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diff --git a/25920-8.txt b/25920-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da02b41 --- /dev/null +++ b/25920-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9261 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Mission of Janice Day, by Helen Beecher Long + +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 www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mission of Janice Day + +Author: Helen Beecher Long + +Illustrator: Corinne Turner + +Release Date: June 28, 2008 [EBook #25920] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Júlio Reis, Linda McKeown and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY + + + + + _THE "DO SOMETHING" BOOKS_ + BY + HELEN BEECHER LONG + + JANICE DAY + THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY + HOW JANICE DAY WON + THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY + + _12mo. Cloth. Illustrated + Price per volume, $1.25 net_ + + SULLY AND KLEINTEICH + NEW YORK + + + + +[Illustration: She approached the charger ridden by the bandit chief. + +(_See page 242_)] + + + + + THE FOURTH "_DO SOMETHING_" BOOK + + * * * * * + + THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY + + + BY + + HELEN BEECHER LONG + + AUTHOR OF "JANICE DAY," + "THE TESTING OF JANICE DAY," ETC. + + Illustrated by + CORINNE TURNER + + [Illustration] + + NEW YORK + SULLY AND KLEINTEICH + + + + + =Copyright, 1917, by= + SULLY AND KLEINTEICH + + All rights reserved + + + + +CONTENTS + + +=CHAPTER= =PAGE= + + I. =Something Troubles Uncle Jason= 1 + II. =Something Troubles Everybody= 16 + III. =Marty Speaks Out= 25 + IV. ="I Told You So"= 32 + V. =Janice Goes Her Way= 44 + VI. =The Shadow of Coming Events= 55 + VII. =Echoes= 63 + VIII. =Lottie Seeks a Friend= 72 + IX. =Mrs. Scattergood Talks= 82 + X. =The Only Serious Thing= 93 + XI. ="I Must Go!"= 103 + XII. =Nelson Does Not Understand= 113 + XIII. =Marty Expands= 121 + XIV. =The Black-eyed Woman= 132 + XV. =A Shock to Polktown= 141 + XVI. =Marty Runs Into Trouble= 153 + XVII. =Two Explosions= 163 + XVIII. =Something Very Exciting= 174 + XIX. =The Crossing= 183 + XX. =Roweled by Circumstances= 201 + XXI. =At La Guarda= 213 + XXII. =The Red Vest Again= 223 + XXIII. =The Bandits= 232 + XXIV. =The Situation Becomes Difficult= 240 + XXV. =An Amazing Meeting= 249 + XXVI. =At Last= 263 + XXVII. =Much To Talk About= 272 +XXVIII. =Tom Hotchkiss Reappears= 281 + XXIX. ="Judge B-day"= 289 + XXX. =At Home= 298 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +She approached the charger ridden by the bandit chief. + (See page 242.) _Frontispiece_ + =FACING PAGE= + +"What do you mean? Has anything happened to daddy?" 92 + +"Marty Day!" repeated the girl. "How did you come here?" 164 + +A rising murmur went through the crowd; then they cheered 306 + + + + + +THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +SOMETHING TROUBLES UNCLE JASON + + +"He don't look right and he don't sleep right," complained Aunt Almira +Day, swinging to and fro ponderously in one of the porch rockers and +fanning herself vigorously with a folded copy of the _Fireside +Favorite_. "If it wasn't for his puttin' away jest as many victuals as +usual I'd sartain sure think he was sickenin' for something." + +"Oh! I hope Uncle Jason isn't going to be ill," Janice said +sympathetically. "He has always seemed so rugged." + +"He's rugged enough," Aunt 'Mira continued. "Don't I tell ye he's eatin' +full and plenty? But there's something on his mind--an' he won't tell me +what 'tis." + +"Maybe you imagine it," her niece said, pinning on her hat preparatory +to leaving the old Day house on Hillside Avenue, overlooking Polktown. + +"Imagine nothin'!" ejaculated Aunt 'Mira with more vigor than elegance. +She was not usually snappish in her conversation. She was a fleshy, +lymphatic woman, particularly moist on this unseasonably warm October +day, addicted to gay colors in dress and the latest fashions as depicted +in the pages of the _Fireside Favorite_, and usually not prone to +worries of any kind. + +"Imagine nothin'!" she repeated. "I've summered and wintered Jase Day +for more'n twenty years; I'd ought to know him and all his ways from A +to Izzard. When anything is goin' wrong with him he's allus as +close-mouthed as a hard-shell clam with the lockjaw. I vum! I don't know +what to make of him now." + +"I haven't noticed much out of the way with Uncle Jason," Janice said +reflectively. "Aren't you----" + +"No, I ain't!" interrupted Aunt 'Mira. "I tell ye he don't sleep right. +Lays and grunts and thrashes all night long--mutterin' in his sleep and +actin' right foolish. I never see the beat. I must say 't in all the +years I've slept beside Jase Day he ain't been like he is now." + +"Why don't you ask him what the trouble is?" + +"Ask him!" said Aunt 'Mira. "Might as well ask the stone Spink they set +up as a god or something down there in Egypt. Ye'd get jest as quick an +answer from it as ye would from Jase Day when he wants to keep dumb. +Dumb! when he wants to say _nothin'_ he says it like a whole deef and +dumb asylum." + +Janice laughed. She had noticed nothing very strange about her uncle's +recent manner, and believed Aunt 'Mira, little as she was given to that +failing, was borrowing trouble. + +The wine of autumn seemed fairly to permeate the air. It was too +beautiful a day for youth to be disturbed by mere imaginary troubles. +Janice could scarcely keep from singing as she passed down the pleasant +thoroughfare. The wide-branching trees shading it showered her with +brilliant leaves. Across the placid lake the distant shore was a bank of +variegated hues. Even the frowning height on which the pre-revolutionary +fortress stood had yielded to the season's magic and looked gay in +burning colors of shrub and vine. + +Beyond the jaws of the cove upon the shore of which Polktown was +builded, a smart little steamboat flaunted a banner of smoke across the +sky. The new _Constance Colfax_ would soon be at the Polktown dock and +Janice was on her way to meet it. That is, this was her obvious purpose, +as it was of many Polktown folk abroad at the hour. As yet it was the +single daily excitement in which one might indulge in this little +Vermont town. Soon the branch of the V. C. Railroad would be opened and +then Polktown really would be in frequent touch with the outside world. + +Its somnolence, its conservatism, even its crass ignorance of conditions +in the great centers of industry and population, added a charm to life +as it was lived in Polktown. Yet it was wide-awake regarding local +affairs, and this pretty and well-dressed girl walking so blithely +toward High Street had had an actual and important part in the +enlivening of the lakeside community during the past few months. + +It was Janice Day's earnestness, her "do something" tactics, that had +carried to happy conclusion several important public movements in +Polktown. Quite unconsciously at first, by precept and example, she had +urged awake the long dozing community, and, once having got its eyes +open, Janice Day saw to it that the town did not go to sleep again. + +She loved Polktown. The Middle-West community where she was born and had +lived most of her girlhood was a tender memory to Janice. Her dear +mother had died there, and for several years her father and she had +lived very close to each other in their mutual sorrow. + +In Greenboro, however, she had had little opportunity for that +development of character which contact with the world, with strangers +and with new conditions, is sure to bring. She had been merely a +schoolgirl at home with "daddy" before coming East to live with Uncle +Jason and Aunt 'Mira. In Polktown she had found herself. + +It may have been thought of this that curved her lips in the +contemplative smile they wore, blossomed the roses in her cheeks, and +added the sparkle to her hazel eyes as she tripped along. + +To the view of many in Polktown Janice Day was pretty; but in a certain +pair of eyes that beheld her to-day while yet she was a great way off, +she was the embodiment of everything that was good and beautiful. + +Nelson Haley, coming out of the new graded school, of which he was the +very capable and unusually beloved principal, owned this particular pair +of eyes. He hastened his steps to the corner of the cross street on +which the schoolhouse stood and overtook the girl. + +"Going right by without noticing me, I presume?" he said, lifting his +hat, a frank smile upon his very youthful countenance. + +"Of course, Nelson," she said, giving him her hand for a moment and +gazing directly into his earnest eyes. That touch and look thrilled them +both. Nelson dropped into step with her and they went on down the hill +for several moments in a silence which, to these two who knew each other +so well, suggested a more certain understanding than speech. + +It was Nelson who said as they turned into High Street: + +"What meaneth the smile, Janice? What is the immediate thought in that +demure head of yours? Something amusing, I'm sure." + +Janice laughed outright, flashing him an elfish glance. "I was thinking +of something." + +"Of course. Out with it," he told her. "Confession is good for the soul +and removes the tantalizing element of curiosity." + +"Oh, it's not a matter for the confessional. I was just remembering a +certain person who arrived in this town not much more than three years +ago, and how different she was then--and how different the town!--from +the present." + +"I acknowledge the immense change which has come over the town; but you, +my dear, in your nature and character are as changeless as the +hills--even as the Green Mountains of old Vermont." + +"Why! I don't know whether that is a compliment or not, Nelson," she +cried. "Daddy says the man who doesn't change his politics and his +religious outlook in twenty years is dead. They have merely neglected to +bury him." + +"The fundamentals cannot change," the philosophical young schoolmaster +observed. "You have developed, dear girl; but the bud that is blossoming +into the flower of your womanhood was curled in the leaf of your +character when you first looked at Polktown from the deck of the old +_Constance Colfax_." + +"Why, Nelson! that is almost poetical," she said, glancing at him again +as they walked side by side toward the dock at the foot of Polktown's +principal business thoroughfare. "And whether it is poetry or not I +like it," she added, dimpling again. + +"Oh, my _dear_! how different the place looked that day from what it is +now. Why, it was only known as _Poketown_! And it was the pokiest, most +rubbishy, lackadaisical village I ever saw. Just think of its original +name being lost by years of careless pronunciation! The people had even +forgotten that sterling old patriot, Hubbard Polk, who first settled +here and defied the 'Yorkers.'" + +Janice laughed with a reflective note in her voice. "Why, when they +cleaned up the town---- Will you _ever_ forget Polktown's first Clean-Up +Day, Nelson?" + +"Never," chuckled the young man. "Such a shaking up of the dry bones, +both literal and metaphorical!" + +"I can see," said Janice more quietly, "that Polktown has changed and +developed whether I have or not. We certainly have learned----" + +"To _do something_," finished Nelson with emphasis. "That's it exactly. +The teachings instilled into his daughter's mind by that really +wonderful man, Mr. Broxton Day, to the end that she is always eager to +begin the battle while other folk are merely talking about it, has +served to put Polktown on the map." + +Janice squeezed his arm, dimpling and smiling. "Dear daddy!" she mused. +"If he only could get away from business affairs and come out of +distracted Mexico to spend his time here in peace and quiet." + +"'Peace and quiet!'" repeated the schoolmaster. "Ask Walky Dexter what +he thinks of _that_. If your father sustains the reputation his daughter +has given him, Polktown would be prodded into an even more strenuous +existence than that of our recent successful campaign for no license. +Walky believes, Janice, you have all the characteristics of a capsicum +plaster." + +"Now, Nelson!" + +"Fact! You ask him. You're the greatest counter-irritant that was ever +applied to any dead-and-alive settlement.... 'Lo, Walky!" + +The village expressman, as well known as the town pump and quite as +important, drew the bony and sleepy Josephus to an abrupt stop beside +the smiling pair of young people. Walky's broad, wind-blown countenance +was a-grin and his eyes twinkled as he broke into speech: + +"Jefers-pelters! d'you know what I caught myself a-doin' when I seen you +two folks goin' down hill ahead of me?" + +"I couldn't guess, Walky. What?" asked Janice. + +"Whistlin' that there 'Bridle March' they play on the church organ when +there's a weddin'--haw! haw! haw!" + +Janice colored rosily, but could not refrain from laughter at Walky's +crude joke. Nobody could be very angry with Walky Dexter, no matter what +he said or did. + +"That's a poor brand of humor you are peddling, old man," said the +schoolmaster coolly. "Besides, you don't pronounce the word right. It's +'bri-_dal_' not 'bridle.' You speak it as though it were a part of +Josephus' harness." + +"Young man," responded Walky solemnly, but with a twinkle in his watery +eye, "when they play that march for you ye'll find ye're harnessed all +right. I been merried thutty year now and I oughter know if 'tain't a +'bridle' march and a halter they lead ye to 'stead of a altar." + +He exploded another laugh in approval of his own wit and rattled on down +to the dock. There was little self-consciousness in the manner of the +schoolmaster and Janice. They looked at each other understandingly again +and smiled. + +Why seek to hide an obvious fact? Every person in Polktown who had +arrived at the age of understanding and was not yet senile knew that +Nelson Haley and Janice Day had "made a match of it." Only the girl's +youth and the necessity for the young man to become established in his +calling precluded the thought of matrimony for the present. But they +were sure of their feeling for each other. Both had been tested in the +months that had passed since Nelson came to Polktown fresh from his +college course and had shown Janice that he could "make good." There had +been conflict in both their lives; there had even been clash in their +opinions; but the foundation of their affection for each other was too +well established for either to doubt. + +The simple romance of their lives seemed very sweet indeed to those of +their friends whose eyes were not holden. Nelson Haley and Janice Day +were at the beginning of that path which, if sometimes rugged and steep +to the travelers thereon, is primrose strewn. + +They passed one of the largest stores in Polktown--an "emporium" as the +gilt sign stated--which had been opened only a few months. Nelson, +picking up the first idle topic, said: + +"I wonder what's happened to Tom Hotchkiss? I haven't seen him about for +some days--and you can't very well miss that important looking red vest +he wears." + +"Somebody said he'd gone away," Janice replied, as lightly interested in +the subject as the schoolmaster. "To buy goods, I presume. He often +makes trips to the city for that purpose." + +"Hey, you folks! What're you pokin' along so for?" a shrill voice +demanded behind them. "She's comin' into the dock now." + +A boy clattered by them, swinging a strapful of books and grinning at +Janice and Nelson companionably. He was a sturdy boy with a good-humored +face plentifully besprinkled with freckles. + +"They can dock the _Constance Colfax_ without our being there, Marty," +Janice said. + +"Hi tunket! they can't without _I_ say so," her cousin flung back over +his shoulder as he clattered on. + +Nelson sighed. "You would not believe that boy stood well in his classes +and had the benefit of my precept and example in speech for several +hours each school day of the year." + +"Marty is incorrigible, I fear," Janice returned, with a smile. + +"He sheds his knowledge of polite English when he steps out of the +school building just as a snake sheds its skin. He is perfectly +hopeless." + +"And at heart a perfect dear," announced Janice. "There's something +better than even a knowledge of good English in Marty Day." + +Nelson's eyes twinkled. "Do you know," he observed, "I suspect you are +prejudiced in your cousin's favor?" + +They reached the wharf just as the passengers landing at Polktown were +streaming up from the boat. There were several commercial travelers +bound for the Lake View Inn and the ministrations of Marm Parraday, who +was now its overseeing spirit. Besides these there was but one +disembarking passenger. She attracted Janice Day's immediate attention. + +"Look, Nelson; here comes Mrs. Scattergood. She's just returning from a +visit to her son. Do you know, she is the first friend I made when I +came to Polktown? She was on the boat that day coming over from the +Landing." + +"The old girl looks as spry as ever," said Nelson disrespectfully. "And +I guarantee she already has her hammer out." + +"Nelson! And you criticize Marty's language!" laughed Janice. + +"There is some slang, young lady, that so adds to the forcefulness of +English that the dictionaries adopt it. Say! are you going to stop for +her?" + +"Oh, I must, Nelson," Janice said with a rueful glance at the +schoolmaster. + +"Then, to quote my slangiest pupil again--good-_night_!" and Nelson went +away cheerfully to greet several of the young men of the town grouped on +the other side of the wharf. + +"Well, well, Janice Day!" chirped the little old woman with a birdlike +tilt of her head when the girl welcomed her. "You be a pleasant sight to +see when a body comes home. And I _be_ glad to get home. I tell my son's +wife I can't make many more of these trips to Skunk's Holler. It's too +fatiguing, and at my age I like my own bed and my own fireside. I s'pose +Rill's well?" + +"Very well--and very happy," said Janice softly, looking at the +sharp-featured old woman with grave eyes. + +"'Sthat so? Well, I s'pect she's relieved in her mind now the bar at the +hotel is closed," snapped Mrs. Scattergood. "Hopewell Drugg can't go fur +astray if he don't go playin' that fiddle of his to no more o' them +dances. Though you can't trust no man too fur--that's been _my_ +experience with 'em." + +"Oh, dear, me! how unfortunate you have been all your life, Mrs. +Scattergood," sighed Janice. There was laughter in her eyes if her lips +were grave. Mrs. Scattergood's fault-finding character was well known to +the girl. + +"Hi, Janice!" broke in Marty Day's voice, and he came puffing up the +hill after his cousin and Mrs. Scattergood. "How-do, Miz' Scattergood? +Did y'see Tom Hotchkiss come ashore?" + +"Why, no, Marty. I did not notice him. Why?" Janice said. + +"Dad wanted I should find out if he came home to-day. But I didn't see +him." + +"What's Jase Day want o' Tom Hotchkiss?" demanded Mrs. Scattergood +sharply. + +"I really couldn't say," Janice replied. + +"Wal, he warn't on the boat; I can tell ye that. And to my notion Tom +Hotchkiss is as onsartin a feller to figger on as any party in this +town. He was as full o' tricks as a monkey when he was a boy here; and +he didn't onlearn none o' them, I'll be bound, all the years he was +away, nobody knows where. I wouldn't trust Tom Hotchkiss with a nickel +no further than I could swing an elephant by its tail." + +"Oh my, Mrs. Scattergood! that wouldn't be far," laughed Janice. They +came to the intersection of Hillside Avenue and High Street. "Well, I +must leave you here. I'm glad to see you home again, and looking so +well." + +This was on Friday evening. Janice, happy and care-free, went home to +help Aunt 'Mira prepare supper. There seemed nothing in the world now to +trouble Janice Day and she had forgotten Aunt 'Mira's prognostications +of evil. + +News from Mexico--from dear daddy at the mine--had been very favorable +for weeks. Of course, back in the girl's mind was always the fear, now +lulled to sleep, that something bad might happen to Mr. Broxton Day down +in battle-ridden Mexico. But the present de facto government seemed to +favor American mining interests, and Mr. Day wrote very hopefully of the +outlook for the future. + +Uncle Jason Day, a silent man at best, came in to supper much as usual. +In the midst of the meal there was a rap upon the kitchen door and Marty +clumsily arose to answer the summons. + +"Say, Dad!" the boy cried, "it's Aaron Whelpley. Says he wants to see +you outside." + +"What's _he_ want o' ye, Jase?" asked Aunt 'Mira curiously, as her +husband left the table. "Don't he clerk down to Tom Hotchkiss' store?" + +Uncle Jase muttered something unintelligible and went out on the porch, +closing the door carefully behind him. The air of expectancy over the +three left at the supper table in the Day kitchen increased as the +minutes passed. + +"More secrets," said Mrs. Day lachrymosely. "I might's well be merried +to the Shah of Pershy. I'd know jest as much about _his_ business as I +do about Jase Day's." + +Marty only chuckled at his mother's complaint. Janice felt some little +perturbation. It increased as Uncle Jason's absence continued. When +finally he opened the door suddenly and almost staggered into the +kitchen, his face blanched and his eyes expressing an emotion that she +could not fathom, the girl leaped simultaneously to her feet and to a +conclusion. + +"It's daddy!" she gasped. "Something has happened again in Mexico! Oh, +Uncle Jason! what is it?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SOMETHING TROUBLES EVERYBODY + + +Uncle Jason stood suddenly straighter and looked at his niece with +clearing visage. His wife shrilled: + +"Ye wanter scare ev'rybody out o' their seven senses, Jase Day? What's +the matter of you?" + +"Nothin'," stammered Mr. Day with dry lips. + +"Is it about daddy?" questioned Janice again. + +"No, 'tain't nothin' about Brocky," said Uncle Jason more stoutly. "I--I +felt bad for a minute." + +"What's the matter with you? Is it yer digestion again? If you air goin' +to get _that_ on ye at your time o' life where'll you be when you're an +old man?" demanded Aunt 'Mira. "My victuals ain't never suited ye none +too well----" + +"I've et 'em for more'n twenty year, ain't I?" snapped her husband, +sitting down heavily in his chair again. + +"Under protest, I don't doubt," sighed Aunt 'Mira. "I know I ain't as +good a cook as some." + +"'The Lord sends the food but the devil sends the cooks,'" quoted Marty +in an undertone to his cousin. + +"You're good enough," Uncle Jason gruffly stated. + +"Oh, no I ain't," was the mournful reply. "I know my risin' bread never +did suit ye, Jase Day. And ye said yer mother's pies was fur an' away +better'n mine." + +"When'd I ever say that?" demanded the man. + +"Jest after we was merried," Aunt 'Mira said, wiping her eyes on the +corner of her apron. + +"Oh, gee!" exploded Marty. + +"Twenty year an more ago!" snorted Uncle Jason. + +"Why, of course he doesn't think so _now_," urged Janice, seeking to oil +the troubled waters of Aunt 'Mira's soul. + +"Of all women!" groaned Mr. Day. + +"Oh, no," sighed his wife, who was gradually working herself into a +tearful state. "I know I ain't been the helpmeet you expected me to be, +Jase Day." Uncle Jason snorted. "I know my failin's"--in a tone that +admitted they were very few--"and I long ago seen ye didn't trust me, +Jase. I never know nothin' about your business. I never know what ye aim +to do till it's _done_. I never----" + +"I snum!" cried Uncle Jase. "What is it ye wanter know? There ain't no +satisfyin' you women." + +Janice tried to smooth matters again. "I'm sure, Aunt 'Mira, if Uncle +Jason doesn't always take you into his confidence about business +matters it's only because he wants to save you worry." + +"Now you've said something," commented Marty vehemently, while his +father looked at the girl gratefully. + +"I dunno what she wants ter know," he said. + +"Well," Aunt 'Mira put in quickly, showing that she was not at all +lacking in shrewdness and that there might be method in her procedure, +"what did that Aaron Whelpley want ter see ye for, f'rinstance?" + +"Oh! him?" gasped Uncle Jason, flushing dully. "Why--jest nothin' at +all! nothin' at all! Came to tell me--ahem!--Tom Hotchkiss hadn't come +back yet." + +"Why, I told you that, Dad!" ejaculated Marty in surprise. + +"Ya-as--so ye did," faltered his father. "But Aaron knowed I wanted to +see Tom----" + +"What for?" demanded Aunt 'Mira, with an insistence in getting at the +meat in the kernel that amazed Janice. + +"Why--er--on business," admitted Mr. Day stumblingly. + +"There it goes!" broke down Aunt 'Mira, fairly sobbing now. "Jest as +soon as I wanter know about anything I _should_ know about, I'm put down +an' sat upon. Oh! Oh!" + +"Woman! you're crazy!" ejaculated Mr. Day, pushing back his chair +hastily and leaving his supper but half eaten. + +Janice ran to put her arms about Aunt 'Mira's plump and shaking +shoulders, meanwhile motioning her uncle toward the sitting room. Marty, +having finished, rose to follow his father. + +"There!" sobbed Mrs. Day, "it's jest as I tell ye. He don't relish my +victuals. He ain't et supper enough for a sparrow." + +"Any sparrow that et what dad did," said Marty as he left the room, +"would die of apoplexy! Turn off the water-works, Ma. That won't get you +nothin'." + +"Men air sech heartless critters," sobbed Aunt 'Mira. + +"Why, you sound like Mrs. Scattergood!" declared Janice with a little +laugh. "To hear her to-day----" + +"Do tell!" exclaimed Mrs. Day briskly and wiping her eyes. "Is Miz' +Scattergood home again?" + +The cloud was dissipated from the good woman's mind as quickly as it had +gathered. She bustled about with Janice, clearing the table and washing +the supper dishes. Tears never left their mark upon Aunt Almira's smooth +and plump cheeks. + +But Janice had her doubts regarding Uncle Jason's peace of mind. Through +the open doorway she saw him sitting by the reading lamp with his +newspaper. She knew that he looked on the first page only, and from the +expression on his face doubted if he saw a word of the print before him. +When she had polished the last plate she went in and patted his +shoulder. He looked up at her with troubled eyes and the girl stooped +and lightly kissed his cheek above the tangle of his beard. + +"Of course it is really nothing about daddy?" she whispered. + +"Not a-tall! Not a-tall, Niece Janice!" he declared. "It's +jest--well--nothin'," and he lapsed into a gloomy silence. + +The family life at the Day homestead was very different now from what it +had been when Janice first came there to live. Like many people of the +town, the Day family had got into a rut. Uncle Jason was frankly +shiftless, although he was a good farmer and able to earn a fair wage at +carpenter's work if he so desired. + +Aunt Almira had grown hopeless and careless, too. Ambition seemed to +have fled the Polktown Days completely, and Janice could scarcely +realize that they were her father's relatives. Marty had been both a +lazy and a saucy boy, associating with idle companions in the evenings +and hating school only a degree less than he hated work. + +It delighted the girl now to see her cousin at the sitting room table +with his books. Marty was still no lover of learning; but he had an aim +in view--he desired to become a civil engineer, and he had learned that +his present studies were necessary if he were to attain his goal. + +Nowadays if Marty went out after supper it was to attend a meeting of +the Boys' Club affiliated with the Public Library Association, or to go +to "class meeting," which was a part of the social activities of the +public school established by Nelson Haley. + +Matters having quieted down after the supper-table eruption, Aunt 'Mira +got her sewing basket and Janice her text-books. The girl was still +attending the seminary at Middletown four days a week. She ran over in +her Kremlin car her father had given her and returned each afternoon. +She would continue to do this until snow flew, by which time it was +hoped passenger trains would be running on the V. C. branch between +Middletown and Polktown Landing. + +Mrs. Day sighed heavily, just to let her husband know that the storm in +her breast was not wholly assuaged; but Janice, busy with her studies, +had forgotten all about the family bickering until she was suddenly +aroused to the fact that it was now Uncle Jason and Marty who had locked +horns. + +"No. I sha'n't give you another cent!" Mr. Day said with vigor. "You +have too much money to spend as it is." + +"Gee, Dad!" groaned his son, "there _ain't_ that much money, is there?" + +Mr. Day snorted: "Young spendthrift! When I was your age I never had +ten cents a month for spending." + +"Huh!" said Marty. "I'm glad I didn't know Gran'dad Day then. He must +have been some tightwad." + +"I saved my money--put it in the bank," snapped his father, who seemed +very fretful indeed on this evening. + +"Well, _I've_ got money in the savings bank," sniffed Marty. "I s'pose I +can take out some and get those hockey sticks and things I want. We're +going to have a regular team this winter, Nelse Haley says, and play +Middletown High." + +"Ye'll not take a cent out of the bank, d'ye hear me?" said his father, +more sharply. "Ye'd never had it there if yer mother hadn't opened the +account for you and give ye the book." + +"Well, now, Jason," put in Aunt 'Mira, "why shouldn't the boy have a +little money to spend? All the other boys do. You air the clostest +man----" + +"Close? close?" repeated Uncle Jason, his voice rising shrilly. "You +think I'm close, do you? Well, lemme tell ye, I'll be closer, and this +fambly'll live a sight more economical in the future than it has in the +past. We ain't got no money to fool away----" + +"Aw, rats!" growled Marty under his breath, slamming shut his book and +rising from the table. "That's always the way," he added. "Try to touch +you for a cent and you'd think you was losing a patch of your hide." + +"Oh, Marty!" gasped Janice. "Don't!" + +"It's your father's way," croaked Aunt 'Mira, rocking violently. "Tech +him in the pocketbook an' ye tech him on the raw." + +"By mighty!" ejaculated Mr. Day, crumpling his paper into a ball and +throwing it on the floor. "If ever a man was so pestered----" + +"They don't mean it, Uncle Jason! They don't mean it," cried Janice, +almost in tears. "They don't understand. But something must be the +matter--something is troubling you----" + +"Well, why don't he tell then?" shrilled Mrs. Day. "If he's hidin' +something----" + +Her husband rose up and turned to glare at both her and his son. His +face was apoplectic; his lips twitched. Janice had never seen him moved +in this way before and even Aunt 'Mira looked startled. + +"I _am_ hidin' somethin'," the man said harshly. "I been hidin' it for +weeks. I'll tell ye all what 'tis now. Ye'd know it soon enough anyway." + +"Well, I vum!" murmured Aunt 'Mira. "Is he goin' ter finally tell it?" + +"Get it off your chest, Dad," Marty said carelessly. "You'll feel +better." + +There was no sympathy expressed for him except in Janice Day's +countenance. The man wet his lips, hesitated, and finally burst out +with: + +"I had an int'rest in Tom Hotchkiss' store. Ye all knowed that; but ye +didn't know how much. I went on his notes--all of 'em. For nigh twelve +thousand dollars. More'n I got in the world. More'n this place is +wuth--an' the stock--_everything_! All I got in the world is gone if Tom +Hotchkiss ain't an honest man, and it looks as though he'd run away and +didn't intend to come back!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +MARTY SPEAKS OUT + + +The silence of misunderstanding, almost of unbelief, fell upon the +little group in the Day sitting room, shocked as it was by Uncle Jason's +declaration. Janice could not find her tongue. Aunt 'Mira's fat face was +as blank as a wall. Marty finally recovered breath enough to expel: + +"Whew! Hi tunket! _That's_ what was behind his red vest, was it? Has he +really stung you, Dad?" + +"But, Jase Day!" at last burst out Aunt 'Mira, "ye air jest a-scarin' us +for nothin'. Of course you can levy on his goods." + +"They're not paid for," Uncle Jason interrupted. "That's what Aaron +found out for me. Tom got a line of credit I didn't know nothin' about. +The jobbers and wholesalers have first call. There are no outstandin' +accounts owin' the store; Tom did a spot cash business." + +"But what did he do with the money he got on the notes you indorsed, +Uncle Jason?" cried Janice. + +"That's what I don't know," Mr. Day replied, sitting down heavily again +and resting his head in both hands. "He's gone--and _it's_ gone. That's +all I know. I found out to-day he hasn't got ten dollars to his account +at the bank. The bank holds most of his notes, and of course they are +goin' to come down on me as the notes fall due." + +Mr. Day groaned very miserably. Salt tears stung Janice's eyelids. + +"Cricky, Dad! can they take everything that belongs to us?" asked Marty, +awestruck. + +Mr. Day nodded. "Ev'ry endurin' thing. On an indorsement of a note even +a man's tools and his household goods ain't exempt." + +"Oh, Uncle!" cried Janice in pity. + +"Well, then, Jase Day," gasped his wife, regaining her usual volubility, +"what have I allus told ye? If ye'd put the homestead in my name they +couldn't get that away from ye. It's what I allus wanted ye to do. And I +ain't even got dower right in it, as I'd oughter have. Ye don't 'pear to +have the sense ye was born with. Write your name on another man's +note--an' for sech a feller as Tom Hotchkiss--when ye didn't know +nothin' about him." + +"I went to school with his father. Old Caleb Hotchkiss and me was +chums," defended Uncle Jason weakly. "I allus thought Tom had it in him +to make good." + +"Oh, he's done good, it 'pears," snapped Aunt 'Mira. "He's done _you_ +good an' brown. Ye wouldn't tell me nothin' about it, 'cept ye'd +invested a little money in the store when 'twas first opened. That's +what ye _said_." + +"And it was the truth," groaned Uncle Jason. "It was later I indorsed +the notes." + +"Serves you right for not takin' your lawful wife into your confidence," +stormed Aunt 'Mira in mingled wrath and tears. "And now what's to become +of us I'd like to know? Ev'rything we got taken from us! Kin they really +do that, Jase?" + +The man nodded his head miserably. + +"Well, all I gotter say is that it's mighty hard on _me_," complained +Mrs. Day. "If you was fool enough to trust a scalawag like Tom +Hotchkiss----" + +"It wasn't two weeks ago you was speakin' so well of him," interrupted +her husband, stung to the retort discourteous. "You said he was the +smartest man in Polktown and if I'd been ha'f the man he was at his age +I'd ha' made a fortune." + +Marty suddenly laughed, high and shrilly. "Surely! surely!" he exploded. +"You could easy make a fortune the same way Tom Hotchkiss done--by +stealin' it from others." + +"Well----" began his mother, when to Janice's, as well as his parents', +vast surprise, her cousin suddenly dominated the occasion. + +"You keep still, Ma! You've said enough. Dad didn't go for to do it, did +he? He wasn't aimin' to lose his money and make us poor, was he? D'you +think he did it a-purpose?" + +"Well--no, Marty," admitted Mrs. Day, "I don't think he did. But----" + +"Nuff said, then," declared the youngest of the Day clan briskly. +"What's done's done. No use bawlin' over spilt sody-water," and he +grinned more or less cheerfully. "What good did the money dad had in the +bank ever do us? Not a bit! It might as well have been burnt up. We can +hire this house to live in just as well's though we owned it, can't we? +And not have to worry about taxes and repairs neither." + +"Why, Marty!" murmured Janice, amazed by this outburst, yet somewhat +impressed by the sounding sense of it. + +"Hi tunket!" exploded her cousin, expanding as he looked around on his +surprised relatives. "What does it matter, anyway? Ain't I here, Ma? +Have you forgot I'm alive, Dad? Can't I go to work and earn money enough +to support this family if I haf to? I--guess--yes! Why!" pursued the +excited Marty, "I can go to work next week at Jobbin's sawmill an' earn +my dollar-seventy-five a day. Sure I can! Or I bet I could get a job in +some store. Or on the _Constance Colfax_--they pay deckhands a +dollar-fifty. And there's the railroad goin' to open up. + +"Pshaw! there's nothin' to it," declared the boy. "What if dad has got +the rheumatism? _I_ can work an' we won't starve." + +"Marty!" cried Janice, running around the table and putting both arms +about his neck. "You dear boy--_you're a man_!" + +"Huh!" grunted Marty half strangled. "Who said I wasn't?" + +"He's a good, dear child," sobbed his mother. "D'you hear him, Jase +Day?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Day brokenly. "I dunno but it's wuth while losin' +ev'rything ye own to l'arn that ye got a boy like him." + +Marty was suddenly smitten with a great wave of confusion. His +enthusiasm had carried him out of himself. "Aw, well," he mumbled, "I +was just tellin' you. You needn't worry. I can get a job." + +"And I'll sell my car, Uncle," Janice said gayly. "That'll help some. +And my board money. That comes regularly, thank goodness! + +"Of course," she pursued, "as Marty says, we can hire the house to live +in if you have to lose the dear old place. We'll be all right." + +"'Tain't that. I can work yet," groaned Uncle Jase. "It's losin' all +we've saved." + +"Well! whose fault is that?" demanded his wife; but Janice stopped her. + +"Now, Auntie, Marty's said the last word on _that_ topic. Let us not +waste our time in recrimination. We must get a new outlook on life, that +is all." + +"But all I gotter say----" + +"You've said it, Ma, already," put in Marty. "Don't spread it on +thicker. Dad ain't likely to forget it. You don't have to keep reminding +him of it." + +It was hard on the woman, this shutting off her speech. As with many +shallow-minded folk, speech was Aunt 'Mira's safety valve. Afterward, +when Uncle Jason had gone down town "to see about it" and Marty had +accompanied him (the first time in all probability since he was a child +the boy had ever willingly accompanied his father anywhere) the pent-up +torrent of Aunt 'Mira's feelings burst upon Janice's head. + +She put away her books with a sigh. The morrow was a school holiday, +anyway. "Aunt 'Mira," she said softly, "don't you suppose Uncle Jason +feels this thing keenly? Don't you think his very soul must be +embittered because he has made this mistake?" + +"Mistake!" repeated the fretful woman. "Needn't ha' been no mistake. If +he'd asked me----" + +"You would have been no wiser than he, Aunt 'Mira," Janice interrupted +with confidence. "I know you. I remember how you had this Mr. Hotchkiss +to tea here one night some months ago, and how pleasant he seemed. I +expect that must have been when Uncle Jason was about to indorse his +notes and he wanted your opinion of the man." + +"Goodness, Janice! do you suppose so?" gasped Aunt 'Mira. + +"Yes, I do. You know how uncle is--he doesn't talk much, but he thinks a +lot of your opinion. And I know he must feel worse over losing your +confidence than over losing the money." + +"Why, he ain't lost my confidence!" cried her aunt. "I know he never +meant to do it." + +"Then tell him so when he comes home, dear," Janice whispered with her +arms about her aunt's neck. "Don't be harsh to him at a time when he +needs all the sympathy we can give him." + +Aunt Almira cried a little, then wiped her eyes and kissed her niece. + +"You're a great comfort, Janice. What we should do without you I dunno. +An' I guess ye air right. We women only hafter suffer for a man's fool +tricks. But the man has to suffer and make good for 'em, too. Poor +Jase!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"I TOLD YOU SO" + + +Janice thought at once of her father when this serious trouble for Uncle +Jason and the family arose. She said nothing about doing so, but before +going to bed that night she wrote Mr. Broxton Day about his brother's +trouble. + +Janice's father was considerably younger than his half-brother, had seen +a deal more of the world than Jason Day, and had accumulated a much +larger fortune than the plodding Polktown farmer and carpenter ever +hoped or expected to possess. + +Uncle Jason was inclined to criticize Mr. Broxton Day for "putting all +his eggs in one basket," as he had done in investing in mining property +in Chihuahua, Mexico. But now it seemed as though Uncle Jason, shrewd as +he thought himself, had made a similar mistake. He had backed Tom +Hotchkiss beyond the value of all his property, both real and personal. + +The investment of Janice's father in the Mexican mine had paid him well +until insurrection broke out in the district. The superintendent then in +charge of the mine had run away while the workmen had joined the +insurrectos. + +It was necessary for somebody to go down into the troubled country and +"do something," and the duty devolved upon Mr. Broxton Day of all the +men financially interested in the mining project. He had hastened to the +mine while Janice came to Polktown to live during his absence. Of +course, neither supposed this parting was for long. Now more than three +years had passed, during which time there had been more than one +occasion when Mr. Day was in danger of losing his life. + +He had managed to hold the property for himself and his business +associates, however, and had made friends among most of the warring +factions fretting Chihuahua. Of late he had been able to hire workmen +and get out ore. The profits began to roll in again. Mr. Broxton Day's +share of these profits for a month was more than Uncle Jason saw in cash +for several years. + + * * * * * + +"We must help him, Daddy," wrote Janice. "He has been the dearest +man--so kind to me, as they all have been; but Uncle Jason particularly. +He is not naturally demonstrative. His actions speak louder than words. +He backed me up, you know, when I was arrested for speeding my car that +time. And when Nelson was in trouble over those stolen gold coins Uncle +Jason went on his bail bond and hired the lawyer to defend him. + +"We must do all we can for him. The next letter I write you, dear Daddy, +will contain the full particulars of his difficulties--when the notes +come due and their amounts. Meanwhile you can be thinking it over and +planning in that perfectly wonderful brain of yours, how best to help +Uncle Jason ward off disaster." + + * * * * * + +This kind attitude toward Uncle Jason in his trouble was not assumed by +many, as Janice had foretold. A man like Jason Day in a community like +Polktown was bound to win disapproval from many of his neighbors. + +In the first place "those Days" had been looked upon as shiftless and of +little account. Janice's activities had done much to change that +opinion; but there were yet families in Polktown that did not number +Aunt Almira on their calling lists. Moreover, until the recent town +meeting when Uncle Jason, under Janice's spur, had been so active in the +no license campaign, he had been on the "wrong side" in politics. Uncle +Jason was not of the political party that has made Vermont as +"rock-bound" as her own Green Mountains. + +So, there were many who, when they heard of Mr. Day's difficulties, said +it served the "tight-fisted fellow" just right. And many who might +better have remembered Uncle Jason's unfailing if somewhat grim +neighborly kindness, whispered and smirked as they discussed the story +in public. At the best, most of his friends proved to be of the +I-told-you-so variety. When it became publicly known that Tom Hotchkiss +had absconded with the funds and the door of his "emporium" was shut, +there was scarcely a person in Polktown who, it seemed, could not have +told Uncle Jason Tom was dishonest. + +It was on Saturday evening, following a long day of sore worry for Uncle +Jason, ending in the certain knowledge that scarcely a dollar's worth of +property had been left behind by Hotchkiss to meet his liabilities, that +Nelson Haley came over to supper, as he often did on this evening in the +week. They were still lingering around the supper table when Walky +Dexter came stumping up the porch steps. + +"Jefers-pelters! still eatin'?" he cackled. "All the fambly here? +Where's _your_ gal, Marty?" + +"Haven't got none," declared the boy with a scowl as positive as his +double negative. + +"What?" exploded Walky in apparent surprise. "Then I be needin' +spectacles, jest as my ol' woman says. I thought I seen you hangin' +around Hope Drugg's store more'n a little lately; and I vum I thought +'twas you 't sat beside little Lottie at the Ladies' Aid supper t'other +night an' treated her to ice-cream till the child liketer +bust--er--haw! haw! haw!" + +"Aw, you don't need glasses, Walky. What _you_ need is blinders," +growled Marty with some impatience. + +"Ya-as; I've been tol' that before," said the incorrigible joker. "Folks +don't take kindly to the idee of my havin' sech sharp eyes, neither. I +undertook to tell _you_ a thing or two, Jase, some time ago 'bout that +Tom Hotchkiss; but ye wouldn't see it with my eyes." + +"If I seen everything and everybody in the town the way you seen it, +Walky, I'd get as twisted as a dumbed sas'fras root," snarled Uncle +Jason. + +"Ye wouldn't ha' been so twisted about Tom," Walky said placidly. He was +as thick-skinned as a walrus and the cut direct did not in the least +trouble him. + +"I tell ye, I 'member what that feller was when he was a boy," he +pursued. "Bad blood, there--bad blood." + +"By mighty!" ejaculated Uncle Jason. "Cale Hotchkiss was as square a +feller as ever walked on sole-leather. I'm glad he's dead. If he'd lived +to see his son turn out so bad----" + +"'Twarn't Caleb Hotchkiss' blood I was referrin' to," Walky struck in. +"Caleb merried one o' them Pickberry gals over to Bowling. An' you know +well enough what them Pickberrys was. As for this here Tom, he was as +sly as a skunk-bear when he was a boy." + +"For goodness' sake!" interrupted Janice, hoping to divert the tide of +Walky's talk. "What is a 'skunk-bear'?" + +"Wolverine," explained her cousin quickly. "And the meanest creature +that ever got on a line of traps. Hey, Walky?" + +"Now you've said it, boy," agreed the expressman. "An' that remin's me +of one of the meanest things that Tom Hotchkiss done when he was a boy." + +"Oh, well!" grunted Uncle Jason, who evidently disliked the discussion +of Tom's short-comings. "They say George Washington cut down his +father's favorite cherry tree; yet he grew up to be president." + +"Huh! but he didn't lie about it--_that's_ why he got to be president," +said the astute Walkworthy. "And Tom Hotchkiss lied about this mean +thing _he_ done." + +"Wal! let's have it," Mr. Day said, with a sigh. "It'll choke ye I can +plainly see if ye ain't allowed to unburden your soul." + +Walky began to stuff his pipe out of Mr. Day's tobacco sack that he had +appropriated from the shelf beside the door. + +"Ye see," he said, "Tom worked for ol' man Ketcham a while--him that run +the dairy farm over Middletown way. But Tom never did work long in one +place when he was a boy. _That_ oughter told ye something, Jase." + +Mr. Day grunted. Marty said: + +"Go on with your story, Walky. Who told you you was the law and the +prophets?" + +"I was prophet enough about how Tom Hotchkiss was a-comin' aout," +chuckled Walky. "Wal! howsomever, old Ketcham run quite a dairy for them +days. He bought up all the neighbors' milk, too, and made butter and +cheese. I expect 'twould ha' been called a crematory to-day." + +"Ho, ho!" shouted Marty. "That's a hot one. Creamery, you mean, Walky." + +"Oh, do I?" said the unruffled Mr. Dexter. "Wal, mebbe I do. Anyhow, he +stood Tom and his tricks quite a spell--he was slow to wrath, was old +Ketcham, bein' a Quaker by persuasion; but bimeby Tom got too much for +him and he turned him away. Tom was a great practical joker--oh, yes! +But he was one o' them kind that gits mad when the joke's turned on +themselves. So he was sore on the Ketchams." + +"Huh! he ain't the only one geared that-a-way," put in Mr. Day. + +"No; but he was about the only feller I ever knowed that 'ud ha' thunk +up sech a mean way of gittin' square with old Ketcham." + +"What did he do?" demanded Marty, becoming impatient at the +expressman's leisurely tale, while Aunt 'Mira got up and began to stir +about the kitchen, clearing the supper table. She often confessed to +Janice that it gave her legs "the twidgets" to listen to one of Walky's +long-drawn-out stories. + +"Why--he, he!--'twas funny, tubbesure. The old man stored his butter in +a stone spring-haouse. The spring was under the floor and cooled the +place nicely. Both ends of the buildin' was jest slats 'bout an inch +apart, so's to let the air through but keep most critters aout. + +"Now, jest about the time old man Ketcham got through with Tom +Hotchkiss, Tom, he discovered there was a ol' she-skunk with a young +fambly in the neighborhood. 'Tain't no trick a-tall to l'arn when a +polecat is located near by, ye know; all ye gotter do, as the fellers +says, is ter foller yer nose--haw! haw! haw! + +"Tom was mad clean through when Mr. Ketcham turned him away. Didn't take +him long, I vum! ter link up them skunks with his idea of +vengeance--nossir!" Walky said reflectively. "And he perceeded to put +his idee into practice." + +"What did he do, Walky?" asked Marty again. "Ye might give us a hint." + +"Oh, I'm gittin' to it," said the expressman placidly. "He toled them +skunks into the spring-haouse. That's what he done." + +"How?" asked Marty, now interested, while the other listeners expressed +their several opinions of the young rascal's trick. + +"Lard. A lard trail. Skunks love lard er any grease. Tom laid the trail +to the spring-haouse and then yanked off two of the lower slats. Plenty +room for the biggest skunk livin' to git through. Then he chucked a lump +of grease inside, after which he skun out." + +"And what happened, Walky?" Janice asked. + +"Why, when ol' Miz' Ketcham went aout to the spring-haouse in the +morning, there was Miz' Skunk an' four skunk kittens camping in the +middle of the floor. She seen 'em through the slats an' didn't darest +open the door." + +"Couldn't she frighten them out?" asked Nelson. + +"Schoolmaster!" said Walky, chuckling, "I'm surprised at your ignerance. +Ye sartain sure don't know much about the nature of skunks." + +"I admit my failing," Nelson said, smiling. "I've never been much +interested in skunkology." + +"Ye might be--an' with profit," said Walky, more briskly. "I understand +their fur's wuth more'n most animals ye kin trap nowadays. + +"Howsomever, the skunk is 'bout the boldest critter that runs wild. Let +'em alone and they'll let you alone. But they ain't afeard of nothin' on +two laigs or four--or that flies in the air, neither. When ye see a +skunk in the path, go 'round it." + +"We do," chuckled Marty. "He's got right of way." + +"An' don't never try to chase one or poke one--'nless ye have a mighty +long pole," said Walky Dexter. "Miz' Ketcham, she knowed that. The skunk +an' her four kittens was camped in that spring-haouse an' they seemed to +like it. No way of coaxin' 'em aout and there was two hunder' pound o' +June butter in the place." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Janice. + +"Dear suz!" was Aunt 'Mira's comment. "Why didn't they shoot 'em?" + +"Huh!" grunted Uncle Jason. + +"The man ain't never drawed the breath o' life yet could shoot a skunk +quick enough," Walky declared. "No, ma'am! And there was five in that +bunch. Miz' Ketcham was jest as mad as she could be. She knowed that if +anything riled 'em while they was quartered in that spring-haouse ev'ry +pound of butter stored there would be sp'ilt. + +"While they was projectin' around, and a-wonderin' what to do about it, +a little fice-dog they owned settled things for 'em--and settled it +quick. He was a fool dog and he proberbly took old Lady Skunk for a +tabbycat. Seein' her inside the spring-haouse he nosed around till he +found the openin' she'd got in by. He squeezed himself in an' then--wal, +good-_night_! + +"They heard the dog a ky-yi-ing and smelled the smoke of battle from +afar--haw! haw! haw! Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky. "They tell me +that after they'd burned all the butter an' butter firkins an' the hull +inside of the spring-haouse--purgin' by fire as the Good Book says--the +odor still lingered. + +"An' that's one o' the tricks Tom Hotchkiss done. Lied about it, o' +course. Said he didn't. But to them that was his cronies he boasted +about it. I had _my_ doubts of him when he come back to Polktown, nobody +knowed from where; and I could ha' told ye, Jase----" + +"Too late! too late!" groaned Mr. Day. "All you hind-sight prophets +can't do me no good." + +It was a bitter cry, and Aunt 'Mira sniveled as she stood over the +dish-pan. Marty shuffled heavily as he grabbed his cap and made his way +toward the door. + +"I'm goin' over to the lib'ry for a book," he explained huskily, and +went out. + +Janice and Nelson soon retired to the sitting room while the three older +people carried on a desultory conversation for the next hour. Suddenly +there came a tapping on the sitting room window by Nelson's chair. He +pulled aside the shade a little and glanced out. + +What he saw made him start suddenly to his feet. "Who is it?" asked +Janice, busy with the fancy-work in her lap. + +"Somebody who evidently wishes to speak with me in private," Nelson told +her with a smile. "I'll be right back." + +He went out through the kitchen and found Marty standing in the yard--a +very white-faced and trembling Marty, quite unlike his usual self. + +"What is it? What has happened?" the schoolmaster asked sharply. + +"Oh, Mr. Haley! I can't tell her--I can't let her know it." + +"Whom are you talking about--your mother?" + +"No. It's Janice." + +"What has happened to Janice?" demanded Nelson, his voice changing. + +"It's her dad--it's Uncle Brocky!" gasped Marty. "It's in to-day's New +York paper. I just happened to see it as they was putting it on the +file. I got it here," and the boy drew the folded newspaper from his +pocket. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +JANICE GOES HER WAY + + +"Come over to the garage," said Nelson Haley, seizing the boy by the +wrist. "Is it unlocked?" + +"Yes," gulped Marty. + +"I can read it in the light of the side lamp of the car," said the +schoolmaster. + +His own voice was shaken. He knew that something very serious must have +occurred or Marty Day would not act in this manner. + +They hurried across the yard and Marty unbarred the garage door. Nobody +in Polktown thought of locking any outbuilding, save possibly the +corn-crib or the smoke-house. + +Marty closed the door tightly before Nelson scratched a match and +fumbled for the latch of the kerosene side lamp of Janice's automobile. +In the yellow radiance of this he unfolded the newspaper Marty had +seized at the public library. The schoolmaster looked at once at the +extreme right-hand column of the front page of the paper--the column in +which the Mexican news was usually displayed. A sub-heading caught his +eye almost instantly: + + MORE AMERICANS BUTCHERED + +A great revolt had again broken out against the de facto government. It +was spreading, the report said, hourly. In the Companos District the +wires had been cut, but it was known that there had been much bloodshed +there. Several of the former insurrecto leaders who had recently gone +over to the existing party in power at Mexico City, were reported +assassinated, among them Juan Dicampa. + +"And he was Mr. Day's friend--he served him well during the last +uprising in that district!" Nelson ejaculated. + +"That ain't the worst. Read on," breathed Marty. + +"Great heavens! can it be possible?" whispered Nelson. + + "The mines in the Companos District have all been seized by the + insurrectos. The peons working them have been forced into the ranks + of the revolutionists. Not an American has escaped from the district + and several are known to have been killed. At the Alderdice Mine, + fourteen miles north of San Cristoval, it is said the + superintendent, B. Day, has been wounded and is held prisoner." + +"Wh--what do you know about _that_?" stuttered Marty. "Uncle Brocky's +hurt and they won't let him go." + +"Hush!" commanded Nelson. + +"Aw--there's nobody to hear," choked the boy. "And how can we keep it +from Janice?" + +"We must!" exclaimed Nelson. + +"Say, Nelson Haley! You got to be mighty smart to keep Janice from +finding out every little thing. You know that. And she's always looking +for something to happen to Uncle Brocky." + +"We can do it. We _must_ do it," responded the schoolmaster. + +Marty was round-eyed and unbelieving. "Say! you don't know Janice yet," +he repeated with assurance. "She's a mighty smart girl--the smartest +girl in the whole of Polktown. Aw--well, you ought to know." + +"I don't know how we are to do it--yet," the schoolmaster agreed. "We'll +just _have_ to. When people have to do a thing, Marty, _they do it nine +times out of ten_!" + +"Hi tunket!" gasped the boy. "You tell me my part and I'll help all +right." + +"Come on, then. Stroll in naturally. Make believe there is something +up--some joke that we are going to keep Janice out of----" + +"Joke!" groaned Marty. + +"I tell you," commanded Nelson hotly, "we've got to keep this from her. +Her father wounded--think of it!" + +"Ain't I thinking of it?" put in the boy. "Uncle Brocky--that I never +did see since I was a kid too small to remember him." + +"Pull yourself together, old man," said the schoolmaster with his arm +over the boy's shoulder. + +Nelson's trust in him did much to enable Marty to brace up. He gulped +down his sobs and drew his jacket sleeve across his eyes. "You just tell +me what to do," he choked. + +"I don't know myself yet. I'll keep this paper. I'll leave it to you to +divert the New York paper from the library. You can do that, for the +postmaster will give you the library mail if you're there on time for +it." + +"I'll be there," Marty declared. + +"We'll tell Walky----" + +"Oh--Jehoshophat!" gasped Marty. "_He_ leaks like a sieve. Might's well +tell the town crier as tell Walky." + +"We'll mend his leak," the schoolmaster said grimly. "Walky loves +Janice. We'll easily shut his mouth. Perhaps we can warn other people so +that no word will be let drop. I can learn, I suppose, who takes this +paper." + +"Oh, hookey!" groaned Marty suddenly. "The hull town'll know it next +Thursday if they don't before." + +"Why so?" + +"That is the day the Middletown _Courier_ comes out. They had a big +piece in it about Uncle Brocky before. They'll grab this story like a +hungry dog does a bone. It's _news_." + +"You have a head on your shoulders, boy," admitted Nelson Haley, and all +but groaned himself. He would not give way to despair. "I'll think about +that. I'll find some way of keeping the _Courier_ out of town." + +"And Janice riding right over there to school four days a week," +suggested Marty. + +"I never thought of that," muttered Nelson. + +"'Most everybody takes the _Courier_ here in Polktown. An', oh gee! +there's dad's _Ledger_. She might get hold of that." + +"If you can't stop _that_ coming to the house you're no good," declared +Nelson. + +"Oh, I'll stop it. Dad'll have a fit though. He swears by the _Ledger_. +But ma don't care for nothin' but the _Fireside Favorite_, and there +won't be any Mexican news in _that_." + +"We must be on the watch to keep every line of communication closed--to +keep Janice ignorant of this at least until the facts are better known. +Perhaps they will be disproved. I'll write to-night to Washington. And +you get me the name of that friend of Mr. Broxton Day's down there on +the Border who communicated with Janice once before when it looked as +though your uncle was lost. Remember?" + +"Sure!" agreed Marty. + +"I'll tell Walky to-night. You find a chance to speak to your father and +mother. Be sure Janice doesn't hear you." + +"Some job!" + +"Well, it's _our_ job. Understand?" Nelson said earnestly. + +"I'm with you, Mr. Haley," the boy responded, quite recovered from his +first disturbance of mind. "You can bank on me." + +"Great boy!" Nelson said, patting him on the shoulder again. "Janice has +done so much--so much for the town, so much for us all! We should be +able to do something to secure her peace of mind, Marty." + +"Hi tunket! I believe you, Mr. Haley." + +"Then, come on! It may prove to be a false alarm as before. We'll save +her all the anxiety possible." + +"Sure we will!" agreed the boy again with emphasis. + +They re-entered the house; Marty was even able to call up a giggle and +winked broadly at Nelson as he hung up his hat and looked up the +parchesi board and the rest of the outfit for that popular game. + +"What's a-goin' on now 'twixt you two boys?" asked Aunt Almira +comfortably, for she looked upon Nelson, when he came to the house, as +she would had he been Marty's brother. "D'ye know what's up, Janice?" + +"I haven't an idea," her niece said happily. "I fancy Marty has a joke +on somebody." + +"'Joke!'" repeated her cousin in such an unconsciously tragic tone that +the schoolmaster hastened to say: + +"He thinks he is going to beat Walky playing parchesi. Come on, Walky. +Show him you have all your wits about you." + +"I'm dumbed if I don't!" declared Mr. Dexter, laying aside his pipe to +cool. "Who else is a-goin' to play?" + +"Not I," said Janice. "Christmas is coming and preparedness is my +motto." + +"I want ma to play then," Marty said. "She an' I'll play partners and I +bet we beat Mr. Haley and Walky out o' their boots." + +"Sakes alive, child! you don't want me to play, do ye?" chuckled Aunt +'Mira. "Your father says I ain't got head enough for any game--an' I +guess he's right." + +"I'll risk ye," said her son, and they really had a very hilarious game +while Janice sewed placidly and Uncle Jason looked on, forgetting for +the time some of the burden on his mind. + +"I'll go along with you, Walky," the schoolmaster said when the game +broke up and it was time for the callers to go. "I can cut through your +back lots to High Street and reach Mrs. Beaseley's quite as easily as by +the other route." + +"Proud to hev ye," said Walky. "Good-night, folks. That 'pears to be a +funny lookin' necktie you're knitting for Mr. Haley, Janice." + +"It's not a necktie and it's not for Nelson," Janice replied, flushing a +little and quickly hiding the fleecy article on which she had been +working. + +"Oh well," chuckled Walky, "I don't 'spect we've got airy right to have +eyes in our heads even as long before Christmas as this time. +Good-night, everybody." + +He went out. Nelson, although he lingered to say something in a low tone +to Janice, was right behind the expressman. He went up Hillside Avenue +with Walky talking to him seriously. + +Marty became woefully nervous when the family was left alone. He went to +the water pail half a dozen times. He put out the cat; then let her in +again it seemed just for the purpose of shooing her out once more. + +Janice, quite unconscious of her cousin's disturbance of mind, finally +put away her work and took up her candle. + +"Good-night, all!" she said, yawning openly. She kissed her uncle's +cheek, and Aunt 'Mira returned with warmth the caress with which she was +favored. "Night, Marty." + +"Huh!" the boy said huskily, "am I a stepchild? Don't I ever get kissed +no more?" + +"Why, Marty Day!" cried Janice, laughing. "A great big boy like you! I +thought you abhorred such 'girlie' ways." + +"Sometimes I do," he said, approaching her boldly. "But to-night----" + +He seized her like a young bear and kissed her fiercely. "You're--you're +a mighty nice girl, Janice, if you _are_ only my cousin," he said, +averting his eyes. + +She laughed and patted his cheek lightly. Then carrying the lighted +candle she went up to bed with a parting nod and smile to her uncle and +aunt. + +Marty stood close to the stair door and listened at the crack till he +was sure she had entered her own room and closed her door. His mother +asked wonderingly: + +"What ever is the matter o' you, Marty Day? I never see your beat." + +"Sh!" the boy said, his face suddenly displaying all the fear and +anxiety he had been hiding. + +His father took his bedtime pipe from his lips and stared. "What ever is +it's got you?" he asked. + +The boy leaned over the table. Like conspirators, with their heads close +together, the three talked in whispers. After Aunt Almira's first +involuntary cry of horror, which she smothered at once, their voices +never reached a key that could have made them audible ten feet away. + +Meanwhile the schoolmaster and Walky Dexter were in close consultation. +Nelson had made no mistake when he took the expressman into the plot. +Walky was by nature a chatterer and a gossip, but he would have cut off +his right hand rather than hurt Janice Day. While Janice made ready for +bed plans were forming to hide from her as long as possible--until the +newspaper story could be verified at least--that which had come over the +telegraph wires from Mexico. + +The girl was less troubled by fears for her father's safety than she had +been for a long time. It was of Uncle Jason's trouble she thought. And +she was quite sure her father would be able to help his brother +considerably in straightening out the difficulty that confronted Jason +Day. + +It had been figured out just what it would cost to renew the notes and +pay interest on them, if the bank would allow Mr. Day to do that. Over +seven hundred dollars per year! An enormous sum for Uncle Jason to +contemplate--while the principal would hang over him like a threatening +cloud. The interest money alone was more than he could easily earn over +and above the family's living expenses. + +He had got into the toils of the cunning Hotchkiss through lending the +storekeeper a small sum at eight per cent, in the beginning and being +paid promptly. The bank carried the notes for six per cent, of course. + +The morrow was Sunday. Janice went her usual calm way. People seemed +rather nicer to her than usual, but their attitude did not arouse her +suspicions in the least. At church there seemed to be more groups than +usual both before and after service who whispered together. Mr. Middler, +the pastor, who loved Janice as he might his own daughter, added a +warmer pressure to his handclasp. Mrs. Middler kissed her several times, +and Janice thought with some surprise that the affectionate woman had +been crying. Elder Concannon, that stern and bewhiskered patriarch who +had once looked upon Janice Day and her ideas as the very leaven of +unrighteousness in the community, strode over to the girl and rested his +hands upon her shoulders to make her look up at him. + +"Ha!" he said. "Just as brave as ever, are you? You're not fearing the +future, my girl?" + +"How can I when the past has been so lovely?" she asked him soberly. + +"Ha!" and he wagged his head. "So _that's_ the way the past has seemed +to you, eh?" + +He said no more; but Janice wondered what the matter was with Elder +Concannon. He was so seldom demonstrative. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SHADOW OF COMING EVENTS + + +Nelson Haley was not at church that Sunday. He was seen to ride away +with Walky Dexter early in the morning and they took the lower +Middletown road. When they returned late in the afternoon they assured +each other that they had accomplished much. + +They had prepared the way for Janice when she should go to the seminary +on Monday--and more. It seemed to Janice that week as though the girls +had never before been so nice to her. One of the instructors kept her in +the office it was true when she arrived on Monday, over a really trivial +matter, while the principal was addressing the student body; but the +subject of the principal's address did not interest Janice, she learned +later, she being only a day pupil. In fact she was merely taking a +postgraduate course in certain studies. + +Nor did she imagine that the editor of the Middletown _Courier_ went to +his office that Monday morning and "killed" a two-column news feature he +had planned for the front page, as well as an editorial and a certain +"intimate note" of neighborhood gossip under the heading of "Polktown +Activities." + +Nelson Haley was not omnipotent. He could not reach everybody or +foretell all combinations of events that might reveal to Janice her +father's peril. But he had done his best. _The Weekly Courier_ would not +mention Mexican matters in its Thursday's issue. Meanwhile Nelson, with +Uncle Jason and Mr. Middler, the pastor of the Polktown Union Church, as +a self-appointed committee, endeavored to get the truth from the Border +regarding the uprising in the Companos District and particularly the +facts of the situation at the Alderdice Mine. + +Janice Day's cheerfulness was almost uncanny. She had determined to be +cheerful and optimistic about the Day homestead because she knew that +her uncle and aunt were so cast down. She was not at all surprised +therefore by their frequently solemn countenances and their whispering +in corners together. + +When she found Aunt 'Mira in tears she comforted her, believing that it +was because of her husband's troubles that the woman wept. That Marty +should wear a cloud of gloom most of the time merely proved how deeply +the boy had been stirred by his father's trouble. + +If Uncle Jason was distrait was it any wonder? His lawyer could give him +little comfort, Janice understood, regarding the settlement of the +absconding storekeeper's notes. A search for assets was being made; but +it looked as though Tom Hotchkiss had intended to be dishonest from the +start and had laid all his plans accordingly and with judgment worthy of +a better cause. + +Already attempts were being made to find the absent storekeeper. It was +suspected that he had gone to Canada. If he remained there it might be +possible to lay hands upon him, for his act constituted a felony and he +could be extradited. + +"Wherever he's gone," said Uncle Jason gloomily, "he's gone fast and +he's gone fur. No doubt o' that. And 'nless he lost the money in +speculation or the like, he's probably hid it where _we_ can't find it. +It looks like we wouldn't be able to lay our han's on him before the +first note goes to protest." + +Being so sure of her father's good judgment, his willingness and his +ability to help Uncle Jason, Janice Day's heart was still free from any +deeper care as the days went by. As she had told Elder Concannon, the +past had been so lovely to her, why should she fear the future? + +Marty had been urged to remain at school for the present; but the boy +was in earnest when he said he was willing and ready to do his share +toward the support of the family. Indeed, he obtained a place in +Partlett's store to work on the books and write out statements every +day after school and until late on Saturday evenings. This saved his +self-respect, as he felt, and was not a bad thing for him at all. He was +to give his mother the four dollars a week Mr. Partlett promised him. + +A letter from Broxton Day (the last Janice was destined to receive from +her father for a long time, did she but know it) arrived early in the +week following the inception of the conspiracy for Janice's peace of +mind. It was a cheerful, jolly letter and the girl had it tucked in the +bosom of her blouse when she halted her car on the way back from +Middletown on Wednesday afternoon before Hopewell Drugg's store. + +When Janice opened the store door the place was empty; but from the rear +came the quavering notes of a violin. Being drawn from the wailing +strings was a new harmony--new, that is, for Hopewell Drugg. He was fond +of the old tunes; but for the most part his musical tastes ran to +cheerful ballads or love songs. + +Janice, tiptoeing quietly across the shop floor, listened with a rather +wistful little smile upon her lips. Like a big bee Hopewell Drugg was +humming the words of the song so popular forty years ago when sung by a +certain silver-voiced singer: + + "'Rock-a-bye, baby, on the tree top, + When the wind blows the cradle will rock. + If the bough breaks the cradle will fall; + Down will come cradle, baby and all! + Then, it's rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, mother is near; + And it's rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, nothing to fear. + If the bough breaks the cradle will fall; + Down will come cradle, baby and all!'" + +"Oh, Mr. Drugg!" murmured Janice, coming into the back room where the +bespectacled storekeeper was playing. "That is so pretty! And the time +and rhythm are just perfect, aren't they?" + +"How-do, Miss Janice?" he said, reddening almost boyishly. "Thank you." + +"Is Miss 'Rill inside?" Janice asked, for it was difficult to remember +to call the storekeeper's wife by any name but that to which she had +responded for so many years while she taught the Polktown ungraded +school. + +"You'll find her there," said Hopewell with a gesture of his bow. "Go +right in--do." + +Janice ran across the open porch and into the sitting room. The +light-haired and pink-cheeked little woman, who sat sewing by the table, +looked up with lips parted for a startled cry. The tiny garment with +which she had been busily and so happily engaged was covered +flutteringly by her apron while a faint flush dyed her cheeks. + +"Oh! is it you, Janice dear?" she said and in a relieved tone. + +"'Tis I, honey," cried the girl, running around back of her. She stooped +and kissed the flushed cheek--oh! so tenderly--dropping into 'Rill's lap +a little parcel. + +"What is it? For _me_?" queried the storekeeper's wife, twitching +briskly at the knotted string of Janice's parcel. "You are always +bringing me some gift, dear girl." + +"But--but this isn't exactly for you," Janice said with some hesitation. + +"No?" She unwrapped the tissue covering. Then: "Oh, Janice! how sweet!" +She held up the little fleecy cap of Janice's own knitting before her +eyes in which the tears trembled. "And bootees, too! You darling!" + +Janice sat down and they talked happily. + +Since 'Rill Scattergood and Hopewell Drugg had married, their life +together--save for a few weeks--had been very happy. And now a greater +and holier happiness was on the way to them. Sharing the secret was one +of the sweetest experiences that had ever come into Janice Day's life. + +"I must put these away," 'Rill said, smiling. "Little Lottie will soon +be home from school." + +"No, work away," Janice said, rising. "I promised Lottie a ride in my +car. I'll meet her before she comes in. I suppose she is as inquisitive +as a magpie?" + +"Just about," was the response. "The dear child!" + +It was as Janice descended the broad store steps that little Lottie +appeared. And not so little now. Her father declared she was "growing +like a weed." + +She caught sight of Janice and ran, delighted, toward her, shouting a +greeting: + +"Oh, Janice Day! My Janice Day! May I ride with you?" + +She had great, violet eyes and a mane of hair that was now becoming +tawny--darkening as she grew older. Her vivid face and dancing feet made +Lottie seem a fairylike little person, a veritable ray of sunshine, in +Hopewell Drugg's dim old store. + +During the long time in which she had suffered blindness and when her +hearing and speech both threatened to leave the child, Lottie had +flitted about almost uncannily. Even now she retained the habit of +shutting her eyes and "seeing" with the tips of her fingers--that more +than natural sense that is vouchsafed those who are blind. + +"See my new coat! Isn't it pretty and blue? Papa sent to Boston for it. +And see my pretty blue beads? Mamma 'Rill gave them to me. Aren't they +lovely?" crowed Lottie. + +Mrs. Scattergood came along the flagstone walk in season to hear this. + +"Oh, yes! Oh, yes!" she sniffed. "All very fine, I dessay. Fine feathers +make fine birds, I've heard." + +"And do ugly feathers make ugly birds?" asked Lottie wonderingly. + +"Never you mind! never you mind!" said the tart old woman, going up the +store steps. "_Your_ nose will soon be out o' joint, young lady." + +Lottie felt her pretty nose and looked at Janice seriously. + +"Do--do you s'pose it will?" she queried. + +"Do I suppose what will?" the older girl asked, preparing to start the +car. + +"My nose." + +"What about your nose?" + +"Will it be put out of joint? It doesn't feel so." + +Janice wanted to laugh. Then she felt like crying a little. But finally +she became angry with the ill-natured Mrs. Scattergood. The latter had +ever been a carping critic of the Drugg household--particularly since +her daughter had married her old-time sweetheart quite against Mrs. +Scattergood's wishes. + +"Don't worry about your pretty nose, Lottie," Janice said rather +gruffly. "Nothing she can say will put it out of joint." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ECHOES + + +"Let's go down to the cove, Janice Day, and call on my echo," Lottie +said eagerly. "Do you know, I haven't been there for ever so long. My +echo must be awfully lonely with nobody to shout to him any more." + +"If you like," the older girl said smilingly, "we will go there first." + +"Oh, yes!" + +Janice turned the car skillfully in the narrow street. She could even +safely wave her hand to Mrs. Beaseley who looked from her sitting room +window across the street, where Nelson Haley boarded. + +There were other people who waved to Janice, or who spoke to her, as the +car rolled down the hill. Here was Mr. Cross Moore wheeling his invalid +wife in her chair around and around the smooth, graveled walks of their +garden. Janice stopped her car and shut off the engine here. + +"Good-day, Mrs. Moore. How are you feeling this lovely weather?" Janice +asked. + +"Ha! fooling away your time same's usual, are you?" snapped the +invalid, disapproval written large on her querulous features. + +"She's feeling pretty well, for her," Mr. Moore said placidly. "But we +hate to see winter coming. Then she can't get out of doors so much." + +"I wish you would let me take you out in the car sometimes, Mrs. Moore," +Janice said, smiling. "You could see the country while it is so +beautiful." + +"Huh! risk my neck and bones bein' driven about in one o' them things by +a silly girl? Not much!" + +"I guess she'd feel safer if I was shoofer," said Cross Moore grimly. +"And I've a mind to get one o' them things next year." + +"You will _not_, Cross Moore!" cried his wife, who made it a practice to +oppose every suggestion--verbally, at least. + +"Oh, I dunno," said the man cheerfully. "You know I've shoofered you in +this here chair for many a year without an accident. I reckon I could +graduate to an automobile seat pretty easy." + +"Why! it's just as e-asy to learn," Janice said, smiling. "And think how +far and how quickly you could go, Mrs. Moore." + +"Huh! Why should I wish to go far or quick--me that ain't walked right +for ten years? I've got all over sech desires." + +"Wait till you have tried it," Janice cried as she touched the +self-starter and the engine began to purr again. + +"Now, ain't that mighty nice, Mother?" they heard Cross Moore say to the +fretful woman. "To go spinning about the old roads around Polktown would +do you good." + +"Oh, you got more uses for your money, Cross Moore, than flitterin' it +away on sech things. If you spent money as careless as them Days +does,--look at the hole Jase Day is into right now--_you'd_ be 'Owin" +Moore, 'stead o' Cross Moore." + +"Do you know," Lottie said to Janice as they drove on, "I think Miz' +Cross Moore would be lots happier if--maybe--she had an echo." + +"An echo?" + +"Yes," the child said, nodding her head. "Like me. You know, _I_ should +have been awfully lonesome, and maybe as short-tempered as she is, if I +couldn't have talked to my echo." + +"Why?" Janice asked curiously, for the philosophy of the little girl +interested her. + +"Why," Lottie said, still speaking seriously, "my echo was worse off +than I was. Yes it was. It couldn't get away from where it was--not even +to fly across the cove--unless I told it to. It had to stay right there +in the pine woods on Pine Point. But even while I was blind I could find +my way about." + +"Very true," agreed Janice, likewise serious. "The echo is a poor little +prisoner." + +"So it is! so it is!" laughed Lottie gayly, for these queer little +imaginings and fancies were part of her very nature. Then she grew grave +once more. "You 'member how I went to look for it that time, and it +snowed so hard, and Mr. Nelson Haley came to find me? He found me, but I +never did find out just where that echo lived. I was 'most afraid it had +gone for good, but it was there yet the last time I was down here." + +While she was speaking the car ran down to the shore of Pine Cove at a +beautiful but rather retired spot with an old fish-house and disused +wharf in the foreground and, across the placid pool, the sheltering arm +of Pine Point, thickly grown with tall pines. Against the wall of the +pine wood Lottie's voice echoed back to her with almost uncanny +distinctness as she stood in her old place on the wharf. + +"He-a! he-a! he-a!" she shouted shrilly and sweetly; and back to her +came the prompt echo: + +"'E-a! 'e-a! 'e-a!" + +"See! he's there yet," she cried, turning to Janice. "Come up here, +Janice, and see if he'll answer you. Mr. Haley says there are echoes +everywhere; but I don't believe there is a single one as nice as mine." + +Janice came, laughing. "What shall I say to your friend?" she asked. + +"Oh! you must not call what I do, of course. You shout somebody's +name--somebody you love," the child advised. + +Instantly Janice opened her lips and expelled toward the wooded point: +"Nelson!" + +"'Elson!" shot back the echo. + +"Of course," cried Lottie, dancing up and down in her satisfaction. "He +knows Mr. Haley. But shout somebody's name he doesn't know." + +"Here comes Mr. Thomas Drew's sloop, Lottie," Janice said as the big +sailing vessel on which she had several times sailed on fishing +excursions shot into the cove before a favoring wind. + +"Oh! how pretty!" cried the little girl. "And what a big sail. He's +going to drop anchor where he usually does--see!" + +The sloop swept majestically between the old wharf and the pine wood +where the echo "lived." + +"Now, Janice!" urged Lottie, "shout again. Call a name my echo doesn't +know." + +And Janice, still smiling, cried aloud: + +"Daddy! Daddy!" + +No repetition of the call came back from the wall of pine wood. Lottie +seized her friend's hand almost in fear. + +"Oh! he doesn't answer! He doesn't know your father, Janice Day." Then, +awestruck, she put a question that stabbed Janice to the quick: "Do--do +you suppose anything real _bad_ has happened to your father 'way down +there in Mexico?" + +Afterwards, Janice realized that the big sail of the sloop, flattened as +it crossed between the wharf and the distant wood, had caught her voice +and held it, echoless. Nevertheless the odd occurrence engendered in her +heart a fear of impending peril. She began to worry again about Broxton +Day. She counted the days that must elapse before she could possibly +hear from her father in reply to the letter she had written about her +Uncle Jason's difficulties. + +The Day homestead on Hillside Avenue no longer housed a happy and +contented family. It grew very difficult for Janice, even, to be +cheerful. And Marty positively seemed to have lost his whistle. Janice +tried her best to don a sprightly air; but she observed her uncle and +aunt and Marty sometimes whispering together and watching her; and this +made her feel uncomfortable. + +"Daddy" usually wrote his beloved daughter a weekly letter. Sometimes it +was delayed a day or so because the ore train was delayed out of +Alderdice to San Cristoval. So, when the expected letter did not arrive +with the maximum of speed Janice was patient. + +"I just won't let that old echo foolishness get on my nerves," she told +herself firmly. "I am not superstitious--I won't be!" + +It was hard to raise the spirits of the family; but the greater the +effort she put forth to that end the more she, herself, was helped. She +could not really understand what kept those about her so downhearted. +The bank people seemed willing to give Uncle Jason all the leeway +possible in settling the affairs of the absconded Tom Hotchkiss. Janice +had no idea her relatives were hiding a secret from her, and all of them +felt it the very hardest task they had ever undertaken. + +Of course, in the general news from Mexico Mr. Day's plight caused +little comment in the daily press. Mexican troubles had continued for so +long that the American public considered it an old story. Mr. Day was +only one of hundreds of courageous Americans who felt as though they +must stay by their business in the embattled country, despite +Washington's warning to them to get out of the danger zone. + +And now, it seemed, Janice's father had paid the toll for heeding his +own venturesome spirit. All the information Nelson, Mr. Middler, and +Uncle Jason had been able to gather from all sources pointed to the +truth of the first report of the situation in the Companos District. + +Mr. Day was wounded; and so sorely that his escaping laborers could not +take him away from the mine when they were driven forth by the +insurrectos. This was the final news Janice's friends had obtained from +the Border, and now they did not know what to do next. Successfully +keeping the story of her father's peril from the girl was not enough. +How to reach and bring Mr. Day out of Mexico was a problem that balked +Janice's friends. Indeed, even to communicate with the wounded man was +impossible. It was reported that, although San Cristoval had been +retaken by the troops of the de facto government of Mexico, the +Alderdice and other mines in the Companos District were in the hands of +the rebel party. + +Janice began to miss Nelson Haley's frequent calls. He had been coming +to the Day house several evenings during the week of late; and although +he offered the perfectly sound excuse of extra school work, the girl +missed him. To tell the truth Nelson shrank from being in Janice's +company. He had turned coward! Although he was the first to suggest +keeping Mr. Broxton Day's peril secret from his daughter, now Nelson +feared all the time that in some way the truth would come to the +surface. The conspirators walked upon a volcano that might at any moment +break out and overwhelm them. And what would Janice do or say, when this +eruption occurred? That query troubled the schoolmaster a great deal. + +Naturally of a perfectly frank nature, the situation was bound to irk +his mind ceaselessly. Marty and his parents feared a sudden revelation +of the truth, too; so that every knock on the kitchen door during an +evening gave each of the three a sharp and distinct shock. + +One evening Marty heard somebody drive into the yard after supper and he +ran hurriedly to open the porch door. He was always expecting to have +to head off some person not in the secret who would appear with the news +of Mr. Broxton Day's state. + +"Who is it, Marty?" shrilled his equally anxious mother at the crack of +the door. + +"Hi tunket!" ejaculated the boy, "'tlooks like--why, it is! It's Elder +Concannon. What's he want here?" + +"Never you mind. Go out and hitch his horse in the shelter, and tell him +to come right in," ordered Aunt 'Mira. "Dear me! where's your manners, +Marty Day?" + +"Well, _he's_ safe enough," muttered Marty, starting for the shed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LOTTIE SEEKS A FRIEND + + +Elder Concannon came in apparently in a cheerful mood. He was not a +frequent caller at the Day house; he never had been, indeed. But he +liked to play a game of checkers with Janice, whom he considered quite a +scientific player for a young person. + +"I drove around by Brother Middler's on an errand--church business," +explained the elder; "but he wasn't at home. Gone over to Bowling to +marry a couple." + +"Who air they?" asked Aunt 'Mira, at once interested. + +"Every married woman is deeply int'rested in ev'ry other woman's +marriage," Uncle Jason declared. "Havin' got one poor man inter +captivity she's hopin' all her sisters'll have as good luck. Who _is_ +the poor feller that's got to do penance for his sins, Elder?" + +"I don't see but you are both equally int'rested, Brother Day," chuckled +the elder. "It's Sam Holder and Susie Pickberry." + +"Another of them Pickberry gals gittin' merried, eh?" ejaculated Aunt +'Mira. + +"Well, there are a lot of them to get married," the elder said. "All the +Pickberrys had big families." + +"And none of 'em much good," growled Uncle Jason. + +"That may be," agreed the elder. "It does seem as though 'bout the only +command in the Scriptures that any of 'em knew, was that one about +'increase and multiply and fill the earth.' And they are given to +marrying young," pursued the elder reflectively. "This Sue is a bouncing +big gal; but she's barely sixteen year old." + +"Hardly sixteen!" exclaimed Janice. + +"Cricky!" was Marty's comment, he having come in after blanketing the +elder's colt. "You're getting to be an old maid, Janice, 'cordin' to +that. You'd better stir about and look yourself up a husband 'fore they +put you on the shelf." + +Janice looked into his freckled face reflectively. "I've sometimes +thought it was too bad they won't let first cousins marry, Marty," she +said. + +"They do, Janice, except in a few of the States," observed Elder +Concannon, looking at the girl until she blushed as rosily as had Marty. + +As the laugh at this subsided, the elder went on: + +"Those Pickberrys are intermarried so that they don't know the degrees +of cousin any more. Why, this Susie's father and mother was closly +related. I remember, for I married them." + +"I suppose," put in Aunt 'Mira, "Mr. Middler must make quite a bit out +o' his merriage fees. He's been havin' a string of 'em lately." + +The elder fairly snorted and his beard seemed to bristle. + +"That's the way with all you folks," he said, plain disgust in his tone. +"Because a minister don't work with his hands you say he must make his +livin' easy. And you calculate him makin' from five to twenty dollars +ev'ry time a bridal couple raps on his door. Huh! I've had the groom +borrow money of me before he got out o' the house." + +Marty giggled. "That girl certain sure got a hot one, then. If he'd got +the girl without money, I should think he'd calculated to keep her +without money." + +Elder Concannon was laughing reflectively. + +"Do you remember old Deacon Blodgett, Jason?" + +"Huh?" grunted Mr. Day. "Not very well. But I remember his darter--she't +taught the school here. I went to school to her myself for a while. And +a right _se_-vere old maid she was." + +"Yes. Beulah Blodgett was severe," agreed the elder, his eyes still +twinkling. + +"She used to wallop the boys somethin' awful," added Uncle Jason, +rubbing his horny palm on his trouser leg and then looking at it as +though the sting of Miss Blodgett's ruler had not even at this late day +entirely departed from his memory. + +"I remember," agreed the elder. "Not many ever got the start of Beulah +Blodgett." + +"Only Cale Hotchkiss." Uncle Jason halted in his speech and a positive +grimace of pain seized upon his features for the moment. "Oh, well! +Caleb wasn't like his son turned out to be, ye know," he muttered. + +"True enough," said the elder, with sympathy in his tone. + +"Speakin' of Cale and Miss Blodgett," Mr. Day hurried to add, "you know +Cale was a great feller for rhyming--makin' po'try, you know. Why, he +had lots o' pieces printed in the 'Poet's Corner' of the Middletown +_Courier_. Mostly about folks that had died, you know. + +"Howsomever, Cale got cotched once in school writin' po'try. Miss +Blodgett come up behind him, looked over his shoulder, and had him out +'on the line' purty prompt. She told him school was no place for sech as +that. She had a fierce eye an' a arm like a blacksmith," Uncle Jason +continued. "She'd stand on the aidge of her platform and how she _would_ +bring down her ruler on a feller's hand! Whew! + +"Well, this pertic'lar time she says to Cale Hotchkiss: 'You're sech a +smartie at makin' up rhymes, make one now b'fore I hit ye. Hold out your +hand!' And by ginger!" chuckled Uncle Jason, "he done it." + +"What did he say, Dad?" asked Marty, eager for the particulars of any +mischief. + +"Cale sings out: + + "'Here I stand before Miss Blodgett; + She's goin' to strike an' I'm goin' to dodge it!'" + +The elder joined in the laughter over this old joke quite as heartily as +anybody; but he had not forgotten his own story that had been +side-tracked by Uncle Jason's reminiscence. + +"Her father, Deacon Hiram Blodgett, was my senior deacon when I first +came to Polktown Church," Elder Concannon said. "He was a good man and a +just. But like most folks outside the ministry he depreciated the work +performed by the pastor of a church like this one at Polktown, +considering that 'he made his money easy.' + +"I--I had a growing family then, and increasing expenses," said the +elder, with a little flutter in his voice that was something Janice had +never heard before, and she looked at him with amazement. Elder +Concannon was not at all given to timidity; but there seemed right here +a hesitation in his manner and in his voice. + +"Well, anyhow," he began again, "I thought I needed an increase in my +salary of a hundred dollars a year and I talked to Deacon Blodgett about +it. He hemmed and hawed. He hated to give up church money just as he +hated to give up his own, if he could save it. + +"He put up the same claim as Mrs. Day did just now, regarding marriage +fees. I allow I had more marriages to perform and traveled farther and +got less for them than any minister who ever came into these mountains," +and the elder smiled grimly. "However, the deacon got quite warm about +it. + +"'I tell you,' he says to me, 'even if they don't amount but to two +dollars a ceremony, you've made this year over and above your salary +agreed upon, the hundred dollars you claim to need.' + +"It made me angry. It r'iled me in a most worldly way, I do allow," +sighed the elder. "I guess the old Adam was roused in me. I had this Jim +Pickberry and 'Mandy Whipple to marry that very night and I knew about +what sort of folks they were. + +"'Deacon Blodgett,' I said, 'will you give me two dollars for my next +marriage fee?' + +"'Surely I will,' says he, for he was always on the lookout for a shrewd +bargain. + +"'Then you'd better drive me over to Bowling to-night to the wedding and +I'll give you whatever I get--sight unseen.' He agreed," chuckled the +elder, "never thinking that I didn't have a horse and would have had to +pay a dollar for the hire of one to get to my appointment. + +"Folks don't live so poor now in this neighborhood--not even the +Pickberrys. The house we went to was mostly log cabin, built back in +Revolutionary times, with newer additions built on from time to time to +accommodate a growing family. + +"Jim Pickberry was a great, raw-boned, black-haired, and bearded giant +of a man, and he was more than half drunk before he stood up with the +girl. He wore his work clothes--all he had, it's probable--flannel +shirt, shoddy trousers, and high boots. He did take off his hat. And +'Mandy was in a clean gingham; but she was barefooted, it being warm +weather. + +"There was a crowd there--they oozed out into the yard and looked in +through the big room windows where I married the couple, hard and fast. +When the ceremony was over and everybody had kissed the bride, Jim took +me aside. + +"I knew what was coming," said the elder, his eyes twinkling again. "I +had already had experience enough to know the symptoms. + +"'Parson,' Jim said to me, 'I'm awful much obliged to you for coming +'way over here and splicin' me and 'Mandy. It's mighty nice of ye. I +expect it's sort o' customary to pay ye somethin' for your trouble?' + +"'Yes,' I said. '"The servant is worthy of his hire," Jim.' + +"He hemmed and hawed a bit and finally he blurts out: 'Parson! I ain't +got airy a penny. Ye know how 'tis--the licker an' the stuff to eat +cleaned me out. But I got a mighty likely litter of pups out in the +barn. Come out and take your pick, will you?' + +"'No; let Deacon Blodgett do that,' I told him. 'He wants a dog,' and I +collected my two dollars from the sorest man who ever passed the +contribution plate," concluded the elder amid the hilarity of his +listeners. + +The caller indicated a desire to speak with Uncle Jason in private +before he departed, and the two men went out of doors to unblanket the +colt and discuss the subject the elder had come to talk about. + +Later Janice learned that the old gentleman had come for the express +purpose of offering Mr. Day financial assistance in straightening out +the tangle of Tom Hotchkiss' affairs. Elder Concannon would take up the +first note of a thousand dollars, which was almost due, and would accept +Uncle Jason's signature for the debt without security. It was a friendly +thing and the show of kindness on the elder's part delighted Janice as +much as it surprised her relatives. + +On this evening, however, and while Uncle Jason was at the stable with +Elder Concannon, Janice and Marty had something else to think about. It +was Marty who spied the flitting figure down by the lane gate as he +looked out of the kitchen door after the departing elder and Uncle +Jason. + +"Hi tunket!" he drawled. "What's that, I want to know? 'Tisn't a +dog--nor a calf. Something's got strayed, sure enough, and don't know +whether to venture in here or not." + +"What is it, Marty?" Janice asked idly, following him to the door. + +The boy grabbed his cap without replying and ran toward the gate. When +Janice came out upon the porch the figure had disappeared behind the +hole of one of the great trees down by the fence. Marty's coming +frightened it out of the shadow in a moment and they saw it going up the +road. + +"Hey, there! Stop!" Marty called. "It's only me--Marty Day. I won't hurt +you." + +He could run twice as fast as his quarry, and in a minute had the +shaking, weeping figure by the arm. + +"Hi tunket!" he gasped. "Lottie Drugg! What you doin' over here?" + +"Oh! oh! oh!" sobbed the girl. "I want Janice. Take me to my Janice Day. +Oh! do, Marty!" + +"Sure," he told her. "There! there! don't cry no more. Were you lost? +What brought you here, Lottie?" + +"I--I can't tell you," she wailed. "I'll tell my Janice--I'll tell her." + +"Come on, then," said Marty huskily. "Janice is just yonder. Don't you +see her on the porch?" + +He led the sobbing child into the yard of the Day house and Janice, +hearing them coming, ran out to learn what it meant. + +"Lottie!" she cried, amazed. + +Lottie Drugg ran into the bigger girl's arms. "Oh, Janice! My Janice +Day!" she sobbed. "_You'll_ take me in, won't you? You'll let me live +with you? _You love me just the same, don't you?_" + +"Goodness! What's the matter with the child?" gasped Janice. + +"You got me," her cousin said gruffly. "I dunno what it's all about." + +"Does your father know where you are, Lottie? Or Mamma 'Rill?" + +Lottie's weeping became more abandoned. + +"They don't care nothing more about me. They're not going to want me any +more pretty soon. No, they're not! If--if you won't--won't have me, +Janice Day, I sha'n't have a--a place in this--this world to go to." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MRS. SCATTERGOOD TALKS + + +"What do you suppose is the matter with Lottie?" murmured Marty. "Is she +sick or something?" + +Suddenly Janice Day suspected the truth. She hugged little Lottie all +the tighter, saying in reply to her cousin: + +"Don't bother her now, Marty. She isn't sick, I'm sure. She'll be all +right in a little while. She's come over here to spend the night with +me, haven't you, Lottie?" + +"Ye--yes! If you'll k-k-keep me." + +"Sure we'll keep you," said Marty gruffly. He was much moved by the +little girl's tears. "You stop her from gulpin' that way, Janice. +She'll--she'll swallow her palate!" + +"She's in no danger, Marty," the older girl said. "She's just sobbing." + +Lottie's tempestuous sobs began to subside. Janice led her toward the +kitchen door, whispering: "Is there anything the matter with papa or +Mamma 'Rill? Tell me, Lottie." + +"Just that they ain't going to want me any more," repeated Lottie. + +"Has Mrs. Scattergood been talking to you?" whispered Janice. + +The visitor nodded emphatically but said nothing more. Janice turned to +Marty, and the boy wondered why she looked so angry. He had not done +anything out of the way, he was sure. + +"Run right across town to the store, Marty, and tell Mr. Drugg and his +wife where she is. Tell them she is going to stay all night with me. But +don't tell them anything else." + +"Huh?" queried Marty. + +"Not a thing. Just that she came here to stay all night with me and I +didn't want them to be worried. That's enough." + +"Oh!" grunted Marty. "I see," and he started out of the yard +immediately, while Janice led the more-quietly-sobbing Lottie into the +house. + +"Dear sakes alive!" exploded Aunt 'Mira, "what ever is Lottie Drugg +doin' 'way over here at this time o' night? Anythin' wrong with 'Rill?" + +"Not a thing," Janice said cheerfully. "Lottie wanted to stay all night +with me and she is a little late getting here. Now hush, honey! don't +cry any more. You are here now and you'll be all right, you know." + +"Why, do tell!" said wondering Aunt 'Mira. "What's she cryin' for? +Didn't she know that little gals was as welcome here as the flowers in +spring? Come, give Miz' Day a kiss, sweetheart. I'm sartain sure glad to +see ye." + +Lottie began to feel better and swallowed her sobs--if not her +palate--very quickly. She was of some importance in _this_ house, at +least. She sat down and took off her tam-o'-shanter and unbuttoned the +new blue coat of which she had been so proud only a few days before. But +she was no longer wearing "Mamma 'Rill's" present--the string of blue +beads. + +"It's airly yet," said Mrs. Day. "When's your usual bedtime, Lottie? We +can all have a game of parchesi or somethin'. Can't we, Janice?" + +"I don't go to bed much before half-past nine. Sometimes I'm let to stay +up later," Lottie said. + +"And your eyes are as bright as buttons now," said Aunt 'Mira +comfortably. "Jest wipe the tears out of 'em." + +"That is right, Lottie. Marty will soon be back and we'll play games," +Janice agreed. + +Lottie removed her coat and began to feel decidedly better. Marty came +in after a while, red in the face and short of breath, but cheerfully +a-grin again. He gave a bundle to Janice and winked at her as he said: + +"All right. I ran all the way. They say she can stay. Whew!" + +"It's my nightie," whispered Lottie, pointing to the bundle. "And my +toothbrush and clean stockings, and things." + +"Some day you'll bust something, runnin' so," said Mrs. Day to Marty. +"Where are all those picture puzzles and toy-games? You want to amuse +Lottie now she's here." + +Nothing loath, the boy rummaged out a wealth of amusement-producing +inventions and Lottie forgot her sorrow for the time being. Mr. Day came +in, and, being instructed by Janice in the kitchen, made no comment upon +Lottie Drugg's presence. + +The visitor sat close beside Marty and if, at any time, she did not play +to the best advantage, he corrected her privately. As for Mr. and Mrs. +Day they looked on and smiled. Who could help smiling at little Lottie +Drugg? + +Janice was glad that her visitor's mind was coaxed away from her +troubles before bedtime. By that time Lottie was chattering like a +squirrel and she bade the family good-night happily. + +After the two girls had said their prayers and got into bed, the visitor +suddenly seized Janice tightly around the neck and sobbed a little with +her face pressed close against the bigger girl's shoulder. + +"Oh, Janice Day! I never _can_ go home to papa and Mamma 'Rill. What +shall I do?" + +"Don't worry about that, honey," Janice told her soothingly. "You can +stay here, you know, if you wish to." + +"Oh, yes! I love you. Mr. and Mrs. Day are awfully nice to me. And Marty +is just the _best_ boy. But--but it isn't going to be like home," she +wailed. + +"Well then, dear, why don't you wish to go home any more?" asked her +friend soberly. + +"They--they don't want me. They--they ain't going to want me at all." + +"Who says so?" + +"I--I know they don't. Why, Janice Day! they've asked God for another +little girl--a baby girl--to come and stay with them. Mrs. Scattergood +says so. That's what she meant by saying my nose was going to be put out +of joint. She told me so. I asked her," confessed Lottie. + +"Oh, my dear!" sighed Janice. + +It was difficult to seek to relieve Lottie's mind regarding the +wonderful thing that was coming to pass in the Drugg household, without +saying what might be unkind, but true, about Mrs. Scattergood. Just at +this moment Janice felt that she could have shaken the acid-tempered old +woman with the greatest satisfaction! + +"Did you ask Papa Drugg or Mamma 'Rill about it?" Janice queried of the +little girl. + +"Oh, no." + +"Then how do you _know_ they don't want you any more?" + +"Why--of course they don't. Or they wu--wu--wouldn't _ask_ for another +little girl," sobbed Lottie. + +"Perhaps the baby will be a little boy, honey. When folks ask God for a +baby He sends what He thinks is best for them to have. And wouldn't you +just _love_ to have a little baby brother to love and play with and help +take care of? Now, wouldn't you?" + +"Oh, Janice Day!" + +"Just think! You'd always have somebody to play with at home and you +wouldn't be lonely any more. You wouldn't even mind if your echo went +away," suggested Janice. "Think of it! When he grows bigger----" + +"He'll be like Marty!" gasped Lottie, clutching at her friend more +vigorously. + +"That is, if it _is_ a boy. But if it is a dear little girl, she'll be +lots of company for you," Janice pursued. "Think how nice it would be to +have a sister. I've always wished I had one. She can play keep house +with you, and play dolls, and you both can dress up and be real grown-up +ladies, and----" + +A long, contented sigh from little Lottie. She began to breathe +regularly, with only now and then a sob in her voice. She was asleep. + +Janice, however, did not sleep at once. With the soft, warm body of the +innocent child in her arms she lay a long time pondering these things. + +How unkind of Mrs. Scattergood to let the barb of her bitter tongue +sting Lottie's gentle heart! How wrong and unwise 'Rill's mother was +about most things! + +Because she selfishly desired her daughter to be at her beck and call, +Mrs. Scattergood had opposed her marriage to Hopewell Drugg. So, at +every turn, where the sour old creature could do so, she sowed thorns in +the path of her daughter and Hopewell. + +"She makes herself unhappy, and all about her, as well. She succeeded in +embittering poor 'Rill's life for several weeks with her untrue gossip +about Mr. Drugg's drinking. Now, when she should be her daughter's +greatest stay and comfort, she deliberately tries to set poor little +Lottie against her own mamma and father. It is dreadful," Janice +decided. "It must be stopped. _I've got to do something about it!_" + +So, when she finally dropped to sleep it was with this decision firm in +her mind. She awoke with it, too, and after leaving Lottie at the +schoolhouse, Janice drove her car around by Mrs. Scattergood's little +dwelling at the crown of the High Street hill. + +The birdlike little old woman was out in her front yard swathing her +rosebushes in straw and mulching their roots against the harder frosts +of winter which were already due. She waved a gloved hand to the young +girl who stepped out from behind the steering wheel of her car and +entered the creaking gate. + +"Here ye be, Janice Day, jest as bright as a new penny," said Mrs. +Scattergood. "I wanter know if that young'un of Hopewell Drugg's was +over to your house last night." + +"Yes, she was, Mrs. Scattergood," Janice gravely replied. "She remained +all night with me." + +"Huh, I don't approve of sech didoes. My young'uns was allus in the +house by dark--and stayed in till mornin'. 'Rill came traipsin' over +here after eight o'clock to see if I'd seen her." + +"Lottie was all right," said Janice. "I sent Marty over to tell 'Rill +not to worry." + +"The young'un ain't more'n ha'f witted. I allus have said so." + +"She is just as bright as any other child of her age--brighter than +some," affirmed Janice warmly. "She is more sensitive than most. +Therefore we should be careful what we say to her." + +"Ha! what d'ye mean, Janice Day?" asked the old woman, eyeing her caller +suspiciously and belligerently. + +Janice told her. She spoke warmly and with flashing eyes that held Mrs. +Scattergood silent for the nonce. She had never seen Janice display any +appearance of wrath before, and if her pet cat had suddenly turned in +her lap and spit at her and scratched her, Mrs. Scattergood would have +been no more surprised. + +"Hoity-toity, young lady!" she finally said. "Do you think this is +pretty talk to me that's old enough to be your grandmother?" + +"That is just why I am saying it to you, Mrs. Scattergood," Janice +responded firmly. "You _are_ little Lottie's grandmother----" + +"No, I ain't!" snapped the woman, her face very grim. "Nor I ain't +likely to adopt any young one of Hope Drugg's and Cindy Stone's. +I--should--say--not!" + +"And is that the attitude you propose to assume when the little stranger +comes? You cannot deny your relationship then." + +"Oh! Well! Ahem! That's quite another matter," said Mrs. Scattergood +crossly. + +"Just now, when dear 'Rill needs all the kindness that can be shown +her--by everybody--why can't you forget your"--"spite" she desired to +say, but did not--"dislike of Hopewell and little Lottie? Be friends +with them. Why! this arrival should make you all one happy family +together." + +Mrs. Scattergood snorted--literally. "Ha! Sech a great to-do about +nothin'," she ejaculated. + +"Oh, no, Mrs. Scattergood. It's not about nothing. It's the greatest +thing that can happen. It is the most beautiful thing in the world to +'Rill. I know she feels that way." + +"Poor critter! She's almost as big a fule as that young'un, Lottie," +muttered the woman. + +"Doesn't she need your love and comfort all the more, then?" suggested +Janice softly. "Think of it, Mrs. Scattergood." + +"I'll tell ye what I _do_ think, Janice Day," snapped the other, not at +all pacified. "I think you'd be in better business if you found +something else to do, 'stead o' comin' here to tell _me_ what's my +duty." + +"Oh, now, Mrs. Scattergood, don't be angry with me. I know you'll be +sorry later if you do not show the love that 'Rill has the right to +expect from you at this time. Don't make trouble for her." + +"Humph!" ejaculated the old woman, scowling at her. "A body might think +you had trouble enough of your own so't you could afford to mind your +own business." + +Janice flushed, for the criticism stung. She had, however, determined +not to take offense at anything Mrs. Scattergood might say. Nothing but +the girl's deep sense of the necessity for her act had urged her to +address 'Rill's mother in this way. + +"I haven't any personal trouble just now, Mrs. Scattergood. Of course, +Uncle Jason's difficulty worries me a bit. But when daddy hears about it +he will help." + +"Your father! Broxton Day! Humph!" exploded the old woman, her wrinkled +face flushed and her eyes snapping. "I calc'late Broxton Day has got +_his_ hands full right now without doin' anythin' for your Uncle Jase." + +"Why, what do you mean, Mrs. Scattergood?" + +The color washed out of Janice's cheeks instantly, and her lips remained +parted in her excitement. Somehow the tart old woman's speech struck +deep into the girl's heart. + +For several days she had been fighting down the feeling of suspicion and +fear that was rising like a tide within her. Daddy's letter was delayed. +She had not chanced to see any newspaper but the _Courier_ of late. Why! +even Uncle Jason's _Ledger_ had not appeared on the sitting room table. +She watched the hard old face of the crotchety Mrs. Scattergood in a +fascination of growing horror, repeating: + +"What do you mean? Has anything happened to daddy? And you know it--and +I don't?" + +"Well, ye oughter if ye don't," snapped Mrs. Scattergood. "I never did +believe in hidin' the trewth from folks. No good comes of it." + +"What _is_ it? What has happened to my father?" and Janice clutched at +her arm. + +"Wal, I've gone so fur, I might's well tell ye," the woman said, all of +a flutter now. "_Somebody_ oughter tell ye. Ye was bound to find it out, +anyway." + +"But what is it?" + +"Broxton Day's been shot by them Mexicaners. He's shot, is a prisoner, +an' I hear tell he ain't never likely to git out o' that plaguey country +alive!" + +[Illustration: "What do you mean? Has anything happened to daddy?"] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ONLY SERIOUS THING + + +The gate clashed open again just as Janice's weakened grasp slipped from +Mrs. Scattergood's arm and she staggered away from the excited, panting +old woman. The girl would have fallen, save that the young man who +rushed in at the gate, having seen the danger in season, caught her in +his arms. + +The girl's eyelids fluttered; her lips remained open; the pallor of her +face was terrifying. + +"What's happened?" demanded the newcomer. "What have you done to her, +Mrs. Scattergood?" + +"Me? I ain't done nothing--not a thing!" denied the woman shrilly. + +"You said something to her, then?" + +"Wal! What if I did? She'd oughter hev been told before." + +"_You told her?_" + +"Daddy! Oh, Daddy!" moaned Janice. + +"You mind your own business, Frank Bowman! You're one o' them foolish +folk, too, that's allus tryin' ter hide the trewth 'cause it's bitter. +Sure 'tis bitter; 'twas meant ter be. An' these namby-pamby people in +this world that can't stand the trewth to be told to 'em----" + +Mrs. Scattergood overlooked the plain fact that the reason she had lost +her temper and told this secret to Janice Day was because the girl had +told her a few truths. But Frank Bowman was not listening to the old +woman's tirade. Janice had not lost consciousness. Only for a moment did +she sag helplessly on the young civil engineer's arm. + +Then he led her out at the gate and to her car. He aided Janice into the +seat, but slipped behind the steering wheel himself and touched the +self-starter. + +Mrs. Scattergood stared after them, slowly retreating the while toward +the house. Her face did not display its customary smirk of complacency. +That bit of gossip that had trembled on the tip of her tongue for days, +and which she had been begged not to reveal to Janice, had at length +been spoken. Her mind should have been relieved; but Mrs. Scattergood +was not satisfied. There was something wrong. All she could see as she +stumbled into the house was the stricken face of the young girl who had +so often done her a friendly kindness, whose smile had been, after all, +a cheering sight to her aging vision, whose whole existence here in +Polktown seemed to be for the express purpose of making other people +happy. It was with a sort of mental shock that Mrs. Scattergood suddenly +discovered she, too, had been blessed and comforted by the spirit of +Janice Day. + +The car swept up the hill and over its crown, as the old woman retired +into her cottage. Frank Bowman had not said a word. He twisted the +steering wheel a trifle and they shot around the Town House front and +into the Upper Middletown road. + +"Oh, Frank! Is it true? It _is_ true!" the girl finally faltered. + +"Yes. Your father is wounded. We do not know how badly. No news has come +out of the district since the first report. He is a prisoner of the +insurrectos at the mine." + +"There has been another battle?" + +"Yes. Another uprising against the government. It's an awful thing----" + +"Is there no hope? Oh, Frank! there must be!" + +"Of course there is hope," he cried. "He's no worse off than he has been +several times before." + +"But you say he is shot!" + +"Well--yes. That is the report." + +"If one part of the report is true, why not the other?" said the girl, +her keenness of wit thus displayed. + +"But the wound may not be bad. We don't know that it is. Oh! hang that +old woman, anyway! Why did she tell you?" + +"Because she was angry with me," sighed Janice. + +"Well----" + +"And you must all think father very badly hurt or you would not have hid +it from me--for how long?" + +He told her. "But we don't really know anything about it. Nelson is +raising heaven and earth for news. There is a good deal of excitement +along the Border, they say----" + +"Yes. I read that. Oh! how have you all managed to hide it from me for +so long? I felt--Oh, you had no right!" + +"We did what we hoped was for the best," Frank said gently. + +"Oh, I suppose you did. But daddy wounded! I must go to him, Frank." + +"Oh no, my dear girl. That would not be possible. Nobody can get beyond +San Cristoval, and no American is allowed to cross the Border. It is not +safe to enter Mexico now on any pretext. Those greasers hate us worse +than poison." + +Janice tried to control herself. She had not wept; this dry-eyed +suffering was a deal worse for the girl, however, than would have been a +passion of tears. + +"Where--where are you taking me?" she asked suddenly, laying her hand on +Frank's arm. + +"Why, weren't you on your way to the seminary?" + +"But I can't go there now," she said. "Not to-day." + +"Here's Elder Concannon's place, right ahead. We can turn there if you +like." + +At the moment the elder himself appeared from one of the barns, and +seeing the car and recognizing its occupants he came out to the great +gate to hail them. + +"Aren't going right by without stopping, are ye?" he said genially. + +Frank Bowman quite involuntarily brought the car to a stop. The moment +he did so the elder saw Janice's face. + +"What's the matter?" he asked quickly. "Has she been told? Does she +know?" + +Frank nodded and the old man quickly came around to the girl's side. + +"My dear," he said huskily. "My dear, brave girl! You've got something +to trouble you now for a fac'. It's the waiting to hear news--to get the +exact fac's--that is going to be hardest. Your friends have saved you +some of that." + +"Oh, I know! I know they thought they were doing it for the best," +wailed Janice. "But daddy! He needs me!" + +"It may not be anywhere near so bad as it might be, or as you think it +is," Frank put in. + +"Quite true--quite true," said the elder very gently for him. "I know +just how hard 'tis to wait, Janice. I calculate those that wait at home +suffer more than those that actually see battle, murder, and sudden +death. But your father, Janice, may be already on his way home. You +can't tell. You got to have patience." + +"But I ought to go to him, Elder Concannon," she said. + +"Not to be thought of! Not to be thought of!" he repeated. "What? A gal +like you going clear down there to Mexico? Preposterous!" + +That is what Uncle Jason said later, when his niece broached the subject +to him. Indeed, Janice found nobody would listen to her or agree to such +a project. A girl to go down to the Border, especially in these +uncertain times? They scoffed at her! + +It was said that the parties of rebels and commandoes of the Mexican +army were hovering along the Rio Grande, ready to swoop like hawks upon +unprotected Americans. The thin line of United States soldiers was +strung along the desert country, watchfully waiting, policing the +district as best they could. But they could not protect Americans who +went over the line. + +That evening an informal council of war was held in the Day sitting +room. Frank Bowman was there as well as Nelson Haley. Frank was a very +busy young man, for the branch railroad was completed, and, having built +it, he was to act as supervisor of the branch until the directors +decided upon another incumbent for the office. Besides, Frank had a +deep interest in the pretty daughter of Vice President Harrison of the +V. C. Road, and therefore he was not seen about Polktown so often in his +free hours as formerly. He had come this evening, however, with Nelson, +and the two young men, as well as the older heads, were unalterably +opposed to Janice Day's desire to attempt going to the Border. + +"Why, you couldn't get across the Rio Grande," Frank said decisively. +"Trains are not running with any degree of regularity on any road in +Northern Mexico. The International is at a standstill, I am told--tracks +torn up in places and the American engineers chased out. And this San +Cristoval place is on a branch of the International." + +Nelson asked a question about the best route to be followed in getting +to that point on the Border opposite to San Cristoval, and Frank told +them, clearly and concisely. + +"But even then you are several hundred miles from the Companos +District," he pursued. "Chihuahua is a big state. Texas itself is only +to be compared to it for size. A ranching country, slopes up to the +Sierras. It is in the foothills of the Sierras that the Alderdice Mine +is situated. Why, Janice! you are actually just as near to your +father--at least news of him--here in Polktown as you would be down +there on the Border, for there all wires and other lines of +communication are cut. There is no safe way of getting beyond the Rio +Grande at the present time." + +"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky Dexter, who was present at the +conference. "Broxton Day might's well be in Chiny." + +"You are right, Walky, for once," declared Uncle Jason. "I wish he'd +never gone down to that heathenish country." + +Aunt 'Mira was in tears--had been so since Janice had driven home in her +car with the civil engineer that morning. She had controlled herself +after a fashion, these several days for Janice's sake; now she was +making up for lost time, so Marty declared, and wept with abandon. + +"Why, she _can't_ go down there inter Mexico," wailed the woman. "No gal +like her can't. 'Tain't _fit_. Why, them women down there don't even +wear decent clo'es! I've seen pitchers of 'em with nothin' on but +basket-work stuff around their waists an' anklets. It's disgraceful!" + +"Oh, cricky, Ma!" chortled Marty. "You are gittin' things mixed for +sure. That's the Hawaiian Islands you're thinkin' of. Hula-hula girls. +Oh my!" + +"Wal, 'tis jest as bad in Mexico, I haven't a doubt," said the fleshy +woman, tossing her head. "'Tis no place for a decent gal like our +Janice." + +"Ye air jest as right as rain, Miz' Day," agreed Walky. + +"Hi tunket!" said the boy, the only person who did not attempt to +discourage Janice in her thought of starting at once for the Border. "Hi +tunket! wouldn't it be _dandy_ to go down there among those greasers and +bring Uncle Brocky home? I'd go with you, Janice, in a minute!" + +"Huh!" gruffly said his father, "you'd be a lot of use, you would." + +"I bet I would be, so now!" said the boy. "If Janice goes, _I'm_ going. +Ain't I got some interest in Uncle Brocky, I'd like to know?" + +"You show your int'rest in this sittin' room fire, son," observed Mr. +Day. "Go out and get an armful of chunks. Fire's goin' out on us." + +"That's all right," growled Marty. "If Janice goes, _I'm_ goin'--that's +all there is about it." + +But nobody considered for a moment that Janice could, should, or would +go! It seemed positively ridiculous to the minds of all her friends that +the girl should even contemplate such a thing. + +"But what _shall_ I do?" she cried. + +"Wait. That's all any of us can do, Janice," Nelson said tenderly. "It +is terrible to be inactive at such a time, I know. But you could do +nothing down there on the Border that you cannot do here in Polktown." + +"I'd be nearer to daddy," she said, with a sob. + +"Ye don't know _that_," put in Uncle Jason. "We don't none of us know +where Broxton Day is right now. Why! he might open that door yonder and +walk in here any moment. How d'we know?" + +But Janice found little comfort in the thought. Indeed, she scarcely +heard what her uncle said. She could think of little but her father's +perilous situation, wounded and a prisoner among people whom she +believed to be as bloodthirsty as savages. + +Uncle Jason's financial difficulties were nothing to compare to this. +Little Lottie Drugg's state of mind slipped entirely out of Janice Day's +memory. + +The only serious thing in the world to her now was her father's peril +and her inability to get to him to lend him the comfort of her +presence. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"I MUST GO!" + + +Janice awoke after a very uneasy and depressing night with the phrase "I +must go" written so plainly upon the mirror of her mind that it might as +well have appeared across the pretty wall paper at the foot of the bed. + +"I must go!" + +No matter what other people said--no matter what they thought. At this +juncture the young girl was fain to believe her own wisdom superior to +that of all her friends. + +Of course, daddy had sent her here to be in Uncle Jason's care. She was +really supposed to be under his domination. If Uncle Jason said "No!" +Janice was presumed to obey, just as Marty had to obey. + +And Uncle Jason had uttered his refusal quite distinctly. He could not +see the need for Janice to go to the Border when not a thing was yet +known regarding Broxton Day's situation save that he was wounded and was +held prisoner far beyond the lines of the Mexican army. + +"Why, Janice," he told her at the breakfast table, "I ain't got any +money to spare jest now, for a fac', as ye well know; but if I thought +for a minute 'twould do your father a mite o' good, I'd take what I have +and go down there myself to look for him. Sartain sure I would!" + +"You jest trust to your uncle, Janice," said Aunt 'Mira, once more on +the verge of tears. "He knows best; don't ye doubt it." + +Janice did doubt it. She did not wish to say so, but no matter what her +friends said, or how wise they might be in other matters, the girl's +intuition told her that beyond peradventure there was something for her +to do for her father if once she could get to Mexico. + +She saw it was of no use to talk about it, however positive she might be +that she was right. She could not convince Uncle Jason and Aunt 'Mira. +Indeed, she could not even change Nelson Haley's opinion. Everybody +seemed to think it was an unheard-of idea for a girl to go alone on such +a journey for any reason. + +Janice had traveled East alone to Polktown when she was only a young +girl, and nobody, save Mrs. Scattergood, criticized that fact. It was +because there seemed to be danger threatening along the Border--the +possibility of actual war between the United States and Mexico--that +they all considered her desire so extraordinary. + +To Uncle Jason, too, in his personal difficulties over the Tom +Hotchkiss notes, the money for such a trip as Janice wished to make +seemed a big item. It was, of course; that truth the girl admitted. It +was a big item for her to contemplate. Although the bank at Greenboro +sent her aunt each month a check to cover Janice's board there was no +hope of the girl's getting other money from that source. The board +matter was an agreement Mr. Broxton Day had entered into with the bank +before he went to Mexico. Janice did not really understand how her +father stood financially with the Greenboro bank. She did not know +whether or not he had money on deposit there. His recent profits from +the mine she actually knew nothing about. He was always liberal with her +regarding spending money when he had any money at all. She had never +asked him for a penny, for that was unnecessary. + +Just now her funds chanced to be very low. Some repairs on the Kremlin +car had been necessary; and then there was her fall outfit which had +just been paid for. + +Janice counted her loose cash and looked up her bank balance. The latter +was down to fifty dollars; she had not much more than ten dollars in her +pocketbook. + +She could not ask Uncle Jason for money. Nor Nelson. She could depend +upon nobody to help her in this emergency, for they were all against +her. + +Those words were ever before her mental vision; "I must go!" +Determination grew hourly in her heart. No matter what others thought or +said her duty lay far off there to the southwest--over the Border in +battle-ridden Mexico! + +Her main trouble was the fact that she must keep her intention secret +from her friends--from those whom she loved and who loved her. Janice's +nature was naturally the opposite to secretive and this course was +particularly distasteful to her. + +She had, however, come to that point where she must decide for herself, +and she refused to be influenced by her advisers. Had their objections +been based upon anything better than a feeling and belief that the +Border "was no place for a girl," Janice would have hesitated to follow +her determination, so opposed to the consensus of Polktown opinion. But +she felt that her friends failed to see the matter in the right light. + +Daddy was wounded--a prisoner--perhaps dying! He needed her! It seemed +to the troubled, anxious girl as though his dear voice, so well +remembered, rang continually in her ears. He called for her! + +She could not tell her friends this. They would not understand it--not +even Nelson. Janice felt that although the schoolmaster sympathized with +her in every fiber of his being, he was bound by his very love for her +to oppose her desire in this matter. + +He of course could not go with her to Mexico. Uncle Jason would not if +he could. Who else was there to take the lead in such a venture? + +"Why," thought Janice Day, "I've just got to go, and go alone! That's +all there is to it. And the less I say about it before I'm ready to +start the better." + +She thought she saw a way to her end--a financial way, at least. She had +offered to sell her car to aid Uncle Jason in his trouble. She would +sell it now for funds with which to make her determined journey, for +Uncle Jason did not need her proffered assistance at present, while her +father's need was much the greater. + +Every hour that passed increased Janice's anxiety. What if daddy died +down there in Mexico--all alone among strangers, without ever seeing his +daughter again? + +This thought was too dreadful for Janice to mention aloud to anybody. It +was in her mind continually; she could not escape it. + +That very day--the one following her discovery through Mrs. Scattergood +of the truth about Broxton Day as known to so many Polktown folk--Janice +set about carrying out her plan. She drove around to Mr. Cross Moore's +instead of going directly to Middletown and the seminary. + +There had been a time not so very long before when Janice and the +president of the town selectmen had been at variance. Mr. Cross Moore +had desired the Polktown hotel to retain its liquor license while the +girl had championed the dry cause. The latter had won; but Cross Moore +was a good loser. Mrs. Moore might be angry with Janice Day; but her +husband had always held what he termed "a sneaking fondness for that Day +girl" and no matter how much they might conflict in politics or opinion, +the man respected Janice's earnestness and appreciated her +unselfishness. + +Coming down the hilly street, guiding her car skillfully around the +"hubbly" places, Janice saw Mrs. Beaseley out sweeping the narrow brick +walk laid in front of her gate. The tall and solemn-looking woman, still +dressed in mourning for the husband dead now many years, and whose +memory she worshiped, gave the girl a frosty smile, although Janice knew +there was an exceedingly warm heart behind it. + +"You air late going to school, Janice Day," she said. "Mr. Haley went an +hour ago." + +"I am not going to the seminary this morning," the girl replied, +stopping her car. "Everything is all right with you, I suppose, Mrs. +Beaseley?" + +"Oh, yes," the widow said, sighing mournfully. "I have my health, and +should be thankful for't I s'pose. My sainted Charles useter say that +health was ev'rything in this world--an' 'twas to _him_. When he lost +his health he lost all his zest for livin'. He had allus been a robust +man up to his sickness. He was a heavy feeder and as long as he eat his +victuals with guster I felt he was all right. + +"Now, Mr. Haley, he ain't never jest suited me regardin' eatin'. It does +seem as though a young man like him should put away more victuals than +he does." + +"Well, I'm sure he never gets up from your table hungry, dear Mrs. +Beaseley," laughed Janice. "And some of the doctors say that one should +do that to insure a long life." + +"What! go hungry?" gasped this scandalized housewife. + +"Not eating quite all we think we want at each meal," explained Janice. + +"Wal! for the good Land o' Goshen! I hev said--an' I stick to it--that +doctors is given more nowadays to change in styles an' fashions than +what silly women air--even that Bowman gal that cut up such didoes in +Polktown last winter. + +"Fust they believe in stuffin' a body; then it's the fashion ter starve +folks. One doctor says meat victuals is the only fit eatin' for human +bein's an' the next one wants you should put on a nosebag an' eat horse +feed. Humph! Reminds me of silly George Putnam and his pig." + +"What about them, Mrs. Beaseley?" asked Janice, who was always amused by +the widow's speeches. + +"Why, George had a right likely shote give to him one year, but it +turned out a runt, he fed it so queer. The critter seemed allus +squealin' for something to eat, an' my Charles asked him: + +"'George, how d'you feed that critter?' + +"'Why,' says silly George, 'I kalkerlate ter feed him ev'ry other day.' + +"'Ye do?' says Charles. 'What's that for? Don't you suppose the pig gits +hungry jest as often as _you_ do?' + +"'Ye-es--that may be,' says George. 'But I like my side-meat 'ith a +streak o' lean an' a streak o' fat.' + +"Why, goo' mornin', Mr. Cross Moore! How's your lady this mornin'?" +concluded the widow as the selectman, whom Janice had seen coming up the +hill, stopped beside the car. + +"She's 'bout the same, Miz' Beaseley. Morning, Janice! Which way you +going?" + +"I am going your way, Mr. Moore," the girl said with a sudden feeling of +timidity. "I--I was coming to see you." + +"Well, turn right around and drive up toward--well, toward +Concannon's--and you can see me all you want to. I don't want mother +should see me drivin' off with you in this car," and he chuckled. "She +thinks she's taken a gre't dislike to this sort o' locomotion; but I'm +going to have a car of some kind, jest the same." + +Janice made no reply until she had turned the automobile and was headed +uptown. Then her first words were: + +"Mr. Moore, I want you to buy _this_ car." + +"Ahem! you mean one like it--a Kremlin?" he said, eyeing her curiously. + +"No. This very car. It's all right and I will sell it to you cheap." + +"You goin' to get a new one, Janice?" + +"Oh, Mr. Moore! I'm not thinking of motor cars. I'm in great trouble. +Perhaps you know? My father----" + +"I heard something down to Massey's drugstore about his being hived up +somewhere in Mexico by them insurrectionists," replied Cross Moore, +still watching her countenance. + +"Well, I want to go to him. You know how Uncle Jason is fixed just now." + +"Yes, Janice. Jase is in a hole." + +"So you see, I've _got_ to sell my car." + +"Mebbe I could git the money for you--ye can borry it of me," suggested +the selectman. + +"Oh, thank you, Mr. Moore! That's more than kind. But I wouldn't know +when or how I could pay you back. And Uncle Jase can't possibly help +me--if he would. I am going to tell you frankly, Mr. Moore, the folks +don't approve of my going down there to find father." + +"No? Wal, it's not to be wondered at." + +"But, don't you see? I've just _got_ to go, Mr. Moore. And I must sell +my car to get the money to pay my fare. You can have it for----" she +pondered and then mentioned a sum that she thought was a bargain price +indeed, even for a car that had been run as far as this Kremlin. "You +can have it for that--and for one other thing." + +"Huh? A string to it?" he demanded. + +"Your silence is involved. You must not tell anybody you have bought the +car till I get out of town. I am going to run away, Mr. Moore, and you +must help me if you wish to own this automobile." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +NELSON DOES NOT UNDERSTAND + + +Janice came back from Middletown with several bundles. She had been +shopping, she told Aunt 'Mira; but she did not mention the fact that she +had drawn her last fifty dollars from the bank. + +Mr. Cross Moore had been to the bank, too; and the sum of money which he +had drawn out in crisp twenty and fifty dollar bills was pinned securely +to Janice's underwaist. + +She merely told the folks that Mr. Moore was going to take his wife out +in the car, for he had already learned to run an automobile, it seemed. +And if the president of the town selectmen could not license himself to +drive a motor car, who could? + +Janice's uncle and aunt made no comment; they had other things to think +about. If Marty suspected anything he kept his suspicions to himself. + +All of course watched the papers for news of Broxton Day; but Mexican +news seemed very tame indeed. Those Americans who came out of Chihuahua +told dreadful stories; but most of these tales had to be taken with +"more than a grain of salt." Many of these "Americans" owned to +Spanish-Mexican names, and were merely Americans by naturalization--and +that "for business purposes only." + +Their tales dealt with the recent uprising in the Companos District; but +nothing new was related about what had happened at the mines north of +San Cristoval. No mention was made in any dispatches regarding Mr. +Broxton Day. Letters to Nelson Haley in reply to his inquiries, both +from Washington and the Border, merely said that matters were in such a +chaotic state in Chihuahua that no facts were available. + +It was on the evening of this eventful day--the day she had sold her +car--that Janice went to speak privately with Nelson. Knowing that her +uncle would absolutely forbid her departure for the Border if she told +him she was going, Janice would not open any discussion with him. She +had already written a note to leave for her Uncle Jason and Aunt 'Mira +to read after she was gone. But with Nelson it was different. How could +she go away from Polktown without telling the young schoolmaster she was +going--without sharing with him this secret that now had begun to weigh +so heavily on her mind? + +She stopped at Hopewell Drugg's for a minute and found the little family +in almost a holiday spirit--the storekeeper bustling about waiting on +customers, 'Rill at her sewing table, and little Lottie singing over the +supper dishes. + +"You did the child a world of good, it seems," the storekeeper's wife +said softly, to her friend. "Since she spent the night with you, Lottie +has been like another girl." + +"Don't let her drift away from you again, honey," Janice said, smiling +tenderly on the little woman. "Remember, Lottie must have just as deep +an interest in this wonderful happening as any of you." + +"I--I don't know just how to talk to her," 'Rill whispered, flushing a +little. + +"You don't have to talk," smiled Janice. "Just _love_ her--that is all +you need do. You _do_ love her, and don't let anybody tell her +differently." + +There was a lamp burning in Nelson Haley's study, and Janice tapped +lightly on the window pane, bringing him to the front door. She did not +wish to run the gantlet of Mrs. Beaseley's volubility on this occasion. + +"My dear!" said the schoolmaster, drawing her within and seeing her very +serious face. "Nothing new has happened?" + +"About daddy?" she sighed. "Nothing that I am aware of. I know nothing, +Nelson. But I feel that I _must_ know very soon. This uncertainty is +killing me!" + +"My dear girl," he murmured. "I wish I could help you." + +"But you can't," she broke in with energy. "Nobody can. I must help +myself now, for you and the others have done all you could." + +"Why, Janice, what more can you do than we have attempted?" he asked +wonderingly. "The moment any news comes over the Border of your father +it will be telegraphed North." + +"And do you think I can wait here--inactive, hopeless--for something to +turn up? Why, Nelson! there is nobody down there with any special +interest in daddy. The men who are engaged in the mining enterprise with +him are all in the North here." + +"Yes, yes," Nelson cried. "But what can be done? What can _I_ do? What +can any of us do, my dear Janice?" + +"I don't know that anybody can do anything--up here. But I mean to go +down there--yes, I do! I am going to find my father, Nelson." + +She began to sob hysterically and the schoolmaster patted her hand with +soothing intent. "Of course you can't do that, Janice. A girl like you +could do nothing down there in Mexico." + +"How do you know?" she demanded, dashing away her tears and looking up +at him. "I tell you, Nelson, I am going." + +He sighed and shook his head. "Of course you can't do that, Janice," he +repeated. "I thought that was all settled last evening." + +"It was perhaps settled in your mind; not in mine." + +"It would be an unheard-of thing to do. Your uncle and aunt would never +allow it." + +"Yes, Nelson, I know that. But I will go just the same," the girl told +him. + +He shook his head again and smiled at her. "You have the will to do it, +I don't doubt, Janice. But, really, you couldn't." + +Janice opened her lips once more; then she closed them. What was the use +of saying anything further? Even Nelson did not believe she would carry +out her intention. + +"Very well, then," she said, rising and making ready for departure. +"I'll say good-bye. You can't see it my way, Nelson; but if it were +_you_ who were wounded and alone down there in Mexico do you suppose any +power on earth would keep me from going to you?" + +She slipped away before the full force of her final speech percolated to +the young schoolmaster's brain. He got up to follow her; then he paced +the floor of his study instead. + +"Of course, she doesn't really mean it," he finally told himself, and +went back to the correction of the pile of compositions on his table. + +It was quite true. Nobody believed she meant it except Mr. Cross Moore. +And the selectman had perhaps a higher opinion of Janice Day's ability +than most people in Polktown. We respect a person who was got the best +of us in any event, and Mr. Moore had reason for considering this young +girl to be the principal person involved in his recent defeat in town +politics. + +At another time Janice might have been somewhat piqued by the apparent +fact that nobody believed she could or would start for Mexico. She had +thought her reputation in Polktown for determination and the carrying +out of anything she undertook to be such that her friends would believe +that, when she said a thing, she meant it. She had been a _do something_ +girl since first she had come to this Vermont village to live. They +might have been warned by past events of what to expect of Janice Day +when once she had made up her mind. + +She had already packed her bag. It made her unhappy to do this secretly +and to sit with the family during the evening without saying a word +regarding her plans. + +Walky Dexter looked in for a little while; but he was unable for once to +raise the general temperature of the social spirit. As for Marty, Janice +caught him several times looking at her so strangely that she feared he +suspected something. Walky noted the boy's strange mood, for he finally +drawled: + +"Jefers-pelters, Marty! what's ailin' on ye? Ye look like Peleg Swift +did arter he eat the three black crows." + +"Huh! that old wheeze!" growled Marty. "He didn't eat no three crows. He +only ate something they said was burned as black as a crow. One o' his +wife's biscuit, I bet." + +"He, he! Mebbe you're right," chuckled Walky. + +"I reckon on givin' Marty a good dose ef jalap," said his mother. "I was +thinkin' for sev'ral days he was lookin' right peaked." + +"There!" fairly yelled Marty to Mr. Dexter. "See what you got me in for? +You are about as much use as the last button on a rattlesnake's tail, +you are!" + +But Marty dodged the unwelcome, old-fashioned remedy that night. He +slipped away early--presumably to bed. Janice was not long in going to +her room; but she did not lie down to sleep. When the house was +dead-still, all save the mice in the walls and the solemn ticking of the +hall clock, the girl arose and dressed for departure. + +The _Constance Colfax_ made her trip down the lake in the morning, +halting for freight and for any chance passengers at the Polktown dock +at six o'clock. The steamer got into Popham Landing before ten o'clock, +in time for the morning train to Albany. + +Janice was ready for departure long before it was time to leave the +house. At this time of year it was quite dark at half-past five. When +she crept out with her bag the frost was crisp under foot. + +The steamboat was whistling mournfully for the landing. She saw nobody +astir on Hillside Avenue, but when she reached High Street two drummers +were leaving the Lake View Inn with their sample cases. There seemed +nobody else going to the steamboat dock; Janice drew her veil closer and +hurried on. + +Walky Dexter did not make an appearance. She had heard him say the +evening before that all the freight and express matter was already at +the dock and that he could sleep late for once. + +Indeed, it seemed as though everything worked in Janice Day's favor. +There was nobody abroad to see her, or to object to her departure. + +At home, when the family arose, they would not at first think her +absence from the kitchen strange. Aunt 'Mira would say: "Oh! let her +sleep a while if she will." + +Janice could hear the tones of her aunt's voice, and her eyelids stung +suddenly with unbidden tears. + +Later they would go to her room to call her and find the note to Uncle +Jason she had left pinned to the cushion on her bureau. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MARTY EXPANDS + + +We are prone to judge other people from our inner secret knowledge of +self. When we say we think another person would do a certain thing, we +usually base our opinion upon what we would be tempted to do under like +circumstances. + +Thus it was that Marty Day knew in his heart exactly what his Cousin +Janice was about to attempt. Why, to use his own effulgent expression, +"there was nothing to it!" Of course she would seize the first +opportunity that opened to go to the Border in search of Uncle Brocky. + +Would he not do the same thing himself if his father were captured and +wounded by the Mexicans? "A fellow would have to be a regular +hard-boiled egg to dodge his duty when his father was in such trouble," +the boy told himself; and in Marty's opinion Janice Day was a "regular +fellow." + +He listened to all the objections raised by the older folks just as +Janice did. And they made about the same impression on him that they did +upon his cousin. Indeed, he was somewhat angered by the way Nelson Haley +and Frank Bowman joined in this advice with the others against the idea +of Janice going to the Border. + +"But, shucks!" thought the lad. "They _had_ to talk that way. That comes +of being really grown up. Right down in their hearts you bet Nelse Haley +and Frank Bowman are only sorry they can't go down there themselves to +hunt for Uncle Brocky." + +Perhaps Marty was not so far from the truth in this surmise. Nelson and +Frank were in the early years of their manhood. There was something very +attractive in the idea of starting out on such a mission as Janice +planned. + +Marty did not hint to his cousin that he suspected her intention. But he +followed her on that busy day--followed every move she made. He was sure +she had sold her car to Cross Moore. Marty had a friend in Middletown to +whom he telephoned and through whom he learned that both Janice and Mr. +Moore had been seen in the National Bank. + +He immediately borrowed Frank Bowman's motorcycle and hurried over to +Middletown before the banks closed. As his father had said, Mrs. Day had +deposited a "nest-egg" for Marty in the savings bank and had given him +the book. The boy proceeded to draw out the money on his account to the +very last cent of interest. + +"Hi tunket!" he thought as he whizzed back toward Polktown. "It ain't +much; but it'll help _some_. + +"Mebbe dad and ma may need me and my money a lot; but Janice is going to +need me first--of course she is. She can't go clear 'way down there to +Mexico _alone_." Which shows that Marty shared the general masculine +feeling that, being "only a girl," Janice could not really carry out her +intention. "She's got to have a man along whether she thinks she needs +one or not. And, hi tunket! I'm going to be _it_." + +Marty, however, was not altogether visionary. He had made it his +business to find out about what it would cost to get to the Border, and +he realized he must have money for other expenses besides his car fare. + +On returning the motorcycle to the civil engineer he took his courage in +both hands and said: + +"Mr. Bowman, would you do me a great favor?" + +"I think so, Marty. What is it?" returned Frank, smiling into the +freckled, perspiring face of the boy. "Want to borrow my dress suit or a +hundred dollars?" + +"The hundred dollars," Marty told him gaspingly. + +"You don't mean it!" + +"Yes, sir; I do. And I can't tell you what I want it for, nor for how +long I'm going to need it. But I'll pay it back." + +"Marty," said his friend, "I've got only seventy-five dollars handy. +Will that do?" + +"It'll haf to." + +"Do you mean it?" demanded the good-natured engineer. "Do you really +mean you need it?" + +"Yes, sir! I need it all right, all right. And I don't want you should +ask me what for. And I don't want you should tell anybody." + +At another time Frank Bowman might have hesitated. But knowing the +trouble Mr. Day was in over the Hotchkiss notes, he suspected Marty was +bent on helping his father with some needed sum of money. He took out +his notecase and handed the seventy-five dollars to Marty in banknotes. + +"You're a good fellow, Mr. Bowman," the boy cried. + +"So are you," responded the engineer, smiling into the lad's eyes. + +"'Tisn't everybody would trust me like this." + +"'Tisn't everybody who knows you as well as I do, Marty. If you get +stuck and can't pay me back right away, I'll let you work it out when +the V. C. branch gets to running." + +That was talking "man to man" and Marty's chest swelled. + +"You won't be sorry for this," he assured Frank Bowman, and hurried home +to supper. + +So he had the money safely fastened in his inside vest pocket while he +watched his cousin so oddly during the evening. When she was helping +Aunt 'Mira with the dishes Marty slipped into Janice's room. He found +her traveling bag in the bottom of her closet, packed as he suspected. + +"Hi tunket! isn't she a plucky girl?" Marty told himself. "I'm just +proud to be her cousin, so I am! We'll have some time down there among +the greasers, believe me!" + +Marty owned a shotgun and he was tempted to take it along. But he +thought better of that. He could not very well hide it while traveling +on the train. + +"B'sides I reckon rifles, or these here automatics, are more fashionable +down there on the Border," the boy ruminated. + +Bedtime came and he, like Janice, was too excited to sleep. He was +afraid he might sleep, however, and, knowing his failing, he determined +to arrange matters so that he could not possibly miss the boat in the +morning. + +Putting a pair of clean socks and an extra handkerchief in one jacket +pocket, and a clean collar in another (for Marty believed in traveling +light), he climbed out over the shed roof before midnight and carefully +descended to the ground by the grape arbor route. Making his way to the +wharf he curled up on some bags in front of the freight-house door. +Nobody could unlock and open that door without disturbing him; but the +chill morning air awoke him in plenty of season. + +When the steamboat bumped into the dock Marty was right at hand to +catch the bow hawser. It was still dark and he slipped aboard without +being noticed. + +The _Constance Colfax_ boasted no staterooms; but the few all-night +passengers from up the lake were sprawled about the unventilated cabin +in a somnolent state. Marty only peeped in at them, and then ensconced +himself on deck where he could watch the gangplank. + +He saw his cousin in her heavy veil come aboard. She, too, preferred to +remain on deck, cold as it was, to going into the stuffy cabin. Janice +was warmly dressed and the morning was clear. When the _Constance +Colfax_ got under way again she watched the few twinkling lights of +Polktown and the stars overhead fade out as the sky grew rosy above the +mountain tops. + +The boat was well out of the cove when the sun came up. A brisk wind +whipped up the whitecaps. Sheltered in the lee of the little deckhouse, +Janice was left to herself and to her thoughts save when the purser came +around for her fare. + +"Didn't take on no crowd at Polktown, Miss," he observed genially. "Only +you and three more." + +Janice had noticed only the two traveling salesmen; but she made no +comment. She did not suppose she was in the least interested in that +fourth passenger whom she had not seen. + +At last they reached the Landing. The railroad here was only a branch +line and the cars were old-fashioned and uncomfortable. She could get no +good accommodations to Albany she well knew, so she bought a ticket only +as far as that city. + +Had she intended going south and west by way of New York she would have +been obliged to make some arrangement to get over to Middletown to take +the train there. This might have caused comment. Besides, from what +Frank Bowman had said, she believed she could save both time and money +by taking the Great Lakes route. + +There were three day coaches in the little train already made up at the +Landing. Janice chose a seat in the middle coach without any idea that +somebody in whom she would have been very much interested stole into the +rear car before the train started. + +Marty dared not go to the ticket office, for fear his cousin might look +out of the car-window and see him. But he was quite sure Janice was +bound for Albany first, and he paid his fare to that point when the +conducter came through. + +It was a tiring ride, with stops at "everybody's barnyard gate," and the +coaches filled up and were half emptied again two or three times during +the journey. Janice had made no preparation for luncheon and once when +the train halted at a junction "ten minutes for refreshments" as the +brakeman bawled it out, she could find nothing in the bare and dirty +lunchroom fit to eat or drink. + +When she returned, hopeless and hungry, to her seat there was a neatly +wrapped shoebox lying on the dusty plush cushion. + +"Why! whose is this?" she involuntarily asked aloud. + +"Isn't it for you, my dear?" asked a woman who occupied the seat +directly behind hers and to whom Janice had already spoken. + +The girl picked up the package and read scrawled upon it in an entirely +unfamiliar handwriting: "Miss Janice Day." + +"Oh! it has my name on it," Janice admitted. "But I don't know a thing +about it." She was rather frightened. Somebody had recognized her. +Somebody knew she had run away and must be watching and following her. +"Who--who put it here?" she asked the woman in the next seat. + +"Why, you are actually pale, child!" laughed the matron, who had her own +well filled lunch basket open in her lap. "You don't suppose it is an +infernal machine? It looks like a box of lunch to me." + +"Yes, I know," said Janice faintly. "But I can't imagine who could have +left it here for me. It has my name on it." + +"A brakeman left it," explained the woman. "Leastwise it was a man with +a railroad cap on. Open it. I should not question the goods the gods +provide. You found nothing fit to eat in that station, I am sure." + +The train was already moving on. Janice sat down and opened the package. +There was first of all a thermos bottle filled with hot tea. There were +ham sandwiches--more satisfying as to thickness than delicacy, +perhaps--a slab of plum cake and several solid looking doughnuts with a +piece of creamy cheese. + +It was more like a workman's lunch than one put up to tempt the appetite +of a traveler; but Janice was hungry and she finally ate every crumb of +it. + +She examined the thermos bottle very carefully, searching for some mark +upon it that might reveal the identity of the owner. Why! she could not +even return the bottle, and it must have cost almost a dollar. She +remembered that Marty had sent off to a catalog house for one like this +and it had cost him eighty-five cents. + +After she had eaten the hearty luncheon she went back and spoke to the +brakeman. But he denied knowing anything about the package or having +placed it in her seat. The forward brakeman made a similar statement. +She even asked the conductor about it with the same result. + +"I certainly would not worry about it, my dear," the comfortable matron +behind Janice said. "Some friend of yours has played a joke upon +you--and a very kind joke, I call it." + +"Yes. But _who_?" murmured Janice Day, feeling much worried indeed. + +"Somebody got aboard at that station to deliver the box and you were out +of your seat----" + +"But how did he know it was my seat?" demanded Janice. + +"Saw you through the window as the train stopped," suggested the +friendly woman. "Of course, I only _thought_ it was the brakeman who +brought it. I did not really pay attention." + +This explanation did not go far enough to relieve Janice's mind. She +could not imagine who had planned the surprise. Nobody, she felt sure, +knew she was leaving Polktown but Mr. Cross Moore. And surely _he_ would +not do a thoughtful thing like this. + +It was a mystery bound to trouble her a great deal. She did not know who +might bob up before her at almost any place and try to make her go back +to her uncle and aunt. + +The girl was determined to withstand this demand, no matter who made it. +If Uncle Jason himself had followed her Janice Day was sure she should +keep right on in her intent. Or Nelson---- + +"It can't be Nelson. He couldn't leave his school for even a day," the +girl thought. "And he surely did not believe I meant to go when I saw +him last evening, or he would not have taken what I said so coolly. Who +could it be?" + +Not for a moment did Janice suspect the truth. She had no idea that a +familiar, boyish figure sat in a rear seat of the rear coach, his hat +pulled well down over his eyes, eating from a box of lunch similar to +that she had found in her seat. That is, lacking nothing but the bottle +of tea. Marty owned only one thermos bottle. He had wheedled the cook on +board the _Constance Colfax_ to put up the two lunches for him; but he +washed his own down with water from the tank at the end of the car. + +Marty was already beginning what he considered to be his necessary +oversight of Janice on this journey. He was quite sure a girl who did +not think of lunch was not fit to travel alone! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BLACK-EYED WOMAN + + +The train arrived at Albany about dusk. Janice, disturbed by the +incident of the mysterious lunch, half expected to be met by a telegram +ordering her to return to Polktown. Or perhaps something worse and +harder to cope with. But she told herself that not even a uniformed +policeman should make her return! She was secretly very glad to be able +to get out of the station without being involved in any difficulty of +this kind. + +She had studied the time-tables and knew which train to take out of +Albany. Realizing the long and tedious journey before her, she concluded +that it would be the part of wisdom to secure berth reservation right +through to El Paso. + +Whether or no she should remain on the train as far as that Border city, +Janice did not at this time decide. She knew that direct communication +with San Cristoval and the Alderdice Mine lay through the desert country +below El Paso, and she must be guided a good deal by what she learned en +route. Her father had an army friend at Fort Hancock. She might stop off +there to make inquiries. + +However, she bought her ticket with berth coupons to El Paso, and then +went to dinner. She had two hours to wait for the Chicago express, a +reservation on which her special ticket called for. + +She had no idea, did Janice, just how much trouble and worry of mind she +was causing a certain boy who had trailed her from one railroad station +to the other with much care that she should not observe his presence. +When Marty sidled up to the ticket window after Janice was gone and +asked for a ticket to "just where that girl bought hers for," the agent +certainly did stare at him. + +"What's all this for?" he asked Marty suspiciously. "Are you following +that young lady?" + +"Naw," said Marty gruffly. "I'm goin' with her." + +"Oh! you are? Who says so?" + +"I do," the boy declared. "D'you think I'm goin' to let her go clear +'way down there to Mexico alone looking for her father?" + +"Hi!" exclaimed the man, growing interested, there being no other person +waiting at the moment. "Who are _you_?" + +"Say! you keep it to yourself, will you?" urged Marty anxiously. "I'm +her cousin. What'll a ticket cost just like hers? Her dad's been wounded +down there in Mexico and she thinks she can go there alone and bring him +back. I can't let her do that, can I?" + +"Hasn't she any other folks?" asked the ticket seller doubtfully. + +"Her dad's all she's got," Marty declared. "But I'm going to see her +through." + +Well, it was not the ticket seller's business. He named the sum it would +cost Marty to go on that special train. + +"Hi tunket! I don't want to _buy_ the train," gasped the boy. "I only +want to ride on it." + +"Special ticket on this train to Chicago. And berth all the way through +to El Paso. I can give you a cheaper rate on another train, however, my +son." + +"But I got to be on the same train as her to look out for her," observed +Marty. "Hi tunket! berth clear through, heh? I'll have to sleep day an' +night to get my money's worth." + +"It's the best I can do for you." + +Marty groaned, but paid like a man. It made a dreadful hole in his +capital. He ate his dinner in a lunchroom through the window of which he +could watch the exit of the restaurant to which his cousin had gone for +her evening meal. + +"Take it from me girls don't have no idea about spending money," Marty +groaned, swallowing the last mouthful of a ten cent plate of beef stew +as he saw Janice leave the restaurant. "The sign on that window over +there says: 'Dinner seventy-five cents.' Hi tunket! How can anybody eat +seventy-five cents worth of victuals to once't? I never knew Janice had +_that_ capacity." + +Marty had insisted upon being given a reservation in another car from +that in which Janice was to ride. He was glad to note when the long +train rolled in that his was a rear car. Janice would ride next to the +dining car. + +The boy had no use for the dining car or buffet. He had supplied himself +with a box of cheap lunch. If his cousin had money "to throw to the +birdies," as Marty privately expressed it, not so the son of Mr. Jason +Day of Polktown! After all he had said about his father being a +"tight-wad" Marty found that it positively hurt to spend more for a +thing than he believed it was worth. + +He made sure that Janice with her bag boarded the train. He was one of +the last to get on himself, thus making sure that nothing had happened +to cause his cousin to alight again. + +But Janice, relieved because she had seen nobody from Polktown, found +herself very pleasantly situated in her car. Nobody had interfered with +her in any way. The lunch given her on the train to Albany was a most +mysterious thing; but whoever had given it to her seemed not desirous of +halting her determined course. + +Janice had secured an upper berth; but she did not mind that. She found +that the woman who was to occupy the one beneath was already on the +train. + +She was a black-eyed, dark, rather Oriental-looking person, and Janice +thought her quite handsome in a majestic way. And she possessed an +engaging smile. + +"You are traveling alone, my dear--yes?" the woman asked her with an +intonation distinctly foreign. "All the way to Chicago?" + +"And beyond," Janice said pleasantly. + +"Ach! You American girls are wonderfully independent--yes? Friends will +meet you at your journey's end?" + +"No. I expect nobody to meet me," Janice told her quite sadly. She did +not care to take the woman into her complete confidence, although she +seemed to be a very pleasant person. + +The black-eyed woman lent her a magazine during the evening, as the +train rumbled on across New York State. She was friendly, but not too +pressing in her attentions and certainly Janice was unsuspicious. + +At nine o'clock the porter began to arrange the berths. Janice went to +the ladies' room and found the foreign-looking woman there. As the girl, +in her dressing-sack which she had taken out of her bag, combed out her +hair, the sharp, black eyes of her fellow-passenger spied something. + +"You carry something valuable there?" she said, touching lightly with +her finger the packet of banknotes the girl had pinned to the bosom of +her waist. "And with only a common pin? Ach! that is unsafe, my dear." + +Janice had folded the bills in a silk handkerchief; but of course the +woman could feel just what the crisp notes were. + +"I think they will be all right," the girl said, shrinking a little from +the woman's touch, yet without feeling any real fear of her or of her +intentions. + +"See!" the other said as though wishing only to be helpful. "I haf a big +safety pin here in my bag--see? We will use _it_ to fasten your +packet--soh. Iss that not much better?" + +Janice could only thank her and smile. Really one could not take offense +at such a kind act nor be suspicious of so kindly a person. + +Having lost her previous night's sleep it was not strange that Janice +should sleep soundly, even on this rushing train. Occasionally she +aroused to the knowledge of the wheels clattering over switches, or +hollowly roaring as the train crossed a long trestle. The night +sped--and the train with it. She was far, far away from Polktown when +she awoke. + +Again her berth mate was before her in the dressing room. "Iss your +money still safe, my dear?" the black-eyed woman asked. + +"Oh, yes," laughed Janice, "I am not at all afraid of losing it." + +"You are so different. Me, I am always feeling to see if my jewel-bag +iss safe. Oh, yes!" + +Janice, having no jewels, was not much interested; though it seemed odd +that the black-eyed woman should have her mind so fixed on robbery. + +Before the train reached Chicago the woman had made herself very +friendly with Janice. The latter refrained from telling her new +acquaintance just why she was going to the Southwest, and alone, save +that she expected to find her father there and that she was anxious +about him. + +"You will remain over a day in Chicago to rest?" queried the woman. "You +haf friends there--yes?" + +"Oh, no. We are going to arrive in good time. I know the schedule +perfectly," Janice assured her. "I shall go right on." + +It was not until then that the black-eyed woman revealed the fact that +she, too, was going on beyond Chicago. It seemed odd to Janice that her +fellow-traveler should not before have acknowledged that Chicago was not +her destination, still she gave the matter little thought. She did not +tell her name to the girl. Indeed, Janice did not reveal her own name +during their conversation. + +The woman asked Janice very particularly about the route over which the +girl was to travel and then, consulting an ivory-bound memorandum book +she carried, in which Janice could not help seeing the notes were +written in some foreign language, the woman murmured. + +"Ach, yes! It iss so. My dear, I can be your fellow-passenger for many +hundred miles farther. Ach! such a great country as it iss. I shall see +about having my routing changed at once. We may travel together yet a +far way. And we are such goot friends." + +Janice felt somewhat abashed at this claim. She enjoyed the black-eyed +woman's conversation; but she was not strongly drawn toward her. If they +were such "goot friends" the feeling of friendship must be mostly on +Madam's side. + +For it was as "Madam" that Janice knew the woman. It seemed to fit, and +she seemed to expect its use. She was a very interesting person, the +girl thought, and naturally she was curious about the black-eyed woman. + +There was an hour's wait at Chicago, and when Janice and her +acquaintance left the train together it was to enter a dense throng in +the train-shed. + +"Be careful, my dear," whispered Janice's companion warningly. "Keep +your coat buttoned across your chest. No knowing--pickpockets always in +big crowds are--yes." + +Janice was inclined to smile; but as her companion walked closely upon +one side of her she felt herself being shouldered roughly on the other +hand. + +She turned sharply and with an exclamation. Her coat was torn open by +some means. Janice wore a loose-fitting blouse and it was not easy to be +certain that a hand was at her bosom. + +"Look! that boy!" hissed Madam in the girl's ear. "Such a shrewd-faced +rascal. Ach! I believe he tried to rob you." + +Janice, clutching quickly at her blouse over the packet of banknotes, +knew her money was safe. She only saw the back of the boy to whom Madam +referred. + +"Why!" Janice Day murmured. "He isn't a bit bigger than Marty. Do--do +you really think he tried to rob me, Madam?" + +"Sure of it!" announced her companion with emphasis. "Ach, yes! We know +so little about those we meet in a crowd, my dear." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A SHOCK TO POLKTOWN + + +Marty Day, who was neither a prophet nor a person of much moment in his +native town, was, of all Janice's friends, the only one who really +believed the girl would put her desire into action. + +To tell the truth, even Cross Moore, who had bought Janice's automobile +and who held the original bill of sale of the car, upon the possession +of which he had insisted, scarcely believed the girl would get out of +town without being halted by her uncle. + +Nelson Haley did not suppose for a "single solitary moment" that Janice +meant what she said when she bade him good-bye in his study. The next +day he went to school without an idea that Janice was already on her way +to the Border. He missed Marty Day, but did not think there was anything +significant in the boy's absence. + +School was over for the day and Nelson was leaving the building, bidding +good-day to Bennie Thread, the janitor, when Walky Dexter drove through +the side street, urging Josephus in a most disgraceful way. + +"Git up, there, ye pernicious pest!" Walky shouted to his old horse, +thrashing him with the wornout whip he carried and which never, by any +possibility, could hurt the rawboned animal. "_Gidap!_ Jefers-pelters, +Schoolmaster! is thet you?" he suddenly demanded, seeing Nelson. +Josephus stopped immediately. He well knew Walky's conversational tone. +"Hev ye heard about it?" sputtered the expressman. + +"Heard what?" asked Nelson calmly. "Sure you are not overexerting +yourself? Your face is very red, Walky. Perspiration at this time of +year----" + +"Oh, you go fish!" exclaimed Walky. "Mr. Haley! I got suthin' ter tell +ye. I kin see well enough ye ain't wise to it." + +"Walky," said the young schoolmaster solemnly, "there are really a lot +of things in this life that I am not wise to, as you call it, and I +doubt if I shall ever understand them all." + +"Oh! is that so?" retorted Walky Dexter. "Wal, I'll perceed ter wise ye +up to one thing right now. Ain't ye missed Marty to-day?" + +"Marty Day?" + +"Yep. That's the young scalawag." + +"He has been absent from school--yes." + +"Oh! he has? D'ye know where he's gone to?" + +"Why, no." + +"And neither does nobody else," declared the expressman excitedly. +"Unless he's gone off with Janice--an' she never said a thing about +_him_, I understand." + +The expressman's word's amazed Nelson quite as much as Walky could have +wished. + +"What _are_ you talking about? What do you mean by saying Janice has +gone away?" + +"Jefers-pelters!" ejaculated Walky. "Ain't you hearn a thing about it?" + +"No." + +"Wal then, you better lift a laig an' git up to the ol' Day house," +Walky observed. "If ye ever seen a stir-about ye'll see one there. I +dunno but ol' Jase'll hev a fit an' step in it. And as for Miz' Day, +she's jest erbout dissolved in tears by now, as the feller said. An', +believe me! if she _does_ dissolve there'll purt' nigh be a deluge on +this hillside, an' no mistake!" + +Before he had finished and clucked to the sleeping Josephus, Nelson +Haley had reached the corner of Hillside Avenue and was striding up the +ascent to the Day house. He saw several people come to their front +doors, and he knew they would have hailed him had he given them a +chance. Everybody seemed to be aware of this startling happening but +himself. + +He went into the kitchen of the Day house without knocking. His gaze +fell upon the ample Mrs. Day weaving to and fro in her rocking chair, +her apron to her eyes, while Uncle Jason was sitting dejectedly in his +chair upon the other side of the stove, with his dead pipe clutched +fast between his teeth. + +"Mr. Haley!" the man exclaimed. "Have a cheer." + +"Oh! oh!" sobbed Aunt 'Mira, shaking like a mold of jelly. + +"I don't want a chair!" ejaculated Nelson, placing his bag on the +uncleared dining table. "I've just heard of it. What does it mean?" + +"She's gone," Uncle Jason said gloomily. + +"_They've_ gone," sobbed Aunt 'Mira. + +"We dunno _that_--not for sure. We don't know they're gone together. +Janice didn't say a thing about Marty in her letter," and he pointed to +an open letter on the table. "Read it, Mr. Haley," he added. + +The schoolmaster seized the note Janice had left on her pin-cushion and +read: + + "=Dear Uncle and Aunt=: + + "You must not blame me or think too hard of me. I have just _got_ to + go. Daddy needs me. I am sure I can find him. I could not stay idly + in Polktown and wait any longer. I will telegraph you when I reach + the Border. Don't blame me. _I just have to go!_ Love. + + =Janice=." + +"I might have known it! I might have known it!" muttered the +schoolmaster. + +"Ye might have known _what_?" demanded Mr. Day. + +"That she meant what she said. She told me last evening she was going, +and I didn't believe her." + +"Oh, Mr. Haley!" cried Aunt 'Mira. "And ye didn't tell us in time----" + +"In time for what?" exploded her husband. "Hi Guy! I'd like to see _any_ +man stop _any_ female when she's sot on doin' a thing." + +"But she's gone alone clear down there to Mexico and----" + +"Where's Marty?" demanded Nelson. + +"Oh! she don't say nothin' about him," sobbed the woman. "His bed ain't +been slep' in, an----" + +"If Marty has disappeared, too," the schoolmaster said with decision, +"you can be sure he is with her." + +"Do ye believe so?" asked Mr. Day doubtfully. "Seems to me she wouldn't +have encouraged the boy to go off that-a-way." + +"Of course not," Nelson agreed. "But I have an idea that, of all of us, +Marty was the wisest. You'll learn he suspected Janice of planning to go +away and he has gone with her, or followed her." + +"That boy!" ejaculated his mother. + +"If he has----" began Uncle Jason; but Nelson continued: + +"I have considerable confidence in Marty. At least, he is a courageous +young rascal. I fancy he has followed Janice, unknown to her, and with +the desire of helping her." + +"But he is only a bo-o-oy," wailed his mother again. + +"Say!" Uncle Jason said suddenly, "he's a good deal of a man, come to +think on't. I b'lieve you air right, Mr. Haley." + +"That does not, however," said Nelson, shaking his head, "change the +fact that Janice, even with such an escort as Marty, should not go down +there. I am greatly worried." + +"Wal, don't you think _we_ be?" demanded Uncle Jason. + +"Yes. I know how you must feel. But think how _I_ feel, Mr. Day," the +schoolmaster said gently. "I believe I should have thrown up everything +when she told me she was determined to go, and have accompanied her +instead of letting Marty do it." + +"I snum!" ejaculated Mr. Day, "don't I feel jest the same way? Janice is +a _do something_ gal, sure enough. We'd oughter knowed she wouldn't sit +quiet to home here when Broxton was in sech trouble." + +"But she's only a gal!" repeated his wife. + +"She's a diff'rent gal from most," declared Mr. Day. + +"And poor Marty! How'd he ever get money enough to go with her?" mourned +the good woman. + +"His bankbook's gone," said Mr. Day. "He's proberly took ev'ry cent he +could rake an' scrape. You _would_ give him that bankbook to keep, +Almiry." + +"Oh! oh!" sobbed Mrs. Day. + +"But--but how did Janice get money enough to take such a long journey?" +asked Nelson hesitatingly. + +"Sold her ortermobile," stated Uncle Jason gruffly. + +"No!" + +"Yes, she did. I been over to Cross Moore's an' put it right up to him. +You know what he is. He'd buy a cripple's wooden laig if he could see +his way ter makin' a profit on it. He got the car at a cheap price, I +calculate, and agreed to say nothing about it till arter Janice had +gone. Oh! I ain't worried about Janice's means. It's what may happen to +her down there." + +"She can't get beyond the Border," Nelson declared. + +"We don't know. You know how detarmined Janice is. I snum! we'd +_oughter_ know her detarmination now." + +"It don't matter. Nothin' don't matter," Mrs. Day groaned. "She's +gone--an' Marty's gone. An' what ever will become of 'em 'way down there +among them murderin' Mexicaners----" + +"Well, well, Almiry! They ain't got there yet," put in Mr. Day. + +Nelson Haley had never felt so helpless in all his life. Not even when +charged with stealing a collection of gold coins that had been intrusted +to the care of the School Committee, had the young man felt any more +uncertain as to his future course. What should he do? Indeed, what could +he do now that Janice had really departed from Polktown? + +Whether it would have been quite the proper thing or not for him to have +accompanied the girl on her long journey, did not now enter into the +situation. Janice was gone and he was here--and he felt himself to be a +rather useless sort of fellow. He now thought very seriously of the last +words Janice had spoken to him the day before: + +"If it were _you_ who were wounded and alone down there in Mexico do you +suppose any power on earth would keep me from going to you?" + +The schoolmaster's heart thrilled again at the thought. _She meant +it_--of course she did! Janice, he should have known, always meant what +she said. + +But now, in the light of her courageous action in leaving alone for the +Border, the memory of her words impressed the young man more deeply. She +would have dared any danger, she intimated, had it been Nelson who she +believed needed her; why should he have doubted for a moment that she +was brave enough to seek her wounded father? + +"I'm a selfish, ignorant fool!" Nelson railed in secret. "I do not +deserve to be loved by such a girl. I don't half appreciate her. What a +helpless, ineffectual thing I am! And what now can I do to aid or +encourage her? Nothing! I have lost my chance. _What_ can she think of +me?" + +He thus took himself to task that evening in his study. The whole town +rang with the story of Janice's departure and with the belief that Marty +Day had either accompanied his cousin or followed her in a boyish +attempt to assist in her mission. + +"She ain't like other gals," Mrs. Beaseley mourned at the supper table. +"_Do_ have another helpin' of col' meat, Mr. Haley--an' try this +pertater salad. It's by a new receipt. + +"I count her quite able ter take keer of herself ord'narily, Mr. Haley. +What worries _me_ is her eatin'," added the widow, passing the plate of +hot biscuits to her boarder. + +"If folks don't eat right, as my sainted Charles often said, they ain't +got the chance't of a rabbit when anythin' happens 'em. No, sir! _Do_ +eat that quarter o' layer cake, Mr. Haley. 'Tis the las' piece an' I do +despise to make a fresh cake while there's any of the old left. + +"The eatin' on them trains an' in them railroad stations, they tell me, +is somethin' drefful. I _hope_ you'll make out a supper, Mr. Haley." + +Hopewell Drugg, in a worried state of mind, came across the street to +consult Nelson. He did not know what his wife would do or say when she +learned that Janice had left town. + +"I sincerely hope Miss Janice will find her father and bring him back to +Polktown soon," the storekeeper said. + +"Do you believe she _can_?" asked the schoolmaster, rather startled. + +"Why not?" was Hopewell's response. "She has never yet, to my knowledge, +failed in anything she has set out to do." + +This statement furnished Nelson with another positive shock. Not for a +moment had he considered that Janice would accomplish what she had set +about doing. It seemed impossible to his mind that a mere girl could get +into Mexico and return again with her wounded father. Yet here was +Hopewell Drugg implicitly believing in her ultimate success! + +Mrs. Scattergood buzzed like a very cross bumblebee. She seemed only too +glad that Janice had done something to shock Polktown. + +"Wal! what could you expect from a gal that's allus had her own way an' +been allowed to go ahead an' boss things the way Janice Day has? I don't +approve of these new-fashioned gals. What diff'rent could ye expec'?" + +"That's a fac'," agreed Marm Parraday, who chanced to be the recipient +of this opinion. "Ye could expec' Janice Day to do _just_ what she +done--an' I tell 'em all so. She ain't no namby-pamby, Susie-Sozzles +sort of a gal--no, ma'am! + +"Lem says he doesn't see how she found the pluck to do it. But it didn't +s'prise _me_ none, Miz' Scattergood. A gal that's done what Janice Day +has for, and in, Polktown is jest as able to do things down there in +Mexico." + +"Why, haow you talk!" gasped Mrs. Scattergood, finding to her amazement +that the hotel-keeper's wife did not at all agree with her opinion of +Janice. "She's nothin' but a gal. In _aour_ day----" + +"Ye-as, I know," admitted Marm Parraday. "When we was gals women's +rights and women's doin's warn't much hearn tell on. Still, Miz' +Scattergood, I wasn't so meek as I know on. But mebbe, women was mostly +chattels--like horses an'--an' chickens. But if that was so, that day's +gone by, thanks be! An' it's gone by in Polktown a deal because of this +same Janice Day. Oh, yes! I know what she's done here, an' all about it. +Mebbe she didn't _know_ she was a-doin' of it. But if Polktown ever +erects a statue to the one person more than another that 'woke it up, +it'll hafter be the figger of jest a gal, with a strapful o' schoolbooks +in one hand, the other hand held out friendly-like, and that queer, +sweetenin' little smile of Janice on its face." + +Yes, Janice and what she had done was the single topic of conversation +all over town that night. Those who knew her best did not call her +mission a "silly, child's trick." Oh, no, indeed! + +Down the hill below Hopewell Drugg's store and below the widow's home +where Nelson lodged, in the nearest house indeed to Pine Cove on that +street, and to Lottie's echo, Mr. Cross Moore sat with his invalid wife. +The usual orphan from the county asylum who was just then doing penance +for her sins in acting as Mrs. Moore's maid, had gone to bed. The woman +in her wheel-chair watched Mr. Moore from under frowning brows. + +"I expect you think, Cross Moore, that you've done a smart +trick--a-buyin' that car so't Janice Day could get out o' town. The +neighbors air all talkin' about it." + +"Oh, I wouldn't worry, Mother," the man said quietly. "Janice is all +right. She'll make good. She's quite a smart gal, is Janice." + +"Ha!" snapped the invalid. "That may be. I guess it's so. She pulled the +wool over _your_ eyes, I don't doubt. That ol' contraption she sold you +ain't wuth ha'f what ye paid for it, Cross Moore." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MARTY RUNS INTO TROUBLE + + +Janice Day was tired. She had to admit that. But she would not stop over +in Chicago even twenty-four hours to rest. + +There is scarcely any way of traveling that so eats up the reserve +forces of even a perfectly well person as an unaccustomed ride on the +rail. No matter how comfortable seats and berths may be, the +confinement, the continual jar of the train, and the utter change from +the habits of the usual daily life quite bear down the spirit of the +traveler. + +Especially is the person traveling alone affected. Janice really was +glad she had the companionship of Madam on her journey beyond Chicago. +Although the thoughts of the black-eyed woman seemed to run strongly to +robbery, she was not lacking in information and could talk amusingly of +her travels. + +She seemed familiar with Europe as well as with much of America. Her +knowledge of the Latin-American countries, however, exceeded that of the +United States. Just what nationality she was Janice could not guess, +although she believed there was some Hebraic blood in Madam's veins. + +However, the woman so succeeded in impressing Janice regarding the care +of her remaining banknotes that before their train left Chicago the girl +took the precaution to secrete her money in a different place upon her +person. At the same time, she folded up a piece of newspaper into a +packet and pinned it to the place in her corsage where the notes had +been. + +"It does no harm to do this--and say nothing about it," thought Janice +demurely. + +Madam made her change in transportation with some skill, and had again +secured the berth under that assigned to Janice. They sat together by +day, conversing or reading, and always took their meals together in the +dining car. + +Had Janice known that behind her in the same train, rode her Cousin +Marty, she would have been both amazed and troubled. + +Marty held to his ticket on this train; but he had seen a chance to sell +his berth, and, frugal Yankee that he was, he had done this. + +"Hi tunket!" the boy told himself, "that ticket seller thought mebbe he +put one over on me when he made me buy a berth reservation clean +through. But to _my_ mind those berths ain't a bit more comfortable than +a seat in a day coach." For there was a day coach attached to this +train. + +He said this after he had overheard a man in the smoking compartment +complaining about his inability to obtain the reservation of a berth at +Chicago. There was nothing timid about Marty Day. He immediately marched +up to the man and drove a bargain with him worthy of Uncle Jason +himself. + +"Every little bit helps," remarked Marty, as he folded the bills the man +gave him and tucked them with the rest of his little wad down into the +bottom of his inside vest pocket, pinning the money there for safety. + +Marty was not disturbed in the least about losing his funds, whether +Janice was or not. And he continued to be fully as frugal in his +expenditures as he had been at first. + +At Chicago Marty had had a very close call--or thought he had. In the +crowd in the station he almost ran into Janice. She was with the +black-eyed woman and that was probably why his cousin had not noticed +him. But it had been near! + +He did not know just how Janice would take his surveillance, and the boy +had decided it would be better for him to remain in the background +unless something extraordinary happened and not reveal himself to her +until they reached the Border. + +So, to make his identification by his cousin doubly impossible, as he +thought, Marty used the hour's wait at Chicago to supply himself with a +disguise! + +It is not on record that any boy ever lived who did not, at some stage +of his career, dream of putting on some simple disguise and appearing +before his friends and family as "the mysterious stranger." Marty was +not exempt from the usual kinds of boyish folly. He bought and affixed +to his upper lip a small black mustache. + +The sturdy, freckled-faced boy with the stubby mustache stuck upon his +lip, made a very amusing appearance. Under close scrutiny the falsity of +his hirsute adornment was easily detected, of course. + +The gentleman who had boarded the train at Chicago too late to obtain a +berth was vastly amused by Marty's assumption of maturity. Marty's voice +was beginning to change and that alone would have revealed his youth in +spite of a full growth of whiskers. + +"You're pretty young to be traveling alone," this gentleman remarked to +Marty after the deal for the berth had been consummated. "Although I see +you have all your wits about you, young man." + +"Oh, I dunno," drawled the boy from Polktown, trying to stroke the +mustache with a knowing air. + +"I can see the mustache," grinned Marty's fellow-traveler. "But it isn't +a very good fit and it certainly does not match your hair. That down on +your cheek, young fellow, is a dead give away. I'd take off the mustache +if I were you." + +Marty flushed like a boiling lobster. "I--I can't," he stuttered. + +"Why not?" + +Marty confessed--partially. He told about his cousin in the other car +and how he had come on this long journey very secretly to watch over and +protect Janice. + +Despite the evident ignorance of the boy there was something about his +actions that impressed this man with the really fine qualities of +Marty's character. He asked the boy: + +"Have you telegraphed back to your father to reassure him of your +safety--ahem--and your cousin's?" + +"No," Marty said. "That runs into money, don't it? I--I was going to +write." + +"Send a night letter," advised the man. "That will not be very +expensive. And it will relieve your folks' minds." + +So Marty did this, sending the message from a station where the train +lingered for a few minutes. The result of the receipt of this dispatch +in Polktown was to start a series of quite unforeseen events; but Marty +had no idea of this when he wrote: + + "I got my eye on Janice. She is all right so far." + +As far as he knew the boy told the truth in that phrase. Several times +each day Marty managed to get a glimpse of his cousin. On almost every +such occasion she was in the company of the tall, black-eyed, +foreign-looking woman who had been with Janice when Marty had run +against them in the Chicago railway station. + +"Those two's havin' it nice an' soft," Marty thought as he observed them +through the window of the dining car when the long train stopped at a +station and the boy got out to stretch his legs. + +"Come in and have dinner with me, Martin," said the gentleman to whom he +had sold his berth reservation, seeing the boy apparently gazing +hungrily in at the diners. + +"Cricky! I don't believe I'd dare. She'd see me," said the boy. + +"But I thought you considered yourself well disguised," suggested the +other, laughing. + +"Say! You don't know what sharp eyes Janice has got. And you saw +yourself that this mustache was false." + +"Oh! but at a distance----" + +"Hi tunket! I'll go you," stammered the boy. "But let's sit back of +Janice." + +This was agreed to and the much-amused gentleman ushered his young +friend to a seat in the dining car, wherein Marty faced the black-eyed +Madam while Janice Day's back was toward him. + +Since her mind had gradually become relieved of its disturbance +occasioned by the mysterious lunch which had come into her possession, +Janice's only serious thoughts were of her father and the task that +awaited her at the Border. She allowed her thoughts to dwell upon the +uncertainties of her venture as little as possible. Worrying would not +help. She knew that to be an undoubted truth. So she gave herself up to +such amusements of travel as there were and to the informative +conversation of the black-eyed woman with whom she had become such "goot +friends." + +Janice Day was quite a sophisticated young woman despite the fact that +all her life had been spent in two very quiet communities. The girl was +acquainted through broad reading with both the good and evil fruit of +the Tree of Knowledge. Innocence does not mean ignorance in this day and +generation, and the modern trend of thought and education can be +heartily thanked for this change from the old standards, if for nothing +else. + +Janice was really amused by Madam's so-often expressed fears of being +robbed. The girl said nothing to her about the change she had made in +carrying her surplus money; and she continued to keep the packet of +newspaper pinned to her corsage. + +As they lingeringly ate their dinner on this particular evening in the +dining car the black-eyed woman suddenly betrayed anxiety: + +"My dear!" she cried under her breath. "I do believe there is that boy +again!" + +"What boy, Madam?" Janice asked curiously, but without alarm. + +"I have warned you of him before--yes," hissed Madam tragically. "He iss +the same, I am sure! He tried to rob you in Chicago!" + +"Oh, Madam!" Janice said, tempted to laugh, "I think you must be +mistaken." + +"Oh, no, I am not, my dear," the woman said very earnestly indeed. "And +he iss yet on our train, I see him watching you of a frequency--yes! You +will not be warned----" + +"Where is he?" Janice asked, turning slowly to look back, for Madam's +black eyes were fixed in that direction. + +"There! At the table facing this way. With the man in the +pepper-and-salt suit, my dear." + +Janice flashed a glance at the "disguised" Marty, flushing as she did +so. Her gaze lingered on the boy only an instant, and without dreaming +of his presence on the train how should she recognize her cousin? + +"Why! he isn't exactly a boy, is he?" she said to the Madam. "He wears a +pronounced mustache." + +"Yes? Perhaps it is not the same, then," sighed the woman. "But his +interest in you, my dear, is marked." + +"Perhaps it is in _you_ he is interested," said Janice, smiling. "You +have made a conquest, Madam." + +"Ach! of that so-little man? It would be my fate!" cried the majestic +creature. "It iss always little men that fall in love with me--soh!" + +It was apparent, however, that Madam kept a watchful eye on the +"so-little man" for she spoke of Marty's surveillance frequently +thereafter. Janice failed to view this person who so troubled her +companion, near enough to really see clearly any one feature. At a +distance the mustache disguised Marty Day's expression of countenance. + +All was not destined to go smoothly with Marty, however, during the +entire journey to the Border. They crossed Texas by the T. & P. route +and near Sweetwater there was an accident. A train had been ditched +ahead of that on which Janice and Marty rode and, the track being torn +up for some distance and the right of way blocked, the train was halted +a long time in the evening at a way station. + +It was merely a cluster of houses and stores, a shack for a station, a +freight house and corral with cattle-chutes, and a long platform on +which the uneasy passengers might stroll to relieve the tedium of the +wait. + +Of this last privilege Janice and Madam availed themselves. Marty, too, +feeling for the nonce both lonely and homesick, was in the crowd on the +long platform. He heartily wished he could reveal himself to Janice so +as to have somebody "homey" to talk to. Polktown suddenly seemed a long, +long way off to the boy. + +"Hi tunket!" he murmured to himself. "These stars down here in Texas +seem to have got all twisted. They've gone an' switched the Big Dipper +on me, I do believe." + +And while he chanced to have his head back looking aloft he ran right +into Janice and her companion. The Madam screamed and seized the boy by +the arm. + +"It iss the same--er--young man!" she hissed. "I tell you he iss always +at our heels--yes. _Now_ will you belief me? Feel! is your money safe?" + +Janice clapped her hand to her bosom; the packet she had thought so +securely pinned there was gone. + +"Oh!" she gasped. "I _have_ lost it! It is----" + +"It has been stolen! You have been robbed! This boy has it!" the +black-eyed woman declared with conviction. "What have I told you right +along? But I have the thief. No, sir! you may not wr-r-riggle out of my +so-strong grasp!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +TWO EXPLOSIONS + + +Marty had no desire to have his identity revealed to his cousin in any +such belittling manner as this. He had dreamed of Janice getting into +some difficulty, and his stepping forward to defend and protect her. But +this situation covered him with confusion. + +The large woman with the black eyes and the foreign speech possessed +muscle, too, as he quickly discovered. He could not twist himself out of +her grasp on the dark platform. + +"I have the thief," repeated Madam. "Soh!" + +"Oh! are you sure?" gasped Janice. + +"You haf lost your money, eh?" demanded her companion. "Well, then, _I_ +haf secured the thief--soh!" + +A trainman came along with a lantern. Its light, suddenly cast upon the +little group, revealed Marty's face more clearly. + +"What's the matter here?" asked the trainman, his curiosity aroused. But +Janice moved closer to the boy twisting in Madam's grasp. She peered +into his face and her own countenance paled. + +"It--it _can't_ be!" she gasped. "You--you--_Marty Day_!" + +She made a dive for the silly-looking mustache. Marty squealed +energetically: + +"You behave! Stop it, Janice! Ouch! that hurts! Don't you know the +blamed thing's stuck on with shoemaker's wax?" + +"Marty Day!" repeated the girl, "how did you come here?" + +"You know heem--yes?" gasped the black-eyed woman. + +"Why, he's my cousin! He's followed me all the way from home! How ever +he did it----" + +Then she stopped suddenly, putting her hand to her bosom again. + +"But I _have_ lost it--the packet," she cried. + +"Your money----Ach!" ejaculated Madam. + +"What's that?" asked the trainman. "You lost something?" + +"I bet you have," exclaimed Marty. "No girl can take care of money +right. Where'd you have it?" + +Janice motioned to her bosom. The trainman lowered his lantern and cast +its radiance in a wider circle on the platform. + +"What's this here?" demanded the boy, and sprang immediately to secure +what his sharp eyes had observed lying at the feet of the black-eyed +woman. + +[Illustration: "Marty Day!" repeated the girl. "How did you come +here?"] + +"Oh! that must be it," Janice said, trying to seize it from her cousin's +hand. + +"Aw, let's make sure," growled Marty, at once taking the lead in +affairs. "Nice way to carry money, I must say--wrapped in a +handkerchief! Hi tunket! what d'you know about _this_?" + +He had unfolded the handkerchief and revealed--newspaper. That was all. +The black-eyed woman stepped back with a sudden intake of breath. She +glared at Janice. + +"Huh! Somebody flimflammed you?" demanded Marty, staring, too, at his +cousin. + +"No-o," the girl admitted faintly. "I--I did it myself." + +"You did what?" asked the interested trainman. + +"I wrapped that paper up and hid it in my blouse. My money is safe." + +"It is!" cried Marty. "Sure? Where you got it hid?" + +"Never mind; it's safe," said Janice tartly. + +The trainman chuckled as he went his way. + +"Marty!" began the girl when Madam broke in: + +"You are well engaged, I see," she said sharply. "I will bid you goot +evening," and she moved majestically toward the car. + +"Who is she?" demanded Marty, following Madam with suspicious eye. + +"I don't know," confessed his cousin. + +"Say! are you sure you got your money safe?" + +"Yes." + +"Where?" he questioned insistently. + +"It's none of your business, Marty Day," snapped Janice, "but if you +_must_ know, it's pinned inside my stocking--so now!" + +"Sure," chuckled Marty. "I might have guessed. Most popular national +bank there is. Say! we'd better get aboard. Train's goin' to start +again." + +"You come with me, Marty; I want to know what this means," Janice said, +seizing his hand as they hurried to board the train. "How did you get +down here? Who told you you might come? Mercy! I can't understand it at +all. And that silly mustache----" + +"Cricky! I wish I could get the blame thing off," said the boy, touching +his lip tenderly. "You mighty near tore my face apart when you grabbed +at it." + +"It's the most ridiculous thing. Oh! I wonder where Madam went to?" For +the black-eyed woman was not in her usual seat. Indeed, her hand-baggage +was no longer there, nor could Janice see her anywhere in the car. "I +believe she is offended," said the girl. + +"Huh? What about?" Marty queried. + +"Why, because of that foolish trick of mine--the packet of newspapers. +She thought I had my money pinned to my underwaist all the time." + +The boy's eyes twinkled shrewdly. "Huh! maybe," he said. "But you don't +know a thing about her. 'Tisn't very smart to make acquaintances on the +cars, I calculate." + +"Goodness! hear the boy!" gasped Janice. "Sit down here. I want to know +all about it---- Why, Marty!" + +"Huh? What's sprung a leak now?" + +"It must have been you who gave me that lunch!" + +"Oh! on the train coming down from the Landing? Sure," Marty answered. +"I knew you'd never think of getting anything decent to eat yourself." + +"You blessed angel boy!" + +"Oh! I'm a Sarah Finn, I am--as Walky Dexter calls 'em." + +"Calls _what_?" + +"Angels," said the boy, grinning. "There's one breed called something +that sounds like Sarah Finn." + +"Seraphim!" + +"That's the ticket. Well?" for his cousin suddenly seized his arm and +shook him. + +"Tell me all about it--at once!" + +"Why--er--that lunch I got off'n the cook aboard the _Constance +Colfax_." + +"Marty! don't tease. I don't care about the lunch now--it was eaten so +long ago." + +"Hi tunket! and you haven't eat nothing like it since," declared the +boy warmly. "You been fair wallowin' in luxury." + +"Marty!" + +"Yes, you have," he pursued. "I don't see how you come to have any money +left at all--eatin' your three squares a day in the dining car. Not me! +I get lunches at the stop-over places, I do." + +"But I saw you in the dining car," Janice said, with sudden conviction. + +"Yep. Once. And you can bet that I didn't pay for my supper that time. I +was treated." + +"But you're not telling me a thing I want to know," cried the girl. "Did +Uncle Jason send you? Never!" + +"I'll break it to you easy," grinned Marty. "I did just what you did." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I ran away; that's what I did." + +"Didn't you leave word for your father and mother? _I_ did." + +"I telegraphed," said Marty proudly, taking full credit for that act. +"Told 'em you were all right and that I had my eye on you." + +"Well! Of all things!" + +"Yep. 'Tis kinder strange, isn't it?" said Marty, blowing a sigh. "Don't +scarcely seem real to me." + +"But your mother--and Uncle Jason! They will be worried to death about +you, Marty." + +"Huh! How about you?" demanded her cousin. + +"But you are only a boy." + +"And you're only a girl," he retorted. + +"Marty, I _had_ to come," she told him gravely. + +"Of course you did. I know it. Frank and Nelse, and the rest of 'em, +couldn't see it; but _I_ saw it. I was wise to you right away, so I +watched." + +He went on to relate his experiences in getting away from Polktown, +chuckling over his own wit. + +"But your mother and father will never forgive me," she sighed. + +"What they got to forgive you for?" demanded Marty. + +"If it hadn't been for me you never would have run away. And I don't +really see what good it has done, your having done so, anyway. You can't +help me find daddy." + +"Why not?" snapped the boy. "What d'you think I came 'way off here for? +Just to sit around and suck my thumb? Huh! I guess I can do as much +toward finding Uncle Brocky as ever you will, Janice Day." + +"I am afraid," the girl sighed, "that you don't realize what a task +there is before me." + +"Before _us_," growled Marty. + +Janice smiled faintly without otherwise acknowledging the correction. + +"Say! what have you done toward learning how to get across that river +and up there to San Cristoval?" the boy suddenly asked. + +"Why--_that_ is too far ahead. I shall have to be guided by +circumstances." + +"Ye-as! That's what the feller said when they were goin' to hang him. +But I've been lookin' ahead and I've been askin' questions." + +"Of whom, Marty?" his cousin cried. + +"Folks. I got acquainted with a good many back there in the smoker." + +"I thought you intimated it was dangerous to make such acquaintances?" +suggested Janice. + +"'Tis--for girls," announced her cousin stoutly. + +"And why not for boys, I'd like to know?" + +"'Cause nothin' can hurt boys. They're tough," grinned Marty. "Now, this +big woman you been hobnobbing with----" + +"Oh! I wonder what can have become of Madam?" + +"Maybe she had reason for cutting her tow-rope," said the slangy boy, +"just as soon's she saw you had somebody to take care of you. Oh, yes! +Did you notice just where I picked up that package of newspapers that +you lost?" + +"Oh, Marty!" + +"Almost under the feet of Miz' Madam, as you call her," went on the boy. +"She was right. You _were_ robbed. Somebody took that packet out of your +blouse all right, all right!" + +"Why, Marty! how very terribly you talk!" + +"Ye-as. Maybe I do. But she certainly was kind o' crusty when she left +us there on the platform." + +"Oh! I wouldn't have offended her," grieved Janice. "I don't believe she +was a bad woman at all, Marty Day." + +"I don't know anything about her," declared Marty. "But you'd better be +mighty careful with folks you meet. Now, the men I've been talkin' with +are regular fellers, they are. And they've told me a lot about what +we'll haf to do when we get to that Rio Grande River." + +"Marty, dear! It may be dangerous. I can't let you run into peril for +me." + +"No. But I will for Uncle Brocky--if I have to. And _you_ won't stop +me," he declared. "'Sides, it isn't goin' to be so dangerous as you +think if we go about it right." + +"How do you know?" + +"Why, up North there we thought that the Border was like a barbed-wire +fence that you had to climb through ev'ry time you went from the United +States into Mexico an' back again, and it was lucky if you didn't ketch +your pants on the barbed wire an' get 'em tore, too!" and the boy was +grinning broadly again. + +"But 'tisn't nothing like that. You'd think from what you read in the +newspapers that the towns on the northern side of the Border was spang +full of Americans--white folks that talk English, you know--while every +town over the Border and in shootin' distance of it, as you might say, +was all populated with nothin' but greasers." + +"Well?" Janice asked faintly. + +"Why, 'tisn't nothing like that. Lots of Texas towns along the Border +ain't got anybody in 'em but Mexican folks, and Mexican-Spanish is the +official language. Yes, _sir_!" said Marty, proud of his acquired +acknowledge. + +"The officers of the town are Mexs like everybody else. They're +peaceable enough and law-abiding enough and they go back and forth over +the river and into Mexico just as they please. + +"Now, what we want to do is to pick out one of these little squash-towns +along the bank of the Rio Grande, drive over to it in an automobile from +the railroad, and make a dicker with some greaser to ferry us across the +river to some town on the other side." + +"And then what, Marty?" asked Janice, made all but breathless by the +manner in which her cousin seemed to have grasped the situation. + +"Why, then we'll get another automobile, or a carriage, or something, +and steer a course for this San Cristoval place. It's on a branch +railroad, but the railroad ain't running, so they tell me. We can't hoof +it there, for it's too far from the Border; but there must be roads of +some kind and we'll find something to ride in--or----" + +"Why, Marty!" gasped Janice, stopping him. "Your being here--on this +very train with me--certainly _was_ an explosion. But _this_ is a +greater one. Don't say any more. I can't stand any more excitement +to-night," and she was more than a little in earnest although she +smiled. + +"Here comes the porter to make up the berths. You'll have to go. And +we'll talk it over in the morning, early. And _do_ get rid of that +mustache, for we'll be at Fort Hancock to-morrow and that is where I +have about decided to leave the train." + +"Sure," said the very confident Marty. "That's just the place I'd picked +out myself to drop off at. All right, Janice. See you in the morning. +Er----" + +"Well, what?" asked his cousin. + +"Hadn't you better let me take that money of yours for safe keeping?" + +"No, Marty," she said demurely. "We won't put all our eggs in one +basket. You know, even _you_ might be robbed. Good-night, dear boy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +SOMETHING VERY EXCITING + + +Janice did not see the black-eyed woman who had been so much in her +company across the continent again that night; and in the morning she +found that the berth under her own had remained empty. Upon asking the +porter she learned that Madam had left the train at Sweetwater. + +"And never said good-bye to me!" Janice thought with some compunctions +of conscience. "Is it possible that she was offended because of those +pieces of newspaper I carried in my bosom? It did look as though I +doubted her honesty." + +For the girl could not believe, as Marty had suggested, that the odd, +foreign-talking woman had had designs upon her money. + +"You never can tell about those foreigners," Marty said gruffly at +breakfast time. He had managed to remove the mustache and his lip was +sore. + +Marty had all the narrow-minded prejudices against foreigners of the +inexperienced. + +"You're going to have a fine time down here among these Mexicans," his +cousin told him. + +"Watch 'em. That's _my_ motto," cried Marty. "And, say! ain't some o' +the greasers funny-lookin' creatures?" + +At every little, hot station they passed (for there was a startling +difference in the temperature compared with the frosty nights and +mornings they had left behind in Vermont) there were several of the +broad-brimmed, high-crowned hats typically _Méjico_, as well as the +shawl-draped figures of hatless women, and dozens of dirty, +little-clothed children. + +"Why! it looks like a foreign country already," Janice sighed. + +But Marty was only eager. His eyes fairly snapped and he almost forgot +to eat the very nice breakfast that Janice had ordered, he was so deeply +interested in all that was outside the car windows. + +Yet the outlook for the most part was rather dreary between stations, +while the stations themselves were "as ugly as a mud fence" to quote +Marty. + +"But everything is new," said the boy. "I ain't missin' anything." + +The conductor viséd their tickets for a stop-over at Fort Hancock and +agreed to "pull her down" for that station although it was not a +stopping point for through trains. + +"You'll have to go on up to El Paso on a local," he drawled; "and +you'll have to mix up with greasers an' such." + +"How do you know we shall want to go on to El Paso at all?" asked +Janice, smiling. + +"Why, ma'am, nobody ever stays in these river towns any longer'n they +kin he'p. And outside of the soldiers stationed hereabout there's only +seventy-five folks or so, in the place--only two of _them_ white." + +"Oh!" Janice involuntarily gasped. + +"Ol José Pez keeps the store and hotel. He's not such a robber as +_some_; he's too lazy--and too proud, I reckon. You got folks at the +post?" + +"We expect to meet Lieutenant Cowan," Janice said. + +The cousins were the only passengers to leave the train, and they were +quite unexpected. The natives, who _en masse_ always met the trains +scheduled to stop at the station, refused to believe that the "limited" +had stopped. They preferred to believe that the appearance of the two +young strangers was an hallucination; better such a mystery in their +placid lives than the unexpected reality. + +Several little children came to stare at Janice and Marty standing on +the platform before the corrugated iron station, in which there was not +even an agent. _One_ of these infants was dressed. He wore a torn hat +evidently having belonged originally to someone with a much larger head +than he possessed. He had to lift up its brim with both hands to peer +at the strangers. + +"They are _so_ dirty," murmured Janice. + +"Gee!" sighed Marty, his freckled face brightening. "Ain't it immense?" + +His cousin stared at him in an amazement that gradually changed to +something like admiration. She suddenly realized that, if she could have +chosen her escort, nobody would have so well suited as Marty Day under +these distressing circumstances. He might not be very wise, but he was +immensely enthusiastic. + +He was staring now beyond the line of haphazard shacks and adobe +buildings that bordered the one street, into the jungle of mesquite and +cactus growing in the dry waste of sand that almost surrounded the +settlement--and he could smile! + +While on the train they had passed many irrigated grapefruit orchards +bordered by lordly date palms; but the tangle of mesquite and cactus was +always just over the ocatilla fences. They had likewise seen a +sprawling, low-roofed ranchhouse here and there from the train windows, +but there was nothing like that comfort suggested here. + +Most of the buildings in sight were one-room dwellings of adobe, with an +open shed at the back built of four corner posts supporting a thatch +roof, on which peppers were still sunning, late as was the season. Here +and there between these forlorn huts grew an oleander or an umbrella +chinaberry; and there were vines on some of the walls, masking their +ugliness. But for the most part the village was a dreary and distressing +looking collection of habitations. + +Janice and Marty moved along the street of the town. There was no walk, +and the roadway was deep in dust. Marty carried Janice's bag and strode +along as though "monarch of all he surveyed." To tell the truth, the +girl was closer to tears than she had been since leaving Polktown. + +Their objective point was a large frame building, roofed with corrugated +iron and with a veranda in front, at the end of the street. The sides of +this more important looking building were trellised with vines. There +was, too, the promise of cleanliness and coolness about the place. +Across the front they read the sign: + + JOSÉ PEZ, MERCHANDISE + +A solemn old man, burned almost black by the sun and with the skin of +his face as wrinkled as an alligator's hide, rose from a comfortable +chair on the porch to greet them. He wore a long white goatee and +military mustache. He had an air of immense dignity. + +"_Buenos días, señorita! Buenos días, señor!_" and he bowed politely. + +"Are--are you Mr. Pez?" asked Janice timidly. + +The old man bowed low again. "Don José Almoreda Tonias Sauceda Pez--at +your service, señorita." + +"We wish to find Lieutenant Cowan. He is stationed here." + +"No longer, señorita," said the old fellow, shaking his head in vigorous +denial. "He is gone with his troop a month now. I do not know his +present station. At the telegraph office the operator may be able to +tell you. To my sorrow I cannot. Lieutenant Cowan is my friend." + +"And my father's friend. My father is Mr. Broxton Day," Janice hastened +to tell him. + +"Señor Broxton Day?" repeated the don. "I am sorrowful, señorita. I do +not know heem. But we have a--how do you call it in Eenglish?--Ah! a +mutual friend in Lieutenant Cowan. Come in. My poor house and all that I +possess is at your service." + +"You--do you conduct a hotel here, Señor Pez?" suggested Janice. + +"Surely! Surely!" declared the old man with another sweeping gesture. + +"We must get rooms here then, Marty," she said to her cousin; "and +perhaps the gentleman can tell us how we may get across the river and to +San Cristoval." + +"You let _me_ do the talking," Marty said rather gruffly. "I'll make +the bargain. I've found out that a dollar Mex ain't worth but fifty +cents." + +He said this in a low voice; but the don was already summoning somebody +whom he called "Rosita" from the interior of the house. The house was +divided in the middle, one half of the lower floor being given up to the +exigencies of trade. On the other side of the hall that ran through to +the rear were the hotel rooms. + +Rosita appeared. She was a woman shaped like a pyramid. Even her head, +on which the black coarse hair was bobbed high, finished in a peak--the +unmistakable mark of the ancient Aztec blood in her veins. Her shoulders +sloped away from her three chins and it seemed as though the greatest +circumference of her body must be at her ankles, for her skirt flared. +Rosita had guessed at her waist-line and had tied a string there, for +her dress was a one-piece garment and she had no actual knowledge of +where her waistband should be placed. + +But in spite of her strange shape and dark complexion, Rosita was still +very pretty of countenance and had wonderfully white teeth and great, +violet eyes. She was still in her early thirties. A toddling little one +clung to her skirt. + +"Take the _niñito_ hence, Rosita, and show the señorita to the best room +above. Her _caballero_----?" Señor Pez looked at Marty doubtfully and +the boy struck in: + +"That's all right, old feller. It don't matter where I camp. We'll talk +about that pretty soon. You go ahead and see the room, Janice, and wash +up. Maybe they can give you dinner." + +"Surely! Surely!" said the don, shooing the _niñito_ out of the way as +though it were a chicken. + +Rosita mounted to the upper floor in the lead. Janice followed with a +queer feeling of emptiness at her heart--the first symptom of +homesickness. + +But the mountainous Rosita seemed as kindly intentioned as the old don. +She opened the door with a flourish on a broad, almost bare room, with +an iron bed, a washstand and bureau of maple, a rocking chair, and with +curtains at the two windows. + +On the floor was a straw matting and over its dry surface Janice heard a +certain rustling--a continual rhythmic movement. As she stared about the +floor, hesitating to enter, Rosita said: + +"It is be-a-u-tiful room--yes, huh?" + +"But--but what is that noise?" asked the girl from the North, her mind +filled with thoughts of tarantulas and centipedes. + +"Huh? Nottin'. _That?_ Jes' fleas--sand fleas. They hop, hop, hop. No +mind them. You hongree--yes, huh? I go get you nice dinner--yes, huh?" + +She departed, quite filling the stairway as she descended to the lower +floor. + +"My goodness!" thought Janice, with a sudden hysterical desire to laugh. +"I should hate to have the house catch fire and wait my turn to go +downstairs after Rosita!" + +It took no conflagration to hasten her preparations for descent on this +occasion. She met Marty at the foot of the staircase. The boy's face was +actually pallid, and against this background his freckles seemed twice +their usual size. + +"What is it? What has happened?" demanded Janice, seizing his arm. + +Marty drew her farther from the foot of the staircase to where she could +see through a narrow doorway into the store. + +"See there!" the boy hissed. + +"See what? Oh, Marty! you frighten me." + +"'Tain't nothin' to be frightened of," he assured her. "See that feller +with the red vest?" + +"I see the red waistcoat--yes," admitted Janice, peering into the gloomy +store. + +"Hi tunket! D'you know who's inside that red vest?" sputtered Marty. + +"No-o." + +"Tom Hotchkiss!" said her cousin. "What d'you know about that?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CROSSING + + +It is not the magnitude of an incident that most shocks the human mind. +A happening stuns us in ratio to its unexpectedness. + +Now, if there was anything in the whole range of possibilities more +unexpected than the appearance of Tom Hotchkiss, the absconding Polktown +storekeeper, down in this unlovely Border town, Janice Day could not +imagine what that more unexpected occurrence could be. + +It took fully a minute for Marty's announcement to really percolate to +his cousin's understanding. She stared dumbly at the red vest, which was +about all she could see of the man in Don José Almoreda Tomas Sauceda +Pez's store, and then turned to Marty, saying: + +"Yes?" + +"Cricky!" sputtered the boy. "You gone dumb, Janice? Don't you +understand?" + +"I--I--no, Marty. I do not believe I _do_ understand. Is--is it surely +that Hotchkiss man?" + +"Surest thing you know!" declared the boy. + +"What _shall_ we do?" and for once Janice felt herself to be quite +helpless. + +That Marty's wits were bright and shining was proved by his immediate +reply: + +"You leave it to me. I got a scheme. I'm going to skip over to the +telegraph office. We want to find that Lieutenant Cowan if we can, +anyway. And I'm going to send what they call a night letter to dad. A +_night_ letter to a _Day_, see?" and he giggled. + +"You get back upstairs into your room and don't let Hotchkiss see you. +Get 'em to give you your dinner up there. 'Twon't be nothin' but beans, +anyway, I have an idea. That's what they live on down here, they tell +me, and comin' from Vermont as I do, beans ain't a luxury to me. I won't +mind missing a mess of 'em for once." + +"But, Marty----" + +"I got a scheme, I tell you," the boy whispered. "Can't stop to tell you +what it is. I got to hike." + +He dashed out of the door, the only rapidly moving figure in all that +town, for even the dogs in the street seemed too lazy to move. + +Janice, feeling that she was allowing her cousin to take the lead in a +most disgraceful way, yet really not knowing what better to do, mounted +the stairs again and went into the room where the sand fleas were +"fox-trotting," as she afterwards told Marty, over the straw matting. + +The appearance of Tom Hotchkiss in this place was such a shock to the +girl that it was some time before she could think connectedly about it. +Her cousin had made the discovery and had had time to collect his wits +before Janice had descended the stairs. After a time the girl realized +what should be done, and she wondered if Marty would really be wise +enough to do it. + +Her uncle should be informed at once of the presence of Tom Hotchkiss +here on the Border. In addition the local authorities should be +communicated with and a complaint lodged against the runaway storekeeper +and his arrest demanded. + +She was not quite sure what would be the correct course to pursue; but +when the smiling and ponderous Rosita with the _niñito_ still tagging at +her skirt brought up her dinner, she asked the woman how one went about +having a criminal arrested in that town. + +"You want the sheriff--yes, huh?" said Rosita. + +"I suppose so." + +"The sheriff, heem my hoosban'," said Rosita proudly. "Señor Tomas +Morales. But he off now to ar-r-est one weeked man--very weeked. He +stole Uncle Tio's pants. Poor Uncle Tio! My hoosban' go far after this +weeked man--two days' horse journey." + +"And just because the man stole a pair of pants?" + +"Yes, huh! You see," explained Rosita, "they were all the pants poor +Uncle Tio own, and he now have to wear _serape_ only. Only poor Indians +appear without pants--yes, huh!" + +Janice gazed at the _niñito_ and tried to imagine the dignity attached +in the peon's mind to a pair of trousers. However, the meal was before +her and although the main dish was beans, as Marty had foretold, they +were savory and the girl found them good. + +These _frijoles_ were soft and well seasoned and the cakes, _tortillas_, +were tender, too. The coffee was delicious and there was a sweet cake +which Janice thought was made of ground bean-flour, but was not sure. + +She began to worry about Marty's absence. After Rosita had descended the +stairs everything was silent about the store and hotel. It was the hour +of _siesta_--though why one hour should be considered more somnolent +than another in this place the girl from Vermont could not imagine. + +Through the open, unscreened window she could see down the street. At +its far end, across the railroad, was a pole from which a faded American +flag drooped. This she knew indicated the post telegraph office. The +army post was a little more than a mile away. + +Where could Marty be all this time? It was two hours since he had darted +out of the hotel to send the night letter to Uncle Jason. Surely he was +not still at that telegraph office? + +Here and there along the dusty, sunny street figures in broad hats, +striped cotton, suits, with colored sashes, many of them barefoot or +shod only in home-made sandals, leaned against the adobe walls, or lay +on their backs in the shade. Groups of shawl-headed, gossipy women with +innumerable babies playing about them likewise spotted the gray street +with color. + +Those males who were awake were smoking the everlasting cigarette or +rolling a fresh one. Not a few of the women were smoking, too. Just one +of these male figures, lolling against the wall directly opposite her +window, did not expel the incense of nicotine through his nostrils. This +lad did not smoke. + +Janice, for some reason, looked at him more attentively. His +high-crowned, gayly banded hat was quite like the headgear of the +others; so, too, was the glaringly striped suit he wore of "awning +cloth" such as the girls were having sport skirts made of in the +North--"too loud for an awning, but just right for a skirt!" + +He wore a flowing necktie and shoes and socks--an extravagance that few +of the Mexicans in sight displayed. Or was he a Mexican? He was tanned, +but not to the saddle color of the native. + +Yes! he waved his hand to her. Now that he knew he had caught her eye +he raised his hatbrim and revealed--Marty's face, all a-grin, beneath +it! + +"Goodness! what _is_ that boy doing? He has attempted to disguise +himself again," murmured Janice Day. + +Then she suddenly apprehended her cousin's reason for thus assuming the +dress and air of the town. At least she thought she did. He was watching +the store to see that Tom Hotchkiss did not get away. He did not wish to +be recognized by the dishonest Polktown storekeeper. And knowing, as she +did, that the only local officer of the law, Señor Tomas Morales, was +absent she realized that she and Marty must be careful if they wished to +have Hotchkiss finally seized. + +Here the absconder was, right near the Mexican Border. Once over the Rio +Grande, in the present unsettled state of Mexican affairs Hotchkiss +could not be arrested and turned over to the American authorities. + +Instead of entering Canada as Polktown people thought probable, and from +which he could be more or less easily extradited if found, Tom Hotchkiss +had traveled across the continent to be near battle-troubled Mexico +where many transgressors against laws of the United States have taken +refuge. + +Janice Day's heart throbbed with eager thoughts. What a really great +thing it would be if she and Marty could succeed in having this man, +whose dishonest acts threatened Uncle Jason's ruin, apprehended by the +law before he could get across the Border! + +"Oh! if daddy's friend, Lieutenant Cowan, were only here," thought the +girl, "we might accomplish it without awaiting the return of Rosita's +trousers-chasing 'hoosban'.' I wonder who is in command of the soldiers +out there at the post? Would I dare go to see?" + +This plan savored of delaying her determination to get into Mexico and +find her wounded father. But to cause the arrest of Tom Hotchkiss might +mean Uncle Jason's financial salvation. Of course, if the runaway +storekeeper had not lost the money he had stolen, his apprehension would +insure the recovery of the large sum for which Mr. Jason Day had made +himself liable. + +Janice waved her hand in return to Marty and nodded understandingly; but +she wished to communicate with him at close quarters. She desired to +know how much he had learned--if he, too, knew that the local sheriff +was out of town. She however saw the danger of going down boldly to hold +converse with her cousin. Tom Hotchkiss knew her, of course, as he did +Marty, though not very well. Just then Janice hoped the man had +forgotten them both. + +When Rosita, smiling but puffing after the stair-climb like the exhaust +of a "mountain climber" locomotive, appeared for her tray Janice took +the willing and kindly Mexican woman into her confidence, to an end she +had in view. + +It was true that Janice's traveling bag held a very small wardrobe for +such a long journey as she had made. She had nothing fit to wear now +that she had reached the Border. Could ready-made garments that would +fit her be bought in Don José's store? + +But, by goodness!--yes, huh? There were garments for the young +señorita--yes, of a delectable assortment. Ah! if Rosita herself could +but wear them. But, she was past all that--yes, huh? Would the señorita +believe it? She had lost her figure! + +Janice turned quickly to point from the window so that the unfortunate +Rosita should not see her expression. It was a task to keep from +bursting into laughter in the simple woman's face. + +"Clothes like that girl over there is wearing?" Janice asked. + +"Ah, señorita! not like those old clothes of Manuel Dario's daughter. +But real _tailaire-made_ gowns from the East." + +"But I wish to dress like one of you Mexican girls," Janice said with +subtile flattery. "My cousin and I have to go over into your country and +I shall be less conspicuous if I dress like--like other girls there, +shall I not?" + +"Oh! but not like the common girl!" begged Rosita. "One must dress +richly, señorita." + +"No," Janice said. "I am on a serious mission, Rosita; perhaps a +dangerous mission. My father has been wounded in a fight up beyond San +Cristoval, and I must go after him and bring him over here." + +Rosita made a clucking noise in her throat significant of her sympathy, +making likewise the sign of the cross. "May his recovery be sure and +speedy, señorita," she said. "Yes, huh?" + +But now for the new clothes. Once having got it fixed in her slow brain +that Janice was not in the market for the shop-made garments copied +after the latest fashions, Rosita was very helpful. She made no +objection to waddling downstairs and panting up again with her arms full +of the ordinary cheap finery of the Mexican women. The colors were gay +and the goods coarse; but Janice was not critical. She merely hoped to +escape any special attention while passing through these Border towns. +Likewise she hoped to disguise herself from the eyes of Mr. Tom +Hotchkiss. + +"If the señorita desires to travel far within Chihuahua, it would be +better to advise with my father, Don José," Rosita said, revealing a +relationship Janice had not before suspected. "Although he has been +exiled now for many years, and is--what you say?--naturalized--yes, huh. +Yet, señorita, he has many friends among all factions. Some of the +lesser chiefs are personally known to him, those both of the bandits +and the army of deliverance. Speak to him, señorita." + +"I shall, Rosita," said Janice. "And as soon as your husband, the Señor +Sheriff Morales, comes I wish to speak with him too." + +"_Sí, sí, señorita._ I hope that will be soon," Rosita said, blowing a +sigh. "And I hope he brings back Uncle Tio's pants." + +Janice ventured downstairs dressed in her fresh garments. They were not +unbecoming, and she tossed her head and walked with her hand on her hip +as she had seen several of the Mexican girls do who had passed Marty +leaning against the wall. Marty was not thinking much of girls, however, +and he had given the señoritas very little notice for their trouble. + +But he saw Janice when she came down the veranda steps and recognized +her, grinning broadly at her. + +"Hi tunket! you got a head on you, Janice, you have!" he said +admiringly. "I wasn't sure you'd see what I was up to." + +"I return the compliment," said his cousin, smiling on him. "_You_ +thought of it first." + +"Well, I was afraid Tom Hotchkiss might see and spot me." + +"He is still in the store. I heard and recognized his voice as I came +down. I think he is bargaining for something with Señor José Almoreda +Tomas Sauceda Pez. Perhaps Hotchkiss is going to adopt Mexican +garments," she went on after she and Marty had giggled over their host's +name. + +"Good-bye to that red vest, then," grunted Marty. "Now, we've just got +to catch that feller and shut him up somewhere till dad can send for +him. There ain't any police here. I asked the feller I swapped my +clothes with." + +"Oh, Marty! did you get rid of all your good clothes--your Sunday suit?" + +"Why," said Marty slowly, "I got something to boot. I didn't make such a +bad bargain. Anyway, the feller I swapped with said he needed the pants +awful bad." + +"What for?" gasped Janice. + +"Why, for somebody he called Uncle Tio. Uncle Tio's lost his--had 'em +stole. I judge nobody down here ever owns more than one pair of pants at +a time, and they would have hung this feller that stole Uncle Tio's if +they'd caught him. 'Tisn't horse thieves they lynch down here in the +Southwest; it's pants thieves!" and Marty chuckled. + +"Oh, Marty!" giggled Janice. "The whole police force has gone chasing +the robber who got Uncle Tio's trousers." + +"Thought there weren't any police?" gasped Marty. + +Janice told him about Rosita's husband. + +"A sheriff, eh?" said Marty. "We'll get him to grab and hold on to Tom +Hotchkiss--sure. Wonder if there's a calaboose here?" + +"There must be some way of holding the man. Did you communicate with +Lieutenant Cowan, Marty?" + +The boy wagged his head regretfully. "Nobody knows where he is. They +tell me at the telegraph office that the army is on a war basis and +information about the movements of troops is not locally given out. We +got to go on our own taps, I guess, Janice." + +"But, Marty, I don't know what to do. About this Tom Hotchkiss, I mean." + +"I know. You're mighty anxious to make the crossing and go up to Uncle +Brocky's mine. So am I. But we got to grab Tom Hotchkiss first." + +"If we can." + +"I told dad we would," Marty said confidently. "Oh! we'll fix it. But I +wish there was a constable here right now. I don't know about these +sheriffs. Still, it's against the law down here to carry a gun, I +s'pose, same as it is up North, unless you're a soldier or a law +officer. That's why that feller that swapped clothes with me said there +were no cops to bother about it." + +"Why! what do you mean, Marty?" his cousin cried. + +The boy drew from its hiding place in his sash a shiny "snub-nose" +service revolver--a much more deadly weapon than the army automatic, +for it will shoot farther and straighter. + +"This is what I got to boot in the trade," said the boy with immense +pride. + +"Marty!" almost shrieked Janice. "You'll shoot yourself!" + +"I won't till it's loaded," returned her cousin coolly. "I got the +cartridges, all right all right; but I haven't put any of 'em into the +cylinder. Oh, I know about guns, Janice." + +"Goodness me!" groaned the girl. "What are we coming to?" + +"We've _come_," announced Marty grimly. "And it ain't any Sunday-school +picnic at that. This isn't Polktown, Janice. We're at the Border. +'Tisn't no place for scare-cats, either." + +"I'm no 'scare-cat,' as you call them, I should hope," said the girl +indignantly. + +Nevertheless she was very much disturbed by this incident. It seemed so +peaceful here; they had seen scarcely a soldier in crossing Texas--none +at all since leaving the train. The fact that they were so near the +border-line of war-ridden Mexico was now suddenly impressed upon her +mind. + +"Suppose Marty should be shot?" she thought. "Oh! what would Uncle Jason +and Aunt 'Mira do to me?" + +"Say!" the boy suddenly interrupted the train of these thoughts and with +cheerfulness. "Say! it's up to us to do something. Let's get that old +don out of the store and put it to him--straight. They tell me he's the +whole cheese here." + +"He seems kindly disposed," Janice agreed. + +"He was a high muck-a-muck in Chihuahua once upon a time. But he favored +the poor people--peons, they call 'em--and old Diaz who used to boss the +whole o' Mexico run him out. I guess he's one good greaser that ain't +dead," and the boy grinned. + +"Oh, Marty!" + +"Well, maybe he can help. And if his son-in-law is sheriff----" + +At that moment Don José walked out upon the porch and seated himself in +his broad armchair. + +"Come on," said Marty, seizing his cousin's hand. + +They approached the hotel veranda. This time the proprietor did not rise +to greet them. He scarcely looked at them, in truth. + +But when Marty spoke Don José started upright in his chair and +stared--then arose. + +"By goodness! it is so!" he exclaimed. "Pardon! I did not recognize. It +is, then, that you have assumed the dress of my countrymen?" + +"We have to go over into Mexico and we thought it would be better if we +dressed in this way," Janice explained. + +"It is so," agreed the old gentleman, nodding vigorously. "And when +would you go?" + +"As soon as possible. But there is something----" + +"Manuel is going this evening with an empty wagon," the don said. "He +will take you to La Guarda for five dollars each." + +"Five dollars Mex?" put in Marty shrewdly. + +"But, yes." + +"Oh! but how about Tom Hotchkiss----" broke in Janice. + +"That feller in the red vest--the American talking with you in the +store, Don José?" questioned Marty. "We want to talk to you about him." + +"You know heem?" cried the old man amazedly. "Why did you not speak to +heem, then? He is gone." + +"Gone!" chorused the cousins. + +"I sorrow to tell you--yes. He is gone this half hour. He was bargaining +for my best horse, and he went out through my stables in the rear. He is +already at the crossing by now. _Sí, señorita._ I am sure your +friend--Señor Hoo-kiss, is he called?--did not see you." + +Janice and Marty glanced at each other. The boy, first to find his +voice, muttered: + +"Of all the gooneys that ever got away from the backwoods, _we_ take the +bun!" + +"The señorita is greatly disappoint?" queried the kind old man. "Señor +Hoo-kiss has gone to La Guarda. If the señorita and her _compadre_," and +he smiled at Marty, "go there she may overtake _los Americanos_, eh? +The boy, Manuel, is to be trusted." + +"We might's well go, Janice," groaned Marty. "No use even waitin' for +dad to answer my telegram. It's all off about Tom Hotchkiss." + +"Oh! poor Uncle Jason!" murmured Janice. + +"We'll take a ride with Manuel, Don José," said Marty briskly. "And can +you get us a good supper before we start?" + +"I will have a chicken killed, señor," said the old man, going indoors +to give the order. + +"Cricky! Chicken right off the hoof," groaned Marty. "Unless they pound +it like they say they do the boarding-house beefsteak, that pullet will +sure be tough." + +"Rosita is a good cook," Janice assured him wearily. + +"She's bound to be," grinned Marty. "'Twasn't wind-pudding that made her +as fat as she is, I bet." + +They tried not to show each other how disappointed they were over the +escape of Tom Hotchkiss. They had found him and lost him so easily! It +was positive that the absconding storekeeper did not know of the +presence of the cousins here; yet chance had sent him on his way before +they could have the man apprehended for the swindle he had worked in +Polktown. However, this misadventure made Janice's principal object in +coming to the Border loom more significantly in her thoughts. She must +reach San Cristoval and the Alderdice Mine as quickly as possible. + +While supper was being prepared and the two cousins waited for the +teamster, Manuel, Janice talked with Don José, who was a very +intelligent person indeed. He assured her that, if the journey to San +Cristoval was possible at all, it could be made from La Guarda on the +other side of the river as directly as from any place. + +He went so far as to write a letter in Spanish, which he carefully +translated for Janice's benefit, to the _cacique_, or mayor, really the +"feudal lord" of La Guarda, asking his good offices for "my very good +friends," as he politely called Janice and Marty. + +"He will advise you regarding route, conveyance, and payment for +services," Don José said. "_Sí, sí!_ you have the money to pay? +_Poderoso Caballero es Don Dinero_--a powerful gentleman is Mr. Money, +señorita." + +The two hurried their departure. At least, Janice and Marty hurried +their preparations for leaving Don José's establishment; but nobody else +hurried. + +Manuel hitched in his four mules after a while. Then he ate his supper. +Half an hour was consumed in picking his teeth and gossiping with +Rosita. + +"Hi! señor and señorita!" he finally shouted. "_Los Americanos!_ We +go--alla right?" + +The wagon was merely a platform of split poles laid over the axletrees +of the two pair of wheels, connected by a reach. But Marty, mindful of +his cousin's comfort, had bought a bundle of thatch for a seat. + +She climbed on and Marty followed. Manuel sat sidewise on the tongue +just behind the mules' heels. He shouted to the animals in Spanish, and +the mules were off. + +It was a dusty drive to the river, but comparatively cool at this time +of day. The cousins did not see the red vest of Tom Hotchkiss on the +way. He had doubtless got over the river before them. + +It was nine o'clock when the mules splashed down into the ford. Manuel +drew up his feet carefully, so as not to get them wet, although he was +barefooted. + +"If they got washed he'd die of the shock," whispered Marty to Janice. + +In one place the mules were body deep in the yellow, sluggish flood. +Janice and Marty stood up; but the water did not rise over the platform +of the wagon. In a few minutes Manuel shouted again to the mules and +they fought their way up the Mexican bank. + +"_Viva Méjico!_" ejaculated Manuel. + +"What's that for?" asked Marty suspiciously. + +"We haf arrived," said the teamster. "And whoever hears us," he added, +squinting about in the dusk, "will know we love _la patria_." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ROWELED BY CIRCUMSTANCES + + +For the first time since, long before, Janice had accused Nelson Haley +of taking his duties non-seriously, the Polktown School Committee was +not getting full measure of the young master's attention. + +The school work slipped along in its usual groove; but Nelson's mind was +not fixed upon it. Indeed, his waking thoughts--even his dream +fancies--were flying across the continent with Janice Day toward the +Mexican Border. + +The shock of learning of Janice's departure on her mission thoroughly +awoke Nelson. He blamed himself for not accompanying the girl. What must +she think of him? And he had not even believed her courageous enough to +start alone when she had warned him of her intention! + +"I was a dunce," he repeated over and over again. "_I_ should know that +Janice always says just what she means, means what she says, and, as +Walky Dexter puts it, has more fighting pluck than a barrel of bobcats!" + +Walky's tongue was the busiest of any in Polktown during the first few +days following the departure of Janice and Marty Day. He was not above +saying "I told you so!" to any and all who would listen to him. + +He claimed to have foreseen all along Janice's intention of going to her +wounded father; but he admitted that Marty had fooled him. + +"Jefers-pelters! who'd ha' thought that freckled-faced kid would have +sneaked out after his cousin and got the reach on all us older fellers +that 'ud ha' been only too glad ter go in his stead? Sure, you'd ha' +gone with Janice. I'd ha' gone myself--if my wife would ha' let me. Haw! +haw! haw! But there warn't no wife ter stop _you_ from goin', Frank." + +This was addressed to Frank Bowman, who had been out of town for some +days and had returned to find all the neighbors vastly excited over the +runaways. + +"No; I have no wife. But I suppose objections might be filed if I had +undertaken to go with Janice," the civil engineer said grimly. "But +Marty's with her." + +"Jefers-pelters! ain't he jest the greatest kid? But he's _only_ a kid," +added Mr. Dexter. + +"Who has gone after them?" demanded Frank. + +"Huh? What ye talkin' 'beout? You expect anybody could bring 'em back +once they got free and foot-loose?" + +"But isn't Mr. Day going on to be with them at the Border?" + +"Jase? Great jumpin' bobcats! how you talk!" + +"Why not?" + +"I calculate Jase has got about all he can 'tend to financially lookin' +out for them notes he indorsed for Tom Hotchkiss. Tom left him holdin' +the bag, ye know--er--haw! haw! haw!" + +"I see. No money to go with, eh?" + +"That's it--if nothin' more," agreed Walky. + +Frank said nothing to the town expressman about having lent Marty Day +the money that the boy had evidently needed to pay his traveling +expenses. Marty certainly could not be blamed. He had shown himself +wiser regarding Janice and her intentions than the older folk. Marty may +have handled the matter in a boyish way; but Frank Bowman did not feel +like blaming his young friend. + +He went up Hillside Avenue to the Day house that evening and found +Nelson Haley there before him. The schoolmaster showed a surface +placidity which was really no criterion of his inner feelings. + +"Well, what's going to be done about it?" demanded Frank, as soon as he +had pulled off his coat. + +Uncle Jason passed him a yellow sheet of paper--a telegram. It had been +brought over on the _Constance Colfax_ that afternoon from the Landing. +It was the night letter Marty had sent soon after leaving Chicago--a +short night letter at that: + + "I got my eye on Janice. She is all right so far." + +"Why, he isn't really with her, after all!" said Frank. + +"Oh, but they air together, Mr. Bowman," cried Aunt 'Mira. "My min's +much relieved. I didn't know but Marty had run away to kill Indians, or +be a pirate, or sich, like they do in books." + +"Boys don't do that even in books, nowadays, Mrs. Day," Nelson told her. +"They run away from home to become jitney bus drivers, or movie actors. +Indians and pirates are out of date." + +"You can poke fun," smiled the woman; "but if he's with Janice he's all +right." + +Frank Bowman had read the telegram a second time. + +"It's not altogether sure in my mind," he said in a voice too low for +Mrs. Day to hear as she bustled about the kitchen, "that Marty is really +with Janice. He wasn't when he sent this message at least." + +"Ain't that a fac'?" exclaimed Mr. Day. "Seems like he is jest +a-watchin' of her." + +"For fear she'd try to send him home if he revealed his presence," was +Nelson's shrewd observation. + +"You're mighty right, Haley," the civil engineer agreed. "That's what +he's doing." + +"Wal," Mr. Day sighed, "he's near her if anything should happen so's he +could be useful. But I ain't easy in my mind. A gal like her dependin' +on a boy like him----" + +"I don't suppose you could find it possible to go down there yourself, +Mr. Day?" suggested Frank. "Even if we could find out just where they +were heading for?" + +"I snum! I dunno how I could," groaned Mr. Day. "It'd seem fair +impossible. I tell you frankly, boys, Tom Hotchkiss has left me flat. +The elder--bless his hide, for he was never knowed to do sech a thing +afore--has offered to take up the fust note I indorsed for Tom, and +which is now due. Otherwise I should be holdin' a auction, I guess. I'm +in bad shape." + +"It's too bad, Mr. Day," sighed Nelson. "Is the bank going to press you +for every cent?" + +"They ain't feeling so friendly as they did at fust," Uncle Jason +admitted. "At fust it was hoped that something might be recovered from +the stock in the store and the fixtures. But Tom Hotchkiss was thorough; +ye gotter give him credit for that. He'd what they call hypothecated +every stitch, and we couldn't even tetch the money in the till--no, +sir!" + +"Too bad," mused Nelson. + +"He _was_ a rascal!" exclaimed Frank. + +"He was shrewd," admitted Uncle Jason. "An' as nice spoken an' +palaverin' a cuss as ever I see." + +"Sh! Jason! don't swear that-a-way--an' you a perfessin' member." + +"Wal, no use cryin' over the cream the cat licked off'n the top of the +pan--it's gone," groaned Uncle Jason. "And _he's_ gone. They tell me the +detecatifs the Bankers' Association put on his track can't find hide nor +hair of him up toward Canady. + +"An' then," Uncle Jason went on to say, "the bank people hev l'arned a +thing or two that didn't please 'em. Of course, 'tain't none o' their +business, but they'd seen Janice scurryin' around Middletown in that +little car o' hern and they got it fixed in their heads we Days must be +mighty well off." + +"Reflected glory, eh?" suggested Nelson. + +"Dunno about the glory part," sniffed Uncle Jason. "But I have an idee +they thought I had so much money I could put my hand right in my pocket +and pay these notes of Tom's in a bunch. They are all call notes, of +course. And the bank is tryin' to make the court order me to take 'em up +at once." + +"That is not a very neighborly thing to do," said Frank. + +"They seem to be afraid if I'm given time I'll try to cover up some o' +my assets. I snum! when a man's in difficulties with one o' these banks +his past repertation for honesty don't amount to shucks--no, sir!" + +But the main topic of conversation on this evening was the journey of +Janice and Marty. What were they doing at this very moment? Where were +they on the railroad train? For what point on the Border were they +aiming? + +Frank figured out, from the date and sending point of the telegram, the +probable route of the absent ones to the Mexican line. Yet they could +not be sure of even this. Not knowing on what train Janice and Marty +traveled, it was impossible to send an answer to Marty's telegram. + +"In all probability, however," Frank explained, "El Paso is their +ultimate destination, or some town of that string along the Rio Grande +touched by the Texas-Pacific. San Cristoval is to be reached more +directly from that locality than in any other way, now that the Mexican +International is out of commission." + +"Oh! don't say they'll really get into Mexico, Mr. Bowman!" cried Aunt +'Mira, who had come into the sitting room now. "They won't be let, will +they?" + +"Almiry's got the idee," said Mr. Day, "that there's a file of sojers +with fixed bayonets standin' all along the aidge of that Rio Grande +River, keepin' folks from crossin' over." + +"You'd find such a guard at El Paso bridge, all right," Frank said. "But +there are plenty of places where the river can be forded, unless raised +by infrequent floods. Those who wish to, go back and forth into Mexican +territory as they please--no doubt of that." + +"But Janice and Marty won't know nothing about _that_!" cried Mrs. Day. + +"Trust Marty for finding out anything he needs to know," put in Nelson, +yet with a gloomy air. + +"You're right there," Frank added. "He isn't tongue-tied." + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Aunt 'Mira. "I don't know as shooting Indians or +turning pirate would be much worse. They say them Mexicaners _do_ shoot +people." + +"I snum, yes!" ejaculated Mr. Day. "They shot Broxton, didn't they?" + +"Oh! you don't s'pose they've got a grudge against the Days, do ye?" +cried the anxious woman. "Maybe they'll act jest as mean as they kin +toward any of our fambly." + +"No, I do not believe that, Mrs. Day," Nelson hastened to assure her. +"Janice and Marty will be in no more danger down there than any other +Americans. Only----" + +"Only what, Mr. Haley?" asked Aunt 'Mira. + +"They shouldn't be there alone. Somebody should be with them," said the +schoolmaster desperately. + +"Ain't that the trewth?" cried Aunt 'Mira. "I wish I was with 'em +myself. I read in the _Fireside Fav'rite_ that 'tain't considered a +proper caper, anyway, for a young gal to go anywhere much alone without +a chaperon." + +At this moment there came a rap upon the side porch door. Aunt 'Mira +rose to respond, and as she went into the little boxlike hall she failed +to quite close the sitting room door. Therefore the trio left behind +heard plainly the following dialogue: + +"Miz' Scattergood! I declare, how flustered you look. Come in--do." + +"No wonder I'm flustered. I--I---- No, I won't come no farther than the +hall, Miz' Day. I'll tell ye here." + +"Oh! what is it?" gasped Aunt 'Mira. "Nothin's happened to 'Rill?" + +"That's jest what it is. Oh, Miz' Day, I'm an ol' fool!" + +The fact that Mrs. Scattergood was frankly weeping was what held the +trio of men in the sitting room silent. + +"What you done now?" demanded Aunt 'Mira with a grimness that seemed to +point to her special knowledge of her visitor's foolishness on previous +occasions. "I told her the trewth----" + +"My soul an' body, Miz' Scattergood, the trewth in your hands is jest as +dangerous as a loaded gun. What did you tell her?" + +"'Bout Janice. Hopewell had been keeping it from her--that Janice had +gone away, ye know. Gone away to Mexico, I mean. And when I told her it +scart her so---- I come right over for you, Miz' Day. You're sech a +master-hand when a body's sick." + +"Dr. Poole been there?" + +"Yes. An' he's afeard----" + +"You wait jest a minute," said Mrs. Day. "I'll put on somethin' an' go +with ye. But 'tis my opinion, Sarah Scattergood, that you oughter wear a +muzzle!" + +The heavy woman bustled about for her things without saying a word to +her husband and the young men until she was ready for departure. + +"I'm going over to Hopewell Drugg's, Jase. You'll hafter git along as +best you kin till I come back. There's bread in the breadbox an' a whole +jar of doughnuts. Be sure an' keep the butt'ry door shut and put out the +cat. There's suet tryin' out in the oven--don't fergit it when ye make +the fire in the mornin'. Maybe I'll be back by mornin'; but Rill's took +a bad turn an' I shell stay if I'm needed. Goo' night, Mr. Haley. Goo' +night, Mr. Bowman." + +She went out, following the birdlike Mrs. Scattergood. Soon after Nelson +and Frank strolled down Hillside Avenue together. Frank had been as +silent as the schoolmaster for some time. At last he said: + +"When will you start?" + +Nelson jumped. His face flushed and then paled and he stared with +darkening eyes into his companion's countenance. + +"You--you're a mind reader," he said at last, trying to laugh. + +"I only know what _I'd_ do if I were in your shoes," the civil engineer +said. "I know how you feel. I couldn't bear it as well as you have if +my---- Well, if anybody belonging to me as Janice does to you, Haley, +were taking such a trip." + +Nelson groaned. "I don't know what to do. The School Committee will +raise a row----" + +"Let 'em," Frank said briskly. "You're making it harder for yourself to +go by thinking of your duties here. Cut loose! If you went to the +hospital with a broken leg they'd have to get along without you. This is +a whole lot more important than a broken leg." + +"You're right!" groaned Nelson, who felt himself roweled by +circumstances. "I must go." + +"When?" + +"It will have to be after the bank opens to-morrow." + +"You'll go from Middletown, then? I'll see if I can get you +transportation for part of the way to Chicago at least. You're a member +of my family," and Frank grinned. + +"That's awfully good of you," responded Nelson. + +"And say!" + +"What is it?" asked the schoolmaster. + +"How are you fixed financially? I can put my hands on a little more +money. You see, I expect it is on some of my money that Marty got away." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I lent him most of the money I had about me," confessed Frank. "I +didn't know what he wanted it for--the young rascal! But if you need +more than you have handy----" + +"Thanks ever so much, Bowman; but I've quite a little saved up now. I +sha'n't need such help as _that_." + +They parted on the corner and Nelson went home to Mrs. Beaseley's to +write his resignation from the situation of principal of the Polktown +school. He was very sure that to leave the school board in the lurch in +this way, with less than twenty-four hours' notice, would terminate his +engagement in this school for all time. + +"But I must go after Janice--I _must_!" he thought, tossing wakefully in +his bed. "I can wait no longer." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AT LA GUARDA + + +Janice and Marty, clinging together on the rough platform of Manuel's +wagon for fear of falling off, saw very little of the country through +which they traveled that evening. That the way was rough they knew, and +that sparse trees bordered it on either hand was likewise apparent even +in the dusk. But they saw no habitations and no light save the distant +stars. + +The mules rattled on at a jog-trot, while Manuel beguiled the way with +untranslatable songs in the vernacular. If Marty asked him a question +about the way or the distance or the time, all Manuel said was: + +"We reech there preety soon, _hombre_--alla right!" + +By and by they did espy lights ahead. It was then almost midnight. A +group of horsemen arose suddenly like shadows out of the mesquite and +hailed the driver. + +"_Viva Méjico!_" squalled Manuel before he could pull his mules to a +standstill. + +A sharp demand in Spanish made Janice cower in her place on the reach +and cling more tightly to Marty's hand. They listened to Manuel +chattering a reply in which was included Don José's name. In a moment +they were driving on, undisturbed. + +"That chief, huh! _he_ know the good Don José," Manuel said to his +passengers. + +"Suppose he had _not_ known him?" drawled Marty in the semi-gloom. + +They could see that Manuel shrugged his shoulders; but he made no other +reply. + +The twinkling lights of La Guarda were now near at hand. They were not +halted but rattled into the sprawling little town and on to a large, +square, low building, the entrance to which was a wide and dimly lighted +archway. + +"Hi tunket!" breathed Marty. "It looks like a police station. D'you +s'pose we're going to be pinched, Janice?" + +But he grinned as he asked the question and got down nonchalantly +enough, to help his cousin alight. + +"Not much like the calaboose at Middletown," he observed. + +"You horrid boy!" Janice said. "Are you trying to scare me?" + +"Couldn't do it," declared Marty with admiration. "You're a reg'lar +feller, Janice." + +"Thank you, dear. I know you mean to compliment me. Now, what is Manuel +doing?" + +The teamster had called some question into the empty archway of the +building, repeating it several times. There now appeared a little, +shrewd-looking Spaniard without a spear of hair on either head or face, +and wearing a flapping gown over what was plainly his pajamas. + +Manuel and this apparition gabbled in their own tongue for several +minutes; then the teamster gestured toward the bald man, saying to +Marty: + +"Señor Don Abreguardo. He will tak' you in--alla right. _Mi dinero, +señor._" + +This was a request for payment, as Marty very well knew, so the boy +handed over a five-dollar gold piece. Manuel looked at the coin +suspiciously, bit it, rang it on one of the flagstones, weighed it +thoughtfully in his palm, and finally pocketed it and drove off without +further word. + +"What do you know about that?" murmured Marty. + +Janice had already turned to the old man in the flapping gown. He bowed +very low to her. + +"Within," he said clearly, in good English if a little stilted in +diction--"within lies my poor house. We Mexicans have no word for +'home,' señorita; but _la patria_ means more than country. All I possess +save _la patria_ lies herein. It is yours." + +"Why, he is even more polite than Don José," whispered the girl as they +followed the Mexican who had evidently got out of bed to attend them. + +"Ye-as," Marty said slowly. "But it seems to me they offer too much." + +"They are not as cautious as us Yankees," his cousin said, smiling. + +"_Now_ you've said a mouthful," announced the boy with emphasis. + +The passage through the wall led to a roomy court around which the house +was built. There was the tinkle of water falling into a basin, the fresh +smell of vegetation, and by the light of the stars Janice saw that trees +were growing here. + +"It is late, señorita and señor. My family have retired. I will assign +you both rooms and in the morning we will become acquainted--eh?" said +the don. "This way, please. You are brother and sister?" + +"Cousins," Janice explained. + +"Ah--yes. You would not be separate far--eh? This room for you, then, +señorita. The next on the right for our young señor--eh?" + +Lamps burned in both rooms. They were comfortably furnished and the +stone floor had rugs upon it. + +"You will be undisturbed here, I assure you. In the morning, señorita, a +woman will wait upon you." + +He bowed and clattered away in his hard, heel-less slippers. + +"Seems like a good sort of a creature, after all," Marty said. "Don +Abreguardo, eh?" + +Janice made no reply save to bid him good-night and entered her room. +She had lost that feeling of uncertainty and actual fear that had +oppressed her. The future promised more cheer than she had believed +possible. + +Those back in Polktown had been entirely wrong. Her own judgment seemed +to have been the sounder. Here she was, over the Border, miles on the +way to her wounded father! + +"And everybody so kind!" she thought as she sank to sleep on the +comfortable couch under the canopy. "Only I wish we might have caused +the arrest of that Tom Hotchkiss." + +It seemed to the weary girl as though she closed her eyes and opened +them immediately upon the broad sunshine and the tinkling fountain in +the court of Don Abreguardo's dwelling. She heard Marty's voice and that +of their host outside. + +Janice arose and found herself well rested after her repose. She drew +the lattices at the window and their clatter aroused something else. + +Just inside her closed door, leaning against the wall, was something she +had not before noticed. It looked like a bag of old clothes covered by a +purple _serape_. This began to move, quite startling the girl for an +instant. + +The _serape_ was put aside languidly and a bare brown arm appeared. +Janice retreated to the other side of the canopied bed and watched. A +girl's head was revealed--lank, black hair, a very dark face with high +cheek bones, bead-black eyes, and huge silver rings hanging in the lobes +of her ears, fairly touching her bared shoulders. + +"What do you want here?" gasped Janice. + +"I am the one sent, señorita!" ejaculated the girl in English. "I help +you, señorita. It is an honor." And, having risen quickly and as +gracefully as a panther, she bowed. + +"Oh! you are the maid?" + +"_Sí, señorita!_" + +Janice decided she must be an Indian--one of pure blood. There was a +look about her different from that of the Mexican girls she had seen. + +"What is your name?" asked the girl from the North, giving herself up to +the ministrations of the maid, who seemed quite skillful. + +"Luz, señorita, is what I am called. It is the little name for Lucita, +señorita." + +"You have worked long for Don Abreguardo?" + +"I was born in the house, señorita," said the girl, with a flash of her +white teeth. + +"Is there a large family?" Janice asked doubtfully. "I am a stranger, +you know." + +"His mother lives--the ancient Donna Abreguardo. He now has his second +wife, has the good don. By his first he has two daughters and a son. +Young Don Ricardo is married and is at the Hacienda del Norte. The two +señoritas are of the marriageable age--oh, yes! But in these troubled +times who has thought for marriage?" + +"And this is all his family?" + +"There are the children. Three. Of the good don's second marriage. He +has his quiver full, as my people say," and the Indian maid chuckled. + +She seemed so intelligent that Janice would have continued the +conversation had she not heard Marty moving so impatiently about the +courtyard. + +"Come on, Janice!" he said as she appeared. "There's breakfast +waiting--and it ain't _all_ beans. I'm as hungry as a shark." + +A table was laid, with covered dishes on it, near the fountain. The +courtyard was a clean, comfortable place. The style of living familiar +to the Abreguardos was of course entirely new to Janice and her cousin. +"Luz" waited upon the guests. + +Don Abreguardo came bustling into the court before they had finished the +repast. Now that he was dressed, he proved to be a very dapper figure of +an old gentleman, his bald poll hidden by a cap. + +"This is a fine day--by goodness, yes!" he announced. "Have you attended +the señorita with diligence, Luz?" + +"As I would the Donna Isabella herself," declared the Indian handmaid. + +"You may bring my coffee here. We will talk." + +It seemed it was a coffee-making machine he desired. He was very +particular about his coffee, was Don Abreguardo--liked it black and +thick and drank it without sugar or cream. + +While the coffee dripped he said, bowing to Janice: + +"I have read the letter from my very good friend, Don José Pez, which +you so kindly gave me last night, señorita. He tells me you have need of +haste in making your way to Los Companos District?" + +"It is true, sir," Janice said eagerly. "My father was wounded quite +three weeks ago. So we heard. Since then we have not learned a thing +about him." + +"He is at one mine beyond San Cristoval?" + +"The Alderdice. He has been chief man there for more than three years." + +"_Sí, sí!_ I understand," said Señor Abreguardo. "There has been trouble +in that vicinity, it is true. But it seems things always quiet +down--even the worst." + +After this more or less comforting assurance the old man sat thinking +for a minute or two with lips pursed. Now and then he took sips of his +first cup of coffee. + +"Were your haste not what it is, señorita," he said at length, "I would +urge you to remain--you and your young _compadre_--until I might send +for certain news of your father. But you are anxious in your mind--by +goodness, yes!" + +"Oh! indeed I am," cried Janice. + +"Then we must forego the pleasure of your presence here at my poor +dwelling," the señor said politely. "There is a way of going soon, I +believe, to San Cristoval. Carlitos Ortez goes in his gas-car--his _tin +Leezie_, he call it. You know?" and their host grinned suddenly. + +"Cricky! an automobile?" gasped Marty. "Just the caper!" + +"_Sí, sí!_" said Señor Abreguardo. "Carlitos, he swear by the _tin +Leezie_. He will take you to San Cristoval if his car, it do not +br-r-eak down--by goodness, yes! + +"I hear," the man went on, nodding and still sipping coffee, "last +evening before you arrive, señorita, Carlitos have engage to transport +another traveler up country. He may take three passengers in his car as +easily as one--and you will pay him twenty American dollars apiece." + +"Whew!" murmured the frugal Marty. "Couldn't we buy his flivver for that +and run it ourselves?" + +The señor's eyes twinkled. "He would charge you double--I assure you," +he said. "Carlitos is no lover of _los Americanos_. But he will do as +_I_ say. Besides," added the man very sensibly, "you would not know the +road, and no American unattended could easily pass the bands of rovers +now infesting this district." + +"Sounds nice, don't it?" whispered Marty to Janice. "What say?" + +"Oh, Marty! I _must_ go on," said the girl. + +"Sure! All right, we take you," said Marty to Señor Abreguardo. + +"You will pay Carlitos Ortez half of the money before you start--pay it +into _my_ hands," explained the don. "And the end of your journey--San +Cristoval, for he cannot go beyond that point--you will pay him the +remainder and give him a paper assuring me that he has performed his +part of the contract. You are thus safeguarded, and I shall have done my +duty by Don José's friends," concluded Señor Abreguardo, bowing over his +coffee cup. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE RED VEST AGAIN + + +Carlitos Ortez was one of those snaky-looking, black-haired peons, with +a wisp of jetty mustache, who serve as the type of Mexican villains in +lurid melodrama--and he had the heart of a child! + +Janice might have been afraid of the quick-motioned, nervous little man +had she been of a less observant nature. But she saw his eyes--deep +brown, placid like a forest pool. The eyes served to make Carlitos +almost handsome. + +The automobile came to the archway of Señor Abreguardo's house in an +hour. Janice and Marty did not meet any of the man's family. The Indian +maiden, Lucita, told Janice that the ladies of the household seldom +stirred from their apartments until after _siesta_. + +But the don himself stood bareheaded in the sun to see them start. +Carlitos had put Janice and Marty into the back of the car. + +"That other _hombre_--I peek him up later. He sit weeth me," he +explained. + +When they got under way with a good deal of rattle and banging, Marty, +jouncing against his cousin as the car went over a stone in the road, +sniffed. + +"'Tin Lizzie!' He said it!" the boy growled. "This jitney's about +one-candle power, isn't it? D'you s'pose there're any springs--ugh--on +the contraption at all?" + +"Let's not fuss," said Janice. "Think how much worse it would be if we +had to ride horses--or mules. All of those I have seen have been half +wild." + +"Hi tunket! this flivver's wild enough, I should think," Marty declared, +as the car skidded around a corner. + +La Guarda was not a large town, and they were not long in getting to the +edge of it. Under the shade of a low-roofed tavern a man was +standing--quite a bulky man. + +"There ees my other passenger," said Carlitos over his shoulder. "He of +_los Americanos_, too. I theenk he go up country to buy horses. He horse +trader. Sell beeg horse last night to Don Abreguardo." + +Janice had seized Marty's hand and squeezed it hard. She was not +listening to Carlitos, but staring at the man on the veranda of the +tavern. + +He wore one of the high-crowned, wide-brimmed hats of the country; but +he was not otherwise dressed like the Mexicans. His waistcoat made a +vivid splotch of color as he stood in the shade. + +"Cricky!" gasped Marty. "Tom Hotchkiss! red vest, an' all!" + +"Oh, it _is_, Marty!" agreed his cousin. + +"And we can't do a thing to him!" groaned the boy. "He's gettin' farther +away from the Border; afraid of being nabbed, I s'pose." + +"I hope he will not recognize us." + +"We'll be dummies. Keep that veil thing over your face, Janice, then he +won't know you from one of these greaser girls. An' he'll take me for a +Mexican, too." + +"Thank you!" murmured Janice tartly, and Marty grinned teasingly. + +There was no time for further planning. The automobile halted, panting, +at the tavern and the man wearing the red vest came out with his bag. + +Close to, he was not to be mistaken for anybody but Tom Hotchkiss, the +absconding Polktown storekeeper. He was a man of girth, with short legs. +His head was set low upon a pair of heavy shoulders. Indeed, he +possessed little visible neck--scarcely enough on which to put a collar. + +Tom Hotchkiss was of the apoplectic build to suffer in a warm climate; +and the sun, even at this time of year, seemed almost tropical to these +New Englanders. He had discarded none of his ordinary dress save his +hat, and that looked incongruous enough with his brown cutaway coat, the +red vest, gray trousers, and spats. + +"He certainly _is_ a hot member to look at," muttered Marty Day, as the +man approached the car. + +Hotchkiss stared curiously at the other passengers; but Janice hid her +face with her veil and the broad brim of Marty's hat quite sheltered his +freckled countenance from casual observation. + +"Friends of Don Abreguardo, señor," explained Carlitos. "They go weeth +us." + +He cranked up again, and the automobile began to shake and quiver "like +an elephant with the palsy," to quote the disgusted Marty. + +"Say!" he whispered, "this isn't much like your Kremlin--believe me!" + +They started. A dog got up from his bed in the dust of the road, yapped +at them languidly, and lay down again in his form. The car skidded +around another corner and they were immediately in the open country. +Climbing a long hill the automobile seemed a dozen times on the point of +being stalled; but no--she kept pluckily on to the summit. + +On the down-grade beyond this rise the car went so fast--thumping and +crashing over outcropping roots and other obstructions--that Janice +cried out in alarm. + +"If we don't meet nothin' we're all right--eh?" shouted Carlitos above +the roar of the car. "The brake, she done bust." + +"Huh!" muttered Marty. "One thing sure, we can go as fast as this old +'tin Lizzie' can." + +This did not sound altogether reassuring to Janice. She unlatched the +door on her side of the tonneau, ready to jump out if it looked as +though the reckless driver was about to bring them to disaster. + +The man in the red vest hung on to the side, and, short as his neck was, +the two passengers in the tonneau could see that roll of fat above the +collar of his shirt turning pale! + +"Tom's getting white around the gills," whispered Marty to his cousin, +chuckling. "He frightens easy. I wonder if we could scare him into +giving up that _cash_ and helping dad?" + +"But--but he surely ha-hasn't all that mo-money with him," was jounced +out of Janice's lips in a staccato whisper. + +"He ain't forgot where he put it nor how to get hold of it again, you +bet!" growled Marty. "Hi tunket! this sun ought to sweat it out of him. +Ain't it hot?" + +"And dusty," sighed Janice. "Oh, thank goodness! here's the bottom of +the hill." + +Carlitos grinned back at them--the smile of a wolf, but with his kind +eyes twinkling. + +"How you do, eh? The señorita not like such traveling--by goodness, no?" +he said. "But if we travel not fast on the--what you call?--down-grade, +we not travel far, perhaps, yes?" + +Janice covered her countenance and made no reply, for the startled face +of Hotchkiss was likewise turned back. + +"You don't have to go so fast on _my_ account," he snarled. "I got all +the time there is." + +"Cricky!" whispered Marty. "I'd like to hear him say that after the +judge and jury get through with him. He ought to get _life_ for what +he's done." + +"Sh!" begged Janice. "It will do no good to quarrel with him here." + +They rattled on through a pleasant valley, with here and there a bunch +of cattle or horses grazing. Occasionally a _vaquero_ dashed past and +waved his hand in greeting to Carlitos Ortez. The latter seemed to fall +into a gloomy mood and for two hours did not speak. + +Then he stopped the car beside a well at the edge of the chaparral and +there in the shade the passengers alighted, while Carlitos filled his +radiator and tinkered with parts of the machine that seemed to need +attention. + +Janice and Marty managed to keep away from Tom Hotchkiss and spoke only +in low tones. Perhaps the man with the red vest believed his +fellow-passengers to be Mexicans, like Carlitos. + +"Who owns all this land?" Hotchkiss asked. + +Carlitos jerked his head out from under the car where he had been +fumbling, and scowled. + +"By the right of God, señor, _I_ own part of it. All of _Méjico_ is +ours--the people's. We own. But the reech and the strong have taken +away our lands--by goodness, yes!" + +"Well, you haven't got anything on folks everywhere," declared +Hotchkiss. "The strong and the shrewd get it all--you bet!" + +"This," and Carlitos swept a gesture including all the valley, "is the +_ranchero_ of Señor Baldasso Nunez. He is a buzzard." + +"Yes?" + +"His father was a buzzard before him--the old señor. Look you!" cried +Carlitos with growing excitement. "My grandfather was a boy in the old +señor's time. He is past eighty now and still working for the present +Señor Baldasso." + +"A long while to keep one job," said Hotchkiss. + +"Listen, señor! At sixteen my grandfather was a big, fine, strong +man--like _me_. He wish to marry a certain girl--she is my grandmother. +Well! It is so that the old señor hear about my grandfather's wish--by +goodness, yes! He send to my grandfather and offer a hundred pesos so he +may pay the priest for to marry him and my grandfather accept, señor." + +"That was mighty neighborly of the señor," observed the Yankee +storekeeper. + +"Yes-s?" hissed Carlitos. "One hundred pesos, mind--and the Church take +all of that. Between the church and the landowners we are ground to +powder! + +"Mind you, señor, it was for becoming man and wife, and for the raising +of seven sons and daughters and, now, of over thirty of _my_ generation. +My grandfather and all the men and boys living of his race, save me and +a brother who is with the raiders, are still working for Señor Baldasso +to pay off that hundred pesos! + +"What you think of that, señor, huh?" + +"Aw--that don't seem sensible," said Hotchkiss. "Haven't you paid the +original debt?" + +"_Sí_, señor! that is the truth. Always are we kep' in debt to Señor +Baldasso. _Me_, I get out--turn outlaw you say--buy this 'tin +Leezie'--mak' money plenty. But none of it go to that Señor Baldasso--by +goodness, no!" + +"So you aren't helping pay off the family debt?" drawled Hotchkiss. + +"No, señor. Sometime I hope to," said Carlitos grimly. + +"Yes?" + +"At once. All of a piece. You understand?" + +"You mean you're going to make money enough to close the account with +the old man?" + +"Not money," and Carlitos smiled his wolf-like smile again. "I hope to +help hang Señor Baldasso at the door of his own _hacienda_--by goodness, +yes!" + +Marty exploded a mighty "Cricky!" Then he asked: "Is _that_ why you +Mexicans are fighting all the time?" + +"To get back our land--our own. To govern ourselves. _Sí_, señor," +Carlitos declared eagerly. "We long for a deliverer--a devoted leader +who will free us from taskmasters both native and foreign. But we desire +no foreign intervention--by goodness, no! Hands off, gringos. I weesh +that Rio Grande," he concluded, pointing into the northeastern distance, +"were ten thousand miles wide." + +"Heh!" ejaculated Tom Hotchkiss, peering in the direction Carlitos +pointed. "Is _that_ the river--just over there?" + +"It is five miles away, señor." + +"But I thought you were taking me away from the river all this time?" +sputtered the other. "Why! that's the Border, isn't it?" + +"But yes, señor. We have to follow the road. I cannot drive the tin +Leezie through the chaparral." + +"I don't like it," muttered the man. "I thought we were already a long +way from the States." + +Marty nudged his cousin. "Scart as he can be, Janice," he whispered. +"'By goodness, yes!' I believe if we had the time, we could march old +Red Vest back over the Border and clap him into jail!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE BANDITS + + +The party got under way once more, Carlitos again silent and, Janice +thought, Tom Hotchkiss eyeing her and Marty from time to time +suspiciously. The fugitive had discovered that the couple in the back of +the car were not Mexicans, and Hotchkiss was suspicious of all +Americans. Indeed, he was living a very uneasy existence. Being +naturally of a cowardly nature, even the distance he had put between +himself and Polktown did not seem to his mind great enough to insure +safety. The fact that, although they had been four hours on the road +from La Guarda to San Cristoval, they were only five miles from the Rio +Grande, greatly excited him. + +Had their errand to San Cristoval and beyond not been so pressing, +Janice and Marty might have conspired with Carlitos to get the swindling +storekeeper back over the Border at some point where an American law +officer could be found. + +Janice believed she could do this. She was feeling much more certain of +herself than she had on the train. Two days at the Border had made a +great change in Janice Day. Marty was not the only independent one. The +girl felt that, after all, the world outside her heretofore sheltered +life was not so very difficult. + +Thus far she had met nothing but kindness from people whom she had not +expected to be kind. The way to her father seemed to be wide open before +her. She was going to accomplish her mission without an iota of the +trouble she had feared. + +However, as this was not the time to make the attempt to bring Hotchkiss +to justice she pulled the veil closer over her face and avoided the +man's eyes when he chanced to look back. She hoped the fellow was just +worried. Of course, being a thief and a swindler, he was suspicious of +everybody. He showed very plainly that he distrusted even Carlitos. The +Mexican, however, seemed in a cheerful mood again. His outbreak against +the "buzzard," Señor Baldasso Nunez, must have relieved his mind. + +They rattled up hill and down dale. Don Abreguardo's handmaid had put a +basket of lunch into the car. At another well they stopped and ate this, +Janice offering some to Carlitos and to his fat and perspiring seat +mate. + +"But yes, señorita," Carlitos said politely. "We do not reach La Gloria +till sunset. Then we eat at Tomas Lopez's hotel. Fine hotel--by +goodness, yes!" + +"Why didn't you tell me it was so far?" grumbled Tom Hotchkiss. "I +would have brought something along to eat." + +Carlitos shrugged his shoulders. "I forget," he said. "Me, I have plent' +tobac' for roll cigareet; what more any _hombre_ need, I see not!" + +They went on, passing through a village now and then. Having turned now +directly from the river, Tom Hotchkiss seemed in a better mood. He +commented frankly upon the miserable habitations and the miserable +people he saw. + +"I don't see what they get out of it," he observed. "Filthy rags to +clothe them, nothing to eat but beans, and most of the houses no better +than pig-stys. Why! even the chickens--look at 'em, will you? They ain't +fit to eat, they're so scrawny." + +"They are not for eat, señor," said Carlitos softly. "They are for +fight." + +"For fighting, you mean?" + +"_Sí_, señor. The Mexican may be poor, but never too poor to fight good +game cock on Sunday after mass--by goodness, yes!" + +In one of the villages Carlitos slowed down--then stopped. There was a +group of old women squatting in the street before the door of an adobe +dwelling. They swayed from side to side, moaning in unison, while now +and then one would lift up her head and wail aloud. + +"What is the matter with them?" demanded Janice. + +Carlitos had removed his hat and crossed himself, muttering a prayer. +"It is a funeral, señorita," he explained. "See! they carry heem to his +grave." + +Four men came forth from the house, carrying a packing case on their +shoulders. This makeshift casket had stenciled on its end: "Glass. Use +No Hooks." The intimation that the corpse was so fragile amused Marty. + +"Hi tunket!" he murmured. "Don't these folks down here beat ev'rything +you ever saw Janice?" + +The old women mourners scuttled out of the way. A band of three +musicians, whose instruments consisted of a cornet, a piccolo, and a +drum, appeared and headed the procession. All the village fell in behind +the band and the pall-bearers, two and two, and when they turned out of +the main street to mount the hill toward the cemetery, Carlitos cranked +up again and the car went on, leaving the funeral cortège marching +blithely to the strains of a well-known Mexican air. + +The wail of the cornet, the squealing of the piccolo, and the rattle of +the drum accompanied the automobile out of town and a long way into the +country. They began to mount into higher ground the farther they got +from the river. It was almost sunset as Carlitos had prophesied when +they saw La Gloria lying above them on a cheerful mesa. + +The town was nearly ringed around by green trees. The main streets were +paved. The plaza, or central square, was gay with shops and there was a +bandstand. Señor Tomas Lopez's hotel was about on a par with the Pez +hostelry at Fort Hancock. + +But after the dusty and nerve-racking ride in the automobile a chance +for quiet, a bath, and relaxation between the clean coarse sheets of a +bed, seemed heavenly to Janice Day. She really did not want to get up +for supper. + +Marty, however, kept calling to her and would not be denied. He had +found out that there was beefsteak--of a sort--for supper. + +"I never did realize before," he sadly admitted, "how tired a feller +could get of just beans. I never want ma, when I get home again, to have +'em on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings--never! Shucks! I feel like I +was turning into a bean myself. I bet if you planted me I'd sprout into +a beanstalk." + +They sat in the window till late in the evening and watched the people +in the square. There was a band and it played some of the popular airs +they were familiar with in the North. But when it essayed the native +music Janice liked it better. + +Old and young promenaded, the girls in bright costumes, the young +_caballeros_ in garments quite as gay--sashes, short velvet jackets, +sombreros with cords of silver bullion, and some of them with clattering +silver spurs on their heels. Here and there scuffled an Indian through +the throng in a brightly dyed _serape_. The older women sat on benches +or in the arched doorways, many of them smoking big, black cigars. And +the children were everywhere, but more nearly dressed than they had been +at the Border. Up here on the mesa the nights were chilly. + +They got out of La Gloria very early in the morning, for Carlitos +assured them it would be a long day's journey to San Cristoval even if +nothing happened to the automobile. + +"An' me, I never know when she goin' to break down," he said with one of +his disarming smiles. + +Hotchkiss quarreled with the Mexican before the party got off. "How do I +know where you're takin' me? I can't buy a map of the country--don't +believe they ever _made_ one down here. And who are these folks I'm +a-travelin' with? I thought they were Mex; but I see they are white +folks." + +"What am _I_--nigger, huh?" demanded Carlitos, "You not lik-a travel +weeth me, you pay me an' stop here. I no care." + +"We won't bite you, Mister," drawled Marty, keeping well in the +background, however. "What are you scared of?" + +"What's your name?" growled Hotchkiss suspiciously. + +"Down here it's George Washington. What's yours?" returned Marty, +chuckling and backing still further away. + +"Just as near Abraham Lincoln as yours is George Washington," snarled +Hotchkiss. + +Marty and Janice got into the car, having gone around back of it to +enter from the opposite side. Hotchkiss climbed in beside the Mexican +driver, still muttering about "not knowing where he was bound for." + +The road was rougher than it had been the day before and much of the way +it was ascending. So the automobile went slowly. The engine +sputtered--and so did Tom Hotchkiss. Carlitos was sunk in sullen mood +and his comments--usually addressed to the car--were in Spanish, and +scarcely translatable. + +Janice became exceedingly weary before the morning was half over. Riding +over plowed ground in a springless cart would have been little worse +than being jounced about in this automobile. + +They did not rest even during _siesta_, only stopping long enough for +Carlitos to mend his car with a piece of wire and what Janice supposed +must be much Spanish profanity. The journey was getting on the Mexican's +nerves as it was upon that of his passengers. + +At certain places they were stopped by rough-looking men--some of them +armed. Carlitos made his explanations in his own tongue. Tom Hotchkiss +was growing visibly panic-stricken. He had doubtless been afraid of +arrest on the United States side of the Border; but the appearance of +these bands of seemingly masterless vagabonds frightened the runaway +storekeeper from Polktown still more. + +It was mid-afternoon and the automobile was limping along through a wild +valley, when above the coughing of the engine Janice heard the +_rat-a-plan_ of hoofbeats. She looked around earnestly, and finally +spied a company of horsemen charging cross-country toward the trail the +automobile was following. + +"Oh! who are those?" she cried, leaning forward to place her hand on +Carlitos' shoulder. + +He looked up, saw the cavalcade, and jerked the steering wheel a little. +They bumped into a bowlder, the car shot back, and then the engine died +with an awful rattle. + +"_Carramba!_" sputtered Carlitos. "We have the accident now--yes, huh?" + +"But who are those men?" repeated Janice. "They see us. They are coming +this way." + +Carlitos stood up to look. He shrugged his shoulders. + +"That is Dario Gomez riding in their lead. He is a great bandit chief, +señorita. Now we are--what you call?--in for it--by goodness, yes!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE SITUATION BECOMES DIFFICULT + + +They had halted beside a dense patch of chaparral. Carlitos had scarcely +thrown his verbal bomb when Tom Hotchkiss slid out of his seat and dived +into the thicket beside the narrow road like a wood-chuck into its hole. +No fat man ever disappeared more quickly. + +Janice and Marty were too disturbed by the announcement of the +automobile driver, and too startled withal, to note Hotchkiss' +departure. The bandits, headed by Dario Gomez, swung into the trail and +charged immediately down upon the stalled automobile. + +The band consisted of nearly forty--an unusually large and important +_commando_, as the Mexican banditti rove the country mostly in small +parties, preying on whomever may have anything worth taking, and keeping +up a desultory warfare against the troops of whatever de facto +government may at the time be in power in Mexico City. + +"Hi tunket!" exploded Marty. "What are we going to do now?" + +Carlitos shrugged his shoulders, sat down, and began to roll the ever +present cigarette. "As the young señor says, ''I tunkeet!'" quoted the +Mexican. "What can we do but submeet?" + +"Submit to what, Carlitos?" whispered Janice. "What is the danger from +these men?" + +"_Quién sabe?_" drawled the driver of the car. "We are in the hands of +God, señorita." + +The leader of the fierce-looking band was a man with long, waving +_mustachios_, a regular piratical-looking hirsute adornment. He carried +a white, ugly scar across his right cheek--evidently the memento of a +more or less recent saber wound. He spoke first of all in Spanish to +Carlitos while his wildly riding followers--plainly _vaqueros_ +all--dragged their mounts back to a dramatic halt about the stalled car, +surrounding the party with a cloud of dust. + +Carlitos drawled a reply and gestured toward his remaining passengers. +Dario Gomez exclaimed: + +"_Americanos_--and in the habit of friends? What means this?" + +He spoke very good English. His eyes flashed, but his mustache lifted at +the corners as though he laughed. + +Marty was tongue-tied for the moment. The threatening aspect of the +cavalcade and especially of Dario Gomez himself was too much for the +nonchalance of the boy. Even the hidden weapon in his sash gave him no +comfort, for these "forty thieves" were all armed to the teeth. + +It was a difficult situation. Carlitos evidently had no help to offer. +Indeed he seemed to feel no particular responsibility, though he was not +closely associated with these lusty vagabonds. + +"What means this masquerade, señor and señorita?" Dario Gomez repeated. + +It was Janice who stepped into the breach--and stepped from the car as +well. She approached the charger ridden by the bandit chief, putting +aside the veil that had half hidden her face. + +"Señor," she said earnestly, "will you not help me get to my father? The +car has broken down and we are still a long way from San Cristoval--are +we not, Carlitos?" + +"Huh? By goodness, yes!" replied the amazed driver. + +"My cousin and I," pursued Janice Day, "have come across the States to +find my father--from far beyond Chicago--from beyond New York. I must +find him quickly, sir. He is wounded--perhaps dying! Will you help me?" + +"Who is your _padre_, señorita?" Dario Gomez asked. "How was he +wounded?" + +"Mr. Broxton Day is my father. He is chief at the Alderdice Mine, beyond +San Cristoval." + +"Ah! beyond the town, you say? We have no power there, señorita. Not +_now_. Old Whiskers rules up there once again--and with a strong arm." + +Janice did not know to whom he referred as "Old Whiskers"; possibly to +some petty chief like himself. She remembered the name of a rebel leader +who had been her father's friend in the past and she urged: + +"I am sure my father would not have been attacked at all had Señor Juan +Dicampa been still alive. He was my father's friend." + +"Ha! the Dicampa? He was _my_ friend, too," returned Gomez. "But he +joined forces with the conqueror--and was shot for his treachery." + +"Oh!" + +"Juan Dicampa ended as so many deliverers end--as an apostle of 'the +loaves and fishes.' Ha!" ejaculated Dario Gomez. "I and my followers, we +are as yet poor enough to be honest. God keep us so!" + +"But my father has surely done nobody harm," cried Janice. "I am sure +his name must be known for justice and kindness in the Companos +District." + +"It is true, _mi general_," said one of Gomez's men softly. "I am +acquaint' weeth the Señor B-Day. He is a _gran hombre_." + +Dario Gomez pushed back his sombrero and ran a hand through his thick, +graying hair, laughing with twinkling eyes and uplifted mustache into +Janice's face. + +"Shall we, then, play modern Robin Hoods to this so-beautiful señorita +in distress?" he demanded. + +"Who ees thees Rob'n 'Ood, _mi general_?" asked another of his +followers. "A brave _compadre_?" + +"You've said it," ejaculated Gomez, in good American slang. "Very +famous." + +"What more than we can _he_ do?" asked the lesser bandit. + +"True. Your wisdom is of the ancients, Pietro. What say, _hombrecitos_? +shall we lend assistance to the so-beautiful señorita--the daughter of +Señor B-Day?" + +There seemed to be a growl of approval. "To San Cristoval, _mi +general_," said one. "There may yet be pickings." + +The leader turned immediately and with businesslike directness to +Carlitos. "What has happened to the automobile?" he asked. + +"Oh, Señor Gomez!" stuttered the driver. "She done bust." + +"And you can't make on with her?" + +"No, señor." + +"She's more than cast a shoe, then?" laughed Dario Gomez. "So we must +tackle horses to her, eh? 'Get a horse!' Horse power is surer than +gasoline I have always believed." + +"By goodness, yes!" groaned Carlitos Ortez. + +Janice hastily climbed back beside the astounded Marty. He stared at +her. + +"Cricky!" he whispered. "Aren't you just the greatest girl that ever +was, Janice? Wait till I tell the folks at home about this!" + +Carlitos had a rope. He passed it around the entire body of the car, and +straps and singletrees appeared for three horses. Evidently some of the +bandits' mounts had been seized while at work. + +Just as the three excited horses, their riders plying the quirt, sprang +forward to drag the stalled car, Carlitos uttered a startling yell. + +"There is a third, _mi general_!" he shouted to Gomez. "The thief and a +son-of-a-thief! he haf not paid me _mi dinero_!" + +"What's that?" demanded Dario Gomez. + +"Anothair passenger--by goodness, yes! He have escaped!" and he pointed +to the chaparral. + +"What's this?" + +"I forget heem till this moment," stammered Carlitos. "He is likewise of +_los Americanos_; but he is not a friend to these two," and he gestured +to Janice and Marty. "He afraid when you appear, _mi general_. He run." + +"Ha!" ejaculated Gomez. "Perhaps he has cause for fear. We will find +him." + +He gave an order and ten of his men separated from the rest and began to +encircle the patch of chaparral. The car was started again and, being +but a light load for three horses, they went forward along the road at a +gallop. + +The bumping and jouncing Janice and Marty endured now was much worse +than that which had gone before. The car under its own power was bad +enough; but with the half-wild horses dragging it, the occupants of the +tonneau thought surely it would be shaken to pieces. + +Carlitos clung to the steering wheel, yelling instructions that were not +heeded. These reckless _vaqueros_ of the _pampas_ (they were not +Chihuahua men; they did not pronounce the _s_, and were therefore from +the south) thought it rather good fun. But the rattle and banging of the +automobile, like nothing so much as a tin-shop with a full crew working +at high speed, urged the horses on and on. + +"Believe me!" Marty managed to shout into his cousin's ear, "if I ever +get out of this alive I never want even to _see_ an automobile again. +I'm glad you sold yours, Janice." + +They struck into a better and smoother road after a while, and the +journey was not so difficult. Janice wondered what had become of Tom +Hotchkiss, and spoke of him to Marty. + +"I hope they catch him and make him work for them. They tell me that +these people have slaves down here just as though Abraham Lincoln had +never lived," Marty declared. "You heard what Carlitos said about his +grandfather. + +"As long as we can't turn the fat chump over to the proper police, I +hope he just gets his!" added the boy, with venom in his tone of voice. +"I hope the money he stole will never do him any good. But, poor dad! +he's comin' out of the little end of the horn, I'm afraid." + +Janice, too, was troubled about Uncle Jason's affairs. They had seemed +on the point of helping him by Hotchkiss' capture--and then had missed +it. + +However, hope was growing momentarily in the girl's heart that she was +going to reach and rescue her own father. She had won over these wild +men so easily to help her that it seemed there could really be nothing +now to obstruct the way to the Alderdice Mine. They were already in the +Companos District, they told her. + +Dario Gomez sometimes rode beside the car and shouted bits of +information to them. It was apparent that the chief was well versed in +English--had probably lived and been educated in the United States. He +was, after all, an anomaly in the company he was with. Janice wondered +in what spirit he had become chief with such wild companions for his +followers. + +The haze-capped mountains seemed much nearer now and the road was almost +continually on a grade--either ascending or descending. At dusk they +came in sight of several groups of houses. + +"San Cristoval," announced Dario Gomez. "Until we learn how matters +stand, yonder we may not drag your tin Leezie," and he laughed. "You +have had a ride, eh?" + +"I never want another like it," growled Marty. + +"But if I do not take them into the town, I get no pay," wailed +Carlitos, suddenly realizing his situation. "That fat _hombre_--he +escape. And these must ride into San Cristoval in the _tin Lizzie_ or I +get no _dinero_. Don Abreguardo say it." + +"Ha! Don Abreguardo is a shrewd _hombre_," said Gomez. + +"Don't worry!" Marty exclaimed. "We'll pay you, and we'll walk the rest +of the way. Won't we, Janice?" + +"Of course," she agreed. "I--I shall be glad to walk--if I can," and she +got stiffly out of the car. + +"_Bueno!_ Now we depart," said Gomez, laughing. "We go seek my +_compadres_ and the fat _hombre_ Carlitos tell me about. _Adios!_" + +He wheeled his horse, waved his hand, and, with his troop clattering at +his heels, rode swiftly away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AN AMAZING MEETING + + +"Well," Marty observed, just as though he were awakening from a +dream--and an unbelievable one at that--"I s'pose we might's well toddle +along into town. You're a wonder, Janice. You certainly pulled us out of +one big mess--didn't she, Carlitos?" + +The Mexican grinned, pocketing the money and the paper they had signed. +"The señorita a fine la-dee, eh?" he said. "She make even the Señor +Gomez dance when she whistle--by goodness, yes!" + +Janice could not call up much of a smile. She was anxious to get into +San Cristoval, and she was so wearied by the long ride in the automobile +that she could scarcely hobble along, clinging to Marty's arm. + +"Where shall we look for lodgings in the town, Carlitos?" she asked. +"You must know some hotel." + +"The Golden Fan," the man said promptly. "It is as good as any. I leev +you here to find horse. _Adios_, señorita; _adios_, señor." + +The cousins went on wearily together. Even the volatile Marty seemed +lost in thought. Finally he said: + +"Well! if they catch him----" + +"Who?" Janice demanded. + +"Tom Hotchkiss. If the outlaws catch him I hope they'll put him +somewhere where he'll get nothing to eat but beans. Cricky, Janice! +ain't I hungry for _real_ grub!" + +"I want to rest--just rest," moaned the girl. + +They reached the town after a while. It was then fully dark, but they +easily found The Golden Fan. There was a flaring gasoline lamp before +the door, over which was painted a huge yellow fan. + +A man in sombrero and high boots with spurs lounged in the doorway. He +first spoke to them in the vernacular; then: + +"_Madre di Dios!_ What do you here? _Los Americanos_--eh, yes?" + +"We're not _lost_ Americans," replied Marty, misunderstanding. "Just +travelers." + +"_Sí_, señor. Come to what you call 'see the sights,' yes?" and the +man's grin was like that of a cat. He had yellow eyes, too, and a stiff, +sparse mustache like a cat's. + +"We want a place to sleep and, first of all, some supper," Marty said. +"Do you run this hotel?" + +The man turned his head and shouted over his shoulder: + +"Maria!" + +He added something in Spanish that the Americans did not catch, although +they were now learning a bit of the vernacular. Almost immediately a +wretched-looking half-breed woman, very dirty and unintelligent of +feature, shuffled into view. + +"_She_ the keeper of this hotel," said the yellow-eyed man, grinning +again at Janice and Marty. + +The girl held back. These people were not like the Mexicans they had +before met. She was intuitively afraid of them. + +"You want bed? You want eat?" demanded the woman gruffly. + +"Yes," said Marty. + +"You got money?" + +"Of course," the boy said loftily. + +But Janice was tugging at his sleeve, whispering: + +"Perhaps we can go somewhere else. Some better place." + +The man seemed to have preternaturally sharp ears. "The Golden Fan ver' +good hotel, señorita," he said. "Maria, she do for you." + +"Ugh! she looks it," muttered Marty. "But I guess we'd better risk it, +Janice." + +"Be careful," breathed the girl when they were inside. "Don't show much +money, dear." + +"I'm on!" whispered the boy in reply. He had some silver and produced an +American dollar. "You see we have money," he said aloud. + +The woman led them into a poorly lighted, almost empty room. There was +a table and some chairs but not much other furniture and no ornaments +save an old-fashioned wax flower piece under a glass shell on a shelf. +Where that, once a cherished parlor ornament of the mid-Victorian era, +could have come from down here in Mexico was a mystery. + +"Not enough," said the half-breed woman, referring to the dollar, her +greedy eyes snapping. + +"It's two dollars Mex," announced Marty with decision. + +"'Nuff for supper. 'Nother dol' for bed," declared Maria. + +Janice touched Marty's hand. "Do not argue," she whispered. + +The man had followed them and lolled in the doorway of the room, +listening and watching. It was not until then that Janice saw he wore +boldly a pistol in a holster dangling from his belt. + +"All right," Marty was saying rather ungraciously. "We'll give you two +dollars, American, for supper and a night's lodging. Two rooms, mind. If +you ask more we'll go out and hunt up some other place to stop." + +"There ees no othair hotel but Maria's, young señor," said the man in +the doorway, laughing. + +"We'll go to see the mayor, then," said Janice hastily. "Don Abreguardo, +of La Guarda, is our friend." + +"Huh?" grunted the woman, looking at the man questioningly. He still +laughed. "The mayor of La Guarda is not known here, señorita; and San +Cristoval have no _cacique_." + +"What's that?" demanded Marty suspiciously. + +"He iss shot in the battle--_sí, sí_! San Cristoval iss of late a +battlefield." + +"Oh!" Janice murmured and sat down. Not alone was she very weary, but +all strength seemed suddenly to leave her limbs. + +"Been having hot times here, have you?" asked Marty briskly. "Who's +ahead?" + +"Oh, Marty!" gasped his cousin. + +"Who has won, señor?" said the catlike man. + +"Yes." + +"Eet ees hard to say. First one then the other army enter San Cristoval. +It iss said the Army of Deliverance is being driven back now into the +hills. The government troops are between us and the mountains. But eet +ees well to cry _Viva Méjico_ to whomever the señor meets." + +"Huh!" said Marty. "I've heard that ever since we crossed the Rio +Grande." + +This was an entirely different hostelry from any they had entered since +arriving at the Border. Indeed, Janice was very doubtful of their +safety. The woman was greedy and ugly; the man seemed ripe for almost +any crime. + +The latter's presence in the doorway did not disturb Marty much; but +when the woman brought the _tortillas_ and _frijoles_ and some kind of +fish stewed in oil with the hottest of hot peppers, Janice merely played +with the food. Because of the baleful glance of the man's yellow eyes +her appetite was gone. Maria too watched the guests in a silence that +seemed to bode evil. + +This town of San Cristoval, although much larger than La Guarda or La +Gloria, was very different from either, it seemed. Not a sound came from +the street. There was no music or dancing or the chattering of voices +outside. It was as though San Cristoval had been smitten with a plague. + +"Cricky! I bet these beans have got on your nerves, too, Janice," said +Marty, seeing her fork idle. + +She giggled faintly at that. "I never heard that beans troubled one's +nerves," she said. "It's these people--staring at us so!" + +"Yep. Eat-'em-up-Jack there in the doorway _would_ almost turn your +stomach," agreed Marty cheerfully. "And a bath would sure kill Maria." + +The boy was good-naturedly oblivious of the sinister manner of the two +Mexicans--or appeared to be; but Janice grew more and more troubled as +time passed, and started at every movement Maria or the man made. + +"Say, you," Marty asked while he was still eating, addressing the man, +"is the railroad running to the mines yet?" + +"Which mine, señor?" returned the yellow-eyed man. + +"A mine called the Alderdice is the one we want to go to." + +Maria uttered a shrill exclamation and the man dropped his cigarette and +put his foot upon it involuntarily. + +"What ees thees about the Alderdice Mine?" he said softly. "Why do you +weesh to go there?" + +"Just for instance," returned Marty coolly. "You are not answering my +question--and I asked first." + +"No. The rails are torn up just outside the city," said the man with +insistence. "Now answer _me_, young señor." + +"That's what we've come down here into Mexico for," Marty told him +calmly. "To visit the Alderdice Mine. Do you know the man who runs it?" + +"Señor B-Day!" gasped Maria, who seemed to be much moved. She had come +closer to the table and was staring at Janice earnestly. The girl shrank +from her, but Marty was still looking at the man lounging in the +doorway. + +"Yes. Broxton Day. He's the man," the boy said with admirable +carelessness of manner. "Is he all right?" + +"Who _are_ you, señor?" asked the man abruptly. + +"I'm a feller that wants to see this Mr. Day," said Marty, grinning. + +"And the señorita! the señorita!" shrilled Maria. "I tell you, Juan, +thees ees a strange t'ing!" She went on in Spanish speaking eagerly to +the man. + +"Do you not know Señor B-Day was shot?" demanded the man, Juan, still +addressing Marty. + +"Yes! Yes!" cried Janice, clasping and unclasping her hands. "Is he +seriously hurt? Oh! tell me." + +Maria came closer to her. After all the ragged creature had not such a +sinister face. It was her Yaqui blood that made her look so forbidding. + +"Señorita! señorita!" she murmured, "you _lofe_ that Señor B-Day, do you +not?" + +"He is my father!" burst out Janice desperately. "Tell me about him. Is +he badly hurt? How can we get to him? Oh! I wish we might go to-night!" + +"_Madre di Dios!_" ejaculated the woman, looking at the man again. "I +knew eet, Juan." + +"Well! tell it to _us_," growled Marty. + +"She say you look like Señor B-Day," said the man, grinning. "We know +heem alla right. I work' for him and so did Maria. He good-a man. One +_gran hombre--sí, sí_!" + +"But how badly is he hurt?" cried the girl. "Tell me." + +"He been shot in the shoulder and in the right arm," said Juan, +pointing. "He alla right--come through safe--sure!" + +"But we have not heard a word from him----" + +"He no can write. And at first, and alla time now, the bandits keep him +shut up there at the mine. It ees so. Now the Señor General De Soto Palo +come. He attack the bandits. They soon be driven into the mountains away +from the mines and we--we go back to work again for Señor B-Day. Sure." + +The relief Janice felt was all but overpowering. She could not speak +again for a minute; but Marty demanded: + +"Do you mean to say we can go up there to the Alderdice Mine to-morrow +morning?" + +"If Señor General De Soto Palo permits--_sí, sí_!" said Juan, grinning +again. "But no ride on railroad I tell you, señor." + +"Will you go with us?" the boy asked. + +"As far as may be," said the man with a shrug of his shoulders. + +"For how much?" demanded Marty bluntly. + +"For notting," declared Juan. "Your bed notting. Your food notting. +Friends of the good Señor B-Day shall be treat' as friends by us--yes, +huh?" + +Maria was patting Janice's hand softly and she nodded acquiescence. +Janice's eyes had overflowed. Marty choked up, and said gruffly: + +"Hi tunket! don't that beat all? It pays to make people like you same as +Uncle Brocky does. And _you_ do it, too, Janice. Dad says: 'Soft words +butter no parsnips'; but I dunno. I have an idea it pays pretty good +interest to make friends wherever and whenever you can." + +Whatever might have been the natural character of Juan and Maria, their +attitude towards the cousins changed magically. The half-breed woman +could not do enough for the twain, and Juan of the yellow eyes became +suddenly respectful if not subservient. + +The fact remained that these Mexicans did not love _los Americanos_, but +they distinguished friends. + +The tavern was a poor place; but the best in it was at the disposal of +Janice and Marty. And the girl, at least, went to bed with confidence in +the future. + +Her father might be detained--hived up as it were--at the mine; but he +was not seriously hurt and she might reach him soon. + +Juan was evidently the poorest of peons. All he could obtain in the +morning was a burro for the girl to ride. He said Marty must walk the +fourteen miles to the mine as he did. + +"Don't worry about me. I'm glad to walk after riding two days in that +tin Lizzie," declared the boy. + +They set forth early. Only a few curious and silent people watched them +go. The town seemed more than half deserted. + +"Those men who did not join the rebels," explained Juan, "haf run from +the troops of the Señor General De Soto Palo. Oh, yes! They will come +back--and go to work again later." + +They set forth along the branch railroad, on which the ore was brought +down from the mines to the stamp mills. In the yards box cars and +gondolas were overturned and half burned; rails were torn up; switch +shanties demolished. + +"We Mexicans," said Juan, grinning, "we do not lofe the railroad, no! +Before the railroad come our country was happier. _Viva Méjico!_" + +"Hi tunket!" muttered Marty. "That '_Viva Méjico!_' business covers a +multitude of sins--like this here charity they tell about. If you sing +out that battle cry down here you can do 'most anything you want--and +get away with it!" + +They went on slowly, for no amount of prodding would make the burro go +faster than a funeral march. On all sides they saw marks of the fighting +which had followed the occupation of San Cristoval by the government +troops. + +Juan explained that General Palo had waited for reinforcements at first; +but finally a part of the rebel army come over to him and fought against +their former friends under the standard of the government; so he was now +pushing on steadily, driving the other rebels before him. + +"Why did they come over to the government side if they believe in _la +patria_?" asked Marty curiously. + +"For twenty centavos a day more, señor," said Juan placidly. + +"What's that?" ejaculated the boy. "D'you mean they got their wages +raised?" + +"Why, señor, a man must leev," declared Juan mildly. "We get from thirty +to feefty cents a day working in the mines, on the roads, in the +forest--oh, yes! Señor B-Day pay the highest wages of anybody--sure. But +to fight--ah! that is different, eh? One general give us seventy-fi' +cents a day--good! But another offer us one dollair--'Merican. By +goodness, yes! We fight for heem. Any boy that beeg enough to carry gun, +he can get twice as much for fighting as he can for othair work. _Sí, +sí_, señor." + +"Oh, cricky! _'Viva Méjico_!" murmured Marty. + +It was just then that they turned a curve in the right of way and beheld +a train standing on the track. At least, there were a locomotive and two +cars. + +They had not seen a human being since leaving the outskirts of the town; +but here were both men and horses. + +The men were armed; some of them were gayly uniformed. A young fellow in +tattered khaki spurred his mount immediately toward Janice Day and her +companions. + +"What want you here, _hombres_?" he demanded in Spanish, staring at +Janice. "This is the headquarters of General De Soto Palo." + +Juan was dumb, and before Marty could speak Janice put the question: + +"Is it possible for us to get through to the Alderdice Mine, señor?" + +"Certainly not!" was the reply in good English. "Our troops have not +driven out the dregs of the rebel army as yet." + +"May we speak with the general?" the girl pursued faintly. + +"Certainly not!" the fellow repeated. "He has no time to spend with +vagabond _Americanos_." + +"She's Señor B-Day's daughter," broke in Marty, thinking the statement +might do some good. + +"Ha!" ejaculated the young officer much to their surprise. "She we have +expected. Consider yourself under ar-r-rest. March on!" + +He waved his hand grandly toward the nearest car. Already Janice had +seen that it was a much battered Pullman coach. But now the officer's +declaration left Janice unable to appreciate much else but the fact that +she had been expected and was a prisoner of the government forces! + +Juan, immobile of countenance, prodded on the burro. Marty, too, was +speechless. They came near to the observation platform of the Pullman +coach. + +Suddenly the door opened and there stepped into the sunshine the +magnificent figure of a woman in Mexican dress--short skirt, low cut +bodice, with a veil over her wonderfully dressed hair. She looked down +upon the approaching cavalcade with parted lips. + +"Madam!" ejaculated Janice Day, and then could say no more. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +AT LAST + + +Marty Day was quite as amazed as his cousin at this meeting, for he, +too, recognized the handsome black-eyed woman on the observation +platform of the Pullman coach. He found his tongue first. + +"What do you know about that?" he murmured. "Just like a movie, ain't +it? She is that woman you were traveling with, Janice--the one I thought +tried to swipe your money. And maybe she _did_ try to at that!" + +"Hush!" begged his cousin. + +"Eet ees the Señora General De Soto Palo," hissed Juan. "She a gre't +la-dee--huh?" + +For a full minute the black-eyed woman stared at Janice and the latter +wondered if the Señora General Palo would admit their acquaintanceship. +They had been so "goot friends" on the train; would the señora +acknowledge it now? + +"Ach!" exclaimed the woman, her rather stern countenance blossoming into +a smile. "You are a wonderful girl, my dear--soh! You have made your way +here--through this so-strange country and with all against you. Have you +saved your money from robbery, too?" and her black eyes began to +twinkle. + +"Oh, Madam!" murmured Janice. + +"Our money's safe all right all right," put in Marty. + +Madam ignored him. "Come up here, my dear," she commanded in her full +contralto voice, still smiling at the American girl. + +Janice tumbled off the burro and hastily mounted the steps to the +platform. The young officer who had led them here, and others of his +ilk, stared from a distance and twirled their _mustachios_. Marty +grinned at Juan. + +"I guess we got a friend at court, eh, Juan?" he said in a whisper. "It +takes our Janice to get us out of scrapes--believe me!" + +"Of a verity, yes!" agreed Juan. + +The black-eyed woman seized Janice Day in a warm embrace the moment the +girl came near. + +"Oh, Madam!" cried the latter. "I hope I did not offend you. You left so +abruptly back there at Sweetwater----" + +"Ach! it ees nothing," said the woman. "I was hurt--for the moment. You +did not trust me." + +"And you were continually warning me to trust nobody," interposed +Janice, flushing. + +"It is true!" cried the woman, patting her cheek. "I made you so fear +for r-robbers that you fear poor _me_, eh? But that is past. I was +sorry, later, when I learn' just where my hoosban' is that I did not +confide more in you and you in me, my dear." + +"Oh! And you are really the wife of this general who commands here?" +Janice exclaimed. "How wonderful!" + +"Yes. General Palo has long been exile from his land. Soh! But now he is +in favor with the government at Mexico City," explained Madam. "Yes! it +was at his request I cut short my season in New York an' join him. He +hope to be made governor of this deestrict when the campaign is over. He +hope soon to settle all controversies and whip these rebel dogs back +into the hills and keep them there." + +"But, Madam, you are not Mexican!" cried Janice. + +"Not by birth--no, my dear. Yet I am intensely patriotic for my +hoosban's country--_Viva Méjico_!" + +Janice sighed. She, like Marty, began to wonder at the universal cry for +_la patria_ from those of such conflicting opinions. + +"No," said Madam. They were now sitting in a compartment of the Pullman +that was evidently Madam's boudoir. "I am of blood Bohemian--with a +strain of the greatest nation of all time," and she smiled. + +"The Hebrew?" + +"But yes. I have lived everywhere--on both continents," with a sweeping +gesture. "Under my own name--first made known to the world in Vienna--I +sing. I am of the opera." + +"Oh, Madam! I guessed _that_," Janice declared with clasped hands. + +"Yes? Well, it iss soh," said the lady sibilantly. "I hear in New York +where I am singing at the Metropolitan that my hoosban' is advance. I +pack and start for Mexico immediate. Contr-r-racts are nothing at such +time, yes? I hasten across the continent to greet and applaud him. After +I join him at San Cristoval I hear of things, and remember things that +you say, my dear, that make me to understand you must be bound for this +same place, too. It is sad you should not have come wit' me." + +"My father!" gasped Janice. "Do you know if he is better?" + +"I know that he is as yet holding out against the rebels," Madam said. +"He, with a few desperate _compadres_, are guarding his mine buildings, +yes-s!" + +"Then he is not seriously wounded?" cried the girl gladly. + +"I believe not. We get some information to and from the mine. Señor +General De Soto Palo declare he will shell the rebels into the hills +to-day, my dear. You have come in season." + +Marty, meanwhile, sat comfortably on the car steps in the shade and said +to Juan: + +"I guess you can beat it back to town, old man, if you want to. I have +a hunch that, in spite of that gun you swing, and your look like a +picture of a Spanish pirate I saw once, you ain't no fighting man; are +you?" + +"As the señor says," admitted Juan with a toothful grin and his yellow +eyes squinting, "I am a man of peace--by goodness, yes!" + +"All right. Here's a dollar--you're welcome to it. You're the only +Mexican I've seen that didn't claim to be a fire-eater," and Marty +chuckled. "You see, Janice knows the commander's lady and I fancy it's a +cinch for us to reach Uncle Brocky now. Da, da, Juan." + +"_Adios_, señor," responded the man and kicked the burro to start that +peacefully grazing animal back along the railroad bed. + +Suddenly the distant sound of firing disturbed the placidity of the +scene about the "headquarters." The little group of officers began to +show excitement. + +"Sounds like a lot o' ginger-beer corks popping," thought Marty. "Must +be something doing." He immediately grew eager himself. + +When a little pudgy man in a red and green uniform, a plume in his hat, +and yellow gauntlets, came from the forward car and mounted a horse held +for him obsequiously, the boy knew he was viewing General De Soto Palo +in all his dignity and glory. Truly it _was the_ magnificent Madam's +fate to be admired by the "so-leetle" men--her husband not excepted. + +"Hi tunket! I'd like to go with 'em," muttered Marty, as the cavalcade +of officers rode swiftly away. "But I s'pose I got to stay on the job +and guard Janice. Sometimes girls are certainly a nuisance." + +There was a jar throughout the short train. The couplings tightened. +With a squeal of escaping steam the locomotive forged ahead, dragging +the general's headquarters car and Madam's living car with it. + +Janice ran to the door. "Oh, Marty!" she cried. "Are you all right?" + +"Right as rain," he assured her. + +"We are going up nearer the battle-line. Oh, Marty! think of it! I may +see daddy to-day!" + +"Great!" he responded. "I hope the fight ain't all over when we get +there." + +They were yet ten miles from the Alderdice Mine and the train was more +than an hour pulling that distance. They stopped often; and when the +train did move it was at a snail's pace. + +All the time the machine guns rattled like shaking pebbles in a +cannister, the rifles popped and the shells exploded resonantly. Now and +then they descried smoke above the tree tops. Occasionally they passed +burning buildings. + +And then appeared--more hateful sight than all else--the dead body of a +man lying beside the railroad track, face down, the back of his head all +gory. + +He was a little man. His hand still grasped a brown rifle almost as tall +as himself. + +The laboring train halted directly beside the dead man. Marty dropped +down from the rear step and went to the corpse. He turned it over with +curiosity. + +And then suddenly there shot through the boy from the North a feeling of +such nausea and horror that he was destined ever to remember it. + +This was not a man that lay here. It was a boy--a little, yellow-faced, +barefooted fellow not as old as Marty himself, with staring eyes which +already the ants had found--and a queer, twisted little smile upon the +lips behind which the white teeth gleamed. + +Marty stumbled blindly back to the car, sobbing. "He's--he's laughing," +he stammered to Janice. "I--I wonder if that's 'cause he's found out now +how foolish it all is?" + +They saw the end of the battle; by then it was mid-afternoon. A stream +of wounded had been carried past the train on stretchers--back to a +little temporary hospital somewhere in the woods out of sight of the +belligerents. For the half-wild Indians from the hills respect no Red +Cross. + +They saw the last scattering, ragged horde limp away from the mesa on +which were the buildings of the Alderdice Mining Company, driven to +cover by the cheering troops of Señor General De Soto Palo. + +Here for some time the rebels had besieged the corrugated iron huts of +the mining company, in which a handful of men held out tenaciously. + +The lack of machine guns on the part of the Mexican rebels had made this +defense of the mining property possible. The bursting shells from the +heavier guns of the government forces had quite thrown them into panic. + +The men guarding the mining property had finally retreated into a cellar +under one of the store-sheds. The ore-raising machinery had been +dismantled and hidden in the mine, and little of real value belonging to +the mining company had been destroyed. + +Now these guards appeared--not more than two dozen of them; +powder-stained and unwashed, but a grim group prepared to keep up the +fight if necessary. + +The same young aide-de-camp who had "captured" Janice and Marty when +they approached the headquarters of the general in command, now came to +the Madam and her guests. + +"If the señor and señorita wish to go forward, all is now quiet," he +announced, bowing low before Janice and the Madam. "I will do myself the +honor to conduct them to Señor B-Day. He is in the cellar." + +"The cellar!" gasped the girl. + +"With other wounded. Quite safe, I assure the señorita," added the +aide-de-camp hastily. + +"Oh! let us hurry!" cried the eager girl. + +Her hasty feet took her in advance of the others. She reached the group +of shacks where the window-lights were blown out and much wreckage +strewed the ground. Before an open cellarway stood a ragged and +barefooted soldier. He presented arms most grotesquely as the party came +near. + +"My father--Señor B-Day?" Janice asked. + +At the sound of her voice a cry answered from within and a gaunt figure +staggered up the stone steps into the sunlight. + +"Janice! My Janice! Can it be possible?" cried the man, gazing in wonder +at the girl. "Janice!" + +"Daddy! Oh, Daddy!" she screamed, and ran toward him, her arms +outstretched, her face all aglow. + +"Hey, Janice!" called Marty right behind her. "Don't forget his arm's in +a sling." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MUCH TO TALK ABOUT + + +More than three years and a half! Can you imagine what such separation +means to two people who love each other? + +We read much, and hear much, about the strength of "mother-love." It is +the most holy expression of the Creative Instinct--none doubt it. + +Yet there is an emotion even deeper and wider than the affection of the +mother for the child she has borne. Because through all these eras of +advancing civilization man, the father, has shouldered the +responsibility of caring for and protecting both the mother and the +child. + +Not enough thought is given to this. Father-love is often greater, more +self-sacrificing, more noble than that given the offspring by the +maternal parent. In this the mother follows instinct; she shares it with +the female of all species. + +When the child must depend upon the father for all--deprived of maternal +parentage as was this girl, Janice Day--there is a bond between father +and child that no other mortal tie can equal. + +Never had this man gone to his couch at night without a thought of the +daughter he had left in the North--growing from a child to womanhood out +of his sight. Nor had Janice Day with all her manifold interests +forgotten for one single day her father and his lonely existence in +Mexico. + +Janice went into her father's arms and clung to him without speech--not +intelligible speech at least. Yet there were words wrenched from both of +them--little intimate words of passionate endearment like nothing Marty +Day had ever heard before. Marty, steeled by the New England belief that +the giving away to emotion, especially that of affection, was almost +indecent, actually blushed for his relatives. Finally he drawled: + +"Hi tunket! Give a feller a chance, will you, Janice? What d'you think, +that I came clear down into Mexico here to play a dummy hand?" + +"You're Marty!" cried Mr. Day, putting out his hand to his nephew. + +"Surest thing you know," agreed Marty. "Dad and ma send their best +regards." + +At that Janice went off into a gale of laughter that was almost +hysterical. Her cousin gazed upon her in mild surprise. + +"Why, Janice!" he said. "You know they are always hounding me about my +manners. What's wrong with _that_?" + +Both father and daughter laughed at this and Marty grinned slowly. +Anyway, matters had got altogether too serious for the boy and he +wanted somebody to laugh so that he could successfully gulp down his own +deeper emotion. + +The Madam came forward. She had to be introduced, and the tall, haggard +man with his arm in a sling and his shoulder swathed in bandages very +plainly impressed favorably the wife of Señor General De Soto Palo. + +"Ach, my dear!" she confided to Janice later, "he is such a +romantic-looking man! Now, to tell you the truth, as much as I adore the +general, me, I could wish him the more distingué looking--ees eet not?" + +Of course daddy was a splendid-looking man! Thin and haggard as he was, +Janice thought nobody as interesting in appearance as daddy--not even +Nelson! + +She left it to Marty to relate in particular what had happened to them +since they had left Polktown. And it lost nothing in the telling--trust +Marty! + +"It looks to me as though you two have had quite an adventurous career," +Mr. Broxton Day said with twinkling eyes. + +He had sat down in the sun, for he was still very weak. His own brief +tale, Marty thought, savored of "the real thing." + +Mr. Day had been treacherously attacked and shot, and had lain +unattended for twenty-four hours at the mouth of the main shaft of the +mine. He had lost much blood at this time and was now scarcely able to +travel. Yet during all the time the rebels had hemmed them in he had +planned the defense of the mine buildings and held his handful of guards +to their task. + +"I can't put you up decently, Janice," he said. "You see, they've +wrecked my quarters," and he gestured toward the building that had +served him as office and living rooms before the battle. + +"Oh, but, Daddy, we're not going to stay!" she cried. "I want to take +you away from here just as soon as you can go. Do you suppose you could +travel in Madam's car?" + +Her father looked ruefully about at the havoc wrought by the enemy. + +"Well," he sighed. "It will take months, I suppose, to put things to +rights again. And this will be the third time we have had to do it. I +suppose my head foreman could do most of it alone----" + +"Why!" cried Janice, "he'll just have to! Daddy, you're going home with +me to Polktown to stay till you are well and strong again. I wish we +could start now." + +Had Mr. Day suspected what the next few hours would bring forth they +would have started immediately for San Cristoval--even had they walked. +General Palo's victory, however, seemed so complete that the Americans +did not suspect any menace of peril from a new quarter. + +They took dinner with the general and "Madam," as Janice continued to +call the woman, in the Pullman car that had been made over into a more +or less luxurious "home" for the commander and his wife. There was a +kitchen and a cook in it; and to Marty's unfeigned delight there were no +beans on the bill-of-fare. + +"Hi tunket!" he exploded when they came away from the Pullman coach to +take possession of one of the sheds that Mr. Day's men had made +habitable for the time being. "I don't know but these greasers would be +more'n half human if they'd live on something besides _frijoles_. That +little general is a nice little feller." + +"Easy, nephew," advised his uncle, much amused after all by the boy's +nonchalance and assumption of maturity. "Say nothing or do nothing to +belittle a Mexican's dignity. They have a saying in their own tongue +that means, 'If thou lose thy dignity thou hast lost that which thou +wilt never find again.' + +"The secret of half the trouble we Americans have in Mexico is in our +failure to acknowledge this national trait. The poorest and most +miserable peon often has in his heart a pride equal to that of a +newly-made millionaire," and Mr. Broxton Day laughed. + +"If you treat them cavalierly and as though they were beneath you, they +may laugh. They are humble enough to their masters; ages of oppression +have taught them sycophancy. But in their hearts is bitter hate--and it +flames out in these uprisings. _Then_ they revenge themselves and, being +profoundly ignorant, they seek that revenge from innocent and guilty +alike." + +This could not be said to interest Marty greatly. As soon as they were +in the house he sought the couch prepared for him. But Janice and her +father sat talking for half the night. + +There was much for them to talk about. Until recently, of course, their +letters to each other had fully and freely related personal happenings; +but there were many intimate affairs to be discussed by Broxton Day and +his grown-up daughter. For so she seemed to him. His little Janice had +blossomed into womanhood. Yet she had not grown away from him; she was +nearer and dearer. + +"You can understand things now that you might not have appreciated three +years or so ago," said her father. "Oh! I admit it was somewhat of a +shock to me when I first saw you to-day--you are so tall and so much the +woman, my dear. Your photographs haven't done you justice. I see you are +quite the grown woman. Yet you had to run away to escape Jason's +opposition to your plans? Good soul!" and he chuckled. + +She laughed, then sighed. "Yes. I could not bear actually to defy him." + +"Ah! And this young man you've told me so much about in your letters? +What about Nelson?" her father asked, scrutinizing her countenance +keenly. + +Janice could not altogether hide her feeling that, somehow, Nelson had +failed her. The loyal girl found herself in the position of an +apologist. She could not really explain why he had not come with her to +Mexico. + +"He--he did not believe I meant to come," she confessed. + +"You told him?" asked her father. + +"Yes. I told him I should." + +"My dear," said Mr. Day thoughtfully, "the young man cannot know you +very well, after all." + +Janice sighed. "I _thought_ he did," she observed. "I've been so +busy--so anxious--about you and all, Daddy--that I have not thought much +about Nelson until now. I realize it would have been very +difficult--indeed impossible--for him to have left his school in the +middle of the term to come with me. But he did not believe I meant what +I said. That--that is where it hurts, Daddy." + +"Well! well!" murmured Broxton Day. "You're not like other girls, +Janice. I can see that. And I imagine, for that very reason, you have +picked out a young man for yourself that is quite your opposite. I have +an idea Nelson Haley is a very common type of youth," and his eyes +twinkled. + +"Oh, but he isn't, Daddy! Not at all!" she cried, quick to defend. "He +is quite remarkable. Why--listen----" + +And then there poured out of the girl's heart all the story of her +acquaintanceship with Nelson from the first time she had met him with +his motorcycle on the old lower Middletown road. + +Did Mr. Broxton Day listen patiently? Imagine it! He was hearing from +the lips of this lovely girl-woman, whom he had seen last as a child, +all the tale of her romance; the sweetest, most endearing tale a +daughter can possibly narrate to a sympathetic and understanding father. +He saw, too, with her eyes those better qualities of the young +schoolmaster that did not, perhaps, appear on the surface--the deeper +moods and passions of his being that responded to the spur of the girl's +own character. Broxton Day realized that Janice's influence must mean +much to Nelson Haley; yet that the young man had in him that which made +it quite worth while for Janice to hold him in the strong regard she +did. + +They talked of other matters that night, too--these two long separated +comrades. Uncle Jason's difficulties came in for their share of +attention. Mr. Day now for the first time learned of Jason Day's +trouble, for Janice's letter telling about it had failed to reach the +Alderdice Mine. + +In his present crippled state Broxton Day was quite willing to go back +to Polktown with his daughter for the winter. And for his brother's +sake he would have gone in any case. + +During his working of the mine since coming to Mexico, Broxton Day had +accumulated considerable money which he had immediately re-invested in +securities in the North. + +"No more carrying of all the eggs in one basket, my dear," he said to +Janice. "I have enough elsewhere to help Jase out. So don't worry about +_that_ any more." + +They might have talked all night; only Janice knew her father, in his +present weakened state, should have rest. She insisted that he roll up +in his blanket, as Marty had done hours before. When his regular +breathing assured her Mr. Day was asleep, the girl stole to his side and +tucked the blanket about his shoulders with maternal care. + +"Dear Daddy!" she whispered, stooping to press her soft lips to his +wind-beaten cheek. + +As she did so a sound outside startled her. Then came a cry and several +rifle shots, followed by the clatter of arms and the quick, staccato +orders of the officers calling the men to "fall in." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +TOM HOTCHKISS REAPPEARS + + +Janice went quickly to the door, opened it, and stepped out. Already the +night was old. The footsteps of Dawn were on the eastern hills. On the +mesa, however, the encroaching forest made the shadows black. She could +barely see the "headquarters" train of General Palo. + +A man stumbled by and Janice caught at his arm. It was one of her +father's men who had remained to guard the mine. + +"What is it? What has happened?" she asked, without betraying all the +fear she felt. + +She knew that more than half of the government troops had followed the +retreating rebels into the hills and had not returned to the military +base. The present confusion of the soldiers that remained portended +something desperate she knew. + +"A night attack?" she asked. + +"It may be, señorita," whispered the man. "A person has just been +brought in--captured by our pickets." + +"Oh!" + +"An _Americano_, señorita. He say Dario Gomez, that bandit unhung, +señorita, is about to attack. He has gathered a gre't force and will +attack General De Soto Palo. _Sí! sí!_" + +"Dario Gomez?" repeated Janice. "Why, I----Who is this American who has +been captured?" + +"A deserter. A prisoner. I know not. _Quién sabe?_" + +"But what does he look like?" insisted Janice. + +"Oh, señorita! He is a fat man and wears a red vest across his +stomach--so," and the man gestured. + +"Tom Hotchkiss!" murmured Janice. + +"I come back to warn Señor B-Day if there be need," promised the guard +and was gone. + +Janice heard a horse charging past her from the direction of the +general's car. In the dim light she thought she recognized the young +aide-de-camp who had been so much in evidence the day before. He rode +off into the north, away from the mine, and Janice believed he had gone +to recall that part of the government troops now absent. + +Did General Palo consider the promised attack of the banditti serious? +When Janice had been in Dario Gomez's company he had had but forty +followers! + +She re-entered the shed and closed the door. Her father and Marty were +sleeping quietly. Should she arouse them? + +The girl was already becoming used to war's alarms. She determined to +watch alone. By no possibility could she have closed her eyes now in +slumber. + +While her father and Marty slept peacefully, Janice Day sat by a dim and +rather smoky lantern and watched. Confused sounds of marching and +countermarching soldiery reached her ears; but from a distance. + +Suddenly the uproar increased--then more rifle shots in the distance. +Her father roused up, half asleep yet. + +"What's that?" he demanded. + +A sharp rap came upon the door. Janice arose hastily. + +"Lie down, father," she said reassuringly. "I will go." + +"The Señor General De Soto Palo order you all to the train. We make +stand there, señorita," said the man who had knocked. "The bandits are +at hand." + +"What's that?" demanded Mr. Day again, wide awake. + +Marty rolled off his couch and appeared in the light of the smoky +lantern, the snub-nosed revolver in his hand. "Hey! I'm in this!" he +croaked, but half awake. "What's doing?" + +Swiftly Janice told them what little she had learned while she crammed +things into her bag. The man at the door urged haste. + +"That Gomez--he is near," sputtered the messenger. + +"Why, we know that feller," Marty drawled. "I don't think he'd do +anything to us, would he, Janice?" + +"Never trust appearances with these Mexican banditti," said Mr. Day +gravely. "I've shared the contents of his tobacco pouch with one and +then had him try to cut my throat the next day. They are light-hearted, +light-fingered and--lightest of all in their morals. I wonder that you +two got away from Gomez as you did." + +"And Tom Hotchkiss got away from him, too, did he?" growled Marty. +"Well, that's too bad." + +"Come, señor!" urged the messenger in the doorway. + +They hurried to the headquarters car. It was growing lighter in the +east. The rifle fire on the southern edge of the mesa was becoming +sharper. General De Soto Palo had not led his troops in person against +the attack of the banditti. Indeed, it was evident that he had been +aroused from his peaceful slumbers at the beginning of the excitement; +even now he had not removed his nightcap. He was not half so +fierce-appearing in this headgear as he had been in his plumed hat. + +But Tom Hotchkiss, cowering in a corner, seemed to think that the +general was quite fierce enough. + +"You want to remember I'm an American," he was saying whiningly. +"Something's got to be done for me. I can't be treated this way, you +know." + +"Señor B-Day!" exploded the little general. "Do you know this man?" + +"Day!" + +Tom Hotchkiss almost shrieked it and would have sprung forward to peer +into Mr. Broxton Day's face had not two of the barefooted soldiers held +him back by the ungentle means of their bayonets. + +"Yes. It is Thomas Hotchkiss," Mr. Day said, eyeing the fat man without +favor. + +"You're Brocky Day!" exclaimed the prisoner with sudden relief. "Well, +you tell these fellers----" + +The general raised his hand for silence. The soldiers suddenly pinned +Mr. Hotchkiss into his corner with points that evidently hurt. + +"Ouch!" + +"You know this man, Señor Day?" + +"Yes, General." + +"Is he to be trusted to speak the truth?" + +"Never," said Mr. Day firmly, "unless the truth serves him better than +lying." + +"Ah!" + +"I understand he claims to have escaped from Gomez?" + +"_Sí_, señor." + +"It may be so," said Mr. Day. "My daughter and nephew say they were in +Gomez's power day before yesterday and they have reason to believe that +this Hotchkiss was captured by the bandit." + +"And how strong was Gomez's party when the señorita saw eet?" + +"Forty!" + +"Ah! But this man say he have thousands of troops--that an attack in +force is intended on the mesa." + +"It sounds as though there was some fighting going on out there," +admitted Mr. Day. "But it may just be my own troops wasting ammunition. +They have plenty--and are like children." + +Mr. Day gave Tom Hotchkiss a long and penetrating stare. + +"I'm free to confess, _mi general_," he said finally, "I don't know +whether to believe this fellow or not. He's a criminal, wanted by the +American officers. That is sure. It has always been my opinion that if a +man is crooked in one environment he is very apt to be so in another." + +Before the doughty little commander could make reply the rattle of rifle +shots increased. It grew nearer. Janice clung to her father's arm. + +The door of the office-car was flung open and the Madam suddenly +appeared. She wore a wonderfully figured satin boudoir gown and a cap to +match; and she was plainly very much frightened. + +"General! General!" she cried. "The cook has left! Is there really +danger?" + +General De Soto Palo muttered something in Spanish that was probably not +polite. His wife saw and recognized Janice. + +"Oh, my dear!" she cried. "We are the only two females here! Return with +me. I see the general is disturbed. Come, my dear. We are such goot +friends--yes?" + +Before Janice could reply there sounded the sharp _plop_ of a bullet and +a hole appeared in the window-pane directly above the general's desk. +The bits of shattered glass showered over the little man in the +nightcap; but he did not move or show any alarm. + +Tom Hotchkiss squealed and tried to lie down in his corner. The two +barefoot soldiers prodded him to a standing posture again. + +This had been a baggage car in its day, and the windows were few and +high. The impact of other bullets in the wooden walls was plainly heard. +The rifle fire was advancing and it was not all ammunition wasted by the +government troops. + +"My angel," said the general softly, "take the señorita into the other +car. Lie down below the level of the window sills--both. That will be +safer." + +Madam seized Janice's hand and drew her out through the vestibule. Mr. +Day made a motion to Marty. + +"Just go along and see that nothing happens to them, my boy," he said. + +The Pullman car was fitted with thin steel shutters over the +plate-glass windows and they had been closed the night before; but +evidently General De Soto Palo did not altogether trust these shutters +to keep out stray bullets. + +The sharp ping of the lead as it sunk in the woodwork or the more +resonant ring of those bullets glancing from the shutters became more +and more frequent. The explosion of the guns sounded nearer. It was +plain that the government troops were retreating from the southern edge +of the mesa where the attack had opened. Dario Gomez and his followers +seemed to be pressing on. + +"Well, Marty, you wanted to see a battle," his cousin said to the boy. +"Are you satisfied now?" + +"Huh! I'm not seein' this one, am I?" he challenged. "Hi! what's that?" +he added briskly. + +The distant shriek of a steam whistle came faintly to her ears. Janice +and the general's wife looked at each other. Marty drawled: + +"Sounds like the old _Constance Colfax_ comin' into the dock, don't it, +Janice? But I reckon they don't have steamboats up in these hills, do +they?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +"JUDGE B-DAY" + + +The long call of the whistle through the hills was smothered in another +and nearer burst of firearms. The rattle of bullets against the +half-armored side of the Pullman told their own story and told it +unmistakably. The bandits were coming in force; the troops under General +Palo's subordinates were not standing up to the enemy at all! + +The three in the Pullman heard the doughty little general charging out +of the other car to take personal leadership of the defending forces, +and Janice believed her father, wounded though he was, had gone with +him. + +Marty had shot through the corridor of the car and the open compartments +to the rear. There he clawed open the door and stepped out upon the +observation platform. + +Again he had heard that cheerful, raucous whistle. + +"Hi tunket!" he said to Janice who followed. "If that don't sound like a +steamboat----" + +"Or a steam train?" + +"But those rails were torn up outside San Cristoval." + +"They could be spiked to the sleepers again," the girl said quickly. + +"Cricky! who's coming, then?" the excited boy demanded. "Friends or +foes?" + +"Oh, dear me!" sighed Janice. "Everybody seems to be fighting everybody +else down here. Suppose we are in the middle of a great battle, Marty +Day?" + +"Hi tunket! It'll be something to tell about when we get back to +Polktown." + +"_If_ we get back," she shuddered. + +"Shucks! of course we will. Though I'd like to stay here and get that +mine to working again. I wonder if Uncle Brocky would let me?" + +"Marty Day! You're the most awful-talking boy I ever heard. Oh!" + +Another volley of rifle shots drowned her voice. They crouched together +by the open door of the car and heard the bullets sing past. + +"What shall we do if there are really more of the enemy coming?" +murmured Janice, after the immediate shower of lead was over. + +"Holler _'Viva Méjico!_' and let it go at that," grinned Marty. "That +goes big with all of 'em." + +It was no laughing matter nevertheless, and Marty did not feel half so +cheerful as he appeared. But the boy felt it incumbent upon him to keep +up the spirits of his cousin. + +The sun was coming up, yet the shadows still lay deep upon the mesa. +Peering out of the doorway of the car Janice and Marty could see the +shifting ranks of the government troops. They retired after each volley. +How near, or how many the bandits numbered, the anxious spectators had +no means of judging. + +That most of the rifle balls went high was, however, a fact. They +pattered on the sides of the cars, some of them above the windows; and +there seemed to be few casualties. + +"It gets _me_!" murmured Marty. + +Then the whistle sounded again--unmistakably that of a locomotive. It +was approaching steadily. There was a steep grade up the front of the +mesa and they could distinguish the panting of the locomotive exhaust as +it essayed this rise. + +"It's coming!" Janice gasped. + +Nobody seemed to notice the approach of the strange locomotive but +themselves. The desultory firing about them went on. The officers +commanding the government troops seemed to know but one order--that to +"fire by platoons and fall back." It was true that the woods covered the +position of the enemy and hid their number as well. + +On this side of the plateau there was no place for the maneuvering of +horses. The ground was too rough. But why the general did not sweep the +wood with his machine guns, or shell it with his howitzers, seemed a +mystery. It was not until afterward that the Americans learned there +had been other treachery besides that of Tom Hotchkiss. Every big gun +had been put out of commission before Dario Gomez's attack. + +In the growing light there was now to be distinguished the flash of +rifles at the edge of the wood. Word was passed that the bandits were +about to charge. + +At this flank of the line the officer in command thought more of his own +safety and that of his men than aught else. At his order the troops +suddenly shifted _to the other side of the car_! + +"Hi tunket!" yelled Marty. "This is where we get off! Lie down, Janice, +for we are going to be between two fires." + +The sun's jolly red face appeared over the hills and suddenly revealed +the battle picture clearly. The morning mists and rifle smoke were +dissipated, and at almost the same moment the forefront of the whistling +locomotive poked out of the forest. There were several slat cars +attached to the great engine. Marty stood up again in the doorway of the +Pullman and yelled. He saw that the cattle cars bristled with rifles and +were gay with red and green uniforms. + +"Oh! who are they?" cried Janice, directly behind her cousin. + +"They're government troops, all right all right! Reinforcements for Miz' +Madam, I declare. No other soldiers in Mexico could afford real +uniforms," Marty shouted. + +They beheld the uniformed soldiery pile out of the cars and heard them +cheer. One figure in civilian dress was running ahead and came to the +observation platform of the Pullman first. + +"_Viva Méjico!_" yelled Marty, glaring at this individual as though he +saw an apparition. + +"You young whipper-snapper!" exclaimed the apparition. "Where's Janice?" + +"_Nelson!_" + +"Oh, then," grumbled Marty, "_you_ see the same thing I do, do you?" + +Janice darted past her cousin and stretched her arms out to the +schoolmaster. As he leaped up the steps to meet her the troops +reinforcing General De Soto Palo began to deploy across the mesa and the +firing of the bandits from the wood suddenly ceased. + +"Do tell!" murmured Marty, staring at the schoolmaster and his cousin. +"Gone to a clinch, have they? Huh! I guess it's time to go home." + +It was some moments before Janice realized that her father was standing +by, a smoking revolver in his left hand and a rather grim smile upon his +lips. + +"You might introduce me, my dear," he said mildly. "This, I presume, is +Nelson?" + +"Mr. Day!" cried the schoolmaster, who seemed much brisker and more +assertive than had been his wont at home, "I am delighted to see you +looking so well. I feared----" + +"Evidently," Mr. Day said dryly. "Was it _fear_ that brought you down +here into Mexico, Mr. Haley?" + +"Yes, sir. Fear for Janice's safety," the young man replied with a +direct look. "It was for her I came." + +"Ah? Well, we'll talk of that later," Broxton Day returned. + +There was no time then for further personalities. Madam appeared, still +in _dishabille_, to meet the schoolmaster, and the general, too, +strutted forward. + +The bandits had made off; these reinforcements had been sent to obey +his, General De Soto Palo's, orders; his campaign must now be successful +against all the rebels in this part of Chihuahua. But he would beg his +good friend, Señor B-Day, and the young Señor Haley, to add to their +party in retreat to the Border the so-br-r-rave wife of his bosom, +Señora Palo! There was, too, a certain locked chest---- + +It was decided before breakfast, the frightened cook having returned, +that the Pullman car should be coupled to the second locomotive and be +pulled back to San Cristoval. There it might be attached to some train +going to El Paso, for the railroad was open again to the Border, the +government troops patrolling all that part of Chihuahua. + +It was at breakfast that Nelson related in sequence his own adventures, +after hearing of all that had happened to Janice and Marty. And Nelson +boldly held Janice's hand--under the table--neglecting to eat while he +told his moving tale. + +He had had no means of learning when and where Janice and Marty crossed +the Rio Grande, if at all, until he reached El Paso. Then a long +telegram reached him from Frank Bowman, repeating Marty's message sent +to Jason Day from Fort Hancock, and including the information of the +presence of Tom Hotchkiss at the Border. + +At El Paso Nelson had learned the railroad was open once more and that a +government force was assigned to join General Palo's division at the +mines beyond San Cristoval. Therefore, believing to get to Mr. Broxton +Day and rescue him from further peril was the more important, Nelson had +postponed looking for Janice and Marty, but had used such influence as +he could muster to obtain permission to join the reinforcements going up +into the hills. + +"I did not know where this dear girl was--in the body," said Nelson, +with a proud look at Janice; "but I knew where her heart was. It would +be with her father up here in the hills and I knew I could do nothing to +win her gratitude more surely than by coming immediately to the +Alderdice Mine." + +"Nelson! how well you know me, after all!" Janice murmured. + +There was much haste in getting ready for the departure. The general +declared over and over again that the front was no place for his dear +wife, after all. He had made a mistake in allowing her to come on from +New York. It would be a long time yet before the district would be a +settled place. But in time---- And there was the chest of +valuable--er--papers, and the like! + +"Most of them do it," Mr. Broxton Day said reflectively to his little +party. "Just as soon as these 'liberators' acquire a little power they +acquire treasure of a lasting quality. And this treasure they cache +outside of Mexico. It is a sign of thrift; the laying up of something +against the proverbial rainy day. And these rainy days in Mexico +sometimes suggest the deluge." + +There was another small matter that puzzled the general. + +"He is _Americano_, señor," he said to Mr. Day. "He of the red vest. I +know not for sure whether he was sent to rouse panic among my troops or +no. He succeeded in doing so and Dario Gomez might have plundered the +camp with his handful of men. + +"If he were one of my own people I would have him shot without +compunction. If you would decide, señor----" + +"Let me talk to him, General," said Broxton Day quietly. + +His talk with the man who had swindled his brother resulted in Tom +Hotchkiss gladly joining the party bound for the Border. What they might +do to him in the United States would be nothing so bad as an adobe wall +and a file of riflemen! + +"Now, Judge B-Day!" whispered Janice in her father's ear, "pass judgment +likewise on another culprit." + +"Who, Daughter?" + +"What do you think of Nelson now that you have seen him and know what he +has done?" + +"My dear," said "Judge B-Day," smiling at her tenderly, "caution was +never yet a fault to my mind--and Nelson possesses it. It may go well +with your impulsiveness. After all, I think your Nelson is a good deal +of a man." + +This dialogue was between Janice and her father. Marty was still eyeing +the cringing Tom Hotchkiss. + +"The water's all squeezed out o' _that_ sponge," sniffed Marty. "He'll +never fill out that red vest of his again--not proper. And won't dad +take on a new lease of life when he hears about it--hi tunket!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +AT HOME + + +The rear room of Massey's drugstore, behind the prescription counter, +was the usual meeting place of the Polktown schoolboard. There was, it +is true, a well furnished board-room in the new school building; but +habit was strong in the community and as long as the bespectacled +druggist held a vote in school matters the important business of the +board would be done here. + +The day Nelson Haley had left them in the lurch and they had to scurry +about to obtain the services of a substitute principal for the Polktown +school, the board gathered after supper at Massey's in a very serious +mood. There was considerable indignation expressed at the young +schoolmaster's course. Even Mr. Middler looked gravely admonitory when +he spoke of Nelson. Massey sputtered a good deal over it. + +"That jest about fixes him with _me_," he said. "Leavin' us in a hole +this way to go traipsin' off to the Mexican Border after that gal and +Marty Day. He'd better hunt a new job when he comes back." + +"Let us not be hasty," Mr. Middler said, but half agreeing. + +It was Cross Moore who took up the matter from an entirely different +point of view. He was usually a man of few words and he was not voluble +now; but what he said drew the surprised and instant attention of +everyone. + +"Did it ever occur to you," he drawled, "that mebbe we owe Nelson Haley +something?" + +"Owe him? No, we don't," snapped Massey, the treasurer. "I gave him his +check up to the fifteenth day of December only two days ago." + +"Something money can't pay for," pursued the unruffled selectman. "You +know, we were pretty hard on him all last summer. About them lost gold +coins, I mean." + +"Well! we gave him his job back, didn't we?" asked Crawford. + +"True, true," the minister joined in. + +"Well, what ye goin' to do about his runnin' off an' leavin us in this +fix?" bristled Massey, glaring about at his fellow committeemen. + +"I move you, Mr. Chairman," said Cross Moore quietly, "that we give Mr. +Haley a vacation--with pay." + +"Oh, by ginger!" gasped the excited druggist. "For how long, I sh'd +admire to know?" + +"Till he returns with Janice Day," said Cross Moore. + +"I--I second the motion," stammered the minister. + +And this decision--finally passed without a dissenting voice--made no +more stir in the community than did several occurrences during the days +that immediately followed. + +Polktown was indeed stirred to its depths. Nelson's hasty departure to +"bring back Janice and that Day boy," as it was said, was but one of +these surprising happenings. + +Something happened at Hopewell Drugg's that excited all the women in the +neighborhood. + +"Jefers-pelters!" was Walky Dexter's comment. "They run together like a +flock o' hens when the rooster finds the wheat-stack. Sich a catouse ye +never _did_ hear! Ye'd think, ter listen to 'em, there'd never been a +baby born in this town since Adam was a small child--er-haw! haw! haw! I +dunno what they would ha' done, I'm sure, if it had been twins." + +Uncle Jason came very near to being a deserted husband for a week. Aunt +'Mira seemed determined to live at Hopewell Drugg's. He finally plodded +across town and entered the store on the side street with determination +in his soul and fire in his eye. The store chanced to be empty, but from +the rear room came the wailing notes of Hopewell's violin. Yet there was +a sweetness to the tones of the instrument, too, even to Jason Day. +Uncle Jason halted and his weather-beaten face lost its hardness and +the light of battle died out of his eyes. + + "'Rock-a-bye, baby! on the tree-top,'" + +wailed the old tune. Uncle Jason tiptoed to the doorway. Hopewell, with +the instrument cuddled under his chin, was picking out the old song, but +falteringly. + +"And there's jest _glory_ in his face," muttered Uncle Jason. + +"Oh, Mr. Day!" exclaimed the storekeeper, awakening suddenly and laying +down his violin with tenderness. "Did--did you want something?" + +"Wal, I _was_ bent on gittin' my wife. But I reckon I might's well lend +her to ye a leetle longer, an' be neighborly. How's the boy?" + +"They tell me, Mr. Day, that he's a wonderful child," Hopewell said +seriously. + +"I bet ye!" chuckled Uncle Jason. "They all be. Wal, as I can't have +Almiry, ye might's well give me a loaf of bread. Gosh! boughten bread's +dry stuff!--an' some o' that there quick-made puddin' ye jest hafter add +water to. + +"Somehow," continued Mr. Day, "I can't get along very well without +_some_ dessert. Been useter it so many years, ye know. And them +doughnuts Almiry left me seemed jest to melt away like an Aperl +snowstorm." + +"You better wait a little, Mr. Day," said the storekeeper, smiling. "I +heard your wife tell mine that she thought everything would be all right +now, and she was fixin' to go home." + +"Thanks be!" exclaimed Mr. Day devoutly. + +"You been in deep trouble yourself, Mr. Day," said Hopewell. + +"Yep. But I see the clouds liftin'," Uncle Jason said, licking his lips +and leaning both hands on the counter. "Them bank folks sartainly was +right arter me. Houndin' the court to order me sold up--they did so! + +"But when that telegram come from my son down there on the Border about +Tom Hotchkiss"--Jason Day said "my son," oh, so proudly!--"I showed it +to the judge an' he granted stay of per-ceedin's. + +"'Course, we ain't heard nothin' more from Marty and Janice. But I +reckon they air busy a-rescuin' of Broxton Day. When _that's_ done we'll +l'arn all about Tom Hotchkiss. + +"Did you say my wife would be ready to go hum soon?" + +"Yes. You see," said Hopewell cheerfully, "Grandma Scattergood is going +to stay with us now." + +Uncle Jason was no more startled by this announcement than he would have +been had he looked into the sitting room behind the store just then and +seen the birdlike little old woman sitting close beside the cradle which +she was rocking with an industrious foot. + +Mrs. Day was putting on her bonnet before the looking-glass and trying +the strings in a neat bow-knot between two of her chins. In a cushioned +chair, well wrapped from any possible draught, sat 'Rill, the roses gone +from her cheeks but with a wonderful light in her eyes. + +Mrs. Scattergood was leaning forward to scrutinize the baby in the +cradle. His eyes were wide open and he was staring quite as earnestly at +Mrs. Scattergood. Suddenly he screwed up his tiny face into what _might_ +have been a smile. + +"For the Good Land o' Goshen!" gasped Mrs. Scattergood. + +She turned suddenly and beckoned to little Lottie, who stood beside Mrs. +Drugg's chair. + +"Lottie, come here," she commanded. + +The little girl went to her and stood looking down into the cradle, too. +Mrs. Scattergood put an arm about her and drew her down closer, looking +first into the baby's face and then into the luminous violet eyes of +Lottie. + +"For the Good Land o' Goshen!" she repeated. "Do you know, 'Rill, the +blessed baby's got eyes jest like Lottie? An' I believe his nose is +goin' to be like hers, too. + +"Fancy! He favors Hopewell's side of the fam'bly a whole lot more than +he does ourn. Wal! I allus have said that the Druggses was +well-favored." + +"There could be nothing more to add to my happiness if my boy should +look like his father," her daughter said softly. + +"I never hope to live to see the Millennium," remarked Aunt 'Mira as she +went back across town with Mr. Day. "I had a great-aunt that was a +Millerite and give away all her things an' climbed up on to the house +roof expectin' the end of the world an' to be caught up into Glory--only +she fell off the roof an' broke her hip an' the world didn't come to an +end anyway. + +"Howsomever, I consider I've seen what 'most matches the Millennium." + +"What's that?" demanded her puzzled spouse. + +"Miz' Scattergood a-huggin' little Lottie on the one hand an' cooin' to +that baby in the cradle on t'other. Does beat all what fools babies make +of us women," and she laughed, though she wiped the tears away. + +"Don't you mean angels, 'stead o' fools?" asked Uncle Jason. + + * * * * * + +It was true that Frank Bowman was very busy about this time. The last +spike was driven to affix the rails of the V. C. branch road to Polktown +and he was working like a Trojan to make all ready for the regular +running of trains to and from the main line. But there were people in +Polktown who never would forgive him for suppressing certain telegrams +that reached him from the Southwest about this time. + +[Illustration: A rising murmur went through the crowd; then they +cheered.] + +"There ain't no excuse for a man bein' a hawg," Walky Dexter afterward +declared. "Frank might ha' intermated what was comin' off when the fust +train was due ter pull into Polktown; I sha'n't never feel jest the same +towards him again." + +Half the town had turned out to welcome the initial train. The stores +were trimmed with bunting and many of the residences displayed flags, as +though it were the Fourth of July or Memorial Day. + +Mr. Middler was scheduled for a speech. He made it, too; but not quite +the speech the good minister had intended. For it was his eyes that +first identified one of the passengers on the incoming train. Before the +locomotive halted Mr. Middler uttered a very robust shout and rushed to +the steps of the first passenger car, his hands outstretched. + +"Janice! Janice Day!" + +A rising murmur went through the crowd; then they cheered. The girl +stood smiling on the platform looking out over the crowd, and when they +cheered such a fire of pride and delight flashed up in her countenance +and sparkled from her hazel eyes as nobody had ever seen before. + +"Oh--_folks!_" she murmured, stretching her hands out to them. + +Frank Bowman stood at one side, smiling broadly. "We're not celebrating +the opening of the railroad branch," he said to Elder Concannon, "half +as much as we are celebrating the home-coming of Janice Day." + +Janice went down the steps into Mr. Middler's arms. Directly behind her +was a man with his arm in a sling who looked enough like Jason +Day--though younger and sprucer--to be identified as Janice's father. + +Then came Marty grinning so broadly that, as Walky Dexter declared, it +almost engulfed his ears! Lastly came Nelson Haley, walking with his +head up and a smile of great confidence on his face. + +"Jefers-pelters!" said Walky. "I guess schoolmaster's quite some punkins +again in his own estimation. It ain't done _him_ no harm to go down +there to Mexico." + +There was a great deal of public congratulation and welcome for the +party from the Border; but it was that evening, in the broad sitting +room of the old Day house on Hillside Avenue, when the excitement of the +home-coming had worn off, that the family party began to realize the +adventurous weeks that had elapsed were finally all behind them. + +The wind soughed eerily in the trees about the house--"working up a +storm for Christmas," Uncle Jason prophesied. Marty brought in an armful +of knotty chunks and fed the great, air-tight stove. + +They gathered around the fire, for supper was over and Aunt 'Mira and +Janice had come in from the kitchen. Nelson had managed to secure the +chair next to Janice. Mr. Jason Day and his half-brother sat side by +side. + +"Well," said Marty, blowing a huge sigh, "this ain't much like Mexico." + +"I sh'd hope not!" exclaimed his mother, seeking her knitting in the +basket on the shelf under the table. "That's a reg'lar heathenish land, +I expect." + +"It sure is!" agreed her son with fervor. "Why, d'you know what they +live on, Ma?" + +"I guess you didn't git home fodder down there, Marty," said Mrs. Day, +chuckling comfortably. "What _do_ they live on?" + +"Beans," said the boy in a sepulchral tone. "An' say! I've busted your +bean-pot. Don't you dast give me pork an' beans for a year come next +Christmas." + +They laughed. It was easy to laugh now--for all the party. Humor did not +have to be of a high order to bring the smiles to their lips, for a deep +and abiding happiness dwelt in all their hearts. + +Mr. Broxton Day looked around the old and well-remembered sitting room. +"It looks about the same as it did when I was a boy, Jase," he said. + +"Yep. Almiry's kep' things about as when ma was with us." + +"Almira is a wonderful woman," said Broxton Day, smiling across at his +sister-in-law. + +"You be still, Brocky Day," said Aunt 'Mira, bridling. + +"Yes," he told her gravely. "For you've kept the spirit of the old home +alive here, too." + +"She and Janice," said Marty. + +"Dunno what we would do without _Janice_," Aunt 'Mira said, quick to +turn the compliment. + +"Ain't it so?" echoed Uncle Jason. "And you comin' hum--right back from +the grave as ye might say, Broxton--is more'n a delight to us. It's a +blessin'. What you tell me about that--that derned Tom Hotchkiss----" + +"Don't cuss, Jason--an' you a perfessin' member," urged his wife. + +"How you goin' to speak of sech a reptile like him without cussin', I +wanter know?" grumbled Uncle Jason. + +"Well, he's got his," said Marty briskly. "He had all that money hid +away in banks, and was just goin' to lay low till things blew over and +then he'd set up housekeepin' in that red vest of his somewhere else, +an' live easy. But that vest o' his has sort o' faded, ain't it?" + +"Hopewell Drugg's got in some real pretty knitted ones," murmured Aunt +'Mira, picking up a dropped stitch. + +Marty gaped in surprise. + +"Real pretty _what_?" demanded her husband sharply. + +"Vests. D'ye want one for your Christmas, Jason?" + +"Oh, cricky!" ejaculated Marty. "I seen 'em hanging there in his window +when I went over this afternoon before supper. Dad, they are fully as +gay as Tom Hotchkiss' was." + +"I bet you was over there to see Lottie Drugg," said his mother quickly. + +"What if I was?" demanded the bold, yet blushing Marty. "I dunno nobody +in Polktown I was gladder to see than Lottie, 'nless 'twas you, Ma." + +"Ahem!" said Mr. Jason Day. "An' he proberbly won't say that many more +times, Almiry. So make the most of it." + +"Yes," Janice said softly. "Marty's growing up." + +At this the youth grew red in the face and bit his lip. But then he +straightened up boldly, as if he were a soldier. + +"Huh! speak for yourself, Janice Day. You've _grown_ up, you have! You +ought to have seen all those greaser army officers dancin' around after +her," and he cast a teasing glance at Nelson. + +"You can't bother me, young man," replied the schoolmaster, smiling +broadly. + +"I guess I'm the only one to be bothered at all by our Janice's growing +up," her father said a little seriously. "Just as I have her again I +seem next door to losing her." + +Janice got up, crossed the room, and kissed him; but her glance was warm +for Nelson as she did so. + +The muffled tones of the old grandfather's clock in the hall clashed the +hour of ten. Uncle Jason reached down The Book from the corner of the +mantelpiece and opened it, reading that night the story of the happiness +of another family whose brother came back from the grave. + + THE END + +=Transcriber's notes:= + +Text in smallcaps was surrounded with = + +The following typos were corrected: + + - pg 45: Alderice Mine -> Alderdice Mine + - pg 77: Deacon Bloodgett -> Deacon Blodgett + +The following inconsistencies were *not* harmonized: + + - fam'bly / fambly + - rawboned / raw-boned + - tight-wad / tightwad + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mission of Janice Day, by Helen Beecher Long + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISSION OF JANICE DAY *** + +***** This file should be named 25920-8.txt or 25920-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/9/2/25920/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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