boys never thought of using it before." + +Suddenly she heard a rustle in the brush. She stopped and listened. It +sounded again, this time nearer. She looked about her, and, for the +first time, realized that she was, indeed, in deep woods. + +To call for the boys, Dorothy knew would be worse than useless, for it +would simply notify any listener of her fears, so, instead, she walked +along boldly enough, even whistling lightly as any Glenwood girl would +do "when in doubt," according to the Glenwood code. + +But she had not more than crossed the first small stream, made up of a +number of springs, running through this wood toward the river, when +something--a most grotesque figure--stepped out in her path! + +It was too absurd to really frighten her at first, for it apeared to +be a boy dressed up as a bandit, and surely any such prank could mean +nothing serious, she thought. + +"Good afternoon," Dorothy said, attempting to pass. + +A queer growl was her answer, and the figure in the Indian suit, with +a mask of red cloth, and all sorts of trappings hanging about from +belts and straps, actually pointed what seemed to be a real gun at +her. + +"Hands up!" came the command. + +Dorothy still felt like laughing. Surely this must be a trick of some +boy in the neighborhood, she decided. + +"Hands up!" again came the command, this time the gun being +deliberately aimed at her head! + +"What do you want?" demanded Dorothy. "Why should you stop me--with +your nonsense?" + +Dropping the old-fashioned gun the boy (for such she decided the +person was) jumped at her, and grasped her hands, at the same time +making an effort to tie them, with a bit of rope from the belt +trappings. + +"Stop! Stop!" Screamed Dorothy, now thoroughly frightened. "Help! +Help!" she yelled at the very top of her terrified voice. + +"Easy, easy," came the exasperating, sneering words from the bandit. +"Take it easy or it will be all the worse for you. Now where do you +keep the goods?" + +He had actually succeeded in tying her hands and now held her prisoner +with one strong arm about her waist, and with the other hand he was +endeavoring to unclasp her beautiful little gold bracelet. Fearing to +lose her footing, in her frantic efforts to get free, Dorothy thought +quickly. It would be better to lose her jewelry, than to have her life +perhaps imperiled. + +"You may take my--gold," she panted. "You seem to be stronger than I, +and if you are not crazy you must be--a thief!" + +"If you shout--I'll gag you," came the astonishing declaration, while +the bandit struggled with the bracelet, and almost cut Dorothy's wrist +on the knife with which he was trying to cut loose the circlet. + +"Oh, don't," pleaded Dorothy. "Let go my hand and I'll give it you!" + +How she wanted to yell! But if he should tie her mouth! + +Voices sounded! + +"Oh, it must be the boys," thought Dorothy. "If only they come this +way!" + +Her assailant heard the same voices, and desperately he pulled at the +locked bracelet. As he made one final attempt to wrench it from +Dorothy's wrist, his knife slipped, and cut clear across his own hand, +the blood spurting from a long wound. With a cry he dropped his hold +on Dorothy, and attempted to staunch the flow of blood. + +Freed, Dorothy ran--ran as she felt she had never known she could run! +She did not stop to call, although she judged that the boys might be +near by; but ran on, across the marshes without any heed to the water, +that even splattered up in her face, as she jumped from edge to edge +of the rivulets, making her way out to the open roadway. + +How her heart pounded! It did not seem to beat, but rather to strike +at her breast and almost to strangle her. + +It was getting quite dusk, but once on the road and she would feel +safe. + +"Hey there!" came a call in a familiar voice. + +The boys were just coming out of the woods at the far end of the oaks. + +"What's your hurry!" demanded Nat. + +Dorothy felt like sinking down. The relief was almost as overwhelming +as had been her fear. + +"Oh, do hurry!" she called rather feebly. "I am almost dead!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE SEARCH + + +When Dorothy told her folks of what had happened, the boys could +scarcely believe the strange story. That any one should actually make +such a wild-west attempt at robbery, within reach of the Cedars, +certainly did seem incredible. However, there was no disproving the +marks on the girl's arms, where they had been rudely tied, nor could +any one deny that in the attempt to remove her bracelet her delicate +wrist had been badly bruised. At first it was thought best to at once +notify the police, but, upon further consideration, Major Dale advised +keeping the matter quiet, hoping that some one in the neighborhood +would fall upon a clue to the daring young highwayman. + +"I do hope the mystery will be cleared up before I leave for camp," +remarked Dorothy, as the family sat in the beautiful library at the +Cedars, discussing the strange affair. "I should never be satisfied +with a written account of what may happen, when you find the culprit." + +"Oh, we can tell you that right now," declared Nat, warmly. "When we +find him we will lynch him, burn him at the stake, and have him +imprisoned for life. When that sentence shall have been served we will +make a fresh charge against him, and perhaps----" + +"Put him in a reformatory until he is twenty-one," finished Ned. +"Well, he deserves it! And to think that we should be almost within +call! Dorothy, I am inclined to question the wisdom of your silence. +Why didn't you yell like thunder?" + +"And have him put some terrible gag down my throat?" + +"And get all sorts of germs therefrom," added Joe. "Doro, you did just +right, and we are thankful that you got off as well as you did," and +her brother shook his head proudly, as if to say that a mere cousin +could hardly know how a closer relative would feel on such a matter. + +"I wish I could have seen him," mused Roger, to whom the whole story +seemed like a wonderful tale of the West. + +"Just for effect," put in Nat, with a laugh. "Roger is rather sorry he +missed the show--he always falls for the scary part." + +But Dorothy did not mind the child's natural curiosity. In fact she +told him again just how the strange robber was dressed, and how fierce +he looked at her through the holes in the red handkerchief. + +"Maybe he'll come around to the camp," said Roger hopefully. "I'm +going to have my rifle all ready." + +"And I haven't yet told you of the adventure we had at Glenwood, just +before school closed," went on Dorothy, realizing fully how delighted +Roger would be with the tale of the hay wagon accident, as well as +that of the scattered sheep. "We very nearly all lost a week's +vacation through it, the principal was so indignant." + +With splendid description, and with nothing startling left out, +Dorothy went over the story. Even the larger boys became interested, +and when she mentioned about the queer man, who sprang from nowhere, +and who did things so unlike other people, Ned and Nat exchanged sly +glances. + +"You say he rode horseback like a real Indian?" queried Nat. "And that +he sort of made up to my old friend Tavia?" + +"I knew you would be jealous, Nat," answered Dorothy. "But you really +must put Tavia out of your heart." + +"Never!" and Nat struck a most tragic attitude. "Tavia will ever be +the queen of my heart!" and he made a thump toward that organ, with +seeming suicidal intent. + +Dorothy laughed merrily. She knew very well how devoted Nat really was +to her own best girl friend, and she also knew that Tavia fully +appreciated the friendship of the handsome young cousin. + +"When's Tavia coming?" asked Roger, another special friend of the girl +without wisdom. + +"I hope she will be here before I start for the Lake," replied +Dorothy. "She always enjoys the Cedars more than she does any other +summer place." + +"Hope she does, too," replied Nat, with unhidden warmth. "I want to +put a flea in her ear before she runs any further risks with the +knight of the horse." + +"Really," said Dorothy, aside to Ned, when she had an opportunity of +speaking privately, "there is something very mysterious about that +man. I have an uncanny feeling regarding him, and Cologne told me he +had written a letter to Tavia." + +"Did, eh?" and Ned, the elder of the White boys, instantly put on a +defensive air. "Well, whoever he may be, he had better be careful. We +happen to have a----" + +"Children," called Major Dale, "if you are going out to look for your +bandit, you had best be at it. He will have all his best +holding-up-ing done and be off to his cave with the spoils before +you--beard him outside of his lair." + +Just what Ned was going to confide in Dorothy about the strange man +was left unfinished much to Dorothy's disappointment, for she felt +that the boys had some important clue as to the identity of the queer +character. However, there was no time for further confidences, and she +was obliged to run off to her little personal duties, while the boys +made ready to explore the woods. + +They proposed to lie in wait for the bandit for some time, and, if he +did not put in an appearance, they planned to explore the woodland for +at least half a mile around. They felt sure that they would come upon +his tracks not far from the spot where Dorothy had been attacked, for +it seemed reasonable to them, that any boy, or man, dressed as he was +described to have been gotten up, would not attempt to go far from his +hiding place. + +With the White boys were two college friends, also home in North +Birchland on their vacation, so that when the party actually started +out they made up quite a squad. + +"All got your guns?" asked Ned, as they sketched out their separate +lines of advance, and made secret marks to show the starting points. + +"Yep," replied Ben Nichols, the biggest boy in all North Birchland, +whose particular "gun" was a golf driver. + +So they started off. Roger insisted upon going, so Ned took him under +his protection, while Joe kept within safe distance of Don Aikins, the +young man from Bergen who claimed to be able to do anything, and any +one, in the athletic world. He swung his light stick expectantly at +the underbrush. Evidently he would be very pleased to have a swing at +the boy with the roped-on armor. + +It was splendid to have something real to hunt for--what boy, or girl +either, would not have enjoyed the prospect--when there was not a +question of being held up, but of holding up? + +Then they separated. + +Meanwhile Dorothy was very anxious. What if the boys should really +come upon this daring young villian? What if little Roger should run +off, and be overtaken? She almost wished she had never told the whole +story, for as she believed it all a wild whim of some foolish boy, she +also felt that he would quickly see the danger of his sport. It was +the morning after her adventure, and she was able now to regard it +with less terror. Still her wrist did pain and she still trembled when +she recalled how the knife had slipped, and how easily it could have +severed her own vein, instead of severing the skin of the masked +bandit. + +She was thinking this all over, while shaking the creases from her +lately-packed clothes, brushing the walking skirt, in which she had +traveled to North Birchland, and generally putting her things in +order, when Mrs. White, gowned for the street, entered the room. + +"My dear," she began, "I am afraid you will lose the out-door joy of +this delightful morning. Why not slip into your riding habit, and take +a run on Cricket? He would be so glad to do it himself, poor pony! The +boys are so busy with their camping that they forget a young horse +wants some fun too." + +"I should be glad to, Auntie, but I feel I must get my things +straightened out. The night I was packing up, the girls cut up so I +had to hurry everything into my boxes in all shapes," replied Dorothy. +"But I will take a canter as soon as I have finished," and she +gathered up the pieces of broken crockery that had remained in her +box after the "fall of China," as Tavia designated the accident to +her tea set. "How lovely you do look, Aunt Winnie," exclaimed the +girl, gazing with sincere admiration at the superb figure in rose +broadcloth. "I do believe you have grown taller!" + +"It's the style of this gown, my dear. These lines affect the Venus +length. Ned declared when he first saw me in this that I was put +together in sections--couldn't possibly be all in one piece," and she +laughed in the deep, velvety tone that, perhaps, more than anything +else about her interesting personality, proclaimed her the woman of +unmistakable culture. + +When she was gone, and Dorothy looked out into the inviting sunlight, +she hurried with her unpacking, and was soon dressed in the simple +tan-colored riding habit, that so well matched herself, as to make her +look like a shade of the morning, when she mounted the pretty little +bay pony, and set off at a canter along the North Birchland roads. + +She soon forgot the fright of her boy-bandit, although she did wonder +just where the boys were, and if they had found any evidence of that +person's depradations. + +"Come Cricket," she spoke to her pony. "We must try a cross-cut. I +want some mandrakes." + +[Illustration: "I DON'T WANT TO STRIKE YOU," SHE SAID, "BUT YOU KNOW +PRISONERS MUST OBEY." _Dorothy Dale's Camping Days Page 54_] + +The horse pricked up his ears in response. Dorothy turned into a field +where she thought the plum-shaped fruit would be found. + +Dismounting, she threw the reins over Cricket's head and allowed him +to nibble at the sweet grass. Yes, there were the mandrakes with their +finger-shaped leaves. And they were turning yellow. Dorothy gathered a +few, then stood up to look about her. + +"The bandit!" she gasped in a whisper. + +He had his hand on Cricket's rein! + +"Drop that!" she shouted. "You need not think I am afraid of you now!" + +"What?" asked the boy, dropping his disguise like a thing held by one +single fastening and moving as if to spring up into the saddle. + +Dorothy fairly jumped over the tall grasses, and was beside the horse +before the boy could mount. She grasped the bridle, and, at the same +time, more firmly grasped her riding crop. + +"Now I have you," she declared, gazing in wonderment at the very +good-looking boy who tried in vain to escape from the stirrup in which +his boot had stuck. Seeing her opportunity, Dorothy dropped the bridle +and crop, and, with both hands, grasped the boy very much in the same +manner as he had seized her the day before. + +"Let me go!" he snarled, struggling to free himself. + +"Not just now," replied Dorothy, coolly, for she saw that she was +quite able to hold him, and that he was really only a very slight +young boy. "I am going to have a try at your game," she added, smiling +at her versatility. + +The boy almost fell under the horse, but Cricket was so well trained +that he did not attempt to go beyond Dorothy's orders. + +"Steady, Cricket!" she said softly. "Now young man," to her prisoner, +"I am going to do something very original. I am going to tie you to +that pretty tree." + +"You are not!" he yelled, but she had her whip in her hand and she +raised it threateningly. + +"I don't want to strike you," she said, "but you know prisoners must +obey. Just step over there a foot or two!" + +There was such authority in her voice that the boy looked up +frightened. + +"Don't hit me," he pleaded, "and I'll go!" + +This was more than Dorothy expected, and as the lad moved to obey, she +raised, with her foot, the rope he had dropped with his disguise, and +grasped it in her hand with the riding crop. + +"You see school girls learn a lot about 'team work,'" she said. "We +have to do it in all sorts of games." + +"What are you going to do with me?" asked the boy, who actually seemed +more interested than frightened. + +"Well, first I am going to make you secure. See, I just slip this rope +around you--you had it all ready with that slip knot," and she put it +over his head before he had a chance to protest. It fell over his +hands, and she pulled the cord tight. Then, as he was standing near +the tree, she dropped the rope to his feet, gave it a jerk, and +springing around the tree she had him secure with two turns of the +hemp, and a knot made after the style of one Nat had showed her how to +fashion. + +The boy burst out laughing. + +"You're all right!" he declared. "You beat me! Where did you learn?" + +"Oh, I often played bandit with my brothers, but never with a stranger +before. Aren't you afraid? Don't you want to say your prayers?" + +"I've forgotten them," he said with a smile. "Guess I forgot them when +I started in at this--the two don't hitch." + +"Not exactly," and Dorothy was fixing the rope more tightly. "But you +did know some once. I can tell." + +"How?" he asked. + +"Because you don't swear. Didn't even when you cut your hand. How is +it?" + +"Sore," he replied. "Please don't pass the rope over the bandage." + +"I won't," answered Dorothy with some tenderness. + +The humor of the situation was apparent to both of them. + +Dorothy, however, was determined not to relent, she would hold him a +prisoner, she decided, until she found the boys. They would know best +what to do. Certainly such a desperado was unsafe to be at large. + +"Are you going to make the fire now?" he asked, in a mocking tone. + +"No, I am just going to jump on my horse and leave you here to think +of your sins. I am sure you will be here when I come back." + +"Oh please, miss, don't go for the police," he begged, tears welling +into his deep blue eyes. "I have never done anything wrong before--and +I can see, now, how silly I was." + +"I am not going after the officers," said Dorothy, "but you must know +that you have done very wrong--you might have hurt me seriously." + +"Oh, please let me go!" he pleaded. "I will promise you anything, and +I never want to play Wild West again!" + +"It was too real for play," retorted Dorothy. "But you need not be too +alarmed. My cousins are good boys." + +"Your cousins?" + +"Yes, the White boys. Do you know them?" + +"Ned and Nat? Of course I do! Oh, don't tell on me! Really I shall be +disgraced forever." + +He was crying. Dorothy felt herself weakening. + +"I'll tell you where everything is, and I'll promise you anything in +the world if you will only not--give me up. I can't bear to think +of--poor mother. I could stand it--but she----" + +"Is she ill?" and Dorothy quickly counted what a disgrace it would be +to a good mother to find her son in such a plight. + +"Yes, she is away from me all the time--with the nurses, and I haven't +seen her in a week. It would kill her to know what I've been doing." + +"Who takes care of you?" asked Dorothy. "Whom do you play with?" + +"Oh, father is away, and I have plenty of money to buy guns and +things. Then I go to plays a lot." + +This was the sequel to the story, Dorothy thought. Would it possibly +be safe for her to take the boy's word, and let him go? As he said he +would be disgraced, and perhaps her kindness to him might be his +clearest lesson. + +How good-looking he really was! Even standing there, tied, his clear +face, and light hair, could not be undervalued, from the point of fine +looks. + +Somehow he was just a bit like Roger--that same round baby face, and +that one unmanageable curl that would hang down on his forehead in +spite of years, and in spite of barbers. + +"I'll tell you where I put all the things," he fairly sobbed, "and +I'll give them all back, if you will only give me one more chance. I +remember the Bible always gave folks a second chance." + +Dorothy could not repress a smile. Yes, that was true--the Bible +taught forgiveness. + +"Quick! They're coming!" he pleaded. "Untie me, and I--I'll run." + +Dorothy heard the voices. Quickly she untied the slip knot and almost +as speedily as he had been tied, the lad was made free. + +"No, don't run," ordered Dorothy. "You can just stay with me--get some +grass for Cricket and----" + +"The togs! Where can I hide them?" + +"Give them here! Hello, there boys! Did you find him?" called +Dorothy, as that very moment she raised a clump of brush to hide the +"togs" under, and at the same time she hailed the boys who just turned +into the open field from the search through the woods. + +"Nary a find!" called back Nat. "Guess you were 'seeing things,' Doro. +We have come to the conclusion that the bandit lit on your brain." + +"Maybe," replied Dorothy. "But see, my Sir Galahad," indicating the +captive, who stood beside her. "He saved Cricket from a ditch, and I +haven't had a chance to get his other name." + +"Hello, Roy!" greeted Ned. "Glad to see you. Where have you been +keeping yourself? We wanted you the other day for the town games, but +couldn't find you." + +"Hello, Roy!" shouted the approaching Joe. + +"'Low there, Royal!" came from Roger, who just then threw away his +bandit stick. + +"I'm glad you are all acquainted," added Dorothy. "I must ask Roy to +come up to the house this afternoon." + +"I'll be there!" declared the boy, but only Dorothy knew why he spoke +so earnestly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OFF FOR CAMP + + +"But Cologne won't wait another day. I have got to be off to camp," +Dorothy insisted. + +"Isn't our camp good enough?" asked Joe. "We have not seen you for so +long--and now off you go again." + +"Yes, and I thought she was going to cook for us. I guess I don't want +to camp with the fellows cooking," murmured the disappointed Roger. + +"I am sure I would love to stay at the Cedars longer," their sister +assured them. "But you know I must keep my engagements, and I am to +live in a real camp this summer." + +"And Tavia is going, too," Roger went on. "If she was around here +there might be some fun." + +"Perhaps you both can come to Maine for a stay. Then you would see the +great big moose you hear so much about. If they are not to be found +alive I am sure we could manage to see some dead," said Dorothy. "Now +be good boys, and I'll see if I can arrange that." + +She was saying good-bye to her brothers, and a half hour later she had +taken her chair in the train bound through New England _en route_ for +Maine. The few days spent at home had been so delightful--even her +Wild-West adventure had ended up happily, for Royal Drake, the +erstwhile bandit, did all he could to make up for his "crimes," and +even went so far as to take Dorothy to a big tree, in the hollow of +which he had hidden considerable loot, during his try at the "wild and +wooly." This loot Roy took back to his own home, which had been the +first scene of his juvenile depredations. He declared he did get out +of a window with the stuff, and otherwise fulfilled the attempt in +true desperado fashion, but before Dorothy left him, she felt that he +had changed his mind as to the propriety of this line of "fun." + +"I hope I meet Tavia on time," Dorothy was thinking, as she neared the +station where her companion was expected to board the train. "If she +keeps up her reputation, though, I won't. Something is sure to happen +when Tavia goes traveling." + +Summer folks were taking themselves and their luggage into the crowded +cars. It did seem that the privilege of carrying freight personally +was being abused, for old and young were simply bending down under +the weight of the stuff for which they struggled to find room in the +passenger coaches. + +"That would simply spoil my vacation," Dorothy reflected. "It seems to +me each season evolves some new sort of hamper to be hampered with." + +"Doro!" + +It was Tavia! + +"Oh, hello--Tavia. I was so afraid----" + +"You don't look it. I fancied I saw you sizing up that piece of +architecture at the door. Gothic; isn't it?" and Tavia fell into the +chair Dorothy had emptied for her. The "piece of architecture" took +the sofa at the end of the car, and she appeared to need every bit of +it for her hat, and other pieces of luggage. + +"Funny how the porters always like that sort of thing," remarked +Dorothy. "I don't believe they ever get a cent for it, either." + +"But look at the glory," said Tavia. "Every eye in the car is on that +sofa. My gaze is simply crowded out. Let's want something. Oh, yes. I +have lost my--'Porter!'" called Tavia sweetly, at the same time +touching the button at the window. The man in the brass-buttoned +uniform turned promptly. "I have lost my hand bag," said Tavia. "I +surely had it when I entered." + +Persons in several seats around disturbed themselves. Dorothy's face +flushed. How absurd Tavia was to make that confusion, just for fun. + +Every time Tavia stooped to look under the seat, or about it, she +would pinch Dorothy, which act did not add to the latter's comfort. + +"Oh, I have it," exclaimed the wily one. "Thank you so much," and she +smiled clear up and down the aisle. "I was sure I had it," and taking +her seat, she managed, in the most conspicuously discreet way, to slip +into the porter's palm something shiny. + +"There," she added, when he was gone, "wasn't that neat, Doro? He is +ours now for the rest of the trip, and the lady on the sofa is _nil_." + +Dorothy knew it was worse than useless to protest, but this was not +the sort of thing she considered fun. + +"Did you have a pleasant time at Dalton?" she asked, hoping to get +Tavia's attention. "I was so sorry I could not go up for a day." + +"You might be glad," replied Tavia. "Of all the stupid times--I would +have run away but for Johnnie. He took me fishing, and I--wore +overalls! Oh, only out in the woods, of course, but it was sport, and +I caught fish! It's skirts that hoodoo the catch. I have come to that +conclusion." + +"In what woods did you wear--overalls?" and Dorothy looked almost +frightened. Might Tavia have the garb with her? + +"Oh, away out Mushroom way. And I stretched out just like any +respectable boy, and cast the line! Dear me, Doro! I would just loved +to have smoked! That would have made it--perfect!" + +"There isn't a shock left in me," Dorothy assured her, "so don't try +so hard Tavia. I am simply immune. You must have looked +just--sweet--in overalls. I hope they were dark blue." + +"_Are_," corrected Tavia, "_are_ dark blue," and she wheeled around +out toward the aisle just as a young chap in white flannels passed +along. He looked down at her in that pardonable way common even in the +best style of traveling. Dorothy breathed more easily when he passed +out to the next coach. + +"Wasn't he dear?" commented Tavia. "Doro, I just know we are going to +have a perfectly bang-up time, this summer." + +"Take care you come out of it without too much 'banging' up," +cautioned Dorothy. "This summer business is getting exciting." + +"Wonder if we will see the man of the horse? He who made such +beautiful bows, and acted so--actly. Wasn't he lovely? My, I have +dreamed of him, Doro!" + +"Foolish," replied the other. "Nat said he fancied that chap would +make trouble." + +The thought that Cologne might have whispered to Dorothy something +about Tavia getting a letter from this man just flashed across her +mind. Tavia was always getting into some foolish scrape, and kept +Dorothy busy getting her out, and it just occurred to Dorothy that it +might not be a bad idea to let Tavia try getting herself out, should +she repeat her usual indiscretions of risking too much for the sake of +some trifling whim. + +"Bangor! Bangor!" called the porter, and our friends gathered +themselves up to make the change for Lake Monadic. + +"I must get a shoe shine," said Tavia, as they stepped on the platform +of the big depot. "Just wait here. I won't be three minutes." + +"We only have five," Dorothy told her, "and if you are late--I must go +on. Cologne is going to meet us away out from camp." + +"Oh I'll be back," promised Tavia, and then she was lost in the +throng. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CAMP C.C. + + +"There is not another train out this evening," Cologne was telling +Dorothy. "Wasn't it perfectly dreadful for her to leave you!" + +"I expected something like that to happen from the start," Dorothy +replied. "Tavia has a faculty for missing trains. I wonder what she +will do?" + +"There is just a chance that she may be able to make the way train, +and switch off at the Junction, then, if she is lucky, she may flag +the shore train and get to this spot about midnight. But what would +she do then? Better stay out in civilization until daylight." + +"I feel dreadfully, Rose-Mary, that she should give you so much +trouble. I sometimes think Tavia ought to be----" + +"Spanked," finished the girl, with a smile. "Well, with all her faults +we love her still," and she tightened her hands on the horse reins. +"Let us hope she will be more fortunate than we anticipate." + +"Isn't this lovely!" exclaimed Dorothy, as they started over the hill +in the depot wagon. "These are real Maine woods, aren't they?" + +"Not the big-game kind. Those are farther out. But wait until you see +our camp. Then you may say lovely!" + +"And your camping suit," went on Dorothy. "Surely I may say lovely to +that. It is perfectly splendid, and your cap is so becoming!" + +"Think so? Yes, I like the cap, and it's handy. I've got one for you +and one for Tavia--if she ever gets here to claim it," and Cologne +handed the cap to Dorothy for close inspection. It was a jaunty blue +affair with the letters "C.C." in gilt. These, Cologne explained, +might stand for anything, but they mostly stood for Camp Cologne, or +Camp Cozy, or Camp Clamor, although some of the members wanted it Camp +Capital, Cologne said. + +"We will end up by making it 'See See,'" declared Dorothy, "for it +does seem one or other of us is constantly calling upon some one else +to see something--there is lots to see." + +A party of other campers came trooping along the shady roadway. +Cologne knew them, and hailed them pleasantly. + +"They are our neighbors," she said, "and they have the nicest +brothers! I just want you to meet Teddy--he is too funny!" + +"Don't you think that variety would suit Tavia better than me?" asked +Dorothy. "I thought you always picked out the real good kind for me, +the sort that wear collars all summer," and Dorothy laughed at the +idea, for the day was warm, and the thought of a stiff collar was +rather incongruous. + +"Well, he must be nice, at any rate," replied Cologne, as they turned +into a lane, a short cut over the woodland. "But, say, Dorothy, do you +know I believe that fellow--the one who rode the farmer's horse--is +out this way? I saw some one who had that same queer gait, and who +wore his hat on the side of his head, and I am almost sure it was he. +I was not near enough to see his face, but there is something so +characteristic about his swing, I am sure I could not be mistaken. Did +Tavia tell you anything about the letter?" + +"No," replied Dorothy slowly, "but I do hope he is not going to spoil +our camping days. I should never feel safe with him loitering about +the woods. What could fetch him away out here?" + +"Well, this is a great rendezvous for swell invalids and nature +lovers," Cologne told her, "and of course, it may be a mere +coincidence. I even might be mistaken." + +"Let us hope you are," said Dorothy fervently. "I would not mind so +much--but Tavia--Oh well, you know how queer she is." + +"Yes, indeed I do, but never mind, Doro, we are going to have the time +of our lives this summer, and we must not go into the missionary +business for it's awfully wearing." + +"It's quite a long drive out here, isn't it? I shouldn't think you +would often take it after dark?" + +"Oh, we never do, unless we have a whole party and go merry-making. +But this evening I fear we will have to go for Tavia. Isn't it too +provoking? It spoils my plans for to-night." + +"I wonder what ever could have kept her? She had five minutes, and I +warned her." + +"Likely she saw something interesting, and determined to make those +five minutes grow into ten. She has no respect for time, I know that, +and as for the railroads, why it would tickle her to miss a train and +make trouble for the next one." + +"Oh, there are the tents! I see the white specks over that way. And +there is the little lake!" exclaimed Dorothy. + +"Yes, we are getting there. Come on, hurry up Jeff" (this to the +horse), "we must get home by five and we have only three minutes. I +promised mother to be back at five, and punctuality is an unbreakable +rule of our camp. We made it so because we have always found that +tardiness is the ruination of all good summers; even camp life must +have rules," and Cologne urged the steed to a little faster gait. + +"Is this your own horse?" asked Dorothy. + +"No, but we have him for the summer. Mother insisted on us having a +real old timer--safer, she thinks." + +"And he knows all the roads, that's something," added Dorothy. "If we +should get lost he could find our way home for us." + +"Indeed, he could. I often give him the lines, and he goes along to +the post office, and back again, without the slightest prompting. Here +we are!" + +Cologne drew up, not in front of a canvas tent, but beside a fine old +barn. + +"Is that the--tent--the camp?" asked Dorothy. + +"Yes, but just wait until you see how we have it settled. There's +mother," as Mrs. Markin appeared at the door and extended the most +cordial welcome to Dorothy. + +Swinging aside the great old-fashioned door, that opened in two parts, +Cologne ushered Dorothy into the camp. + +"Oh, how perfectly splendid!" + +It was like a picture from an art magazine. The real rafters--no +boxed-shaped beams set up like an uncovered porch roof--but rafters, +that hung down low, fragrant with the scent of hickory, soft in tint, +and brown with the polish and glow of years. Then the big field stone +fire-place, with the "side walk" all around it, and the pieces of rag +carpet! + +"I have never seen anything so perfectly splendid!" chimed Dorothy, +"how ever did you find such a camp?" + +"The mater's idea," replied Cologne, enthused with Dorothy's delight. +"There used to be a big house on this farm, but it was burned down. +Mother knew the place and we got it. Isn't it a perfect mansion? Mater +would not hear of us sleeping in the open--says tents fly away in the +night. Let me show you the whole house." + +The first floor--for there was a loft--was laid out in a living room, +with many luxuries even to a hired, old-fashioned, square piano; the +chairs, Cologne explained, had been bought at a second-hand shop along +the mountain road; and the man who kept the shop was so surprised to +have a call for such odd chairs and tables that Mrs. Markin was able +to pick up some splendid pieces for a mere trifle. Then the sleeping +rooms, Mrs. Markin's and her daughter's, besides the guest room, were +on the first floor, while Jack, the big boy of the family, had his +"bunk" on the loft, and up there also was a "bunk" for any of Jack's +friends who might pay him a visit. + +The first floor rooms were divided by cretonne partitions, or +curtains, made secure top and bottom, and the coloring of these +screens gave the place an ideal tone in color. The kitchen was outside +under a lean-to tent. + +And the dining room! A broad porch with an uncovered roof. A canvas +flap was hung over the roof to be used, or thrown aside, just as the +weather ordained. The table was a matter of two "horses" and three +planks, and the seats were of the same brand, only in a lower grade. +The cover was of oilcloth, and the dishes were some wooden and some +white enamel. + +"You see," said Cologne, "Mother did not want us to be working always, +so she made the table service a la Indian. We burn most of the dishes +when we've used them, and they keep our camp fire going, or rather, +they only start it. Then the metal plates are so easy to wash, and so +hard to break. Oh, we have camping down to a system! I hope you will +like the system." + +"How could I help liking it! Why it's just ideal. It makes our +pretentious homes look like cheap bric-a-brac," Dorothy declared. + +"Well, come now and have tea--we are to have it alone, you and I, for +mother is busy helping Jennie can berries, and Jack is never home +until the cows come--we can see herds of them troup over that hill +every night." + +Cologne put a match to the small oil stove, and then when the kettle +boiled she made tea in the proper way, pouring the water over the +leaves as they nestled in the blue Delft pot on the table. The edibles +were produced from an improvised cupboard, and in a remarkably short +time Dorothy and her friend were seated at the long table, enjoying a +meal, the like of which the visitor declared she had never before +fallen heir to. + +"It must be the air," she remarked, helping herself to a sandwich, +"for I have never felt so alarmingly hungry." + +"Jack says they are 'standwiches,'" remarked Cologne, "for he never +gets a chance to eat one while sitting down." + +"That's true," replied Dorothy, "for at the places where one gets +them one is never supposed to sit down. 'Standwiches' they really are. +I am anxious to see Jack. He gave me such a nice time when I visited +you at Buffalo." + +"Oh, he's a perfect giant," Cologne told her. "He grows while you +wait. He's off fishing to-day. Promised to fetch home some nice fish +for to-morrow's dinner. We get trout for breakfast in the stream over +there. It's jolly to fish. I know you will like it up here, Dorothy." + +"_Will_ like it! I _do_ like it! There is no future tense on that +score. I have always longed for a visit 'way down east.' And how +strange people talk! Just as soon as we passed Connecticut it was like +going into a new country, the accent is so different. Tavia declared +it was nothing but a left-over brogue of the Mayflower vintage. Of +course, that's what it really is. But Tavia! I had almost forgotten +her. Could we go out anywhere and look for her?" + +"Hardly," replied Cologne. "But we could drive out to the station +again, and send a message to the Junction. I wish Jack was here. He +would know best what to do. It is too provoking!" + +"And she is so apt to fall in with a 'friend,'" mused Dorothy. "I +never saw her equal for picking up friends." + +"There's an automobile," exclaimed Cologne, listening to the ripping +of the atmosphere as a machine tore down the road. "We don't have many +cars around here, it's too hilly." + +"They're coming in the lane! It's Tavia!" + +Both girls jumped up, and ran to the lane that wound around the camp. + +Tavia was standing up waving her hand bag. + +"She made friends this time," declared Dorothy. "Just like her to fall +into something easy." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE WILD ANIMAL + + +"Perfectly delicious," Tavia was exclaiming, in her reckless way, +"never believed a barn could be thus converted into a home." She +tossed aside her traveling things. "And so sweet of you, Cologne, to +ask poor me. The old joke, as if Rose-Mary-Cologne-Lavender could be +other than sweet!" + +"And so dear of you to get here," said Dorothy, with mocking voice. +"We really thought----" + +"Doro, dear, if you only would get over that abominable thinking +habit! See what happened to me when I thought I was was going to be +locked up for the night in the little railroad station! Why, along +whisked an auto, and the lady with the scared-to-death-hair looked at +me. Seeing me was believing. The chaufferine (it was a lady and my +French is packed up) asked me in. That was what I got for thinking on +the wrong stoop. And weren't they dears? Did you mind the veils? +First I thought they were hoisted for rain clouds, and again, when I +saw the blues and pinks, I decided for fair weather. There were enough +colors to make a rainbow look like the milky way. And they asked me to +come see them! Asked me! Why they begged me and made me give a +cross-my-heart yes." + +"But you won't go?" asked Cologne. "You know the Lamberts +are--well--they are a troup of theatrical folks, and no one knows much +about them." + +"The only profession that hides the ego," broke in Tavia. "Now that is +what I call cozy, to get away from the dear old nosey public. I wonder +the whole world does not go in for the stage, and get a chance to walk +through the streets, and have folks say, 'Isn't she perfectly sweet!' +All the while one could be sticking out her tongue, and otherwise +enjoying herself--" + +"Tavia!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Do talk something akin to common sense if +you cannot do better. And don't mix up your pronouns. You keep one +bobbing through tenses and pronouns as if the thinker were a +jack-in-the-box." + +"All the same I would love to go over to that big white house in the +cherry trees, and see a dress rehearsal. They play Shakespeare." + +"You must not think of such a thing," declared Dorothy. "Since Cologne +does not wish you to go in the strange set, you will surely comply, +but I do not have to tell you that I am sure you will," and she turned +away in evident distress. + +The next morning the three girls started to camp in earnest. Tavia +insisted that it was her share of work to fetch one pail of water from +the spring, because, she said, she had to stoop down so low, and walk +so far the effort was equal to Dorothy's dish-washing or Cologne's +muffin-making. + +"While you do the rest," she said, "I'll just run up, and look over +the loft, the boys are out now, and Dorothy won't be afraid I'll +forget my manners." + +"You come here directly, and set this table for lunch," ordered +Dorothy. "We are going out for trout, and will not be in until eating +time, so we will get everything ready now." + +"All right," answered Tavia, at the same time climbing up the ladder, +and making her way to the loft. + +"Oh, let her explore," said Cologne. "Then when she gets enough of it +she will be satisfied." + +"Don't touch any of the old guns up there," called Dorothy, "Jack says +there are dangerous." + +"All righty!" yelled Tavia from above. "But say wouldn't this be a +handsome place to drop from?" + +She was in the opening of the hay loft, lying on the floor with her +head over the edge. + +"Oh don't" begged Cologne. "Tavia, that is dangerous!" + +Her voice was rather strained, Cologne was annoyed. Tavia jumped up, +and, with a most unladylike "whoop," ran from one end of the loft to +the other, exclaiming at every new found article of interest. Suddenly +she stopped. + +"Now what do you suppose she is at?" asked Dorothy, as she and Cologne +listened. + +"Maybe Jack's pipes. I am sure she would be interested in them. He has +quite a collection." + +"Oh! G-i-r-l-s!" came a shout from the loft. "Come quick! A wild +animal!" + +The voice left no room for doubt. Tavia did see something. + +Cologne and Dorothy dropped their work and scrambled up the ladder. + +"Over here!" + +Tavia was on all fours, peering behind an old door that lay close to +the side timbers of the barn. "Just look! His hair stands up like a +porcupine, and his eyes! Oh, my! such eyes!" + +Cologne and Dorothy looked. + +"There certainly is something," admitted Cologne. + +"It has straight black hair," exclaimed Dorothy, "and it does look +fierce!" + +"What shall we do?" asked Cologne. "Jack will not be back until +night." + +"And if we take our eyes off it we run the risk of having it under the +bed to-night," said Tavia. "Now if only we could shoot a gun," and she +looked at the line of weapons that decorated the side of the loft. + +"I can load and fire a gun," declared Dorothy. "Wasn't my father a +soldier?" + +"Wasn't her father a soldier!" repeated Tavia. "Cologne you hump down +there, and keep your eye on the bear, while we get a gun, and load it. +Then if it's all the same to you, I'll do down stairs, and out in the +back yard until it is all over. I hate murder close by." + +"I'll choose my own gun, if you please," said Dorothy, as Tavia was +about to hand her an old musket. "I like the vintage of the last +century at least." + +"Are you sure you won't hurt yourself?" asked Cologne anxiously. "I +think perhaps we had best try to box the thing in here. Shooting is +rather risky." + +"Not if I can get a gun I happen to know," said Dorothy. "You may both +go out in the back yard if you choose. I must try the rifle first--oh, +here is one just like father gave Joe his last birthday. I had a mind +to borrow it to come out here to Maine woods, but I never dreamed of +getting game right in camp." + +"Don't shoot dis niggah!" pleaded Tavia, actually making for the +ladder. + +Dorothy went over to the open window and put the rifle to her +shoulder. She pulled the trigger. There was no discharge. Not +satisfied with one trial she worked the rifle until there was +positively no possibility of any load being in the weapon. + +"There, that's clean," she said. "Now for the cartridge." + +Over on the wall hung Jack's ammunition box. Cologne was watching at a +safe distance. Tavia had gone downstairs by way of a rope that Jack +Markin used for descending. Dorothy put the load in, made sure it was +all right, then went over to the beast's hiding place. She crouched +down and took aim. + +"Do--be--careful, Dorothy." + +Crack! + +"There! That fetched him!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I saw him roll over." + +"Make sure he is dead before you pull the door away," again cautioned +Cologne. + +"Dead as a carpet tack," declared Dorothy. "Let's call Tavia and get +her to pull him out. She ought to do something in this, our first +hunt." + +Tavia was called, and being assured that the thing had rolled the +death roll, she came up the ladder, and with the aid of a long handled +hay rake, she just ventured to touch the strange thing. + +"It's dead!" + +This was the signal for a series of antics such as Tavia might imagine +to be popular in the Figi Islands when some real dainty morsel fell +into the camp kettle. + +"Oh, let us see what it is!" ordered Cologne. "Maybe we won't have to +go trout fishing, it may do for dinner." + +"It may, then again it may not," replied Tavia. "But May or Mamie, +let's haul her out." + +Dorothy put her shoulder to the frame door, back of which the thing +was hidden. + +"One, two, three!" she shoved it over. "Are you ready?" + +"Let her go!" called Cologne, springing up on an old trunk. + +But it didn't go, neither did it come. + +The girls waited breathlessly. + +"Pull him out, Tavia! What's the use standing there with a rake in +your hand," said Dorothy. + +"I want to make sure he does not revive," she replied, gingerly poking +the rake handle a little further under the hidden corner. + +"Oh, here," exclaimed Dorothy impatiently. "Let me take that implement +and you hold this door. We ought to get the animal out in time for +lunch." + +They shifted positions. Dorothy jabbed the rake recklessly into the +corner. Tavia moaned, and Cologne groaned. + +Drag--drag--It was coming out. + +"Mercy!" exclaimed Tavia. + +"Goodness me!" gasped Cologne. + +But Dorothy, who was the only one near the thing, simply dropped the +rake and stood aghast--too dumbfounded to utter a syllable! + +"What is it?" begged Cologne. + +"_A WINDOW BRUSH!_" she gasped, at the same moment stooping to pick up +the beast--the thing with the straight, long black hair that stood +up in fierce bristles! + +[Illustration: "A WINDOW BRUSH!" SHE GASPED. _Dorothy Dale's Camping +Days Page 84_] + +"But the eyes!" asked Tavia. "I saw terrible eyes!" + +"Might have been imported fire flies," answered Dorothy. "I believe +Jack has a penchant for odd bugs!" + +"Oh, isn't that too mean!" + +"And Jack's good cartridges!" + +"But the brush is all right," declared Cologne. "We just needed a +window brush to make the camp outfit complete. But don't let's tell +the boys," she pleaded hastily. + +"Oh, no!" chimed Tavia and Dorothy. Then all three in turn took the +rope route down to the lower floor. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A STRANGE MEETING + + +For several days after the "hunt" the girls kept up the joke on +themselves. Time after time they threatened to let Jack, and his +friend Percy, guess the truth, but Tavia, the most to be feared, did +manage to keep the laugh purely feminine. + +Dorothy and Cologne were gathering berries this morning, while Tavia +ran off to a spot where she declared she could get the better kind of +fruit, better than any they had yet secured. She turned in back of the +big barn, then ran over behind the ice-house, and then she smelled +apples, ripe apples. + +"There are harvest apples around here, somewhere," she told herself. +"I simply must find them." + +From tree to tree she scampered along until she was out in the lane +that ran into the next estate. + +"That's a road," she was thinking. "And there's a man." + +Glancing around to see if she could discern Dorothy or Cologne, Tavia +had a sudden thrill of terror. + +"I didn't know I had gone so far," she thought, "and that man is +coming this way." + +Something familiar about the manner in which the stranger advanced +toward her attracted her attention. + +"Looks like that man! It is he! The fellow who stopped the hay-wagon +runaway!" + +She was still frightened, but a trifle more at ease, since she +recognized the man in the big slouch hat. "Whatever could have brought +him here?" she asked herself. The next moment she was glad--glad that +Cologne and Dorothy were out of reach. + +"Oh, I'm not afraid of him," she thought. "Perhaps he knows I'm +here----" + +He was almost up to her. Yes, it was he--the same queer smile lurked +about his face, and he had that indefinable air--was it attractive, or +only different? + +"Good morning, Maud Muller," he said doffing that unlimited hat. "I'm +so glad to see you alone." + +"Good morning," answered Tavia, "but I am not alone, I just ran away +from my friends; they are over there." + +"But not over here. It's all the same. I want to speak to you, and +this is the best opportunity I could have wished for." + +Tavia unconsciously picked up a stick. She felt queer, and he looked +queer, so that altogether it was a very queer proceeding. + +"I have news for you," the man resumed. "Is not your name Tavia +Travers?" + +"Yes." + +"Then you must follow my advice closely and you will come into your +own. Are you not from the town of Dalton?" + +"I am." + +"Then I am right, as I was sure I was from the start. Your father is +a--is an officer in Dalton?" + +"A squire," replied Tavia, bewildered now at his knowledge of her and +her family. + +"The same. I want to tell you"--he stepped up uncomfortably near to +her so that his sleeve touched her--"I want to tell you there is a +fortune coming to your family, and I can put you on the track to +secure it. My uncle Abe"--he seemed to chuckle--"knew about it, he +told me, and I had to swear on a Bible covered with blood, that I +would never betray his secret!" + +"Oh, my!" shuddered Tavia stepping away. "I don't think I can wait +now." She was thoroughly frightened. "Couldn't you come down to the +camp, and tell me? Then we could talk comfortably. The sun is very hot +up here." + +"But what I have to say is best said in the open," he answered +vaguely. "I prefer this to all spots on earth." He paused and Tavia's +first impulse was to run, but then---- + +"I won't ask you to believe me now," he said, his voice softening, +"but if you will come to where I say I can prove my assertion." + +"That there is a fortune left to my family? That is too absurd," and +Tavia smiled. "Money does not run in our family." + +"Exactly. That is why it has to be run into it--put on the track, so +to speak. Well, I know what I am talking about. But if you are not +interested----" + +He turned as if to go. What if it could be true, and Tavia was +throwing away the only chance she would ever have of learning the +truth? + +"Where did you want me to go?" she stammered. + +"Meet me at the old stone bridge to-morrow at three, and I will +convince you of the actuality of this wonderful inheritance--this +inheritance which you so long have been deprived of--which you have +been fleeced out of by my scheming Uncle Abe!" + +His eyes flashed, and his voice trembled. Tavia thought she had never +before seen such glassy eyes, and the way he fastened them on her gave +her a most uncomfortable feeling. She even felt compelled to promise +what he asked, and she did so. + +He sauntered off, leaving the girl's head in a whirl. Who was he, and +what did he know about her family? + +He was right in his assertions about Dalton, also about her father. +Surely there could be no harm in listening to his story, and the stone +bridge was not far from camp. + +Dorothy and Cologne were just appearing above the hill, Dorothy's +yellow head bobbing up like some animated flower. + +"Oh, you dreadful girl!" called Cologne. "We thought the gypsies had +taken you." + +"No such luck," answered Tavia, as the two came up to the apple tree. +"But I did find some splendid apples. Help yourselves. I must sit down +for a minute. I've been up the tree--no, up _a_ tree," she finished +with a laugh that neither of her companions understood. + +"Harvests!" cried Cologne in delight. "I never knew they were here." + +"Neither did I until I found them," replied Tavia foolishly. + +"The climb gave you lovely red cheeks; Tavia," said Dorothy. "You +ought to take climbing in the next school course." + +"No sarcasm now, please, Doro. I don't feel a bit funny." + +"But you look it," declared Dorothy, keeping up her teasing manner. +"You always look funny when your cheeks get so red--" + +"Danger of ignition, I suppose," and Tavia's voice was anything but +pleasant. "Oh, there go the Lamberts!" as an auto swished around the +road. "I must run away and see them some day--just before we go home, +when Cologne won't have time, or heart, to scold." + +"You wouldn't!" spoke Cologne. "Mother particularly warned me that we +were not to take up with those theatrical folks, and mother is the +boss." + +"Oh, very well, if you really feel that way about it," and Tavia +shrugged her shoulders. + +Dorothy was shaking a limb of the apple tree. "What ghost have you +seen Tavia?" she asked. "Someone has stolen away all your good +nature." + +"He's welcome," she replied. "Stagnant good nature doesn't keep well, +and I have been keeping mine bottled up ever since you shot that +window brush. The shock to my system--" and she imitated the manner of +one affected with nerves. + +"Yes, it was dreadful on all of us," agreed Dorothy, from whom the +change in Tavia's manner could not be hidden. "But you must forget it, +and think of the good time we are going to have to-morrow. Think of +it! Going out in the real mountains, with real boys for guides! Of +course you will have your pick of the boys, Cologne and I must be +satisfied with what remains." + +Cologne had scarcely spoken since Tavia mentioned the Lamberts, and +Dorothy was doing her best to restore good nature and peace to both of +her companions. Yet she was greatly annoyed at Tavia's rudeness. Why +should she persist in ignoring common courtesy and thus keeping up +that Lambert question? + +"We must hurry back to the camp with our berries," Cologne at last +ventured, "or mother will think some snake has eaten us up." + +"And I particularly want to try my hand at berry tarts," declared +Dorothy. "I was, at one time, considered quite a 'tarter.'" + +Tavia gathered up some apples, and the others took their berry +baskets. They walked slowly over the hill back to the camp. Jack was +waiting for them. + +"Say, girls!" he began as they neared the dining room steps, "the boys +have a great scheme on for to-morrow. But I am not to tell you about +it." + +"Isn't that lovely," came from Tavia in rather mocking tones. + +"But I am commissioned to tell you," he went on with an arch look at +Tavia, "that you are to rest this afternoon for sufficient unto +to-morrow is the weariness thereof." + +Then they began to prepare lunch, but Tavia remained outside, asking +Jack some seemingly foolish questions. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TAVIA + + +After a morning spent in anticipation of the good time Jack had +promised (and Jack and his friends did know how to give the girls a +good time) something happened just as they were about to start off to +the woods. + +Tavia was missing! + +At first the matter was taken as a joke, as it would be quite like +Tavia to run off and hide in the hay loft, or in any other outlandish +place; but when, after all kinds of calls, and a thorough search of +the premises, she failed to be located, there was reasonable alarm +among the campers. The Hays girls from Camp Happy-go-Lucky, had joined +the party that intended going into the deep woods, so they, too, aided +in the search for Tavia. + +"I give up," said Jack finally, mopping his forehead, for in spite of +the beautiful bracing air of the mountains, the act of running over +the hill and into the valleys made him perspire. + +"Isn't it queer!" exclaimed Dorothy, thoroughly alarmed. "I have a +feeling that something has happened to her." + +"Don't you worry," Jack suggested. "You will be sure to find out that +Tavia has happened to something. She has a faculty for that sort of +thing. Let us go off on a day's fun. No use spoiling it all on account +of a whim--I am sure it is nothing more." + +"She did complain of a headache," Cologne remembered, "and I gave her +a little soda. She may have thought it best to hide with the headache +rather than to worry us about it." + +"We haven't tried the brook," suggested pretty Hazel Hays. "I am +always afraid of brooks." + +"But Tavia swims like a fish," declared Dorothy. "I would never think +of harm coming to her in the water." + +"Let's try, at any rate," agreed Jack, who never opposed Hazel. +"Although, unless that big frog gobbled her up, I cannot imagine any +possible danger." + +At this the party set off over the hill to the frog pond. Hazel +trudged along with Jack, Brendon Hays divided his attention between +Dorothy and Cologne, while a very little young man, Claud Miller, by +name, and the midget by reputation, took care of Nathalie Weston, a +visitor at Camp Lucky. + +Every one could joke but Dorothy. To her the situation was beyond +that. + +"I'll wager we find her up a tree eating apples," lisped Claud. "I +never saw a girl so fond of sweet apples as Miss Tavia. She told me so +herself." + +"Told you, you never saw a girl--now Claud! Don't get excited that +way. It's dreadfully hard on your nerves and on your friends." + +"But I say, now, Jack----" + +"Claud, dear, don't. Save it until we find Tavia, and then say to your +heart's content." + +Dorothy had run on ahead and was now looking over the little rustic +bridge into the frog pond. The water was not deep, but there were +plainly footprints along its muddy edge. + +"There has been some one here to-day," declared Cologne, "and no one +ever comes on our grounds--away up here at any rate." + +"They are the footprints of a man," Jack decided. "Did Tavia, by any +means, know a man who wore boots size ten?" + +"The only folks she knew in these parts are the Lamberts," answered +Cologne. "And she did say, even as late as yesterday, that she would +run over to see a rehearsal there--when I wasn't looking." + +"Jolly!" exclaimed Claud. "I have been wishing so much for a chance to +know that younger Lamb. She's the very sweetest----" + +"Spring lamb?" asked Cologne, teasingly. "Claud, you should never take +spring lamb upon the recommendation of a strange butcher. It might +turn out to be mutton." + +This sally caused Claud to laugh so vigorously, that he held his hand +over his watch pocket apprehensively. + +Dorothy was looking under the black bridge. The footprints seemed to +turn in beneath the culvert, and then they were lost in the deep, dark +mud. + +Not one, except perhaps Cologne, knew the thoughts that stirred +Dorothy so riotously. What if Tavia had gone over to Lamberts, and so +would incur the displeasure of their hostess? Or, if she had met that +queer man? But she could not have done that! Reckless as she was, she +could not be unaware of the danger of doing such a fool-hardy thing as +that! + +"I'm going down under that oak tree," declared Hazel, with an arch +glance at Jack. "There's trout in that stream, and it's too late to +go over to Moose Hill, or Deer Hollow which ever it is." + +"Neither," replied Jack. "It's Moose on the level. Yes, we may as well +explore Trout Trammel--though I doubt if they'll come up even at the +sight of those fly colors you wear, Hazel." + +"Don't you like this suit? Why it's the very thing--all the way from +New York. And just see the navy emblem." + +The invitation brought Jack up very close to the sleeve of Hazel's +sailor suit. Yes, he liked that emblem, first rate, and he said so, +once or twice. + +"I vote for a trip to the Lambs," voiced the dainty Claud. "If no one +else wants to go I don't mind, in the least, running over and making +inquiries." + +"Oh, don't run, Claud;" cautioned Jack. "It's dreadful on your watch +pocket. Just walk over and give my love to the girl who wears the +rainbow around her head. Tell her that I saw her and she will guess +the rest." + +"Well, if she happens to be out on the lawn, might I ask her to join +in this girl-hunt?" + +"Oh, you're hunting a lot!" exclaimed Cologne in something like +impatience. "Now, Claud, this it no joke! We are out to find our +lively-loving, luckless little friend, Tavia." + +"I'm afraid it's useless," sighed Dorothy. "We may just as well +wait--perhaps she will return at lunch time." + +But lunch time came, and lunch time went by, without any trace or +track of Tavia being discovered. + +Finally Dorothy broke down, and went to her own room. Cologne followed +her, and there, in the secret nook in the big camp farm, the two girls +discussed every possible clause of the case, and tried with heroic +effort to shed some light on the mystery. + +"Was it the Lamberts? Or could it be----" + +"Oh, she would never go off with a stranger," declared Dorothy over +and over again. "Surely our Tavia has more common sense than that." + +"But it is so lonely up here--no," Cologne corrected herself, "you are +right, of course, Dorothy. She will be back--just as soon as she feels +like coming. That's Tavia!" + +But they little knew the danger to which the younger girl had +unwittingly exposed herself. + +No wonder Tavia could not be found within or without the precincts of +the camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WHEN THE BOYS CAME + + +Dorothy had always loved her cousins, Ned and Nat, but when they +arrived at the camp, the day after Tavia's disappearance, she fancied +she had never before fully appreciated them. They came in the +_Firebird_, their automobile, and declared that they would camp out in +the open Maine woods, cook in the open, make soups of lily bulbs, +stirred with the aromatic boughs of the spruce, and otherwise conform +to all the glorious hardships peculiar to the pioneers--according to +the stories told by said pioneers. + +But the absence of Tavia put a damper on everything. + +"We have got to start out and trace her," Jack Markin told Ned and +Nat. "It is inconceivable where she could have gone to." + +"We certainly shall start out at once," declared Nat, who was always +Tavia's champion, to say nothing of his being her special friend and +admirer. "I have known her to do risky things before, but this is the +utmost." + +"I never saw such a girl," growled Ned. "Just when a fellow expects to +have a first-rate time, she puts up something that knocks it out." + +Dorothy was disconsolate. Her eyes showed the result of a sleepless +night, and her usually pink cheeks were quite pale. + +"She would never stay away of her own accord over night," she sighed, +"whatever she might do during the day." + +"Now, Doro, dear," consoled Cologne, "you must not look at it that +way. It is perfectly surprising what may happen, in a perfectly safe +way, after one has found out, while before that time such things seem +utterly impossible. Haven't we had lots of that at Glenwood?" + +"Yes, things do happen that seem anything but likely," Dorothy +admitted. "And I do hope that such will be the case this time. I wish +we knew!" + +"We had a great time in Dalton," said Nat, "the day we went over to +see the old place--your old place, Dorothy. The major asked us to go +in to look after a leak in the roof, and just as we went into the old +plumbing shop we heard a racket. It seems that a fellow named +Mortimer Morrison, a stage-struck chap, played a part on the local +stage, and while delivering his lines he gave his audience a +treat--the real thing in tragics. He went crazy--wild, stark, staring +mad! He was an escaped sanitariumite--he got out, found the stage at +Dalton, and was having a gay old time when the----" Nat suddenly +stopped. "What's the matter, coz?" he asked. + +Dorothy was sitting on the rustic bench, at the side of the old corn +crib, and she went pale as her cousin told the story. Cologne was +beside her, and, as Nat asked what the matter was, Cologne grasped +Dorothy's trembling hand. + +"What, Dorothy?" + +"Why the--man! That man! He is the one who saved the team--the one who +wrote the letter to Tavia. I found a part of it. She never told me, +but it blew open at--my very feet. And that name was on the piece of +paper!" + +"Tavia know that--loon!" Ned exclaimed. + +"We all knew him--if he is the same one," declared Cologne, for +Dorothy was too agitated to speak. "We happened to get in trouble with +a hay wagon, and an old team of horses, and he helped us out. Come to +think of it he did act queer!" + +"And he is around here--now?" asked Nat. + +"Yes, I saw some one the other day whom I am sure could be no one +else. He had the most peculiar walk. Did you see him in Dalton, Nat?" + +"I was just going to tell you that while we were in the plumbing shop +a fellow sauntered by. He wore a hat--like a cowboy, and otherwise +looked queer. Well, when the plumber sighted him he rushed to the +'phone and called up the only officer in Dalton--Tavia's father, and +told him the lunatic was just sauntering down the road. But from last +accounts he was still sauntering--the squire didn't overhaul him." + +"And likely he was just wise enough to get far away," commented Ned. +"Now why on earth would Tavia have anything to do with a specimen of +that kind?" + +"It would be impossible to guess to what trick he might resort in +order to get Tavia to meet him, or to even become interested in his +stage schemes. You know Tavia has a very pardonable weakness for +anything theatrical," said Dorothy. + +"All Tavia's weaknesses are pardonable, as far as you are concerned, +coz," ventured Ned. + +"But the hunt," interrupted Jack. "We had better get at it. The girl +we malign may actually----" He looked at Dorothy and so left the +surmise unsaid. + +An hour later Ned and Nat, with Jack and Claud, started out in the +_Firebird_, it having been decided that it would be best for all the +boys to go together in the auto, as they could then cover any amount +of ground, and not have to worry about Dorothy and Cologne. The two +girls went their way in the cart, old Jeff, the horse, being looked +upon as quite a competent guide. + +It was really the first good opportunity that Dorothy had had to see +the glories of the Maine woods, but what were they to her to-day? What +mattered the long lines of spruce, the dainty larch, or the tangled +arbor-vitae, to her now? + +To all Cologne's enthusiastic efforts to point out these beauties, as +well as to distract Dorothy, she only answered with the most vague +acquiescence. + +"If we don't find her to-day----" she faltered. + +"But we shall," insisted Cologne. "I feel it! Tavia will be back at +camp for supper!" + +"Are we far from camp now?" asked Dorothy, looking along the fir-lined +road to the wilderness beyond. + +"No, we are only just around the bend. Would you like to get out and +walk? I think I hear the honk of the _Firebird_." + +"I believe I would like to walk," said Dorothy. "I have such +a--stagnant feeling. The walk in this air ought to dispel it." + +"Suppose we tie Jeff up here, and let him graze, while I go over to +that camp"--indicating a white speck between the trees--"and then I +may inquire if any one has seen a girl like Tavia pass up Oldtown +way?" + +"And I might take the other direction, and ask at those camps. I see +quite a colony over that way," said Dorothy. + +"And we will both meet here in----" + +"An hour," finished Dorothy. "If we are to search, there is no sense +in running back and forth--so long as we can keep our directions +straight." + +"And you are sure you won't get lost?" asked Cologne, with a smile. +"Perhaps losses are like accidents--they come in groups." + +"Oh, I have a compass on my watch guard. Let me see," and after +consulting the instrument, she faced north. "I will go due west and +come back due east. I surely can't get lost if I follow that." + +"Now, Doro, don't go too near the edge of anything. I never saw such +edgy-edges as they are up here in Maine. Looks to me as if this part +of the world was made last, with the jumping-off places for the men +who did the making." + +"For the jump back into--eternity? Quite an idea, Cologne," said +Dorothy, as the two girls prepared to part. + +"Good-bye, Jeff," called Dorothy. "Eat a good meal. We may not get +back to camp for lunch," and she patted the old horse. + +"Pity we didn't fetch some 'standwiches,'" shouted Cologne, who was +already making her way through the thickets that carpeted the path. +"If you find any dwarf cherries bring me some, Dorothy." + +"Wild strawberries will do me," responded Dorothy, as she, too, got +away from the tree where Jeff was tied. "I don't fancy either of us +will die of hunger!" + +"Not in the Maine woods!" Cologne predicted. + +Then they lost sight of each other. + +Only Jeff was left to mark the spot from which they started. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE EDGY-EDGE! + + +Dorothy stood and looked down. It was a very steep descent, and the +bottom, a black sheet of water, that looked like ink. + +The danger of the spot seemed to fascinate her. Then the thought that +perhaps poor, wilful Tavia had fallen down such a place; that perhaps +at that very moment, she lay alone, helpless, at the bottom of a +cliff! + +"But there is a road down there," Dorothy mused. "I never would have +thought to find a roadway along those rocks. Even the Indians, who +very likely, made most of these trails, might easily have found a +better and safer road to and from the same woodland ways." + +Then she remembered that the lumbermen had use of streams in their +traffic, and she decided that this was one of the roads made for their +log teams. + +Still fascinated with the danger, she looked over again. A sudden +dizziness seized her. She tried to step back, but the ledge seemed to +crumble beneath her feet! + +Staring wildly at the black water below, she was pitched +forward--down, down, down! + +Then she thought the water would save her; that it was not rough and +sharp like the rocks! She thought she would rest awhile on that soft +bed! After that she ceased to think! + +Dorothy Dale lay there alone, unconscious! + +Trundling along the narrow roadway, old Josiah Hobbs and his wife, +Samanthy, rode in their farm wagon. They had been to town with berries +and in the back of the covered vehicle the empty crates told quite as +plainly as the contented smile on the wrinkled faces of the couple, +that berries were in demand that morning, and that the Hobbs' kind had +met a ready market. + +Near the elbow in the lower road, at the foot of the precipice, where +lay so still the form of pretty Dorothy Dale, the old horse slowed up. +Mrs. Hobbs saw the girl lying by the water's edge. + +"Mercy on us, Josiah!" she cried. "It's a girl!" + +"Sure as you live!" replied the old man, giving the reins a jerk. +"What can have happened to the little one?" + +"Pray to goodness she ain't dead!" went on Samanthy. "Let me get to +her!" and before her husband could straighten his cramped limbs, she +had crawled out, and was beside Dorothy. + +"Is she?" asked Josiah, hesitating. + +"She is," replied the wife. The pair seemed to define each other's +meaning in spite of the vagueness of their words. + +"But she's awful weakish," whispered the wife. "We got to get her +somewhere." + +"Samanthy!" and the farmer's voice trembled, "mebby she the gal from +the asylum! She that escaped! Let's load her up on the cart and fetch +her home." + +"You old skinflint! To cal'late on the half-dead girl," and she raised +Dorothy's head tenderly. "But all the same she got to get somewhere, +and ours is as near as any other house. Here, take hold," she put her +arms about the helpless form. "Mercy on us! Lucky if she don't die +before we get her there. Make that horse know he's to go. If that whip +won't do, yank up a tree and let him have it." + +The farmer trembled visibly as he helped put poor Dorothy in the +wagon. If she could only have known! + +The woman dragged off her apron and her jacket to make something of a +pillow for the pretty yellow head, that lay so still. Suddenly +Dorothy opened her eyes. + +"As sure as you live," whispered Samanthy, "It _is_ that girl from the +san--sanitation! I saw her once out with the nurse, and this is her!" + +"And there's a reward----" + +"Shet up!" she snapped. "Lay still, dearie. You're awful weak and +we're taking you home." + +"Home!" murmured Dorothy in a dazed way. + +"Yes, to mommer and popper!" This from the farmer. + +"Shet up, you, Josiah! How do you know she wants to go to them folks! +There, dearie, is your head hurt?" + +Dorothy only moaned and closed her eyes again. + +"Heven't you got a drop of anything? Not even a peppermint? I told you +not to eat them all at a gullup," growled the woman. "I never saw the +like of you fer gluttonin', Josiah!" + +"And I never saw the beat of you fer growlin'. How do you feel, +missy?" + +"Will--you--shet--up? Josiah Hobbs! Don't you see she's sleepin' like +a babe?" + +"And do you think it's her? The one from the sanitation?" + +"Shet up!" + +"And there's a lot of money in that. Well, we need it." + +Mrs. Samanthy Hobbs simply pulled the farmer's long shaggy beard that +bobbed up and down, goat fashion. Her "shet-ups" seemed exhausted. + +Dorothy heard a little--she could hear the rumble of the wagon, and +she could feel the hard, rough, but kind hand of the woman who +smoothed her brow in a motherly way. That in itself was enough to make +her close her eyes and feel content. + +What a power is the hand of woman! Even though it be hardened by the +hardest kind of work it has in it the magic stroke of tenderness. + +"Now, there," Samanthy would murmur, "soon you will be in bed. Then we +will fix you all up nice." + +Bed! Dorothy thought she was in bed--it was so much better than the +stones, and that black water. + +But she was getting her senses and with them came pain. Her head hurt, +and the wagon jolted so that she was sore all over. + +"We have only a few more trots, then we will be at home," soothed +Samanthy. "After that you kin sleep in a feather bed--as soft as your +own white hands." + +She was smoothing those hands--they were very white, and very soft. +What had turned Dorothy Dale's camping days into this tragedy? Where +was Tavia? And what was to become of Dorothy? + +Strange how illness melts the strongest! Dorothy just wanted to +rest--to rest--yes, to rest! + +At the dingy back door, the old horse stopped. The farmer and his wife +almost carried Dorothy in, and the strain made her close her eyes +again; made her forget everything. + +After much talk between the farmer and his wife, and many contrary +directions, Dorothy was finally enveloped in a nightdress that even +Tavia in her palmiest days could not have anticipated. It was big, it +was broad, it was long, and it was roomy! + +But it was sweet and clean, and Dorothy closed her eyes directly after +Samanthy Hobbs put to her lips a drink of catnip tea! + +"She's the girl from the asylum," whispered the farmer's wife. "Jest +keep still and we will git her back all right." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SAD AWAKENING + + +Such a long, lovely sleep, on that fluffy feather bed! Everything so +sweet, so wholesome, even in her half-conscious state Dorothy knew +that things about her were right--that they were "homey." + +Then the smooth-roughness of that woman's hands, the life of them +seemed to cry out comfort, while the harsh flesh told another story. + +Twice Dorothy had opened her eyes over a pan of chicken broth. She had +to take it, and she was glad of it. + +Then, outside in the hall room, that was really nothing more nor less +than a landing for the unrailed stairs, she thought she could hear the +old-fashioned voice of a very old-fashioned man--he wanted to fetch +her something, and he didn't seem to care just what. + +"Couldn't I git her a hunk of thet sausage that we brung home?" he +begged. + +"You loon," was his answer. "Are you set on murder? Do you want to +kill her outright?" + +This repressed his enthusiasm. "Never do I," he declared, "spite of +the reward, Samanthy. Don't she look like what our little 'un ought to +look like if--she grew to look?" + +"You loon! How could you tell what she ought to have looked like when +her own mother never saw her try? Oh, Josiah," and the lines of +hardship melted into possibilities, "wouldn't it have been lovely--if +she did--live--to look!" + +"'Tweren't your fault--nor mine, Samanthy. He knows, and mebby thet's +why He sent this 'un. Ain't she purty? And I don't care a durn about +the sanitarition folks. Of course--if we've found her--and they want +her----" + +It was a strange sight. Those two wrinkled old faces peering into the +blossom that lay on that feather bed! + +"Josiah Hobbs! You are an old loon! I can't see how you kin make out +that this is heaven-sent," and she brushed a fly from the white +forehead. + +"Oh--yes--you--kin, Samanthy. Else why did you shoo thet fly?" + +"Shet up! Do you want to rouse her?" and she went over, and pulled +down the green curtain with the pink rose border. + +"Are you sartin thet--she's the one?" + +"Didn't I say I seen her? Are there so many cornsilk heads around +here? Now, the question is----" + +"Jest what I was a-thinkin': The question is----" + +"We kin lock this room--and put the bars ag'in the shutters. But I +don't want to scare her." + +"It's the best, though. We hev got to make it s'cure. I don't 'magine +she'll care fer awhile, any way. And then we kin tote her back to the +sanitation." + +"Well, we'll see. Now, you sneak off and I'll tuck her in. Poor lamb! +To think that she's looney!" + +"Ain't it a shame! If our'n was alive we wouldn't care if she could +think or not--we would think fer her--wouldn't we, Samanthy?" + +"Mebby," she answered, giving the quilt a smoothing. "But there's no +tellin'. She might have run off----" + +The remainder of the soliloquy was lost in the red and white quilt. + +There Dorothy slept. The tin dipper of fresh water was on the wooden +chair at her side. The green curtain was drawn down to the very sill +of the window. The door was shut--and it was hooked on the outside. + +How long she slept she could not by any means know, but certainly the +sun had sailed around to the window, that wore no curtain, and through +which the glint of a fading day cut in like a faithful friend to poor +Dorothy Dale. + +She groped her way over to the door. It was bolted, and the windows +were securely fastened. + +The awful truth forced itself into her fagged brain. She was a +prisoner! Why? What had she done? Wasn't that woman kind? And did not +the man go to the spring for water? She heard him say so, and he was a +feeble old man. Why was she locked--barred in that smothering attic +room? + +She picked up a heavy block that lay near, and with it rapped +vigorously on the bare floor. + +A shuffling of feet on the stairs told that she had been heard, and +presently the not unkindly face of Samanthy Hobbs made its way into +the room. + +"Why am I locked in?" gasped Dorothy. "Why do you not let me go back +to my friends?" + +"Hush there, now, dearie," and she smoothed the hand that lay idly on +the red and white quilt, as Dorothy stood beside the bed. "You'll be +all right. Don't you go and get bothered. We've sent fer the doctor, +and when he comes, he'll fetch you right home to your maw. But you +have got to keep quiet, or else the fever will set in, and then +there's no tellin'. I told Josiah that we would do fer you like as if +you was our'n, but you must not talk, dearie. You must be mournful +still." + +[Illustration: "WHY AM I LOCKED IN?" GASPED DOROTHY. _Dorothy Dale's +Camping Days Page 116_] + +Dorothy looked keenly into the face that leaned over her. What did it +mean? Whom did they take her to be? + +"Do you know who I am?" she ventured. + +"Why of course we do, lovey. But don't you bother to talk. The doctor +will be here in the morning, and he'll take you back to your maw." + +"I have no mother," sighed Dorothy. "I am a stranger around here, and +I hope you will not keep me from my friends. They are probably looking +for me now." + +"Course they be. But now a little chicken soup? No? Then a sip of tea. +It's revivin'. Josiah! Josiah! Come with that milk! How long does it +take to milk a brindle cow?" + +The fresh milk was brought, and crowded upon the already well-filled +wooden chair. + +"Thank you very much," murmured Dorothy, "but I cannot eat or drink. I +must go to my friends!" + +In spite of her will the tears came. At the sight of them the woman +shuffled off. Evidently tears were too much for Samanthy Hobbs. + +"I'll leave you a candle--no, I guess I had better jest raise the +lattice, and if you wants anything I'll hear you if you knocks. Don't +you worry, dearie. Samanthy Hobbs ain't no--well, she ain't, that's +all!" + +Then Dorothy was alone--all alone in the stuffy room. Could she +escape; get out of a window--anything to be in the free open air, and +to run--run back to dear old camp? + +She tried every crack, every window, the old door, even the hole that +opened out on the slant roof. + +Barred! Locked! Everything was locked against her! + +"Oh, must I die here?" she murmured. Then she fell back on the bed, on +the red and white quilt. Sobbing, too weak to cry, too weak to think, +but not too weak to know! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TAVIA'S MISTAKE + + +Meanwhile Tavia Travers, the light-hearted, reckless Tavia, realized +that she had made a dreadful mistake. It was the second afternoon +since she had left the camp, and she was at the railroad station, +waiting for something unforseen to develop that would enable her to +get back to her friends. + +It was such a lonely place--away out there in the woods, and she had +spent one awful night locked up in that station! + +"I'll walk," she declared, "if I cannot get away from here before +dark!" + +Walk! Fifteen miles to Innernook! With hardly a chance of a single +town in between! + +It was at the little rustic bridge that she had met the man, according +to the appointment made under the harvest apple tree. + +"Come with me and I will prove to you that what I say is absolutely +correct," he declared. "I have an old uncle out at Breakaway, and he +will tell you about the fortune with his own lips--I shall make him +do so." + +"But is it far?" Tavia had demurred, for she did not just like that +glassy stare in the man's eyes, handsome though he was. + +"Only a pleasant little train ride--it will do you good to get away +from this place. They call it camp--I would call it 'cramp,'" and he +chuckled at his attempted joke. + +Tavia had not been inclined to go. He had seen that she hesitated. + +"Well, if you think I am not brotherly enough, I can take you to my +sister Belle. She is surely sisterly enough--she will meet us at +Durham." + +This had convinced Tavia. Surely if they met his sister at the first +station, there could be no harm in her going. And though the story +about the fortune might be vapory, it was fun to have had such an +experience--to actually run away! + +Poor foolish Tavia! _Was_ it fun to run away? + +At the station, of course, there had been no sister Belle, but Tavia +could not turn back now. This man seemed so compelling--so completely +her master! What was his strange power? + +On they had gone, he telling all sorts of absurd stories about the +money, which, he claimed, was actually secreted in his uncle's house. +But long before he reached the station at Breakaway Tavia had decided +that he was insane--and that _she_ had been insane not to have +realized this awful truth before. + +Then she knew that she must humor him--what might happen if she +crossed this strange man of iron will, who had only to ask her to do +such a ridiculous thing and she did it? + +To run away from camp! Fun! Yes, it was funny, very---- + +"When we get to the station I will go on ahead," he had said, to her +immense relief. "Then, when I have told uncle you are coming, and I +have gotten him into his good clothes--uncle is very vain when there +are ladies around--then I shall return for you," and he had waved +himself like a tall young sapling, in that conceited self-conscious +pose peculiar to the stage and to--but Tavia was not sure. Perhaps, +after all, he might not be altogether unbalanced. + +With many protestations of his earnestness he had left her at the +little railroad station, and as she saw him saunter down the +tan-barked path, she had been glad; then again she was sorry. + +It was dreadful to be all alone there, and night coming on. Even the +station was locked; to whom could she go or whom could she ask for +money to get back to the dear old camp? + +For two long hours she had sat there, then the old station agent +hobbled along, and opened the ticket office. Tavia told him something +of her plight, but instead of saying that she had come away from her +friends on the word of a perfect stranger, she pardonably made the man +out to be a distant cousin. + +"Hum! That fellow with the long hair? Well, I guess they'll git him +to-night. He's got loose from the sanitarium on the hill, and there's +been a lot of looking for him in the last two weeks. Seems to me he's +jest about toured the country," said the old man as he dusted the +window shelf with his cap. "I reckon they'll git him now. And you was +out with that chap?" + +"Why--yes, no, that is----" + +"Your cousin, eh? Say, miss, he ain't nobody's cousin. But like as not +he thinks he is cousin to the president himself." + +"If I could only borrow a dollar!" sighed Tavia. + +"Well, you could if I hadn't been caught with that trick twice this +summer. Why, if I gave you a dollar, girl, you would make me believe I +was your cousin, too." + +This retort angered Tavia, and she determined to ask no further favors +from this old man. Though he did wear the uniform of a Civil War +veteran, he certainly had poor manners. + +"What will happen?" she asked herself, confident that something must +happen to relieve the situation. + +"The best I kin do," growled the old station agent, "will be to fetch +you a bite to eat back from my boardin' house; and then let you sleep +here till mornin'----" + +"Sleep alone in a station!" exclaimed Tavia. "I'm not afraid of +anything--but--I don't believe I'd like to stay in this--place all +night. I have a horror of rats." + +"Rats! No rats around here. I've got the best cat in the country. +Switch is his name, an' that's him--he's no slouch." + +"But shut up alone with a big strange cat----" and Tavia looked at the +animal curled up under the beautifully-blacked and summer-shined +stove. + +"Well, you kin do as you please, miss, but there ain't no more trains +your way to-night, supposin' you did have a ticket." + +Tavia looked out over the gloom that was quickly descending upon the +little hamlet. Soon it would be night! No one but that station agent +in sight! No place to go, but over the hills to his boarding house, or +perhaps to some farm house; where, should she have the courage to make +her way through the fields up to a cabin, perhaps fierce dogs, that +were already howling and barking, would become more her enemies than +would be the cat, and the solitude of the station. + +"And is there no church--no minister's house where a stranded girl +might get shelter?" + +"Nice young girls don't often get stranded," replied the old man not +unreasonably, "and if I was you I'd keep my trouble purty much to +myself. You kin depend upon Sam Dixon. If I say I'll do a thing I'll +do it; and no harm will come to you in this here station for a night. +Besides, I come over for the ten o'clock train, and I'm back for the +milk train before daylight." + +Something about this speech convinced Tavia she was unfortunate, and +it would be best to keep her trouble to herself, for what would +strangers care about her predicament? Could she deny that it was +through her own fault that she had been thus situated? + +"I'm goin' along now, and say," said the agent, "if you like I'll just +lock the office, and give you the outside door key. There ain't no +tramps, but if you should be timid, before I come back, just turn the +key in the door." + +"Oh, thank you," Tavia was compelled to say, for this was a +condescension; "I'm sure I shall not be afraid--in the twilight." + +"Well, take the key anyhow," and locking the inner office he came out +in the open room. "I'll fetch you a bite--I'm glad I ain't got no gals +to--get left over from way trains." + +How Tavia Travers ever choked down the biscuit and the slice of ham +that Sam Dixon brought back to her that night--how she actually +fondled old gray Switch, and was glad of his friendly purring during +that long, dreary night, as she lay cuddled up in the very farthest +corner bench--how the night did, after all, go by, and a very gray +dawn bring the welcome step or limp of the station agent, only +Tavia--poor unfortunate Tavia--could ever know! + +And it was the next day--daylight at last! + +To-day she must get back to camp if she had to walk! + +Oh, she _must_ get back! Surely something would happen to assist her! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WHEN THE TRAIN CAME IN + + +In a very dark corner of the station Tavia found a broken washbowl, +and from the water pail she carried two cups full of water, with which +to refresh her worn and haggard face. + +Sam Dixon had brought her word that she might ride back to his +boarding house with him, and share his coffee, but she was to say that +she was his niece, and that she was on her way to her grandmother's, +"like little red riding hood," chuckled Sam, when he disclosed his +plan. + +Tavia cared little for coffee, but she was weak, and the fear of being +again left in the station alone prompted her to accept the well-meant +invitation. In fact, she had in her hours of desolation become quite +fond of the little old man with the blackthorn cane. + +"Yes, I'll go gladly," she answered, and his pleasure could not be +doubted. + +Accordingly, when the milk train had pulled out, and the station was +again locked, Tavia jumped into the narrow carriage beside the old +man, and, asking if he would not like to have her drive, she pulled up +the reins, and they started off. + +Here was a new experience. If only now she could forget the agony that +Dorothy must be experiencing, it would not be so dreadful to go at +this early morning hour, over the dewy roads, in the ramshackle buggy +with her benefactor at her side. + +"At any rate," she thought to herself, "I'll have a good story to tell +when I _do_ get back to camp." + +"Is your place far?" she asked of Sam, more for the sake of talking +than of asking. + +"Not so very. You see, it has always been rather rough out this +way--lumbermen and the like always puttin' up at Dobson's. That's why +I thought you was better off in the station, than to try to make your +way about last night. And some of them rough fellows stop at my +place--that's Dobson's--so while they're out now is your chance to get +a hot drink." + +As he spoke, a rough man, indeed, passed the carriage in which Tavia +and Sam were riding! Wasn't he rough! Tavia instinctively shrugged up +closer to the old man beside her. + +"Uncle Sam, was that a--woodman?" + +Tavia fell in quite naturally to calling the station agent Uncle Sam. + +"Yep, he's one of the sort," taking care to keep his smile focussed on +the man, who although he was going in the opposite direction was able +to keep his eye on Tavia. "You see they are the most suspicious +set--takes a man a lifetime to know them, a woman an eternity, and +then she has to depend upon their good nature." + +Tavia smiled, and hurried the old horse until his ears "sassed her +back." They jogged along--every moment nature was getting more and +more wideawake, until Tavia feared she would really wake up to the +magnitude of her own personal offence, everything else seemed so +straightforward and so upright! + +Why in the world had she ever listened to the ravings of that man with +the soft hat and the hard smile? + +After all, Dorothy must be right--and she, Tavia, was wrong. Yes, it +was indisputably wrong to do the things that had seemed so smart +before--things that Dorothy could never laugh at. + +She sighed heavily. Sam heard it. + +"What's wrong?" he asked, looking over his glasses, and under his +wrinkles. + +"Oh, nothing," Tavia sighed further. "Only I am wondering what my +friends are thinking--of--me--about me." + +"Well, there's scarcely any doubt about that think," he replied. "Like +as not they think you are drowned--no good friend would ever think you +were--stranded!" + +Sam's logic was irresistible. Tavia had not thought of this +contingency; they might think her drowned! + +"I must hurry to get back," she said suddenly. "I wonder could I do +any little work, at your boarding house, to earn the price of +my--ticket?" + +"You couldn't manage to stay over until the afternoon, do you think? I +have some mending I'd be mighty glad to get done--and then I could +give you a ticket," said Sam. + +"Oh, that would be splendid!" exclaimed Tavia. "I would willingly wait +over even if I had a chance to go sooner, for you have been so good to +me, Uncle Sam," she said warmly. "I shouldn't want to go until I had +done something for you." + +"Then it's a bargain. While you're eatin' your coffee, I'll grab up +the things, and you kin mend over in the station. We'll stick to the +story that you are my niece, and you kin come inside the office and +mend all you like, and it ain't nobody's business. You see, sister +died last year, and I ain't had nobody to fix up the things for me +since." + +"I'll be very glad to do what I can," said Tavia, "but I never was +much good at sewing. However, I'll do the very best I can, Uncle Sam." + +"Sure you will, and that'll be all right. Here we are. Now, you just +wait while I get the horse's oats, and then we'll get ours." + +The house before which he drew up was of the old Colonial type--the +posts had been white, and imposing at some time, but they were now +neither white nor any other true color. Also, they threatened to +topple over on the vines, that so kindly did their part in trying to +make the old place look alive. + +An old man sat on the porch, smoking his pipe. Sam Dixon spoke to him +as he passed around the house to get the horse his breakfast. +Presently a woman, enveloped in gingham dress, and lost in a gingham +sunbonnet, came out and stood in wonderment, looking at Tavia. She +glared at her for a moment or two, and then, without speaking a word, +entered the house again. This was not a very cordial welcome for +Tavia, but she patted the horse, and pretended not to notice the +slight. Then Sam came limping along with the oats in a nose bag for +Major. + +"Now eat," ordered Sam, "and----" Then it struck him that he had not +fixed on a name for his "niece." Tavia saw his embarrassment, but +before she could suggest a name, he added, "Betsy, you and me's hungry +too, I reckon. Let's see what Sarah has to eat in the kitchen." + +"All right, Uncle Sam," replied "Betsy," with a smile, "I am hungry." + +They entered the house, and soon were seated on the old-fashioned +hickory chairs, before some steaming cakes, and equally steaming +coffee. Tavia was indeed hungry, and she "fell to," as did Sam, +without any unnecessary ceremony. + +How strange it was! But what if the folks at camp thought her drowned? +At any rate she must earn her ticket back. + +What an eternity it seemed since she stole away to that little +bridge--she could not bear to think of it now! And what would Dorothy +think. Ah, how little Tavia knew what poor Dorothy was thinking at +that very moment! + +"Now, when you're ready, we'll hop along," said Sam as Sarah came in +the room, and looked to see if her guests would take more coffee. +"How's things to-day, Sarah?" + +"Ain't you heard?" she replied ambiguously. + +"No, what?" pressed Sam. + +"Why, a girl has 'scaped from the hospital. 'Tain't very safe fer a +strange girl to be around here now. It might be her," and she shot an +unmistakable threat at Tavia. "Ain't never heard you speak, before, of +Betsy, Sam. Where's she bin?" + +"Say, Sarah. Is there any money up fer findin' the girl?" he asked, +and there was no mistaking _his_ meaning. "'Cause it ain't no use fer +you to--speculate on Betsy. She's no house-pital breakaway." + +But Sarah looked at Tavia with unveiled suspicion. Tavia felt it--and +the thought that she was a stranger, and might be mistaken for the +escaped girl, made her most uncomfortable. + +It was a relief when Sam returned from up-stairs, his articles that +needed mending done up in a clumsy bundle, and his hat cocked on his +head with the army badge over the back of his neck. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A HARROWING EXPERIENCE + + +When Dorothy awoke, to find herself still in that attic room, to know +that it was not all an awful dream, but a terrible reality, the full +meaning her position flooded into her strained mind, like some awful +deluge of horror! + +That the people who held her captive did so for some undefinable +reason was perfectly clear; but why they did so, was just as +mysterious as was their reason for plying her with coddling words, as +if she were a baby. + +Realizing that they would not let her go her way, Dorothy determined, +as she lay there, with the moonlight making queer shadows on the slant +wall, that she would escape that day! + +How little did Tavia know of the danger into which she had thrown her +best friend! + +"And I wonder," thought Dorothy, "if Tavia is safely back at camp? And +what do the folks think of me?" + +A sigh, as deep as it was sincere, escaped from her lips, and she +crawled out of bed to see if daylight was near. + +"Such a long night!" she sobbed, "and to think that I am a prisoner!" + +The low windows were shut, and the air of the room was stifling. +Dorothy groped around to see if she might find the candle that she had +noticed on the stand, but it was gone. + +"They haven't even left me a match," she told herself. "Did they think +I would eat matches?" + +Then she decided she would raise a window if she had to break it open. +A curtain roller lay on the floor. With this she tried to pry up the +uncertain sash, and in doing so she fell over a low stool. + +The noise disturbed the folks in the lower rooms, for directly Dorothy +heard a shuffle of feet on the stairs. + +At first she felt indignant, then her helplessness prompted caution, +and she hurried into bed. + +The door opened softly. + +"What is it, dear?" asked Mrs. Hobbs, who, as Dorothy could see, was +enveloped in a robe of the same pattern as that which she herself +wore. "Did you call?" + +"Oh, thank you. I only wanted a little air," replied Dorothy. +"Couldn't we open a window?" + +"Well, perhaps we had best not, dearie," replied the woman. "There +might be a draught." + +"I wish there was," Dorothy could not help replying. Then she quickly +added: "Don't you think fresh air is very good at this warm season?" + +"Oh, yes, for some folks," said Mrs. Hobbs, tucking the warm bed +clothes more warmly about the sweltering girl. "But, you see--well, +this room--we don't always open the windows--fer company." + +"I will be able to go back to my friends in the morning," said Dorothy +promptly. "I am sure it has been very kind of you to take care of me +as you have done." + +"Now, don't talk too much dearie," ordered the woman. "You see, head +troubles--that is, when a girl falls on her head--she has got to be +dreadful careful, fer a long time." + +"Oh, my head is not hurt," declared Dorothy, as she leaned upon her +elbow. "I feel able to walk back to camp now." + +"Camp?" asked the woman. + +"Why, yes. Didn't you know I came from a camp out Everglade way? I was +with one of the other girls from camp when I--got lost," finished +Dorothy quite helplessly. + +"Some folks don't call them places 'camps,'" Mrs. Hobbs ventured. "But +of course the name ain't got anything to do with it." + +"What do they call them?" pressed Dorothy. + +"Oh, now, you never mind. You will be all right. Jest go off to sleep, +and as soon as Josh milks, I'll fetch you a nice drink of the warm +suds--it's splendid fer nerves." + +Dorothy was completely mystified. Perhaps the old woman was queer, and +she might better humor her. + +"Well, I may sleep a little more," she said, "and then when daylight +comes, I shall be ready to start off. Would you mind handing me my +jacket. It has my purse in it, and I want to make sure that it is all +right." + +Samanthy Hobbs hobbled over to where Dorothy's clothes lay in a heap. +She fumbled through the garments, and Dorothy distinctly saw her take +the beaded purse in her hand. + +"That's it," said Dorothy. + +"No pocketbook here," replied the woman. + +"Why, that little beaded bag I saw you take from my pocket; that is my +purse!" + +"Ain't no sign of sech a thing here," declared the woman, who was at +that very moment trying to secret the purse in the folds of her robe. + +Dorothy was more puzzled than ever. Would this woman steal her +pocketbook? How could she ever get away from the place if penniless? + +"Give me that purse," the girl demanded, jumping up out of bed, and +attempting to get hold of the beaded trifle. + +"Josh! Josh!" called the woman. "Come up here and help me! She's +gettin' vi'lent!" + +"Violent!" repeated Dorothy, "I ought to get--crazy, to be shut up +here--this way." + +"Well, dearie, I didn't want to scare you," said the woman, in that +tantalizing voice, "but if I was you, I wouldn't get any crazier than +I was--if _I_ was _you_." + +"Crazy! Do you think I'm crazy? Is that it?" and poor Dorothy fell +back upon the bed. + +Fortunately Josiah did not hear his wife call, and of course did not +come in answer. + +"There now, there now!" and Mrs. Hobbs smoothed out the bed things. "I +will fetch you some nice, warm milk. And perhaps to-day I'll be able +to send you back to your ma." + +"I have no mother," insisted Dorothy. "I told you that my name is +Dorothy Dale, and my father is Major Dale of the United States army. +If any one attempts to--wrong me, _he_ will see that they are +punished." + +With all the vehemence she could muster up Dorothy spoke these words, +and she saw that they had some effect upon Mrs. Hobbs. Would she +believe her, and let her go? + +"Well, of course, you are a stranger to me," said the woman, "and, as +I live, girlie, I intend to do right by you. But it's finding out the +right that sometimes makes the wrong." + +"Oh, I am sure Mrs. Hobbs you have been kind," Dorothy said, in a +sobbing voice, "but you see how dreadfully hard it is to be kept away +from one's friends. Why, I don't dare to think how they feel! How my +cousins are worrying, and, of course, they have sent word to father. +Oh, dear Mrs. Hobbs, help me to get back! Help me to get away to-day, +for if I don't--they will think I am--dead!" + +Dorothy had actually seized the woman's hands, and was almost kneeling +before her. To be away for two days and a night! + +The woman looked keenly into Dorothy's blue eyes. She smoothed back +the pretty, neglected yellow hair, and she brushed the flaming cheek +kindly. "I would not harm you for the world," she declared, "for if +you are not the lost girl--you are--an angel!" + +"Here, Samanthy!" called Josiah, from below stairs. "Come and git me a +cup of coffee. I ain't got all day to wait around! I've got to git to +town!" + +"All right, Josh. I'll be there right away. Now, dearie, jest you be +patient, and everything will come out all right." + +"But can't I have a window open? I am almost smothered. You know I am +used to almost living out doors." + +"Well," then, she whispered, "wait till Josh gets off and I'll slip up +and fix you. He's awfully fussy about some things." + +There was nothing for Dorothy to do but wait. But how long it seemed! +How close the day was, as the sun opened up on that hot roof! Oh, if +she did not get away, surely she _would_ go crazy! + +She could hear the old farmer grumbling. Evidently he was not pleased +about something. But Mrs. Hobbs was cautioning him not to speak so +loud. Of course they were afraid of being overheard. "If she opens the +window," Dorothy decided, "I'll drop to the piazza roof! Then I can +escape! Oh, I must escape!" + +She dare not, however, make any preparations to get away until after +the farmer had gone to town; until after Mrs. Hobbs had opened the +window and until after--she hoped this would happen--after Mrs. Hobbs +went off to the fields for her berries. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +STRANGER STILL + + +"You kin mend furst rate, Betsy," complimented old Sam Dixon, as Tavia +plied her needle in the little ticket office, "and do you know, I've +taken quite a shine to you? You might be my niece if you liked. I have +a penny or two, and there ain't no pockets in shrouds." + +Tavia looked up in surprise! After all, might there be "a fortune" +somewhere for her or for her family? The thought seemed too absurd. + +"Why, Uncle Sam, what do you mean?" she asked. + +"Even Sam Dixon can't live forever, sis, and you know it's sort of +lonely to think, that, when he goes, there won't be no one to think of +him, like he thinks of them. That's why I want your name and address. +But there comes the train from the city. Would you mind attendin' to +the window while I run out with the mail bag?" + +"Certainly I will--I know where the tickets are, and can ask you the +price if any one wants to buy one." Wasn't it queer to sell tickets? + +But that was the train to the city! + +"Oh, Uncle Sam!" called Tavia. "Isn't that the train I should go on?" + +"Without giving me your address?" and he was running down the platform +with the mail bag. "Couldn't you wait till the next?" + +There seemed nothing else to do! But to stay longer away from camp? + +Well, she might as well be content now. It was too late to get a +ticket, too late to say good-bye to Sam, too late to do anything but +attend to the people who came in the station after the train pulled +out. + +"Have you seen the carriage from the sanitarium?" + +The speaker, who had just alighted from the train, addressed Tavia, +but the latter was so surprised that she caught her finger in the +ticket stamper. Before the little window stood a young woman in the +garb of a nurse--and she wanted the carriage from the sanitarium. + +"If you will wait a minute or two the agent will be back," said Tavia +in her very nicest voice. "He is just putting the mail on the train." + +"Dear me!" and the nurse turned away. Then she returned. "Are you his +daughter?" + +"No, his--his niece," quibbled Tavia. What else could she do just +then? And didn't Sam say he would adopt her? + +"Well, since you are going to be around here we may as well get +acquainted--I shall probably have plenty of calls at the station. I +see you are the whole service outfit. The telephone, telegraph, and, I +suppose, the--Press Bureau." + +"Oh, yes," replied Tavia, not grasping the sarcasm of the "Press" +remark. "Uncle Sam has a great deal to attend to." + +The nurse laughed to show her pretty teeth, Tavia thought. She was +pretty, and her immaculate white linen was immensely becoming. + +"My name is--Bell--Mary Bell," she said, "and yours is----" + +"Betsy Dixon," replied Tavia. (Oh, what a tangled web we weave!) + +"What a charming name--Betsy Dixon! Quite like a--bullet from Molly +Pitcher's gun," said the nurse. Tavia smiled but failed to catch the +significance of that remark. Betsy was a good old name. Why like a war +bullet? + +"Here is the station agent," said Tavia, as Sam limped back. "Uncle +Sam, have you seen the carriage from the sanitarium?" + +Tavia could not overlook the joy in that name--Uncle Sam. It was so +simple, and so mouth-fitting. + +"Here it comes," replied Sam, also noting how nicely Tavia fell into +her role. "But is this the new nurse? I have an important message for +Miss Bennet. That's her--in the carriage." + +"Miss Bennet! Why, she's my classmate! I never expected to find her, +out here in the hills," spoke the stranger. + +The carriage drew up to the little platform. Miss Bennet alighted and +Miss Bell hurried out to meet her. + +"Oh, you dear thing!"--this was very extravagant for trained and +graduated nurses--"to think I should meet you here! Isn't it just too +nice!" It was Miss Bell who said that. + +"Why, Mary Bell!" replied Miss Bennet. "How glad I am to see you! And +what a surprise! You are the new nurse! And I never knew it. I'm just +starting out on such an interesting case! A young girl, the dearest +little thing, has escaped from the sanitarium, and I came out with the +carriage to hunt her up. We had word last night that an old +farmer--named Hobbs--had caught her. It may not be true, but I am +going out there to see. It's a lovely ride. Can you come?" + +The girl who escaped! Tavia remembered Sarah's story. + +"Miss Bennet, I have a message for you," said Sam, very slowly. "It +came in over the wire a half hour ago." And he handed her the yellow +slip of paper. + +Miss Bennet looked at it. + +"Oh, my!" she gasped. "My mother!" and she dropped upon a nearby +bench. "She--is--dying!" + +Her face turned as white as the linen she wore. Instinctively Tavia +ran for the water at the corner of the room. Miss Bell snatched up a +paper and started to fan her. + +"There, dear, don't faint," said the new nurse. "Of course, you must +go to her." + +"But! I must go after the escaped girl!" gasped Miss Bennet, and she +again almost swooned. "Oh, my darling mother! All I have in the whole, +wide world!" + +"You go to her. Take my coat and hat, and I will take your case. +Agent, what time does a train leave for Mountainview?" She had the +telegram in her hand. + +"In just two minutes. There's the bell now." + +"Come Laura, get into this coat and take my hat. You will reach home +before anything serious happens, and perhaps, when your dear mother +sees you----. We must hope for the best." + +Laura Bennet slipped into her friend's coat and took the little Panama +hat that Miss Bell handed to her. "Then you will go after the girl and +return her to the sanitarium? It will be your first case. Can you +manage it?" + +"Certainly I will. You run along for the train. Have you a ticket? +Mountainview," she called to Tavia. + +Tavia stamped the ticket. Sam was inside, but she had it ready before +he had made his way to the window. + +"And how shall I know the girl?" asked Miss Bell. + +"Know her? Oh, yes! Why, you can't mistake her. She's the prettiest +little thing, with yellow hair and blue eyes--there is not another +like her. Oh, how frightened I am! It is so good of you, Mary!" + +And she was on the train. + +Miss Bell got into the wagon with the driver from the sanitarium. +Tavia was wishing that the drive had been in the other direction, for +then she could have gone in the carriage perhaps, and have caught a +train at the switch station. That she was staying so long away from +camp now began to worry her. What would Dorothy think! + +"Uncle Sam, couldn't I get a train earlier by going over to the +station I heard you telephone to?" she asked. "I don't mind a good +walk." + +"Why, yes, that's so," replied Sam. "Of course I'd like to keep you, +Betsy. You make a first-class assistant agent. But I know how you +feel, and I wouldn't have you stay longer than you wanted to. There'll +be a train here soon for the Junction, and if you are sure you can +make the other--you'll have to flag it with your handkerchief--then, +if you get left, there will be no train either way. I don't know as +you ought to risk it." + +"Oh, I can manage very well," she assured him. "I'll take the train, +and get the other from the Junction, all right. I am so much obliged +to you. I would love to stay longer, if I could, but perhaps I may be +able to come up again while I'm at camp." She tried to fix up a +little, it was so miserable to have had one's clothes on all night. + +"Well, there's the train," and he pulled open the switch, which was +operated by a lever in the ticket office. "Good-bye, Betsy, and I +won't forget you." + +"Nor will I forget you, Uncle Sam," said Tavia with something like +real sentiment in her voice. "I am glad I got lost just to have found +you." + +"Now, don't mix up the instructions," Sam Dixon warned her. "There +ain't no agent around the Junction--in fact, there ain't nothin' +around there but wild animals." + +"Oh, really, wild animals?" she asked in surprise. + +"Used to be a great place fer huntin', but beasts don't like the +railroad, so you don't need to be afraid of them. Good-bye, Betsy; +good-bye!" + +And Tavia started for camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MISTAKEN IDENTITY + + +Mrs. Hobbs came back to Dorothy as she had promised, and also, as she +had promised, she did open a window. + +This open window was Dorothy's hope. If she could only slip out of it, +and drop to the little piazza below! + +Mrs. Hobbs had brought up a cup of warm milk, and a slice of toast. +Dorothy took it thankfully, and felt stronger. + +"You feel better now?" asked the woman. "I have to go over the hill +for berries--we have a great crop to-day, and Josh had to go away on +business." If only Dorothy knew what business! "Do you think you'll be +all right if I fetch you something to read?" + +"Why, of course. I feel very well to-day, and I shall be glad to sit +by the window and read," said Dorothy. + +"Here's a book. I got it off last year's Christmas tree, but I ain't +had no time to read it." She handed Dorothy a volume bound in red and +inscribed "Myrtle and Ivy." There was nothing to show whether it was +an agricultural guide, a spiritual retreat, or a love song. + +"It's a pretty book," said Dorothy, "and I am sure I shall enjoy it." + +"Yes, then I'll be off. Only let me tell you one thing dear," and the +woman came up very close to Dorothy, "you must promise me not to try +to get away until I can take you to the station. Josh has the wagon." + +"All right," replied Dorothy with an amused smile. "Why should I try +to get away?" + +"Don't know, dear, only I must have your promise." + +Dorothy felt queer--she had reason to be grateful to Mrs. Hobbs, and +to give a promise would involve an obligation. Yet she must make her +escape. Some disturbance downstairs saved the girl further anxiety on +the question of the promise. Mrs. Hobbs ran down to the door, and she +did not return. + +The summer morning hours sent in their greeting through the small +window that opened above the porch. Dorothy was nervous, she must +leave just as soon as she saw Mrs. Hobbs disappear over the hill, when +she would be out of the sight of the house. And her purse was gone! +Well, once out on the clear roadway, surely some one would befriend +her. What a dreadful thing it was to be a prisoner! And not to know +why she was imprisoned! Her beautiful hair had not been combed in two +days. Dorothy did the best she could to make it smooth with her side +comb, but the depth of the hair, and the size of the comb, made the +matter of actual hair-dressing a difficult task. But there was fresh +water in the basin, and she could wash, which was one comfort. "If +only I had my purse," she thought, "with my little looking glass. +Well, it will scarcely matter how I look--so long as I do not attract +attention." + +As if Dorothy could help attracting attention! + +Mrs. Hobbs's generous form had dropped behind the hill. There was +nothing to wait for now, Dorothy must get out of that window. + +The window frame was that sort that runs to the roof and has not far +to go. It was really not half a window, but it was large enough for +the girl's slim form to slip through. It was no distance to the roof, +then she could slide down the post. + +Dorothy was out. She sat upon the roof and with a careful move slid +toward the edge. + +She must stop near a post, as she could not stand up! + +Yes, what blessing! She was directly above the post! + +Dorothy was not an athlete, but she was always able to climb. She +swung around the post--down--down--to the ground! + +But no sooner had her feet touched the welcome earth that a shrill +scream startled her! + +She was puzzled and alarmed until she saw a big, green parrot in a +cage. And the bird was screeching to the limit of its capacity. Mrs. +Hobbs could hear it! Should Dorothy throw a mat from the porch over +its cage! + +No, the door was opened, the bird was out,--and it was actually flying +at Dorothy! + +"Mama! Mama!" it yelled. "Come quick! Come quick!" + +Snatching up a stick, Dorothy made an attempt to strike the green +thing as it flapped toward her. But she could not hit it! And if she +turned to run it would likely settle its claws into her head. Yet she +must run! Mrs. Hobbs-- + +Without time for further thought Dorothy did run; down the lane, and +into the road. + +The parrot had not followed! Dorothy was out on the road, she could +surely get back to camp now. Oh, how glorious it was! + +Gratefully she raised her eyes to the clear sky. Her heart sent up its +thanks--to the Friend who is never hidden from those who seek Him. + +"And there comes a carriage," she told herself, as a rumbling of +wheels took her attention. "Perhaps the driver will give me a lift." + +The wagon was hidden from view as the road turned sharply just under +the oaks. Dorothy waited. Yes, and there was a young woman in the +carriage. Wasn't that fortunate? + +The carriage turned so close to Dorothy that she had no need to take a +single step to hail it. And it was almost stopped, yes; it did stop +now. + +The young woman in the carriage was garbed in white--a nurse. + +"Is this the Hobb's place?" she asked of Dorothy. + +"Yes," replied the girl in surprise. + +Then the nurse jumped out of the carriage. She looked keenly at +Dorothy. + +"Do you--stop there?" she asked curiously. + +"I have been stopping there," answered Dorothy, now completely +mystified by the young woman's manner. + +"Is your name----" + +"My name is Dorothy Dale, and for some reason I have been--hidden away +from my friends," said Dorothy bravely. "I was just about to ask you +to assist me to get back to them. I was in camp at Everglade." + +"Why, of course I will assist you!" replied the nurse in the most +affable manner. "Get right into the carriage, and we will have you +back at camp in no time." Dorothy hesitated. The nurse consulted a +small note book. + +"Come right in, dear. We are going straight down to Everglade," and +she touched Dorothy's arm to urge her. + +"Strange, I feel so nervous about falling into traps," said Dorothy +honestly, looking deeply into the eyes that were investigating every +feature of her own fair face. "But you see I did fall, literally, +and----" + +"Of course, and you were hurt." Dorothy could not understand that +caressing manner. It was identical with that exercised by Mrs. Hobbs. +"Now, come," and Dorothy did step into the carriage. "We will drive +along quickly, so that we may reach camp before luncheon. James, hurry +your horse." + +For a few moments Dorothy felt as if she must collapse. The strain of +her escape from the old house, then her fright from the bird, and her +fear that Mrs. Hobbs would overtake her. And now to be actually riding +back to camp! What would her friends say to her? Oh, how good it would +be to relieve them of all their anxiety, and to be really going back +well--comparatively well, at any rate. + +"I've had quite a time of it these last two days," she remarked, +glancing timidly at the figure in white beside her, "but it seems all +things come out right--if we only have patience." + +"But I wouldn't talk dear--the sun has been warm, and you are quite +overheated. Wouldn't you like to rest your head here, on my lap?" + +Dorothy sat up erect. This was surely unheard of. Who was this nurse? +Where was she taking her? + +"I am perfectly well, thank you," she said in the firmest tones she +could command, "and I really would like to know where we are going? +Why do you treat me as if I were ill or a child?" + +"There, there," and the nurse touched Dorothy's hand. "Of course you +are perfectly well, and of course, we are going to camp. James, is +your horse asleep?" + +But Dorothy was frightened. There was something mysterious in it all. +Another wagon approached. It drew slowly along. + +Mr. Hobbs! + +Dorothy's heart gave a leap as his old wagon stopped! The nurse put +her head out of the little curtained window and made signs to him. + +"All right! All right!" he replied. "Yes, that's her!" + +"That's her!" repeated Dorothy. "That's me! What is this trick? Let me +out of this carriage instantly, or I will call for help!" + +"If you do not keep quiet, I shall be obliged to restrain you," said +the nurse. "Miss Harriwell, we are taking you back to the sanitarium. +I am your new nurse." + +"Sanitarium! New nurse! Miss Harriwell! I am Dorothy Dale, and I have +never been inside a sanitarium!" + +The carriage dashed into a driveway! A big brownstone building +confronted them. + +A corps of nurses hurried out to the path! + +When Dorothy saw them she fainted! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +CAMPING DAYS + + +Tavia got off the train at the Junction, but she did not get on the +one that went toward Clamberton--it flew by. She waved her +handkerchief--she waved her coat, she told herself she waved her soul, +but that train simply would not stop. + +And she was miles from nowhere! + +"Well, I'll walk it!" she declared. "I don't care how I get there, I'm +going to keep my nose toward camp!" + +To walk the railroad ties! That was one thing Tavia loathed--they were +so regular, so straight, so abominably correct. + +"Of course railroad ties were never built for human feet, even the +straight and narrow are not as straight as these." + +She moved along for a hundred or so of ties, then she threatened to +sit down. Tavia was desperate, but even in her present surprising +state of mind, the railroad ties were too much for her, and she kept +on. + +"I might fly," she reflected, looking boldly at the ocean of blue +above, "but there isn't a machine in sight." + +More and more ties until she came to a small bridge. + +"Well, I suppose if I try to walk this thing I shall presently find +myself holding a session with some slimy, muddy frogs. Ugh!" and she +looked between the ties at the lurking depths of mud and other things +on either side of the railroad embankment. "I just hate--uncertainties." + +She stepped cautiously a little farther. "Well, if I fall it serves me +right. I shouldn't have done this!" + +Tavia--poor Tavia! + +The place was very lonely. Tavia realized this. She knew instantly +that she was in the woods. It may have been her primitive hatred of +the forest that inspired this sentiment, but there was always +something about the depths of solitude that made her want to laugh--it +was positively funny to her. Something must happen. + +"If there were a single human being in sight," she sighed. Then she +repeated, "I said 'single.'" + +It was almost dusk. She thought of old Sam. Wasn't that funny! Then of +her mending--shirring socks! When he tried them on he might change +his mind about making her his heir. + +"And that loon!" This last referred to Morrison. "When I believed him, +I may, some day, believe myself!" + +She picked out a few more ties, and came to another and larger +culvert. "Suppose a train should come," she gasped. The strain of the +past few days was having its natural revenge--reaction. Her depression +had soured into hilarity. "Well, I'll run the bridge--I have always +heard it is the only safe way." She looked up, far beyond the ties. +She would have closed her eyes, but that strange feeling of +sight-security, which does not depend upon sight, compelled her to +look--but not at the ties. + +Every time she planted her foot down she expected to go through, foot +and all, but, somehow, she did not sink down between the ties. + +"It would take a funnel to put me safely down that way," she decided. +"I guess I would have to have a very big hole to drop through." + +It seemed to Tavia that everything she had to do must be made easy for +her, even dropping through railroad ties! + +She had crossed the bridge and now she stood for a moment mocking it. + +"I should burn my bridges behind me," she mused, "but it takes time +and talent, even to burn bridges." + +Those who knew Tavia would scarcely have recognized her now, could +they have viewed her through the glass with which she was magnifying +her faults. Tavia had been tried, she had tried herself, and after +having had an opportunity to board any of three trains going toward +camp, here she was again--stranded! + +"I'm a first-class simpleton," she decided. "Dorothy was right; always +right. I'm a rattle-brain; and they think I am drowned. That is more +reasonable, and more charitable, than to think I could be so foolish." + +"I guess I couldn't get along very well without Dorothy," she went on +thinking, as she trudged forward. "She always kept me together. But at +least I'll try to do her training justice now. I'll try to walk back +to camp." + +A narrow path ran beside the rails. This, Tavia thought had been +trodden down by tramps. Beyond, there seemed nothing but woods, and it +was getting dusk. Well, there must be houses or huts somewhere, and +she would walk on. + +Peering through the trees, Tavia thought she saw a white speck. It +might be a bird--no, it was too large! What could it be? + +It moved swiftly--now she could see it was--not a person! But it +couldn't be anything else, since there really were no ghosts. But were +there really none? Just now Tavia felt as if nothing was certain, not +even her own personality. + +There it was again, out in the clear path! All in white! Oh, it must +be a spirit! + +How silly! + +"It's a girl," Tavia said aloud. "Oh, how glad I am to see the face of +a human being!" + +It was a girl, and she moved swiftly toward Tavia. + +"Oh, how do you do?" she began. "I was afraid you would not come." + +Tavia wondered. Did the girl take her for some one else? + +"I'm awfully glad to meet you," answered Tavia, noting how pretty the +creature was, what splendid blond hair, and such eyes! "I was just +getting--frightened." + +"Frightened! Why, we will soon be all right. I have ordered my +airship. Can you fly?" + +Could she fly? Was the girl crazy? + +Then Tavia noticed a strange glare in the wonderful blue eyes. She +might be insane! Maybe she was the girl who had escaped from the +sanitarium! + +"I love to fly--it is my one ambition in life. But they would never +let me, so I just came away by myself; and isn't it sweet of you to +meet me away out here? There, did you see that bird? That's the way to +fly," and the strange girl threw her arms up and down, until Tavia +wondered whether she could be fooling, or was really insane. + +"I have never tried to fly," replied Tavia, feeling very silly, "but +lots of people have gone crazy over it." + +The moment she had said "crazy" she felt that she had made a mistake. +The girl turned on her as if to strike her. + +"Crazy! You call flying crazy! It's crazy to walk, crazy to stand, but +it is noble to fly!" and again she worked her arms bird-like. + +For the moment Tavia felt like running away. Then she thought that +would not be wise, for how did she know but that the girl might have +the strength they say insane people have; and that she might hit her +with a stone, or do something to injure her? Besides, it seemed better +to be with her than alone in that woods. Tavia decided she would humor +her. + +"Of course, we shall all fly, some day," she said, as the girl turned +almost upon her. "I would love to learn how!" + +"You shall! I will teach you! My airship is not far away." + +"Do you know the road to Everglade?" asked Tavia, without the +slightest hope of getting an intelligent answer. + +"Why, yes; Everglade?" and her eyes set more deeply. "I have a friend +in camp out that way." + +In camp! Then she was not altogether insane, for there were many +campers at Everglade. + +"Yes," said Tavia, "so have I. We can walk along together." + +This seemed to satisfy the girl, and she did start to tramp along. +Tavia noticed how neatly she was dressed, and did not fail to see a +beautiful chain and ornament about her slender white throat. + +"But it's a long way," spoke the girl. "My name is Bird of Paradise. +What might yours be?" + +"Betsy Dixon," replied Tavia aptly. "Yours is a much prettier name. +May I call you Birdie?" + +"Certainly, and I shall call you Betty. I have a friend named Betty." + +For some moments they walked along in silence. The two girls were as +different in dress and manner as were Dorothy and Tavia, and the +latter noticed how much like Dorothy the strange girl was. About the +same height, same colored hair, and the same deep, blue eyes. + +"Are there no houses near here?" asked Tavia. "I am afraid night will +catch us soon." + +"Oh, yes, there is a hotel over that ledge. It is there I am taking +you." + +Tavia hoped it was true. She had passed through the stage of +sensitiveness, and was now only anxious to get somewhere or near +somewhere, for the night. She had made up her mind that she would ask +the first person she met to help her, with money or by directing her +to shelter. There was no longer any doubt as to her distress--night +was coming and she was almost worse than alone, and in the woods. + +The girl in white walked along humming now, waving her arms every time +a bird passed, and when she did speak to Tavia her remarks seemed more +rambling than ever. + +"We seem miles from every place," remarked Tavia weakly. "I do +wish----" + +"There! There!" exclaimed the strange girl. "There is my flying +station! See that precipice?" pointing to a cliff far out on the ledge +of the hill over which they were walking. "Just over there is my +station. I told you I was Bird of Paradise. I am not--I am Madam +Fly-Fly, the French balloonist. Now watch me!" + +"Don't!" shrieked Tavia. But it was too late. The girl had rushed to +the edge of the cliff, and with a wild wave of her arms had thrown +herself over! + +Tavia, stunned at the suddenness of her tragic action, stood for a +moment looking down at the heap of white that lay so far below her. + +Then she turned cautiously, and started down the dangerous descent +herself, clutching at brush and bramble as she tried to reach the +girl, who might be dead, in the moss and rocks that made such a +beautiful setting for the stream rambling on, unmindful of the terror +on its brink. + +Tavia must reach the girl; but what then? + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +HAPLESS TAVIA + + +Step by step, or rather, move by move, Tavia struggled to reach in +safety that heap of white. + +"Oh, if she is only alive!" moaned Tavia. "Why did I not induce her to +go back to the Junction? I saw she was insane--and now!" + +A huge stone offered her a pause in the dangerous descent. She stopped +and listened. + +Then she called: "Birdie! Birdie!" No answer. "Perhaps she hears and +does not know--that name. Madame Fly-Fly?" she called again, and she +thought the sleeve moved--always that attempt to fly. + +Tavia slid down from the rock, trembling in limb and throbbing in +nerves. She had a terrible fear that the girl was either dying or +dead. There with her alone! + +On a perfectly flat stone the form lay. Tavia was beside it now. She +stooped and listened. + +"Thank the good Lord she is alive!" gasped Tavia fervently. "I +must--lift--her!" + +But there was little trouble in turning the light form over, so that +the white face looked up into Tavia's. + +"Oh!" sighed the girl. "Where am I? Who are you?" There was a +change--a great change in her manner. + +"Oh, I am so glad you are alive!" breathed Tavia. "And how do you +feel?" + +"As if something--moved in--my head. Where is mother?" + +There was no rambling, she spoke coherently! + +"Are you hurt?" pressed Tavia. "If only you can move?" + +"I am sure I can," the sufferer replied, at the same time making an +effort to sit up. "I feel better--somehow. How did you come to me? I +had a terrible dream." + +"I met you. Do you remember your name?" + +The girl did not answer at once. Then she said very slowly: "I am +Mary, but they call me Molly." + +"Mary what?" + +"Mary Harriwell." + +Tavia knew better than to ask more questions just then. She almost +forgot their predicament in the joy of seeing the girl apparently +sane. + +"I wonder if you can walk?" + +"I am going to try. Just give me your hand--there, that's it," and the +sufferer pulled herself up and stood beside Tavia. + +"I wonder might there be a path? I was so alarmed when you fell, that +I did not take time to look for one, I just slid down the rocks. But +to get up would be very different." + +"It is--dark, almost. We will have to look--I can't talk--just now. I +have that strange feeling in my head." + +"You must not talk. Just follow me, lean on me! Oh, I am sure we will +get up safely; and once upon the road we must find some help!" + +Tavia was afraid to look with too much scrutiny into the white face, +afraid she might again see that wild-eyed warning. + +Following the mossy way they trudged along. How far away even the sky +was! Could two girls be more desolate? + +Thoughts of camp, and of Dorothy, almost crushed Tavia. Young and +strong as she was, her experience was beginning to leave its mark. She +felt weak, and was hungry! + +But the strange girl seemed to have recovered her reason! Tavia must +not falter, she must get up, out to the roadway. + +"This looks like a path," she said. "Yes, it is a path. See, the +brush is trodden down, and the ferns are broken. Oh, some one must +have been here lately, and that means that they can not be very far +away now!" + +"What is your name?" asked the strange girl suddenly. + +"Tavia--Tavia Travers. And I am lost--far away from every one!" + +Tears welled into Tavia's eyes. Yes, she was lost! + +"And I am--lost! How strange that we should meet." + +"But are you not hurt? You walk----" + +"Yes, something does hurt, but I don't mind, for that awful dream is +gone. I can walk, and then when--we are--found----" + +"Oh, yes. I am sure you will be all right as soon as we--are--found!" + +They had almost reached the crest of the hill. Up there at least they +could see. + +"I hear a step," said Tavia. "We must hurry." + +It was difficult to do that, however, for Mary, or Molly, limped +painfully. + +The step was plain now, as it crushed the dried leaves and brush. + +The figure of a man was next seen. The girls waited. He came along +with a free air, and swinging gait. The man wore a slouch hat---- + +"Oh!" screamed Tavia. "We must run, or hide! It is that dreadful man! +That--other--that lunatic!" and she clutched the arm beside her, and +dragged the frightened girl to the edge of the roadway. + +Mortimer Morrison, with his big, rough, mountain stick, was about to +pass! + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AT THE SANITARIUM + + +When Dorothy recovered consciousness she lay on a white cot, by an +open window, and the strange nurse sat beside her. + +"Where am I? What am I here for?" + +"Your doctor is away, he will be back to-morrow--soon," the nurse +corrected herself. "Then perhaps you--may go out." + +"But why am I here? This is a hospital, and I am not ill." + +"No, not exactly ill," and Mary Bell had her own very serious doubts +about the condition of the young patient--never had she seen a +demented girl so perfectly sane. "But it is best for you to await your +own doctor's orders," she finished. + +"My own doctor? What is his name, please?" + +"Dr. Ashton. Do you remember him?" + +"I have never heard the name before," replied Dorothy, looking about +her anxiously at the sanitary appointments of the white room. "I +suppose this is a sanitarium for nerves." + +"You have been here long enough to know that much," said the nurse +with a smile, "but you seem to have a new kind--of nerves." + +"I have only been here a few hours, I should judge, but it did seem an +eternity. Are they not going to send for my friends? They will be +distracted. I have been away from them for so long." + +Again that uncertain look came into the face of the nurse. Surely if +this girl had been demented she must now be very much better. Her talk +was entirely rational. + +And Dorothy was thinking: "Surely if they believe I am crazy they must +be crazy themselves! The sounds around here are enough to shake any +one's nerves." + +Some one was singing. The shrill voice rent the air like some weird +cry from a lost mind. It made Dorothy shiver. + +"You think I am--demented," she asked finally. "But there is some +great mistake. I am Dorothy Dale of--Dalton. I was camping at +Everglade--and I have had a dreadful time of it since I fell, and was +picked up by that old farmer." + +Dorothy's eyes were full. She had made up her mind, since her escape +from the Hobbs house, that she must wait--wait until those around her +saw their mistake. At any rate, it was something to be among +intelligent people, if they were nurses and doctors, and as they +plainly believed her to be an escaped patient she must wait until some +one came to identify her. But now it was very hard, and she was very, +very lonely, and very nervous with those poor demented people singing, +sighing, laughing and calling from all over the place. + +"I am sorry Miss Bennet had to go away, before I saw you," said the +nurse, vaguely. "It would have been better----" + +"Miss Bennet?" + +"Yes, your regular nurse." + +"I never had a nurse since I had the measles," said Dorothy, and she +really felt inclined to laugh. "Would you mind if I sat up at the +window? I feel perfectly strong now, and I want to remember what the +blessed world is like." + +"Of course you may sit by the window," replied Miss Bell, assisting +Dorothy into a robe. "And I don't blame you for wanting to see out of +doors. Sometimes I hate being a nurse." + +"I should think you would. It is enough to turn one's own head. Oh, I +do wish some one who knows me would come! My father and all my folks +will be frantic. Is there anything more dreadful than being lost in +the Maine woods!" + +"You are the strongest sick girl I ever saw," declared the nurse. "I +hope I have made no mistake." + +"Well, indeed you have," replied Dorothy. "I tell you I am not and +have never been a patient at any institution. I thought there was some +test of mentality--the eye, isn't it?" + +"But nurses cannot make tests," answered Miss Bell. "We have to wait +for the dear professional, all-powerful doctors to do that. This is my +first day here, and I think I am going to be almost as lonely as you +are." + +"I am sorry for you, but _you_ may _leave_ if you wish. It is quite +different in my case!" + +"My dear, if you can only be content to-night, I promise you some one +will come to-morrow. They have sent for your mother--Mrs. Harriwell." + +"Oh, the mother of the lost girl? Well, she will know. But I must stay +all night in this dreadful place--all night?" + +"I promise not to leave you. They will send another nurse to relieve +me, but I will decline to go. Somehow you have almost convinced me +there is a mistake." + +"Thank you," replied Dorothy. "Perhaps it will be best not to +complain." + +She was looking out at the beautiful grounds and thinking of the dear +ones whose hearts must be torn with anguish for her. If only she could +telegraph! + +"Do you think I could send a message?" she asked, "to my friends--to +my cousins, at Everglade?" + +"I am afraid not--until after the doctor sees you. You see, some other +patient--a man named Morrison--is blamed for having helped you to +escape." + +"Morrison?" repeated Dorothy. "That is the name of the man who is to +blame for all this trouble; that is, we blamed him for inducing a +friend of mine to leave our camp." + +"He has a faculty for inducing people to leave," said Miss Bell. "We +hope we will soon be able to catch him--then it is not likely that he +will get another chance to exercise that faculty. Three patients left +the day that you did." + +"The day that _she_ did," corrected Dorothy. "Well, nurse, since you +are so kind to me, we must be friends, and I must not make you any +unnecessary trouble." + +"One has to be kind to you," said the nurse, putting her cheek close +to Dorothy's. "I must comb out your hair. It has been neglected." + +"Yes, but that will be easily fixed up again. Such matters seem +scarcely to trouble me now. There are so many bigger things to think +of." + +The nurse got comb and brush, and started to smooth out the long, +light tresses. + +"What is that scratch?" she asked, stopping to look at a mark on +Dorothy's neck. + +"It may have been the mark left there by Mrs. Hobbs' parrot," said +Dorothy, "or it may be one of the scratches I got when I fell over the +cliff. You see, I have been having a dreadful time. But when it is all +over I will have something worth talking about, to tell at camp. I +hope you will call upon us there. You would not be lonely if you knew +our boys." + +"But if you are not Mary Harriwell, what can have become of her?" +asked the nurse with sudden conviction. "And I was sent to find her!" + +"But you were directed to find me, were you not?" said Dorothy, in her +quick way of helping one out in distress. "I do not see how you could +be held responsible." + +"But the girl--if she is still at large, she may be dead or injured," +said Miss Bell, showing more and more that she did not believe Dorothy +to be the person wanted in the sanitarium. "I must ask--did no one +here know you--or her? Must we wait for that one doctor?" + +"At any rate," said Dorothy, "I was almost ill, and you have saved me +from those dreadful people. My folks will never blame you." + +"If there is a mistake--I'll run away. I could never stand the +disgrace," and the nurse buried her face in her hands. + +"It seems to me a perfectly plain case of mistaken identity, and as +you knew neither me nor the girl wanted, I do not see how you could +have done otherwise than to take me. I am sure I must have looked and +acted--demented." + +"I am perfectly positive that you are not now," declared Miss Bell. +"And no time should be lost in searching for Mary Harriwell." + +"Then I could send a message to camp? Let them know I am safe?" and +Dorothy sprang up with more emotion than she wished to show, for her +every move was being watched. + +"Well, the doctor will be here in the morning, and it is night now. +There would be no way of straightening this out until you are +positively identified." + +"What a dreadfully lonely place Maine is! If I were near home--or +near any place where people would know me----" Dorothy was saying. + +"Miss Bell, you are wanted at the 'phone," interrupted an attendant, +appearing at the door. "I'll stay until you get back." + +Miss Bell left the room, and Dorothy did not look at the young woman +who had taken her place. There was something so humiliating about +being suspected of insanity! + +"How do you like it here?" asked the newcomer. + +"Very well," replied Dorothy, hurt by the sarcasm apparent in the +voice. + +"Then why did you run away? Didn't we treat you all right?" + +Dorothy made no reply. The nurse came over, and glanced at her keenly. + +"You look pretty fine. Guess the tramp did you good. They have sent +for your mother. She will be here to-morrow. I sent the message, and I +told her your mind had cleared up. I hope I made no mistake." + +"I hope not," replied Dorothy, feeling that it was useless to try to +explain. "I shall be glad--when she comes." + +"I'm the night attendant. I will be here in an hour to give you your +bath," said the young woman. + +"I am perfectly capable of taking my own bath," replied Dorothy, with +indignation. + +"Perhaps; but we don't trust patients in the water alone. I hope you +won't give me any trouble. I'm tired to death to-night." + +"I will try not to," said Dorothy. + +Soon Miss Bell returned. Her face was flushed and she appeared greatly +excited. + +"That _man_ Morrison has been seen," she said to the other nurse. "And +two more Mary Harriwells have also been seen. Strange thing how many +girls can get demented when _one_ is looked for. But the man--they say +he is not safe." + +"Oh, he's the greatest case we ever had here. He kept us all busy as +his audience. He's stage-struck, you know," said the other. + +"Have you heard anything of a girl named Tavia Travers?" asked Dorothy +timidly. "It was searching for her that brought about all this +trouble, and I wonder have they found her yet." + +"Tavia Travers," repeated Miss Bell. "A girl who says she is Tavia +Travers was seen going along the road with the supposed Mary +Harriwell, and of course if she is helping her hide, she may be +arrested. Is she a friend of yours?" + +"Yes," sighed Dorothy. Then she fell to thinking how terrible it all +was. + +"It began the day we had the hay wagon accident," she decided. "The +moment that man crossed our path he--left his shadow, as dear father +would say. Well, to-morrow I must be set free again." + +The nurses were talking quietly together. A shuffling in the hall +disturbed them. + +"A new patient?" asked Dorothy. + +"No, likely an old one returned," was all the information she got. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE CLEW + + +"I cannot go another step," sighed the girl with Tavia, just as +Morrison passed. + +"Hush!" cautioned Tavia. "I would rather die than have him see us! I +simply cannot stand the thoughts of it all, and on _his_ account." + +They had succeeded in getting behind a huge tree at the side of the +path. The man sauntered along and stopped within five feet of them. + +The sick girl was cringing with pain. The injured foot became more +painful every moment. + +"What is he looking for?" whispered Tavia. "If he only----" + +"There's some one else coming," said Molly. "I hear voices." + +"Yes. A crowd of men! They must not see us," declared Tavia. "Oh, they +are in uniform! They are after some one!" + +"Me!" moaned Molly. "Oh, don't let them take me! I must stay with you. +I can get help----" + +They crouched down in the deep grass. The man out on the path was +still there, beating a tree with his stick. He did not seem to notice +the approaching crowd. + +The strangers were up to him now. + +"That's him!" the girls heard them say. "That's Morrison." + +"Who are you?" demanded the queer man. + +"Well, we are just friends," said a tall man with a gold-trimmed cap. +"We have been looking for you. Won't you come over to the hotel and +stay for the night?" + +"Not much," replied Morrison. "I never go into hotels--I only go on +the legitimate stage. I was never a cheap actor." + +"Well, come along to the legitimate stage then," said the man kindly. +"We will take good care of you." + +"I have lost a friend," went on Morrison, in a rambling way, "and +until she is found I do not leave these woods." + +Tavia's heart stood still. Would the men find them? + +"Oh," sighed the girl with the injured foot, "I will throw myself into +the creek before I will go back to the----" + +"Hush! They have got him!" + +Two strong men had taken hold of Morrison. At the signal of a shrill +whistle two other men came up the path. + +Morrison struggled frantically. In the excitement Tavia and Molly +stepped out of their hiding place, but there was so much confusion +trying to overcome Morrison, that the girls were not noticed. + +"Oh, mercy!" gasped Molly, "they will hurt him." + +"Not likely," said Tavia. "They are hospital attendants." + +"There is the wagon! Oh, I remember it! They took me in that!" + +"Molly, dear! You are not to remember anything--except that you are +with me!" + +"But what shall we do when they go? It is night!" + +"We will find shelter some place. I am an expert on finding shelter!" + +The girl rested her head against Tavia's shoulder. Whatever +compunction Tavia had felt for her part in the unfortunate state of +affairs, she felt at ease now in the thought that she had saved this +girl. That the hospital men were attending to Morrison, and that he +would soon be out of reach of harming her, also consoled Tavia. + +"It is not bad here," she said. "I am sure there are cottages near +by." + +"I--don't--remember," breathed Molly. "I guess I was never out this +way before." + +"If only I knew---- But what is the use of my acting like a baby?" +exclaimed Tavia. "I am sure the folks at camp think me dead. Dorothy, +especially, will be heartbroken." + +"They are taking him away!" + +The men had seized the struggling Morrison, and were carrying him to +the roadside, where the wagon stood waiting. + +Tavia wondered if she was doing right or wrong in not making her +presence known. Then she thought how hard it would be to have Mary +again placed in a sanitarium, and she decided to fight her way alone. +But it was getting dark. They could now barely see the men lifting +that struggling form into the closely-covered wagon. + +"I wonder how they knew he was here?" mused Tavia. "If they had not +found him what would have become of us?" + +"Oh, my foot! I am sure something is broken!" + +With these words Molly sank down, helpless. The wagon had rattled off, +and again the girls were alone in that deep wood, with night settling +down. + +"I am strong," declared Tavia. "I can carry you." + +"But where can we go? Oh, I did not know I was hurt! I am afraid my +leg is broken!" sobbed Molly. + +"There must be some house or hut near here," declared Tavia, "and I +will carry you along until we reach it. We can not spend the night +here, starving." + +The strange girl was indeed light in weight. Naturally slight, her +sickness had also taken flesh from her, so that when Tavia put her +arms about her, and the other threw her arms over Tavia's shoulders, +the two trudged along over the rough path, and soon were out on a +roadway. + +"There is a camp over there," said Tavia, as they came in sight of +something white, just showing through the sunset. "We must go to +that." + +"I can walk," insisted Molly. "It is too much----" + +"So can I carry you," argued Tavia, "and if you have any bones broken +you must not strain them further." + +It did seem a long way to the tent, but the road that led up to it +showed travel, and was therefore more easily followed. + +"Strange I am not afraid of anything," murmured Molly. "If we do have +to stay in the woods all night, I shall not be afraid." + +"That is because you are stunned--you had a very bad fall," said +Tavia. "I feel that way myself--I have gone through a great deal, +lately, too." + +"Now, let me walk--it is only a step," begged Molly, at the same +moment getting down from Tavia's arms. "Here we are right at the +tent." + +Welcome shelter! Never were two girls more in need of it. + +"And the queer part of it is," said Tavia, "I am supposed to be a +joke--to get and take everything funny. This is certainly no joke. How +do you feel, dear? I hope these people will let us in. We may get some +camping days after all." + +They timidly made their way to the tent. It was closed! + +"No lights," remarked Molly. "Oh, Tavia. My head hurts again!" + +"Mercy!" exclaimed Tavia, without showing why she was so alarmed. "Do +you suppose it is just a headache or----" + +Molly had sunk down on her knees. Tavia sprang to the flap of the +tent, and dragged the rope from the stake. + +"Empty!" she cried. "But we must get in. Come, Molly, I can lift you, +and whoever may be the owners of the camp, surely they will not turn +us out to-night." + +"But if they are rough men----" + +"No, rough men do not furnish a tent like this. See the pictures +pinned up; and what is this?" + +Tavia had lighted a candle that was placed conveniently near the flap, +with matches at hand, showing that whoever lived in the tent intended +to return at dark, and so had their light ready. Beside this candle +was a printed slip of paper. Tavia read: + + "A thousand dollars reward for information that will lead to + the finding, dead or alive, of Dorothy Dale and Tavia + Travers." + +"Dorothy gone too!" shrieked Tavia. "Then they are scouring the woods +for us, and that is why this camp is deserted!" + +"If only I could walk!" breathed Molly. + +"Never mind. We will stay here--until something else happens--but who +can tell what that may be!" + +The shock of the news about Dorothy absolutely stunned Tavia. With it +went all her strength, all her courage, and she felt then like lying +down to die! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DOROTHY'S ESCAPE + + +When Miss Bell returned to Dorothy's room in the sanitarium, after her +talk over the telephone, Dorothy saw that her anxiety had reached a +state of prostration. She seemed convinced that she had taken to the +institution the wrong girl, and the dread of disgrace, especially as +she was a new nurse in the house, seemed to weigh very heavily upon +her. She would come up and look into Dorothy's face, examine the +pupils of her eyes, and then go away sighing. + +"Are you sorry I am not demented?" asked Dorothy, with as much in her +voice as she could command. "Just think what a good time you will +have, when we get back to camp." + +"I will run away," was the only reply the new nurse would make. + +Night came, and the nurse lay down to rest. Dorothy pretended to do +the same thing, but she had resolved to get out of that sanitarium, +without bringing disgrace on this young woman. But the attempt would +be fraught with danger. If she were caught, not only would she be +returned to the sanitarium, but she knew there was another ward---- + +Dorothy did not permit herself to think of this. "I am going to get +away before daylight," she said. "Then, when the mother of the missing +girl comes and I have gotten away, they will not know whether it was +her daughter, or me." + +But to get away would mean trouble for the nurse also. She would be +blamed for leaving Dorothy unguarded! + +"The other attendant comes in at five in the morning," decided +Dorothy, "then I must--go!" + +It was an awful thought! She could hear the guards pacing up and down +the corridors, she had seen the high fence with its iron palings, and +as to gates--there were guards all about them. + +"The nurse's clothes!" thought Dorothy. "If I could get into Miss +Bell's things! They are here--in her suit-case. Then I might walk out! +But I would faint if they spoke to me? No, I would not, I must have +courage! I must be brave! In getting out I may save my dear folks more +anxiety, and I can save this poor little woman!" + +She looked kindly down at the sleeping nurse. The face, even in +sleep, was troubled, and the young woman tossed uneasily. + +Every hour the clock struck in the outside hall, but Dorothy heard it +in her prison room. Her mind was first forming this plan, and then +that, until she felt, if she did not get some sleep, she would never +be able to carry out any plan at all. Finally, as the steps and voices +in the hall grew fainter, Dorothy did fall asleep, but only to wake +with a start just as the clock struck five. + +A tap sounded at the door. Miss Bell was dressed and waiting. The +nurses were going down to breakfast, and as she left Dorothy, with a +pleasant word, the other attendant stepped in, picked up a novel, and +without noticing Dorothy, any more than if she had been wooden, she +sank lazily down in a chair, and started to read. + +How could Dorothy get on her disguise now? She sighed heavily, and +almost gave up her plan. But not quite, for in desperate straits one +clings to the proverbial straw, and now Dorothy was clutching +frantically at--anything--at hope. + +A man poked his head in at the door. + +"Hello, Tom!" said the attendant, in no polite voice, "What have you +got for me?" + +The man winked, and Dorothy turned away. "Can't you leave her?" he +whispered. + +The woman looked at Dorothy, who pretended to be almost stupid. She +had hidden her face in her hands. + +"I guess she'll keep," Dorothy heard her say, and with that the nurse +stepped out of the door, and Dorothy heard a laugh in the hall. But +she did not yet dare to move. In another moment the woman returned. "I +have got to go out for a minute," she said; "just take this pill and +sleep. You look tired." + +Dorothy saw in the woman's hand a slip of yellow paper. Of course it +was some message that would violate the rules. And the woman had given +her some medicine to make her sleep. + +"I am _too_ sleepy now," said Dorothy. "Let me alone." + +That was all the attendant wanted. Quickly she went out, and then +Dorothy jumped up. It was but a moment's work to open the suit-case, +and slip on the plain, white, linen dress. Then for something on her +head. Yes! the cap, there it was all ready to be put on for the day's +work. The looking glass reflected a new Dorothy! + +She did look like a nurse, and then no one yet knew Miss Bell. But she +might be back from breakfast at any moment! + +Hurry, Dorothy! Hurry! + +One more look! The long dress seemed strange, but not so strange as +the agitation that filled her heart and tingled her nerves. + +She opened the door, and went out into the hall, just as an attendant +was turning out the electrics, for it was daylight. + +"Good morning!" said the first guard, sitting in his big chair, while +the marble hall seemed like an ocean to Dorothy. + +"Good morning!" replied Dorothy lightly. + +Then the nurses were leaving breakfast. She could hear the voices. If +only she could get out before Miss Bell came! + +"Did you see the new girl?" she heard some one say. + +"Yes, and she has been called into the office!" + +That would give Dorothy time! + +More guards--so many there seemed to be now, and each with his "good +morning!" But Dorothy had taken courage. She felt better out of that +room; it was glorious to be so near freedom. + +"Is that the new nurse?" said a big man, who actually stood at the +door. + +"Looks like her," replied another, with something like a sneer. + +"She'd be a lot of good with any one but--babies," said a third. Then +he stepped up to Dorothy. She felt as if she would drop down. "Out +early," he said, peering into her frightened face. + +"Yes, is that time right?" she asked on the spur of the moment, +thinking to divert his attention from her face. + +He looked up at the big clock. "If it was right--it wouldn't be here," +he replied with a laugh. "But don't get lost. You are on duty at +seven," he went on, "but I guess a sniff of air won't do you any harm. +We all take what we can get in that line." + +"Yes," and Dorothy tried to smile. He had not discovered her! But when +Miss Bell reached the room---- + +Oh, if she could only fly--over those big stone walls. But the outside +was even more closely guarded than was the inside, especially since +two patients had so lately escaped. + +Down the steps went the trembling girl. How splendid it was in the +fresh morning air! + +"And if I can only get a message back to camp," she was thinking. +"What will happen to dear father if I am not soon discovered?" + +Over the stone walk she sped. She glanced down the path. The front +gate was impossible. Back of the institution she saw a great +barn--then water! Oh, if she could but pass the stablemen. They would +not be as keen to suspect as would be the guards. + +Every one seemed busy. They were cleaning the horses, and fixing up +the big stables. Merry morning words floated through the air, and it +seemed to Dorothy that her presence, that of a nurse, as they +supposed, was always the signal for some joke, or some frivolous +remark. But there was no harm in this, she thought. Inside of stone +walls everybody must be akin. + +"Hello, there!" called a rather young man, who in shirt sleeves, was +rubbing down a horse. "Where are you going so early?" + +Dorothy scarcely dared answer. But fate saved her, for at that moment +the horse took fright at something and broke away from its post. + +Instantly there was confusion, and Dorothy was forgotten. Up on the +terrace were patients out in the air with guards, and in that +direction dashed the horse, while every man from the stable ran after +it. + +This left Dorothy almost free. + +She saw a summer-house on the edge of a lake. Yes, and there was a +canoe! + +What a chance! + +She shoved that canoe over the smooth grass, straight for the water. +The paddles were inside, and Dorothy knew that once she was upon the +water she could escape. + +Shouts from the terrace almost stunned her. She pushed the canoe into +the stream, slid into the frail bark, and started off, just as the +stablemen came back over the grounds with the fractious horse! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A LONELY RIDE + + +No sooner had Dorothy paddled around the bend in the stream that led +into the river, than she heard the alarm bell of the sanitarium ring. + +"That's the alarm for me!" she told herself, "but they can never see +me in this narrow pass. How fortunate that no one saw me take the +boat. And I suppose they think I escaped from the front gate during +the excitement about the horse." + +Dorothy was right in her surmise. So reasonable did it seem that she +had passed out by the front gate, when the guards came to the rescue +of those in danger from the frightened horse, that no one thought of +looking at the rear of the institution. + +"I wonder where I am going?" she thought. "Perhaps this river runs +into a dangerous rapid. I have always heard that Maine waters are full +of surprises." + +"At any rate, this is lovely," she went on musingly, "and, somehow, I +feel that I will get back to camp before nightfall." + +The water was as smooth as glass, and in the sunshine that every +moment became more insistant, Dorothy, in her linen dress, paddled +away with all the skill she had acquired in dear old Glenwood School +lake. She had discarded the nurse's cap, and the coat, and as her own +suit was beneath the linen, she was only waiting for an opportunity to +discard the skirt. + +"It pulls," she thought. "I might as well drop it now." + +At this she stood up in the canoe very cautiously, and with one move +of her hand dropped the skirt into the bottom of the boat. "There, +that's more like paddling," she thought. + +Adjusting herself again, she picked up the blade and plied it through +the clear water. + +Suddenly the report of a gun startled her! Was it at her that the shot +had been fired? + +Glancing over at the bank she saw something fall. + +Could some person have been shot? The season for shooting was not +opened, but perhaps---- + +Then her alarm subsided. A man, who looked like an Indian, or a +lumberman, was pulling at something--it was a beautiful young deer! + +Indignation filled her heart. But what could she do? Alone on that +water, and that man so near with his gun! + +Fortunately, he was so interested in looking at his game that he +thought it not worth while to look at whoever might be passing in the +skiff; so, once more, Dorothy slid out of danger down the placid +stream. + +In all her trouble she had kept the little watch and her compass, and +just now it occurred to her that by consulting the magnetic instrument +she could tell whether she was going in the direction of Everglade. + +She paused in her action to look at the trembling needle. + +"Yes, I am going toward camp--due east." + +How lightly she paddled along! It seemed now that the sanitarium was +past finding, for the noise of the bell and the whistle had ceased, +and that everything, even the talking of the man to himself as he +pulled the deer over his shoulders, was gone, and Dorothy was all +alone on the delightful lake, moving toward camp. It all seemed like +some horrible dream--all but the thought that she was going back--back +to her dear ones, who must be so anxious. + +"I hope I have saved poor Miss Bell," she thought. "That girl seemed +to dread something more than the mere mistake in taking me in instead +of the other patient." + +She slowed up, to gather some water lilies. "I'll take them to +Cologne," she thought. "I wonder where the girls are? I suppose +scouring the country for me. Well, Tavia must have been found, at any +rate. Poor foolish Tavia! I hope they have not blamed her." + +A gentle swish of the water startled her. She turned to see two canoes +approaching! + +"Are they after me?" she thought, and her heart jumped. "I must have +some excuse ready if they question me. I will just say I am from Camp +Capital, and have come out for exercise. They may not know how far +away our camp is." + +She heard the other paddles in the lake. Then they ceased to cut the +water. On either side of her canoe the two other craft suddenly +appeared. + +"What if this boat is marked!" she thought. "If it should have some +lettering to show it is from the sanitarium!" + +That was the first time this had occurred to her. But the canoeists +were now actually looking very pleasantly at her--two young men. They +seemed too well-mannered to speak, and Dorothy wanted so much to speak +with them, now that she felt they had no idea of her predicament. + +Finally one said: "We beg your pardon, but might you have a bit of +canvas, that you could let us take? We have a small leak in the side +of this canoe and the water is coming in." + +Dorothy breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked about her +boat--although she knew it was quite empty when she slid it into the +water. + +"I'm afraid not," she replied. "I never carry anything for such an +emergency." + +"It's a delightful morning," said the other young man, out of pure +civility. "Have you been out long?" + +"Oh, no, not very--that is, it does not seem long to me," stammered +Dorothy still afraid that she would be caught in some new trap. "I +love the water." + +"You seem to," agreed the young man with the college cap. "We have +been out with a searching party. Have you heard of the strange +disappearance of two young girls?" + +Dorothy gasped. "Two?" she repeated. + +"I suppose we ought to say three, since one from a sanitarium has not +yet been discovered. But the insane, they say, have some weird manner +of attracting self preservation." + +"Have they been dragging the lake?" asked Dorothy, her voice all +a-tremble. + +"No, not yet, although many have wanted to. But we have so many people +lost in these woods every summer, that we feel it is a case of that +kind. We suppose the girls, who did not go off together, met later +somehow, and in trying to make their way back, got deeper into the +woods." + +"And their folks from camp?" asked Dorothy. + +"We have not been to see them," said the young man, "but some of the +boys there are friends of ours, and as soon as we have looked this +place over, as well as we can do it, we are going up to Everglade. The +girl's father is an old soldier, and they say he is still a soldier in +this trouble." + +Dorothy felt as if she must speak--must ask them to take her back to +the camp, wherever it might be. But suppose they should take her for +that demented girl? No, she must find her way on alone. Perhaps she +could follow them. + +By this time the two canoeists had glided on ahead. Dorothy felt as if +her heart would choke her! Then her father was still bearing up, +waiting for her! She must soon reach him! + +A shout from the bank, and the two young men turned into shore. "Come +on," some one called. "We have a clew. Get in here. We must get over +to----" + +But that was all Dorothy heard, and again she was alone on the lake. + +For the space of a moment or so she felt that she had made a mistake, +then came the awful thought of that sanitarium, and the knowledge that +the people from there were searching everywhere for her. + +"No, I will go down the lake a little farther. At least I am free +now," she told herself. + +It was nearing noon, she could tell by the sun, and she felt the need +of food. Just below her she could see that the lake broadened, and +there she determined to stop. + +Her arms were getting stiff, and the sun burned down on her head, +which was uncovered. + +"Seems to me I hear voices," she thought. "I must go in to shore." + +Gracefully she swung into the grassy bank. No sooner had her paddle +sent her boat within reach of shore than she saw---- + +"Oh, my! It is our camp!" she yelled frantically, jumping out, and +attempting to run up the hill toward the barn. But eager ears had +heard her voice. + +The next moment Dorothy Dale was clasped in the arms of her father. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +LOOKING FOR TAVIA + + +What joy there was in that camp when Major Dale actually carried in +Dorothy! + +A signal had been arranged to notify those in the woods if any good +news came, and as Major Dale placed his daughter in the arms of +Cologne, Mrs. Markin ran out of doors, and blew the big horn, until +she had no more breath left. + +This was heard by Jack, Ned and Nat, who were just then preparing to +drag the lake. + +There were no words to express the joy all felt, but Dorothy looked +around for Tavia, and asked frantic questions. + +"You must not think of her," insisted Mrs. Markin, bringing in some +warm tea. "You have done enough for her. Of course," she hurried to +add, seeing the look that came into Dorothy's face, "we will find her, +but you are not to leave this camp--well, I don't know when we will +let you leave it again." + +"Oh, you darling!" Cologne was crying hysterically. "I can never let +you out of my sight again! To think that I should have done so in +those deep woods." + +"I have had a great time exploring," said Dorothy, sipping the +refreshing tea, "and I think, Cologne, that there are many kinds of +camping days. But if you will only let me go out, I have an idea I +know where Tavia might be." + +Then she told of her trip on the lake, and how quickly the young +canoeists left the water to answer a call of a clew having been found. + +Ned stood looking down at Dorothy, to make sure that she was in the +flesh. Mrs. White had not been told of Dorothy's disappearance. They +felt, however, that they would have had to notify her had Dorothy +remained away until another sundown. + +Nat was speechless. His handsome face showed the signs of his days and +nights of anxiety, and he was not entirely relieved since there was +even now no clew to Tavia. + +"Let's go up the river," he suggested. "At least Dorothy is safe, and +we can leave her, but Tavia----" + +"I could not stay indoors," declared Dorothy. "I should go to pieces! +The only thing that will save me is action. Let me help look for +Tavia!" + +She pleaded and begged, and at last Mrs. Markin agreed that it might +be best to let her have the freedom of the air. Of course, Dorothy had +not yet told all of her story--all the folks knew definitely was that +the lost had been found. + +It took scarcely no time for the searching party to be made up again. +The boys from the next camp had their craft already on the water, +while Ned and Nat had but to push off their rowboat. + +"Why do you think Tavia is somewhere about the river edge?" asked Ned +in his practical way. + +"Because, when I came down I heard some one call, and two young men +from their canoes answered promptly that they would follow the clew. +Now, if I can only find the spot----" + +"Where in the world did this canoe come from?" exclaimed Jack Markin, +as he espied the boat in which Dorothy had escaped from the +sanatarium. "It is marked 'Blenden!'" + +"Blenden!" repeated Ned. "Why that's the asylum over the hill!" + +Everybody looked at Dorothy, awaiting a word from her. She was almost +like herself now, after the manner in which blessed youth alone can +recuperate. + +"I was not particular about whose boat it was," she said simply. "So +long as I found something to get back to camp in." + +"I don't think it right that Dorothy should leave mother," began +Cologne. But Dorothy interrupted her. + +"Did you ever notice, Cologne dear, how a storm clears? It takes a +light wind, doesn't it? Well, this little excitement will clear things +up for me." + +Wise Dorothy was, of course, not opposed. She belonged to the class of +persons who seem to be capable, and who really are, except where their +own personal safety or comfort is concerned. They always have a reason +and an answer, simply because others do not take the trouble to fathom +the motive for this sacrifice. Dorothy had determined to find Tavia, +and whatever her excuses, they were all subservient to that motive. + +"I would rather get in with Nat and Ned," she said, as the party +prepared to get off in the boats. "I am really too tired to scull." + +"What's this?" asked Jack, picking up the nurse's garb from the bottom +of the sanitarium canoe. "I declare! Dorothy has been masquerading!" + +He held up the linen skirt, and the white cap. Of course the very +next thing he did was to put the cap on his head. + +Every one but Cologne laughed--she seemed too stunned to so soon +forget the horror of the loss of Dorothy. + +The young ladies from the neighboring camp had decided not to go on +the water--in fact their chaperon had refused to allow them to go; +"there had been so many horrible accidents around there of late," she +declared. + +Major Dale stood upon the bank, and watched his daughter. To the +others it might seem like a dream, but to him it was very real. +Dorothy had been such a daughter, and even now she was proving herself +the Major's "little corporal." Nor did Dorothy miss the look that had +buried the smile on her father's face. + +"Now, when we get that naughty Tavia back," she called, "we will have +a celebration, Daddy." + +"You bet we will," replied the major warmly. And then the party +started down the river. + +"I cannot see how Tavia could be along the river bank and not hear +us," argued Ned. "Dorothy, you have not told us your story at all. +Were you both kidnapped?" + +"I have never seen Tavia since that morning we went for berries," she +declared. "But my! What an age it has been since then!" + +"I guess it has," blustered Nat, in his whole-hearted way, and he bent +over his oars. "I don't want another batch of time as long as the +last." + +"And, of course, you could not get us any word," ventured Ned. "We +fell down on that--it was my one mile-stone." + +"But it is strange how secret some places can be kept," said Dorothy, +cautiously. "It seems that they are so afraid of--publicity. There! +That looks like the place where the canoeists went ashore. No, it is +farther up, near the willow. We must pull in there and search. I do +wish I could have--but what is the use of wishing." + +"Mere waste of tissue," said Ned with a smile. He was only a boy--a +big boy, but the fright of having lost Dorothy had not left him +unscathed. + +The others in the boats took the signal from Nat, and were making for +shore. It was a rough place indeed; first rocky, then a matter of +holes, and after that it was trees--dense, stubborn trees. + +A sense of horror stole over Dorothy as she again stepped into the +woods, but in her brave way she instantly decided that it was merely a +matter of reflection, and the question in hand was not one of memory, +but one of facts. Tavia was still somewhere in those woods, or she +was--No, she must be in the woods! + +First calling, then running from point to point, the party searched, +but Cologne would not lose her hold on Dorothy. + +"You are not going to get away from me this time," declared the girl. +"I shall always blame myself for losing sight of you." + +"Cologne! As if I am not big enough to take care of myself!" cried +Dorothy, thinking how she had cared for herself through more +difficulties than any of them could possibly imagine. + +All through the woods could be heard shouts and signals from the +parties that were out searching for Dorothy, for Tavia and for the +girl from the sanitarium. + +"Lots of people get lost in these woods," commented Ned. "I have been +reading of them all my life, but now I guess I can write tales +myself." + +The voices of our friends had attracted a party from the sanitarium. +Dorothy was the first to recognize a guard, and as he came toward her, +she screamed and ran into Ned's arms. + +"Oh, don't let them take me again!" she begged. "They think I am that +other girl! Stay near! Hold me! Don't let them take me!" + +Instantly the excitement was intense. From the hospital party two men +had come up, while of the campers, Jack, Nat and Ralph hurried close. + +"Why should they take you?" demanded Ned. + +"Oh, they made the mistake before, and I suppose they have seen their +boat." + +Quick to act as to think, Ned picked Dorothy up in his arms and turned +into a natural hiding place. + +"There, they have not seen you! Let them look--further on!" he +whispered. + +Of course the others could not even guess what had caused the sudden +change in Dorothy's manner, but Ned knew it was not mere excitement. + +"Here," he said, "is a pillow of moss. You and Cologne stay here, +while I go out and see the hospital men. I will assure them no patient +of theirs is with us." + +Dorothy lay back exhausted. If only they would go along! But suppose +they should find Tavia, and take her to that dreadful asylum! + +Voices, very near, gave her a chance to listen. She heard some one say +that a young girl had that morning escaped from the institution in the +house canoe, and that the boat was now lying close by. + +But in turning into the deep brush the strange men had not actually +caught sight of the frightened girls, as the heavy woodland offered +all sorts of excuses for visions. + +"Well, we must get her," said one of the men. "She walked right past +me, and said 'good morning.' But how was I to know who the new nurse, +or the new patient was? The trouble is now with the mother. She is +beyond consolation." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DOROTHY'S SUCCESS + + +The boys from Camp Capital, together with their neighbors, held a +consultation there in the woods. They had heard from the sanitarium +attendants that, not only had a young girl escaped, and not yet found, +but that some weeks previously, a man, "stage-struck," as they put it, +had gotten away, and it was to his help that the departure of the girl +was attributed. Dorothy, from her hiding place, heard all this, and +knew only too well that the man referred to was none other than +Morrison. + +"And this fellow has been caught?" asked Ned, anxiously. + +"Yes," replied one of the men. "We took him in again yesterday +afternoon." + +"Is he too demented to tell anything? That is, to know who was with +him while he was free?" went on Ned. + +"Oh, he just talks in a rambling way about a girl who, he declares, +should have a fortune that his uncle has hidden away. He has really +never been entirely off, but one of the kind who rides a hobby, you +know," said the man. "His hobby is theatricals." + +"But has he an uncle? Might he have taken a girl to that man?" +persisted Ned. "You see, we have reason to believe that the girl we +are in search of, met this man. Now, if he has been captured, what has +become of her?" + +"That's one of the questions we may have to answer before our Board of +Inquiry," replied the man with no small concern. "It is easy enough +for those lunatics to get away, but to get them back is harder. And +the girl's mother is a widow, with all kinds of money." + +Dorothy could scarcely keep still. Only the pressure of Cologne's +hands kept her from telling what she knew of the story. Then the fear +of again being mistaken for Mary Harriwell--that was too great a risk. + +"Is there absolutely no clew?" asked Nat, almost in despair, for he +was always fond of Tavia. + +"Yes. The station agent at Lexington tells a story about a girl coming +to him and staying in the station alone all night. But he declares she +had dark hair and brown eyes, while Mary Harriwell is a blonde. Others +about the station agree with him. That girl left for the Junction +night before last, and was not picked up dead or alive since. The +officials of the road have had searched every inch of the track. Seems +that old Sam Dixon is very worried about this because he let the girl +go. He did not know just who she was, but to hear him talk you would +think it was his daughter. Well, we must go beating farther along. +This searching, and with night coming, is no fun. We wish you luck, +and if you find your girl let us know." + +So the parties separated and then Dorothy was free to leave her hiding +place. She longed to tell her friends the strange story, but she knew +that the finding of Tavia was the one and only thing to be thought of +just then. + +"Are you sure that this is the direction in which the boys went?" +asked Nat, with something like a sigh. + +Dorothy looked over the rough woodland. "No," she said, "there was a +swamp, for I distinctly remember that they picked their way through +tall grass, and about here the grass is actually dried up." + +"Then to find a swamp," said Nat. "Seems to me there are more kinds of +trees in Maine, and more kinds of things to catch at a fellow's----" + +A cry from Ned stopped the speech. + +"Oh!" he yelled. "Something has my foot! Come quick!" + +"Oh, maybe it is a rattlesnake!" gasped Cologne. + +"Or maybe a big rat," added Jack, as they all ran back to where Ned +lay in the grass, trying to free himself from whatever it was that +held him. + +"It hurts!" he said. "Get it off!" + +Jack was the first to get down and look at the struggling boy. + +"A trap!" he announced. "Easy! Don't pull it, Ned." + +"More things than trees and lost girls in the Maine woods," exclaimed +Nat. "Gee whiz! I wonder what we'll strike next." + +"Just take a strike at this trap," begged Ned. "Seems to me it +takes--oh! be careful, Jack, that hurts!" + +"Let me!" suggested Dorothy. "I can open it, without hurting him," and +she stooped over her cousin. "Oh, you poor boy! It has cut right +through your shoe. Now, Jack, just hold the end of the chain so that +it cannot slip back," she ordered. "Cologne, dear, can you unlace this +shoe?" + +"Oh, of course," growled Nat, "it takes a girl!" + +"Any objections?" asked Ned, getting back to his good humor. "Now if +this were Nat it would take a whole boarding school of girls." + +Dorothy and Cologne very gently helped the boys get the steel trap +free from the shoe. It took some time to do it without pressing the +jaws still farther in through the leather, but they succeeded. + +"Now, you must go back in the boat," decided Dorothy. "We cannot run +the risk of having your foot poisoned." + +"Never!" declared Ned. "I have often had worse than this, and have +gone on after the game." + +He got to his feet, but limped as he walked The foot had been +lacerated. + +"What foolish hunters ever put that trap there?" he asked. + +"I would not be surprised if it were the man who shot the deer," +replied Dorothy, as if the others knew of that happening. + +"Shot a deer! At this season!" exclaimed Jack. + +"Oh, I think he was an Indian. I saw him as I came along in the +canoe," replied Dorothy. "I thought at the time it was against the +law. Can you walk, Ned? I do wish you would go back." + +"Seems to me we ought to separate," interposed Ralph. "We can never +make any headway by searching all together." + +"Well, I will not leave Dorothy," declared Cologne, stoutly. "I left +her once----" + +"No, I left _you_ once," corrected Dorothy, in her own way of always +taking the blame. "I think, however, Ralph is right. Suppose the boys +keep along the water, and Cologne and I go farther in." + +"Then I go with you," said Ralph gallantly. "It is not altogether safe +in the deep woods. There might be lunatics----" + +"Or muskrat traps," groaned Ned, who walked with difficulty. + +At this they separated. + +For some time they heard nothing more than their own voices calling +back and forth. + +"Isn't it awful?" sighed Cologne. "Dorothy, I think it is utterly +useless. I am afraid she is--dead." + +"I know she is not," declared Dorothy, "and I am not going to give up +until I have searched every inch of this wood. Now I am going to +shout!" + +"Tavia! Tavia!" she yelled, and her clear voice struck an echo +against the hills. "Tavia! Tavia!" she called again. + +"Hark!" said Cologne. "Didn't I hear----" + +"I heard something!" declared Dorothy, and the sound came from back of +the hill. "Boys! Boys!" she shouted, but they were now too far away to +answer promptly. "Don't try to follow, Cologne. I feel that I can run +like the wind. I heard Tavia's voice, and I heard it--right--over--there!" + +As she flew through the woods Cologne, in distress, tried to summon +the boys. She feared Dorothy would fall again, over some rock or +cliff. But there was no use trying to stop her. She had heard Tavia's +voice, and that was enough. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +ONE KIND OF CAMP + + +"Oh, Tavia! Where are you?" + +It was Dorothy who jumped from rock to stone, and over bush and +bramble, through that deep dark wood, which now, in the shadow of +sunset, threatened again to bring anguish to our young friends. "I +heard you," she called. "Answer again!" + +But this time there was no response. + +"Oh, what can have happened?" wailed Dorothy. "Surely she is--not too +ill--when she called and whistled just now." + +She was talking, but no one was at hand to hear her. + +Cologne was doing her best to reach Dorothy, but she had made a turn +to notify the boys, and was really too surprised, and frightened, to +make anything like the progress that her friend was able to make +through the rough forest. + +Dorothy stopped and listened. She had reached a cleared spot, where +the branches of a beautiful fir stood out over a greensward, like a +natural tower. Without hesitating a moment, Dorothy easily scaled the +strong branches, and presently could see from the height of the fir +tree a spot--ideal! Yes, and there was something white on it! + +"Cologne!" she called. "I see a tent!" + +By this time Cologne had reached Dorothy. + +"Oh, do come down," she begged. "If you should slip----" + +"But I shall not slip. There was no use in running wild through the +woods, when I could get a distinct view from here. It may be a gypsy +camp. Where are the boys?" + +"They seem to have gotten away, somehow," sighed Cologne. "Oh, what +shall we do? We cannot go alone to that camp." + +"Indeed I am going," declared Dorothy. "I heard Tavia's voice, and now +I see a tent. If she is held there, we must go to her at once." + +Cologne was terrified, but the experience through which Dorothy had +passed in the last few days seemed to make all other fears look +insignificant. + +She had slid down the tree, and was now making her way in the +direction of the tent. It was near the edge of a natural bank, that +stood like a wind-shield against the rocks. + +This shelf made a covering for the spot, so that only from some +elevation such as from the tree could it be seen for any distance. + +"Come on, Cologne," said Dorothy. "I see a path to the place. It must +be somebody's camp." + +"Why not wait for the boys? Give me your whistle. I must call them. +Where can they have gone to?" + +"I am not going to wait one moment," declared Dorothy. "She may be +suffering!" + +The bent grass and weeds showed the way, Dorothy hurried along, only +stopping to listen for the hoped-for voice. But there was no word from +Tavia. + +Cologne was almost behind Dorothy, but she could not conquer her fear. +She hesitated to make the first attempt to reach the tent. + +Jumping over a small stream, Dorothy was beside the camp furnace. The +next moment she stood looking at Tavia! + +"Tavia!" she exclaimed. + +"Hush!" whispered Tavia. "We must not wake her. Oh, Dorothy!" + +Like a poor, crushed bird Tavia fell at Dorothy's feet. She sobbed +convulsively, but choked back every possible sound. + +"Darling!" whispered Dorothy. "What is it?" + +"The sick girl! She has almost died!" sighed Tavia. "Oh, I dared not +answer again. She was so frightened at my voice!" + +"Run back, Cologne, and meet the boys," said Dorothy. "Tell them to go +for a doctor!" + +Glad to get away, Cologne turned, just as the boys came racing over +the hill. They stopped, at her raised hand of warning, but Nat would +not go back when he heard that Tavia had been found. Softly he made +his way along, Ralph following at some distance, while Ned and Jack +hurried to the shore near where they had left their boats. They knew +that just across the river they would find a camp, in which might be +found Dr. Ashton, from New York. + +It was almost pitiable to see how Tavia clung to Dorothy, never +suspecting, of course, that Dorothy had herself gone through an +experience more trying than her own. + +"Let me see her," suggested Dorothy. "I will be very careful." + +She stepped within the tent. Instantly she was struck with the +resemblance between herself and the girl who lay on the cot. + +The sick girl opened her eyes. + +"Tavia!" she murmured. + +"What, dear?" asked Dorothy, for Tavia had not yet recovered herself. + +"I--am so--much better. I would--like to--sit up." + +"Not just yet, dear," soothed Dorothy, putting her hand to the hot +forehead. "It will be better to rest to-night." + +"But you--must not stay--longer--from your friends," she said. "Leave +me, and look for them. Then come back." + +"We are here," ventured Dorothy, aware that the girl was worrying +about Tavia. "We have come to take you both home." + +"Not back there!" and the girl sat bolt upright, and looked into +Dorothy's pale face. + +"No, to camp, with us, with Dorothy and with Tavia. Then we will send +for your mother." + +"Oh, I am so glad," she sighed, lying back on the pillow. + +Nat had Tavia in his arms. She was now almost hysterical, and like the +Nat he had always been, he turned the tables by accusing Tavia of +having all the camping to herself. + +"While we were digging up frog ponds looking for you," he scolded, +"here you had set yourself up in one of the best establishments in +the State." + +"Oh, Nat," she sobbed. "If you only knew!" + +"Every girl says that," he replied. "I suppose it would be a first +rate thing if a fellow did only know--about a girl like you." He was +doing his best to quiet her, and he knew that to scold is a good sort +of treatment for too much nerves. + +Meanwhile Cologne and Ralph had ventured nearer. They seemed afraid +that a voice would harm some one, and Cologne only whispered. + +"Tavia dear," she said, "whatever has happened?" + +"She has promised to tell me first," said Nat, again showing his good +sense in saving Tavia just then. "And we are not to hear one word +until we get back to camp." + +"Here come Ned, and Jack, and Doctor Ashton," interrupted Ralph. "Who +is sick?" + +"A friend of Tavia's, with whom she was stopping," said the wily Nat. +"That was why she could not get word to us. Her friend was very sick, +and her folks were all away." + +Tavia looked her gratitude into Nat's manly face. The boys and the +doctor had reached the tent. + +"Wait here," ordered the doctor as he stepped within. + +And it was Dorothy Dale who took up her place by the physician's side, +as he did all that he could to unfold the case of Mary Harriwell. + +"And how ever did you find this camp, one of the best for miles +around?" asked Nat of Tavia, as they awaited the doctor's verdict. + +"We fell into it. Whose is it?" + +"Why the Babbitts left in a hurry last week--some one ill. They have +not sent down for their things yet." + +"Lucky for us," remarked Tavia. Then they heard the doctor moving +about in the tent, and lowered their voices. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +GOOD NEWS + + +"Oh, such good news!" exclaimed Dorothy, emerging from the tent. "It +is worth all our trouble." + +"What!" asked a chorus. + +"She will be better! She has recovered her reason. The doctor says +some shock----" + +"Oh, but it was an awful shock," interrupted Tavia. "I believe if I +had any reason it would have destroyed mine." + +"Always knew there was a method in your madness, Tavia," said Nat. +"Now, that's something like!" + +"We are going to take her to camp to-night," went on Dorothy, too +serious to take a joke. "Doctor Ashton says nothing could be better +for her." + +"There are camps, and camps," persisted Nat. + +Ned was talking to the doctor. "We can carry her on the cot, just as +well as not," insisted Nat. "There are four of us." + +"And put her in the boat--well, I think that will be all right," +answered the doctor. "The present trouble is more of a morbid fear +than anything else," and he put his stethoscope in its case. "As soon +as she feels the fresh air, and realizes that she is out of all harm's +way, I think she will----" + +"Sit up and take notice," interrupted Nat, for he could not help +making light of the troubles with which he felt the girls were too +heavily burdened. + +"Exactly that," agreed the doctor. "Miss Harriwell could not have +fallen into better hands. I will, however, see her safely into the +boat." + +It was a delightful task to assist the sick girl, realizing what it +would mean ultimately. Dorothy insisted that Tavia go on ahead with +Cologne, as she had had, Dorothy said, enough of nursing. But Tavia +wanted to leave some word at the tent--a written word about its use. +To this no one would agree, so she was obliged to go on without doing +as she wished. + +Down the cliffs started the party. Tavia, with Cologne, was soon +joined by three of the Hays girls, from the next camp, who, although +they had not been allowed to go with the searching party, managed to +follow them at a distance, and who had heard of the discovery when +the boys went for the doctor. + +Then came the boys, Ned, Nat, Ralph, and Jack, carrying Molly on a +cot. Dorothy held Molly's hand, and talked cheerfully to her as they +all moved carefully along. + +Doctor Ashton had reason to be particularly interested. It was he who +had taken his vacation from the sanitarium when Molly made her escape. + +He, too, had been impressed by the similarity between Dorothy and +Molly, but, of course, he did not speak of it; neither did he know of +the trouble which that resemblance had made for Dorothy. + +The trip on the water was made without a mishap, and, as the doctor +said, Molly gained strength and courage with almost every new breath. + +Then to the camp! Dorothy ran on ahead, for Molly was walking. + +"Oh, what has happened now?" asked Mrs. Markin, seeing the boys +supporting Molly. + +"Nothing but good news this time," replied Dorothy. "We have found +Tavia, we have found a sick girl, and we have brought them all back to +have a good time at Camp Capital." + +This was good news indeed--Dorothy always knew how to cheer. + +"Welcome!" announced the lady, planting a kiss on Dorothy's now +flushed cheek. "There is a visitor waiting for you," he added. + +"For me?" + +Mary Bell, the nurse, stepped out on the camp porch. She was smiling, +and all the anxiety had left her face. + +"You little robber!" she said to Dorothy. "Where are my clothes?" + +But before she could get a reply she saw Mary Harriwell. She was too +well trained to need an explanation of the case as it stood now. + +There were, to her, two Mary Harriwells! + +"Twins!" was all that Mrs. Markin could say, as she helped the sick +girl up the steps. + +Miss Bell instantly took charge of Molly. She was removed to a quiet +room in the camp barn, away from all noise and all confusion. + +"Daddy," whispered Dorothy, as the major stood looking lovingly at +her, "come on." + +She led him to the stable, where the old horse Jeff stood waiting to +take his part in the important work. + +"Let's hitch up and drive over to Blenden. We can make it before dark, +and I want to be the first to tell Mrs. Harriwell. I could never +trust to a message." + +With a word to Mrs. Markin, the major agreed. It was not so long a +journey when the straight road was taken--it was the turns and twists +that led every one astray. But Major Dale knew the road, and he and +Dorothy went merrily on, with words of love and tenderness that only +such a father and daughter know how to exchange. + +Dorothy learned that the boys, Roger and Joe, had not heard a word of +her trouble, and she at once determined not to tell even her father +all that she had suffered. She had to explain, of course, about being +in the sanitarium, but about the Hobbs imprisonment, she decided to +say nothing. + +Reaching the sanitarium, Dorothy shuddered as she asked the guards at +the gate if she might see the superintendent, but when the man doffed +his cap to the distinguished looking major, Dorothy again gained her +composure. + +Mrs. Harriwell sat in the hall, and was evidently much distressed. + +Dorothy stepped up to her, and the woman started. + +"Molly!" she gasped. Then she saw her mistake. + +"But we have come to take you to Molly," said Dorothy, "and I want to +be the first to tell you the good news! Molly is better!" + +"Better!" repeated the woman vaguely, the deep lines of trouble +shadowing her pale face. + +"Yes, she wants to see you--she knows all about everything----" + +"Your daughter, madam," said Major Dale, "has recovered her reason." + +"Impossible!" gasped the poor mother. + +"Not at all," declared the major. "But come along, and you will see +for yourself." + +An attendant had stepped up, and was looking curiously at Dorothy. She +took her father's hand. + +"Any word?" asked the nurse. + +"Not for you," replied Mrs. Harriwell with dignity, "I find there are +better places than sanitariums for--nervous girls. Come along, sir. +Thank you," as she took the major's arm, and left the place. + +How that mother listened to Dorothy's words! That her daughter had +talked as Dorothy said, that she was at a nearby camp---- Oh, it was +good news indeed! + +"And she is going to stay with us," Dorothy warned her. "We will not +let her go to any more hospitals." + +"Never!" exclaimed the mother firmly. "Molly may stay any place she +chooses. She is all I have, and I so nearly lost her!" + +It was a beautiful evening. The sun had just set. Over the hills could +be seen tents, their flags flying and their happy young and old owners +could be heard singing, calling, and shouting; could be seen building +fires, and doing all the thousand and one absurd things that humanity +insists upon doing every time it gets the chance. + +"It is lovely to camp," ventured Dorothy. "We have had rather an +interrupted season, but I hope now we shall make up for it." + +"If money will help you, it shall be yours," declared the anxious +woman, "for my daughter has more than she can ever use." + +Dorothy looked at her in silence. Then it was well indeed to have been +lost and found, for the sake of this dear girl! + +"This is our camp," said Dorothy, as they reached it. + +Mrs. Harriwell fairly ran up those barn steps. + +But who would try to tell what happened when she found her daughter? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE ROUND-UP--CONCLUSION + + +"It's up to Tavia!" + +"I have told you every word I am going to tell," she declared. + +"Oh, no you haven't," objected Nat. "I want to know about that stagey +fellow. I don't quite fancy his interference." + +"He didn't interfere," declared Tavia, "and I am not going over that +thing again." + +"Oh, no, he didn't interfere," repeated Ned. "He merely had it all his +own way. Now, if I had long hair----" + +"Ned," interrupted Dorothy, "please don't. You must remember that the +poor fellow was not responsible." + +"Lucky dog," murmured Ned, giving Cologne one of his favorite looks +(Ned had a fancy for Cologne). + +"Then I think that Dorothy ought to tell her part," insisted Jack. "We +have heard rumors of terrible things!" + +"Mere rumors," said Dorothy with a laugh, "Why shouldn't I be entitled +to my own experience? Haven't I paid it all back to you?" + +"Nope. Not for the shoe that caught in the trap," said Ned +facetiously. + +"Nor for visiting absolute strangers like those Hobbses," added +Cologne, "and they are completely out of our set." + +"Well, I don't mind," agreed Jack. "We have found Molly." + +"Jackie, you do know a good thing when you see it," complimented Ned. + +Molly sat out on the low camp stool very close to Jack, and it was +plain there was no objection on the part of either as to this +particular closeness. + +"Ralph says nothing----" began Tavia. + +"But saws wood," added Ned, with a wink, for Ralph seemed to have +appropriated Dorothy. + +Altogether they were a happy set of campers. It was only ten days +since the close of that distressing search, that had taken up so many +of their camping days, but there was still left plenty of time for the +best of outings, which their keenness after their troubles made the +more merry. + +Camp Dorothy was the name of the new tent that Mrs. Harriwell had sent +up immediately after her daughter's installation with the campers. +With the express came two maids, one for work, and the other to look +after Molly. Mrs. Harriwell had to be content with stopping at a +nearby hotel, but every day she came over to the camp, and really was +almost like a young girl herself, so great was her joy in the sudden +restoration of her daughter's health. It developed that the sick +girl's case had been one of pure melancholia, following a shock of +grief, and that her association with Dorothy and her friends was the +one thing she most needed. The second shock, in falling, had restored +her reason. + +But Tavia could not forget that her fault had caused great trouble to +Dorothy, and try as the latter did, she could not get Tavia to resume +her usual good spirits. + +"But it takes Nat," whispered Cologne, as he and Tavia sauntered off +to catch imaginary trout. "Needn't worry about Tavia's nerves." + +"I move," said Ralph, "that the--heroine--ahem, be excused from duty +for the period of two weeks. Every time I ask Dorothy to go for a +sail, she has to wash dishes." + +Dorothy blushed prettily. "I must do my share of the housekeeping," +she insisted. "Besides--it's fun." + +Ralph was not to be put off this time, however, and he declared +that if Dorothy did not go for a sail with him that very +afternoon--he--would--drown--himself. + +"Oh, such luck!" shouted Ned. "Too many fellows around here----" + +Major Dale stood watching, but hardly listening. + +"What's the answer, Uncle?" asked Ned, seeing that the major had +something to say. + +"I have just been wondering," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "what +would have happened if Dorothy had not gone up that tree. And you +boys----" + +"That's all," interrupted Nat, who had returned to the group. "You are +excused." + +"I have been wondering," put in Mrs. Harriwell, who, with Mrs. Markin, +was enjoying the afternoon on the porch within hearing distance, "what +would have happened if Dorothy had not been mistaken for Molly. It was +a lucky mistake." + +But Dorothy insisted she had done nothing extraordinary. Yet she could +not help but wonder what would happen next. And what did happen will +be told in another book, to be called, "Dorothy Dale's School Rivals," +in which we shall learn the particulars of some stirring doings at +Glenwood Academy. + +"All the same," declared Tavia, a little sheepishly, "I don't believe +it pays to try to keep Dorothy out when there's a question of----" + +"Common sense," finished Cologne. "There's the cowbell. And it's +Tavia's turn to cook supper!" + +Tavia sprang up and darted down the path. Nat followed. + +"She hasn't learned to work yet," commented Cologne. She never knew a +thing about how Tavia darned the station master's socks. + +Camp Dorothy had been closed tight all day. As tea-time struck, the +maid threw up the big flap. "Surprise! Surprise!" she called, and such +a feast as was spread! The very best that could be obtained for miles +about Everglade. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DOROTHY DALE'S CAMPING DAYS*** + + +******* This file should be named 16091.txt or 16091.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/0/9/16091 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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