diff options
Diffstat (limited to '37454-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 37454-8.txt | 7345 |
1 files changed, 7345 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/37454-8.txt b/37454-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a3f60a --- /dev/null +++ b/37454-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7345 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson, by +Laura Dent Crane + + +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 Automobile Girls Along the Hudson + Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow + + +Author: Laura Dent Crane + + + +Release Date: September 16, 2011 [eBook #37454] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE +HUDSON*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 37454-h.htm or 37454-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37454/37454-h/37454-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37454/37454-h.zip) + + + + + +[Illustration: Run! Run for Your Lives!] + + +THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON + +Or + +Fighting Fire in Sleepy Hollow + +by + +LAURA DENT CRANE + +Author of The Automobile Girls at Newport, The Automobile +Girls in the Berkshires, Etc., Etc. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +Philadelphia +Henry Altemus Company + +Copyright, 1910, by Howard E. Altemus + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Unexpected Always Happens 7 + II. Mr. Stuart Confides a Secret 16 + III. Rocking Chair Adventures 25 + IV. A Cry for Help 45 + V. The Motor Cyclist 52 + VI. A Forest Scrimmage 58 + VII. A Night with the Gypsies 76 + VIII. The Haunted Pool 83 + IX. Ten Eyck Hall 94 + X. An Attic Mystery 107 + XI. José Has an Enemy 117 + XII. Nosegays and Tennis 129 + XIII. Cross Questions and Crooked Answers 141 + XIV. In the Deep Woods 150 + XV. The Hermit 158 + XVI. A Surprise 168 + XVII. Zerlina 180 + XVIII. The Masquerade 189 + XIX. A Recognition 195 + XX. The Fire Brigade 203 + XXI. Fighting the Fire 210 + XXII. Explanations 220 + XXIII. An Old Romance 227 + XXIV. Good-bye To Ten Eyck Hall 235 + XXV. Conclusion 253 + + + + +THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON + + + + +CHAPTER I--THE UNEXPECTED ALWAYS HAPPENS + + +"I think I'd make a pretty good housemaid," said Barbara, on her knees, +energetically polishing the floor of the cottage parlor. + +"Only housemaids don't wear gloves and all-over aprons and mobcaps," +replied Mollie. + +"And they don't protect their skins from dust with cold cream," added +Barbara, teasingly. "Do they, Molliekins?" + +"Oh well," replied Mollie, "duty and beauty rhyme, and every woman ought +to try and keep her looks, according to the beauty pages in all the +papers." + +"Poor old Molliekins!" exclaimed her sister. "Crowsfeet and gray hair at +fifteen!" + +"Going on sixteen," corrected Mollie, as she gave a finishing rub to the +mahogany center table, a relic of more prosperous days, and flourished +an old, oily stocking that made an excellent polisher. "But the papers +do say that automobiling is very harmful to the complexion and the face +should be protected by layers of cold cream and powder, and a veil on +top of that." + +"I'm willing to take the chance," laughed Barbara, "if ever I get +another one." + +"I suppose Ruth is so busy getting ready for her six weeks' trip abroad +that she won't have much time for her 'bubble' this August," observed +Mollie. "But, dear knows, we can't complain. There never was a rich girl +who knew how to make other people happy as well as she does. Sometimes I +think she is really a fairy princess, disguised as a human being, who is +just gratifying her desire to do nice things for girls like us." + +"No, she is no fairy," commented Barbara. "That is why we love her so. +She is just a jolly, nice girl and as human as anybody. When she asked +us to go to Newport it was because she really wanted us. She has often +told me, since, that she had been planning the trip for months, but the +girls she knew were not exactly the kind who would have fallen into such +a scheme. Gladys Le Baron would never have done, you see, at that time, +because she always wanted Harry Townsend hanging about." + +Harry Townsend, our readers will recall, appeared in a former volume of +this series, "The Automobile Girls at Newport." He was the famous youth +known to the police as "The Boy Raffles," whose mysterious thefts were +the puzzle of the society world. It was Barbara Thurston, by her grit +and intelligence, who finally brought the criminal to justice, though +not before Newport had been completely bewildered by a number of +inexplicable jewelry robberies. + +Following the visit to Newport came another delightful trip to the +Berkshire Hills. The romantic rescue of a little girl whose birth had +been concealed from her rich white relatives by her Indian grandmother; +Mollie Thurston lost in an unexplored forest; the thrilling race between +an air ship and an automobile--these and other exciting adventures were +described in the second volume of the series entitled "The Automobile +Girls in the Berkshires." + +"How hot it is!" continued Bab. "Suppose we have some lemonade. These +forest fire mists are really fine ashes and they make me quite thirsty." + +She polished away vigorously while Mollie tripped off to make a cooling +drink in the spotless little kitchen. Except for the tinkle of ice +against glass the house was very still. Outside, not a breeze was +stirring, and the meadows were draped in a curious, smoky mist. The sun +hung like a red ball in the sky; the air was hot and heavy. The flowers +in the garden borders drooped their heads in spite of persistent and +frequent waterings. Three months' drought had almost made a desert of +Kingsbridge. The neat little scrap of a lawn was turning brown in +patches, like prematurely gray hair, Barbara said. Even the birds were +silent, and Mollie's cherished family of bantams, a hen, a rooster and +one chick, crouched listlessly in the shadow of the hedge. + +Just then the stillness was broken by the distant crunch-crunch of an +automobile. But the girls were too intent on what they were doing to +take any notice until it stopped at their own front gate, and the sound +of gay laughter and voices floated up the walk. Mollie and Barbara +rushed together to the front porch. + +"It's Ruth herself!" they cried in the same breath, running down the +steps without stopping to remove their long gingham aprons and dusting +caps. "And there's mother, too," exclaimed Mollie. + +"And Mr. Stuart and Aunt Sallie, all complete!" cried Barbara. + +In a moment the three girls were engaged in a sort of triangular embrace +while the others looked smilingly on. + +"Well, young ladies," said Mr. Stuart, "are those automobile coats +you're wearing, and bonnets, too?" + +"I think they would do pretty well for motoring," replied Barbara, "they +are specially made for keeping out the dust." + +"They are just as cute as they can be," said loyal Ruth, who was too +tender-hearted to let her friends be teased. + +"But where on earth did you come from, Ruth?" asked Mollie. "We were +just talking about you a moment ago. We thought, of course, you were +still in Denver, and lo and behold! you appear in person in +Kingsbridge." + +"Well, papa had a call East," replied Ruth, bubbling with suppressed +joy, "and I had a call, too. Papa's was business and mine was--well, +just to call on you." By that time they had reached the cool, +half-darkened little parlor whose bare floor and mahogany furniture +reflected their faces in the recently polished surfaces. + +"Oho!" cried Mr. Stuart. "I see now where Queen Mab and her fairies have +been working in their pinafores and caps." + +"Take them off now, girlies," said Mrs. Thurston, "and get a pitcher of +ice water. I know our friends must be thirsty after their dusty ride." + +But Mollie, who had already disappeared, came back in a few minutes +bearing a large tray of glasses and a tall glass pitcher against whose +sides cracked ice tinkled musically. + +"That's the most delightful sound I've heard to-day," exclaimed Mr. +Stuart, and even Aunt Sallie took a second glass without much urging. + +"Where is our little Indian Princess from the Berkshire Hills?" asked +Mr. Stuart suddenly. "One of my reasons for coming East was to see +Eunice. Ruth says she is the prettiest, little brown bird that ever flew +down from a mountain to live in a gilded cage. What have you done with +her, Mrs. Thurston?" + +"I have had to give her up, Mr. Stuart," Mrs. Thurston replied, sadly. +"And I was beginning to love Eunice like one of my own children. You +cannot guess how quickly she learned the ways of our home. She soon +forgot the old, wild mountain life and her Indian grandmother's +teaching. But just now and then, if one of us was the least bit cross +with her, she would run away to the woods; and then only Mollie, whom +she always loved best, could bring her home again." + +"Oh, how I hated to have her leave us!" Mollie declared. "But after the +one winter with mother, Eunice's rich uncle, Mr. Latham, came here to +see her. He was so charmed with her beauty and shy lovely manners that +he took her back to his home in the Berkshires to spend the summer with +him. This fall Mr. Latham is going to put Eunice in a girl's boarding +school in Boston, so that she can be nearer his place at Lenox. He wants +to be able to see her oftener. The dream of little Eunice's life is to +some day ask 'The Automobile Girls' to visit her." + +"Well, girls," said Ruth, as they moved toward the front porch, leaving +their three elders to chat in the parlor, "I suppose you know I've got +something in my mind again." + +"No, honor bright, we don't," declared Barbara. "Isn't Europe about as +much as you can support at one time?" + +"But Europe doesn't happen until next month, children, and after +finishing his business in the East, papa is going to be kept very busy +for at least a month in the West. In the meantime Aunt Sallie and I have +no place to go but out, and nothing to do but play around until it's +time to sail. And so, honored friends, I'm again thrown upon your +company for as long a time as you can endure my presence. And this is +the plan that's been working in my head all the way on the train: What +do you say to a lovely motor trip up along the Hudson to Sleepy Hollow? +Don't you think it would be fine? Grace can go, and we'll have our same +old happy crowd. It's really only one day's trip to Tarrytown, where we +will stop for as long as we like, and from there we can motor about the +country and see some of the fine estates. It is a historic place, you +know, girls, full of romance and old stories and legends. We can even +motor up into the hills if we like." + +"It would be too perfect!" cried the other two girls. + +"I'm just in the mood for adventures, anyway," declared Barbara. "I've +been feeling it coming over me for a week." + +"When are we going?" asked Mollie. + +"Well, why not to-morrow," replied Ruth, "while the spirit moves us?" + +"O joy, O bliss, O rapture unconfined!" sang Mollie, dancing up and down +the porch in her delight. + +"You see, there is no special getting ready to do," went on Ruth. "The +chauffeur will go over 'Mr. A. Bubble,' this afternoon, and put him in +good shape. He's been acting excellently well for such a hardworking old +party. I mean 'A. Bubble,' of course." + +"Does mother know yet, Ruth?" asked Barbara, with a sudden misgiving. + +"Oh, yes, she knows all about it. Papa and I laid the whole plan before +her when we picked her up in the village. She was agreeable to +everything, but of course she would be. She is such a dear! Aunt Sallie +was the only one who was a bit backward about coming forward. She seemed +to think that the forest fires would devour us if we dared venture +outside of New York. But, of course, they are only in the mountains and +there is no danger from them. It took me an age to gain her consent. If +she has any more time to think about it she may back out at the eleventh +hour." + +"Is it all settled, girls?" called Mr. Stuart's voice through the open +window. + +"Oh, yes," chorused three gay voices at once. + +"Well, I think we'd better be going up to the hotel, then," cried Miss +Sallie. "If I'm to be suffocated by smoke and cinders I think I shall +need all the rest I can get beforehand." + +"But, dearest Aunt Sallie," said Ruth, patting her aunt's peach-blossom +cheek, "the fires are nowhere near Sleepy Hollow. They are miles off in +the mountains. And truly, in your heart, I believe you like these little +auto jaunts better than any of us." + +"Not at all," replied the inflexible Miss Stuart. "I am much too old and +rheumatic for such nonsense." + +Whereupon she jumped nimbly into the car. + +The others all laughed. They understood Miss Sallie pretty well by this +time. "She has a stern exterior, but a very melting interior," Barbara +used to say of her. + +"Don't fail to be ready by ten, girls," called Ruth as she followed her +aunt, while Mr. Stuart was offering his adieux to Mrs. Thurston. + +"But, Bab," whispered Mollie, as the automobile disappeared around a +curve in the road, "what about the forest fires?" + +"Sh-h!" said Barbara, with, a finger on her lip. + +And they followed their mother into the house. + + + + +CHAPTER II--MR. STUART CONFIDES A SECRET + + +The next day was like the day before, very hot and still, the air thick +with a smoke-like mist even in that seashore place. It hung over the sea +like a heavy fog, and the foghorn could be heard in the distance moaning +like a distracted animal calling for its young. + +Barbara had refreshed herself by an early morning dip in the ocean, but +she felt the oppressive atmosphere in spite of the tingling the cool +salt water had given to her skin. + +They were seated around the little breakfast table, always so daintily +set, for Mrs. Thurston had never lost that quality which had +characterized her in her youth and which still clung to her in the days +of her hardships and troubles. + +"And now, girlies," she said, "you must promise me one thing. Don't lose +your heads at the wrong time. Not that you ever have before, and I am +sure I have no premonitions, now; but remember, my daughters, if +anything exciting should happen, to make a little prayer to yourselves; +then think hard and the answer is apt to come before you know it." + +"Do you remember how Gladys Le Baron shrieked the time the curtains in +her room caught fire?" asked Mollie. "She didn't do anything but just +wring her hands and scream, and it was really Barbara who put the fire +out. Bab pulled down the curtains and threw a blanket over them. And +then Gladys had hysterics. But Barbara always keeps her head," added +Mollie, proudly. + +"Your head is all right, too, Molliekins," exclaimed Barbara. "The night +the man tried to break in the house, don't you remember, mummie, how +brave she was? She followed us up with a poker as bold as a lion." + +"So you did, my pet, and I'm not the least afraid that either one of you +ever will be lacking in courage. But, when I was very small, my mother +once taught me a little prayer which she made me promise to say to +myself whenever I felt the temptation to give way to fear or anger. And +many and many a time it has helped me. It was only a few words: 'Heaven, +make me calm in the face of danger,' but I have never known it to fail." + +"Dearest little mother," cried Barbara, kissing her mother's soft cheek, +"you're the best and sweetest little mummie in the world and I'm sure I +can't remember ever having seen you angry or hysterical or any of those +terrible things. But if ever I do get in a tight place I hope I shall +not forget the little prayer." + +"'Heaven, make me calm in the face of danger,'" repeated Mollie, softly. + +"But, dear me, how gruesome we are!" exclaimed Mrs. Thurston. "It is +time you were packing your bags, at any rate, children. Be sure and put +in your sweaters. You may need them in spite of this hot wave. And, +Mollie, don't forget the cold cream for your little sunburned nose." + +The two girls ran upstairs to their room. In a few moments they were +deep in preparations. By the time the whir of an automobile was heard in +the distance they had got into their fresh linen suits and broad-brimmed +straw hats, and were waiting on the porch with suit cases and small +satchels. Mrs. Thurston looked them over with secret pride. + +"Do you see anything lacking, mother?" asked Barbara. + +"No, Bab, my dear. I haven't a word to say. You made a very choice +selection in that pink linen, and Mollie was just as happy in her blue +one. I never saw neater looking dresses. I hope they won't wrinkle much. +But you can have them pressed at the hotel, I suppose." + +"And don't forget our automobile coats," exclaimed Mollie proudly, as +she shook out her long pongee duster, last year's Christmas gift from +Ruth. "This is the first time we've had a chance to wear them. I feel so +grand in mine!" she continued, as she slipped it on. "With all this veil +and hat I can almost imagine I am a millionaire." And she swept up the +porch and back with a society air that was perfect. "Good morning," she +said to her mother in a high, affected voice. "Won't you take a little +spin with me in my car? Life is such a bore now at these barbarous +seaside places! There is really nothing but bridge and motoring, and one +can't play bridge all the time. Oh, and by the way," she continued, +pretending to look at Bab haughtily, through a lorgnette, "won't you +bring your little girl along? She can sit with the chauffeur." + +They were still laughing when the automobile came spinning up with Ruth, +Grace Carter, Miss Sallie Stuart and her brother. + +"On time, as usual, girls," cried Ruth gayly. "And I am late as usual. +But who cares? It's a lovely day and we're going to have a perfect time. +I am so glad we're going that I would like to execute a few steps on +your front porch for joy." + +"Go ahead," said Barbara. "We've just been having one exhibition from +Miss Clare Vere de Vere Thurston, who is bursting with pride over her +automobile coat, and we would be pleased to see another." + +"By the way, I should like to have a few words in private with the young +party in the pink dress," called Mr. Stuart, who was engaged in taking a +last look at the inner workings of the automobile. + +"Meaning me?" asked Bab. "Come in, won't you, Mr. Stuart?" + +"Now, what could they be having secrets about?" exclaimed Ruth, and even +Miss Sallie looked somewhat mystified. + +"I am dying to know what you two are confabbing about," cried Ruth, as +Mr. Stuart and Barbara returned. "Have you given Bab permission to tell +us?" + +"Miss Barbara Thurston is a young woman of such excellent judgment," +replied Mr. Stuart, "that I shall leave the secret entirely in her +hands, and rely upon her to keep it or tell it as she thinks best." + +"Well!" exclaimed Miss Sallie, "here's a nice mystery to commence the +day on! But come along, girls; we had better be starting." + +Mr. Stuart, with Bab's assistance, gathered up the bags and suit cases +piled on the porch, packing the cases on the back with the others where +they were secured with straps, and putting the small hand satchels on +the floor of the car. Barbara seized her own satchel rather hastily and +placed it beside her on the seat. + +"Why, Bab, one would think you were a smuggler," cried Ruth. "Don't you +want to put your satchel on the floor with the others?" + +"Oh, never mind," replied Barbara carelessly. "It's all right here," and +she exchanged a meaning look with Mr. Stuart. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Ruth. "You and papa grow 'curiouser and +curiouser.'" + +Then the good-byes were said, and the big automobile went skimming down +the road in a whirl of dust, leaving Mrs. Thurston and Mr. Stuart at the +gate waving their handkerchiefs, until it turned the curve and was lost +to sight. + +The travelers lunched at Allaire, as usual, in the little open-air +French restaurant, and strolled about under the enormous elms of the +deserted village while the meal was being prepared. But they did not +linger after lunch. Ruth was hoping to make Tarrytown in time for dinner +that evening, instead of stopping for the night in New York, which, she +said, appeared to be suffering from the heat like a human being. "The +poor, tired city is all fagged out and fairly panting from the humidity. +If all goes well, I think we should get to New York by four o'clock, +have tea at the Waldorf and start for Tarrytown at five. We ought to +reach there by seven at the latest. It will be a long ride, but it's +lots cooler riding than it is sitting still. Once we get to Tarrytown we +can linger as long as we please." + +They whizzed along the now familiar road, through the endless chain of +summer resorts that line the Jersey coast, up the Rumson Road between +the homes of millionaires, and finally struck the road to New York. + +"It'll be easy sailing now," observed Ruth, "if we only catch the +ferries." + +By a stroke of good luck they were able to do so, and actually drew up +in front of the Waldorf at a few minutes before four o'clock. + +"Well, Ruth, I must say you are a pretty good calculator," exclaimed +Miss Sallie, "harum-scarum that you are." + +There was a brief interval for face-washing and the smoothing of +flattened pompadours; another longer one for consuming lettuce +sandwiches and tea, followed by ices and cakes, and the party was off +again, as swiftly as if it had been carrying secret government +dispatches. + +Up Riverside Drive they sped, past the Palisades which loomed purple and +amethyst in the misty light. Then eastward to Broadway, which was once +the old Albany Post Road; along the borders of Van Courtlandt Park, +where, even on that hot day, the golfers were out; through Yonkers, too +citified to be interesting to the girls just then; and, finally, along +the river through the loveliest country Barbara and Mollie had ever +seen. Still the crags of the Palisades towered on one side, while on the +other were beautiful estates stretching back into the hills, and little +villages nestling down on the river front. + +Miss Sallie and Grace were both sound asleep on the back seat. Mollie +had let down one of the small middle seats, and sat resting her chin on +the back of the seat in front of her, occasionally pressing her sister's +shoulder for sympathy. + +Ruth was in a brown study. She was very tired. It was no joke playing +chauffeur for more than a hundred miles in one day. + +"Bab," whispered Mollie, awed by the lovely vistas of river and valley, +"do you think the Vale of Cashmere could be more exquisite than this? Or +the Rhine, or Lake Como, or any other wonderful place we have never +seen?" + +"Isn't it marvelous, little sister? It's like an enchanted country, and +it is full of legends and history, too. During the Revolution the two +armies were encamped all through here." + +"Oh, yes," interrupted Ruth. "If I were not too tired, I might tell you +a lot of things about this historical spot, but we must take another +spin down here later and see it all again. This village we are now +entering is Irvington, the home of Washington Irving. His house is no +longer open to the public, however. Tarrytown is only a little distance +down the river. We shall soon be there." + +It was not long before a tired, sleepy party of automobilists drew up in +front of an old hotel shaded with immense elms. + +"Wake up, Aunt Sallie, dear," cried Ruth, giving her sleeping relative a +gentle shake. "Bestir yourselves, sweet ladies, for food and rest are at +hand and the hostelry is open to us." + +Supper was, indeed, ready, and rooms, too. For Mr. Stuart had notified +the hotel proprietor to expect an automobile containing five women to +descend upon him about sundown. + +The five travelers mounted the steps to the supper room, and refreshed +themselves with beefsteak and hot biscuits; then mounted more steps to +their bedrooms, where they soon fell into five untroubled slumbers. + + + + +CHAPTER III--ROCKING CHAIR ADVENTURES + + +"Well, girls," exclaimed Ruth, next morning at the breakfast table, +"here we are ready for adventures. But they will have to be early +morning or late evening ones. It's already too hot to breathe." + +"For my part," observed Miss Sallie, "the only adventure I am seeking is +to sit on the shady side of the piazza, in a wicker chair, and read the +morning paper." + +"But, Miss Sallie, even that might turn into something," said romantic +Mollie. + +"Yes, indeed," pursued Ruth, "you know the way mamma met papa was by +staying at home instead of going to a ball." + +"Why, Ruth!" cried Miss Sallie. + +"But it's quite true, dear Aunt Sallie. Mamma was visiting at a house +party in the South, somewhere, and she had a headache and stayed home +from a ball, and was sitting in the library. Papa came a-calling on one +of the others, and was ushered into the library, by mistake, and +introduced himself to mamma--and she forgot her headache and he forgot +he was due to catch a train to New York at nine o'clock. It was simply a +case of love at first sight." + +"My dear, I am not looking for any such romantic adventures," said Miss +Sallie, bridling. "Your father was an intimate friend of the family at +whose house your mother was stopping. It was perfectly natural they +should have met, if not that evening, at least another one. I always +said your mother showed extreme good sense in staying away from a party +and nursing her headache. Not many others would have done the same." +Miss Stuart gave her niece a meaning look, while the four girls +suppressed their smiles and exchanged telegraphic glances of amusement. + +Not long before Ruth had "doctored" herself up with headache medicine, +and had gone to a dance against her aunt's advice. As a result she had +been obliged to leave before the evening was over, more on account of +the medicine than the headache, Miss Sallie had believed. + +"Dearest little auntie, you have a touch of sun this morning, haven't +you?" asked Ruth, leaning over and patting her aunt's soft cheek; while +Miss Stuart, who was indeed feeling the general oppressiveness of the +weather, melted at once into a good humor and smiled at her niece +tenderly. + +Two persons were rather curiously watching this little scene from behind +the shelter of the morning papers. One of them, a very handsome elderly +man, seated at a table by the window, had started perceptibly when the +party entered the room; and from that moment, he had hardly eaten a bite +of breakfast. He was occupied in examining not the fair young girls but +Miss Sallie herself, who was entirely unconscious of being the object of +such scouting. + +The other individual was quite different in appearance. He was dressed +in black leather from head to foot, and a motor cap and glasses lay +beside him on the table. His evident interest in the conversation of the +girls was impersonal, perhaps the curiosity of a foreigner in a strange +country. There was some admiration in his eyes as they rested on pretty +Mollie's golden curls and fresh smiling face; but his manner was +perfectly respectful and he was careful to conceal his glances by the +newspaper. + +"That man is rather good-looking in a foreign sort of way," whispered +Mollie. + +"Too much blacky face and shiny eye, to suit my taste," replied Bab. "He +looks like a pirate, or a smuggler, in that black leather suit." + +"Dear me, you are severe, Bab," observed Ruth. "If he were not so young, +I should take him for an opera singer on a vacation. He would do nicely +dressed as a cavalier." + +"Be careful, my dears; you are talking much too loudly," admonished Miss +Sallie, for the young foreigner had evidently overheard the +conversation, and had turned his face away to conceal an expression of +amusement. + +"I vote we adjourn to the porch," said Ruth, "until we decide where we +are going this morning. Come on, auntie, dear. There may be a rocking +chair adventure waiting for you on that shady piazza. I saw a white +haired gentleman giving you many glances of admiration, this morning, +around the corner of his newspaper. Did you notice it, girls?" + +"I did," replied Grace, somewhat hesitatingly, for she was just a little +fearful about entering into these teasing humors with Ruth. + +"Don't be silly, Ruth," said Miss Sallie. But she glanced quickly over +her shoulder, nevertheless, as she led the little procession from the +dining room, her lavender muslin draperies floating in the breeze. She +stopped in the office and bought a newspaper, then proceeded to the +shady piazza, where she seated herself in a rocking chair and unfolded +the paper. + +The girls leaned over the railing and looked down into the street, while +Ruth expounded her views on their morning's ride. + +"Suppose we have a lunch fixed up," she was saying, "and spend the +morning at Sleepy Hollow? It's lovelier than anything you ever imagined, +just what Washington Irving says of it, a place to dream in and see +visions." + +A charming tenor voice floated out from an upper window, singing a song +in some foreign language. + +The girls looked at each other and laughed. + +"He did hear us, and he is an opera singer," whispered Grace. + +"I knew it," came Miss Sallie's voice from the depths of the paper. + +"Knew what?" demanded the four girls somewhat guiltily, as the singing +continued. + +"Knew that we would all be cremated if we came into these dreadful wild +regions," replied Miss Sallie, as she gazed tragically down the shaded +street lined with beautiful old homes. + +"But, Miss Sallie," interposed Barbara in soothing tones, "the fires are +up in the Catskills and the Adirondacks, aren't they? It is only when +the wind blows in this direction that we get the smoke from them. Even +New York gets it, then; and certainly there is no danger of New York +burning up from the forest fires." + +"Very well, my dears, if we do run into one of those shocking +conflagrations, you may just recall my words to you this morning." + +The girls all laughed, and there is nothing prettier than the sound of +the light-hearted laughter of young girls; at least so thought the tall, +military-looking man they had seen at breakfast. He had strolled out on +the piazza, and was walking straight toward Miss Sallie with an air of +determination that was unmistakable even to the stately lady in +lavender. + +A few feet from her chair he paused as if a sudden thought had arrested +him, and the two looked straight into each other's faces for the space +of half a minute. The girls were fairly dumb with amazement as they +watched the little drama. Miss Sallie's face had flushed and paled +before it resumed its natural peachy tone. They could not see the face +of the stranger whose back was turned to them. + +"Is it possible," asked Miss Sallie after a moment, in a strange voice, +"that this is John Ten Eyck?" + +She had risen from her chair, in her excitement, and the newspapers had +fallen on the floor with her lavender silk reticule, her fan and +smelling salts, her lace-edged handkerchief and spectacle case, all in a +confused mass. + +"You have not forgotten me, Sallie?" the man demanded, almost +dramatically. "I am John Ten Eyck, grown old and gray. I never dreamed +that any of my old friends would recognize me after all these years. But +are these your girls, Sallie?" he asked, turning with a courtly air to +the four young women. + +"No, indeed, John," replied Miss Sallie, rather stiffly, "I have never +married. This is my niece, Ruth Stuart, my only brother's child." And +she proceeded to introduce the others in turn. "Ruth, my child, this is +Major John Ten Eyck, an old friend of mine, whom I have not seen for +many years. I suppose you have lived in foreign lands for so long you +have completely lost sight of your American friends." + +"It has been a great many years," answered Major Ten Eyck, after he had +taken each girl by the hand and had looked into her face with such +gentleness and charm of manner as to win them all completely. "It's been +thirty years, has it not, Sallie?" + +"Don't ask me such a question, John Ten Eyck! I'm sure I have no desire +to be reminded of how old we are growing. Do you know, you are actually +getting fat and bald; and here I am with hair as white as snow." + +"But your face is as young as ever, Sallie," declared the gallant major. + +"Isn't it, Major Ten Eyck?" exclaimed Ruth, who had found her voice at +last. "She is just as pretty as she was thirty years ago, I am certain. +Papa says she is, at any rate." + +"So she is, my dear," agreed the old man as he gazed with undisguised +admiration into Miss Sallie's smiling face. + +"Do sit down," said Miss Sallie, slightly confused, "and tell us where +you have been, and what you have been doing these last three decades." + +"It would take too long, I fear," replied the major, looking at his +watch. "I am looking for my two nephews this morning." + +"You mean Martin's sons, I suppose?" asked Miss Sallie. + +"Yes, they are coming down to stay with me at my old place, back yonder +in the hills. They are bringing one or two friends with them, and we +shall motor over this afternoon if the weather permits. But tell me, +what are you doing here? Spending the summer? Don't you find it a little +dull, young ladies?" + +"Oh, we are just on a motor trip, too," replied Ruth. "We are birds of +passage, and stop only as long as it pleases us." + +"And have you no men along, to look after you and protect you from +highwaymen, or mend the tires when they are punctured?" + +"My dear Major," replied Miss Sallie, "you have been away from America +for so long that you are old-fashioned. Do you think these athletic +young women need a man to protect them? I assure you that the world has +been changing while you have been burying yourself in Russia and Japan. +Ruth, here, is as good a chauffeur as could be found, and Barbara +Thurston can protect herself and us into the bargain. She rides +horseback like a man." Barbara blushed at the memory of the stolen +horseback ride on the way to Newport. "Grace and Mollie are a little bit +more old-fashioned, perhaps, and I am as helpless as ever. But two are +quite enough. They have got us out of every scrape so far, the two of +them." + +The girls all laughed. + +Only Barbara, who was leaning on the railing facing the window, saw a +figure move behind the curtain, which had stood so still she had not +noticed it before. + +"Since you are off on a sort of wild goose chase for amusement," began +the major (here the figure that was slipping away paused again), +"couldn't you confer a great honor and pleasure on an old man by making +him a visit?" + +"Oh!" cried the girls, breathless with delight, remembering the +automobile full of youths that would shortly appear. + +"Now, Miss Sallie, you see they all want to come," continued the major. +"Don't, I beg of you, destroy their pleasure and my happiness by +declining this request of my old age." + +"Oh, do say yes, Aunt Sallie!" cried Ruth. + +And still Miss Sallie hesitated. She had a curious smile on her face as +she looked out over the hills and meadows beyond. + +"It's an interesting old place, Sallie," continued the major. "It was +built by my Dutch ancestors, a charming old house that has been added to +from time to time. I would like to see it full of young faces once more. +What do you say, Sallie? Won't you make us all happy? The boys and me, +and the girls, too? For I can see by their faces they are eager to +come." + +"How far is it from here, John," asked Miss Sallie, doubtfully. "Is it +anywhere near those dreadful forest fires?" + +"It is fifteen miles back in the country, and I have heard no rumor of +any fires in that vicinity lately. The boys and I are leaving this +afternoon. We will see that everything is ship-shape, and you and the +girls could follow to-morrow. I have an excellent housekeeper. She and +her husband were a young couple when I went away, and they have lived at +the place ever since. I am certain she can make you comfortable. I will +give Miss Ruth explicit directions about the route. It is a fairly good +road for motoring. We have a fine place for dancing there, young ladies. +There's a famous floor in what, in my grandmother's time, we used to +call the red drawing-room. There are dozens of places for picnics, +pretty valleys and creeks that I explored and knew intimately in my +youth. I have some good horses in my stables, Miss Barbara, if you have +a fancy for riding," he continued, turning to Barbara with such grace of +manner that she blushed for pleasure. + +Looking from one eager face to another, and finally into the major's +kindly gray eyes, Miss Sallie melted into acquiescence and the party was +made up forthwith. + +The major then pointed out to Ruth and Barbara the street they were to +take, which would lead to the road to his old home. He drew a map on a +piece of paper, so that they could make no mistake. + +"When you come to the crossroads," he added, as a parting caution, "take +the one with the bridge, which you can see beyond. The other road is +roundabout and full of ruts besides." + +Just then the horn of an automobile was heard, as a large touring car +containing four young men and a deal of baggage, drew up in front of the +hotel. At the same time, Barbara, who was still facing the window, saw +the figure on the other side of the curtain steal quietly away. + +Major Ten Eyck went forward to meet the newcomers, and he and his two +nephews had a little earnest conversation together for a few moments. +The young men looked up, saw Miss Sallie and the girls, and all four +caps came off simultaneously. + +"Please don't go yet," called the major, as Miss Stuart rose to leave. +"I want to introduce the boys first." + +Stephen and Martin Ten Eyck were handsome, sturdy youths, with clear cut +features. The two visitors were far different in type; one, Alfred +Marsdale, a young English friend, who was spending the summer with the +Ten Eycks, and the other, Jimmie Butler, who seemed to have come from +nowhere in particular but to have been everywhere. + +"And now come along, boys," urged the major, after he had given the +young people a chance to talk a few minutes. "These ladies want their +ride, I know, and we must be off for the hall before it gets too hot for +endurance." + +With a last caution to Ruth about the proper road to Ten Eyck Hall, and +a reminder to Miss Stuart not to break her promise, the major ushered +his boys into the hotel office, while "The Automobile Girls" went up to +their rooms. + +"Isn't this perfectly jolly, girls?" called Ruth from the mirror as she +pinned on her hat. + +"De-lighted!" exclaimed Barbara and Mollie, joining the others. + +"And listen, girlies, dear! Did you scent a romance?" whispered Ruth. + +"It certainly looked very much like one," replied Barbara. + +"They were engaged once," continued Ruth, "but they had some sort of +lovers' quarrel. The poor major tried to make it up, but Aunt Sallie +wouldn't forgive him, and he went away and never came back, except for +flying trips on business. Until to-day she has never seen or heard from +him." + +"But she must have cared some, because she didn't marry anyone else," +observed Mollie reflectively. + +"I wonder what he did," pondered Grace. + +"Flirted with another girl," answered Ruth. "Papa has often told me +about it. Aunt Sallie had another lover, at the same time, who was very +rich. She kept the two of them dangling on, and it was because she went +driving with the other lover that Major Ten Eyck paid devoted attention +to some other girl, one night at a ball. So they quarreled and +separated." + +"Poor old major!" sighed tender-hearted Mollie. + +"But she _did_ have her rocking chair adventure after all," laughed +Barbara, as they started downstairs in obedience to Miss Sallie's tap a +few moments before. + +The lovely vistas of valley and river, with intersecting hills, were +softened into dream pictures by a transparent curtain of mist, which hid +the parched look of the foliage from the long drought. + +The five automobilists sped along over smooth roads between splendid +estates. Most of the great houses were screened by stretches of thickly +wooded parks, and each park was guarded by a lodge, after the English +fashion. But there were plenty of charming old houses in full view of +the passerby--rambling, comfortable homes set down on smooth lawns. + +"How beautiful all this is!" sighed Mollie, as she leaned back in her +seat and gazed down the long avenue of trees. + +"Yes," called Ruth over her shoulder. "I took the longest way to the +church, because this road is so pretty." + +"Here's the lane to Sleepy Hollow," cried the ever-watchful Barbara, and +the automobile turned into a country road that appeared to lead off into +low-lying hills beyond. + +"What is that cloud of dust behind us," demanded Miss Sallie, looking +back. + +"It's a man on a motor cycle," replied Grace. "He is turning in here, +too, but he is slowing up. I suppose he doesn't want to give us a +dusting. Rather nice of him, isn't it?" + +"Fancy a motor cycle and a headless horseman riding in the same lane," +observed Ruth. + +"Well, if it came to a race," replied Barbara, "I think I would take the +motor cycle. They do go like the wind." + +"And the noise of them is so terrifying," went on Ruth, "that the poor +headless horseman would probably have been scared back to death again." + +Presently the girls came to a steep declivity in the land that seemed to +dip and rise with equal suddenness. + +"Is this the Hollow?" asked Mollie a little awed. + +"This land is full of hollows, my dear," answered Miss Sallie, who did +not like uneven traveling. "We have been through several already, and, +with that hobgoblin on an infernal machine coming after us, and all +these dense forests packing us in on every side, and nothing but a +lonesome churchyard in front of us, it seems to me we should have +brought along some better protectors than two slips of girls." + +Here Miss Sallie paused in order to regain breath. + +"I declare," exclaimed Ruth, "I don't know which one of these roads +leads to the churchyard. Of course we can explore both of them, but we +don't want to miss seeing the old church, and we certainly don't want to +miss lunch. It will be so cheerful picnicking in a graveyard." + +The automobile stopped and the motor cycle, catching up with them just +then, stopped also. The rider put his foot down to steady himself, and +removing his black leather cap and glasses, bowed courteously to Miss +Stuart. + +"Is Madame looking for the ancient church?" he asked, in very excellent +English with just a touch of accent. + +The five women remembered, at once, that this was the stranger whom they +had lately seen at breakfast. From closer quarters they saw that he was +good-looking, not with the kind of looks they were accustomed to admire, +but still undeniably handsome. His features had rather a haughty turn to +them, and his black eyes had a melancholy look; but even the heavy +leather suit he wore could not hide the graceful slenderness of his +figure. + +"Yes; we were looking for the church," replied Miss Sallie in a somewhat +mollified tone, considering she had just called him a hobgoblin on an +infernal machine. "Will you be good enough to tell us which one of these +roads we must take?" + +"If you will follow me," answered the stranger, "I also am going there. +You will pardon me if I go in front? If you will wait a moment I will +get somewhat ahead, so that madame and the other ladies will not be +dusted." + +"I must say he is rather a polite young man," admitted Miss Sallie, "if +he is somewhat rapid in his movements." + +"He is curiously good-looking," reflected Ruth. "Not exactly our kind, I +should say; but, after all, he may be just foreign and different. Just +because he is not an American type doesn't keep him from being nice." + +All the time the foliage was getting more impenetrable. Tall trees +reared themselves on either side of the road, seeming vanguards of the +forests behind them. A cool, woodsy breeze touched their cheeks softly, +and Barbara closed her eyes for a moment that she might feel the +enchantment of the place. + +"How many Dutch burghers and their wives must have driven up this same +grassy road," she was thinking to herself. "How many wedding parties and +funeral trains, too, for here is their graveyard. No wonder a traveler +imagined he saw ghosts on this lonely road, with nothing but a cemetery +and an old church to cheer him on his way. And here is our auto running +in the very same ruts their funny old carriages and rockaways must have +made, and this stranger in front of us on something queerer still. I +wonder if ghosts of the future will ride in phantom autos or on motor +cycles. What a fearful sight! A headless man on an infernal machine----" + +Her reflections were interrupted by the turning around of the +automobile. Ruth had evidently decided to go back by the way they had +come. Opening her eyes she saw before her a quaint and charming old +church set in the midst of a rambling graveyard. + +There also stood the black cyclist, like a gruesome sentinel among the +tombs. He lifted his cap as they drew up, and, after hesitating a +moment, came forward to open the door and help Miss Sallie alight. + +"Permit me, Madam," he said, with such grace of demeanor that the lady +thanked him almost with effusion. Grace and Mollie were assisted as if +they had been princesses of the blood, as they described it later, while +the other two girls leaped to the ground before he had time to make any +overtures in their direction. + +There was rather an awkward pause, for a moment, as the stranger, with +uncovered head, stood aside to let them pass. The silence was not broken +and Miss Stuart chose to let it remain so. + +"One cannot be too careful," she had always said, "of chance +acquaintances, especially men." However, she was predisposed in favor of +the cyclist, whose manners were exceptional. + +The girls were strolling about among the graves, examining the stones +with their quaint epitaphs, while the stranger leaned against a tree and +lit a cigarette. + +Miss Stuart, with her lorgnette, was making a survey of the church. + +"From the account of the supper party at the Van Tassels' in Sleepy +Hollow," said Ruth, "the early Dutch must have just about eaten +themselves to death. Do you remember all the food there was piled on the +table at the famous quilting party? Every kind of cake known to man, to +begin with; or rather, Washington Irving began with cakes. Roast fowls +and turkeys, hams and sausages, puddings and pies and the humming +tea-urn in the midst of it." + +"I don't think the women had such big appetites as the men," observed +Mollie. "At least Katrina Van Tassel is described as being very dainty, +and I can't imagine a pretty young girl working straight through such a +bill of fare, and yet looking quite the same ever after." + +"But remember that they took lots of exercise," put in Barbara, "of a +kind we know nothing about. All the Dutch girls were taught to scrub and +polish and clean." + +"What were we doing when Ruth and Miss Sallie and Mr. Stuart arrived, +Bab, I'd like to know?" interrupted Mollie indignantly. "Weren't we +rubbing the parlor furniture and polishing the floor?" + +"Yes," returned Barbara, "but you could put our entire house down in the +parlor of one of those old Dutch farm houses, and still have room and to +spare." + +"And think of all the copper kettles they had to keep polished," added +Grace. + +"And the spinning they had to do," said Ruth. + +"And the cooking and butter making," continued Bab. "Yes, Mistress +Mollie, I think there's some excuse for sausages and all the rest. And I +am sure I could have forgiven Katrina if she ate everything in sight." + +"Ah, well," replied Mollie, "no doubt she was fat at thirty!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV--A CRY FOR HELP + + +AS they talked the young girls wandered over the grassy sward of the +churchyard and their voices grew fainter and fainter to the cyclist and +Miss Sallie. + +The latter had seated herself on the stump of an old tree and was busily +engaged in re-reading her mail, at which she had glanced only carelessly +that morning. + +The air was very still and hot, and the hum of insects made a drowsy +accompaniment to the songs of the birds. The cyclist had stretched +himself at full length on the grass under an immense elm tree and was +lazily blowing blue rings of smoke skywards. + +Presently there broke upon the noonday stillness a cry for help. It was +in a high, girlish voice--Mollie's in fact--and it was followed by +others in quick succession. + +Miss Stuart, scattering her mail on the ground in her fright, rushed in +the direction of the cries, the cyclist close behind her. + +On a knoll near the church the sight which met Miss Sallie's eyes almost +made her knees give way. But she had a cool head in danger, in spite of +her lavender draperies and pretended helplessness. + +A tramp, who seemed to them all at the moment as big as a giant, with +matted hair and beard and face swollen from drink, had seized Ruth and +Barbara by the wrists with one of his enormous hands. A woman equally +ragged in appearance was tugging at the fellow's other hand in an effort +to quiet him. + +As Miss Sallie ran toward the group she heard Barbara say quietly: + +"Let go our wrists and we shall be glad to give you all the money we +have with us." + +"I tell you I want more money than that," said the man in a hoarse, +terrible voice. "I want enough money to keep me for the rest of my days. +Do you think I like to sleep on the ground and eat bread and water? I +tell you I want my rights. Why should you be rich and me poor? Why +should you be dressed in silks while my wife wears rags?" + +As he raved, he jerked his hand away from the woman, almost throwing her +forward in his violence, and gesticulated wildly. + +The two girls were both very pale and calm, but the poor tramp woman was +crying bitterly. + +Barbara's lips were moving, but she said nothing, and only Mollie knew +it was her mother's prayer she was repeating. + +"Don't be frightened, young ladies," sobbed the woman, "I will see that +no harm comes to you, even if he kills me." + +"Do you call this a free country," continued the tramp, "when there are +thousands of people like me who have no houses and must beg for food? I +would like to kill all the rich men in this country and turn their +children loose to beg and steal, as we must do to get a living! Do you +think I would ever have come to this pass if a rich man had not brought +me to it? Do you think I was always a tramp like this, and my wife +yonder a tramp, too?" + +At this point the drunken wretch began to cry, but he still held the two +girls tightly by the wrists. + +"I tell you I'll take a ransom for you and nothing less. I'll get out of +the world all it's taken from me, and your father will have to do the +paying. Come on!" he cried in a tone of command, to his trembling wife. + +At this critical moment Miss Stuart and the motor cyclist came running +to the scene. + +There was a look of immense relief on Miss Sallie's face when she saw +the courteous stranger at her heels. She had been about to speak, but +was silent. + +"Oh, ho!" cried the tramp, "so you've got a protector, have you? Well, +come on! I'll fight the whole lot of you, women and men, too, and with +one hand, at that!" + +He loomed up like a giant beside the small, slender cyclist, but he was +a drunken giant nevertheless and not prepared for what was about to +happen. + +However, at first, it appeared to them all that a little persuasion +might be better than force. + +"If you will let the young ladies go, my good man," said the cyclist, +"you will not regret it. You will be well paid. I would advise you to +take a sensible view of the matter. You cannot kidnap us all, and it +would not take long to get help. Would you prefer a long term in jail to +a sum of money?" And the cyclist drew a leather wallet from his coat +pocket. + +"You think you are mighty smart, young man," sneered the tramp, "but I +can kidnap all of you, and nobody ever be the wiser. Do you think I'd +let a chance like this go? My pals are right over there." He pointed +with his free hand to the woods back of him. + +"You will be sorry," said the cyclist. + +With an oath, the tramp put his finger to his mouth and gave a long, +shrill whistle. + +But in that moment he was off his guard, and the cyclist leaped upon him +like a leopard on a lion. One swift blow under the jaw and down tumbled +the giant as Goliath fell before David. + +The poor woman, who was crouching in terror behind a tree, jumped to her +feet. + +"Run!" she cried in a frightened whisper. "Run for your lives!" + +The cyclist seized Miss Sallie by the arm. + +"She is right. It is better to run. The others may be coming." + +And they did run. Terror seemed to lend wings to their feet. Even Miss +Stuart, assisted by their rescuer, fled over the grass as swiftly as her +charges. + +Ruth and Barbara reached the automobile first. In an instant Ruth had +cranked up the machine while Barbara opened the door. + +Another moment, and they were off down the road, the black-clad cyclist +following. Glancing back, they saw two other rough-looking men helping +their comrade to rise to his feet. Then they disappeared in the woods +while the woman, with many anxious backward glances, followed her +companions. + +Nobody spoke for some time. The girls were too much terrified by the +narrow escape to trust to their voices. The bravest women will weep +after a danger is past, and all five of these women were very near the +point of tears. + +Presently the cyclist came up alongside of the automobile, which had +slowed down somewhat when they reached the main road. + +"I will go ahead and inform the police," he called over his shoulder, +"but I fear it will not be of much use. Men like that will scatter and +hide themselves at the first alarm." + +Miss Sallie smiled at him gratefully. Touching his cap, which was +fastened under his chin with a strap and could not be lifted without +some inconvenience, the stranger shot ahead and soon disappeared in a +cloud of dust. + +Miss Sallie was thinking deeply. She wished that Major Ten Eyck and the +boys had not left the hotel that morning. She felt need of the strong +support of the opposite sex. She felt also the responsibility of being +at the head of her party of young girls. + +Should they dare start off again next day into the wilderness after such +an experience? Of course, as long as they were in the automobile, going +at full speed, nothing could stop them except a puncture, and punctures +on country roads were not as frequent as they were on city streets. What +would her brother say? Would he sanction such a trip after this fearful +experience? And still she hesitated. + +The truth was, Miss Stuart was as eager as the girls to accept the +invitation that had been so unexpectedly made. She did not wish to +revive the romance of her youth, but she did have an overweening desire +to see the ancestral home of her old lover, and to talk with him on the +thousand subjects that spring up when two old friends come together +after many years. + +It was, therefore, with half-hearted vehemence that she said to the four +rather listless girls: + +"My dears, don't you think it would be very dangerous for us to go over +to Major Ten Eyck's, to-morrow, after this fearful attack?" + +Everybody looked relieved that somebody had had the courage to say the +first word. + +"Dear auntie, we'll leave it entirely to you," replied Ruth. "Although, +I don't believe we are likely to be kidnapped as long as we keep the +automobile going. The fastest running tramp in Christendom couldn't keep +up with us, even when we're going at an ordinary rate. From what Major +Ten Eyck said, the road is pretty good. We ought to get there in an +hour, since it's only fifteen miles from here, and the last mile or so +is on his estate." + +The other girls said nothing, it being a matter for the chaperon to +settle. + +"Very well, my dear," answered Miss Sallie, acquiescing so suddenly that +the others almost smiled in spite of the seriousness of their feelings +at the moment. "But I do feel that we had a narrow escape this morning. +If it had not been for the young man on the motor cycle I tremble to +think what would have been the consequences. And I certainly believe if +we are not going back to New York, the sooner we get into the society of +some male protectors the better for us. I am sorry that fifteen miles +separate us. I wish those boys had thought to motor back and get us +to-morrow." + +"Oh, well," observed Barbara, "fifteen miles is a mere bagatelle, when +you come to think of it. Why, we shall be there before we know it." + + + + +CHAPTER V--THE MOTOR CYCLIST + + +By this time the automobile had reached the hotel. Miss Sallie led the +way to the dining room and they formed rather a weak-kneed procession, +for they were beginning to experience that all-gone feeling that comes +after a fright. + +The luncheon hamper full of good things had been carried back into the +hotel, since there had been neither time nor opportunity for the picnic +party the girls had planned. + +"I think a little food is what we really need, now," exclaimed Ruth. +"Cheer up, Mollie and Grace. Bab, smile for the ladies. It's all over. +Here we are, safe, and we are going to have a beautiful time at Major +Ten Eyck's. Please, dear friends, don't begin to take this gloomy view +of life. As for the anarchist person who attacked us in the woods, you +may depend upon it that he and his friends are so frightened they will +be running in an opposite direction from Tarrytown for another week. As +for the foreign young man who stepped up to the rescue, he should +certainly be thanked." + +Ruth had by nature a happy temperament. She quickly threw off small +troubles, and depression in others made her really unhappy. + +"It was truly a daring deed," replied Barbara, "and all the more daring +considering that the tramp would have made about two of the cyclist. But +the blow he gave was as swift and sure as a prize fighter's." + +"Did you notice that the poor woman was rather pretty?" commented +Mollie. + +"My dear child," cried Miss Sallie, "I really believe you would notice +people's looks on the way to your own execution. Now, for my part, I +could not see anything. I was almost too frightened to breathe. I felt +that I should faint at any moment." + +"Why, Aunt Sallie, you are more frightened now than you were then," +exclaimed her niece. "You were as calm as the night. As for Grace, she +looked like a scared rabbit. Mollie, darling, I'm glad you had the +presence of mind to scream. If you hadn't Aunt Sallie and the motor +cyclist might have looked for us in vain." + +While she was speaking the cyclist came into the dining-room. + +As soon as Miss Stuart saw him she rose from the table in her most +stately manner and walked over to meet him. + +"Sir," she said, and Ruth gave the merest flicker of a blink at Bab, +"you did a very brave thing to-day, and I want to thank you for all of +us. If you had not been there my niece and her friend would undoubtedly +have been kidnapped. You perhaps saved their lives. They might have been +killed by those ruffians. Won't you give us your name and address? My +brother, I am sure, would like to write to you himself. We shall be +indebted to you always." + +The young man's face flushed with embarrassment. + +"It was nothing, I assure you, Madam," he replied. "It was easy because +the man was intoxicated. He went over at the first blow. My name," he +continued, "is Martinez. José Martinez. My address is the Waldorf, New +York." + +"I am Miss Stuart," said Miss Sallie, "and I would like to present you +to my niece, Miss Ruth Stuart, and her friends Miss Grace Carter and +Misses Barbara and Mollie Thurston. It would give us great pleasure if +you would lunch with us, Mr. Martinez." + +"When a man saves your life you certainly can't stand on ceremony," +commented Miss Sallie to herself. + +An animated discussion followed. Mr. Martinez had been to see the chief +of police, he said, who would call on Miss Stuart that afternoon, if +convenient. He could not offer any hope, however, of catching the men. + +Miss Sallie replied that, for her part, she hoped they wouldn't take the +creatures. It would do no good and she did not want to spend any time +cooped up in a court room in such scorching weather. But did Mr. +Martinez think it would be dangerous for them to take a trip up into the +hills the next day? + +"It would depend upon the road," replied Mr. Martinez. "That is, if the +trip were taken by automobile. Of course my motor cycle can run on any +road." + +"It is a good road," replied Ruth. "At the crossroads there is a bad +road; but, fortunately, we do not have to take it, since the new road +with the bridge has been opened up, so Major Ten Eyck says." + +In which case Mr. José Martinez was of a mind with the young ladies that +the trip would be perfectly safe. + +Miss Sallie gave a sigh of relief. If this estimable young man +sanctioned the trip she felt they might take it with clear consciences. +But she did hope her brother's views on the subject would be the same. + +Then the talk drifted into other channels. + +"You are a Spaniard, I presume, Mr. Martinez?" questioned Miss Sallie. + +"Yes, Madam, a Spaniard by birth, a Frenchman by education and at +present an American by choice. I have lived in England, also, but I +believe I prefer America to all other countries, even my own." + +Miss Stuart was much gratified at this avowal. She felt that in +complimenting America he was complimenting her indirectly. + +"Have you seen the Alhambra and the Rock of Gibraltar?" demanded Mollie, +her wide, blue eyes full of interest. + +"Oh, yes, Madamoiselle," replied the handsome Spaniard, smiling at her +gently, "I have seen the Alhambra many times, and Gibraltar once only." +A curious shade passed over his face as if Gibraltar held memories which +he was not anxious to revive. + +"Does the Rock of Gibraltar really look like a lion?" asked Grace, who +had not noticed his distaste to the mere mention of the name. + +"I do not know, Madamoiselle," he replied shortly. "I saw it only from +land. I was," he added hesitatingly, "very ill when I was there." + +The waiter announced the chief of police to see Miss Sallie, and the +luncheon party adjourned to the shady side of the piazza. + +All this time Barbara had been very quiet, so quiet, indeed, that Ruth +had asked her in a whisper, as they left the dining room, if she were +still feeling the shock of the morning. + +"Oh, no," replied Barbara, "I am simply trying to stifle a ridiculous +fear I have that, maybe, we ought not to go to-morrow. It is absurd, so +please don't mention it to the others, especially as even Miss Sallie +thinks it safe, and little coward Mollie is not afraid." + +"You are just tired, poor dear," said sympathetic Ruth. "Come along up +to your room, and we shall have a little 'relaxation,' as my old colored +mammy used to say. We'll spend a quiet afternoon in our rooms, and at +sunset we can take a spin along the river bank before supper. What do +you say?" + +"I am agreeable," replied Bab. + +"Good afternoon, Mr. Martinez," said Ruth, as the others came up. "You +will be wanting to take your siesta now, I suppose. Siestas, in Spain, +are like afternoon tea in England, aren't they? Here in America we don't +have either, much, but I think we shall need both to-day. Perhaps we +shall see you at dinner?" + +"If I may have that pleasure," replied the Spaniard, bowing low. + +"Strangers of the morning are friends in the afternoon, in this, our +life of adventure," laughed Ruth as they passed along the corridor to +the steps. + +But they did not see the stranger again that day. For some mysterious +reason he left the hotel in the afternoon, and did not return until +nearly midnight, when Barbara, who happened to be awake, heard him +whistling softly as he went down the hall to his room. + + + + +CHAPTER VI--A FOREST SCRIMMAGE + + +It was really Miss Sallie Stuart's fault that they were so late in +starting the next day to Major Ten Eyck's home. + +The automobile had been ordered to be on hand immediately after an early +luncheon, but another call from one of the town police caused the first +delay. + +The tramps had securely hidden themselves, the officer said, and no +trace of them had been found in other towns in that vicinity. + +The second delay was caused by a telegram from Miss Stuart's dressmaker, +stating that a dress had been expressed to her which would reach +Tarrytown that morning. Bab and Mollie were also expecting an express +package of fresh clothes and their organdie dresses, which they felt, +now, they would assuredly need. + +Consequently the party waited patiently for these ever-necessary +feminine adornments, and it was four o'clock before the girls started. + +A third delay was caused by the puncture of a tire just as they were +leaving the hotel. Now they were obliged to go to the nearest garage and +have it repaired, which consumed another three quarters of an hour. + +However, it was pleasanter riding in the cool of the afternoon, and they +still hoped to reach Ten Eyck Hall long before dark. It was a very gay +party that finally took the road, swathed in chiffon veils and dusters. + +"I never felt so much interested in a visit as I do in this one," +remarked Ruth. "Certainly we ought to be glad to get there after all +these mishaps and delays." + +Barbara was still in her silent humor. She sat with her small handbag +clasped tightly on her knees and looked straight before her, as though +she were watching for something. + +"Bab, my child, what is it?" asked Ruth. "You have been in a brown study +all day." + +"Nothing at all, dear," replied Bab, smiling. "Perhaps this haziness +goes to my head a little. But I am awfully glad, too, about the visit. I +always wanted to see an old colonial house, and the only way really is +to stay in it. If we have the run of the rooms, and all the halls and +galleries, we can get to know it much more intimately than if we were +just sight-seers being conducted through by an aged housekeeper." + +Meanwhile, on the back seat, Miss Sallie was in a reminiscent mood. It +was very agreeable to her to hark back to the joyous days of her youth, +for Miss Stuart had been a belle, and the two girls were listening with +pleasure to her accounts of the gallant major, who had been graduated +from West Point ahead of time in order to join the army during the Civil +War. + +The conversation was interrupted by the sudden stoppage of the +automobile at the crossroads, one of which led straight into the woods, +while the other branched off into the open, crossing the now dry bed of +a river spanning which was the new bridge. + +"This is the right road, of course," said Ruth, taking the one with the +bridge. + +"Wait!" cried Barbara. "There's something stretched across the bridge." + +Sure enough, a rope blocked all passage over the bridge, which was quite +a long one. Secured to the rope with cords was a plank on which was +painted: + + "DANGEROUS: TAKE THE OTHER ROAD!" + +"The paint on the sign is still sticky," exclaimed Barbara who had +jumped out and run over to take a good look at it. "And the bridge is +broken. There is a large hole, like a gash, on one side, and another +further down." + +"How remarkable!" replied Ruth. "It must have happened some time this +morning. I do not suppose Major Ten Eyck knows anything about it, or he +would have let us know. I'll back up, anyway, to the crossroads, and we +can decide what to do. We could go on, I suppose. The major said the +other road passed his front gate, but it was a longer one and not such +good traveling. What do you say, Aunt Sallie? Speak up, girls, are you +all agreed?" + +Miss Sallie was much troubled. She wanted to go and she did not want to +go, and her mind was in a turmoil. + +Bab was silent, and Grace and Mollie looked ready for anything. + +"Well," said Miss Sallie, after a moment's reflection, "it is very +dangerous and very venturesome; but, having got thus far, let us proceed +on our way." She folded her hands resignedly, like a martyred saint. + +"Then off we go!" cried Ruth. The automobile rolled into the wooded road +that penetrated a deeper part of the forest. + +The dense shade was a relief after the open, dusty country. Tall trees +interlaced their branches overhead and the ground was carpeted with fern +and bracken. + +But an uneasiness had come upon the automobilists. They did not attempt +to explain it, for there was no apparent cause. The road was excellent +so far, smooth and level; but something was in the air. Miss Sallie was +the first to break the silence. + +"I am terribly frightened," she admitted, in a low voice. "We must have +been bewitched to have attempted this ride. Ruth, my dear, I beg of you +to turn and go back. I feel that we are running into danger." + +Ruth slowed up the machine a little, and called over her shoulder: + +"You are right, Aunt Sallie, but I am afraid we can't turn just yet, +because there isn't room. Anyway, we may be nearer to the other end of +the wood by this time." + +The car sped on again, only to stop with such a sudden jerk, in the very +depths of the forest, that the machinery ceased to whir and in a moment +was silent. + +For a few moments all hands sat perfectly still, dumb with terror and +amazement. + +Across the road was stretched another rope. There was no sign board on +it to tell them there was danger ahead, but the girls needed none. They +felt that there was danger ahead, behind, and all around them. They knew +they were in a trap, and that the danger that threatened them would make +itself known all too soon. + +Barbara had whispered to Ruth. + +"Back up as fast as you can!" + +Ruth had replied in another whisper: + +"I can't before I crank up." + +Regaining her nerve, Ruth was about to leap to the ground when she saw, +and the four others saw at the same moment, the figure of a man standing +by a tree at the roadside. It would seem that he had been standing there +all along, but so still and motionless that he might been one of the +trees themselves. And for two reasons he was a terrifying spectacle: one +because his features were entirely concealed by a black mask, the other +because he carried in one hand a gleaming and remarkably sharp looking +knife, a kind of dagger, the blade slightly curved and pointed at the +end, the silver handle chased all over in an intricate design. + +To her dying day Bab would never forget the picture he made. + +He wore a dark green velveteen suit, like a huntsman's, and a felt hat +with a hanging brim that covered his head. + +"Pardon me, ladies," he said in a curious, false voice, "but I must +request you to keep your places." + +Ruth, who was poised just over the step, fell back beside Barbara, who +had maintained her position, and sat with blanched cheeks and tightly +closed lips. + +The highwayman then deliberately slashed all four tires with his +murderous looking weapon. At each explosion Miss Sallie gave a stifled +groan. + +"Do not cry out, Madam," said the robber sternly, "or it will go hard +with you." + +"Be still," whispered little Mollie, bravely taking Miss Stuart's hand +and patting it gently. + +"And now, ladies," continued the man more politely, "I must ask you to +put all your money and jewelry in a pile here. Stand up," he said to +Barbara. "Put it on this seat and leave out nothing or you will regret +it." + +The five women began mechanically to remove what simple jewelry they +happened to be wearing, for the most part pins, rings, bracelets and +watches, the latter Ruth's and Grace's. Then came the pocket books, +Mollie's little blue silk knitted purse topping the pyramid. + +"But this is not all your money," said the robber impatiently. "Do not +delay. It is getting late." + +"I have some more in my bag," said Ruth faintly. "Mollie, it is on the +back seat. Will you hand it to me?" + +Mollie searched with trembling hands for the bag which was stored +somewhere under the seat. + +"And have you nothing in that bag?" asked the highwayman, turning +roughly to Barbara. + +She did not answer at first. Her lips were moving silently and the +others thought she must be praying. Only Mollie knew she was repeating, +for the second time since they had left home, the words her mother had +taught her: "Heaven make me calm in the face of danger." + +The highwayman laid his hand on the bag, flourishing his knife in a +menacing way. + +"Wait," she said calmly, looking at him with such contempt that his eyes +dropped before her. + +Placing the bag on Ruth's lap, Bab slowly opened it, fumbled inside for +a moment and drew out a small pistol. + +It caught a last ray of the setting sun, which had filtered through the +trees and gleamed dangerously, in spite of its miniature size. + +Barbara pointed it deliberately at the robber, with a steady hand, and +said quietly: + +"Drop that knife and run unless you want me to shoot you!" + +The robber stared at her in amazement. + +"Quick!" she said and gave the trigger an ominous click. + +The pistol was pointed straight at his midwaist. + +"Drop the knife," repeated Barbara, "and back off." + +He dropped the knife and started backward down the road. + +"Now, run!" cried Barbara. And the highwayman turned and walked swiftly +until he was out of sight. + +"There's no time to be lost," cried Barbara. The other four women sat as +if in a trance. Their deliverance had been so unexpected that they were +still suffering from the shock. + +Miss Sallie began to wring her hands in frantic despair. + +"Girls, girls!" she wept, "I have brought you to this pass! What shall +we do? The man is sure to come back. We can't stay here all night! Oh +mercy! why did I ever consent to take this dangerous trip? It's all my +fault!" + +[Illustration: Drop That Knife and Run!] + +"Don't cry, Aunt Sallie, dearest! It's everybody's fault, and you +mustn't waste your strength," urged Ruth, trying to comfort her aunt, +whose nerves had had about all they could endure by now. "What do you +think we'd better do?" continued Ruth, turning to Barbara, who, with her +pistol was keeping watch at the back of the automobile. + +"I think we shall have to walk," replied Barbara. "There is no other +way, and we must start at once, before it gets dark. Ruth, you and Grace +help Miss Sallie. Mollie, put all the valuables on the seat into my bag. +There is no time to divide them now. We had better not try to carry +anything except the small bags." + +The little company seemed to feel a kind of relief in submitting itself +to Barbara's direction. Each doing as she was bid, they started down the +wood road, leaving the car with all their baggage behind them. + +Miss Sallie had recovered her composure. The necessity of moving +quickly, had taken her mind off the situation for the present, and she +walked at as brisk a pace as did the girls. + +Barbara had directed Mollie to walk a little in front and to keep a +sharp lookout, while Bab brought up the rear and watched the sides of +the road as vigilantly as a guard in war time, her pistol cocked, ready +to defend and fight for her friends and sister to her last breath. + +Presently curiosity got the better of Ruth. + +"Bab," she asked, "where on earth did you get that pistol?" + +"From your father," answered Bab. "That was the secret. Don't you +remember? But we must not risk talking now. The quieter we are the +better. Voices carry in these woods." + +"You are quite right, Bab, dear," replied Ruth, under her breath, and +not another word was spoken. + +Each one was engaged in her own thoughts as the silent procession moved +swiftly on. + +Miss Sallie was wondering whether they would ever see morning alive. + +Grace, who was very devout, was praying softly to herself. + +Ruth, in the innermost depths of her mind, was secretly enjoying the +whole adventure, dangerous as it was. + +Mollie was feeling homesick for her mother, while Bab had no time for +any thought than the one that the highwayman might appear at any moment, +and from any direction. Who knew but that he had turned and doubled on +them, and would spring at them from the next tree? + +Presently Mollie, who was a few feet in advance of the others, paused. + +"Look!" she whispered as the others came up. "I see the light of a fire +through the trees. I hear voices, too." + +Sure enough, through the interlacing branches of the trees, they could +distinctly see the glow of a large fire. + +"Wait," exclaimed Bah under her breath. "Stand here at the side of the +road, where you will be hidden. Perhaps we may find help at last." +Creeping cautiously among the trees she disappeared in the darkness. It +seemed an age to the others, waiting on the edge of the narrow woodland +road, but it was only a few minutes, in reality, before Bab was back +again. + +"They are Gypsies," she whispered. "I can tell by their wagons and +tents." + +"Gypsies!" exclaimed Miss Sallie, with a tragic gesture of both hands. +"We shall all be murdered as well as robbed!" + +"No, no," protested Mollie. "I have a friend who is a Gypsy. This may be +her tribe. Suppose I go and see. Let me go. Now, Bab," as her sister +touched her with a detaining hand, "I want to do something." + +And little Mollie, with set lips and pale cheeks, her courageous heart +throbbing with repressed excitement, stole off into the dense shadows of +the forest. + +It seemed another age before the stillness was broken again by the sound +of crackling underbrush, and Mollie's figure was gradually outlined in +the blackness. + +"I couldn't tell," she said. "They seemed to be only men sitting around +the fire smoking. I was afraid to get any nearer for fear one of them +might be the robber. They say Gypsies can be very kind, but I think it +would be better if we all went together and asked for help, if we go at +all. The men looked very fierce," she added faintly, slipping her hand +into her sister's for sympathy. + +"Dearest little sister," whispered Bab, kissing her, "don't ever say +again you are a coward." + +Then two persons emerged from between the trees on the other side of the +road. + +The five women held their breath in fear and suspense as the figures +approached, evidently without having seen these women standing in the +shadow. They were close enough now for the automobilists to make out +that they were two women, one young and the other old apparently. + +Suddenly, with a cry of joy and relief, Mollie sprang upon the elder of +the two women, threw her arms about the stranger's neck and burst into +uncontrollable sobs. + +"O Granny Ann, Granny Ann!" cried Mollie. "At the very time we needed +your help most you have come to us. I hoped and prayed it was your +tribe, but I couldn't tell. There were only men." + +The old Gypsy woman patted Mollie's cheek tenderly, while the little +girl sobbed out the story of their evening's adventure. + +The others had been so surprised at Mollie's sudden outburst that they +stood silently by without interrupting the story; but all felt that a +light was beginning to break on what a short time before had looked like +a hopeless situation. + +Granny Ann, the sixty years of whose life had been spent in wandering +over many countries, was as unperturbed as if they had met by +appointment. Her companion, a young Gypsy girl, stood quietly by without +speaking a word. + +"The ladies will be safe with us," said the old Gypsy, taking them all +in with a comprehensive sweep of her small beady eyes; "as safe as if +they were in their own homes. I have had shelter and food from the young +lady, and a Gypsy never forgets a kindness. Come with me," she added, +with a commanding gesture, and led the way to the encampment. + +The Gypsy girl brought up the rear and the others trailed along in +between, Ruth and Grace still assisting Miss Sallie over the rough +places. + +When they reached the camp the four Gypsy men, picturesquely grouped +around the fire, rose to their feet and looked curiously but +imperturbably at the party of women. + +Granny Ann called a grizzled old man from the fireside speaking rapidly +in a strange language, her own Romany tongue, in fact. After conferring +with him a few moments, she turned to Miss Sallie. + +"My rom," she said (which in Gypsy language means husband), "thinks you +had better stay here to-night. It would not be easy to find the +gentleman's house on such a dark night, but we can make you comfortable +in one of our tents. He and the other men will take the horses and draw +the steam carriage down the road until it is near enough to be +guarded--if one of the young ladies will show the way. There is no +danger," she continued, sternly, as Miss Sallie began to protest at the +idea of one of her girls going off with all those strange men. "A Gypsy +does not repay a kindness with a blow. Come," she called to the men, +"that young lady will show the way." And she pointed at Barbara, who had +slipped the pistol into her belt, and was talking to Ruth in a low +voice. + +Miss Sallie explained to the girls what Granny Ann had decided was the +best course for them to take, while the four men untethered the four +lean horses and half-harnessed them, and the old Gypsy man gathered some +coils of rope together. + +Ruth insisted on accompanying Barbara, and the two girls led the way +through the wood to the road, the men following with the horses. + +They found the automobile exactly as it had been left, save in one +particular. The murderous-looking dagger was gone. But the suit cases +and numerous dress boxes were untouched. + +The girls waited at one side while the Gypsies secured the ropes to the +car and then to the collars of the horses. Two Gypsies walked on either +side, holding the reins, while the other two ran to the back and began +to push the machine. The horses strained at the ropes; then in an +instant the automobile was moving easily, urged from the back and pulled +from the front like a stubborn mule. + +When the girls again reached that part of the road opposite the camp, +the caravan came to a full stop. + +Ruth directed that all the cushions be carried to the tent, together +with the steamer rugs stored under the seats, the tea-basket and other +luggage. The dismantled automobile was then left for the night. + +Ruth and Bab found Miss Sallie waiting at the tent, a tragic figure in +the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER VII--A NIGHT WITH THE GYPSIES + + +"I think we shall be comfortable enough, Aunt Sallie," said her niece, +after their belongings had been deposited in the tent. "We will fix you +a nice bed, auntie, dearest, with steamer rugs and your rubber air +cushion, and for the first time in your life you will be almost sleeping +under the stars." + +But poor Miss Sallie only smiled in reply. She was too weary and +exhausted to trust the sound of her own voice, now that danger was over +and they had found protectors. + +While Grace and Ruth arranged three beds inside the tent (Ruth and Bab +having joyfully elected to sleep just outside) the two sisters made tea +and opened up boxes of tea biscuits and Swiss chocolate which were +always kept in the provision basket for emergencies. + +Granny Ann had offered them food, but they had courteously declined, +remembering tales they had heard of the unclean Gypsy, and giving as an +excuse that they had a light supper with them. "Very light indeed," +commented Ruth later; "but I don't think we'll starve." + +"Now that everything is comfy," observed Grace, "I, for one, think it is +great fun. Our little house in the woods! For one night, it is almost as +good as the cabin in the Berkshires." + +"Yes, for one night; but give me a roof when the rain comes," cried +Ruth. + +"You are safe for to-night, at any rate, Ruth," said Barbara, looking up +at the sky through the branches of the tall forest trees. "There's not a +cloud, even as small as a man's hand. And how bright the stars are! +There comes the harvest moon. It looks like a great, red lantern." + +"Money, money!" cried Mollie excitedly. + +"What is the matter with you, child?" said Miss Sallie, startled into +finding her voice at last. + +"Didn't you see it?" said Mollie. "It was a splendid shooting star. It +had a tail that reached halfway across the heavens. Don't you know that, +if you remember to say 'money, money, money,' before it fades out of +sight or goes wherever it disappears to----" + +"'Oh, mother, where do the shooting stars go'?" laughed Ruth, breaking +in upon Mollie--"you will inherit a large sum of money," continued +Mollie. + +"We shall be sleeping at the feet of an heiress, then," said Bab. "Or +did the star fade out before you had finished, Molliekins?" + +"I don't know," replied Mollie. "I was so excited that I forgot to +look." + +By this time tea was ready and a rug had been spread in front of the +tent for the guests to sit upon. Miss Sallie with her air cushion +between her shoulders and the trunk of a tree that spread its branches +over the tent, was beginning to feel that life, after all, held a number +of pleasant things, including a certain favorite blend of tea that was +as delicious, fragrant and expensive as heart could wish. + +The night breeze touched their faces gently, and the stillness and sweet +scents of the woods soothed them into forgetfulness of their troubles. +While they sipped their tea and talked, in subdued voices, of the +mystery of the forest at night, the Gypsy girl crept up and gazed +curiously, almost wistfully, at them. + +"Do have some chocolate," called Ruth, as she held the box toward the +girl. "Come over and sit down, won't you? What is your name?" + +"My name is Zerlina," replied the Gypsy, as she nibbled gingerly at a +piece of chocolate. + +"And is Granny Ann your mother?" asked Ruth. + +"She is my grandmother," replied Zerlina. "My mother died many years +ago." + +Ruth looked at her sympathetically. They had, she thought, at least one +thing in common in their widely separated circumstances. + +"Would you like," she asked gently, "to live in a city and go to +school?" + +For a moment Zerlina's face flushed with a deep glow of color. Her eyes +traveled from one to another of the automobile party. She noted their +refined, well-bred faces, their dainty dresses, the luxurious pile of +long silk coats and chiffon veils. Nothing escaped the child, not even +the elegant little tea basket with its fittings of silver and French +china. + +"There are times when I hate this life," Zerlina said finally, turning +to Ruth, who was watching her curiously. "There are times in the winter +when we have been too poor to go far enough South to keep warm. It is +then that I would like the city and the warm houses. But my grandmother +is very strict." + +She paused and bit her lip. She had spoken so fiercely that the girls +had felt somewhat embarrassed at their own prosperity. "But," continued +Zerlina in a quieter tone, "when summer comes, I would rather be here in +the woods. Gypsies do not live in houses," she went on a little proudly. +"My grandmother has told me that they have been wanderers for thousands +of years. They do not go to school. They teach each other. My +grandmother has taught me to read and write. She was taught by her +mother, who was adopted and educated by a noble lady. But she came back +to the Gypsies afterwards." + +"And your mother?" asked Mollie. + +"My mother is dead," returned Zerlina, and closed her lips tightly, as +if to block all further inquiries in that direction. + +"It is very interesting!" exclaimed Ruth. "And your education is then +really inherited from your great-grandmother." + +"Yes," assented the girl, "but I have inherited more than that--from my +mother." + +The girls waited for Zerlina to finish. They hesitated to question her +about her mother since it was evidently a forbidden subject with her. + +"I have inherited her voice," she added confidentially. "It may be that +I shall be a singer some day." + +"Oh, really?" cried all the girls in unison. + +"You will sing for us now, won't you?" added Ruth. + +"If you wish," said Zerlina. "I will get my guitar." And she disappeared +in the darkness. + +"Isn't she pretty?" commented Mollie. + +"How soft her voice is, and what good English she speaks," marveled +Ruth. "But then, we must remember her great-grandmother was educated by +a noble lady and transmitted her learning and manners straight to her." + +"Poor thing!" exclaimed Bab. "I am really very sorry for her. The +instincts of her great-grandmother and her grandmother keep up a sort of +warring inside of her. In the winter time she's her great-grandmother, +and in the summer time she's a real Gypsy. There are times when she +sighs for a steam-heated house, and times when she sighs for the open." + +"But it's mostly the open she gets," said Grace. "What do you suppose +she meant when she said that Granny Ann was very strict?" + +"I can't imagine," replied Ruth, "unless Granny Ann refuses to allow her +to buy herself a warm house. Seriously, though, I should like to do +something for a girl like Zerlina. She strikes me as being far from +ordinary. But here she comes. We will hear her sing first. This beggar +girl may be a future prima-donna." + +Zerlina emerged from the darkness, with an old guitar, and, sitting +crosslegged on the ground, began to thrum an accompaniment. Then she +sang in a deep, rich voice a song of the Gypsies. The song was in +Spanish and the beat of the music was so weird and insistent that the +listeners could hardly restrain themselves from joining hands and +dancing in time to the rhythm. + +They were thrilled by the romance of the Gypsy camp and the charm of the +girl's singing. When she had finished they begged for more, and Zerlina +was about to comply when a voice called her from the encampment. It was +her grandmother's, and what she said was not understood, since it was in +the Romany language. But the girl leaped hurriedly to her feet. + +"I will not sing again to-night," she said. "The ladies are tired. +Another time. Good-night," And she slipped away in the darkness. + +"Granny Ann is strict," said Ruth. "You wouldn't think she would object +to Zerlina's associating with a few girls her own age. I wonder why she +doesn't like to have her sing? Perhaps she is afraid she will run away, +some day, and go on the stage." + +"I wish I had her beautiful voice," sighed Grace. "Think what it could +be made with proper training." + +"If she does not coarsen in feature, as so many of these dark women do," +observed Miss Sallie, "she will be very handsome some day." + +"And now for our lowly beds," cried Ruth. "Barbara, you and I will sleep +at the door of the tent like faithful slaves guarding their noble +ladies. Nobody need be afraid. Granny Ann has promised to have a Gypsy +man keep watch, and I have pinned my faith to Granny Ann. I believe +she's a woman of her word." + +"Mollie, you seem to be on such friendly terms with these people. What +is your opinion?" asked Miss Sallie. + +"I believe we shall be as safe as if we were in our own homes," replied +Mollie. "Granny Ann will keep faith with us. You will see. Perhaps she +wouldn't if she didn't feel under obligations for a few sandwiches and +lemonades, and things that I have made for her occasionally in the +summer on hot days. But I know she's a kind of queen in the tribe, and +used to being obeyed." + +Fifteen minutes had hardly slipped past when Miss Sallie and "The +Automobile Girls" were sound asleep, Bab with her pistol at her side. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII--THE HAUNTED POOL + + +To be awakened early in the morning by the songs of birds and +innumerable woodland sounds, and find one's self in the very center of a +forest, is no common experience. To the girls, as they looked up through +the leafy canopies, and then across the green aisles formed by trees +that looked as if they might have stood there since the beginning of +time--it was all very wonderful. + +"How beautiful this is!" exclaimed each one, as she opened her eyes upon +the wooded scene. + +"Girls," cried Ruth, "I wouldn't have missed this for worlds! No wonder +Zerlina hates to live in a house in the summer time. Isn't this fun? +Shall we go over there and wash our faces in that little brook!" + +Off they scampered, a curious procession for the deep woods, each with a +burden of toilet articles, soaps and sponges, wash rags, mirrors and +brushes. + +"Well," exclaimed Miss Sallie Stuart as she knelt beside the stream and +dipped her hands into its cool depths, "I never expected to come to +this; but it is very refreshing, nevertheless." + +"This is Nature's bathtub, auntie, dear. We should be thankful to have +it so near. I suppose that is the reason the Gypsies chose this spot to +camp in," said Ruth. + +"My dear child," replied her aunt, "I know very little about the Gypsy +race; but I do know one thing: that a Gypsy never took advantage of any +kind of a bathtub, wooden, tin, porcelain or Nature's." + +The girls all laughed joyously. + +The fright of the day before had not left a very deep impression. Sleep +and a feeling of safety had almost effaced it. + +Presently they were back at the tent making tea and boiling eggs +supplied by Granny Ann from the Gypsy larder. Ruth wanted to build a +fire, but they decided that the ground was too dry to risk it. The +Gypsies had dug a small trench all around their camp fire. If they had +not, those splendid old woods would have been in serious danger of +burning, explained Barbara, who had been reading a great deal in the +papers about forest fires. + +It was arranged, after breakfast, that one of the men should ride over +with a note to Major Ten Eyck's, asking the major to send for them at +once, and also to dispatch his chauffeur to mend the slashed tires. + +The Gypsy camp had been astir long before the automobilists arose, and +the men were now sitting at their ease around the clearing, smoking +silently, while Granny Ann and two other women were moving about the +tents, "cleaning up," as Ruth expressed it. + +"They have a lovely chance to learn housework," said Grace. "But they do +seem to air their bedclothes. Look at all those red comforts hanging on +the bushes." + +"It's easier to air them than to make up the beds," observed Mollie. +"All you have to do in the morning, is to hang your blanket on a hickory +limb, and when you go to bed, snatch it off the limb and wrap up in it +for the night." + +"Do you suppose they sleep in their clothes?" pondered Barbara. + +"Why, of course they do," replied Ruth. "You don't for a moment imagine +they would ever go to the trouble of undressing, only to dress again in +the morning?" + +"Girls, girls," remonstrated Miss Sallie, "we must not forget that we +are accepting their hospitality. Besides, here comes that young woman +with the voice." + +"Let's take Zerlina as a guide, and go for a walk," cried Ruth. "I'm so +full of life and spirits this morning that I couldn't possibly sit down +like those lazy men over there, who seem to have nothing to do but smoke +and talk. Auntie, dear, will you go, or shall we fix you a comfortable +seat with the cushions under this tree and leave you to read your book?" + +"I certainly have no idea of going for a walk," replied Miss Stuart, +"after what I've been through with these last two days. Nor do I want +you to go far, either, or I shall be terribly uneasy." + +But Miss Sallie was not really uneasy. It was one of those enchanting +mornings when the mind is not troubled with unpleasant feelings. Perhaps +the Gypsies had bewitched her. At any rate she sat back comfortably +among the cushions and rugs, with her writing tablet, the new magazines +and the latest novel all close at hand, and watched the girls until they +disappeared down the leafy aisles of the forest. How charming their +voices sounded in the distance! How sweet was the sound of their young +laughter! Miss Stuart closed her eyes contentedly. The spell of the +place was upon her, and she fell asleep before she had opened a single +magazine or cut one leaf of the new novel. + +In the meantime, the four girls, led by Zerlina and her dog, were +following the little stream in its capricious windings through the +forest. + +A squirrel darted in front of them with a flash of gray and jumped to +the limb of a tree. + +Zerlina made a sign for the girls to be silent. Then speaking to her dog +in her own language, he sat down immediately on his haunches and never +moved a muscle until she spoke to him again. She walked slowly toward +the tree, where the squirrel sat watching them uneasily. A few feet off +she paused and gave a shrill, peculiar whistle. The squirrel pricked up +his ears and cocked his head on one side. Zerlina whistled again and +held out her hand. The charm was complete. Down the limb he crept until +he reached the ground, paused again, surveyed the scene with his little +black eyes, and with one leap, settled himself on her shoulder. + +"Oh!" cried the impulsive Ruth and the spell was broken. + +Away scampered the frightened little animal. + +"How wonderful!" exclaimed the others as they gathered around Zerlina, +who held herself with a sort of proud reserve as they plied her with +questions. + +"It is because I have lived in the woods so much of the time," she +explained. "One makes friends with animals when one has no other +friends." + +"Zerlina," said Ruth, "let me be your friend." + +"Thank you," replied the girl simply, "but perhaps we shall not meet +again. You will be going away in a little while." + +"You must come and sing for us at Major Ten Eyck's," said Ruth, "and +then we shall see if we cannot meet again." + +They were walking in single file, now, along the stream. Mollie was +gathering ferns which grew in profusion on the bank. Barbara, who was +behind the others, had stopped to look at a bird's nest that had fallen +to the ground and shattered the little blue eggs it had held. + +As she knelt on the ground, something impelled her to look over her +shoulder. At first Bab saw only the green depths of the forest, but in a +moment her eyes had found what had attracted them. Stifling a cry she +rose to her feet. What she had seen was gone in an instant, so quickly +that she wondered if she had not been dreaming. Peering at her through +the leaves of parted branches she had seen a face, a very strange, old +face, as white as death. It was the face of an old person, she felt +instinctively, but the eyes had something childlike in their expression +of wonder and surprise. + +When it was gone, Barbara felt almost as if she had seen a ghost. She +leaned over and dipped her hands into the stream to quiet her throbbing +veins. + +"Truly this wood is full of mysteries," she thought to herself as she +turned to follow the others. But she decided not to say anything about +it. They had had enough frights lately, and she was determined not to +add another to the list. + +By this time the girls had reached a lovely little pool set like a +mirror in a mossy frame. On one side the bank had flattened out and was +carpeted with luxuriant, close-cropped grass, almost as smooth as the +lawn of a city park. The trees had crowded themselves to the very edge +of the greensward. They closed up on the strip of lawn like a wall and +stretched their branches over it, as if to shield it from the sun. + +"Did you ever see anything so sweet in all your life?" cried Ruth, as +she flung herself on the turf. + +"Never!" agreed the others with enthusiasm, following her example. + +"This pool is supposed to be haunted," said Zerlina, and Bab started, +remembering the face she had just seen. + +"Haunted by what, Zerlina?" she asked. + +"It is not known," replied the Gypsy girl, mysteriously; "but on +moonlight nights some one is often seen sitting on this bank." + +"What some one--a man or a woman?" persisted Bab. + +"It is not known," repeated Zerlina. "But it has been seen, +nevertheless. Besides," she continued, "this is supposed to be the +meeting-place of fairies. Though people do not believe in fairies in +this country." + +"I do," declared Mollie, and the other girls laughed light-heartedly. + +"And," went on Zerlina, "the deer who live in this wood come here to +graze and drink water from the pool." + +"Now, that I can believe," said Ruth. + +"Well, it is an enchanted spot," cried Mollie. "It must be. Look at +Zerlina's dog." + +The shepherd dog had taken his tail in his mouth and was circling +slowly. The girls watched him breathlessly as he turned faster and +faster. Once he fell into the stream, but he never stopped and continued +to circle so rapidly, as he clambered out, that he lost all sense of +direction and waltzed over the girls' laps, staining their dresses with +his wet feet, while they laughed until the tears rolled down their +cheeks, and the woods rang with the merry sound. + +At a word from the Gypsy girl the dog stopped and stretched himself +exhausted, on the ground. + +"Zerlina, you must have bewitched that animal," cried Ruth. "But wasn't +it beautiful? If we had been lying down he would have waltzed right over +our faces." + +"Girls," proposed Grace, after they had recovered from the exhibition of +the waltzing dog, "let's go in wading." + +"What a great idea, Grace!" cried Ruth. In a jiffy they had their shoes +and stockings piled together on the bank and had slipped into the little +pool of clear, running water. + +Zerlina watched them from the bank. Perhaps Miss Sallie was right, and +water had no charms for this Gypsy child. + +As they clung to each other, giving little shrieks of pleasure and +making a great splashing, Mollie exclaimed suddenly: + +"Look, look! Here comes a man!" + +Sure enough there was a man emerging from the trees on the other side of +the stream. The girls scampered excitedly out of the water, giggling, as +girls will do, and sat in a row on the bank, tailor-fashion, hiding +their wet feet under their skirts. + +By this time the stranger had come up to the pool and stood gazing in +amazement at the party of young women. + +"Well, for the love of Mike!" he exclaimed. + +It was Jimmie Butler, one of the major's house party. + +Then he caught sight of the pyramid of shoes and stockings; his face +broke into a smile and he laughed so contagiously that everybody joined +in. Once more the enchanted pool was given over to merriment. + +"Where on earth did you come from?" demanded Ruth. + +"And where have you been?" he echoed. + +Whereupon everybody talked at once, until all the adventures had been +related. + +"And you're actually alive, after all these hairbreadth escapes, and +able to amuse yourselves in this simple fashion?" gasped Jimmie Butler. +"Ladies, putting all joking aside, permit me to compliment you on your +amazing nerve. I don't think I ever met a really brave woman before, and +to be introduced to five at once! Why, I feel as if I were at a meeting +of suffragettes!" + +"But how did you happen to be here?" repeated Ruth. + +"Oh, I'm just out for a morning stroll," he replied. "I came to see the +haunted pool." + +"Just take another little stroll, for five minutes, until we get on our +shoes and stockings. Then we'll all go back to our home of canvas," said +Ruth. + +By the time they had reached the encampment Bab had almost forgotten +about the strange face she had seen, and they were all talking happily +together about Ten Eyck Hall, which, according to Jimmie Butler, was the +finest old house in that part of the country. + +In the meantime the major himself had arrived in his automobile, while +the boys had ridden over on horseback. When the others came up, they +found the chauffeur busily engaged in repairing the tires of Ruth's +automobile. Miss Stuart and Major Ten Eyck were deep in conversation, +while the Gypsies stood about in groups, looking at the strangers +indifferently. + +"Miss Ruth," said the major, after greetings had been exchanged, "if you +can run this machine, suppose we start at once and leave my chauffeur to +follow with yours. You ladies must be very hungry. We will have an early +luncheon." + +The girls said good-bye to the Gypsies and thanked them graciously. Ruth +had tried to compensate Granny Ann, but the old woman had haughtily +refused to accept a cent. + +"A Gypsy takes nothing from his guest," she said, and Ruth was obliged +to let the matter drop. However, she made the old Gypsy promise to bring +her granddaughter over to see them very soon, and as they disappeared +down the road, they saw Zerlina leaning against a tree, watching them +wistfully. + +At last, the journey which had been so full of peril and adventure was +ended, and "The Automobile Girls" arrived safely at Ten Eyck Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER IX--TEN EYCK HALL + + +Ten Eyck Hall, with its high-peaked roofs, its rambling wings and +innumerable dormer windows, seemed to the four girls the very home of +romance. + +It was an enormous house built of brick, turned a faded pink, now, from +age, which made a delicate background for the heavy vines that shaded +the piazzas and balconies and clambered up to the roof itself. + +The handsome old master of this charming house leaped to the ground as +lightly as one of his nephews, the moment the automobile drew up at the +front door. Lifting his hat he made a low, old-fashioned bow. + +"Dear ladies," he said, "you are as welcome to my home as the flowers in +spring!" Giving his arm to Miss Stuart, he conducted her up the front +steps. The great double doors flew open as if by magic, and the party +filed into the vast center hall, on each side of which stood the +servants of the household, headed by the butler and his wife, the +housekeeper. + +"Dear me," exclaimed Miss Sallie, "I feel as if I were entering a +baronial castle. Why did you never tell me years ago you owned such a +fine place, John Ten Eyck?" + +"Because I didn't in those days, Sallie," answered the major. "There +were several heirs ahead of me then. But I always wanted you to come and +see it. Don't you remember my mother wrote and asked you to make us a +visit? But you were going abroad, that summer, and couldn't come." + +"Well, I was a very foolish girl," replied Miss Sallie. "But better late +than never, John, and it will be a pleasure to see the young people +enjoy themselves in this beautiful house." + +Some of the young people were already plainly showing their delight and +pleasure in the visit. The major made a smiling gesture toward the four +young girls, who, with arms around each other's waists, were strolling +up the great hall toward the fireplace at the far end, pausing here and +there to look at the fine old portraits and curious carved cabinets and +settees. Many of the latter had been collected by the major during his +travels abroad. + +"I feel like a princess in a castle, Major," called Ruth. + +"And here comes one of the princes, my dear," answered the major, +glancing up at the broad staircase which occupied one side of the hall. +All eyes followed the direction of his gaze, and an exclamation of +surprise escaped the lips of the automobilists. For there, on the +landing of the staircase, looking down at the little group of people +below as calmly as a real prince might regard his subjects, was the +motor cyclist. + +"Why, it's Mr. Martinez!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "How are you?" she said +graciously, as he descended the broad staircase. "We had no idea you +were a friend of the major's, too." + +"Nor had I, Madam," replied the young man, as he bowed low over Miss +Stuart's hand and acknowledged the greetings of the girls. "I did not +know who Major Ten Eyck was when he was stopping at the hotel, or I +should have presented my letter there. It was a surprise to find in him +the same gentleman I had come down to meet, and it is, indeed, a great +pleasure and surprise to meet you and the young ladies so soon again." + +"Martinez is the son of an old friend of mine, José Martinez of Madrid," +broke in the major. "But how did you happen to meet him?" + +Miss Stuart explained that he was the brave young man who had saved them +from the attack of the drunken tramp. + +"My dear José," exclaimed the major, grasping him cordially by the hand, +"you were brave. It was an act worthy of your father, and I can say no +more for you than that." + +The young man flushed, and for the first time in their acquaintance +showed signs of real embarrassment. + +"It was nothing," he said. "The man was drunk and drunken men are easy +to manage." + +"But he was not easy to manage," exclaimed Ruth. "He was a giant in size +and strength." + +The young foreigner shrugged his shoulders and the flush deepened on his +face. + +"Well, well," laughed Major Ten Eyck, "we won't embarrass you any more +by insisting on your being a hero whether you will or no. Here comes +Mary to show you to your rooms, ladies. You look as fresh as the +morning, but after a night spent in a Gypsy camp perhaps you would like +to spruce up a bit before luncheon. Come along, José, and let me show +you my library. I am very proud of my collection of Spanish books. I +want your opinion of them." + +The major waved his hand gallantly to the five women who were following +the housekeeper up the carved oak staircase to the regions above. + +"Am I awake, or asleep?" asked Mollie. "This whole morning has seemed +like a dream, and now this lovely old house----" + +"And the lovely old major, in the lovely old house," added Ruth. + +"Isn't he a dear!" pursued Mollie. "I wonder if Miss Sallie is sorry +now," she continued to herself. "If he were as gentle and charming when +he was young as he is now, I don't think I could have been cross with +him, ever." + +Meanwhile, Barbara was saying to Miss Stuart: + +"No; we never told Mr. Martinez where we were going, or mentioned the +major's name, so of course he had no way of knowing that we were coming +here. It is curious, though," she went on thoughtfully, "our meeting him +here. I wonder when he arrived?" + +"Yesterday, I suppose," replied Miss Sallie. "Or it may have been this +morning. However, it doesn't make any difference. I am glad, at least, +that a friend of ours can show him some hospitality in return for his +courageous act." + +By this time they had reached the top of the stairs and had a glimpse of +another hall corresponding to the one below, at one end of which was a +great casement window with a broad cushioned window-seat under it. The +other end, where the stairs turned, was lighted by an enormous stained +glass window. + +Little exclamations of rapture escaped the girls as they tripped over +the softly carpeted floors to their rooms, which were on the left side +of the hall. Opposite were the major's rooms, so Mary explained, while +the young men were all quartered in the right wing except Mr. Martinez, +who had a room at the end of the hall on the same side as the major's +suite. + +"I could live and die in a house like this, and never want to leave it," +cried Bab, her eyes sparkling with pleasure as Mary opened the door +leading to the room that had been assigned to Ruth and her. + +They could have a room apiece, if they wished it, the housekeeper said, +but when it was discovered that this would necessitate two of the girls +taking rooms in the right wing, many passages and corridors away from +the others, all said they would rather share the rooms on the main hall. +Mary looked somewhat relieved at this. It was evident she was not in +favor of the right wing for the girls, either; although she did not +explain her reasons. + +In the large old-fashioned bedrooms, hung with chintz curtains and +furnished with mahogany that would have been the joy of the antique +dealers, were already placed the boxes and satchels of the +automobilists. Two neat housemaids were engaged in unpacking their +things and placing them in the drawers of the massive highboys and +wardrobes. + +"Bab," exclaimed Ruth, giving her friend an affectionate little shake, +"this is worth two highwaymen and a night in a Gypsy camp. I feel as if +I were in an English country house. I feel we are going to have a +perfectly wonderful time. And, somehow, the young Spaniard adds muchly +to the whole thing. He seems to belong in the midst of carved oak and +Persian rugs, doesn't he, Barbara, dear? As he stood on those steps he +looked like an old Spanish portrait. All he needed was a velvet cape, a +sword and a plumed hat." + +"Well, that seems a good deal to complete the picture, considering he +was wearing an ordinary pepper and salt suit," observed Barbara. + +"I don't believe you like Senor José Martinez," said Ruth. + +"Oh, yes I do," replied the other. "I like him and I don't like him. His +eyes are just a bit too close together, and still he is very handsome. +But give me time, give me time. I don't enjoy having my likes hurried +along like this. If he can play tennis, ride horseback and dance as well +as he can knock down a tramp, he will be a perfect paragon among men. +Look here, Ruth," she continued, exploring the various closets, "do you +know we have a bathroom all to ourselves? Did you say that Major Ten +Eyck was poor when Miss Sallie threw him over?" + +"Well, he wasn't rich at that time," replied Ruth; "that is, not +according to Aunt Sallie's ideas, but since then, she tells me, an uncle +has left him lots of money." + +"Now, for a bath!" cried Barbara, as she turned the water on in the tub. + +"Don't use too much of it," called Ruth. "I never saw a country house +where the water didn't run short, no matter how grand a place it was. +Remember the drought, Bab, and leave a little for your fainting friend." + +The girls had barely time to bathe and dress, when a deep gong sounded +in the hall. The five automobilists, refreshed by their belated baths, +and dainty in crisp ducks and muslins, filed down the great staircase at +the sound. Miss Stuart, in a lavender organdie, her white hair piled on +top of her head, led the procession. + +The major, waiting for them at the foot of the steps, smiled rather +sadly as he watched the charming picture. The five young men grouped +together at the end of the hall, came forward at sight of the ladies. +Three of them at least were rather shy in their greetings, especially +the English boy, Alfred Marsdale, who was only seventeen and still +afraid of American girls. Stephen and Martin Ten Eyck, boys of sixteen +and seventeen, were also rather green in the society of girls. They had +no sisters and their vacations had been spent either at Ten Eyck Hall or +out West on their father's ranch. And an avalanche of four pretty, +vivacious young women, advancing upon them in this way, was enough to +make them tongue-tied for the moment. Jimmie Butler, who was nineteen +and had seen a deal of life all over the world with his mother, a +well-to-do widow, was proof against embarrassment, and the young +Spaniard also seemed perfectly at his ease. + +"Come along, young people," said the major, giving his arm to Miss +Sallie and leading the way to the dining room. + +Soon they were all gayly chatting at an immense, round table of black +oak, so highly polished that it reflected the silver and china and the +faces of the guests in its shining board. + +"Miss Barbara," said the major, "suppose you let us have a history of +the attempt at robbery? Since it was your courage and presence of mind +that drove the robber away you ought to be the one to give the most +connected account. Miss Stuart tells me that he was a giant with a deep +bass voice, but that the sight of a pistol made him cut and run like a +rabbit. You have not heard, José," continued the major, turning to +Martinez, "that our ladies were in danger of being robbed last night and +would have been but for Miss Barbara, who drove off the robber with a +pistol?" + +"Is it possible?" replied José, looking at Barbara with admiration. "But +there must be a great many robbers in this country. Almost as numerous +as in the mountains of my own country. And what was the appearance of +the robber, may I ask, Miss Thurston? Was he again a tramp?" + +"He was not a giant," answered Barbara. "He struck me as being rather +short and very slender, so slender that it made him appear taller than +he was. His voice was curious. I could not describe it, and I think +really it was disguised. He spoke only a few times. He wore a mask that +completely covered his face, and a slouch hat, so there was no telling +what his hair was like; but he gave me the impression of being dark. I +think he was a coward, because he ran so fast when I pointed the pistol +at him." + +"Do you suppose he's hiding in the woods now, Major?" asked Mollie. "We +were walking there all morning, but we had nothing to be robbed of." + +"Oh, he is probably running still," replied the major. "But what is +quite plain to me is that it was somebody who knew you expected to make +the trip. This robber had evidently prepared beforehand for the attack. +He had chopped holes in the bridge, painted the sign, fastened the ropes +across, and had arranged the whole thing during the morning. But he had +not reckoned on your little pistol, Miss Barbara, had he? Ah, you are a +brave girl, my dear, and they tell me that this is only one among many +acts of heroism of yours." + +Barbara blushed. + +"I am sure any of the others would have done the same thing, Major, if +Mr. Stuart had given them the pistol." + +"Do the ladies in America carry firearms?" asked Alfred Marsdale, +looking from one to another in a hesitating, embarrassed way. + +"Why, certainly, Alfred, my boy," replied Jimmie Butler. "Don't you know +it's dangerous, in this country, for a woman to walk on the streets +unarmed unless she is dressed like a suffragette? And then she doesn't +need a pistol to make people run from her." + +"Now, you're joking, Jimmie," said Alfred. + +At which everybody laughed until they all felt that they had known each +other much longer than just a few hours. + +"While I think of it," observed the major, "I have only one request to +make of my guests, and that may seem like a very inhospitable one, but +you will all understand, I know. Don't be too lavish with the water." + +Ruth and Barbara looked at each other and smiled. + +"I mean," continued the major, "don't fill the tubs to the brim. A +hand's depth is the allowance; or we shall be high and dry without any +water and no prospect of any unless a rain comes. This interminable +drought has dried up every brook on the place and the cisterns are lower +than they have ever been before. We keep one cistern always full--not so +much in case of drought as in case of fire; it might be needed some +day." + +They all promised to bathe in what Jimmie Butler called "two-fingers of +water." + +"If the water gives out," said Jimmie, "we'll beautify our complexions +by bathing in milk. I think I need a lotion for a delicate skin, +anyhow." Jimmie's nose was a mass of freckles. + +"You would have to have your face peeled, Jimmie," said Stephen, "before +you could call it delicate." + +"Excuse me," replied Jimmie, "my indelicate skin then." + +"I have not made any plans for your entertainment this afternoon, young +ladies," the major was saying. "Miss Stuart is determined that you must +lie down and sleep off the effects of the Gypsy camp. But to-morrow we +shall have a picnic to make up for it, and Miss Ruth may take her tea +basket, since we have none in this household." + +"I'm not a bit tired now," said Ruth. + +"Neither are we," echoed the other girls as they rose from the table. + +"Well, suppose we make a compromise," said the major, "by showing you +over the house? After that sleep must be your portion, eh, Sallie?" + +"It must, indeed," replied that lady firmly, and all adjourned to the +library. + + + + +CHAPTER X--AN ATTIC MYSTERY + + +The library of Ten Eyck Hall was, to Bab, the most beautiful of all the +rooms. The walls were literally lined with books from floor to ceiling, +and there were little galleries halfway up for the convenience of +getting books that were too high to reach from the floor. Big leather +chairs and couches were scattered about and heavy curtains seemed to +conceal entrances to mysterious doors and passages leading off somewhere +into the depths of the old house. + +"This is just the place for a secret door or a staircase in the wall," +exclaimed Grace. + +"There is a secret door, I believe, in this very room," replied the +major; "but it is really a secret, for the location was lost long ago +and nobody has ever been able to find it since." + +"How interesting!" said Ruth. "Can't you thump the walls and locate it +by a hollow sound?" + +"But, even if you discovered a hollow sound, you wouldn't know how to +open the door," said Martin. + +"Press a panel, my boy. That is all that is necessary," replied Jimmie. +"With a wild shriek Lady Gwendolyn rushed through the portals of the +lofty chamber. With trembling hands she pressed a panel in the wainscot. +Instantly it flew back and disclosed a secret passage. Another instant +and she had disappeared. The panel was restored to its place and Sir +Marmanduke and her pursuers were foiled." + +All this, the irrepressible Jimmie had acted out with wild +gesticulations. + +They all laughed except Alfred Marsdale, who stood looking at Jimmie in +a dazed sort of way. + +"Wake up, Al, old man! What's the matter with you?" + +"Oh, nothing," replied Alfred, "I was only wondering where I had read +that before." + +There was another laugh, and the major led the way to the red drawing +room. It had been the ball room in the old days. + +"It's a long time," observed the major, "since anyone has danced on +these floors." + +The room took its name, evidently, from the red damask hangings and +upholstering of the furniture. The walls were paneled in white and gold +and there was a grand piano at one end. + +"We'll have to take turn about playing," said Ruth. "Grace and I each +play a little." + +"Oh, Jimmie can play," replied Martin. "Is there anything Jimmie can't +do?" + +"Jimmie, you're a brick," said Alfred. + +Back of the red drawing room was another smaller room which, the major +said, had always been called a morning parlor, but it had been a +favorite room of the family when he was a young man, and had been used +as a gathering place in the evening as well as after breakfast. + +"This is the prettiest room of all, I think," observed Mollie. + +And it was certainly the most cheerful, with its brightly flowered +chintz curtains and shining mahogany chairs and tables. + +After that came a billiard room, a small den used as a smoking room, and +a breakfast room. + +"Who wants to see the attic?" said Martin. + +"We all do?" came in a chorus from the young people. + +"Now, girls," protested Miss Sallie, "remember you were to take your +rest this afternoon." + +"Oh, we shan't be up there long," said Martin. "We promise you to bring +them back in time for the beauty sleep." + +"Very well," answered Miss Sallie; "go along with you. It's very hard to +be strict, Major. Don't you find it so!" + +"I never even tried the experiment, Sallie," replied the gentle old +soldier, "because I always found it harder on me than on the boys. It's +really a certain sort of selfishness on my part, I suppose. Cut along +now, boys, and don't keep the girls from their rest too long." + +The pilgrimage started up the great front staircase, led by Martin and +his older brother, who together had made many excursions to the attic +and knew the way by heart. + +On the second floor the explorers followed a passage that led to another +flight of stairs, and this in turn to another passage, and finally to +one last narrow flight of steps with a mysterious door at the top. + +"This reminds me of the House of Usher," said Jimmie, "only it goes up +instead of down. Can't you imagine all these doors opening and closing, +and the sound of footsteps on the stairs, down, down?" + +Just then Martin opened the door and a gust of wind blew in their faces. +Something flashed past that almost made the whole party fall backwards +down the steps. + +Mollie gave a little shriek. + +"Don't be frightened," said José, who was standing just behind her. "It +is only a bird." + +"Somebody must have left the window open," exclaimed Stephen in +surprise. "I wonder who it was? The servants are afraid to come up here. +They believe it is haunted. Lights have been seen at midnight, shining +through some of these windows, and the only persons who are not afraid +are the housekeeper and the butler, who come twice a year, and clean out +the dust." + +The young people found themselves in a vast attic whose edges were +hidden by dense shadows. The center was lighted by dormer windows, here +and there, that gleamed like so many eyes from the high sloping roof. +Scattered about were all sorts of odds and ends of antiquated furniture, +chests of drawers, hair trunks, carved boxes and spinning wheels. + +"Isn't this great!" cried Jimmie Butler. "Just the place for +handsprings," and he began to turn somersaults like a professional, +while the girls looked on delighted. + +"Stop that, Jim," protested Stephen. "You'll get yourself filthy and +break your neck into the bargain. You are much too old for such child's +play. You'll have rush of blood to the head and strain a nerve, and +heaven knows you've got enough to strain." + + "'In my youth, Father William replied to his son, + I feared it would injure the brain, + But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none; + Why, I do it again and again!'" + +sang Jimmie as he wheeled over the floor toward a partition wall which +cut off one end of the great room. Over and over he circled, without +looking where he was going, until suddenly, bang, his heels hit against +the wall. + +There was a curious grating noise, a creaking of rafters, and before +their amazed eyes the wall slid along and disclosed another attic as +large as the first. + +Jimmie was so bewildered he forgot to pull himself up from the dusty +floor, and lay with his head propped against an old trunk looking across +the enormous space. + +Then everybody began talking at once. + +"This looks to me like smugglers," cried Alfred. "I was in an old house +in England, where there was the same sort of wall, only not so large." + +"And look," called Bab, "there are footsteps in the dust. Who could have +been here lately, to have left those marks. Do you see? They come from +over there in the right hand corner." + +"Yes, is it not curious," replied José, "that they are going away from +the wall and not approaching it? He must have walked out of the wall. +Perhaps there is a secret door there, too." + +They rushed across pell mell, and began thumping the walls, but nothing +happened. + +"I say, Stephen," said Martin, "do you suppose we had smugglers in our +family?" + +"I don't know," answered Stephen. "They managed to keep it secret if +they had." + +"I'd like to be a smuggler," cried Martin. "There would be some +excitement in life then. But how did you manage to do it, Jimmie? You +are always having things happen to you." + +"I don't know," replied Jimmie. "I must have kicked the panel that +worked the spring. Let's see if we can move it back again. Here's the +place in the floor," and bending over he pressed on a sliding board in +the floor. Instantly the wall began slipping back in place. The others +leaped back into the first attic, and in a moment the partition had +fitted itself as snugly as if it never had been moved. + +"All is as if it never had been," exclaimed Jimmie. "Now let's find the +place I kicked." + +But try as they would, no one could locate the spot again. + +"Well, of all that's curious and mysterious!" said Stephen. "Jimmie, go +and turn a few more wheels and see if it happens again." + +Jimmie did as he was bade, and kicked the wall vociferously from one end +to the other but it never budged an inch. + +In the meantime, Martin and the girls were diving into some old trunks +and carved chests which were filled with clothes of another date, +old-fashioned silks and dimities that had been worn by the major's +grandmother and aunts. + +"There is a trunkful of men's things, too," called Stephen, leaving the +sliding partition, to join in the rummage. + +"I say, girls," cried Jimmie, "wouldn't it be fun to give a fancy dress +party some day, and surprise the major and Miss Stuart?" + +"How delightful!" exclaimed the girls in one voice. + +"Oh, pshaw!" said Martin, disgusted. + +"Oh, I say now, Jimmie, what a beastly idea!" exclaimed Alfred, equally +disgusted. + +"Come on, fellows; don't throw cold water on the scheme if the girls +like it," put in Stephen. + +And so the party was arranged. + +All this time José had never left the partition, but had kept up a +continuous thumping to find the sliding panel. + +"Everybody take a hand, and we will carry down everything we can find, +and then we won't have to make another trip," called Stephen. "Come, +José, we're going to dress up. You'll have to be a pirate. Here's a red +sash and a three cornered hat that will just suit your style." + +So saying, the cavalcade departed from the dark old attic, laden with +spoils. + +"If this is to be a surprise on uncle and Miss Stuart, we had better +hide the things, hadn't we?" observed Martin, who was very cautious and +always thought ahead, once he had decided to do a thing. + +"Very well. We'll let Mary take charge of them and divide them later," +replied Stephen. "You had better go take your naps now, girls," he added +in a whisper, "or we'll have the old lady and gentleman on our necks." + +The young people separated, the boys taking a corridor leading to the +left wing, the girls following the main hall. Bab left the others and +started downstairs. + +"I'll be right back," she called. "I left my handkerchief in the +library." + +She confessed to herself, as she descended the stairs, that she was +rather tired. The excitement of the two past days, her uncomfortable bed +made of a steamer rug spread on the ground, the night before, and +finally the close, dusty air of the attic had combined to give her a +headache and a feeling of extreme weariness. + +When she reached the cool, darkened library, she sat down for a moment +in one of the big chairs and closed her eyes. It was very restful in +there. The sun had left that side of the house in the shade and the room +with its heavy hangings, its dark leather furniture and rich rugs was +full of shadows. + +She was almost asleep, a slender little figure in a great armchair of +carved black oak. Her head dropped to one side and her eyes closed, when +she was awakened with a start by a draught of cold air. One of the +curtains next the book shelves bulged out for a moment and Barbara's +eyes were fastened on a long, white hand that drew them aside. Then a +face she had seen in the wood looked from around the curtain. The eyes +met hers, and again that strange, childlike look of sorrow and amazement +filled them. + +A dizziness came over Barbara. She closed her eyes for a moment, and, +when she opened them again, the face, or phantom, or whatever it was, +had gone. + +Holding her breath to keep from crying out, Barbara ran from the room as +fast as her trembling knees could carry her. In the hall she met José. +He looked at her curiously. + +"Mademoiselle, have you seen a ghost?" he asked as he stood aside to let +her pass. + +She was afraid to answer, for fear of bursting into tears. + +"I am sorry," he continued. "Has anything really happened?" + +But still she refused to speak, and ran up the stairs. + +He turned and went into the library, closing the door after him. + +There was a queer little smile on his face. Perhaps he, too, had seen +the old man and understood her look of terror. + +By the time she reached her room, Bab had regained her self-composure, +and had again determined to say nothing about the adventure. It would +only frighten the girls and take away from the pleasure of the visit. + + + + +CHAPTER XI--JOSÉ HAS AN ENEMY + + + "I like them all, the pretty girls, + I like them all whether dark or fair, + But above the rest, I like the best + The girl with the golden hair!" + +rang out the charming tenor voice of José, while he thrummed a +delightful accompaniment on the piano. + +Dinner was over, and the major, and his guests were sitting in the +moonlight on the broad piazza. Windows and doors were stretched as wide +as possible; the curtains in the red drawing room were drawn back and +José was entertaining the company. + +"I sing it translated," he called, as he finished the song, "that it may +be understood." + +Whereupon Jimmie winked at Stephen, and looked at Mollie; the major +smiled indulgently, and the others were all more or less conscious that +Spaniards always liked blond girls because they were so rare in Spain. + +Mollie herself, however, was unconscious that she was being sung about. +She was looking out across the moonlit stretches of lawn and meadows, +her little hands folded placidly in her lap. + +"Do you dance as well as sing, Mr. Martinez?" she asked in her high, +sweet voice. + +"I can dance, yes," replied José, "but I like best dancing with another. +I do not like to dance alone." + +"But there is no one else here who dances Spanish fancy dances, is +there?" demanded Miss Sallie. + +There was a silence. + +"Don't all speak at once," cried Jimmie. "I will play for you, José, if +you will try dancing alone," he added. "I am afraid we can't help you in +any of your Spanish dances." + +"Very well," replied José. "I will, then, try a dance of the Basque +country, if Madamoiselle Mollie will be so kind as to lend me her scarf. +I must have a hat also." + +He disappeared through the window and returned in a moment with a +broad-brimmed felt hat he had found in the hall. Mollie handed him her +pink scarf with a border of wild roses, and walking composedly up to the +end of the long piazza he stood perfectly still, waiting for the music +to begin. Jimmie struck up a Spanish dance with the sound of castanets +in the bass. + +"How's that for a tune?" he called out. + +"Very good, very good," answered José. Then he started the strange dance +while the others watched spellbound. + +The boys, who had been rather scornful of a man's dancing fancy dances, +confessed afterwards that there was nothing effeminate in José's +dancing, no pirouetting and twisting on one toe like Jimmie Butler's one +accomplishment in ballet-dancing. They gathered that it was a sort of +bullbaiting dance. It began with a series of advances and retreats, with +a springy step always in time to the throb of the music. + +The young Spaniard was very graceful and lithe. He seemed to have +forgotten that he was on the piazza of foreigners in a strange country. +The dance grew quicker and quicker. Suddenly he drew a long curved +dagger from his belt and made a lunge at some imaginary obstacle, +probably the bull he was baiting. + +Bab, who was nearest the dancer, rose to her feet quickly, and then sat +down rather limply. + +"The knife, the knife!" she said to herself. "It is the highwayman's +knife!" + +And now the handsome dancer was kneeling at Mollie's feet offering her +the scarf. + +He had risen and was bowing to the company, when whir-r-r! something had +whizzed past his head, just scratched his forehead and then planted +itself in the wooden frame of the window behind him. + +Was Barbara dreaming; or had she lost her senses? + +The knife in the wall was the same, or exactly like the knife José had +been using in the dance. + +In a moment everything was in wild confusion. + +"Go into the house, ladies!" commanded the major. + +The four boys leaped from the piazza, to run down the assassin, so they +thought, but the figure vaguely outlined for an instant in the shadows +of the trees, was as completely hidden as if the earth had opened and +swallowed it up. + +José, in a big chair in the drawing room, was being ministered to by +Miss Sallie and the girls, while the major, with a glass of water, was +standing over him on one side and the housekeeper, on the other, was +binding his head with a linen handkerchief. + +[Illustration: Whir-r-r! Something Whizzed Past His Head.] + +"Major," Miss Sallie was saying, "this country is full of assassins and +robbers. I believe we shall all be murdered in our beds. I am really +terribly frightened. We have had nothing but attacks since we left New +York. And, now, this poor young man is in danger. Who could it have +been, do you suppose, and what good did it do to hurl a knife into the +midst of a perfectly harmless company like that!" + +"The country is a little wild, Sallie," replied the major +apologetically, "but I have never heard of anything like this happening +before. Of course, there are highwaymen everywhere. There are those +Gypsies in the forest. Perhaps it was one of them." + +Just then the boys returned, and the attention of the others was +distracted from José, who still sat quietly, his lips pressed together. + +Barbara, who had been standing a little way off, turned to him quickly. + +"The knife?" she asked, but stopped without finishing, for José had +fixed her glance with a look of such appeal that she could say no more. + +"By the way," observed Jimmie Butler, "where is the knife?" + +"Sticking in the wall of course," replied Stephen. + +The two boys ran out on the piazza, but returned empty-handed. + +"Mystery of mysteries!" cried Jimmie, "the knife is gone!" + +"It is impossible," exclaimed the major. "We have not left this room. We +could see anyone who came upon the piazza." + +"Well, it's gone," said Jimmie. "While you were nursing José, somebody +must have crept up and got it." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "Do you mean to say that the +murderer has been that close to us again? Do close those windows and +draw the curtains." + +"Yes, do so," said the major. "Mary," he continued to the housekeeper, +who was entering at that moment with a basin of water, "I wish you would +have all the men on the place sent to me. Some of them may be asleep, +but wake them up. We shall scour every part of the estate to-night. If +there's anybody hiding around here we shall rout him out." + +Mary hurried off to deliver her orders, while the boys ran to their +rooms to get on tennis shoes and collect various weapons. + +"I am sorry José was scratched," Martin confided to Alfred, "but--well, +this is pretty good sport, old man. Don't you think so?" + +"By Jove, it is," replied Alfred with enthusiasm. "If that assassin +should leap at us in the dark I should like to give him a nip with this +shillalah. What a beastly coward he was to attack a man when his back +was turned!" + +And with that, he waved a big knotted club, one of Stephen's +possessions, around his head, and glared ferociously. + +"Come on, boys," called Stephen. "We haven't a moment to lose. The man +will be well away if we don't hurry. We are going to ride in twos and +divide the place in sections." + +In another ten minutes a company of horsemen rode off in the moonlight, +two by two, while the frightened maid-servants locked and barred the +house doors and windows. + +José had begged to be allowed to go along, but the major had silenced +him by saying that Miss Sallie and the girls needed a protector, and +that under the circumstances it was better for him to stay at home and +look after them. Even the old major was rather enjoying the zest of a +man-hunt, and his eyes flashed with a new fire under his grizzled +eyebrows. + +But nothing happened and the assassin remained at large. The hunters +scoured the country, searched the forest on the outskirts of the Ten +Eyck estate, and woke the sleeping Gypsies to demand what they knew. The +Gypsies knew nothing, and at midnight the horsemen returned. + +The house was silent. Everyone had gone to bed except José, who sat in +the library listening for every sound that creaked through the old +place. He met Major Ten Eyck and the boys at the front door, holding a +candle high and peering anxiously into the dark to see what quarry they +had brought home. + +And, when he saw they had no prisoner bound to the horse with the ropes +that the major had ordered his man to take along, a look of strange +relief came into the Spaniard's face. He breathed a deep sigh, smiled as +he thanked them, said good-night and went up the broad stairway with the +same smile still clinging to his lips. + +In the meantime Bab was stretched out beside the sleeping Ruth, wide +awake, going over the events of that tumultuous day. + +She felt that these events had no connection with each other, and yet +deep down in her inner consciousness she was searching for the link that +bound all the strange happenings together. She was not quite sure now +whether she had seen the face in the library or not. She had been so +tired and hot. It might, after all, have been a dream. But the footsteps +in the dust on the attic floor, coming from the wall, what of them? + +And last, though most strange and mysterious of all, the two daggers? +José had been saved just in time from the stigma of suspicion by the +appearance of the other dagger, for, in the moment she had seen the two, +Bab had realized they were absolutely alike. + +She could not believe José was a highwayman, and yet there were certain +things that looked very black. It was true he had not known where they +were going, but she imagined he could have found it out. + +Was it his figure she had seen behind the curtain that morning, +listening? Whoever it was heard the exact route of their trip, with +explicit directions from the major. Undoubtedly, Bab believed, the +eavesdropper was the highwayman. + +Furthermore, what did they know about José? It is true he had come +bearing credentials, but such things were easily fixed up by experts, +and the major was a simple old fellow who never doubted anybody until he +had to. + +On the other hand, José had every appearance of being a gentleman. He +had proved himself to be brave by knocking down the tramp twice his size +at Sleepy Hollow. There was an air of sincerity about him which she +could not fail to recognize. He was graceful and charming. Everybody +liked him, even those who had been inclined to feel prejudiced at first. + +Would the Spaniard have dared to use the same dagger in the dance that +he had used to slash their tires with? It was assuredly amazingly +reckless, and yet he might have trusted to the darkness and risked it. + +But the look he gave her when she started to speak of the twin daggers! +What could that have meant? Was he trying to shield his own enemy? + +Should she speak to the major or should she say nothing? + +On the whole, Barbara thought it would be better to keep quiet for a day +or two. It might be that Miss Sallie would insist on taking them away +after this last attack; but she believed Ruth's and the major's prayers +would prevail, and that they would all stay through the visit. + +They had planned so many delightful parties it seemed a shame to break +up on the very first day of their visit. And, after all, Miss Sallie had +a great tenderness for the major, a tenderness lasting through thirty +years. + +Then Barbara dropped off to sleep, and in the old house only one other +soul was still awake as the clock in the hall chimed the hour of two. + +In his room, by the light of a flickering candle, José sat examining the +dagger that had so baffled Bab's curiosity. On his face was an +expression of sorrow and bitterness that would certainly have aroused +her pity had she seen him that moment. At last he shook his head +hopelessly, muttered something in Spanish, and blew out the candle. + +But before getting into bed he picked up the dagger again. + +"Even in America," he said in English, "even in this far country it is +the same. But I will not endure it," he muttered. "It is too much!" + +Putting his dagger under the pillow, he crept to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XII--NOSEGAYS AND TENNIS + + +The household was late in pulling itself together next morning. At +half-past nine, Mary and her husband, John, had carried trays of coffee +and rolls to the rooms of the guests, informing them, at the same time, +that luncheon would be served at half-past twelve. + +Mollie and Grace, in dressing gowns and slippers, had carried their +trays into the room shared by Ruth and Barbara. Miss Sallie had +followed, looking so charming in her lavender silk wrapper, elaborately +trimmed with lace and ribbons that all the girls had exclaimed with +admiration; which put the lady in a very good humor at the outset. Who +does not like to be complimented, especially in the early morning when +one is not apt to feel at one's best? + +To add to the gayety of the company there was a knock on the door, +which, when opened, disclosed John bearing a large tray of flowers, a +small nosegay for each of the girls and a large bunch of dewy sweet peas +for Miss Sallie, all with the major's compliments. + +"What a man he is!" she cried. "He disarms me with his bunches of +flowers just as I was about to tell him something very disagreeable. I +really don't see how I can do it." + +"Oh, please don't, auntie, dear!" exclaimed Ruth. "I know what it is. We +all do. But if we broke up the party, and went trailing off home, now +that the worst is over, it wouldn't do anybody much good, and think of +what a beautiful time we would be missing. To tell you the truth, +auntie, we are just dying to stay. In spite of everything we are. Aren't +we, girls?" + +"Yes, indeed," came in a chorus from the other three girls, a little +faintly from Bab perhaps, but very eagerly from Mollie and Grace. + +"Well, we'll see," replied Miss Sallie. "But it does seem to me that +this trip has started off very badly. Three attacks in as many days." + +"That's true," said Ruth. "Yet by the magic Rule of Three we should have +no more. We have finished now and the curse is lifted." + +"When Mollie's old Gypsy comes over we must ask her to tell a few +things," observed Grace. "I believe she really can predict the future. +That night when you and Bab had gone with the Gypsies to get the +automobile I asked her if she told fortunes, and all she said was: 'I +can tell when there is blood on the moon.'" + +"What a horrible idea!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "Weren't you frightened?" + +"No, I wasn't frightened, because she seemed to have forgotten me +entirely. I really thought, at the time, she must be talking about her +own affairs. She looked so black and fierce." + +"Perhaps she meant José's blood," remarked Mollie from behind her +nosegay of honeysuckle and mignonette. + +"Well, there wasn't much of it," replied Bab, "because José received +only a scratch, and lost scarcely any blood. It was a close shave, +though. Just half an inch nearer and it would have gone straight through +his head." + +"He seems to be a very remarkable young man," said Miss Sallie. "Did you +notice he never said one word? Just sat there as quietly as if nothing +had happened." + +"He was thinking," answered Barbara. "But of course most people would +have been too frightened to think. Did you notice the knife?" she +ventured. + +But nobody had, evidently. They had all been too excited and +horror-struck at the time to have noticed anything. + +"I saw it was a knife, and that was all," said Ruth. + +"I never saw a man dance before," observed Mollie, as if following aloud +a train of thoughts she had been pursuing while the others talked. "I +was almost sorry he said he would, but when I saw what kind of dancing +it was I was glad. It was really and truly a man's dance. I think it +must have been a toreador's dance, don't you?" + +"Something like this," said Ruth, using a towel for a scarf and a comb +for a dagger. "And, by the way," she continued, pausing as she pranced +around the room, "how did he happen to have a dagger so handy!" + +"That's because he is a Spaniard, my dear," remarked Miss Sallie. "These +foreigners carry anything from dynamite bombs to carving knives. They +are always murdering and slashing one another." + +"Perhaps," cried Mollie, excitedly, "it was the Black Hand that tried to +kill him." + +The others all laughed. + +"Really, Mollie," cried Miss Sallie, "don't add any more horrors to the +situation. We are already surrounded by Gypsies, and tramps and +assassins." + +"But protected, Aunt Sallie, dear," protested Ruth, "protected by five +'gintlemin frinds,' as Irish Nora used to say." + +"Well, dress yourselves now," said Miss Stuart, making for the door with +her silken draperies trailing after her. "And remember, Ruth, dear, if +your father scolds us for staying I shall lay all the blame on you." + +"Oh, I will manage Dad," replied Ruth. + +When the two girls were left alone they did not speak for a little +while. Barbara, who was sitting on the floor near the window with her +head propped against a pillow, closed her eyes, and for a moment Ruth +thought she was asleep. A breeze laden with the perfume of the +honeysuckle vines stirred the curtain. Barbara took in a deep breath, +opened her eyes and sat up. + +"Ruth," she said, "do you know, the smell of the honeysuckles gives me +the queerest sensation? I feel as if I had been here before, once long +ago, ever so long. I can't remember when, and of course I haven't been, +but isn't it curious? These old rooms are as familiar to me as if I had +lived in them. I believe I could find my way blindfolded around the +house." + +"I should like to see you try it," replied Ruth, "especially when you +struck one of those back passages that lead off into nowhere in +particular. But you are tired, Bab, dear," continued her friend, leaning +over and patting her on the cheek. "Come along, now, and get dressed. I +told Stephen and Alfred we would play them a game of tennis some time +this morning." + +The girls found the two boys waiting in the hall to keep their +appointment. Alfred was fast losing his shyness in the presence of these +two wholesome and unaffected girls who could play tennis almost as well +as he could, ride horseback, run a motor car, repel a highwayman with a +pistol and not lose their heads when they needed to keep them most. But, +what was more to the purpose, they were not in the least shy or afraid +to speak out. They were full of high spirits and knew how to have a good +time without appealing constantly to some everlasting governess who was +always tagging after them, or asking mamma's permission. In fact, Alfred +had suffered a change of heart. When he had heard the house party was to +be increased by a number of girls he had bitterly repented ever having +left England. By this time, however, he could not imagine a house party +without girls, especially American girls. + +"I say, you know," he said to Ruth as they strolled toward the beautiful +tennis court that was shaded, at one side, by a row of tall elm trees, +"must I call you Ruth? I notice the other fellows do?" + +"Oh, well," replied Ruth, "we are none of us actually grown yet and what +is the use of so much formality before it is really necessary? What do +you do in England?" + +"In England," replied Alfred, "we don't call them anything. We don't see +them except in the holidays, and then they are only sisters and +cousins." + +"Isn't there any fun in sisters and cousins?" asked Ruth. + +"Well, they're not very jolly," replied the candid youth; "not as jolly +as you, that is." + +Ruth laughed. By this time they had reached the court and were selecting +racquets and tossing for sides. + +"Stephen, Ruth and I will play against you and Barbara," said Alfred +rather testily. "What is the use of tossing when it was arranged +beforehand?" + +"You seem rather eager, Alfred, my boy," replied Stephen. "I'm sure we +have no objections, have we, Barbara?" + +"None," said Barbara, "At least I haven't. You may, however, when you +hear that Ruth won the championship at Newport last summer." + +"You look to me like a pretty good player, too," said Stephen. + +Just then Jimmie Butler appeared, bearing a hammock and a book. + +"You can get in the next set, Jimmie," called Stephen. "We are just +starting in on this one." + +"I don't care for the game," replied Jimmie. "I prefer a book 'neath the +bough, especially as this house party seems to go in companies of twos. +Every laddie has a lassie but me, so I've taken to literature." + +He waved his hand toward the garden, and then toward the walk leading +from the house. + +In the old-fashioned flower garden, a stone's throw from the court, +could be seen Miss Sallie and the major strolling along the paths, +stopping occasionally to examine the late roses and smell the +honeysuckle trained over wicker arches. + +In the direction of the house appeared Mollie and Grace, followed by +Martin and José. The sound of their laughter floated over to Jimmie as +he swung in his hammock. + +"Keep away, all," he called as he spread himself comfortably among the +cushions and opened his book. "I intend to enter a monastery and take +the vow of silence, and this is a good time to begin. It's easy because +I have nobody to talk to." + +"What are you grumbling about, Jimmie?" asked the major, who came up +just then with Miss Sallie. + +"Oh, nothing at all, Major," replied Jimmie. "I was only saying how +delightful it was to see all you young people walking around this sylvan +place in couples. It reminds me of my lost youth." + +"Jimmie's lonesome," exclaimed Martin. "We'll have to get up some more +excitement if we want to keep him happy." + +"Very well," replied the major. "We will. The most exciting thing I can +think of, just now, is to take a long ride in the automobiles, or go +driving, whichever the ladies prefer, and wind up at the forest pool for +tea. How does that strike you, Jimmie?" + +"It sounds fine," said Jimmie, "if you mean the haunted pool. It is a +beautiful spot, and it has a new haunt since last you saw it, Major. +It's haunted by water nymphs now." + +"Only nymphs in wading," cried Mollie, blushing. "Jimmie caught us in +the act yesterday morning." + +"Oho!" exclaimed the major. "You really are little girls, after all, are +you?" + +"Think of going in wading in that lonesome spot," said Grace, "and +actually meeting somebody as casually as if you were walking up Fifth +Avenue?" + +"You're likely to meet Jimmie anywhere," said Martin. "He's a regular +Johnnie-on-the-spot. He is the first person to get up and the last one +to go to bed. Excitements have a real attraction for him. Haven't they, +Jimsy?" and Martin gave the hammock such an affectionate shake that +Jimmie nearly fell out on his face. + +The luncheon gong rang out in the summer stillness, and they started +toward the house, leaving the players to finish the game. + +"José," asked the major, putting his arm through the young Spaniard's, +"have you any theories about last night?" + +"Yes," replied José. "I do not think it will do any good to hunt for the +one who threw the knife. I have, in my country, an enemy. I believe it +was he." + +"What?" cried the major. "He has followed you all the way to America, +and your life is constantly in danger?" + +"I do not think he will come again," answered José. "At any rate, I am +not afraid," he added, shrugging his shoulders, "and I can do nothing." + +"You could have him arrested," said Miss Sallie. + +"Yes, Madam, I could. But it would not be easy to catch him." + +"Dear, dear!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "What a dangerous country Spain +must be to live in!" + +"No more dangerous than America, Madam, I find," replied José. + +"True enough," assented Miss Sallie, "since this is America and not +Spain, and we find ourselves in a perfect hotbed of criminals. My dear +John, I think we shall need a body-guard if we go out in the open this +afternoon." + +"Well, Sallie," answered the courteous old man, "you shall have one in +me and my nephews and their friends--a devoted body-guard, I assure +you." + +At luncheon the feeling of good will which comes to friends who have +just found each other, so to speak, had spread itself. Enjoyment was in +the air and there were no discordant elements. All their troubles were +of the past, and Bab determined to cast aside her suspicions and regard +José in the light of a mysterious but otherwise exceedingly attractive +foreigner. When she looked across the table into his clear, brown eyes, +which regarded her sadly but without a single guilty quiver of the lids, +she could not but believe that there had been some bitter mistake +somewhere. He was lonely and strange, and there was something about him +that aroused her pity. Everybody liked him; even Miss Sallie was +attracted by his graceful and gentle manners. + +Luncheon over, everyone made ready for the auto trip, and it was not +long before the two autos carrying a merry party, had set forth. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII--CROSS QUESTIONS AND CROOKED ANSWERS + + +After a long ride through the country, skirting the edge of the forest +in which the highwayman had lurked, and where the smoke from the +Gypsies' camp fire could be seen curling up in the distance, the two +automobiles took to the river road. + +Ruth was steering her own car with Alfred beside her; behind them on the +small seat sat José and Mollie, and on the back seat were Bab and +Stephen. As they skimmed over the bridge, which had been repaired by the +major's men, Mollie said to José: + +"Was the bridge all right, Mr. Martinez, when you came over it the other +day?" + +The Spaniard flushed and his eye caught Bab's, who was gazing at him +curiously. + +"Yes, no--or rather, I do not know," he stammered. "I did not come by +the bridge but through the forest." + +"But how did you find the way?" asked Mollie, wondering a little at his +embarrassment. + +"I asked it," he replied, "of a Gypsy." + +"Oh, really?" cried Mollie. "And did she tell you?" + +"It was not a woman," went on José. "It was a man." + +"And did he know the way? Because they told us they did not, perhaps +because they didn't want to be disturbed so late in the evening." + +"Perhaps," said José, and changed the subject by asking Stephen whose +was the large estate they were now approaching. It was that of a famous +millionaire, and their attention was for the moment distracted. José +seemed to breath a sigh of relief and engaged Mollie in conversation for +the rest of the ride, telling her about his own country, the bull fights +and carnivals and a hundred other things of interest until the little +girl had quite forgotten his confusion at the mention of the damaged +bridge. + +On the way back the automobiles turned into the wooded road, but before +they reached the Gypsy camp they turned again into another road pointed +out by Martin in the first car. The road led directly through the forest +to the haunted pool, where the automobiles drew up. The pool, in the +late afternoon sunlight, was more enchanting than ever. + +"This is a famous spot in the neighborhood," observed the major. "When I +was a boy it was the scene of many a picnic and frolic. People in these +parts were more neighborly in those days. The girls and boys used to +meet and ride in wagons or on horseback over here. We ate our luncheons +on this mossy bank; then strolled about in couples until dark and drove +home by moonlight." + +"The Gypsy girl told us it was really haunted, Major," said Ruth. "She +even said she had seen the ghost." + +"Indeed," replied the major, looking up a little startled, "and what +sort of ghost was it?" + +"Just a figure sitting here on the bank," answered Ruth. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed in a tone of evident relief. + +"Why, Major," cried Miss Sallie, "one would think you believed in +ghosts." + +"And so I do, Sallie, my dear," declared the gentle old major, "but only +in the ghosts of my lost youth, which seem to appear to me to-day in the +forms of all these delightful young people. What about tea, Miss Ruth +Stuart?" he demanded, turning to Ruth. + +The chauffeur brought out the elaborate tea basket which had served them +so well at the Gypsy camp and Ruth and Barbara proceeded to make the tea +while the other girls unpacked boxes of delicious sandwiches and tea +cakes. + +"This is a very beautiful spot," observed José. "If it were perpetual +summer I could live and die on this mossy bank and never tire of it!" +Walking a little apart from the others he stretched himself out at full +length on the ground, staring up into the branches overhead. + +Then the other boys, who had been strolling about under the trees, +returned, but they were not alone. They had espied Zerlina in the depths +of the woods, with her guitar slung over her shoulder, and persuaded her +to go back with them to the pool. + +"You see we've brought a wandering minstrel with us," cried Jimmie. "She +has promised to sing us a song of the Romany Rye, haven't you, Zerlina?" + +The girls greeted Zerlina cordially. She was presented to the major, but +José, as she approached, had turned over on his side and flung his arm +over his head, as if he were asleep. + +"Leave him alone. He's dreaming," said Jimmie. "Give Zerlina some tea +and cake, and then we'll have a song." + +Zerlina ate the cake greedily and drank her tea in silence. She examined +the fresh summer dresses of "The Automobile Girls," and a look of envy +came into her eyes as she cast them down on her cotton skirt full of +tatters from the briars and faded from red into a soft old pink shade. +But she was very pretty, even in her ragged dress, which was turned in +at the collar showing her full, rounded throat and shapely neck. She was +lithe and graceful, and as she thrummed on the guitar with her slender, +brown fingers her ragged dress and rough shoes faded into +insignificance. The group of people sitting on the bank saw only a +beautiful, dark-haired girl with a glowing face and eyes that shone with +a smouldering fire. After a few preliminary chords she began to sing in +a rich contralto voice. The song again was in the Romany tongue. It +seemed to convey to the listeners a note of sadness and loneliness. + +The kind old major was much impressed by the performance. + +"Zerlina," he said, "you have a very beautiful voice, much too beautiful +to be wasted. You must ask your grandmother to bring you over to Ten +Eyck Hall. I should like to hear you sing again." + +"Zerlina will be a great opera singer, one of these days," predicted +Jimmie. "She will be singing Carmen, yet, at the Manhattan Opera House. +How would you like that, Zerlina?" + +The Gypsy girl made no reply. Her eyes were fastened on José, who still +lay as if asleep, his back turned to the circle. + +"She can dance, too," cried Ruth. "She told me she could. This would be +a pretty place to dance, Zerlina, where the fairies dance by moonlight." + +"I have no music," objected Zerlina. + +"Oh, I can make the music all right," said the irrepressible Jimmie, +seizing the guitar and tuning it up. Then he began to whistle. The tone +was clear and flute-like and the tune the same Spanish dance he had +played for José. Zerlina pricked up her ears when she heard the music +and the rhythm of the guitar. It is said that no Gypsy can ever resist +the sound of music. Now the body of the girl began swaying to the beat +of the accompaniment. Presently she began to dance, a real Spanish dance +full of gestures and movement. They half guessed the story woven in, a +lover repelled and called back, coquetted with and threatened; +threatened with a knife which she drew from the blouse of her dress and +then restored to its hiding place; for the dance ended quickly without +disaster, imaginary or otherwise. Miss Sallie had given a little cry at +sight of another murderous weapon. But the knife! Had no one seen it, no +one recognized the chased silver handle and the slightly curved blade? +Bab sat as if rooted to the spot, waiting for somebody to speak, to cry +out that the knife was the same that had whizzed past José's head the +other night. After all, nobody had really seen it but herself. She had +learned by a former experience to keep her own counsel, and she decided +to wait, and not to tell until matters took a more definite turn. + +Was it possible this beautiful Gypsy girl could be a murderess, or one +at heart? But, on the other hand, would she have dared to display the +mysterious dagger in the presence of the same company? Bab was puzzled +and worried. Was Zerlina a robber also, or was José, after all, the +robber? Perhaps there was some connection between them. There must be, +since they had exchanged knives on several occasions. + +Her reflections were interrupted by a general movement toward the +automobiles. Zerlina was evidently pleased at the praises she had +received, for her cheeks were flushed with pride. + +"Won't you let us see your dagger, Zerlina?" asked Bab. + +"Oh, yes, do!" begged Mollie. "It will be the third dagger we have seen +this week; but this is the first chance we have had to take a good look +at any of them." + +Zerlina looked at them darkly. Her lips drew themselves together in a +stubborn line. + +"I cannot, now," she said. "Perhaps, another time. Good-bye." She +slipped off into the woods as quietly as one of the spirits which were +said to haunt the place. + +"Gypsies are so tiresome," exclaimed Miss Sallie. "Why shouldn't she +show her dagger, I'd like to know? And who cares whether she does or +not, anyhow?" + +"If you had ever read any books on Gypsies, Sallie," replied the major, +"you would know that their lives are full of things they must keep +secret if they want to keep out of jail. However, these Gypsies seem +peaceable enough," he added, his kindly spirit never liking to condemn +anything until it was necessary. "But what a beautiful girl she is!" he +continued. "If she were properly dressed she would be as noble and +elegant looking as"--he paused for a comparison--"as our own young +ladies here. I wonder if her grandmother would ever consent to her being +educated and taught singing?" + +"Now, Major," cried the impetuous Ruth, "keep on your own preserves! I +asked her first, and I'm just dying to do it. I know papa would let me, +and wouldn't it be a beautiful thing to launch a great singer upon the +public?" + +"It certainly would, my dear," replied the major, "and I promise not to +meddle, if you had first choice." + +"Why, where's Mr. Martinez?" asked Mollie, as they climbed into the +automobiles and she missed her companion of the ride over. + +One of the boys gave a shrill whistle and the others began calling and +shouting. Presently the answer came from up the stream. "I'm coming," he +called and José appeared. "I was only taking a little stroll." + +"Why did you wish to miss the Gypsy song and dance?" demanded Mollie. +"It was charming." + +"Pardon, Mademoiselle," he replied, stiffly, "but I do not care to hear +the songs of my country, or to see its dances in a foreign land." + +Mollie was a little piqued by José's short answer, but she forgave him +when he said sadly: + +"Did you ever know, Madamoiselle, what it is to be homesick?" + +"But I thought you said you liked America?" she persisted. + +"So I do," he replied; "nevertheless, there are times when I feel very +lonely. You will forgive me, will you not. Was I rude?" + +In the meantime Stephen said to Barbara: + +"Bab, are you a good walker? How would you like to take a short cut +through the woods to-morrow morning, and visit the hermit who lives on +the other side? We can't ride or drive very well, because it is too far +by the road, but it is only about five miles when we walk. I haven't +been there for several years, but I know the way well. I suppose the +hermit is still alive. At least, he was all right last summer, so John +the butler told me. Anybody else who wishes may go along, but nobody +shall come who will lag behind and complain of the distance." + +"I am good for a ten mile walk," replied Barbara. "I have done it many a +time at home." + +"The woods grow more and more interesting the deeper you go into them," +continued Stephen. "There are places where the sun never comes through, +and the whole way is cool and shaded. It is full of people, too. You +would be surprised to find how many people make a living in a forest. +They are perfectly harmless, of course, or else I wouldn't be taking you +among them. Besides the Gypsies, there are woodcutters, old men and +women who gather herbs, and a few lonely people who live in cabins on +the edge of the forest and have little gardens. Uncle has always helped +them, in the winter, without asking who they were or why they were +there. Then there's the hermit. He is the most interesting of the lot. +He is as old as the hills and he has a secret that he would never tell, +the secret of who he is and why he has lived alone for some forty +years." + +"How interesting!" exclaimed Bab. "I hope Miss Sallie won't object." + +"We shall have to get the major on our side," replied Stephen, "and +perhaps win her over, too." + +"Oh, she is not really so strict," replied Bab, "but she feels the +responsibility of looking after other peoples' children, she says." + +"Here we are," said Stephen, as the cars stopped at Ten Eyck Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV--IN THE DEEP WOODS + + +It was not such a difficult matter, after all, to win permission from +Miss Sallie and the major to take the walk through the forest. The major +explained to Miss Sallie that Stephen was a safe and careful guide who +knew the country by heart, and that if the girls were equal to the walk +there would be no danger in the excursion. The party, however, dwindled +to five persons, Bab and Ruth, Stephen, Jimmie and Alfred. The latter +appeared early, equipped for the walk, carrying a heavy cane, his +trousers turned up over stout boots. + +"Now, Stephen," said Miss Sallie, "I want you to promise me to take good +care of the girls. You say the woods are not dangerous, although a +highwayman stepped out of them one evening and attacked us with a knife. +But I take your word for it, since the major says it is safe and I see +Alfred is armed." + +Everybody laughed at this, and Alfred looked conscious and blushed. + +"Doesn't one carry a cane in this country?" he asked. + +"Not often at your age, my boy," replied Jimmie. "But I daresay it will +serve to beat a trail through the underbrush." + +"Come along, girls; let's be off," cried Stephen, who at heart was +almost a Gypsy, and loved a long tramp through the woods. He had +strapped over his shoulder a goodly sized box of lunch, and the +cavalcade started cheerfully down the walk that led toward the forest, a +compact mass of foliage lying to the left of them. + +"Isn't this fun?" demanded Jimmie. "I feel just in the humor for a +lark." + +"I hope you can climb fences, girls," called Stephen over his shoulder, +as he trudged along, ahead of the others. + +"We could even climb a tree if we had to," answered Bab, "or swim a +creek." + +"Or ride a horse bareback," interrupted Jimmie, who had heard the story +of Bab's escapade on the road to Newport. + +"This is the end of uncle's land," said Stephen, at last. "We now find +ourselves entering the black forest. Here's the trail," he called as the +others helped the two girls over the dividing fence. + +"All right, Scout Stephen," replied Jimmie. "We are following close +behind. Proceed with the march." + +Sure enough, there was a distinct road leading straight into the forest, +formed by ruts from cartwheels, probably the carts of the woodcutters, +Stephen explained. The edges of the wood were rather thin and scant, +like the meagre fringe on a man's head just beginning to turn bald at +the temples; but as they marched deeper into the forest, the trees grew +so thickly that their branches overhead formed a canopy like a roof. +Squirrels and chipmunks scampered across their path and occasionally a +rabbit could be seen scurrying through the underbrush. + +"Isn't this great!" exclaimed Stephen, after they had been walking for +some time. "Uncle says there's scarcely such another wood in this part +of the country." + +"Don't speak so loud, Stephen," said Jimmie. "It is so quiet here, I +feel as if we would wake something, if we spoke above a whisper." + +"Let's wake the echoes," replied Stephen and he gave a yodel familiar to +all boys, a sort of trilling in the head and throat that is melodious in +sound and carries further than an ordinary call. Immediately there was +an answer to the yodel. It might have seemed an echo, only there was no +place for an echo in this shut-in spot. + +They all stopped and listened as the answer died away among the branches +of the trees. + +"Curious," said Jimmie. "It was rather close, too. Perhaps one of your +woodcutters is playing a trick on us, Stephen. Suppose we try again, and +see what happens!" Jimmie gave another yodel, louder and longer than the +first. As they paused and listened, the answer came again like an echo, +this time even nearer. + +"Let's investigate," proposed Alfred. "I think it came from over there," +and he led the way through the trees toward the echo. + +"Halloo-o," he called, "who are you?" and the answer came back +"Halloo-o, who are you?" followed by a mocking laugh. + +"Well, after all, it isn't any of our business who you are," cried +Stephen, exasperated, "and I don't think we had better leave the trail +just here for a fellow who is afraid to come out and show himself," he +added in a lower tone. + +There was no reply and they returned to the cartwheel road and began the +march again. + +"You were quite right, Stephen," said Ruth, "why should we waste our +time over an idler who plays tricks on people?" + +There was another laugh, which seemed to come from high up in the +branches; then sounds like the chattering of squirrels, followed by low +whistles and bird calls. They examined the branches of the trees around +them, but there was nothing in sight. + +"Oh, go along!" exclaimed Alfred angrily. "Only cowards hide behind +trees. Brave men show themselves." + +Silence greeted this sally, also, and they trudged on through the forest +without any further effort to see the annoyer. Several times acorn +shells whizzed past their heads, and once Jimmie made a running jump, +thinking he saw some one behind a tree, but returned crestfallen. A +surprise was in store for them, however. They had been walking for some +time when the trail, which hitherto had run straight through the middle +of the wood, gave a sudden and unexpected turn, to avoid a depression in +the land, overgrown with vines and small trees, and now dry from the +drought. + +They paused a moment on the curve of the path to look across at the +graceful little hollow which seemed to be the meeting place of slender +young pine trees and silver birches gleaming white among the dark green +branches. + +"How like people they look," Bab whispered. She never knew just why she +did so. "Like girls in white dresses at a party." + +"And the pine trees are the men," whispered Jimmie. "Look," he said +excitedly, under his breath, "there's a man! Perhaps it's the----" + +He stopped short and his voice died away in amazement. Barbara said +"Sh-h-h!" and the others paused in wonder. Just emerging from the hollow +on the other side, was the figure of a man. All eyes saw him at the same +moment and two pairs of eyes at least recognized a green velveteen +hunting suit. As the figure turned for one brief instant and scanned the +forest they saw his face in a flash. + +"It's José!" they gasped. + +"Bab," exclaimed Ruth, "he is wearing the green velveteens!" + +"I know it," replied her friend. "But are we sure it was José?" + +"No; we aren't sure," answered Stephen. "It certainly looked like José, +but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, at any rate." + +From beyond the hollow came another yodel. + +"By Jove!" said Jimmie, "nothing but a tricky foreigner, after all, and +I was just beginning to like him too." + +"He's more than a trickster," Bab whispered. "He's wearing a green +velveteen suit." + +"Well, what of it?" asked Stephen. + +"It's the same suit the highwayman wore who slashed the tires of the +automobile." + +"Whew-w-w!" cried the boys. + +"Be careful," whispered Ruth. "Don't let him hear us. Do you think he +saw us?" + +"No," replied Alfred, "or he would never have yodeled." + +Barbara began to consider. Should she tell about the knife, or should +she wait? She believed that if she told it would only complicate matters +and bring Zerlina, the Gypsy girl, into the muddle. Suppose she told, +and then, when they reached home, they found that José had been away +that morning? It would immediately call down upon him the suspicions of +the whole party, suspicions perhaps undeserved. Bab had never had cause +to regret her ability to keep a secret, and she concluded to test it +again by holding her peace a little longer. + +"José or no José, let's go on and have our good time," exclaimed +Stephen. "Everything depends on whether José was at home or not this +morning. If he wasn't, why, then he'll have to give an account of +himself. And if he was, we shall have to consult uncle about what to do. +We will hunt the man out of these woods, anyway. He has no business +lurking around here." + +Once more they started off, and were not troubled again by the yodler. + +Presently the jangle of a bell was heard in the distance, a pleasant +musical tinkle in the midst of the green stillness of the forest. + +"What on earth is _that_?" exclaimed Ruth, a little nervous now from the +nearness of the robber. + +"If I am not mistaken," replied Stephen, "that is old Adam, the +woodcutter. He has been living in these woods all his life, seventy +years or more. He looks almost like a tree himself, he is so gnarled and +weather-beaten and bent." + +In a few moments the woodman's cart hove into sight, drawn by a bony old +horse from whose collar jangled the little bell. The cart was loaded +with bundles of wood, and Adam walked at the side holding the rope lines +in one hand and flourishing a whip in the other, the lash of which he +carefully kept away from his horse, which was ambling along at its +pleasure. + +"Good day, Adam," said Stephen. "How are you, and how is the wood +business?" + +"Why, it's Mr. Stephen!" cried the old man, touching his cap with one of +his knotted hands. "The wood business is good, sir. We manage to live, +my wife and I. Although I'm wishin' t'was something else kept us going. +I never fell a tree, sir, I don't feel I'm killin' something alive. They +are fine old trees," he went on, patting the bark of a silver birch +affectionately. "I would not kill one of these white ladies, sir, if you +was to pay me a hundred dollars!" + +"It's a shame, Adam," replied Stephen. "It must be like cutting down +your own family, you have lived among them for so many years. How is the +hermit? Do you give him enough wood to keep him alive in the winter?" + +"He's not been himself of late," answered Adam, lowering his voice. +"He's always strange at this time of the year." + +"Do you think he'll see us if we go over?" asked Stephen. + +"I think so, sir," replied Adam. "No matter how bad off he is, he's +always kind. I never see him angry." + +"Well, good-bye, Adam, and good luck to you," said Stephen, dropping a +piece of money into the wrinkled palm, and they continued their journey +through the wood. + +The little bell resumed its tinkle, and the cart was soon out of sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XV--THE HERMIT + + +"Do you know," exclaimed Ruth, "I feel as if I were in an enchanted +forest, and these strange people were witches and wizards! The robber +might have been a wood-elf, and now here comes the old witch. Perhaps +she will turn us into trees and animals." + +"Oh, that is old Jennie, who gathers herbs and sells them at all the +drugstores in the towns around here," replied Stephen, as a strange +figure came into view. + +The gatherer of herbs and roots was not, however, very witchlike in +appearance. She was tall and erect, and walked with long strides like a +grenadier. What was most remarkable about her were her wide, staring +blue eyes, like patches of sky, that looked far beyond the young people +who had grouped themselves at the side of the path almost timidly, +waiting for her to come up. She carried with her a staff, and as she +walked she poked the bushes and grasses with it as if it had been a long +finger feeling for trophies. The other hand grasped the end of an apron +made of an old sack, stuffed full of herbs still green, and fragrant +from having been bruised as she crushed them into the bag. + +"She is blind," whispered Stephen, "but in a minute she will perceive +that some one is near. She has a scent as keen as a hunting dog's." + +A few yards away from them old Jennie paused and sniffed the air like an +animal. Reaching out with her stick she felt around her. Presently the +staff pointed in the direction of the boys and girls, and she came +toward them as straight as a hunter after his quarry. The girls, a +little frightened, started to draw back. + +"She won't hurt you," whispered Stephen. "Why, Jennie," he said in a +louder voice, "don't you know your old friend and playmate?" + +A smile broke out on Jennie's handsome face, which, in spite of her age, +was as smooth and placid as a child's. + +"It's Master Stephen!" she cried, in a strange voice that sounded rusty +from lack of use. "I be glad to hear you, sir. It's a long time since +we've had a frolic in the woods. You don't hunt birds' nests in the +summer now, or go wading in the streams. I found a wasps' nest for you, +perhaps it was a month, perhaps a year ago, I cannot remember. But I +saved it for you. And how is young Master Martin? He was a little fellow +to climb so high for the nests." + +"We are both well, Jennie, and you must come over to the hall and see +us. We may have something nice for you, there, that will keep you warm +when the snow comes." + +"Ah, you're a good boy, Master Stephen, and I'll bid ye good day now, +and good day to your friends. There be four with you I think," she added +in a lower voice, sniffing the air again. "I'll be over on my next trip +to the village." Old Jennie moved off as swiftly as she had come, +tapping the path with her long stick, her head thrown back as if to see +with her nostrils, since her eyes were without sight. + +"What a strange old woman!" cried Stephen's companions in one voice. + +"And the strangest thing about her," replied Stephen, "is that she has +no sense of time. She can't remember whether a thing happened a year ago +or month ago, and she thinks Martin and I are still little boys. We +haven't hunted birds' nests with her for six years. I have not even seen +her for two or three years, but she sniffed me out as quickly as if I +always used triple extract of tuberose." + +"Where does she live?" asked Bab. + +"She lives in a little cabin off in the forest somewhere. Her father and +mother were woodcutters. She was born and brought up right here. She +doesn't know anything but herbs and roots, and night and day are the +same to her. She knows every square foot of this country, and never gets +lost. Martin and I used to go about with her when we were little boys, +and she was as faithful a nurse as you could possibly find." + +"No wonder you love these woods, Stephen," said Bab. "There is so much +to do and see in them. I wish we had something better than scrub oak +around Kingsbridge." + +"Wait until you see the chief treasure of the woods, Barbara, and you'll +have even more respect for them." + +"Meaning the hermit?" asked Jimmie. + +"But he won't tell anything, will he?" demanded Ruth. "Didn't you say he +was a mystery?" + +"The greatest mystery of the countryside," replied Stephen. "Nobody +knows where he came from, nor why he has been living here all these +years--it's about fifty, they say. You see, he is not ignorant, like the +other wood people. He is a gentleman. His manners are as fine as +uncle's, and the people who live in the woods all love him. They come to +him when they are sick or in trouble." + +"How does he live?" asked Alfred. + +"He must have some money hidden away somewhere, for he always has enough +to eat, and even to give when others need help. But nobody knows where +he keeps it. In a hole in the ground somewhere, I suppose." + +While they were talking they had approached a clearing on the side of a +hill. Most of the big trees had been cut away, and only the silver +birch, "the white ladies," as old Adam had christened them, and the +dogwood, mingled their shade over the smooth turf. The grass was as +thick and well kept as on the major's lawn, only somewhat browned now +for lack of water. All the bushes and undergrowth had been cleared away +years before, and the place had a lived-in, homelike look in contrast to +the great black forest that seemed to be crouching at its feet like a +monster guarding it from the enemy. And indeed, that must have been what +the mysterious man had intended when he built his little house at the +top of the hill, for five miles of woods intervened between him and the +outer world on one side, while on the other, was a high precipice that +marked the end of the forest. + +The house, a log cabin with a big stone chimney at one end, commanded a +view, from the back, of a long stretch of valley. The portico in front +was shaded by honeysuckle vines. Here, in an old-fashioned armchair, sat +the master smoking a meerschaum pipe. + +Stephen approached somewhat diffidently, taking off his cap. + +"May we rest here a little, sir?" he asked. "We have walked a long way +this morning." + +"You are most welcome," said the old man in a deep, musical voice that +gave the young people a thrill of pleasure. They looked at him +curiously. He was tall and erect, with a beak-nose and black eyes that +still had some of their youthful fire in them, despite the man's great +age and his snow white hair. + +"Come in, and we will bring some chairs out for the young ladies." + +Stephen followed their host into the house while, through the open door, +the others caught a glimpse of an enormous open fireplace and walls +lined with books. The girls took the proffered chairs and sat down +rather stiffly, while the old man reappeared, carrying a bucket and a +gourd. + +"Perhaps you are thirsty. Will you draw some water from the well?" he +asked, turning to Stephen. He stopped abruptly and looked closely at the +boy. "Why, it's little Stephen," he exclaimed, and with an expression +half of pain, half pleasure, he added, "grown to be a man and how +like"----But he paused and turned hastily away. + +"I am glad to see you, sir," replied Stephen, politely. He never knew +exactly how to address the hermit, and he found not knowing his name +somewhat awkward. "May I introduce my friends? Miss Ruth Stuart, Miss +Barbara Thurston, Alfred Marsdale and Jimmie Butler." + +The old man bowed to the company as gracefully as if he had been +receiving guests in a fine mansion. + +"The names are," he repeated gently, "Miss Ruth Stuart and--did I hear +you aright--Miss----?" + +"Barbara Thurston," finished Stephen. + +"Barbara Thurston?" repeated the old man under his breath. "Barbara +Thurston! Come here, my child, and let me look at you," he added, in an +agitated voice. + +Barbara obediently came forward and stood before the hermit, who had +covered his eyes with his hand for a moment, as if he were afraid to see +her face. + +"Barbara Thurston!" he exclaimed again. "Little Barbara!" And drawing +from his pocket a pair of horn spectacles, he put them on and examined +her features. He seemed to have forgotten the others. Suddenly he +removed the spectacles and looked up in a dazed way. + +"On the very day! The very day!" he cried, and waving his arms over his +head in a wild appeal to heaven, he turned and rushed down the hillside. +In another moment the forest had swallowed him up, while the five young +people stood staring after him in amazement. + +"Well, of all the rummy old chaps!" exclaimed Alfred. + +"Oh, he's touched of course," said Stephen, tapping his head. "He must +be. You know old Adam said he's always pretty bad at this time of the +year. I suppose it is the anniversary of something. But, Barbara, what +do you mean by going and stirring up memories?" + +"It wasn't I; it was my name," replied Barbara. "Once there was a girl +named Barbara, but the rest of the story can never be written, because +he won't tell what it is." + +"Let's have a peep at the house before we go," said Jimmie, "and then +let's eat. I'm starving." + +"All right," said Stephen. "Step right in and have a look for +yourselves, but hurry up before the old gentleman comes back." + +The place was certainly comfortable and cosy-looking, in spite of the +wooden walls and bare floors. It was spick and span and clean, kept that +way by Adam's wife, Stephen explained. There were a great many books, +some of them in foreign languages, two big easy-chairs near the open +fireplace, and on an old mahogany table, the only other piece of +furniture in the room, a brown earthenware jar filled with honeysuckle. +Only one picture hung on the wall, a small miniature suspended from a +nail just over the pot of flowers. Ruth examined the picture closely. +Besides his books, she thought, this little miniature was perhaps the +only link with the outer world that the old man had permitted himself to +keep. + +"Come here, everybody, quick," she called, "and look at this miniature. +As I live, it's enough like Bab to be a picture of her, except for the +old-fashioned dress and long ringlets." + +They looked at the picture carefully, taking it down from its nail in +order to see it in the light. + +"My word!" exclaimed Jimmie. "It's as good a likeness as you could wish +to find. It must have been the resemblance that gave the old man the +fit, then, and not the name." + +The miniature showed the face of a young girl, somewhat older than +Barbara, but certainly very like her in features and expression. She had +the same laughing mouth and frank, brown eyes, the same chestnut hair +curling in crisp ringlets around the forehead, but caught up loosely in +the back in a net and tied with a velvet snood. She wore a bodice of +rose-colored taffeta cut low in the neck, and fastened coquettishly +among the curls was a pink flower. + +"Who is it, Barbara?" asked Stephen. "Have you any idea?" + +"I can't imagine," replied Bab. "Perhaps it's just a coincidence. I am +not an uncommon type and may have lots of doubles. There are many people +in this world who have brown eyes and brown hair. You meet them at every +turn." + +"Yes," said Ruth, "but all of them haven't regular features and little +crisp curls, and just that particular expression. However, we must go. +We shouldn't like the hermit to come back and find us prying into his +affairs. And that is why he is here, evidently--to hide from pryers." + +"Yes," agreed Stephen, "I really do think we had better be going. I know +a pretty little dell where we can eat lunch if Jimmie can restrain his +appetite until we get there." + +"Well, cut along, then," ordered Jimmie, "and let us hasten to the +banquet hall." + +Closing the door carefully behind them the young folks hurried toward +the woodcutters' road. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI--A SURPRISE + + +When the last sandwich had been eaten, and the last crumb of cake +disposed of, the picnic party leaned lazily against the moss-covered +trunk of a fallen tree to discuss the events of the morning. + +José was the subject of the talk. All were inclined to believe, now, +that they had been deceived by the strong resemblance between the young +Spaniard and the mischievous person who had mystified them in the woods +that morning. It seemed impossible that José was a thief, or that he +could have been guilty of such trifling trickery as the individual in +the robber's clothes. José, quiet and reserved though he was, had become +a favorite with the young people. + +"It is strange," said Ruth. "He must have the nameless charm, because +there is not one of us who does not like him. As for me, I feel sorry +for him. And why, I'd like to know?" + +"It's his mournful black eye, my dear young lady," replied Jimmie. + +"Whatever it is," said Stephen, decisively, "we must not make any +accusations without knowing, for certain, that we are right. It is +rather an uncomfortable situation, I think, considering he is uncle's +guest." + +"It is, indeed," replied Alfred, "and I vote that we say not a word to +anyone until we find out where José spent the morning." + +"Agreed by all," cried Jimmie. "Am I right, girls?" + +The two girls assented, and the matter was settled. + +"I think we had better be moving on toward home, now," said Stephen, "if +we want to escape a scolding from Miss Stuart." + +"All right, general," replied Jimmie. "The bivouac is at an end. Rise, +soldiers, and follow your leader." He cocked his hat, turned up his coat +collar and struck a Napoleon pose. + +There was a stifled laugh, from behind a clump of alder bushes--a coarse +laugh that made the boys look up quickly and uneasily. + +"What was that?" asked Ruth, frightened. + +Without waiting for a reply, Alfred divided the bushes with his cane +disclosing three pairs of eyes gazing impudently at them. Three figures +untangled themselves from the bushes and rose stiffly, as if they had +been lying concealed there for a long time. The girls gave a stifled cry +of alarm, for each recognized the giant tramp, who had attacked them +near the churchyard of Sleepy Hollow; and his companions were probably +the same, although the girls had not seen them at that time. The leader +of the three roughs did not recognize them, however. He had been too +much intoxicated to remember their faces; but he was sober, now, and in +an uglier mood than when he had been in his cups. + +"So ho!" he cried. "We have here five rich, young persons--rich with the +money they have no right to--stolen money--stolen from me and mine. +While we beg and tramp, and dress in rags, you throw away the money we +have earned for you. Well, we won't have it. Will we, pals? We'll get +back some of the money that belongs to us by rights. You'll hand out +what you've got in your pockets, and, if it ain't enough, we'll keep you +into the bargain until your fathers they pays for your release. D'ye +see? Ho! Ho!" He roared out a terrible laugh until the woods resounded. + +The three boys had lined up in front of the two girls and Stephen had +called to them reassuringly over his shoulder: + +"Start on, girls. You know the path. Follow it the way we came. If you +meet Adam, ask him to go with you, or even old Jennie. Don't be +frightened. It'll be all right, but we've got to fight." + +Barbara and Ruth, both very calm and pale, were standing silently, +waiting for orders. + +"Do you think we could help by staying, Bab?" asked Ruth. + +"I don't know, dear," replied Bab. "Wait, and let me think a moment." +She closed her eyes and her moving lips repeated the little prayer: +"Heaven, make me calm in the face of danger," but in that moment the +fight had begun. The two girls stood fascinated, rooted to the spot. + +Stephen, who was a trained boxer, had tackled the leader and had managed +to give him several straight blows, at the same time dodging the +badly-aimed blows from the big fist of his opponent. Alfred had +purposely chosen the next largest tramp, leaving a small, wiry man for +Jimmie to grapple with. Alfred, also, had been carefully trained in the +arts of boxing and wrestling; but his opponent was no mean match for +him, and the two presently were rolling over and over on the ground, +their faces covered with dust and blood. Poor Jimmie was not a fighter. +All his life he had shunned gymnasiums, preferring to thrum the piano or +the guitar, or invent models for airships. However, the boy was no +coward and he went at his enemy with a will that was lacking in force +only because he himself lacked the muscle to give it. But the wiry +fellow who had been his portion was evidently the best-trained fighter +of the three tramps, and it was only a few moments before Jimmie was +bleeding from the nose and one eye was blacked. It looked as if Alfred, +too, were getting the worst of it, while Stephen and his tramp were +still raining blows upon each other, jumping about in a circle. Bab +longed to help Jimmie, but she saw, and Ruth agreed, that they would do +more harm than good. + +The two girls decided to run for help, even if they had to run all the +way to Ten Eyck Hall, especially as, in the midst of the scrimmage, +Stephen had called out to them to hurry up. + +Making the best speed they could through the brambles and ferns, they +had gone not more than a few rods when, pausing in their flight, they +found themselves face to face with blind Jennie. + +"What is happening?" demanded the old woman in a terrified whisper. "I +hear the sound of blows. I smell blood." + +"There is a fight, Jennie," replied Bab, almost sobbing in her +excitement. "We must get help quickly from somewhere. Are the Gypsies +far from here?" + +"Yes," answered Jennie. "Not so near as the hall. But wait! Come with +me," and her face was illumined by the expression of one who is about to +reveal a well-kept secret. + +"But, Jennie, is it help you are bringing us?" asked Ruth, demurring a +little. + +"You may trust old Jennie," exclaimed the blind woman. "Be ye not the +friends of young Master Stephen?" + +The two girls followed without a word. + +Almost in sight of the fighters, she paused by the stump of a hollow +tree which, when rolled away by her strong arm, disclosed a sort of +trapdoor underneath. Lifting the door, crudely constructed with strips +of wood, the bark still on, the girls saw a small underground chamber +dug out like a cellar. The walls were shored up with split trees which +also did duty as cross beams. There was a rough, hand-made ladder at the +opening, and at one side a shelf on which was neatly folded--could they +believe their eyes--the suit of green velveteen. Old Jennie, who seemed +to be peering down into the cavity with her sightless blue eyes, shook +Bab's arm impatiently. + +"Get the firearms," she whispered. "They be on the shelf. I felt them +there last time." + +Sure enough, lying in the shadow at the far end of the shelf the girls +made out two pistols gleaming ominously in the dark. Without a word, Bab +bounded down the ladder, and seizing the pistols was up again almost as +quickly. + +"Ruth," she said, "have you forgotten our rifle practice in the +Berkshires?" + +"No," replied her friend. "All you have to do is to cock it and pull the +trigger, isn't it?" + +"That's right," answered Bab. "Take this one and come on. They are both +loaded, I see. Don't fire unless I tell you, and be careful where you +aim. You had better point up so as not to hit anybody. Jennie, wait for +us over here. I believe you have saved us all." + +So saying, Bab ran, followed by Ruth, to the scene of the battle. And it +was indeed a battle! Jimmie was lying insensible on the ground, while +his opponent had joined in the fight against Stephen, who was rapidly +losing strength. Alfred and his tramp were still rolling over and over, +locked in each other's arms. + +A few feet away from the fighters Bab fired her pistol in the air. The +explosion stopped the fight. So intent had the combatants been that they +had forgotten time and place. At the report of the pistol they came to +themselves almost with a jump. Everybody, except poor, unconscious +Jimmie, paused breathless, perspiration pouring from their faces. Alfred +had got the better of his opponent and his hands gripped the man's +throat. Bab, followed by Ruth, dashed up, and both girls pointed their +pistols at the two tramps who were engaging Stephen. + +"Shall we shoot them, Stephen?" asked Bab as calmly as if nothing had +happened. + +"Throw up your hands," cried Stephen to the tramps; which they proceeded +to do in prompt order. "Now, give me your pistol, Ruth; give yours to +Alfred, Bab." + +In the meantime, Alfred had risen, hardly recognizable in a coating of +dust and blood, ordering his man to lie quiet or be killed. + +"Suppose we herd them together, Stephen," he suggested, "and drive them +up to the hall like the cattle they are?" + +"Just what I was thinking," replied Stephen, "only what about Jimmie?" + +"The girls will see to him," answered Alfred. + +"No, no," retorted Stephen. "We can't leave the girls here alone with +him in that condition, not after this. There may be more tramps lurking +around, for all we know." + +Just then an exclamation from Ruth, who was kneeling beside the +prostrate Jimmie, caused the two boys to turn their heads involuntarily, +and in that moment, the two men who were standing with their arms up at +the point of Stephen's pistol, ran for the underbrush, Stephen shot and +missed his aim. He shot again and hit the small fellow in the leg, +having aimed low; not wishing to kill even in self-defense. But the +tramps had plunged into the woods, and were out of sight in an instant. + +"Better not go after them, Stephen," called Alfred. "We've got one here +and we may catch the others later. I wish we had a rope to tie this +fellow's hands with." + +"Try this," suggested Ruth, and she calmly tore the muslin ruffle off +her petticoat and handed the strip to Alfred, who bound the man's hands +behind his back and ordered him to sit still until he was wanted. + +Meanwhile, the two girls had turned their attention to Jimmie, who +showed no signs of returning consciousness, but lay battered and +bleeding, a sad sight in comparison to the joyous Jimmie of half an hour +before. Blind Jennie had come from her hiding place behind a tree, and +was kneeling beside the wounded boy. Feeling the abrasions on his face +with her sensitive fingers, she shuddered. + +"He should have water," she whispered. "There is a brook not far from +here. I will show you," and she turned her sightless eyes in the +direction of Stephen, who was guarding the remaining tramp. + +"Ruth, you and Alfred take our three hats and go with Jennie for the +water. Alfred, take the pistol with you in case of another attack. Bab, +you stay and look after Jimmie, please." + +Ruth and Alfred followed after old Jennie, while Bab, kneeling beside +Jimmie, began chafing his wrists. Not a sound broke the stillness. +Stephen, on a log, had his pistol cocked and pointed straight at the +tramp who was huddled in a heap on the ground, gazing sullenly into the +barrel of the pistol. Bab had not looked around for some time, so intent +was she on her efforts to bring some life back into poor Jimmie. But +feeling a sudden, unaccountable loneliness, she called: + +"Stephen, aren't you curious to know where we found the pistols?" + +There was no answer, and, looking over her shoulder, Bab was horrified +to see Stephen lying prone on the ground in a dead faint, the pistol +still grasped tightly in his hand, while the tramp had evidently lost no +time in joining his pals. + +Leaving Jimmie, Bab rushed to Stephen. First releasing the pistol from +his hand, she laid it on a stump. Then she began rubbing his wrists and +temples. + +"Poor old Stephen!" she murmured. "You were hurt all the time and never +said a word." + +Slowly he opened his eyes and looked at Bab in a sort of shamefaced way. + +"I suppose the tramp got away?" he asked. + +"Who cares," replied his friend, "if you aren't hurt?" + +"Oh, I'm not," he answered. "I was only winded. That big fellow gave me +a blow, just as you shot the pistol off, that nearly did for me. But I +thought I could keep up until the others came back. I knew I couldn't go +for the water. How did you get the pistols?" + +By the time Bab had finished her story the others had come up with the +water. + +"It's just as well the tramp has gone," said Alfred, when he had heard +what had happened. "I don't believe we could have managed him and +Jimmie, too." + +They bathed Jimmie's face and wrists with the cold spring water, and it +was a battered and disconsolate young man who finally opened his one +good eye on the company. + +"I think," said Stephen, "we had better put these pistols back where +they were. If they are gone, the robber will take alarm and we'll never +catch him. I don't think we'll be attacked by those tramps any more +to-day. They'll never imagine we have left the pistols." + +The others agreed, and the pistols were left on the shelf by Bab, who +remembered exactly where they had been when she found them. All the +others, even Jimmie, peered curiously down into the underground room. + +"I don't think it's been very long dug," observed Alfred. "There is so +much fresh earth around the door. The fellow carted most of it away, I +suppose, and put leaves and sticks over what was left. But there is +plenty of evidence of fresh earth, just the same." + +"So there is," replied Stephen. "Jennie, you did a good day's work when +you found that hole in the ground. You may have saved our lives, for all +we can tell." + +But the old woman only muttered, as she punched the leaves with her +staff. The somewhat dilapidated picnic party resumed its homeward +journey, Jimmie supported by his two friends and stopping often to rest, +while the two girls followed, keeping a sharp lookout on both sides. Old +Jennie brought up the rear. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII--ZERLINA + + +When they reached Ten Eyck Hall, it was with relief that the young +people learned that the others had gone motoring for the afternoon, and +would probably not be back until dinner time. Stephen put Jimmie under +the care of the housekeeper, who bound up his wounds in absorbent cotton +saturated with witch hazel. The girls disappeared into their own room, +but not before Bab had cautioned Stephen to bring them word about José. + +The information came in the form of a few scribbled lines on the tea +tray. + +"John tells me," the note ran, "that José was off on his motor cycle +until lunch time. S." + +The two girls read the note excitedly. + +"Bab, dear," cried Ruth, "I simply can't believe it of that nice boy, +can you?" + +"I don't want to believe it," replied Bab, "even though appearances are +against him." + +"But who could the joker in the woods have been, if not José?" continued +Ruth. "And, come to think of it, he might have been the highwayman, too. +It would not have been difficult for him to have found out at the hotel +where we were going. I am afraid he is in an awful mess, yet, in spite +of everything, there is something about him that disarms suspicion." + +Ruth was a loyal friend to people she liked. She believed that her +chosen circle consisted of a superior class of beings, and she was as +blind to their faults as a mother to those of her favorite child. There +was a tap on the door, and the maid informed them that Zerlina, the +Gypsy girl, wished to speak to them. + +"Send her up," said Ruth, and presently Zerlina was ushered into the +room. + +There was a scared look in her eyes as they wandered hastily around the +charming apartment and finally rested on the two girls who were +stretched on the bed in muslin kimonos. + +"How do you do, Zerlina?" said Ruth. "Excuse our not getting up. We are +just dead tired. Won't you have a cup of tea?" + +"Thank you," replied the Gypsy stiffly, "I do not care for tea. I +came----" she paused. "I thought----" she hesitated again. + +"Well, Zerlina, what did you think?" asked Ruth. + +Bab was looking at the girl curiously. + +"I came because you asked me," she said finally. + +"So we did," replied Ruth, "and we are delighted to see you. Did your +grandmother come with you?" + +"No," answered Zerlina and paused again. + +"Perhaps you had some special reason for coming, Zerlina," hinted Bab. +"Was it to ask us a question?" + +The girl's face took on the same stubborn expression it had worn when +Bab had asked her to show the knife used in the dance. + +"I came because you asked me," she repeated, in the same sing-song tone. + +Again there was a tap at the door and Bridget appeared, bringing a note +for Bab. + +"Another note from Stephen," observed Bab, reading it carefully and +handing it to Ruth. The note said: + +"If you and Ruth don't mind, kindly keep the fight, if possible, a +secret from everybody for a day or two. It would be necessary to explain +about the pistols, and if José is the man who owns them, telling would +give everything away. I shall tell uncle, of course. People will think +that Jimmie fell out of a tree or down into a hollow. Keep as quiet as +possible about the particulars of our adventure. S." + +"I'm sorry," exclaimed Ruth; "it would have been such fun to tell it +all." + +"The telling is only a pleasure deferred for a while," said her friend. + +In the meantime, the Gypsy girl had lost nothing of the conversation +except the contents of the note, which Bab had rolled into a little ball +and thrown into a waste paper basket. + +"Will the ladies not show me some of their beautiful dresses?" asked +Zerlina presently. + +"We haven't much to show," replied Ruth, "but we'll be glad to show what +we have." She pulled herself lazily from the bed and opened the door of +a wardrobe at one side of the room. + +"Ruth, you show her your fine things," called Bab. "I haven't a rag +worth seeing. Get out your pink lingerie and your leghorn with the +shaded roses. They would please her eye." + +"Why don't you show her your organdie, Bab?" asked Ruth. "It's just as +pretty as my pink, any day." + +"Oh, very well," returned Bab, opening her side of the massive clothes +press and spreading the dress on the bed before the admiring eyes of +Zerlina. "'A poor thing, but mine own,'" she said. "I certainly never +thought to be displaying my rich wardrobe to anyone. It's entirely a new +sensation." + +In the meantime Ruth had piled her own gauzy finery on the bed beside +Bab's, and Zerlina feasted her gaze on the pink lace-trimmed princess +dresses and the flower bedecked hats. + +"Some day you must have pretty dresses, too, Zerlina," said Ruth from +the depths of the wardrobe, as she replaced the things; "some day when +you are a great singer." + +There was no reply, and Bab, who was busy folding her dress, looked +quickly around. Zerlina's arm was in the scrap basket. She had looked up +as Ruth spoke, and catching Bab's eye, dropped the crumpled note she had +just seized. An angry blush overspread her face and she bit her lip in +embarrassment. + +"I must be going," she said. "It is late." + +Bab did not answer. She was thinking deeply. Here was positive proof +that Zerlina and José were working together in some way. + +"Wait a minute, Zerlina," called Ruth, kindly. "Won't you accept this +red velvet bow? It would look pretty in your black hair." + +"Thank you," exclaimed the girl, her eyes filling with tears. "You are +very good to me." Her lip trembled as if she were about to burst into +tears, but she conquered them with an effort and started to the door. +"Good-bye," she said, looking at Bab so reproachfully that the latter's +heart was melted to pity. + +At dinner that night there was much concern expressed for poor Jimmie +who, with his face swathed in bandages, was sound asleep in his own +room. Stephen had been closeted with his uncle for half an hour before +the gong sounded, and the major's usually placid face was haunted by an +expression of deep worry. + +"Do tell us about the hermit, Stephen," cried Grace, and that being a +safe subject the four adventurers plunged into a description of the +strange old man and the miniature that so resembled Bab. + +"Do you remember when he came, Major?" asked Miss Stuart. + +"Only vaguely," replied the major, "I was quite a little chap then, +eight or ten, I think I was, and we were living in France at the time. +He had become a fixture when we came back, but he always shunned +advances from my family. Undoubtedly he was a fugitive from somewhere. +However, this is not such an out-of-the-way place but that he could have +been found if they had looked for him very hard. I have not seen him for +many years. How does he look?" + +"Like an exiled prince," answered Ruth. "He is a very noble looking old +man." + +"José, did you play croquet with the girls this morning?" asked Stephen. + +"Wasn't he mean?" interrupted Mollie. "No sooner had you gone than he +was off on his motor cycle." + +The young Spaniard's face had flushed scarlet at the question, but he +smiled at Mollie's teasing reply and looked Stephen squarely in the eye. + +"It must have been rather hot work motoring this morning, wasn't it, +José?" went on Stephen. + +"I went only to the forest," answered José. + +The four friends stirred uneasily, and the major looked down at his +plate. It hurt him deeply to see José put on the rack in this way. + +"How far did you go into the woods, José? It's curious we didn't meet +you." + +"Only to the haunted pool," replied José. + +"You were not far off, then," said Stephen. "Did you hear us yodeling?" + +"No," answered José; "er--that is, yes. I did hear something like that, +but I was not there long." His face was still flushed and he looked as +if he would like to run away from his inquisitors; but the soft-hearted +major could endure the painful situation no longer and he changed the +conversation to another topic. + +"Why don't you young people ever dance?" he asked. "I had planned to see +young couples whirling around the red drawing room. It would be a pretty +sight, Sallie. Would it not?" + +"I have a plan," broke in Mollie, "but I can't tell it now. It's to be a +surprise for Miss Sallie and the major." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "Are we to feel honored or slighted, +Major?" + +"Oh, not slighted," protested Mollie. "It is something that will amuse +you." + +"What is it?" asked a voice from the doorway. "I am palpitating to +know." + +Everybody looked up in surprise at the apparition of Jimmie regarding +the company gravely with his one good eye. His other eye was swathed in +a bandage, and his nose was swollen and red. There was a joyous peal of +laughter from the assembled party. + +"Why, Jimmie," cried Martin, "you look like an exhausted Dutchman." + +"Don't throw stones, my son," replied Jimmie. "You're a Dutchman +yourself, remember." + +"Come in and have some dinner, Jimmie," coaxed the major. + +"I've dined, thank you, sir. My kind nurse saw to that, and I feel +considerably better." + +"How did you happen to black your eye, you poor boy?" asked Mollie. + +Stephen cleared his throat audibly. Why on earth had he not cautioned +Mollie not to ask Jimmie any questions? But Ruth came to the rescue and +he breathed a sigh of relief. + +"You mustn't ask Jimmie embarrassing questions, Mollie. A black eye and +a red nose are enough to bear for the present." + +The major relieved the situation by saying: + +"Now, Mistress Mollie, we are ready to be surprised." + +"Come on," said Stephen, taking Jimmie by the arm, and as they stood +aside, he whispered into his ear: "Keep it dark about the tramps. Uncle +will explain." + +"The surprise is this," explained Mollie, detaining the young people in +the hall. "Why not give our masquerade to-night?" + +"This is as good a time as any other," agreed Martin. + +"Oh, you children!" exclaimed Stephen. + +"Don't be a wet blanket, Stephen," said Martin. + +"Oh, I simply thought perhaps the girls might be tired or something," +replied Stephen. "We'll all dress up if you like." + +"What fun!" cried Mollie. "José, you're to be a pirate, remember." + +"I think José would make a good highwayman," observed Bab, "with a knife +in his belt and a slouch hat on." She had no sooner spoken than she +repented her words. + +"Perhaps I would, Mademoiselle," he replied gently, with a deep sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII--THE MASQUERADE + + +The picture they made as they filed down the oak staircase two by two +and all attired in their antique costumes was one long remembered by the +servants of Ten Eyck Hall, who had gathered below to see the +masqueraders. Miss Stuart and the major, standing together at the door +of the red drawing room, were amazed and delighted. + +"Is this a company of ghosts," cried the major, "ghosts of my dear +departed ancestors returned to the halls of their youth?" + +"Look at the dears!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "How pretty they are in +their ancient finery! Ruth, my child, you are the very image of the +portrait of your great-grandmother at home. And here is Bab, who might +have stepped out of an old miniature." + +"So she has," replied Ruth. "In that pink dress she is a perfect +likeness of the miniature the hermit had." + +"José," said the major kindly, for he could not insult a guest by +believing evil of him until it had been actually proved, "you do not +belong to this company of belles and beaux. You look more like a Spanish +gallant of an earlier day, in that velvet coat and cavalier hat. As for +you two slips of girls," he continued, smiling at Mollie and Grace, "you +might be my two colonial great-aunts stepped down from their frames. But +come along, now. We must have a little fun, after all this trouble you +have taken to amuse us. Strike up, my poor bruised Jimmie, and we'll +have a dance." + +Jimmie had volunteered to furnish the music. His face, in its present +state, needed no further disguise, he said. The furniture was moved +back, the rugs rolled up, and in a few minutes the dancers were whirling +in a waltz. There was a change of partners at the second dance, and Bab +found herself dancing with José. He was not familiar with the American +two-step, so, after a few rounds, they stepped out upon the piazza for a +breath of the cool evening air. + +"Aren't you afraid to stay out here, José, after your experience of the +other night?" Bab asked. + +"Are you afraid, Barbara?" he replied. + +"Why should I be?" she answered. "It was evidently you the assassin was +after." + +He winced at the word "assassin," and did not reply. The two stood +gazing silently out onto the stretch of lawn in front of the house. +Presently José sighed deeply. + +"I am afraid you are unhappy," said Bab sympathetically. + +"Madamoiselle Barbara," he replied, "I am in great trouble. I tell you +because you have already been more observing than the others, and +because I see you keep your counsel." + +"Why don't you ask Major Ten Eyck's advice, José?" asked Barbara, "he is +so kind and gentle. I know he would love to help you." + +"In this case," replied the Spaniard, with a frightened look in his +eyes, "he might not be so kind. I am afraid to tell him. To-night I +shall decide what to do. It may be that it would be better to go away. I +cannot tell, now." + +"Tell me, José, have your troubles any connection with the Gypsies?" + +"Yes," he assented. + +A shadowy figure moved up the lawn and approached the house. José +stirred uneasily. + +"Who is that?" he whispered. "Don't you think you had better go in?" + +"No," replied Barbara. "I am not afraid, if you are not." + +It was Zerlina, and, seeing the two people on the porch, she paused +irresolutely. + +"What is it, Zerlina?" called Barbara. "Do you want to see anyone?" + +"My grandmother is over there," replied the girl, pointing to the +shrubbery. "She has come to tell fortunes, if it pleases the ladies." + +Zerlina did not look at Bab, as she spoke. She was looking at José, long +and curiously. And he returned the gaze with interest. + +"You have not seen Mr. Martinez, Zerlina?" asked Bab, recalling how he +had stolen away in the woods when the Gypsy danced for them. + +Zerlina bowed coldly, and José took off his cavalier hat; but neither +said a word, and Bab felt somewhat embarrassed at the silence. + +"Wait a moment, Zerlina, and I will ask the major about the fortunes," +she said, stepping through the French window. Just as she parted the +curtain, she turned to say something to José, and saw Zerlina quickly +hand him a note. Bab's face flushed angrily. + +"This business ought to be stopped," she said to herself. "We'll all be +slain in our beds some fine night. Why can't José be frank? The entire +band of Gypsies might be a lot of robbers, for all we know." + +The revelers inside were all interested to know that Granny Ann had come +at last to tell fortunes, and Zerlina was dispatched at once to bring +her grandmother back. When the old woman passed through the room on her +way to the library, where the fortunes were to be told, she took a rapid +survey of everybody there. She examined the girls and boys in their +masquerade costumes, looked curiously at Jimmie's bandaged countenance, +and finally her eyes rested on José leaning on a balcony rail outside. + +While the fortunes were being told, there was a concert in the drawing +room. Grace sang in her high, sweet soprano voice, followed by another +of Zerlina's Gypsy songs. Then José was induced to sing a beautiful +Spanish love song, and finally Jimmie gave a comic version of "The Old +Homestead" in which he himself acted every part. + +After the fortunes were told Granny Ann sent word that there was one +person she had not seen, and go she would not until she had seen him. + +"Who has not yet been in?" demanded the major. + +There was no reply. + +"José, you have not seen her, have you?" asked Mollie. + +"No," replied José; "I do not wish to go." + +Word was sent in to Granny Ann, who sent a message back that she +insisted on seeing the young man. + +"Oh, go ahead, José," urged Stephen. "It's only for a few minutes, and +we want to have another dance before bedtime." + +José bowed and disappeared from the room. Soon after Mollie touched Bab +on the arm. + +"Bab," she whispered, "come out on the porch. I have something to tell +you." + +The two girls stole out onto the moonlit piazza, while Mollie continued +in a low voice: "I know I should not have done it, but I followed José +into the library, by the dining-room door, and hid behind a curtain. I +was curious to see what Granny Ann would do. He had hardly got into the +room before she commenced talking in a loud voice. She spoke in a +foreign language, but she seemed terribly angry, and shook her fist in +his face. He was quite gentle with her, and just stood there, pale and +quiet. I felt so sorry for him. Once I thought she would strike him, but +he never flinched or dodged. What do you suppose it means, Bab, dear?" + +"I don't know, Mollie," replied Barbara, "There is some mystery about +José. Something happened to-day that put him in a very unfortunate +light, but I'd rather not tell you until to-morrow. Don't dance with him +any more to-night, but be kind to him, little sister," Bab added, "for I +do feel sorry for him." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX--A RECOGNITION + + +The masqueraders had separated for the night; Bab, however, had asked to +speak with the major before he went to his room. For half an hour she +was closeted with him in his library. The time had arrived to tell him +everything she knew about José. + +The major had listened to her attentively. He had felt reluctance to +believe anything against a guest, just on a mere chance resemblance, but +certainly the circle was closing in around José. + +"Do you think we had better do anything about it to-night?" he asked the +girl, almost childishly. He felt obliged to ask advice in this very +difficult situation, and who could give any better counsel than this +fine, young woman, who had been able to keep a secret, and who was so +wholesome and sweet with all her reserve? + +"I don't see what you could do, Major, in case he admitted he was +guilty. You couldn't arrest him very well to-night, unless you wanted to +bind his arms and feet and take him to the nearest town. I don't believe +he has any idea of running away, because he doesn't know we suspect him. +At least he only vaguely knows it." + +"And, after all," said the kindly old major, "it's a pity to rout him +out of his comfortable bed to-night. We will give the poor fellow +another good night's rest, and take one ourselves, too. Shall we not, +little woman?" + +"Yes, indeed, Major," agreed Barbara, looking into his kindly, troubled +eyes with respect and admiration. "And who knows? Maybe, in the morning, +he can explain everything." + +"Indeed, my dear, I hope so," he replied, opening the door for her and +bowing good-night as if she had been Miss Sallie herself. + +As Barbara started up the long staircase she felt lonely. The hall below +looked vast and dark. Only a dim light was burning and every door was +closed. Emerging from the shadows around the staircase she might have +been a ghost of one of the early Ten Eycks in her old-fashioned +peach-colored silk, with its full trailing skirt and pointed bodice. She +hurried a little and wished she had got over the long space of hall +which lay between her and her room; but she had scarcely taken a dozen +steps before the door behind her opened. She stopped and looked back, +thinking perhaps it was one of the servants waiting to put out the +lights. + +Standing in the doorway was a very old man. He carried a candle in one +hand, and was peering at her in the darkness with that same expression +of wonder and surprise on his face that she had remembered to have seen +before, for this was their third encounter, once in the woods, once in +the library, and now. + +"Barbara! Barbara Thurston!" he called in a quavering voice. "I have +been waiting for you so long, so many years. I am old now and you are +still young." He stretched out his arms and came toward her. + +Bab flew and almost ran into José, who opened his door at that moment. +When they recovered themselves the old man was gone. + +"Which way did he go?" asked José. + +Bab pointed to the door without speaking, and, still trembling from +fright, burst into her own room, where a strange scene was taking place. +Three high-backed chairs were arranged in a row. Ruth in a dressing gown +was crouching behind them, while Mollie and Grace sat hand in hand on +the bed, giving little gasps of excitement and horror. + +"This is the clump of bushes," Ruth was saying, "and the three fights +took place here and here, and here," she went on, marking the spots with +her toe. "Stephen and his man, who was none other than the giant tramp, +fought straight out from the shoulder like this," and she hit the air +furiously with her doubled fists. "Then came Alfred and his friend. They +didn't hit. They gripped and rolled over and over in the dust. And last +of all, poor Jimmie, who, in five minutes, lay like a warrior taking his +rest." + +"Why, Ruth Stuart," interrupted Bab, "I thought we were not to tell." + +"Sh-h! Don't make so much noise, Bab. Aunt Sallie thinks we were safe in +bed long ago. I'm not betraying confidence. Stephen told me I could tell +Mollie and Grace if he could tell Martin. But, Bab, dear, what is the +matter? Have you seen a ghost?" + +"Yes," replied Bab, "or rather the next thing to one. Really, girls, I'm +getting more than my fair share this time. Ruth was in the fight, of +course, but none of you have seen the old man who haunts the place, and +I have seen him three times. He seems to be a perfectly harmless old +man, but it does give one a start to meet him at midnight in a dark +hall." + +"Why, Barbara, are you dreaming? What does it mean?" cried Mollie, +seizing her sister's hand and pulling her over on the bed beside them. +"Why haven't you told us before?" she added with a sisterly reproach. +"It's no fair keeping secrets all the time." + +"I am tired of secrets, too," said Bab, "I started with major and I'll +just finish the thing before I lay me down this night to rest." + +When Bab had concluded her ghostly tale the girls were really +frightened. They tried the doors, opened all the closets and wardrobes +and peered under the beds of both rooms. + +"No one could climb up to these windows," exclaimed Mollie. "But suppose +there should be a secret door into one of these rooms?" + +"What a horrible idea, Mollie Thurston!" exclaimed Ruth. + +There was a sharp tap on the door. The four girls jumped as if they had +been shot, and rushed together like frightened chickens. + +"Girls," said Miss Sallie's voice, "go to bed this instant!" + +"Right away, Aunt Sallie, dear," answered her niece. When they were +comfortably tucked in for the night, Ruth said to Bab: + +"How do you suppose he knew your name?" + +"I don't know," replied her friend, "unless I had a twin ancestor." + +At eleven o'clock the next morning the major's guests assembled for a +late breakfast. The boys were stiff from their encounters with the +tramps, and Jimmie, especially, was an object of pity. The major looked +serious. He had a disagreeable duty to perform, and he wished to avoid +it as long as possible. Miss Sallie, alone, was animated and talkative. +She had been entrusted with no confidences, and she felt the burden of +no secrets. Neither did she guess that something was impending that was +bound to surprise and horrify her. + +José had not made his appearance and the major was relieved. The hour of +reckoning was at hand, and he wished it over and done with. His old +friend's son! Was it possible that a child of José Martinez could have +so far forgotten the laws of hospitality as to rob and intrigue, and +play tricks on his fellow guests? + +"What a quiet, dull lot of people you are," exclaimed Miss Sallie, who +at last began to notice the gloom that had settled on the party. "What +is the matter?" + +"I think it must be the weather, Miss Stuart," replied Stephen, coming +to the rescue of the others. "It's a very oppressively warm day, and the +air is so dry it makes me thirsty." + +"It's the sort of weather, I imagine, they must have in plague-stricken +southern countries," observed Ruth, "where there's no water," she +continued drawing the picture which held her imagination, "and people +are dropping around with cholera or the bubonic plague." + +"Cheerful!" exclaimed Jimmie. + +"I wonder where José is this morning," said Stephen, voicing the thought +of everybody in the room except the unconscious Miss Sallie. + +"Suppose you run up and see," suggested the major. "Tell him, Steenie," +he added, patting his nephew affectionately on the shoulder, "that I +wish to see him in the morning room when he finishes his breakfast. And, +Stephen, my boy, don't be rough with him. Remember what an ordeal we'll +have to put him through later. Good heavens!" he groaned, "such a lovely +boy! If it only had not happened in my house!" + +"Perhaps he can explain, in spite of everything," replied Stephen. + +Presently he returned to the library. + +"José is not in his room. He didn't sleep there last night. His bed is +made up and there's not a wrinkle on it." + +"Why, where can he be?" cried the major. "He couldn't have run away, +could he?" + +"Perhaps he is taking a morning walk," suggested Martin. + +"Did he take anything with him!" asked Jimmie. "I mean are his things in +his room?" + +"I didn't notice," replied Stephen. "We'd better ask some of the +servants, first, if they have seen him this morning, and then go back +and have a look for ourselves." + +But the servants could give no information. On examining José's room +they found everything just as he had left it. He had taken nothing in +his flight, not even a comb and brush. + +"Even his pearl shirt studs are here," said Jimmie. + +"How about his leather motor clothes?" asked Stephen. + +"Here they are," replied his friend. + +"How about his motor cycle?" asked the major with a sudden thought. + +They ran down stairs and through the open door, followed by "The +Automobile Girls," who were filled with excitement. At the garage the +chauffeur was busy cleaning the motor cars. + +"Is Mr. Martinez's motor cycle here, Josef?" demanded the major. + +"Yes, sir," answered the chauffeur looking up from his work, surprised +at the visit of so many people at once. + +"Have you see him this morning?" + +"No, sir." + +"Strange," said the major. "I can't understand it. He must simply have +slipped out of the house and gone for a long walk." + +"Uncle," said Stephen, "suppose we wait until after lunch." + +"Wait for what, my boy?" + +"Why, for José, I mean. And then, if he doesn't turn up, we had better +search for him." + +The party sat about listlessly until lunch time. It was too hot to talk +and the oppressiveness of the atmosphere gave them an uneasy feeling. +José had not taken even a hat, so Stephen said, and it turned out that +only the day before the Spaniard had entrusted the major with a large +sum of money to be locked in the family strong box until his visit was +over. + +"Stephen," exclaimed the major, finally, as the afternoon began to wane, +"I can't stand this any longer. The boy may have wandered into the woods +and been attacked by some of those tramp ruffians. Order the horses. +We'll ride to the Gypsy camp and take the road to town. Tell the girls +to explain the situation to Miss Sallie while we are gone." + + + + +CHAPTER XX--THE FIRE BRIGADE + + +Ruth and Barbara related to Miss Sallie their adventures of the day +before. She went through a dozen stages of emotion, and fairly wrung her +hands over the tramps. The part about José she could not believe. + +"That nice boy!" she exclaimed. "It is impossible." Then she grew +indignant. "What does John Ten Eyck mean by bringing us into this +lawless country, I should like to know?" + +"But, auntie, the major declares it was never like this before. The +woods have always been perfectly safe. When Stephen and Martin were +little boys they used to play in them with only Old Jennie to look after +them." + +"Ruth," cried Miss Sallie, "the major is one of the nicest men in the +world, but he always would overlook disagreeable things. He runs away +from anything that hurts. He may have overlooked the tramps and robbers, +just as he has been blind to ugliness whenever he could." + +"He's a dear," said Mollie. + +"Dear or no dear," cried Miss Sallie, "this time we really must go. Tell +the chauffeur to fix up the machine, Ruth, my child, for to-morrow we +shall leave this barbarous place." + +"All right, auntie," replied her niece, relieved that they were not to +go immediately, since they all wanted to see the episode of José +through. + +Time passed, but the four horsemen did not return. The girls were +sitting with Miss Sallie at the shady end of the piazza, watching the +sun sink behind the forest. There was a smell of burning in the air that +the sensitive nostrils of the chaperon had sniffed immediately. + +"The wind must be blowing from the mountains to-day," she observed. "I +smell burning as plainly as if it were at our gates." + +"But, Miss Sallie," said Grace, "remember that it smelt like this in New +York last week." + +"My dear," replied Miss Sallie, "I am perfectly familiar with the smell +of burning forests, I have smelt them so often in imagination. Why, see, +the air is filled with fine ashes," she exclaimed, shaking out her +lavender skirts with disgust. She had hardly spoken before a tall figure +was seen hurrying across the lawn. + +"It's blind Jennie," cried Ruth. "Perhaps she can give us news of the +major or José." + +As old Jennie approached they could see she was fearfully excited. Her +face was working and several times she waved her stick wildly in the +air. Just then a strange thing happened. Half a dozen terrified deer +appeared from the direction of the forest, dashed madly across the lawn +and disappeared in a grove on the other side. Squirrels and rabbits +followed by the dozens, while distracted birds flew in groups and +circled around and around the tops of the trees. + +"What has happened, Jennie?" cried Ruth, shaking the blind woman by the +arm. + +Jennie seemed to scan the company with her sightless eyes, sniffing the +air wildly. + +"The woods are burning," she said. "The flames are coming nearer. They +are slow, but they are sure. Everything is so dry. You must hurry, if +you would save the house!" + +"Save the house?" repeated Miss Stuart mechanically. "Do you mean to say +there is danger of this house being burned down? Is the fire coming this +way? Great heavens! Order the car at once, children. We must leave at +any cost. This is the last straw!" + +"But, Aunt Sallie," urged Ruth, laying a detaining hand on her aunt's +arm, "you wouldn't have us desert the major's house, would you, and +leave all these beautiful things to burn? Besides, we may be running +away from the major and the boys. How do we know but that they are in +the woods? They may need our help." + +"My child, we are not a fire department," exclaimed Miss Sallie, "and if +we are to save this beautiful house, how do you propose to do it?" + +"If worse comes to worst," cried Bab, "we can form a bucket brigade +here, and keep the fire from getting to the house." + +"What about water?" demanded Miss Sallie. + +"Don't you remember the major said he had a well of water reserved for +fires?" said Ruth. + +"It may not be necessary to use the water," Bab continued. "The first +thing to do is to cut off the forest fire by having a trench dug on that +side of the house. Everybody will have to get to work. Come on! We must +not lose time." + +Miss Sallie ran into the hall and rang a bell violently. John, the +butler, came at once. + +"John," she cried, speaking very rapidly, "the forest is on fire. Get +every available person on the place as fast as you can, with shovels and +hoes and help the young ladies dig a trench to protect the major's +house." + +John looked dazed, sniffed the air and ran without a word. Presently a +bell thundered out in the stillness. It had not been rung for many +years, but the employees on the place knew what it meant, and came +running from their cottages, and the work of digging a trench beyond Ten +Eyck Hall was begun. Each moment the air was growing more dense and a +darkness was settling down which was lit up, toward the west, by a lurid +glow. The heat was intense and fine ashes filled the toilers' throats +and nostrils. Birds, blinded by the smoke dashed past, almost hitting +the workers' faces. People came running from the burning forest, the old +Gypsy woman and her granddaughter and other women from the Gypsy band. +The men were bringing the wagons around by the road; old Adam and his +wife, driving their wood cart and frantically beating the worn-out +horse; and finally, the hermit, with his white locks flying. Ten Eyck +Hall would seem to have been the refuge of all these terrified dwellers +in the forest. They regarded it with pride and love. Even the Gypsies +had sought its protection, and the gray, rambling old place appeared to +stretch out its arms to them. Blind Jennie strode up and down the lawn, +wildly waving her stick, while old Adam called to Miss Sallie: + +"Where is the master? Where are the young masters?" + +And where were the old master and the young ones? If ever they were +needed, it was now! + +In the meantime, the girls, leaving Miss Sallie to direct the digging of +the trench, had run to the house. + +"I think, Ruth," called Bab, "we had better collect all the buckets and +pails we can find." + +"Yes," replied Ruth, "and the hose should be attached to the reserve +well. John is attending to that. Mollie and Grace, run and get whatever +blankets there are in the bed rooms, and close the windows all over the +house." + +While John was attaching the hose to the faucet of the reserve well, +Ruth and Bab invaded the enormous kitchen of the hall. The servants had +fled. Only Mary and John could be depended upon. The pumping engine had +been started and the tank was rapidly filling. + +"O Ruth," exclaimed Bab, "how careless of us to have forgotten the cars! +The garage is nearest to the forest and the automobiles should be run +out right off. We may need them if things get very bad." + +"Of course," replied Ruth. "Where is the chauffeur? Did you ever know +any of these people to be on hand when they were needed?" + +Dashing to the garage, they cranked up the two machines and ran them out +onto the lawn in an open space. José's motor cycle came next. + +"The fire has come," cried Grace and Mollie running up with their arms +full of blankets. They could hear the roaring, crackling sound as the +flames licked their way through the dry underbrush. + +"Where is Miss Sallie?" demanded Ruth. "She will faint in this terrible +atmosphere." + +"There she is," answered Grace; "she is overseeing the trench-digging. I +think she has ordered them to make it broader." + +Miss Sallie, her lavender skirts caught up over her arm, was standing +near the men, giving her orders as calmly as if she were in her own +drawing room. + +The line of forest about a quarter of a mile distant began to glow red. +The girls clutched each other. + +"There it is!" they cried. "And now to save the major's house!" + +Bab organized a bucket brigade with Mollie, Grace and the Gypsy women. +John was ordered to manipulate the hose, while Bab and Ruth carried wet +blankets over to the garage, the building nearest the line of fire. Then +a cry went up from the men who were digging the trench. The flames, +which had been steadily devouring the dried grass of the meadow dividing +the garden from the wood, had reached the trench. A sudden gust of wind +carried them over. Instantly a group of bushes caught fire; and, like an +angry animal seeking its prey, a long, forked tongue licked the ground +hungrily for a moment, paused at the gravel walk, followed its edge, +eating up the short, dry grass in its path, and made for the garage. All +this happened in much quicker time than it takes to tell it--too +quickly, in fact for any precaution. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI--FIGHTING THE FLAMES + + +Never had "The Automobile Girls" displayed greater courage than at this +critical moment. It was the time for quick action and quicker thought. +The men who were digging the trench could not leave their work. They saw +that, unless the trench were dug wider, it would be necessary to fight +the flames back, and they were digging like mad to keep the fire from +leaping the ditch again. + +It was Mollie who saved them from a terrible explosion by remembering +the house where the gasoline was stored just behind the garage, and John +and Adam rolled the tank to a distance temporarily safe at least. + +Bab had found a ladder somewhere. Placing it against the garage she had +scaled it like a monkey, carrying under one arm a wet blanket the weight +of which she was too excited to notice. She never quite knew how she +shinned up the roof, but presently she found herself astride the +pinnacle. Zerlina had followed close behind, with more blankets and +together the two girls spread them over the smoking shingles. When the +roof was covered, they let themselves down and began dashing water on +the smouldering walls. The bucket brigade was working well under the +direction of Ruth, and the garage was saved. + +Then a line of clipped bushes running from the garden to the forest, +suddenly burst into flames. A cry went up from the workers at this +terrifying spectacle. To the girls, it seemed like a gigantic boa +constrictor racing toward them, and, for a moment, they turned cold with +fear. + +"All hands must help here!" cried Bab, taking command, as she naturally +did in times of danger. "Zerlina, tell the men to come from the trench +with their shovels. Bring pails of water, all of you," she called to the +Gypsies, "and the rest of the wet blankets." + +There was a rush and a scramble. They tried to beat down the angry +little flames, dashed water on to them, choked them with wet blankets, +trampled on them, and finally fell back, stifled and blinded with smoke +and ashes, only to find the gasoline house a burning mass. It had gone +up like a tinder box in an instant, and was reduced to ruins. + +"If we have any more gusts of wind like that last, Bab, we are lost!" +cried Ruth, sobbing a little under her breath. "But, of course, if the +worst happens, we can always take the automobiles. They can run faster +than the flames." + +Back of the garage they could see another line of flames advancing like +a regiment of cavalry. + +"Great heavens!" cried Grace. "What shall we do now?" + +"Don't despair, yet," answered Bab. "Those dividing hedges are very dry, +but the flames don't spread from them so quickly; and, besides, I +believe the trench will stop them." + +"O Bab," exclaimed Ruth, "do you think there will ever be an end to +this? We are too tired to dig trenches, and the water is getting +alarmingly low." + +"But there are two more cisterns," replied the undaunted Bab. + +Just then the wind, which, up to this time, except for a few brief +gusts, had been merely a breeze, gathered new strength. Sparks began to +fly from the burning underbrush in the wood. It had been a ground fire, +owing to the long drought, and the trees still waved their green +branches over the ruins at their feet. + +Ruth seized Bab's hand convulsively. + +"Young ladies!" called a voice behind them. Turning, they confronted the +hermit. "I am a very old man, but, if you will permit me, I will make a +suggestion. Save what water is left for the roof, which should be +deluged as soon as possible. The trench will stop the fire, but it +cannot keep back the sparks and I see a wind has come up that is most +dangerous." + +"Oh, thank you," cried the two girls, seeing the wisdom of his +suggestion immediately. + +Miss Sallie, a tragic spectacle, came from around the house; her white +hair tumbling down her back, her face gray with ashes and her lavender +garments torn and wet. + +"Girls," she murmured, her voice trembling, from fatigue and excitement, +"we have done all we could do for the major. I think we had better give +it up and go while we can get away." + +"Let us have one more chance. Aunt Sallie, dearest," begged Ruth, "and +if that fails there will still be time to get away in the motor car." + +"What are you going to do now, child?" asked the poor woman +distractedly. + +"You go and sit down in one of the long chairs on the piazza and rest," +replied her niece, patting her hand tenderly, "and leave everything to +us." + +The girls could hear the throbbing of the pumping engine somewhere +below, as they dashed up the steps. John had connected all the cisterns +and the machinery was working in good order. The candles and lanterns +they carried hardly made an impression in the blackness of the great +empty garret, but an exclamation from John called attention to the fact +that the sliding partition was down. + +"I never knew it to happen before," he said, "except once when I was too +small to understand." + +"How are we going to manage?" asked Grace, looking overhead. + +"Through the scuttle to the roof," replied Barbara, pointing to a ladder +leading to a trapdoor. + +John climbed up first, opening the scuttle, and everybody lent a hand in +lifting out the hose he had brought along. Barbara and Zerlina followed +to the roof, which was steep and much broken by pinnacles and turrets; +yet in contrast with the attic it was quite light outside, and the girls +could see perfectly where to step without slipping. + +Only two people were needed, it was decided. Bab would not hear of +Ruth's coming, on account of the latter's horror of high places. It was +certain that Mollie and Grace were not agile enough for the experiment, +and Bab and Zerlina had already proved what they could do when they +scaled the garage roof. + +The three girls left behind climbed onto a balcony just outside one of +the attic windows and watched, with tremulous interest, what was +happening on the roof. + +Thus Zerlina and Barbara, with old John, were left alone on top of Ten +Eyck Hall. They had a wonderful view of the smoking forest, the tops of +whose trees were waving in the steadily rising wind. The trench had, +indeed, stopped the course of the flames which had run along the meadow +hedges, and there were no more lines of fire to be seen; but there was a +bright glow toward the back and a sound of crackling wood. Then came a +burst of flames and the onlooker saw that the stable was burning. A +spark lit on Bab's wrist; another touched her on the cheek, and +presently a gust of wind brought dozens of them twinkling like shooting +stars at night. They fell on the shingled roof, smouldered for a moment +and went out. Others followed. It could be only a matter of a little +while, thought Bab, before the hall would be in flames if they were not +prompt with the water. + +"It's all right, Miss," called John's voice from behind the tank on the +part of the roof over the attic. There was a gurgling noise and a swift +jet of water burst from the nozzle of the hose. + +With Zerlina's assistance, Bab began watering the roof. But the tallest +peak was beyond reach of the hose. There the sparks were smouldering +into life and Bab distinctly saw a a little puff of flame lick out and +then go back again like a cunning animal biding its time. + +Bab ran over to the tank. + +"John," she called, "get a ladder and a pail." + +Together they unhooked the ladder attached to the tank and dragged it +over to the high center peak of the roof. There was a pail, also, which +they filled with water. While the old man held the ladder Bab climbed +up, taking the pail from Zerlina. Several times the brave girl dashed +water over the smoking shingles until every spark was dead. Then, +standing on one foot, on the top rung of the ladder, Bab braced herself +with a lightning rod running up the side of the turret, and leaned over +to see if all were well on its other section. Below her she could see +the girls on the balcony peering up at her with frightened eyes. Lifting +herself entirely off the ladder, for an instant, Bab glanced around the +turret. In slipping back, her foot missed the rung. The shock made her +lose her grip on the lightning rod, and like a flash she slid down the +steepest part of the roof now slippery from its recent wetting. There +was nothing to hold to, nothing to cling to, and she closed her eyes +from the horror that was before her. + +[Illustration: Like a Flash She Slid Down the Steepest Part of the +Roof.] + +It is said that a great many things pass through one's mind at such +brief, tense moments as these, when death is almost certain. + +The thought that came to Bab's mind, however, was her mother's prayer, +"Heaven make me calm in the face of danger." + +There was, of course, a shudder of horror, a wild, ineffectual effort to +save herself--a shock. + +When she opened her eyes, three pairs of arms encircled her, and three +sobbing faces hovered over her. She had landed upon the roof of the +balcony where the girls were waiting. Except for a bruised arm, she had +met with no harm. + +"Why, girlies," she said, smiling a little weakly, "were you so +frightened?" and then closed her eyes again. + +Zerlina and John came tumbling down the ladder. The Gypsy girl was as +white as a sheet and old John was openly sobbing. + +"I'm all right," Bab assured them, standing up and shaking herself to +bring her senses back. She bathed her throbbing wrists and temples, and +all climbed down into the lower regions of the house. It was decided to +water the side of the house, and after that nothing more could be done. +The whole place was lit up with the burning stable, and sparks were +flying in every direction. The wind had risen to a gale and the skies +were overhung with a black canopy of clouds kindled by occasional +flashes of lightning. There was a low grumbling sound of thunder. Down +the avenue came the clatter of horses' hoofs. At the same time there was +a terrific clap, and the rain poured down in torrents. + +"Here they are!" cried the girls as Major Ten Eyck and the boys leaped +from their horses and dashed up the piazza steps. José was not with +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII--EXPLANATIONS + + +The major and his nephews were shocked at the appearance of their +guests, who were hardly recognizable. Jimmie Butler retired behind a +curtain and give vent to one little chuckle. He would not, for anything, +have let them know how funny they looked. + +"I shall never forgive myself for leaving you," groaned Major Ten Eyck. +"Why did you not take the car and leave the old place to burn? How can +the boys and I ever thank you?" he continued, with emotion. + +Before Stephen would give an account of the search for José he made Ruth +repeat the history of the afternoon from beginning to end. The major and +the boys were filled with admiration and wonder for these four brave +"Automobile Girls" and Miss Stuart. + +"There is nothing we can do," exclaimed Jimmie, "to show what we feel, +except to lie down and let you walk over us." + +"And now for José," prompted Ruth, when she had finished her story. + +"Well," replied Stephen, "we got news of José almost as soon as we had +passed the Gypsy camp. A man on the road told us he had seen a boy who +answered the description exactly, walking on the edge of the forest. We +traced him back into the country to a farm house, where according to the +farmer, he had stopped for a drink of water and turned back again toward +the forest. It was necessary to come back by a roundabout way because of +the cliffs on the outer edge, and not until we reached the hermit's +house did we realize there was a fire that must have been started by +those tramps, for it was at its worst about where they were yesterday. +We were frantic when we saw that it was blowing in the direction of the +hall, but we couldn't get through and had to go the whole way around. +Our only comfort, when we saw the glow of the burning stable, was that +you had taken the automobile and gone back to Tarrytown." + +The faithful old butler appeared with lights, and informed the major +that the other servants had returned very repentant, and if agreeable, +dinner would be served in half an hour. + +"But I think the ladies will be much too tired to come down again," +protested the major. + +"Oh, no, we won't," answered Ruth. "If there's enough water left to wash +in I would rather dress and come downstairs for food." + +"So would we all," chorused the others, except Miss Sallie, who took to +her bed immediately, and dropped off to sleep as soon as her head +touched the pillow. + +"Stephen," asked Ruth at dinner, "do you believe poor José was caught in +the fire?" + +"It's rather a horrible idea," said Stephen, "yet I don't know what else +to think. He must have caught wind, somehow, that we had found him out +and concluded to hide in the woods." + +"Old Jennie wishes to speak to you, sir," announced John. + +"Bring her in here," ordered the major, and Jennie was ushered into the +dining-room. "How are you, Jennie? I am glad to see you," said the +major, leading her to a chair. "I hope you were not injured by the +fire?" + +"Be there anyone here but friends?" whispered Jennie. + +"No one, Jennie. What is it?" + +"When the storm came up I went straight to the forest," said the old +woman. "Adam went with me and we took his horse and wagon. The fire had +not touched the road and the ground was wet where we walked. As we +passed by the place----" here she put her finger to her lips and gazed +wildly about, "you remember, young ladies? I went over to see if all was +well. The door was open and on the floor lay the young man. He is not +dead, but he is very ill here," old Jennie pressed her hand to her +chest. "He has swallowed the smoke. We put him in the wagon and he is +outside." + +"José here? Outside?" they all cried at once, rushing to the front door. + +In the pouring rain, Zerlina and her grandmother were leaning over a +young man stretched out prone in Adam's wagon. He wore the green +velveteen suit now so familiar to "The Automobile Girls," and through +his belt gleamed the dagger he had used to slash the tires with. When he +was lifted out, they caught a glimpse of his face. José it was, but José +grown thin and haggard in a day and a night. The boys carried him +tenderly upstairs and laid him on his own bed. Zerlina and her +grandmother followed close at their heels. + +"Do you know him, then?" asked Stephen of the Gypsy girl. + +"Yes," she replied defiantly. "He is my brother. Antonio is his name." + +"Whew-w-w," whistled Stephen under his breath. "So José was an impostor +after all. I must say I hoped till the last." + +"Well, well," answered the major, "we won't hit a man when he is down, +my son, and this boy is pretty sick. The girl is his sister, you say? +She and her grandmother had better nurse him, then. Send the old woman +to me. I want to speak with her in the library." + +After being closeted with Granny Ann for half an hour the major flung +wide the library door and called to the others to come in. His +good-natured, handsome face was wrinkled into an expression of utter +bewilderment, but relief gleamed through his troubled eyes. + +"Children," he cried, "come here, every one of you. José is vindicated. +Thank heavens for that. The boy upstairs is not our José at all, but his +half-brother, Antonio. Now, where do you suppose José has hidden +himself? I trust, I earnestly hope, not in the woods." + +"It seems," continued the major, "José's father was married twice. A +nice chap, José. I trust he is safe to-night, for his poor father's sake +as well as for his own." + +"And his second wife, uncle?" interrupted Stephen. + +"Yes, yes, my boy," continued the major, patting his nephew +affectionately on the shoulder, "and the second wife was a beautiful +Gypsy singer, who had two children, Zerlina and Antonio, the unfortunate +young man now occupying José's room. A Gypsy rarely marries outside her +own people and this one longed to return to her tribe. One day she ran +away taking her children with her, and Martinez never saw his wife +again, for she died soon after. He has tried, in every way, to recover +the children, but until now the Gypsies have always managed to hide them +effectually. Since they were children Antonio has hated his half brother +José and from time to time has threatened his life. Once, in Gibraltar, +the brother almost succeeded in killing him." (The girls remembered how +much José had disliked the mention of Gibraltar.) "Antonio was a bad +boy, utterly undisciplined. He ran about Europe and this country, seeing +what harm he could do, but neither his father nor his brother could ever +locate him. José finally heard that the children were in America and +came over to try to reason with the Gypsies to let Zerlina, at least, go +to school. I do not suppose he reckoned on finding them so near, and, +when Antonio tried to rob and murder, José was divided in his mind as to +whether to give his brother up or let him go. He must have suffered a +good deal, poor fellow. I wish José had confided his troubles to me. +Now, maybe, it's too late to help him." + +"And the knife?" asked Bab. + +"There were two knives which belonged to the Martinez family. The Gypsy +took one away with her when she left her husband." + +"Will Antonio stay here to-night, Major?" said Mollie, timidly, +remembering the masked robber and his murderous weapon. + +"He is too ill, now, to do any harm, little one," replied the major, +taking her hand. "Besides, his grandmother and sister will watch over +him I feel certain, and who knows but the boy may have some good in him +after all?" he added, always trying to see the best in everybody. + +"Nevertheless, we'll lock our doors," exclaimed Ruth. "It's not so easy +to forget that our highwayman is sleeping across the hall." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII--AN OLD ROMANCE + + +Bab had hardly reached her room before she was summoned to the door by +Stephen, looking so serious and unhappy that she felt at once something +had happened. + +"Bab," he said, "I am afraid you are not done with your day's work yet +for the Ten Eyck family. I am about to ask you a favor, and I must +confide something to you that has been a secret with us now for three +generations. First, are you afraid to go with me over to the right wing? +John and Mary will go, too, and you need really have nothing to fear, +but the dread----" he paused and bit his lip. + +"Why, no, Stephen, I am not afraid," replied Bab, "and I promise to +guard faithfully any secret you want to tell me," she added, giving him +her hand in token of her pledge. She suspected they were going to visit +the old man she had seen wandering about the house and forest. + +"I will tell you the secret as we go along," Stephen said, leading the +way to the end of the hall, where they found Mary and John waiting. The +four started down a long passage opening into the right wing of the +building. "We are going, now," continued Stephen, "to visit a very old +man who lives in the right wing. He is my great-uncle, Stephen Ten Eyck. +When he was quite a young man he met with a sorrow that unhinged his +mind and he--well, he committed a crime. It was never proved that he had +done it, but the Ten Eyck family knew he had. However, his most intimate +friend took the blame upon his shoulders." + +"Why did he do that?" asked Bab. + +"Because, Bab," replied Stephen, "they both loved a girl, and the girl's +name was Barbara Thurston. She must have been your great-great-aunt. Did +you ever hear of her?" + +"If I ever did, I have forgotten," answered Bab. "You see, after +father's death, we had no way to learn much about his family and mother +knew very little, I suppose." + +"Well, Barbara Thurston was engaged to marry my great-uncle. They were +all staying at the same hotel, somewhere in the Italian lake +country--Barbara and her mother and my great-uncle Stephen and his +friend. One day the friend persuaded Barbara to go out rowing with him. +There was a storm and the boat upset, and Barbara was drowned. It was +said that the friend and the boatman swam ashore and left her, but that +is hard to believe. Anyway, when my uncle got the news, something +snapped in his brain and he killed the boatman with an oar. The friend +made his escape and the flight proved to the authorities that he had +committed the crime. The Ten Eycks all knew that Uncle Stephen had done +it, but it seemed of little use, I suppose, to tell the truth, because +the slayer, Uncle Stephen, had gone clean crazy, and his friend could +not be found. They have never seen each other since, until----" + +Stephen paused. + +"Until when, Stephen?" + +"Until to-night, Barbara. Can you guess who the friend is?" + +"The hermit?" asked Barbara, with growing excitement. + +"Yes," replied Stephen; "the poor old hermit who has lived near his +friend all these years without ever letting anybody know." + +"And your uncle has been living in the right wing ever since?" asked +Bab. + +"Yes. It was his father's wish that the right wing be absolutely his for +life and that the secret be kept in the family. The old fellow has never +hurt a fly since the night he killed the Italian boatman. His attendant +is as old as he, almost, and sometimes Uncle Stephen gets away from him. +Have you ever seen him?" Stephen looked at her curiously. + +"Yes," replied Bab, "several times." + +"And never mentioned it? Really Bab, you are great." + +"Oh, I finally did tell the girls, only last night. I was just a little +frightened. Your Uncle Stephen called me by name. But, by the way, none +of you knew about the name before. How was that?" + +"To tell the truth, I had never heard the girl's name in my life, and it +was so long ago that Uncle Stephen had forgotten it. It was the hermit +who revealed the whole thing. He took refuge here from the fire, and +after you girls had gone upstairs he sent for Uncle John. It seems the +hermit has been with Uncle Stephen most of the afternoon, keeping him +quiet and away from the fire. The poor old fellow was scared, he said, +but he is himself again and they both want to see you. But that is not +the chief reason you are sent for. Uncle Stephen insists that he has +something he will tell only to you. All day long he has been calling for +you, and Uncle John Ten Eyck thinks it may quiet him if you will consent +to see him for a few minutes." + +The two had paused outside of a door at the end of the passage, to +finish the conversation, while Mary and John had gone quietly inside. +Presently John opened the door. + +"It's all right, sir," he whispered. "You and the young lady may come +in." + +They entered a large room, furnished with heavy old-fashioned chairs and +tables. There were bowls of flowers about and Bab heard afterwards that +the poor, crazed old man loved flowers and arranged them himself. +Standing near the window was the hermit. When he saw Bab his face was +radiated by such a beautiful smile that tears sprang to the girl's eyes. +Lying on a couch, somewhat back in the shadow, was Stephen's uncle of +the same name. His attendant, also an old man, who had been with him +from the beginning, was sitting beside him. + +Stephen Ten Eyck the elder opened his eyes when the door closed. He also +smiled, as the hermit had done, and Bab felt that she could have wept +aloud for the two pathetic old men. + +"My little Barbara has come back at last," Uncle Stephen said, taking +her hand. "I am very happy. And my old friend Richard, too," he went on, +stretching the other hand toward the hermit. "Dick," he went on, "I +always loved you so. I don't know which I loved the most, you or sweet +Barbara here. Heaven is good to bring me all these blessings at once. +Don't cry, little girl," he added, tenderly, for the tears were rolling +down Barbara's cheeks and dropping on his hand. "But I must not forget," +he exclaimed suddenly. "I have something to tell you, Barbara, before it +clouds over here," he tapped his brow. "Go away all of you. This is for +her ears alone. It is a secret." + +The others moved off to a corner of the room and the old man went on +whispering mysteriously. "We were the last who saw him, you and I. He +followed me that night. Do you remember? He fell. He is lying at the +foot of the stairs now. There is a gash in his head and--blood!" "Press +the panel in the attic----" The old man's voice died away in a gasp. + +"Which panel?" asked Bab, in an agony for fear he would not finish. + +"The one with the knot hole in the right hand corner," he added and fell +back on the couch. + +Bab tried to make him tell more, but his mind was clouded over and he +had already forgotten she was there. + +"Has he finished?" asked Stephen. + +"Yes," replied Bab, "but come quickly. We have no time to lose. José is +lying somewhere, dead or half dead, in the secret passage." + +Too much excited and amazed to say good-night to the hermit, the callers +rushed down the passage, followed by the two servants. At the foot of +the attic stairs they waited while John brought lights, and for the +second time that day Bab climbed into the vast old attic. + +"Thank fortune the partition is down," exclaimed Stephen. "I suppose +Uncle Stephen forgot to slide it back, he was in such a hurry to get +away from José." Bab had explained the situation, to Stephen while they +waited for the candles. "Which panel did he say, Bab?" + +"This must be it," she answered; "the panel in the right-hand corner +that has a knot hole in it. Here is the knot hole all right. We are to +press it, he said." + +They pressed, but nothing happened. + +"Press the knot hole, why don't you?" suggested Bab. + +One touch was enough. The panel opened and disclosed a long passage cut +apparently through the wall. There were several branch passages leading +off from the main one, marked with faded handwriting on slips of paper, +one "To the Cellar," another "To the Library" and finally the last one +"To the Right Wing." + +"This must be the one," said Stephen, as they groped their way along +single file. "Be careful," he called; "there should be a flight of steps +along here somewhere." + +Presently they came to the steps. Up through the dense blackness they +could faintly hear a sound of moaning. + +"All right, José, old fellow, we are coming to you," cried Stephen, +while Bab's heart beat so loud she could not trust herself to speak. + +Groping their way down the narrow stairway, they came to a landing +almost on a level with the ceilings of the first floor rooms. At the far +end of the passage they could hear a voice calling faintly. + +"He probably fell the length of the steps, and dragged himself across," +exclaimed Stephen, holding his lantern high above his head. + +They found José stretched out by a narrow door opening directly into the +right wing. There was a gash just above his temple which he himself had +bound with his handkerchief and his leg appeared to be broken at the +ankle. + +"José, my poor boy," cried Stephen, "we have found you at last!" + +José smiled weakly and fainted dead away. + +The two men carried him back up the flight of steps, not daring to try +the experiment of the passage leading to the library. + +"I suppose Uncle Stephen has known these passages since he was a child," +said Stephen in a low voice to Bab as they passed through the attic, +"and when his attendant is asleep, no doubt he steals off and wanders +about the house. I believe he has always had a mania that he was being +pursued by the Italian boatman; and when José followed him, right on top +of his meeting with you, it was too much for the old fellow." + +"He's a dear old man," returned Bab, "and how he must have suffered all +these years; that is, whenever his memory returned." + +"And think of the hermit, too, who sacrificed his entire career for you, +Miss, just because you never learned to swim." + +Bab smiled. "If my Aunt Barbara had lived by the sea as I have, she +would never have had to wait for boatmen and lovers to pull her out of +the deep water. Swimming is as easy as walking to me." + +"I am glad you've learned wisdom in your old age," replied Stephen as +they paused at the door of the bedroom given to José. + +"There is one thing I cannot believe," declared Bab, "and that is that +the hermit swam off and left Aunt Barbara to drown." + +"Who knows?" answered Stephen. "People lose their heads strangely +sometimes." + +It was Alfred, destined to be a great doctor, who set José's leg that +night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV--GOOD-BYE TO TEN EYCK HALL + + +Four days had passed since the exciting happenings of that eventful day +that had begun with the disappearance of José, and had ended with his +discovery. + +"I have much to be thankful for," said the major to Miss Sallie, who was +reclining in a steamer chair on the piazza. She had not left her bed +until the afternoon of the third day, and was still a little shaky and +nervous. + +"I can't think what they are, John," she replied severely. "You have had +nothing but misfortunes since we came to stay under your roof. I hope +they may end when we leave." + +"The first one," said the major, smiling good-humoredly, "is that I have +had the privilege of knowing how splendid American women can be in time +of danger. I always admired the women of my country, but never so much +as now," he added, looking fondly at his old friend. + +"Yes," assented Miss Sallie proudly, "my girls are about as fine as any +to be found in the world, I think. They are wholesome, sensible, and +never cowardly. Undoubtedly they saved Ten Eyck Hall for you, Major, by +their combined efforts, and by Bab's bravery in watering the roof when +the sparks began to fly." + +"You were just as wonderful as the girls, Sallie, my dear. They tell me +you superintended the digging of the trench and managed your men with +the coolness of a general; and that when the fire leaped over the trench +you were there with the bucket brigade to put it out. The girls were no +whit less courageous in your day than they are now, Sallie." + +"And what is the second blessing you have to be thankful for, John?" +interrupted Miss Sallie. + +"That José is the boy I took him to be--a good, honest, noble fellow." + +"I must say I liked him from the first moment I set eyes upon him," said +Miss Stuart. + +"Yes," continued the major; "his father might well be proud of him. He +deserves the highest commendation for his forbearance and unselfishness +in regard to that brother of his." + +"How is the brother, by the way?" asked Miss Sallie. + +"You know he was taken to the hospital the day after he was brought +here; well, the boys went over in the car yesterday. Antonio is much +better. His sister is tending him. He is very repentant, she says, and +has consented to go to school and turn over a new leaf. In fact, I +myself have had a long talk with him. I can see that there is great good +in the boy. It has simply been perverted by evil associations." + +"Ah, Major," exclaimed his old friend, smiling indulgently as she tapped +his arm with her fan, "you are truly the most optimistic soul in the +world. I hope all your golden dreams about this wretched boy's future +will come true. But what about his sister!" + +"José is anxious for her to go to a school in America. He believes she +could not endure the restraint of a European school after her free, +open-air life. She is only too anxious. She wants to cultivate her +voice, and the old grandmother appears really relieved at the turn +affairs have taken. She was willing to concede anything to keep the +grandson out of jail." + +"Then my Ruth will not be able to gratify her whim to educate the Gypsy +girl," pursued Miss Sallie. + +"Not exactly," replied the major. "José's father is very well-to-do, as +the world goes, but Ruth is to take charge of Zerlina's education and +look after her generally. She has asked José to allow her that +privilege, as she put it." + +Just then the girls came around the corner of the piazza, after a stroll +in the garden. + +"How fresh and delicious the air is since the rain!" exclaimed Barbara. +"There is still a faint smell of burning. Do you think all the trees in +the forest will die, Major?" + +"Old Adam says they will not," answered the major. "A three months' +unbroken drought will dry up almost anything but trees. Now, while the +underbrush and dried fern burned like tinder, the fire hardly touched +the trees. It was those dead bramble hedges dividing the fields and the +dried meadow grass that did the most damage, because the sparks from +them ignited the garage and the roof of the stable." + +"I am glad papa and Mrs. Thurston were not uneasy about us," observed +Ruth. "If they had read the papers before you telegraphed, Major, they +would have been frantic, I suppose." + +"Make way for the Duke of Granada," called Jimmie's cheerful voice from +the hall, and presently he appeared, pushing José, done up in bandages +and lying flat on his back, on a rolling cot used by some invalid of the +Ten Eyck family long since dead and gone. + +"José, my boy," exclaimed the major, going to the foot of the cot to +ease it as it passed over the door sill, "do you think this is safe?" + +"The doctor says it will not hurt him," replied Jimmie. "He needs +company, but we won't let him stay long." + +José smiled up at the faces leaning over him. + +"You have all been so good to me," he said. "I want to thank you for +your kindness and for believing in me when my character looked black +enough to have condemned me without any more proof. And I want to thank +you for my brother, too, and my poor little sister." + +His eyes filled with tears. + +"There, there," cried the major, pressing the boy's hand. "It's a little +enough we have done, I'm sure. I only wish we could have saved you from +your tumble," he added, gazing sadly toward the right wing of Ten Eyck +Hall. + +"And is it really true that our friends are going to leave us this +afternoon?" asked José. + +"Yes," answered the major; "all our girls and boys are going. We shall +be lonesome enough when they are gone." + +There was the sound of a motor horn down the avenue. + +"Ah, here comes Stephen at last. I was afraid he would be late," said +Major Ten Eyck, as his automobile pulled up at the door and Stephen, +Martin and Alfred jumped out. + +"I've got them, uncle," cried Stephen. "They arrived this morning." And +he handed his uncle a registered package carefully done up and sealed +with red sealing wax. + +The major took the box and disappeared into the house while the boys +exchanged significant looks. + +"Stephen," said Bab, as they strolled down to the end of the-piazza +while the others were examining the morning papers and reading their +mail, "did you ever ask José where he was the morning we went to see the +hermit!" + +"Oh, yes," replied her friend; "or, rather, he told me without being +asked. He was to meet his brother by appointment at the haunted pool. I +suppose he was there too soon, because Antonio chose to inflict us with +his antics before he went to see José, who heard a great deal of the +nonsense, so he said, and there was a quarrel afterwards, a very bitter +one, and José threatened to give Antonio over to the authorities unless +he consented to give up his lawless life. Zerlina was hovering around +later, and heard the pistol shots after the fight with the tramps. She +thought, of course, it was a duel between her two brothers. That is why +she paid you the mysterious visit and tried to read the note." + +"How does Antonio strike you?" asked Bab. + +"Just as a mischievous boy might. I think he will outgrow his vicious +tendencies now that he has been taken hold of. For one thing he no +longer hates poor old José. I told him, plainly, what a fine fellow his +brother was, and that it was only on José's account we were not going to +have him arrested. He seemed to be a good deal impressed, I think." + +"A note for you, Miss," said John, handing Bab a three-cornered missive +on a tray. + +"Will Miss Barbara Thurston grant one last interview to an old admirer?" +the note ran. + +"It's from your great-uncle," exclaimed Bab, giving Stephen the note to +read. + +Stephen smiled as his eye took in the crabbed, old-fashioned +handwriting. + +"The poor old fellow can't quite get the proper focus as to who you +really are," he said. "You appear to represent two Barbaras to him. But +you will go over for a few minutes, won't you, Bab? I doubt if Uncle +Stephen will last much longer, and seeing you may be a great comfort to +him." + +"Of course I will," Bab replied. "If seeing me can bring a ray of +pleasure into his life, I am glad enough to be able to do it. I should +like to take him a few flowers. I know he loves them. Suppose we get +some honeysuckle and late roses out of the garden before we go." + +Together they strolled toward the major's garden, which the flames had +spared, partly because it was protected by a high brick wall on three +sides, and partly owing to a daily watering it had received from the +gardener. + +With Stephen's penknife they clipped a bunch of dewy white roses with +yellow centers, and a few sprays of honeysuckle whose fragrance was +overpoweringly sweet. + +The old man was watching for the young people at the window when the +attendant opened the door for them. He came forward with some of the +major's grace and took Barbara's hand in his. + +"It was very good of you to come," he said. "I heard you were going, and +I wanted to say a last good-bye. I feel happier than I have felt in many +years. You have forgiven me, have you not, little Barbara?" he went on, +his mind confusing her again with that other Barbara whose tragic death +had bereft him of his reason. "And you have brought me the roses, too?" + +She nodded her head. + +"Did they come from the bush near the arbor?" + +"Yes," she replied, wondering a little. + +"Don't you remember that it was our bush, the one we chose when you were +here on a visit? Our white rose bush, Barbara. That you should not have +forgotten, after all these years!" Then his memory came back. "But what +am I saying?" he exclaimed. "My mind often gets confused. It was the +likeness, I suppose. I want you to see this portrait of your +grand-aunt." + +He went over to a desk near the window and drew from one of its drawers +an old daguerreotype. + +"It is very, very like," he murmured, as he handed it to Barbara. + +It was, indeed, even more like the present Bab than the miniature which +the hermit had treasured during his years of solitude. + +"I want you to keep this picture, Barbara," said Stephen's uncle. "I +have another one, and it will be a pleasure to me, at the last, to know +that it belongs to another Barbara Thurston. This ring must also be +yours." He drew from the desk a little black velvet case. "It was a ring +I gave to her after we were engaged. Will you wear it for me!" + +Barbara opened the case and slipped the ring on her finger. It was a +very old ring of beaten silver with a sapphire setting. + +"Thank you," she said and gave him her hand. + +"Good-bye, little Barbara!" cried the old man. "You have brought peace +to me at last. You and my dear friend, Richard. I have changed a great +deal, you see," he was lapsing back into the old mania, "but you are as +young and pretty as ever, Barbara." + +"It is time to go," whispered Stephen, hurriedly. The attendant had +already opened the door for them and they slipped out together. + +"The hermit has promised to come and see him every day," said Stephen, +as they hastened through the passage. "Indeed, Uncle John has invited +the hermit to live at Ten Eyck Hall for the rest of his days, and he has +all but consented. He is a wonderful old man, I think, and whether he +swam off and left 'you' or not, he has atoned for it after all these +years." + +"Stephen," replied Barbara, "I shall never believe that he did that, no +matter if he were to tell me so himself." + +They reached the piazza just in time to hear Miss Sallie saying: + +"Girls, I think we had better go up and get ready for the trip, before +luncheon is announced. We want to start promptly, this time, even if we +shall have such an excellent guard of young men. José, I am sorry you +are not well enough to come in to our last meal," she added, turning to +the sick boy and taking his hand. "But we shall run up and say good-bye +to you before we leave, and if ever you go as far west as Chicago, I +want you to come and see us. Perhaps Ruth and I shall see you and your +father this autumn when we are in Europe." + +"Indeed, I hope you will come to Madrid and visit at my home," cried +José. "Will you not arrange it?" + +"That would be delightful" said Miss Sallie, "but we shall be over only +for six weeks. We must return in time for Ruth's school, you know." + +The last luncheon at Ten Eyck Hall was a very gay one. The dangers of +the previous week were over and the mysteries cleared away. + +The major fairly beamed on his guests across the hospitable board. + +"It must have been Miss Sallie's fault," thought Mollie, watching his +handsome face with a secret admiration. "He is certainly the dearest old +man alive. I wonder if she isn't sorry now?" + +And as if in answer to her unspoken question, she heard Miss Sallie +saying: + +"John, I hope this is not the last visit you will let us make to Ten +Eyck Hall. In spite of its fires and tramps I should like to come +again." + +"I should be the happiest man in the world if you only would," he +answered. "I am greatly relieved that you haven't got an everlasting +prejudice against it." + +"When I settle down for the winter," Jimmie Butler was heard to remark +above the hum of conversation, "I mean to take up a certain study and +not leave off studying it until I have graduated with diploma and +honors." + +"What is it, Jimmie?" demanded the others. + +"Prize fighting," he replied. "I intend to learn wrestling and boxing, +likewise just plain hair-pulling and scratching. Prize fighting in all +its varieties for me before another year rolls round." + +"You will have to go into training, then, Jim," exclaimed Alfred. "You +will not be permitted to eat anything you like and not too much of +anything else." + +"No more hot bread for you, Jimmie," continued Stephen. "No more waffles +and Johnnie-cakes. You will have to punch the bag mornings, when you +would rather be sleeping, and give up theatres in the evenings for early +bedtime. It's a fearful life, my boy." + +"Be that as it may," persisted Jimmie, "I'm going to learn how to deal a +blow that will give a man a black eye the first time, and if ever I get +hold of that wiry individual who gave me these in the woods, yonder," he +pointed to his red nose and discolored eye, "he'll get such a 'licking' +as he'll remember to his last hour. Even Stephen's giant won't be a +match for me." + +There was joyous laughter at this, followed by remarks from Martin and +Alfred of a rather sarcastic character, such as "Give it to him, Jimmie! +Give him a bump in the ribs!" + +"I am going to have the woods patrolled, hereafter, in the summer time," +observed the major, "and all dangerous characters will be excluded. The +next time we have a house party there will be no tramps to threaten my +guests." + +"By the way," said Stephen, "the giant tramp is in the hospital now. He +was drunk when the fire started, and fell asleep. He was badly burned +and almost suffocated, but his poor, long-suffering wife managed to save +him somehow. The other two had left him to die." + +"Will you have him arrested when he gets well, Major?" asked Ruth. + +"No," replied the major, somewhat confused. "I suppose I should, but he +tells me he was despoiled of his living by a dishonest master, and I +have concluded to make it up to him for being richer than he is by +giving him something to do. We have several farms back in the country +and I have put him in charge of the smallest one. It seems that farming +is the very thing he wants to do more than anything else in life. He +will have to travel a good distance before he can get anything to drink, +and his wife is the happiest woman over the prospect you ever saw." + +"Major, major!" protested Miss Sallie. "What will you do next?" + +"Ah, well," exclaimed the major, "it is good to be able to give a man a +chance to earn an honest living, especially if he wants to take it. And, +when this poor wretch heard about that bit of land and little cottage +back yonder in the hills, he looked as if he had had a glimpse of +heaven. His wife told me that he had really tried, again and again to +find something to do; but indoor life was very irksome to him because he +had been brought up on a farm, and working in factories and foundries +had been his undoing." + +"Stephen, how do you feel about it?" asked Alfred. "He was your opponent +in the fight, you know." + +"Oh, I don't mind," replied Stephen. "He didn't give me a black eye, and +I am glad for him to earn an honest living. Uncle's a brick." + +When the meal was over Major Ten Eyck rose from the table, clearing his +throat as if he were about to make a speech, which indeed he was. + +"I have something to say before this party breaks up, for myself and the +boys. We want to express to you, how deeply grateful we feel to you, +Miss Sallie and 'The Automobile Girls,' for what you have done for us. + +"You have saved our old home for us, at the risk of your own precious +lives, and there is nothing we can really do or say to show how much we +appreciate it. The place has been in the family ever since there were +any Ten Eycks to live in it. I was born here and I love it, and I hope +to end my days here----" + +"Don't speak as if you were on the brink of the grave, Major, I beg of +you," protested Miss Sallie. "You are not many years older than I am, +and I certainly will not allow such mournful thoughts to trouble me so +soon." + +"You will always be young, Sallie," replied the gallant major. + +"You are nothing but a boy yourself, John," replied Miss Stuart, +blushing in spite of herself, while the young people exchanged stealthy +smiles at these elderly compliments. + +"I was saying," continued the major, who remained standing to finish his +speech, "that there was nothing we could do, the boys and I, to show how +we feel in this matter. But when you wear these little ornaments" (here +the major handed Miss Sallie and each of the girls a little jeweler's +box) "we hope you will remember that we are your devoted friends always. +It was Stephen's idea, and there was not much time to get them, but the +jeweler undertook a rush order for us, and I hope they are all right." + +"Hurray!" cried Jimmie, rolling his napkin into a ball and tossing it +into the air. + +There were cries of pleasure when the boxes gave up their treasures, +small gold firemen's helmets studded with pearls and a row of rubies on +the curve of the brim. + +As if this were not enough, John came in with a tray of bouquets, each +one different, as on a former occasion. The major had picked and +arranged the flowers himself for Miss Sallie and "The Automobile Girls," +as a last reminder of Ten Eyck Hall, he said. + +"It is worth while going into the firemen's business, if one is to be so +well repaid," exclaimed Ruth. + +Bab felt particularly rich in souvenirs of her visit, with a picture of +a new and hitherto unknown great-aunt, a ring and a beautiful pin. + +"We are all much too excited to thank you properly, Major," she said. + +"I don't want any thanks, my dear child," replied the major. "I wish to +avoid them." + +"Somebody should make a speech," cried Jimmie's voice above the jollity. +"I think I'll be the one." He cleared his throat. "Major John Ten Eyck," +he said bowing toward the major, "I know these young ladies appreciate +deeply the handsome souvenirs you have bestowed upon them, but youth and +inexperience have tied their tongues. However, mine is loosened and I +wish to thank you a thousand times for the souvenirs which I also am +carrying away from Ten Eyck Hall, namely my beautiful ruby nose and my +blue enameled eyes." + +There was more laughter and more exchange of jokes and fun, when Martin +who had slipped out of the room for a moment, returned with a small +bundle which he handed to Jimmie. + +"We'll give you a booby prize, Jimmie," he said, "since the ladies have +been awarded the first prize." + +Jimmie opened the bundle and drew forth a boxing glove which he put on +immediately and chased Martin out of the room. This was the signal for +the breaking up of the lunch party. + +The boxes and suit cases were already piled in their accustomed place on +the back of the car and there was nothing for the girls to do but to pin +on their hats and veils, slip on their silk dusters and go. + +The servants had lined up in the hall to say good-bye. José had begged +to be permitted to remain downstairs until after the visitors had gone. +As the automobiles sped down the avenue, the major, standing by the sick +boy's cot, waved good-bye from the piazza. + +Only Bab saw another handkerchief waving its pathetic farewell from a +window in the right wing. She gave an answering wave with her own little +handkerchief which she hoped the old man would not miss. + +"Good-bye to Ten Eyck Hall," she said to herself as she looked back at +the beautiful old house. "You are full of tragic memories, but I love +you and I would have risked much to have saved you from crumbling to a +heap of ashes." + +As they passed over the bridge and came to the crossroads by the woods, +they were stopped by blind Jennie, who silently presented Bab and Ruth +each with a small cross she herself had carved from wood. Then to Bab +she gave a beautiful bunch of yellow roses, which the hermit had begged +the girl to accept with his best wishes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV--CONCLUSION + + +In spite of the strange chain of events following so closely on each +other's heels, "The Automobile Girls" had only pleasant memories of Ten +Eyck Hall and its occupants. + +Among their trips they counted this as one of the most interesting, but +Ruth, who was ever planning future surprises, had a plan that would +outdo all other visits. This was nothing less than a journey to her own +home, Chicago. + +This excursion, every moment of which was to throb with interest for our +four girls, involved the attempt to discover a hidden treasure buried in +what had once been the prairie home of an old Illinois family. These +adventures, with exciting scenes on the Stock Exchange where Barbara +Thurston learned of a plot to ruin her friends, and much more, all is +vividly described in the next volume of this series: + +"The Automobile Girls at Chicago; or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds." + + THE END. + + + + +Henry Altemus Company's Catalogue Of + +THE BEST AND LEAST EXPENSIVE BOOKS + +FOR REAL BOYS AND GIRLS + +Really good and new stories for boys and girls are not plentiful. Many +stories, too, are so highly improbable as to bring a grin of derision to +the young reader's face before he has gone far. The name of ALTEMUS is a +distinctive brand on the cover of a book, always ensuring the buyer of +having a book that is up-to-date and fine throughout. No buyer of an +ALTEMUS book is ever disappointed. + +Many are the claims made as to the inexpensiveness of books. Go into any +bookstore and ask for an Altemus book. Compare the price charged you for +Altemus books with the price demanded for other juvenile books. You will +at once discover that a given outlay of money will buy more of the +ALTEMUS books than of those published by other houses. + +Every dealer in books carries the ALTEMUS books. + +Sold by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price + +Henry Altemus Company + +507-513 Cherry Street, Philadelphia + + +The Motor Boat Club Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are wonderfully +entertaining, and they are at the same time sound and wholesome. No boy +will willingly lay down an unfinished book in this series. + + 1 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; Or, The Secret of Smugglers' + Island. + + 2 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan + Heir. + + 3 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; Or, A Daring Marine Game at + Racing Speed. + + 4 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare + Cruise. + + 5 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator + Swamp. + + 6 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; Or, A Thrilling Capture in + the Great Fog. + + 7 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; Or, The Flying Dutchman of + the Big Fresh Water. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +The Range and Grange Hustlers + +By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + +Have you any idea of the excitements, the glories of life on great +ranches in the West? Any bright boy will "devour" the books of this +series, once he has made a start with the first volume. + + 1 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH; Or, The Boy Shepherds + of the Great Divide. + + 2 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP; Or, Pitting + Their Wits Against a Packers' Combine. + + 3 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS; Or, Following the + Steam Plows Across the Prairie. + + 4 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO; Or, The Conspiracy of + the Wheat Pit. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +Submarine Boys Series + +By VICTOR G. DURHAM + +These splendid books for boys and girls deal with life aboard submarine +torpedo boats, and with the adventures of the young crew, and possess, +in addition to the author's surpassing knack of story-telling, a great +educational value for all young readers. + + 1 THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat. + + 2 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP; Or, "Making Good" as Young + Experts. + + 3 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES; Or, The Prize Detail at + Annapolis. + + 4 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; Or, Dodging the Sharks of the + Deep. + + 5 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE; Or, The Young Kings of the + Deep. + + 6 THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle + Sam. + + 7 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; Or, Breaking Up the New + Jersey Customs Frauds. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +The Square Dollar Boys Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The reading boy will be a voter within a few years; these books are +bound to make him think, and when he casts his vote he will do it more +intelligently for having read these volumes. + + 1 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP; Or, Fighting the Trolley Franchise + Steal. + + 2 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING; Or, In the Lists Against + the Crooked Land Deal. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +Ben Lightbody Series + +By WALTER BENHAM + + 1 BEN LIGHTBODY, SPECIAL; Or, Seizing His First Chance to Make Good. + + 2 BEN LIGHTBODY'S BIGGEST PUZZLE; Or, Running the Double Ghost to + Earth. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +Pony Rider Boys Series + +By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + +These tales may be aptly described as those of a new Cooper. In every +sense they belong to the best class of books for boys and girls. + + 1 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; Or, The Secret of the Lost + Claim. + + 2 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS; Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains. + + 3 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA; Or, The Mystery of the Old Custer + Trail. + + 4 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS; Or, The Secret of Ruby + Mountain. + + 5 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI; Or, Finding a Key to the Desert + Maze. + + 6 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO; Or, The End of the Silver + Trail. + + 7 THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; Or, The Mystery of Bright + Angel Gulch. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +The Boys of Steel Series + +By JAMES R. MEARS + +The author has made of these volumes a series of romances with scenes +laid in the iron and steel world. Each book presents a vivid picture of +some phase of this great industry. The information given is exact and +truthful; above all, each story is full of adventure and fascination. + + 1 THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; Or, Starting at the Bottom of the + Shaft. + + 2 THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift. + + 3 THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS; Or, Roughing It on the Great + Lakes. + + 4 THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS; Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder + Pits. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +West Point Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans +whose doings will inspire all boy readers. + + 1 DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Two Chums in the + Cadet Gray. + + 2 DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Finding the Glory + of the Soldier's Life. + + 3 DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Standing Firm for + Flag and Honor. + + 4 DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Ready to Drop the + Gray for Shoulder Straps. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +Annapolis Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in +these volumes. + + 1 DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at + the U. S. Naval Academy. + + 2 DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Midshipmen as + Naval Academy "Youngsters." + + 3 DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Leaders of the Second + Class Midshipmen. + + 4 DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Headed for Graduation + and the Big Cruise. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +The Young Engineers Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys +Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of +all the traditions of Dick & Co. + + 1 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; Or, At Railroad Building in + Earnest. + + 2 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA; Or, Laying Tracks on the + "Man-Killer" Quicksand. + + 3 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA; Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of + a Pick. + + 4 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO; Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +Boys of the Army Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States Army of +to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master pen. + + 1 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS; Or, Two Recruits in the United + States Army. + + 2 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons. + + 3 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; Or, Handling Their First Real + Commands. + + 4 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; Or, Following the Flag + Against the Moros. + +_(Other volumes to follow rapidly.)_ + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +Battleship Boys Series + +By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + +These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge +drab Dreadnaughts. + + 1 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's + Navy. + + 2 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD; Or, Winning Their Grades as + Petty Officers. + + 3 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; Or, Earning New Ratings in + European Seas. + + 4 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS; Or, Upholding the American + Flag in a Honduras Revolution. + +_(Other volumes to follow rapidly.)_ + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +The Meadow-Brook Girls Series + +By JANET ALDRIDGE + +Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life. + + 1 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS; Or, Fun and Frolic in the + Summer Camp. + + 2 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY; Or, The Young Pathfinders + on a Summer Hike. + + 3 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT; Or, The Stormy Cruise of the Red + Rover. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +High School Boys Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +In this series of bright, crisp books a new note has been struck. Boys +of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating +volumes. + + 1 THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and + Sports. + + 2 THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER; Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond. + + 3 THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END; Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football + Gridiron. + + 4 THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM; Or, Dick & Co. Leading the + Athletic Vanguard. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +Grammar School Boys Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar school +boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy. + + 1 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; Or, Dick & Co. Start Things + Moving. + + 2 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; Or, Dick & Co. at Winter + Sports. + + 3 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and + Knowledge. + + 4 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS; Or, Dick & Co. Make + Their Fame Secure. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +High School Boys' Vacation Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +"Give us more Dick Prescott books!" + +This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the country +over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the publishers, +making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, Tom Reade, and +the other members of Dick & Co. are the most popular high school boys in +the land. Boys will alternately thrill and chuckle when reading these +splendid narratives. + + 1 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB; Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake + Pleasant. + + 2 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP; Or, The Dick Prescott Six + Training for the Gridley Eleven. + + 3 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP; Or, Dick & Co. in the + Wilderness. + + 4 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE; Or, Dick & Co. Making + Themselves "Hard as Nails." + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +The Circus Boys Series + +By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON + +Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely +interesting and exciting life. + + 1 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; Or, Making the Start in the + Sawdust Life. + + 2 THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; Or, Winning New Laurels on + the Tanbark. + + 3 THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; Or, Winning the Plaudits of the + Sunny South. + + 4 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; Or, Afloat with the Big Show + on the Big River. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +The High School Girls Series + +By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. + +These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the reader +fairly by storm. + + 1 GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Merry Doings of + the Oakdale Freshman Girls. + + 2 GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Record of + the Girl Chums in Work and Athletics. + + 3 GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, Fast Friends in + the Sororities. + + 4 GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Parting of the + Ways. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + +The Automobile Girls Series + +By LAURA DENT CRANE + +No girl's library--no family book-case can be considered at all complete +unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books. + + 1 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; Or, Watching the Summer Parade. + + 2 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; Or, The Ghost of Lost + Man's Trail. + + 3 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy + Hollow. + + 4 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; Or, Winning Out Against Heavy + Odds. + + 5 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH; Or, Proving Their Mettle Under + Southern Skies. + +Cloth, Illustrated + +Price, per Volume, 50c. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE +HUDSON*** + + +******* This file should be named 37454-8.txt or 37454-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/7/4/5/37454 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |