diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:18:07 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:18:07 -0700 |
| commit | 44229428711b9cb2a55f7889e1cbdc302693212a (patch) | |
| tree | e24855ee53ceb7ac064a02aa886f1fcd3e9c0924 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25626-8.txt | 6037 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25626-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 107510 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25626.txt | 6037 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25626.zip | bin | 0 -> 107491 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
7 files changed, 12090 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/25626-8.txt b/25626-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..420f0c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/25626-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6037 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Girl Scouts at Bellaire, by Lilian C. +McNamara Garis + + +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 Girl Scouts at Bellaire + Or Maid Mary's Awakening + + +Author: Lilian C. McNamara Garis + + + +Release Date: May 27, 2008 [eBook #25626] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE + +or + +Maid Mary's Awakening + +by + +LILIAN GARIS + +Author of + + "The Girl Scout Pioneers," + "The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest," Etc. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +New York +Cupples & Leon Company + + + + +THE GIRL SCOUT SERIES + +By LILIAN GARIS + + THE GIRL SCOUT PIONEERS, + Or, Winning the First B. C. + + THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE + Or, Maid Mary's Awakening + + THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST + Or, The Wig Wag Rescue + + +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, NEW YORK + + + +Copyright, 1920, by +Cupples & Leon Company + + + +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. JOYS AND JOY RIDING + II. BEAUTIFUL BELLAIRE + III. THE BROKEN MARATHON + IV. THE EAGLE'S FEATHER + V. ON THE TRAIL + VI. A LITTLE MAID IN CLOVER + VII. WITHIN A MOUNTAIN CAVE + VIII. SUNSET'S INSPIRATION + IX. THE SECRET SPRING + X. NEW FRIENDS + XI. A CRY IN THE NIGHT + XII. A STARTLING EXPERIENCE + XIII. MARY'S MYSTERIOUS PET + XIV. AT THE STUDIO + XV. ORCHIDIA + XVI. PROFESSOR BENSON + XVII. A SECRET SESSION + XVIII. IN THE SHADOWS + XIX. HIDDEN TREASURES + XX. THE MASCOT'S RESCUE + XXI. REDA'S RETURN + XXII. THE ORPHAN OF THE ORCHIDS + XXIII. MAID MARY AWAKE + + + + +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE + + +CHAPTER I + +JOYS AND JOY RIDING + +"Next to a honeymoon I think a vacation out in Bellaire is about the +best," decided Grace. + +"And, pray, what is your idea of a honeymoon?" inquired Cleo. + +"Well, it's something like a trip to Europe in one way, because it's +hard to arrange; that is, a real honeymoon is, and it's almost as +thrilling because it's so entirely different. Sister Mabel is trunking +what she can't get in her hope chest, and she says a wedding is the one +unlimited wonder of life." + +"But why the trip to Europe?" persisted the logical Cleo. + +"Oh, you don't have to be so exact," retorted Grace, unwilling to show +defeat. "I was only thinking that when some one goes away--far away, +all sorts of nice things are said about them; and when a girl gets +married her maw" (and Grace drawled the ma) "says she has been a +perfect daughter." + +"Oh, I see," Cleo replied, somewhat satisfied at the diagraming, "and +our vacation out at Bellaire is to be a cross between a wedding and a +trip to Europe. I'll take the wedding wing, please," and she hummed +the march that always echoes orange blossoms. + +"Wedding ring, you mean. Well, I'll take the port that puts me beyond +criticism, not too far away, of course," qualified Grace. "But do you +know, Cleo, your aunt is a perfect fairy godmother to come to the +rescue now. Think of early summer in the New Jersey mountains! No end +of bunnies and wood nymphs out there!" + +"Well, you see, mother and father have to travel this summer, and Aunt +Audrey is going to stay home. Here's Madaline. Let's see what she +thinks about it all. Maybe she'll add the christening to our wedding +and honeymoon," suggested Cleo. + +"Oh, girls, you should see the dearest little piccaninny I just saw----" + +A gale of laughter interrupted Madaline. + +"There!" exclaimed Cleo. "Didn't I tell you she would bring the +christening!" + +"What's the joke? One black baby is cute and funny, but not bad enough +to give you two girls a fit," Madaline remarked rather peevishly. + +"Oh, come on, Madie," coaxed Cleo, linking her arm into that of the +dimply girl, "we were just waiting for you to decide all the details. +Your dad, and my dad, and Grace's dad may be traveling about all +summer, and our mothers are lovely to let us all go off together. We +have just been saying this vacation promises to be the biggest event in +our lives, next to going on a honeymoon, or having the unlimited joy of +the--those who get all sorts of unsolicited compliments," she patched +up the "far-away" possibilities. "And when you said 'kinky' kid we +thought that supplied the missing link, the christening. But isn't it +glorious to go away out to Jersey in a touring car, with trunks +strapped on----" + +"And our feet on a mountain of boxes," put in Madaline with a rather +discounting tone of voice. "Of course, I adore motoring, but I think +we should decide on the exact size and number of hat boxes." + +"Practical Packie!" declared Cleo, "and that's a good joke, isn't it? +Speaking of packing, I never knew they called Patsies Packies, until +Mother told me the other day that's the most common of the little Irish +nicknames. Isn't it cute? Packie Mower! I believe we will christen +you Madie," suggested Cleo. + +"No, please don't. You know I am a little bit truly Irish, and that +might sound like a parody." + +"I can just see how we will get ready for that vacation if we keep on +wandering," Cleo reminded her companions. "Makes me think of the song +about the butcher who rambled, and rambled until the butcher cut him +down. Oh, no, it was some one else who rambled, because the butcher, +of course, did the cutting. They always do. But we do the rambling, +and we always do that. Now, let us plan for that tour, and the +vacation to follow." + +"First, Cleo," said Madaline quite seriously, "let me say, I think your +aunt is a dear to take us in for our vacation. Mother may go to the +beach later, but I think the country first is just wonderful." + +"And we are sure to have a great and glorious adventure," said Grace. +"Three of us couldn't miss finding that." + +"Like a wedding!" Cleo teased Grace. + +"Oh, you're horrid!" Grace pouted. "I'll withdraw that illustration if +it will make peace in the family. But about the hat boxes. I must +take my leghorn hat in the car, and in a box." + +"And I have my brown poke. I couldn't possibly travel in that," added +Cleo, "yet I must take it." + +"There's my frilly georgette. It would look like a rag if it were not +packed in special tissue paper for traveling," affixed Grace, "but one +small trunk certainly won't take in big hats." + +"Oh, I'll tell you!" Cleo discovered. "We try our best hats in one box +all fitted in together. If they won't go we'll pack them in a big +strong wooden box, and express them. I do hate boxes to spoil a nice +long ride like that, when we want to snooze off, and feel luxurious." + +"And they look so common when they're all strapped around like gypsies +moving. As if we couldn't wait for the express," added Madaline. + +"There, don't you see how near we are coming to a honeymoon?" said +Grace. "I'm sure no hope chest of mine will ever be more important +than this vacation trunk. Shall we take our Scout uniforms?" + +"Shall we?" echoed Madaline. + +"Oh, certainly," replied Cleo. "The mountains are wonderful for hikes." + +"But we are going to make it an absolute vacation," Grace reminded the +others. + +"We will surely want a hike for the fun of it," resumed Cleo, "and I +don't believe we could enjoy the mountains, if bush and bramble bite at +our regular skirts. The khaki is so strong and durable, it defies even +the wild black berries, and you know what pests they are." + +"Well, I brought each of us a little note book; daddy gave them to me," +said Madaline, "and let's sit down, and make out our lists and +schedules. Isn't it thrilling? Surely this is as good as a honeymoon, +just as Grace says. We might call it a 'Junior Jaunt,' I'm going to +put that at the head of my note book," and the dimples dotted in +advance the precious page of preparations. + +While we leave the chums to their plans for the vacation at Bellaire, +which is to be much more than a vacation in its exploits, experiences, +and adventures, we may renew our acquaintance with these same girls met +in the first volume of the series: "The Girl Scout Pioneers; or, +Winning the First B. C." As told in this story it was through the mill +town of Pennsylvania, known as Flosstown, because of its noted silk +industries, that the True Tred Troop of Girl Scouts found scouting a +delightful means of getting in touch with girls in the mills, whose +characteristics and peculiar foreign traits stamped them as +picturesque, novel and fascinating. Tessie and Dagmar, two girls of +the Fluffdown Mills, decide to break away from their surroundings and +do actually run away, falling into the "hands of the police," in a most +peculiar way. + +Dagmar is housed in a novel jail, while Tessie is "at large" still, +trying to make her way to the beckoning city, with its alleged thrills +and glories. After disastrous experiences Tessie obtains employment in +the home of the fairy-like Jacqueline Douglass, and through the jolly +scouting of Cleo, Grace and Madaline (the trio who tied a man to a tree +in River Bend Woods) the runaway girls are finally brought together at +a Fairy-Fantasy in the wildwoods, all secretly planned by Jacqueline. +The identity of the man who was the "victim of scouts" is finally +disclosed, and the mystery is eventually unraveled. A hidden deed, +worthy of particular merit, was privately marked to the credit of Cleo, +who had risked her life to save that of another girl, and, in doing so, +had promised herself no one would know of the adventure. But for this +she is finally awarded the Bronze Cross, much to her own and her +companions' surprise. + +The story has a purpose, and to both the American girls and those of +foreign extraction it shows the value of such safe and sane agencies as +the Girl Scouts, while the book is absorbing in its plot, quite +irrespective of the Scout detail. + +And now the three girls of True Tred Troop are deciding to shed their +drills and meetings, while seeking adventure in the pretty town of +Bellaire, nestled against the New Jersey mountains. Madaline had +furnished the note books, while she and her companions were furnishing +the notes. + +"There," decided Cleo, jerking her head to one side in the bird-like +way that had earned for her the name of Perky, "if we carry all these +plans out we will surely have a wonderfully neat trip. I want it to be +neat, and I positively protest against bananas, oranges, or other +slushy fruit en route. When we want to eat à la carte we must +dismount. Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if our car should break down, +and we would have to finish our journey on muleback!" + +"Or take a stage coach!" suggested Grace. + +"I prefer an express wagon, it's more roomy," put in Madaline, "and a +stage coach in Jersey would be nothing but a plain jitney, full of +women, and bundles----" + +"And nary a bandit to hold us up, except the charity campaigners +demanding their toll," finished Cleo. "Well, I guess we had best stick +to the good touring car, and thank our lucky stars dad has business in +New York, and momsey wants to do some shopping, that includes everybody +and everything. Now there is nothing left but the horrible details, +all written down in Madie's nice little books. Thank you, Madie, for +the contribution, and now let's adjourn. There is no end of things to +attend to. Isn't it just glorious to think of having at least a month +in the best part of young summer?" + +They all thought it was, and with the decision their actual +preparations were begun. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BEAUTIFUL BELLAIRE + +The great day had come, and with it the girls arrived in Bellaire, +after a delightful motor trip from Pennsylvania. Stopping in the +morning at New York, Mr. Harris, whose guests they were, piloted them +to one of the big hotels, where their own touring car took its place in +the long line of handsome motors, and where Collins, the Harris +chauffeur, looked quite as important as any of the other uniformed +drivers. + +"Now, suppose we were all piled up with hat boxes," whispered Grace to +Madaline, for Grace had a distinct liking for good style. + +"But isn't it warm?" remarked Cleo, whose tangled tresses had a way of +gathering heat. "I almost wish I had worn a thin blouse." + +"We'll order a light lunch, Kimball," remarked Mrs. Harris to her +husband, "as the girls can scarcely wait to get out to Bellaire. Then +I'll return with you, and we will leave them to their fate. I'm sure +it will be a kind fate when directed by your good natured sister. Hope +she won't spoil them." And the waiter returning with the order would +surely have smiled, had he been human, and not a waiter, for the group +awaiting his approach made small effort to conceal his welcome. + +En route once more from New York to Bellaire it seemed but a few +minutes' run, when finally they drew up to the big rustic house, set +back in a rocky nook against the mountain. + +"Oh, isn't it lovely!" exclaimed Madaline, "and everything is so clear +after smoky Pennsylvania." + +"Yes, Bellaire is beautiful," Cleo replied, with a show of pride that +her relation should be the benefactor. "I know we'll have a wonderful +time. Aunt Audrey is like a girl herself, and she knows what girls +enjoy." + +"Oh, her husband is the author, isn't he?" Grace remembered. "We'll +have a chance to see how he writes all his funny books." + +"'Fraid not," said Cleo, "Uncle Guy is away. We are going to have +everything to ourselves but his study. You can be sure that's all +locked up. But look! See that queer woman dressed like a gypsy! See +her going along by the hedge! What--do you suppose she is looking for?" + +"Early dandelions, perhaps," ventured Mrs. Harris, who had overheard +the question as she stopped in her luggage directions to Collins. + +"But she isn't like a gypsy either," Cleo insisted. "Look at the lace +head dress!" + +"And the girl with her," interposed Grace. "My, but she's dressed +queer, too. Looks like something from the stage or movies." + +The old woman and child had now come up to the big gateway, where the +touring car was parked awaiting the exit of another motor that happened +to be standing in the Dunbar driveway. As the strange little girl +gazed at the tourists she dropped something--a book--and the woman with +her, evidently a caretaker, shook her violently at the trivial accident. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Grace. "How rough, just for dropping a book!" + +"But look! how that girl stares!" whispered Madaline. "As if she +couldn't get her eyes off us." + +"Isn't the girl pretty," commented Cleo. The tourists were now gazing +with fascinated interest at the old woman in her remarkable garb, and +the brown-haired child, with the strange, glaring eyes, that seemed to +affix themselves on the three scout girls. Altogether she seemed quite +unlike other children. Her heavy brown braids hung over her shoulders +like a picture of Marguerite in the opera, while her white gauzy dress +was banded around with rows of black velvet, just like the artistic +costumes worn in Greek plays. This style on so young a child gave a +very stagy and quaint effect. She, like the woman, had a piece of lace +on her head, but the one was white, the other black. + +"See, they have been gathering flowers," decided Cleo, and at that +moment the woman picked up the book, and attempted to drag the child +away in spite of the latter's very evident desire to stare longer at +the faces in the big touring car. "I should like to know where they +live. We must find out if Aunt Audrey knows them." + +"Can't get at my note book," remarked Grace, as Collins started in the +drive, "but I am sure not to forget that girl." + +"Nor the old woman," added Madaline. "I shouldn't want her for a +nurse." And the last glimpse of the strangers showed the child still +dragging behind the woman. + +The excitement of arriving at Cragsnook, with its joys of new-found +interest, however, soon erased the picture of the pathetic little child +and her caretaker from the minds of the three scouts, and when next +morning Mrs. Harris bade them good-by and started back to New York, she +had no idea what part that first incident of their arrival would play +in the children's vacation at Bellaire. In the care of Mrs. Guy +Dunbar, otherwise Audrey Harris, sister to Cleo's father, the girls +were indeed well placed and safely established, but Bellaire, being a +mountain town near New York, possessed many possibilities for +exploration, and at this delightful task the girls determined to set +out promptly, for even vacation is not interminable. + +"You may roam as far as you like," Aunt Audrey told them next morning, +when the call of summer fairly shouted in each pair of expectant ears. +"The girls next door, Lucille and Lalia, are coming over to meet you, +and they will show you all the roads, and ways to get lost and found +in." + +"But, Aunt Audrey," began Cleo, "we saw the queerest woman yesterday +just as we arrived. She was dressed like--well, like a circus person, +and she had a little girl with her who just looked scared to death. Do +you know who she could be?" + +Aunt Audrey burst into a musical laugh. "Many Bellairites dress like +circus folks," she answered. "In fact Uncle Guy often charges me with +that sort of thing. But what was the special offense of your circus +lady? What did she look like particularly?" + +"Oh, she wore a black lace scarf on her head, and had some sort of big +flowered skirt, and a waist with sleeves like airships. Then the +little girl looked like a Greek dancer, and seemed scared to death," +illustrated Cleo. + +"I don't happen to place that piece of scenery," replied Mrs. Dunbar +facetiously, "but if you see her again, and I'm within call, give me a +whistle, and I'll report for inspection duty. You know I do quite a +bit of painting, and I might like to have a model of that sort. I am +sure old Sophia (or is she Azirah?) would fill in beautifully on an oil +I am making of yon mountain," with a hand wave in the direction of the +gray hills looming in hazy tints and shadowy glows against the early +morning sky. Mrs. Dunbar was a beautiful woman, just young enough, +rompish enough, and wise enough to get a very good time out of life, +and pass some of the pleasure on. With her ashen blonde hair and very +deep blue eyes, she looked like a "piece of scenery" herself, as she +fluttered about the breakfast room--which was a porch opening from the +dining-room, while she made her young visitors happy with her charming +grace and genial hospitality. + +Grace and Madaline were fascinated by the artistic arrangements of the +Dunbar home, but with one member an author and the other a painter, +surely unusual taste and effect were to be expected. + +"What wonderful plants and vines, and how early for them to be +so--profuse!" Grace felt safe in remarking, growing things always +seeming exempt from the rule against remarks and criticism. + +"Yes, we have a patent hot-house," replied Mrs. Dunbar, "and it works +better than the big one out at the garage. You see, Jennie, our cook, +is an old fashioned Jersey woman, and she is resourceful, I must admit. +See that little shed made of boxes against the kitchen window? Well, +Jennie does all her winter gardening in that, heats and irrigates it +directly from the kitchen. She claims the steam of cooking is the very +best propagator, and we all have to agree with her. Just see the sweet +potato vine and the peanuts. Don't they look like the very finest +ivies?" + +The girls examined the fine growing tendrils that climbed so gracefully +from a tiny brick wall, just edging the breakfast room. The "wall" was +composed of white tile bricks, and the soft green vines, tumbling over +the edges, and capering up on the window ledges, made an effect at once +free and conventional. + +"Peanuts and sweet potatoes!" exclaimed Madaline. "Who would think +they grew such beautiful, soft green vines!" + +"I'll leave Cleo to show you about," announced Mrs. Dunbar. "I'm going +to a town meeting this morning. We are working for a circulating +library, to give reading to the people tied up in the hills. You see +stretched out there, over the golf links as far as you can see, are +farmers' homes. The folks are always so busy, and always so tired, +they very seldom get to our pretty library, so we can see no good +reason why we can't send our library put to them by motor. And you +youngsters will be interested in knowing this plan includes Girl Scouts +and Boy Scouts as distributors. Help yourselves to investigating," she +concluded, snatching up her white sailor hat and jabbing it on her head +with a most determined if a bit reckless slam. "I'm off till lunch, +one thirty, you know. Have a nice time," and Audrey Dunbar was off to +tackle the novel project of a traveling library for New Jersey farmers. + +Left to themselves the girls literally broke loose, and it was not +surprising that Jennie should leave her work more than once, to watch +surreptitiously, lest some of her choice baby begonias, set out in +their tiny and perishable hand painted pots, come to grief in the +rampage of the romping girls. + +"Good to populate this big house," commented Jennie, "but swoopy to +start out with." At the same time Jennie smiled approvingly as she +stopped to watch the three girls run from vase to picture, and from +curios to brasses, in their tour of inspection through the artistic +home of Guy and Audrey Dunbar. Just now all three chums were squatted +on a beautiful old blue Chinese rug, noses almost buried in the silky +fiber, each declaring the tones were different blues from those +discovered by the other. + +A tap-tap of the brass knocker on the "pig-door" off the side porch +announced the callers, Lalia and Lucille Hayden, and brought the scout +girls up from their rug inspection. + +Having met their neighbors the evening previous, the three visitors +were soon ready to join them in the proposed tramp over Second Mountain. + +"Our violets are just violeting," began Lucille, a jolly little girl +who looked like a Japanese doll, with her glossy hair all drawn back in +the ultra fashioned style, quite novel to the girls from Pennsylvania. +"And there's no end of bunnies, if you like them," she went on, +"although I must confess a rabbit or a rat is apt to make me jump at +any time. Some of the boys from the academy are in the cross-country +run, and they're due over the Ridge this morning. We may get a chance +to cheer them if we hurry along," she finished. + +No need to urge the girl scouts toward that prospective goal, and a few +minutes later the mountain paths registered the first steps in the +vacation days of the True Tred Girls. + +And the path trodden pointed the way to strange adventures--strange +even for such experienced hikers as were the visiting girl scouts. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BROKEN MARATHON + +"Cheers! Joy! Also thrills!" called Lalia, from her lookout on top of +a big green rock. "There come the boys! See their red shirts!" + +"Oh, yes," agreed her sister, almost pushing her off the big bowlder in +an attempt to get the desired view. "Sure enough. Come on, girls. +Slide down the rocks on that side and we'll just about meet their line! +Oh! there's Bob Bennet, I know his red head; and Andy MacMurry, I know +his biplane arms. See them swing!" and Lucille all but lost her +balance on the steep down grade, in her attempt to imitate the +dauntless Andy, who was just then making famous strides toward the golf +links, in the last lap of the Academic Cross Country run. + +Along the line of contestants for honors were five boys in all, +representing the survival of the fittest in the Spring Sporting Event. +Two red shirts were easily distinguishable, as representing the home +team, and as these were none other than Bob Bennet and Andy MacMurry +mentioned by Lucille, the girls' interest immediately centered in the +flying red specks, moving along the great, green golf links like some +animated brightly painted automatons. Heads back, chests out, feet +scarcely seeming to move, the two red figures were keeping well up with +those in gray, and the others in yellow. + +"Andy's winning!" shouted Grace, who had quickly made distant +acquaintance with the lightsome runner. + +"No, it's Bob!" insisted Lucille. "See his red head like a torch +bearer?" + +"I think Grace is right," corrected Lalia. "That's Andy--see the arms +swing!" + +"If we could only get over to the club house to see the finish," +suggested Lucille. "Oh, there are the Morgans in their car! They will +give us a lift. Come on, girls, we can get to the avenue before they +pass down," and giving an extra spurt to their already overstrained +runners, the girls vied with the real contestants in the honors of +marathon. + +No need to ask for the lift in the Morgan car, for it seemed all +Bellaire was making for the club house to see the finish of the Cross +Country Run, and the girls piled on the big car exactly as girls do, +when coming and going, to and from the ocean, in the height of bathing +season. + +"If our boys only hold out!" breathed Lalia. "We'll have the loveliest +time at the club house, all our crowd are invited, and we may take our +guests, of course," indicating the three visitors who were quite as +eagerly interested in the race as were the local members of the party. + +"We are starting pretty well," remarked Cleo, holding tightly to her +support on the side of the auto. "We didn't expect to fall into a race +first day!" + +"Oh, vacation is always one grand frolic out here," responded Lucille, +"and we always like to make a good start. Here we are," as the car +followed the long line of autos threading their way in to the driveway, +leading to the big, crowded club house on the emerald golf links. + +By this time the runners were almost on their last lap, and cheering +and shouting made the air vibrant with the joy of youth and the glory +of healthful sport. + +"Andy! Andy! Come on, Andy!" yelled the crowd. + +"At-a-boy! At-a-boy!" came the shouts of youngsters who seemed to be +suspended in the air, hanging on to everything they could grasp, with +reckless risk to life and limb. + +The club house orchestra had stopped its entertaining tunes, for guests +cared no more for music, the scholaristic runs being of more than usual +importance in deciding the season's championship. + +"Bob! Go it, Bob!" went up a newly invigorated yell, as the runners +turned from the broad field into a narrow stretch, that was outlined by +the "tape" or finishing line. + +"Oh!" screamed Cleo suddenly. "Look! That girl is directly in the +way!" and just as she spoke the figure of a girl was seen to dart from +somewhere directly into the first runner's path. She had raised her +slim arms as if to stop him, and in the surprise of her sudden +appearance Andy, who was well in the lead, stopped, staggered and then +toppled over in a heap! + +Instantly everything was in wild confusion. The crowds closed in +around the finishing runners, so that from the cars or club house it +was impossible to see more than a solid mass of persons. + +"Is he dead?" boys were asking. + +"Who was the ghost?" demanded others. + +"She ought to be shot," insisted some of the academy boys. + +"It was bad enough, to be on the last lap, but to have a ghost shoot +out like that would finish any fellow's heart," declared the boy at +Cleo's ear. "I hope they teach her a lesson." + +"Grace!" Madaline exclaimed. "Did you see that dress? It was the same +we saw on the queer girl who stared at us so! Maybe--she's crazy or +something. I'm sure I could tell that was the same white dress with +the black winders." + +"Yes," declared Cleo to the other girls, "we saw her yesterday, and she +was with the oddest-looking woman." + +"Oh, I'll bet she's the girl they call Mary! Lives somewhere in the +mountain, and has that funny old woman with her!" declared Lucille. +"If she isn't crazy she's very queer. And however did she get in that +line without being seen?" + +"Why, she just jumped from behind the hedge," said Angela Morgan, who +was driving the car slowly out of the heavy traffic, "and I have seen +her with that foreign woman down by the springs, always hunting +flowers. They are a queer pair." + +"Do you think the crowd will be rough with her?" asked Cleo anxiously. +"I never saw such eyes as that child looked out of. Like eyes that +looked and couldn't see, sort of dazed," explained Cleo. + +"Well, we can't hear who won or what happened until some of the crowd +passes out," said Lalia, "If Bob or Andy didn't win I'll be just sick +in bed." + +"And if anything happened to that queer little girl I'll have more than +a mere collapse," added Madaline, who had been almost a silent +spectator of the whole proceedings. + +Just then there was a break in the line of cars, and directly in front +of the Morgan machine dashed the little girl in her white dress, her +two big braids flopping up and down on her slight shoulders. + +And before anyone could reach the roadway, she had again slipped behind +the dense hedge and was lost to view. + +"Well, I never!" gasped Cleo. + +"We'll have to find that woodland fairy some day," declared Lucille, +and just then they heard that Bob had won the race. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE EAGLE'S FEATHER + +It took but a few days for the visitors to become so well acquainted in +their surroundings that even the generous assistance of Lalia and +Lucille was no longer necessary at "the steering wheel." The diversity +of scenery in Bellaire furnished such a contrast to that of Flosston +that every day unfolded new wonders, and more interesting exploits. + +But it was the mystery of the queer little girl, who frightened Andy +MacMurry out of his race, and who had met the girls on their arrival in +Bellaire, that furnished the real peak to their mountain interest and +adventure. They were determined to hunt her out and unravel the +mystery. + +"The strange part of it is," said Cleo, as she and her chums were +making a schedule for next day in the faithful little note books +provided by Madaline at the beginning of their trip, "the very queer +part of it is," she continued, "how the girl pops out of nowhere at +almost any time, and she seems to disappear just when one thinks she is +well within reach." + +"Yes," added Grace, "I heard the drug store boy say this morning that a +girl named Mary from Second Mountain was getting medicines without +leaving any name, and under the new law some drugs, not poisons either, +have to be signed for. And Dave, that's the druggist's name, said he +supposed now she wouldn't come any more, because when he told her that, +she gave him a look like a scared owl. I guess he means an owl looks +without seeing, because that's the way our mystery girl looks." + +"But she isn't blind," commented Cleo, "for I saw her look straight at +us the day we came." + +"And now, because we are determined to run her down I suppose it will +be ages before we get a glimpse of her again," Grace complained, +impatient for the promised excitement. "I asked the druggist if he +knew her, and he laughed sort of queer, and said someone in the family +must be a root and herb fiend, for she bought the queerest old dried +roots and foreign herbs, that no one else ever called for. They even +had to send to New York to get some of her orders filled. What do you +suppose anyone wants old dried up roots for?" + +"You can well guess that old Turkish woman, or whatever she is, can do +woozy things with 'yarbs,'" said Cleo, giving the provincial +pronunciation to the word "herbs." Then they noted the chime in the +hall calling the hour for lights out, and consequently folded their +note books to comply with the rules. "But just suppose she is feeding +them to Mary! Oh, maybe that's what's the matter with her!" and Cleo +bounced from the divan over to the desk to make one last note in the +day's records. "There! I shall be sure to remember it was I +who--originated that. I'm sure it is going to be part of our plot!" + +"And I guess," ventured Grace, "that they get the roots--for--well, for +hair tonic," she floundered. "Roots ought to be good for bald heads!" + +"Hair roots would be, of course," put in Madaline, excusing a yawn, +"but I never saw them advertised." + +"When I go in business I shall advertise real hair roots, planted on +bald heads. Satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded," quoted Grace. + +"Anyone may have marvelous hair by applying Madame Gracia's hair +roots," added Cleo. "Just rub it on and watch it sprout! Well, we +will go over Second Mountain to-morrow morning, as Aunt Audrey is away, +and we will be left entirely to ourselves. But I must not forget very +first thing to write to mother. You know she and dad are going West +next week, and I may spend the entire summer with Aunt Audrey. You +girls are to stay as long as you like, for Flosston Mill magnates, +including both your fathers, may have to come to New York for +headquarters, and then all our families will leave Pennsylvania." + +"Isn't that glorious!" Grace exclaimed. "I think it's a perfectly +splendid idea to have all our dads in the one firm. They can't do +anything to separate us," and she gave Cleo an appreciative hug. + +"Don't forget to dress in uniform to-morrow," Cleo reminded her chums. +"We have had enough vacation from scouting I think. I'm really sick +for my old, practical self." + +"Well, I renew my pledge every day, of course," Madaline declared. +"But I do feel lonely for my nice, tidy uniform. Do you suppose we +shall attract attention around here?" + +"No, indeed," answered Cleo. "I saw a group of girls yesterday in +scout uniform. I suppose there is a troop here. But we don't have to +look it up unless we get still more lonely. Well, good night, girlies. +I am going to try the new dream pillow. Isn't it darling?" and she +pressed her cheek to the tiny heart-shaped down pillow, with its +embroidered motto case, the latest remembrance from her loving mother. + +"We might make them for gifts," remarked Grace. "I think them too +sweet for words!" + +"And that perfume is--orchid, isn't it?" asked Madaline. "It is too +delicate for anything else." + +"Yes, momsey likes orchid, and dad buys it, so I guess that's her +sachet. Good-night again, girls, and to-morrow we go hunting our +wood-nymph; and, girls," with a premonitory perk of her shapely head, +"be sure to lock your window because it is right off the porch roof, +and with Aunt Audrey away, we can't be sure of old Michael's police +ability." + +"Oh, Cleo," gulped Madaline, who, being dimply, always seemed the baby +of the trio, "do you think anyone would climb up the post poles?" + +"No, certainly not, silly," replied Cleo with a show of scorn, "but you +see, I must share the responsibility when Aunt Audrey is away, and it +is always best to keep windows directly off low roofs locked. Then, if +anyone should try to get in we would be sure to hear them. Run away +now, and try on your new Billie Burkes. Maybe I'll come in and inspect +them when I get myself ready." + +The low mountain house presently echoed with the girls' laughter, for +indulging in their usual propensity to prolong recreation, a +dressing-up contest was crowded in the hour of undressing. Billie +Burks and boudoir caps, under long capes and wild draperies, furnished +equipment adequate and ridiculous, so that even Jennie, who was dragged +from her mending out to the second hall to serve as audience, found +herself laughing foolishly at the girl scouts' antics. + +Cleo impersonated "Walla-Hoola," with a string of twenty neckties +(borrowed from Uncle Guy's room) dangling around her waist, over a +combination of pink crêpe and bluebird pajamas. At the back of her +neck, in savage glee, was propped the piano feather duster, the same +being somewhat supported by another necktie of Kelly green hue, that +banded her classic brow. + +Madaline "tried on" Circe, all swathed up in a billowy white mosquito +netting, that might never again be used as a bed canopy. She found her +"rock" on a third floor landing, and clung frantically to the stairs +post, while the wild sea of perfectly good oak steps dashed savagely at +her uncovered toes. She also pink-pinked Cleo's ukelele, according to +Circean traditions. + +Grace rolled around the floor in the ocean waves--the lost soul who was +to be saved by someone, anyone would do, so far as Grace was concerned. +All she had to worry about apparently was the roll. Had she been a +little older, and just a little more rotund, one might have suspected +her indulging in a treatment; but it required, finally, the combined +strength of Cleo and Jennie to extricate the "lost soul" from the +meshes into which that roll and a couple of fine silkoline quilts had +engulfed her. + +"Mrs. Dunbar wouldn't like to have the quilts soiled," interposed +Jennie wisely, "and now, girls, dear, do run along to bed. You've had +a fine time, and I enjoyed the show first rate." + +"Thank you, Jennie!" panted Grace, crawling out of her cocoon like a +human caterpillar. "We had a lovely time also. And, Jennie, will you +please be sure to leave your door open? Michael may be a very sound +sleeper, and you know we all have to be on guard to-night." + +"Indeed, Grace, not a step could come up that gravel path, or through +the grass itself, but I would hear it"--Jennie was proud of her +nocturnally acute sense of sound, or suspicion of mere noises--"and you +may sleep sound as Michael himself, for nothing will come near this +lodge unbeknownst to Jennie Marlow." + +"That's a good Jennie," Cleo patted the trusted servant, "and if I hear +even the tiniest bit of a noise, like a chipmunk, or a tree toad, you +can expect me to come pouncing into your nice big feather bed." + +"And leave us!" protested Madaline, who was no longer the entrancing +Circe. + +"There'll be room for all of you, crosswise, like our old buckboard," +Jennie assured them once more, and this time the "good-night" was +allowed to take effect. + +A half hour later Cragsnook was snuggled in the stillness of a +beautifully soft night, pillowed against the Jersey mountains, and +cradled in the sweet scented foliage of giant tulip trees and ambitious +beeches. The trees at night seemed unfathomable, and this denseness +increased the darkness and magnified the shadows. + +But the three girl scouts under Jennie Marlow's protection, slept and +dreamed of their next day's quest in search of Mary, the phantom wood +nymph, or Mary the fleet-footed maid of Second Mountain. + +She must surely live somewhere between Bellaire and that mountain, +beyond which the girls had no definite idea of territory. A pretty +lake formed the boundary, and up to that line they had planned their +search. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ON THE TRAIL + +After all their preparations for burglars or other scary visitors, it +was rather disappointing to come down to breakfast next morning just as +calm and complaisant as usual; in fact it was calmer, for the absence +of Aunt Audrey was readily felt in something like loneliness. Madaline +was even threatened with a fit of homesickness. + +Jennie brought the muffins, and it struck Cleo she was quieter than +usual. A snappy "good morning" in that tone that implies "eat in a +hurry and clear out," added another note to the already discordantly +charged atmosphere. + +"Do you know, girls," announced Grace, pushing aside her grapefruit, "I +feel exactly as if something were surely going to happen to-day." + +"So do I," spoke up Cleo; "I feel as if a nice early hike over the big +gray mountain is going to happen, and I am sure of it." + +"But I mean something odd and queer," insisted Grace. + +"Did you feel that way the day you tied the man to the tree?" teased +Cleo. + +"If you did, I'm not going out with you," spoke up Madaline, +disregarding table manners to the extent of making a pyramid from her +yellow muffin crumbs. "I feel awfully queer, too, and I'm not going to +take a risk with Grace, if she's going to be reckless." + +"Can't see why you should fear me, Madie." Then noticing the homesick +look on the usually dimpling face, Grace "broke out," as Cleo called +her spells of exhilaration. "I'll tell you," offered Grace. "We'll +take our mountain sticks, loaded water pistols, and I have Benny's air +gun, and we'll go hunting. Of course we wouldn't really shoot bunnies, +but--we'll shoo them. Andy Mack told me yesterday the woods are just +full of all kinds of young hunters now, but they are mostly from the +city, and after flowers. You can take a bag or a basket, Madaline, to +carry home your precious roots in, because you know what a time we +always have spoiling our hats that way." + +Madaline gave a wan little smile, for her, and then surprised her chums +with declaring she believed she would stay home and help Jennie +transplant some lettuce, as she loved to do transplanting. + +Whether or not the remark was overheard in the kitchen, Jennie swung +open the door as Madaline finished speaking, and as she confronted the +girls there was no mistaking the look on her closely lined face. + +Jennie was mad! + +"Lettuce!" she repeated. "Indeed we have none to transplant. My +beautiful bed is entirely destroyed!" + +"Oh, how?" exclaimed the girls. + +"I don't know," replied the maid, still seething with indignation, "but +I'm likely to think it wasn't a mountain rabbit that did the damage, +for the plants were yanked up by the roots, and bunnies just nibble the +tops!" + +"Oh, that's such a shame!" declared Cleo, "and you were counting on +having it just right when Uncle Guy returns. Who would do that?" + +"Well, there's some awful queer folks around here lately," went on +Jennie, as she slipped the breakfast dishes on the tray. "They don't +know anything about folks' rights. Think everything growing is common +property. There's one old woman who pretends she doesn't understand me +when I tell her to stop digging in the lawn, and what she digs is +nothing but old roots and weed stuff," and Jennie threw back her +shoulders, assuming an attitude of righteous indignation. + +"What kind of looking woman is she?" asked Cleo, thinking, of course, +of the queer woman in the foreign costume. + +"She looks like a circus parade," Jennie declared, "but she's no more +circus than I am. It's lots easier to hide mistakes when one pretends +she's foreign and doesn't understand." + +"And has she a little girl with her?" questioned Grace. Even Madaline +was interested now. + +"Yes, poor child. A half-scared-to-death little thing, that runs like +a bunnie if you speak to her," replied the maid. + +"That's just whom we are looking for," declared Cleo. "We saw them the +day we came, and felt that the little girl needed friends. Then at the +Cross Country Run the other day she almost knocked Andy Mack down; she +jumped out so suddenly just as he turned into the last lap. She is +crazy, I think," finished Cleo. + +"Then, I'm not going to hunt her," declared Madaline, "crazy folks are +dangerous." + +Jennie laughed at their expressed fears. "That child isn't crazy," she +declared, "but it's a wonder she isn't, with that old woman tagging +around. Well, I don't suppose she stole my lettuce, but I'm going to +watch out for people on these grounds after this," and Jennie swung +herself through the double acting door with such energy, the portal +made a swift return trip on its hinges. + +"There's some connection between buying roots in the drug store, +digging roots from the lawns, and--maybe she took the lettuce," figured +Cleo. + +"Oh, come on," implored Grace. "I'm sure we will find that little +fairy out to-day, and I promise you, Madie, I won't do anything rash. +Come along, there's a dear," and Grace slipped her arms around the girl +who threatened to come down with a fit of lonesomeness. "Come on, +maybe we'll meet Andy's little brother." + +"I'll go, not on account of the little brother though," quickly +explained Madaline, to forestall a laugh. + +But it was the little brother, Malcolm by name and Mally by adoption, +who "happened to meet" the girls, just under the mountain. + +"Where y'u goin'?" he inquired, winding up his kite string, regardless +of the trees between the kite and his hand. + +"Hunting," answered Grace. "Want to come?" + +"Huntin' what?" asked Mally. + +"We're not sure, but we'll take anything we can find, even little +boys!" teased Cleo. + +"Oh, will you!" Mally fired back. "You don't have to. Say, Madaline, +I know where there's some Jack-in-the-Pulpits," he added, sidling up to +Madaline. "The kind you were looking for the other day. Jack Hagan is +going to meet me over by the creek at ten, and if you girls want to +come along I'll show you where to hunt things." + +"No bears?" protested Cleo. + +"Well, there's weasles and mink in that creek, and you'd think they +were bears if one of those grabbed you," Mally declared. + +"Lead the way!" ordered Grace, mounting her staff on her shoulder, and +the little hunters started off. + +"Say, Mally," began Cleo, as they struck a clearance in the otherwise +tangled brush and bramble path, "do you ever see a little girl who has +big long braids, and never wears a hat?" + +"Sure," replied the boy. "That's Mary. Her old granddad's a nut." + +"Has she a granddad?" Cleo followed. "I knew it. A girl like that +always has. Where do they live?" + +"Don't you know? Huh!" Mally answered scornfully. "Thought everybody +knew old Doc Benson. He's a nut on flowers and growin' things." + +"But where does he live? Could we go near his house?" Grace asked +eagerly. + +"If the old lady doesn't chase you," replied the boy, making a running +jump over a huge stone, one of the many bowlder rocks that continually +roll down the mountain. + +"Suppose she does. She can't hurt us, can she?" pursued Cleo. + +"One of the fellows said she hurt him all right," declared Mally. "She +shook him 'til he lost all his marbles. Hey, Jack!" he yelled, cupping +his hands to his red lips. "Here we are, over near the swamp!" + +Jack evidently spied his chum at that moment, for although tall brush +obstructed his view of the hunters, he answered with a "Whoo-hoo," and +ran along in their direction. It took but a few moments for him to +reach the party. + +"I'm late," he apologized, his grin and freckles supplying real local +color to the dramatic statement. "Had to dig a big fern root for Mary." + +"Oh, for our Mary--the queer Mary?" exclaimed Grace. + +"They call her Maid Mary," went on Jack, "but she ain't big enough to +be no maid. She couldn't cook nor nuthin'." + +"Maid Mary!" repeated Cleo. "That's awfully romantic. Wherever did +she get the maid tacked on?" + +"That's her name," insisted Jack. "She al'lus says it is, when you ask +her." + +"But where is she now? We want to see her," said Grace. + +"Come along then and I'll show you where she's diggin'. She's al'lus +diggin' roots." + +Now, all keyed up, and plainly excited that Jack and Mally should lead +them so readily to their quarry, the girls followed the boys in +silence--the boys, however, did plenty of talking to fill in the +breach. They evidently cared less for Maid Mary than they did for +"Sunnies," and as the creek was their hunting ground for the wily +little fish and they were now going away from the pools and puddles +that ran and swelled into the creek, both lads were inclined to travel +faster than even scout girls could follow over the rough hills. + +"There she is!" exclaimed Mally, pointing to a white speck in a green +field. "Better run up quiet or she'll dash off like a deer," and +making some mysterious sign to Jack, the erstwhile pathfinders darted +off themselves toward their clew. + +"There she is," repeated Grace, "and as brother Benny would say, Now it +is up to us!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A LITTLE MAID IN CLOVER + +"Do hurry, Madie, she may run away!" warned Cleo. They were hurrying +indeed, and the request seemed superfluous, for never did three girls +make more haste in crossing that stretch of meadow. In fact Grace and +Cleo were running, and now Madaline jumped to their pace. + +"Do you think maybe they keep goats?" the latter managed to ask, and in +spite of their serious haste both Cleo and Grace shouted in laughter. + +"Goats!" they both exclaimed. + +"Because if they do I'm not going near the old place. I'm awfully +afraid of goats and geese." + +"Because you're so nice and fat!" teased Cleo. "You're afraid they'll +take you for--for sausage. But--here we are! Don't let us frighten +the child," and her voice was now lowered to a whisper. + +The little girl, with the long brown braids, sat in a bed of beautiful +pink clover, and with her back to the intruders she had not yet sensed +their approach. As before, she wore a white dress and no hat. + +"Hello!" spoke Grace cautiously. + +She sprang up, but Cleo placed her hand kindly on the basket of ferns +and clovers. + +"Oh, don't go!" pleaded Cleo. "We want to talk to you." + +"But I can't," faltered the child, and the rich cultured tone betrayed +her good breeding. In fact she used the long "a" in can't and the +girls at once decided she was English. + +"Oh, why not?" Cleo followed up quickly. "Don't you want to know us? +We are strangers here." + +"I should love to know you," the girl replied, and the tanned skin was +suffused with a conscious blush, "but I am not permitted to make +friends." + +"But we are Girl Scouts," argued Grace, assuming her most cajoling air, +"and we are supposed to make friends with everybody," she finished. +Grace tactfully fondled a beautiful spray of clover that was making its +way out of Mary's basket. This action evidently pleased the child, for +she smiled, and handed the spray over to its admirer. + +"I have read of Girl Scouts," answered the stranger, "and if only +granddaddy would allow me what a wonderful time we could have! Do you +all gather flowers in nature study, as your books say you should?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed we do," replied Cleo heartily. "Do sit down on this +little mound where you were when we came along, and let us have a nice +quiet talk. No one is near to hear us!" + +At that the strange girl glanced furtively toward a clump of blackberry +bushes and put her finger to her lips. + +"Reda is there, my nurse, you know, and she is very strict. I could +win granddaddy over only for her," and the deep-set eyes seemed to +freeze over in that glassy stare the girls had noticed before. + +"Quick, tell us, where do you live? May we go to your house? Perhaps +your grandfather would like us?" Cleo was crowding her questions, lest +the woman called Reda should suddenly pounce upon them. + +"Perhaps," said the girl, now so dreamy and vague the girls almost felt +helpless to pursue their mission. + +"Do tell us where, please!" pleaded Grace, watching the bushes swish +back from the place she felt Reda was concealed in. + +"By the big twin chestnuts," replied the child. + +"What is your name?" asked Cleo eagerly. + +"Maid Mary!" again came an answer, but the little stranger was now +moving off in spite of all the efforts being made to detain her. +Madaline was almost too far away to take part in the conversation, she +was plainly afraid of the woman in the bushes. + +"What is the rest of your name--Mary what?" insisted Grace. + +"Reda says it is only Maid Mary, but I know the rest of it, and some +day I am going to tell it!" flashed the child with a sudden blaze of +defiance. + +"Where are the twin chestnuts?" asked Cleo, determined not to thus +leave the clew they had so eagerly sought. + +"Over the mountain by the lake," replied Mary, and "Good-by," she +almost sobbed. "I love you! There!" she cried, springing over the +little stream at their feet, just as the unwelcome figure of old Reda +emerged from the blackberry patch. + +The girls stood staring at the fleeing child. They saw the old women +put her hand up to shade her eyes, that she might better see who they +were, for undoubtedly she suspected Mary had spoken to them. Then Cleo +whispered to Grace: + +"Make believe picking something! Don't let her see us looking." + +"Here are some more!" called Grace loudly to Madaline, waving a bunch +of quickly gathered daisies and clover. "Wait a minute, and see this +one." + +The call was given to throw the old woman off the track, and give her +the impression that nothing more than flower gathering had been their +intent. + +Madaline appeared glad enough to see Grace and Cleo coming toward her, +for at that very moment she had decided to run. + +"Can you see what--the old woman is doing?" Grace asked Cleo. "Don't +look--back--directly but stop to pick up something, then you can see." + +"She must be scolding," replied Cleo, "for she's wagging her head, and +shaking her old brown fist. Dear me, how I hated to let her swallow up +that lovely girl. Do you suppose we can ever rescue her?" + +"Do I?" flaunted Grace. "I just can't wait to get at that rescuing. I +guess all our scouting will have to come back to a S.O.S., for never +was there a clearer case of need than this. That hateful old woman has +the child hoodooed, or hypnotized, or flimflammed," she declared, +giving a wide choice of active transitive verbs for Cleo to choose from. + +"But isn't the girl a darling?" enthused Cleo. "I could just love her +like a picture in a book. And she said she loved us! Wasn't that +quaint!" + +"Oh, Madaline! You missed it!" Grace charged the girl who was too +timid to interview Maid Mary. "We are going to find her house. And +she's just _wonderful_." This last was pronounced with that effusion +peculiar to the modern use of the word "wonderful." Nothing could +possibly be more or at least so superlative. + +"Why didn't you lasso the old woman?" teased Madaline, referring to the +trick Grace played on another occasion told in our first volume. + +"I would have, only you were too far away to pull the rope!" fired back +Grace. Nevertheless her tone implied she would not stop at rope or +swing, if she found such a feat necessary in the rescue of Maid Mary. + +"What a queer name--Reda," Cleo reflected, when once again they started +over the rough road toward Cragsnook. "It ought to be pronounced as it +is spelled instead of 'ree'--she looks red enough in that blazing +outfit." + +"But what a pretty accent the girl used," remarked Grace. "Do you +suppose she's English?" + +"Maybe from Boston," suggested Cleo, "but the old woman, I should +judge, is a native of the whole geography, well beaten with an oceanic +egg beater, or if not that conglomeration, I should guess she owned an +entire island in the wildest ocean, where there were nothing but +ship-wrecked rummage sails and old crow squaks." + +"That's bad enough, anyway," commented Madaline, who seemed a trifle +out of the picture, "and I think she is all of that and more." + +"Just you watch the True-Treds make for the twin chestnuts!" orated +Cleo. "Old Lady Reda had better look out for her lace sun bonnet and +flowered petticoat. They may get mixed up in the shuffle." + +"How about grandpop?" asked Grace. "What do you propose to do with +him?" + +"Smother him in his 'yarbs' and roots," pronounced Cleo dramatically, +and when they entered the path to Cragsnook, busy brains were +concocting marvelously daring schemes to bring about the rescue of Maid +Mary. + +"Do you think your Aunt Audrey will mind?" questioned Madaline, always +sure to find an alibi for anything too risky. + +"No, indeed," stoutly declared Cleo. "I shouldn't wonder but she would +want to adopt Maid Mary for a model, with those Marguerite braids, and +her far-away eyes. Oh, isn't it too exciting? Do you think we need +tell Jennie?" + +"I--wouldn't," replied Grace, fully conscious such a risk was not to be +even thought of. + +Madaline was a nice little fat dimply girl, and no one could blame her +for not wanting to run from horrid old women up on mountain tops, +nevertheless she had never failed in her own peculiar way of performing +scout duties, and even the braver girls loved her baby ways of +accomplishing the tasks. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WITHIN A MOUNTAIN CAVE + +Mrs. Dunbar was busy in New York, taking an active part in an art +convention, nevertheless she made a flying trip out to Cragsnook that +afternoon, to make sure her young guests were happy and well. Being +real girls and therefore pardonably human, in telling their adventure, +the scouts did not enlarge on their meeting with Maid Mary; in fact the +detail involving the displeasure of Reda, the old nurse, was quite +lightly passed over in their account of the day as made to the hostess. + +Mrs. Dunbar enjoyed the joke perpetrated by Madaline, in her suspicion +of a possible goat farm being tucked away in the mountains, thence Maid +Mary and the pompous Reda were wont to lug the roots; at the same time +she felt unequal to a better guess at the puzzle, for it was now +conspicuously clear that roots, all kinds of roots, were being gathered +continuously by the little girl and her picturesque attendant. + +The three visitors and Mrs. Dunbar were enjoying a refreshing west wind +on the square porch, outside the library window, for their confab, and +in their summer uniforms the girls made a picture not wasted on the +artistic eye of Audrey Harris Dunbar. + +"I can truthfully report," she remarked, smiling graciously and +betraying considerable of her own good looks, "that you three little +girls are already much improved by your visit. I have to make out a +blanket statement, as we say in club work, when we make one report +cover a number of items, and I would just like to illustrate that +statement with a color picture of you girls. You are positively rosy." + +The compliment was plainly merited, for Madaline and, Grace had taken +on a generous coating of tan and color, and even Cleo's usually pale +face was prettily suffused with a shell-pink glow, which brightened her +gray eyes, and enhanced the attractive effect of a face all but plain, +too keenly intelligent to be overlooked in beauty. + +"We all feel better for getting back in service," Cleo replied to her +aunt's favorable criticism. "I guess even vacation needs a little duty +to keep the play part happily outlined." + +"Yes, little niece, you show your daddy's wisdom there, and of course +that means you are very like me," with a swoop of her graceful arm +coming up to the breast in mock dramatic fashion. "I always knew +brother Kimball and I were very much alike, and now I am positive. Of +course Kim aimed to be practical, and he has succeeded, while I--just +slosh around in my paints. But really, children, I must be off again +to that convention. I suppose we will plan to make interior +decorations in mural designs around the Capitol dome, to give +neighborly effect to our friends in Mars or Saturn or even Venus. Now +be good," and she embraced all three with her affectionate smile, "go +hunting if you like, but better take Lucille or Lalia along. They are +older, you know, and should be wiser, although you have quite +astonished me with your applied good sense thus far. I shall send a +be-ee-u-tiful report to Flosston. You know, of course, the factory is +moving headquarters to New York, and all your families may tour this +way eventually. By-by! I hate to go, but I can't let the other ladies +do all the gold work on the Capitol." + +Sheer admiration silenced the girls for some moments after her +departure. Audrey Dunbar seemed like a breath of the refreshing west +wind herself, and it was not to be wondered at that her guests should +appreciate her generous hospitality and personal attention. + +"Shall we have to take Lucille and Lalia?" It was Grace who put the +gloomy question. + +"I don't know," faltered Cleo. "You see, we don't really know what we +may fall into on the other side of the mountain." + +"Maybe bandits and caves--and--things," suggested Madaline, +characteristically. + +"There might be caves, natural ones, I mean," Cleo remarked, "but I +don't fancy we would run into any real live bandits, Mally Mack and +Jack Hagan seem to monopolize that title in Bellaire, and you know what +perfectly little gallants they both are. But we have to live up to our +reputation, I suppose, and be wise. It might be wisest to take the big +girls along. When, do you suppose, will we ever be classed as big +girls?" she almost grumbled. + +"Then suppose I run over and see if they can go," Grace proposed, +showing her impatience to be on the trail. "A shower might come up and +then we couldn't go until to-morrow." + +"All right," agreed Cleo. "I'll address the postals while you run +over. I see you have both written letters home on your cards." + +"And I am going into the garden with Jennie," declared Madaline. "You +won't really mind, Cleo, if I don't go along?" + +"No, indeed, Madie dear. You just suit your sweet self, and have a +good time. That's the very best way for us all to be sure of enjoying +ourselves. But look out for pinching beetles in the vines. They bite, +you know." + +When Grace returned with Lalia, the three, including Cleo, lost little +time to taking up the mountain trail towards the Twin Chestnuts, +indicated by Maid Mary as marking the spot where she and her mysterious +grandfather, as well as the picturesque Reda, occupied some sort of +cottage--just what kind even Lalia did not pretend to know. + +"We rarely go into Second Mountain," she explained as they started off, +"except for dogwood berries in the fall. We do go then in classes from +school, for the hills are perfectly beautiful with the red dogwood and +the dark blue 'bread and butter' vines. The berries make lovely +decorations. And the milk weed pods, too--I have some still from last +year." + +"It must be glorious in autumn," Cleo answered. "If mother and father +get back from their tour in time we might take a house out here, +instead of a New York apartment." + +"Let's cut through the golf links, then we will be up near the mountain +house and we can stop in the observatory. Have you taken in the view +yet?" asked Lalia. + +"No, but we would love to," answered Cleo. "Auntie told us we should +take her field glasses for it though." + +"It would be better to look through the glasses, of course, but even +with the naked eye you get a wonderful view. What's the matter, Grace? +Getting too warm?" + +Grace had taken off her neckerchief, and was carrying her hat, and +puffing audibly. + +"Yes, I am warm. Your mountains are lovely to look at, but a little +hard to tread even for us True Treds. Either that or we are going to +have a shower!" surmised Grace. + +"Both!" declared Lalia, "just look at that cloud! It's swooping down +like a big black blanket. Now we have got to hurry. We must get to +the mountain house or we will be drenched. There's no other possible +shelter." + +"Away up there?" inquired Cleo, pointing to the hotel on top of the +hill. "I don't believe we can ever get there before your blanket dumps +its contents. See, it threatens to burst now!" + +At that moment a vivid flash of lightning cut from one black hill in +the clouds and buried itself behind another. As if piercing the +fathomless blanket and renting holes in its inky cover, a downpour of +rain broke through, and even before reaching the earth it could now be +seen descending in a heavy mist at the hill top. + +"There we are!" shouted Lalia, "and here we are--all dressed up and no +place to duck! We can't reach the Mountain House. Let's make for that +rock! It may afford some shelter." + +Without thought of dissent Cleo and Grace followed their leader through +the now pouring shower. The rain seemed almost solid, its sheets were +so dense in the downfall, and the terrific peals of thunder, that +echoed and rolled over the hills, gave such monstrous volumes of sound +as only the big canyons between solid rocks emit. It seemed the stones +themselves would be torn out from their pits in the frightful +vibrations. + +Already thoroughly drenched, the girls in scout uniform seemed scarcely +better off than Lalia in her pretty gingham, the summer weight khaki of +the skirts, and the soisette blouses shedding the heavy rain more +readily, only because of the uniform straight lines and absence of +frilly pockets to catch the "buckets'" spill. As for hats--the girls +were utilizing these as shields, holding them at ever-swerving angles, +to keep the blinding rain out of their eyes. + +The big black rock with torrents of water how gushing down its furrows +and rills, was reached at last and to the delight of the wayfarers it +did offer shelter. + +"Why, just see here!" exclaimed Grace, the first to reach port, "here +is a cave. We said there ought to be caves in these mountains. And we +can all fit in out of the storm. Isn't this wonderful?" + +"Port haven in our story, surely," quoth Lalia, "I thought I knew these +parts, but I never before discovered these Monte Cristo apartments. +Shall we ring for the janitor?" + +"Pray do not," replied Cleo, swishing her reservoir hat around to empty +its contents. "Let us woo the wooseys undisturbed. I should like to +dump the mud out of my boots!" + +The rain on the uncovered rocks was still splashing, and a strong wind +howling through the trees added to the din. Only at close range could +the girls make their voices intelligible. But it was so good to be +within shelter. Welcome indeed is any port in a storm. + +"There must be more dugouts in this rock," Cleo said, attempting to +survey the curved bowlder that formed a huge support for the cedars +growing from its top, in a great swerving hedge, clear up into Second +Mountain. + +"But one is enough for us," Grace reminded her. Then a sound +penetrated the now ceasing roar of the torrent. Voices surely, +somewhere! + +"Hark!" All three girls uttered the exclamation simultaneously. + +"It's at the other side!" whispered Cleo, "and it's a woman's voice." + +They listened, scarcely breathing. + +"That's Mary!" suddenly exclaimed Grace, in the same subdued voice. "I +know it is." + +They waited a few seconds, listening. The first voice was now answered +by another. It was plainly that of the old woman Reda, for the queer, +rapid flow of language was not English. + +"Reda!" whispered Cleo. "Is that Spanish?" + +"Who's Reda?" repeated Lalia. + +"The queer old woman with the little girl Mary," replied Cleo. "Are +you afraid of her?" + +"No," answered Lalia with something of a sneer. "I guess we three +could manage her if we had to. Shall we peek?" + +"Listen!" commanded Cleo. + +Came a small voice through the jagged rocks: "But I will not, Reda, I +am not asleep. I saw other girls just like me, and I know I have not +the sleeping fever. You always try to make me afraid!" This was Mary. + +The angered tones of the old woman that followed this mild outburst of +defiance could not be understood except through their accents and +emphasis, for the dialect was part Spanish and part West Indian, such +as might be used by natives of Central America. + +"She's awfully mad!" warned Grace. "We better stay hiding!" + +The other girls apparently held the same view of the situation, for +while keeping necks craned and ears attentive to the intermittent +voices, all were careful not to allow so much as the edge of a skirt to +flutter out from behind the hiding rock. + +"I do not believe grandpa has it at all," came the decided tones of +Mary's round voice. "It is lost forever, and we shall never find it. +And next time Janos comes I shall tell him I will not stay here. I am +not a baby, and I feel strong and able--to--to go!" she finished, +throwing a dramatic quiver into these last words, thereby proving the +intensity of her emotion. + +Almost a shriek from the old woman followed the declaration, and for a +few seconds the girls felt as if something dreadful might happen to the +child. Then, like some wild, reckless creature, the girl Mary was seen +to dash out from her shelter in the rock, unmindful of the rain still +falling, and before the eavesdroppers realized it, she was speeding +down the hill, the long braids dangling over her shoulders, and her +perpetual white dress soon climbing like a veritable swaddling cloth +about her lithe form. + +As if delighted with the play of the rain drops, she would toss up her +face to defy them as she ran; then flop her arms up and down in a +flying motion, not really unlike a wild mountain bird. + +While the girls watched spellbound, they saw presently the old woman +trudge along after her, still muttering the unintelligible gibberish, +easily translatable into wrath and fury, whatever its peculiar language. + +"Can we go now?" ventured Cleo. + +"It's almost stopped raining," replied Lalia, and as they left the cave +a sense of disappointment threw its shadow over all three. + +They could not go to the Twin Chestnuts that afternoon, but they felt +more positive than ever that Maid Mary was in danger, and their +enforced delay in her rescue only served to heighten its purpose. + +After explaining to Lalia as much as seemed due in point of politeness, +the three girls stopped to arrange their disordered attire in the path, +before taking the main thoroughfare through the village. As they +adjusted their hats and straightened skirts, they were suddenly +conscious of being watched--had that feeling of eyes questioning them. + +All three turned suddenly as if answering a voice. As they did so they +faced a man--actually confronted him, almost brushing against him. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Grace involuntarily. + +"Pardon, miss," spoke the man in a distinctly foreign accent, "but were +you not with the child, the Maid Mary? Have you seen her to-day? Yes? +No?" + +Cleo was the first to realize the possible significance of this +seemingly inoffensive query, and her look to the other girls signaled +them to be cautious. + +"We have only been in the mountain, and were caught in the shower," she +replied evasively, "and it does not seem to be all over yet so we must +hurry. Come on, girls!" she called, and when the foreigner asked the +next question he had the echo of his own voice for an answer. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SUNSET'S INSPIRATIONS + +"Now, you see, we will have more trouble to reach her. That man knew +we were in the cave, and he also knew Mary and old Reda were behind the +next rock. He must have followed us all the way down the hill!" This +was Cleo's almost breathless pronouncement, made directly she and Grace +reached the porch of the cottage. Lalia had declined their invitation +to rest a few minutes before getting into more comfortable attire, so +she was not in the conference. + +"You could see he was related to the old woman," replied Grace. "His +eyes and that kinky hair made him look so much like her." + +"They are surely natives of the same country," commented Cleo, "but +they may not be related to each other. Oh, I'm so disappointed; I felt +sure we could get to the girl's house this afternoon. And did you hear +her courage voiced in that decided threat? That she would go away, and +that it, whatever it was, is lost forever? Could they be holding Mary +for ransom?" + +"Kidnapped, do you mean?" gasped Grace. + +"I don't know what I do mean, but I sort of wish Uncle Guy were home. +If we run into too much danger he would surely know how to rescue us," +concluded Cleo. + +"Don't let's tell Madaline. She might be too nervous, and I guess she +and Jennie had a fine time planting their lettuce after the shower," +said Grace quietly. + +"Oh, did you get caught in the shower?" anxiously asked Madaline with +trowel in hand, and beautifully decked out in one of Mrs. Dunbar's +artist's smocks, somewhat bedaubed with paint. "We were alarmed. The +lightning struck a tree over in the orchard." + +"But it couldn't strike us, for we were buried in a beautiful cave, and +if we had only known what a perfectly fine little bandit hang-out we +were going to discover, we would have brought our hike packs along. +Sorry you missed it all, Madie," said Cleo affectionately. + +"But we had a visitor," announced Madaline. "He came just after you +left, and he asked so many questions, Jennie sent me out with an excuse +to get Michael. He said he was looking for a place to board, but we +knew better. He was looking for information," she declared. "We +transplanted a whole bed of tomatoes though. Don't I bear evidence of +the applied arts in my smock and with the aroma of the green vines +proclaiming me--the man with the rake?" she finished grandly. + +"A lovely little speech, Madaline. You are a very artistic farmer," +Cleo complimented. "And I hope your tomatoes tomate beautifully. But +tell us about your visitor?" + +"Oh, he wore a yellow duster, like an automobile coat and----" + +"That's the man we saw!" Grace interrupted, forgetting in her +excitement the plan of keeping their adventure from Madaline. + +"Yes, he went toward Second Mountain," continued Madaline, +unsuspiciously, "and Jennie told Michael to be sure and let Shep loose, +so he would know we had a big dog around. Jennie doesn't like Shep to +run through her garden, of course, but she said it would be a good +thing to have that man know we were guarded." + +"Yes," answered Cleo, exchanging glances with Grace. "It's a good +thing to have a dog in a big forest like this. Aunt Audrey home?" + +"Nope," replied Madaline. "Come on, let's dress, Jennie promised to go +to the Lake with us after dinner." + +"Oh, goody, goody," exclaimed Cleo. "Come on, Grace. I feel like an +escaped eel in these togs. We had a good time in our old scout +uniforms, didn't we? Nothing like it in a good drenching downpour," +and she spread out her khaki skirt at each hip in imitation pannier +effect, although the effect was rather slippery, to say the least. + +It was while Madaline was washing, Cleo and Grace made opportunity to +exchange opinions on the strange visitor. + +"Do you suppose he is following us?" asked Grace. "If so, don't you +think we had better tell Jennie?" + +"I shouldn't like to," demurred Cleo, "because you know that would +surely put the kibosh on our hikes. If Aunt Audrey were home I feel +certain she would allow us our liberty, conditionally, of course. +Pshaw! I wish the horrid man had kept away. Isn't it mean!" + +Madaline appeared, rosy and shining, from the lavatory; evidently her +gardening experience had been both enjoyable and profitable. + +Garbed in pretty dainty frocks, and carrying gorgeously brilliant +sweaters, the trio, with Jennie as chaperon, raced off to the lake +directly after dinner. The evening was delightfully clear and cool +after the shower, and the promise of a row out through the willow-bound +water was sufficient lure to banish from their minds all thoughts of +the suspicious man and the threatening old woman. + +A group of boys down on the little pavilion was found to include Andy +and Mally Mack, as well as Jack Hagan, and very generously they offered +to give the girls a boat ride. + +"Anything from a tug to a canoe!" proffered Andy, "and you may row, +sail or paddle." + +"That's lovely," acknowledged Cleo, "but we promised to take a big flat +boat so Jennie may come this time," she smiled gratefully. "We would +love a canoe ride, some evening when Aunt Audrey is home." + +Doing the next best thing to taking part in the sail, that of providing +the big flat bottom boat for the party, the boys promptly rowed up to +the clear end of the float and assisted Jennie to embark. Of course +the girls hopped in, disdaining so much as the kind hand Andy offered +them, and with a united push they were sent out into the pool, that now +in sunset looked like "a rummage sail [Transcriber's note: sale?] in a +paint shop," as Grace described the brilliantly lighted waters. + +Regretful glances were sent after that "big flat bottom boat," but +women like Jennie had to be humored, and even good natured boys +realized this. + +Grace and Cleo rowed up the stream. Many pleasure craft were afloat, +and the visitors already knew a number of Bellaire girls and boys who +called pleasant greetings. + +The lake, wide at the basin, narrowed off into a tiny stream as it +followed the course, tracing its origin in the mountain springs. +Willows thick as a tasseled hedge hid the banks, and teased the boat as +the girls ducked and dipped their way, determined to go to the end, or +till they touched bottom. + +"It will be almost dark in that dense thicket," Jennie warned them, +"and you know we are a good mile from nowhere." + +"Oh, just a little farther," begged Cleo; "we want to say we went to +the very end." + +"Very well," agreed Jennie, who was plainly enjoying the delightful +sail in the colorful twilight. + +"Look!" exclaimed Grace suddenly. "There's someone in wading! Oh! +see, it's our little Mary." + +"Sure enough," followed Cleo. "How can she be away down here so late? +Let's call." + +"No, wait till we are a little nearer," suggested Grace, thinking +quickly, a call meant for Mary might also be heard by someone else. +"We can row almost up to her." + +Pulling their oars with a firm stroke it took but a few minutes to come +within speaking distance of the girl, who now, seeing the approaching +boat, was standing knee deep in a golden path of water. + +"Who is she?" asked Jennie, gazing intently at the odd figure, for as +ever Mary wore white, and her heavy braids fell into the big pocket +made of her up-turned skirt. She looked like some elfin sprite painted +in pastels, with all the soft greens of foliage, and the wonderfully +mellow tints of crimsoned gold shed from the sunset, surrounding the +picture and forming an inimitable background. + +"Oh, that's our little friend Mary," Cleo replied to Jennie's question. +"She's lovely, and Aunt Audrey knows about her." This last of course +was said to assure Jennie of the propriety of her charges making +friends with the girl in wading. + +"Mary! Mary!" called Grace. "Come on for a sail! We have room!" + +It was typical of Grace to do a thing like that--to call out the +invitation without consulting anyone, or considering possible +consequences. + +"Hello, girls!" came back Mary's response. "I'd love to go--if----" + +As Cleo at least expected, there was someone in the background watching +Mary, but the assurance in Mary's voice, that of a new note of courage, +further emboldened Cleo. "Oh come on, Mary," she urged. "We will just +row you around here if you like. Jump in!" Cleo insisted, while Mary, +now clinging to the side of the boat with one hand, depended on the +other to keep her light skirts clear of the water. + +"Oh, I am so glad you came," she said. "I did not know just what to +do. I thought I might see some of the boys who would help me. Is this +your mother?" She stopped suddenly, and stared at the astonished +Jennie. + +"No, this is Jennie, our friend, our manager," Cleo replied kindly. +"But she is just as safe as a mother; you need not fear to speak before +her. How can we help you?" + +"Janos came to-day," Mary almost whispered, "and I am so afraid of him +now. He knows I have friends. He saw you in the cave, but I did not +know you were there during the storm." She was speaking quickly, +fearfully, in fact, and had no chance to observe the changes working +through Jennie's quizzical expression. "And he knows where you +live----" + +"Was it he who came to our house this afternoon?" asked Madaline. +"Does he wear an auto duster?" + +"Yes, that is Janos. And now he wants to get us all away again. O +dear! poor granddaddy! I know he is sick, but he thinks he is all +right," and the child almost sobbed in her helplessness. + +"But is someone watching you now? Is Reda over there?" asked Cleo, +indicating the willow banks. + +"No, I ran down and said I was going to find my basket I left somewhere +before the storm. But they surely will come soon." + +"If you are afraid, child," spoke up Jennie, "just you come along with +us. We can get a car in the village and I will take you home myself." + +Four pair of grateful eyes sent their thanks to Jennie. Mary touched +her hand as it rested on the side of the boat. + +"Oh, that is so good of you. But--Janos and Reda are not like +Americans, they are from the tropics, you know, and different. Oh, we +are so miserable and unhappy!" Tears now glistened in the heavy lashes +that fringed her dark eyes, and no one seemed to know just what to say +next. Cleo was first to recover herself. + +"If you could possibly come with us to the landing we might make some +excuse for picking you up, and Jennie could go home with you. We might +all go. I'll tell you!" a sudden inspiration breaking in on the +difficult situation. "Jump in. We will row back as quickly as we can +and send the boys over to Bailey's for a big car. Then we will all +drive up the mountain with you. We will have the man for protection, +and if your old Reda is not good-natured we will not let you stay there +to-night. Would your grandfather care? Might he allow you to spend a +night with us?" + +All the hidden and suppressed hopes in that strangely veiled +countenance seemed to burst through now, and Mary's expression, from +one of almost impenetrable gloom, assumed a strange light--perhaps +borrowed from the sunset. + +"Oh, it is too good to be true!" she sighed. "Someone at last is not +afraid to help me!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SECRET SPRING + +That settled it. Before Mary realized her position she was sitting +securely in the broad seat at the stern of the gliding boat, with +Madaline's arm around her, while her delighted fingers trailed through +the water, and her almost frightened gaze was fastened on Jennie's face. + +"You are a real woman," she surprised her friends by declaring. "Do +you know I have not seen anyone like you to talk to since Loved One +went away. She was my mother," the child said solemnly. + +"When did she die?" Jennie ventured. + +"When I was eleven. I am thirteen now." + +"And where did you live then?" pressed Cleo, feeling the time was +opportune for obtaining something of Mary's history. + +"Oh, very, very far away, on an island off Central America," came the +surprising answer. + +"Do your relatives live there?" inquired Grace, gently. + +"No, they all died with the fever, that is, Loved One did, and daddy +was lost at sea. Reda thinks I had it, and she says I must not do +things like other girls or it will come back and kill me, but I don't +believe her now. Since I have known you girls I feel so much stronger +and wiser," she finished quaintly, with a significant toss of her head. + +"The idea of telling you you were sick, and scaring you into it," +indignantly spoke Jennie, in whom an instant dislike for the sinister +Reda had taken root. "A good way to make a child sick, I should say. +But what right has she over you? Is she a relative?" + +"A relative?" and Mary almost laughed. "No, indeed. Nothing but an +old nurse, and not my real nurse either. You see, when granddaddy--as +I call him--had to leave the tropics, we had to take the first steamer +to get away, and I had no one to care for me after Loved One went, so +we just had to accept Reda. Then Janos is her brother, I guess, or +some sort of relative, and I could get along with her if he would stay +away. I can't tell you the whole story, for it is granddaddy's secret, +and I have promised him I would never, never tell anyone why we are up +here in the mountains, and why I can't use my own name!" + +Again that veil dropped over the soft dark eyes. No one felt like +speaking then, for they noticed the girl swallowing hard to choke back +the sorrow that threatened to overcome her. + +"Well, here we are almost in." It was Jennie who broke the silence, as +the boat, now out in the broad open lake, became one of the many +turning in at nightfall. "And there are the boys waiting to land us. +You don't suppose, Mary, that old woman will make trouble for you?" +This with a show of anxiety at the rather difficult position the party +now found themselves in. + +"No, I am not a bit alarmed. They may think I have got lost, or I +might have fallen in the water. Perhaps she and Janos would be glad if +I never came back. Then they would have granddaddy all to themselves, +and I suppose they would torture him to find out his secret. Oh! +dear!" she sighed, "if it were not for him I believe I would just run +away." + +"You must never think of that," Jennie counseled, "unless of course +those foreigners torment you. Cleo, you tell Andy to charge the car to +your uncle, Mr. Dunbar, and be sure to say we are in a hurry." + +Arrangements were made so promptly Mary was almost bewildered. Another +wonder had suddenly come into the life of the timid little girl. She +was actually riding in an automobile. How magical is the power of true +friends! + +"It's just like my dream," she said naïvely. "I dreamed last night I +had a ride in an airship, and I haven't been in an automobile since we +came to Bellaire." + +"When was that?" asked Madaline, who kept very close to Mary as if +considering the stranger her own especial charge. + +"About four months ago--in winter," Mary replied. "First we stopped in +a city, then Janos brought us out here." + +Cleo wanted to ask why Mary always gathered flowers and roots, but +conscious that many personal questions were more necessary than these, +she felt those less important must wait for another time. + +"Oh, see!" suddenly exclaimed Mary. "There go Janos and Reda looking +for me! Now we can all go in and be talking to granddaddy when they +come back. Isn't that fortunate!" + +Everyone thought so, for, in spite of all their scout courage, the +girls were not especially anxious to run headlong into the arms of two +foreigners, who would undoubtedly be angry. The prospect of meeting a +benevolent old grandfather was much more comfortable to speculate upon. + +"Turn in here," Mary told the driver, and her friends noticed a certain +dignity in her command, usually found only among those accustomed to +give orders. "There's grandie," she called. "See, he is coming to +meet us. Drive slowly, he is not strong on his limbs." + +The man they approached was not old, but very tall, stooped and +distinguished looking. As the car drew up he threw back his shoulders +and stood like some figure posed in defiance. "Granddaddy, here I am!" +called Mary, attempting to climb out; "were you frightened about me?" + +"Mary! Mary!" he exclaimed. "What does it mean?" and each word +sounded like a low moan. + +Plainly he was trying to figure out what had happened that the child +should return with strangers. Likely he had feared an accident. + +"It only means, Grandie, that we have friends, and you are not to +refuse them. Let us hurry in before Reda returns. Can your man wait?" +she asked Jennie. + +"Not very long, I'm afraid," Jennie replied. "We too have folks who +may be anxious about us. But we will be glad to meet your +grandfather." How the girls blessed her for this! + +"Call him professor. Everyone does," Mary managed to say as they +alighted. + +"Come in, welcome!" announced the man, turning to the foot path that +outlined the drive leading to the house. + +It was a queer party that left the auto and silently followed Mary and +the professor up to the artistic cottage, that stood almost hidden in +tall, heavy chestnut trees. In spite of the general loss of this sort +of tree, those sheltering the terra cottage bungalow were especially +healthy and majestic, as could be seen even in the fast descending +nightfall. + +Mary rushed on ahead and touched the electric light button inside the +door, then she threw open the portal, quite like an experienced little +hostess. + +"This is the Imlay studio," remarked Jennie, who was the only one in +the party familiar with Bellaire. "I thought it was closed when he +died so suddenly." + +"Did he die here?" asked the man Mary called Grandie, a note of alarm +in his voice. + +"Oh no, he was abroad and did not return," replied Jennie. It was +evident this information brought relief to the questioner, for under +the light that shone from the spray of brass lanterns his face +perceptibly softened. + +Somehow all the mysterious influence which had seemed to surround Mary +at their first meeting with her was now oppressively noticeable within +that house. It was scantily furnished with what remained of artist +Imlay's belongings, but the air of suspicion usually associated with +old, abandoned places seemed to fairly seethe through the air. Even +Jennie felt it, and to the scout girls, more vividly conscious always +of any antagonism, the surroundings were actually uncanny. + +"Won't you sit down?" said Mary, observing the almost rigid attitude of +her callers. But each politely declined to share the seat offered on +the handsome low divan. Grace noticed its carvings looked rather +ferocious, while Madaline clung to Jennie, without any pretense of +apology. Cleo was now peering at something behind the stained glass +door that separated the long living room from that adjoining. It was +not exactly a light, yet it passed back and forth and threw weird +shadows through the glass. She was wondering if the people kept any +other servant than Reda, who was surely not in the house at the time. + +Scuffling about aimlessly, the professor suddenly dropped wearily into +a big oaken chair, and as Mary turned toward him she too caught sight +of the shadows now flickering through the leaded glass, with sinister +effect and creepy significance. It might be the shaded glow of a small +flash light. + +"Grandie!" Mary gasped. "Who are they? Did Janos bring--anyone? Oh, +don't move! It may be a trap!" + +"Mary, Mary!" he moaned, "must I leave you!" and choking sobs shook the +man so convulsively that Jennie dashed across the room and put her hand +on the trembling form. + +"Sir!" she spoke almost in a whisper. "You must not fear any harm from +those wild people. We know they are trying to injure you, but the +little girls have found a way to help. We have a man and a car at the +door," she said close to his ear. "Can't you and the child leave this +horrible place at once?" She spoke quickly, in muffled tones. + +"Oh, if we only could!" Mary sobbed. "Grandie dear, you are falling +ill! What have they done to you? I heard Janos threaten Reda!" + +The figure in the chair was now sagging into a helpless heap. Cleo and +Grace, quick to sense the necessity for prompt action, had both hurried +to the door to call the driver from the car. Even Madaline forgot her +own timidity, and seeing a switch button for what she thought to be +lights, she crossed to the corner and quickly pressed a tiny button. +As she did so she felt something like a wire with a spool attached, and +almost unconsciously she gave the spool a yank. Instantly a flood of +light of marvelous brilliancy engulfed the room. + +"Oh!" Madaline screamed, shocked by the glare and a queer sizzling +noise that hissed through the room. Jennie covered her eyes and clung +to a chair, but Mary jumped to her feet and stood staring silently at +the leaded glass door. + +"Don't move!" she ordered. + +There was a sudden crash, the sound of splintering glass, and then the +room fell again into the sullen light reflected only from the group of +hanging brass lanterns, the artistic shades for the regulation electric +lights. + +"They are gone!" breathed Mary. "Oh, what a miracle that was! You +touched the wire--that sent a current all about them! Grandie!" She +threw her arms about the shaking form, "you and I would never have +thought of that. Are you safe? Our friends have saved us!" + +And Madaline in her fear had actually touched off that alarm! + +"Why!" she stammered, recovering herself and springing over to the side +of Cleo and Grace, who had reëntered the room. "How did I do that?" + +"You touched the secret spring," said Mary. "Even I would have been +afraid to do it, for it is so highly charged. But you see our--enemies +got the shock, and we only saw the light. How--merciful to think they +have gone!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +NEW FRIENDS + +The very last to recover her composure was Jennie. Woman-like, she had +courage enough to face the possibility of caring temporarily for a sick +man, but the sudden manifestation of light and the unexplained racket +and noise that followed were too much for the good-natured Jennie's +nerves. She was now "going to pieces," and the girls found more to do +for her than they did to care for Mary and the professor. + +"Come on, Jennie," begged Cleo, "just get in the car and we will all +hurry out of here as fast as we can. You and Professor Benson take the +back seat, and we will all pile in as best we can. I could ride on the +tool box if I had to." + +"Oh, yes, do come away," Jennie managed to say between gasps of "oh +dear me" and "gracious sakes alive." But she was following advice, and +was soon being assisted to the back seat by Tom, the driver, who never +for a moment lost the set hack-man's look, in spite of all the +excitement. "Whatever will Mrs. Dunbar say to all this," further +wailed Jennie. + +"Don't you worry! Aunt Audrey will be glad we were able to help, and +that you were with us," declared Cleo. "Mary says it will be all right +to take her grandfather to the private sanitarium, the one we passed +along the mountain. Tom knows all about it, and thinks it is almost +like a hotel, specially for sick people. Then Mary is coming home with +us," declared Cleo delightedly. "Isn't that too lovely?" + +Everyone agreed it was, this being evinced by the display of alacrity +with which the party were all hurried in the car. Mary had managed to +put together somehow a grip filled with the most necessary things for +her grandfather. This she directed Tom to take care of, while in her +own hands she carried a deep, woven basket, heavy with some articles +surely too weighty and compact to be clothing. + +Finally "embarked," as Grace called it, they were just turning out into +the roadway when Reda appeared alone. Seeing the car she stopped stock +still in her tracks, so that Tom was obliged to jam on the brakes or +run her down. He did not shift his gears and execute the change of +speed without uttering the usual man's grumble, and no one could blame +him for this. + +"Reda!" called Mary, "we are going out with some friends. You lock up +and take care of things. Go on now," she told Tom. "We don't want to +hear what she thinks about it." + +It was well they did not hear, for a more surprised and excited old +woman than the self-same Reda it would not have been difficult to +imagine. She gurgled, choked, gulped and stuttered in the foreign +dialect, which only the professor and Mary could have understood. + +Last seen she was going toward the Imlay studio, that was, and the +house of terrors, as it had that evening proved to be for the young +visitors at Bellaire. + +But the evening was now delightfully changed, and just as her +association with the girls had noticeably stimulated and enlivened +Mary, so the meeting with the very much alive party had an encouraging +effect on Professor Benson. He was now sufficiently recovered to sit +up and talk with Mary, and seemed very much relieved to be saved from a +bad night in the studio. He insisted he could walk unassisted when Tom +drew up to Crow's Nest Retreat, and as he imparted a volume of +mysterious instructions and warnings to Mary, besides offering the most +profuse attestation of thanks to his rescuers, no one would have +imagined him other than a man suffering from a slight nervous attack. + +Mary went to the door of the sanitarium with him, and her friends +discreetly allowed these two a few moments to themselves. + +"Isn't it too wonderful!" breathed Grace as they passed from hearing. + +"To think we are going to have Mary with us to-night," added Cleo with +a gust of anticipation. + +"Can she sleep with me?" asked Madaline. "My bed is the largest." + +"Whatever Aunt Audrey says, of course," Cleo felt obliged to answer. + +Tom and Mary were returning, and although it was fully dark now, as +Mary stepped again in the car the girls realized she had been crying. + +"I have never been away from him before since Loved One asked him to +care for me," she explained, "but I feel somehow different now. I do +believe I was going to grow black and suspicious, like Reda, when you +met me." + +"No wonder," Jennie almost snapped. "I'm not what could be called a +nervous woman, but this evening has been more than I would like to run +into again. Not that I am not very glad to have been along, though I +didn't help much, with my own fussing," she felt obliged to add, for +Cleo had pinched her arm and Grace unbuttoned her sweater, in an +attempt to give the cue not to hurt Mary's feelings. + +"Will everything be all right at your cottage, Mary?" asked Cleo, +kindly. + +"It will have to be for to-night," she replied. "But granddaddy has +such precious belongings I will have to attend to things early +to-morrow morning. He is dreadfully worried about leaving things, of +course, but Janos has gone, and those others----" Her hands went up in +a gesture of consternation, and the girls withheld their questions as +to who the others were, and what could have been the nature of the +mysterious happening in the back room of Imlay Studio. + +All this time Mary was guarding the hand-made basket with jealous care, +keeping it on her lap, and steadying it with arms as the car rumbled +down the mountain road. + +They were now within sight of Cragsnook and Jennie shifted about in +evident relief. + +"Here comes Shep!" exclaimed Madaline, as the big, shaggy dog rushed +out from the heather-edged driveway. + +"And there is Aunt Audrey," added Cleo. "I'm so glad she's home." + +At the sight of another stranger Madaline could feel Mary shrink back, +and the faint sigh that escaped her lips was noticed by Grace as well. + +"You will love Aunt Audrey," said Grace in Mary's ear. "She is only +aunt to Cleo, but we all call her Aunt Audrey, and she's just lovely." +This in the most reassuring tones. + +"Oh, yes," Mary answered, conscious her tremor of timidity had been +noticed. "She looks so--so like my own Loved One as I remember her. I +was thinking I may make a lot of mistakes, but you will excuse them?" + +The round of chuckles, and the merry twitters given her in lieu of +formal opinions, restored her sinking spirits somewhat, but each of the +three attentive, sympathetic girls keenly realized Mary's discomfiture. + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Mrs. Dunbar as they drew in. "Whatever became +of you all? If Mally Mack had not met me at the station, and told me +you were going for a mountain drive, I should have been a little bit +worried." + +"We brought you company, Aunt Audrey," Cleo answered, before Jennie had +a chance to offer any explanation. "This is Mary Benson, you know. +The little girl we met when we first came to Bellaire." + +"Oh, yes. How do you do, Mary?" Mrs. Dunbar greeted the now really +frightened little girl. "It's so lovely to have you come and visit my +little ones. You see, they thought three would be really a crowd, and +that they would never grow lonely for home, but I have noticed the +tell-tale signs lately. Now, a real visitor will be the very best +thing to effect a cure," and she was urging Mary into the house, quite +as if her presence were indispensable for the evening's happiness. + +The big, soft, dark eyes set so deep in the olive skin, just tinted now +with a trace of excitement's color, gazed up into Mrs. Dunbar's face +with all the yearning and longing of a lonely, forsaken child. + +"Thank you," Mary managed to articulate, but the effort was mingled +with a little choking sob. + +Jennie drew Mrs. Dunbar into the library while the girls proceeded to +the living room. + +"Such a time as we have had," she exclaimed, "and I can't say it was +all my fault. You see those children were so determined to help that +poor friendless child that I just had to go along, or let them go +alone, and I was sure you would not want that, Mrs. Dunbar." + +"Hush!" putting a finger on her lip and a smile with it. "It is +perfectly all right. I have known the children were on the trail of +the poor little dear, and I'm just glad they rescued her, to-night +especially. I saw three men running for the train I got off, and Mally +Mack told me one was a Turk the officers are after! Don't say anything +about it, but I know one of these was the man who meets the Indian +woman, she who cares for Mary." + +"Indian?" repeated Jennie. "Is she that?" + +"Likely that--or part negro. I am sure she is from some Central +American territory. I have used her type in painting. But come on. +Let us give the children a little spread. Phone for some cream, and we +will soon have them all happy enough to forget their fright. I know +they are just dying to tell me all about it." + +No mistake about that. Even the presence of Mary did not appease the +children's eagerness to take Mrs. Dunbar into their exciting secret, if +a matter known to so large a number can be classified as a secret or +even a mystery. + +In the rooms above the oak lined hall the girls could now be heard +welcoming Mary, with all the natural excitement of her peculiar +situation. Grace wanted her to try on her pale green organdie, because +it would go so beautifully with her topaz eyes. Madaline insisted her +baby blue was much more attractive, as one of Mrs. Dunbar's pictures +showed a girl with brown braids gowned in heavenly blue, while Cleo +offered her choicest frock, the coral pink with all the +dinglely-danglely pink rose-buds dropping around the tunic. But Mary +shook her head, and declined all the kindly offered finery. + +"You see," she exclaimed, her eyes fairly glaring in unrestricted +admiration at the gorgeous display of clothes, "I have to wear white. +Reda says if I do not I shall get the fever and die as Loved One did." + +"Oh, how perfectly ridiculous!" exclaimed Cleo. Then, fearing Mary +would take offense, she hastened to add: "I am sure Reda is simply +superstitious. I have known a child who wore white until she was +seven, because her mother favored that as a sort of prayer, a +consecration, and of course that was all right when its meaning was +sincere, but to wear white to ward off a fever looks uncanny, foolish. +Can't you put on a color if you choose?" and the beautiful pink dress +threw a covetous glow up into Mary's classic face. + +"Oh, of course I could," she demurred, "but----" + +"But we wouldn't ask you to," and Cleo gave the sign for returning the +pretty gowns to their respective closets, by putting the pink voile on +its white silk hanger. "White is lovely, and it becomes you +beautifully. Don't you think so, girls?" + +They did, of course, and when just then Jennie called them to the +dining-room for the spread, so delightful on any summer evening, Mary +seemed to forget the terrors of that hour, when Professor Benson so +barely escaped the trap that had been set for him at the Imlay Studio. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A CRY IN THE NIGHT + +It was while Jennie served a dainty sherbet--an extra, considering ice +cream and cake were a sufficiently delightful treat--that Cleo slipped +out into the library where Mrs. Dunbar was writing letters. Grace and +Madaline were outdoing each other in entertaining the guest, and +altogether the evening was one of enjoyment, especially for Mary. Her +eyes were now almost as bright as those of the girls who surrounded +her, and had Reda been able to see her, she surely could not have +honestly warned her against "being like other girls." Only that +occasional shadow of fear that crossed her face, blotting the life out +of her eyes, and glazing them with the ice of terror, did actually mark +her as being "different." Even now this fear flitted into her gaze, +and with it her slim, brown hands were seen to grasp tightly any object +within their reach. + +Cleo retold to her aunt that part of the evening's experience which +Jennie had begun, but it was concerning the professor and his +unprepared retreat to the Sanitarium that she particularly asked advice. + +"Do you suppose he will be very anxious about Mary?" asked Cleo. "He +does not know us, and when we left him he still seemed dazed from the +fright." + +"We might call Crow's Nest on the telephone and ask how he is," +suggested Mrs. Dunbar. "I think we should do so. Do you want to ask +Mary about it?" + +Cleo bit her lip in serious consideration. For a little girl she was +rather wise, as her aunt had before acknowledged. + +"You see, Auntie," she finally said, "we three are trained Girl Scouts. +Every day we renew our pledges to help others, and every evening we +make a sort of survey of the day to be sure we are not allowing our +delightful vacation to monopolize all our interests. We say, you know, +that happiness was born a twin, and we know from experience we have +lots better times when we share happiness with someone who needs it." + +"Wonderful wisdom for such a little girl," replied the aunt with an +embracing smile, absolutely devoid of ridicule, but plainly illumined +with appreciation. "I know about your wonderful scout activities, and +I have not so soon forgotten how you won your bronze cross----" + +"Oh, I don't mean to attach any glory to myself," Cleo interrupted, +somewhat embarrassed at the turn in the conversation. + +"I understand, dear. You just want to be perfectly sure you are doing +all you can for the case of Mary, as that has come your way in +scouting?" + +"Yes, that is our vacation case, we are sure, so of course I just had +to insist on Jennie coming with us to-night. I am afraid she was +awfully frightened." + +"She was, but maybe you can convert her to your ranks. At any rate she +was astonished at the way you carried things through. Now, about Mary. +Shall we speak to her about phoning the Sanitarium?" + +"I guess we had better not mention it to her until we find out if he is +all right. If he were very ill do you think we need tell her +to-night?" Cleo asked. + +"You are right, Tody," the aunt replied, using the pet name given Cleo +by her mother on special occasions. "Just go out with the others and +shut the door while I phone." + +There was no possibility of Mrs. Dunbar's voice being heard over the +din of merry-making in the dining-room, for just then Grace was making +a speech, and Madaline was applauding, while Cleo quickly fell in with +the fun, by parading around the room with a table candle in each hand, +and an upturned fruit basket on her head. + +Mary sat back on the window seat, spellbound. Being a real girl in +spite of her peculiarities, she would occasionally burst into the most +musical ripple of laughter, then suddenly check herself, as if fearful +of violating some obligation to be sad or melancholy. + +Presently Mrs. Dunbar appeared at the door to suggest bed time, and +when she gave no message to Mary from her telephone call Cleo surmised +the news was not what they had hoped for. Passing by her aunt in the +hall, Mrs. Dunbar whispered, "Sleeping," and Cleo knew Mary might take +alarm at that report, for the dread fever she so often mentioned was +always termed the "sleeping fever." But it was bed time and in the +delicious process of undressing and donning gowns or pajamas the girls +enjoyed the usual pranks that are ever unusual, and seem different +every time they are indulged in. There were pillow fights, parades, +sponge splashes, ghost dances, and other stunts "too numerous to +mention," but it must be recorded that it required the combined +persuasion of Jennie, with her two funny pig tails hanging over her +voluminous night dress, and Mrs. Dunbar in the most fragile of +negligees to induce the girls to turn out lights, and finally get +settled for the night. + +It had been possible to decide with whom Mary should sleep. Each bed +would have held her in addition to its usual occupant, but on drawing +straws the lot fell to Madaline, who had coveted it from the first, as +her bed was really of double size. + +"Mine is the only big, full grown straw!" declared Madaline proudly, +waving the whisk that had been plucked from Jennie's broom, "and now, +ladies, we bid you a fond farewell. Come on, Mary." + +The exit was quite dramatic in character, for Madaline accidentally +tripped over a fur rug, and was spilled rather rudely all over the hall +floor, but a little thing like that had no effect on the delighted +Madaline, who rather expected Mary would unfold her confidence once in +the quiet of their own room. + +"I hope dear Grandie is all right," Mary sort of sighed as they each +took to their own side of the big roomy bed. "I have never been away +from him before." + +"Oh, he will have the very best of attention at that retreat," Madaline +declared, although she knew absolutely nothing of the place. "Has he +money with him?" she ventured. + +"Oh, yes. He always has his check book and his deposits are all in a +good New York bank," returned Mary without offense, realizing the +question was plainly one made out of simple kindness. + +She had donned the white night dress, the girls reasoned she would +prefer it to the colored crêpe pajamas, and Madaline, watching her +shake out all the glory usually bound in those two heavy braids of +chestnut hair, was lost in admiration. + +"However did your hair grow so beautifully long and thick?" she +inquired, lifting the cloak of many tresses in both her hands. + +"Loved One had wonderful hair," replied Mary, "and I guess hot +countries are supposed to be best for the growth also," she added. +Then, as if unhappy thoughts would torment her, she sighed a little. + +"Are you lonely?" Madaline asked gently. + +"Oh no," brightening up with a correct sense of politeness. "I was +just thinking how Reda blames my hair for what she thinks is a symptom +of the fever. You know her people have such tight kinky hair, they +cannot understand ours. Those who do grow longer hair are of a +different race, and they have that very straight, stiff Indian kind. +But daddy told Grandie mine should never be cut, so Reda didn't dare to +cut it, as she has often wanted to. Madaline," Mary suddenly +exclaimed, a certain timid appeal in her voice, "did you notice the +little basket I brought with me?" + +"Oh yes, where did you put it?" eagerly inquired the girl on the other +side of the bed. + +"I put it out on a little porch I saw back of the dining-room. Do you +think it will be all right?" + +"Oh, yes, but why did you set it outside?" + +"It's better in the air," replied Mary, and Madaline had not the +courage to ask if "it" were alive, and why it should need air. Instead +she hurried her preparation, and both were soon ready, so the light was +snapped out. Madaline thrilled as she recalled what happened when she +touched the button of another light a few hours earlier. + +In less than an hour every tousled head was buried deep in its fragrant +pillow, and even we are not permitted to "tap the tank of dreams." +Surely a girl scout and her visitor may dream her own dreams; why +should outsiders pry into their secrets? + +Mrs. Dunbar, however, had not retired as early as did her young guests. +In fact she phoned again to the Sanitarium to find out, if possible, +how Professor Benson seemed, then whether his sleep was natural, his +respiration normal, and to obtain such other information as might +indicate the man's condition. + +Word came back over the wire that his sleep did not seem natural, +although he showed no fever, but he called constantly for protection, +as if in fear of someone harming him. Mrs. Dunbar gave orders that +everything possible be done for his comfort, and she promised to call +the next day personally to look after him. As everyone in Bellaire +knew Mrs. Guy Dunbar, her wishes were sure to be respected, and no +doubt her interest obtained for the sick man all possible "special +attention." + +A little later even the lights in the study and Mrs. Dunbar's room were +extinguished, and the tranquillity of slumber fell softly over the +sloped roof of Cragsnook. + +It must have been past midnight--no one had at the moment any thought +of time--when something aroused the household! + +Cleo jumped out of bed and rushed to her aunt's door! Mrs. Dunbar +heard her step, and the door was opened when she reached it. + +"Oh, what was that?" gasped Cleo. + +"I don't know, but it sounded like a cry! Listen!" + +A low, moaning wail, almost like wind through the attic chimney, +sounded again. + +"There! That's someone calling," replied Mrs. Dunbar. She snatched a +small revolver from under her pillow, threw on a dressing gown, stuck +her feet into her slippers, all at the same moment. Cleo threw around +her own shoulders a cape she found over a chair and both were ready now +to investigate. + +Down the hall pattering feet told of the other girls' alarm. + +"Oh, Cleo," begged Grace, "where are you? What is that dreadful noise?" + +"Come in," answered Mrs. Dunbar, "and just don't be too alarmed. I am +able to fight anything that groans that way. Come along, Cleo. You're +not afraid, are you?" + +"I would be if I stood still and listened to that," replied the little +scout. "Here, girls, get some weapon. These old swords are all +right," springing to a chair and bringing down from their hanging place +at the hall door two glittering Turkish blades. "You won't have to use +them, but it's best to be armed," insisted Cleo. "Where's Mary?" + +"Oh, I forgot all about her!" gasped Madaline. + +"We must look for her," said Mrs. Dunbar promptly, and leading the way, +she, with the revolver, Cleo, Grace and Madaline with swords, and also +carrying an East Indian spear each, they made their way down the hall +to Madaline's room. + +Cleo pushed open the door. + +The bed was empty! + +"She's gone!" exclaimed Cleo excitedly. + +"And the screen is out of the window. Look!" cried Grace. + +Beyond the bed the low latticed window was flung wide open, its screen +lay where it had fallen, and the pretty draperies were almost torn from +their hangings. + +"Oh!" gasped Madaline. "Someone has stolen her!" + +But Mrs. Dunbar thoughtfully shook her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A STARTLING EXPERIENCE + +Mary was gone and through the window! That was plain even to the +excited girls who, in the night, stood around Mrs. Dunbar, aghast with +wonder, and fearful for the safety of the little girl, so lately their +companion. + +"No one could have dragged her through the window without disturbing +us," Mrs. Dunbar said. "One of you girls call Jennie, and I will phone +the garage for Michael." + +All the fear that at first seemed to paralyze the girls was now +dispelled in their anxiety for the safety of Mary. + +"Come on!" Grace replied promptly. "I'll run down to Jennie's room and +get her to help us!" + +"And I'll go with you," declared Madaline without a tremor in her voice. + +"I shall have to go to my room to phone, Cleo," said Mrs. Dunbar. "But +we haven't searched any yet. She may be somewhere about, although the +window has been so pulled apart." + +"Better get Michael at once, I should think," Cleo suggested. "I'll +stay here till you come back." + +"Not afraid alone----" + +"Not a bit. This is like one of our real scout experiences. Do hurry, +Auntie, I am so afraid those people may have carried Mary off!" she +urged. + +It took a few minutes to arouse the man in the garage, with the +telephone call. Meanwhile, Cleo was cautiously and quietly looking +about the room. First, naturally, she looked under the bed, next she +threw open the door of the closet, being wise enough to jump to the +hall door as she did so, but not so much as a piece of clothing +stirred. Other articles of furniture in the room that could possibly +serve as a screen were then scrutinized, but they offered no clew. + +Finally Cleo stepped to the window ledge, and peered out into the thick +trees that surrounded the house. She put her hands to her eyes to +shade them from the light--wasn't that something white in the button +ball tree? + +Neither Mrs. Dunbar nor the girls had come back to the room, and for a +moment Cleo hesitated, perched there at the window. Should she turn +off the light to be able the better to see into the darkness? + +The white object appeared to move a trifle, and it seemed large, even +like a girl's form. + +Cleo jumped from the window seat and touched the button to shut off the +light. At the same moment Grace and Madaline entered the room. + +Both screamed as they encountered the darkness. + +"Oh, Cleo, where are you?" begged Grace. + +"She's gone, too!" wailed Madaline. + +"Hush!" whispered Cleo, as soon as she could make herself heard. +"There's something white out in the tree!" + +"Oh, where is Aunt Audrey?" Madaline pleaded, turning to run. + +"Never mind," Grace assured her. "Whatever it is it can't get in here. +Let us help Cleo." + +Cleo was now standing on the window ledge with her feet inside the room +and her head and shoulders out in the darkness. Grace and Madaline got +hold of her somehow, for her leaning position out of the high window +seemed apt to overbalance her at the slightest move. + +"It must be Mary!" Cleo whispered, "and in the tree. How ever can we +get her?" + +"How did she get there?" Grace asked, meaning the question to answer +Cleo's. + +"The limbs touch the piazza roof. But listen, girls, she may be +asleep, and if we should wake her suddenly she would fall. You go tell +Aunt Audrey while I stay and watch. No, Madaline, wait a moment, get +me the flash light I laid on the dresser. You can see it from the hall +light. Yes, that's it. Let me have it." + +"What are you going to do?" Madaline asked under her breath, but with a +show of alarm. + +"I must see if that is Mary. If it is, she is in danger of falling if +asleep; if awake she may jump. There, did you hear that! It was a +shot--out by the front gate!" + +"Oh!" shuddered Madaline. "Do come in, Cleo, they may shoot you." + +"No, they can't see me, and I must go to the edge of the roof," and +breathing her scout prayers for safety, Cleo climbed over the sill, and +cautiously crept to the edge of the slanting roof. + +All this time the figure in the tree remained stationary as a gray +shadow, just blanching white as Cleo slowly turned her little flash +light upon it. + +"It is Mary!" she whispered to Madaline, back at the window. "Quick, +get Aunt Audrey and the girls out under the tree! I can reach her! +Have them pull out the porch mattresses!" + +Almost choked with excitement, Madaline managed to reach Mrs. Dunbar, +repeat Cleo's orders, then hurry with her and Grace, who was now +dragging Jennie along, down the stairs to the front door. + +Mrs. Dunbar held her revolver in her right hand while Jennie unbolted +the big heavy door. + +"Let me go first!" Mrs. Dunbar ordered. "Jennie, flash the light ahead +of us." + +As the maid followed this order a small streak of light made a safe +path out to the edge of the porch. + +"There comes Michael," exclaimed Jennie, venturing out next, and no one +could have misunderstood the note of relief in her voice. + +Above them Cleo had climbed in the tree as quietly as the green limb, +swaying under her light weight, permitted. Her flash light now was in +the pocket of her pajamas, and as she mounted a strong branch and +pulled herself nearer the tree trunk, she seemed scarcely more than +some wild night bird seeking refuge. + +She could now see Mary's face, and as it showed no expression of +recognition she was confident the girl was sleeping. Crawling nearer +with slow, sure moves, holding to small branches from overhead, and +then balancing to the strong limb on which she sat and hitched herself +along, Cleo paid no heed to the commotion under the tree. + +She must first grasp the girl who sat so silently, her one arm wound +around the light tree trunk, her head leaning against it in the most +matter-of-fact attitude, almost caressing the gray button ball wood, +while even in the dark those two dark braids of hair were tragically +outlined against the white of her clinging night robe. + +One more shift of her body and Cleo had her arm around Mary. With the +other she held firmly to the tree. + +"Quick!" she called now, realizing the mattresses were placed beneath +them. "We may fall!" + +As she spoke Mary shuddered, and gasped. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Reda, I am here!" + +"It is not Reda," Cleo answered in that droning voice she believed +necessary to use. + +"It is I, Cleo. Be careful. We are safe. Don't move!" for the one +bare arm was relinquishing its hold on the tree. "Wait a minute. We +can climb down. See, Michael has fetched a ladder." + +Somehow realizing her strange predicament, the girl at once became +obedient to Cleo's orders. She turned exactly as directed, made her +way down the branches to the unobstructed tree trunk, where she backed +to the tall, strong ladder, placed securely against the bark by Michael. + +Willing hands assisted her as she reached the lower rounds, then Cleo +followed, descending so quickly she reached the ground almost as soon +as did Mary. + +It was a strange sight. All the girls in their pajamas. Grace had +secured an extra green jersey sweater. Madaline was garbed in the +lavender cape Cleo had discarded when she climbed through the window, +while Mary stood like a statue, in her clinging white, with Cleo beside +her, looking as if she had stepped out of a comic opera in her blue +bird pajamas. But the audience was unresponsive. + +Michael, the dignified, was too busy to notice costumes. Jennie had +troubles of her own with her quickly arranged attire, and Mrs. Dunbar +was far more concerned with the whole situation than to take any notice +of its special, striking effect. + +"Oh, what was it?" Mary murmured, rubbing her hand across her head as +if in pain. "I thought Reda called. She said Grandie wanted me, and I +hurried to her!" + +"You likely did hear a call," said Mrs. Dunbar, "but it may have been +our pet owl. Come, let us all get inside. Isn't it fortunate no one +was hurt? Cleo, however did you get out on that tree without shocking +Mary from her perch?" + +But Cleo had observed she, of ail the group, was alone in a real pajama +outfit, and consequently took herself off promptly to more secluded +quarters, and was then not at hand to answer for her courage. + +It was almost an hour before the excitement had sufficiently abated to +permit thoughts of returning to bed, and then it was arranged that all +four girls should pile into the room with the twin beds, while Mrs. +Dunbar's room was thrown open between, by rolling back the folding +doors. + +Such chattering, such gabbing and such giggling! Naturally the night's +experience was entitled to a thorough review, and it must be said the +girls did the subject full justice. + +Mary, however, was inclined to be taciturn. Every now and then her +eyes would "shoot," as Grace called the queer expression, and when the +lights were still on, and this peculiar look could be noticed, her +friends made no apology for their good natured remonstrance. + +"Here, now, Mary!" Grace would then call. "Don't you dare go off +walking trees in your sleep again. This was a wonderful night, +but--let's call it a day." + +"One night of this kind is a regular week," Cleo added, "and I vote we +make this very minute the end of a perfect day." + +It really was "a lot of fun" to be all tucked into one room, and Mrs. +Dunbar remained down stairs for a considerable time while the +youngsters toned themselves down. Cleo made an opportunity to whisper +to Madaline and Grace not to speak of the shot they had heard fired, +but Mrs. Dunbar and her gardener were just then quietly discussing that +phase of the affair. + +"Michael, what was that shot, do you know?" she asked. "I did not want +to mention it before the girls." + +"Nor did I, madam," and the old gardener shifted uneasily. "Yes, I +know what it was. They got--poor--Shep." + +"You--can't--mean our lovely--Shep has been shot!" + +"I wish I didn't, but we may be able to bring him around. He's not +dead. They struck his thigh, and I was after him as quick as I heard +his first whine. That is why I could not answer the telephone at once." + +"Oh, Michael. Do everything possible to save our dog. You know how +much we think of him, and we expect Mr. Dunbar home from his trip soon. +Do you think we can save him?" + +"I'll take him to the vet's first thing comes daylight," replied the +man. "I wouldn't want to take a year's wages in exchange for Shep." +He snapped these last words with rather a vengeful meaning. "And I'd +like to say, madam, if I might," he continued, "it was a blessing those +little girls went after that other youngster to-night, from what I +heard later. Seems to me sometimes the babies do know more than their +elders." + +"Yes, Michael," replied Mrs. Dunbar to whom the news that her dog +having been shot was distinctly a shock. "I, too, heard rumors of +strange men in town, as I came up from the station. Of course, the +police will investigate to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MARY'S MYSTERIOUS PET + +The morning dawned on Cragsnook quite as complaisantly as if the night +had shed nothing but joy. And quite as indifferently did the girls +take up the fun where they left off past midnight, when sheer fatigue +had put an end to their tireless pranks. Kicking themselves happily +into the new day, vague remembrances of the wild excitement forging +through more welcome emotions, the Scouts and their visitor were +actually ready for breakfast when Jennie chimed the gong. + +Madaline, secretly cherishing the mystery of "something alive" being in +Mary's hidden away basket, could scarcely wait for the meal to end +before asking Mary about it. + +But there were a number of interruptions. Mrs. Dunbar was called twice +from the table to answer the telephone, and her monologue hinted the +police might be anxious to make an investigation at Cragsnook. Always +affable, especially to officials, the last answer given simply was: + +"Very well, as early as you please." + +That was but a few minutes ago, and now a car was rumbling up the drive. + +"You girls may run off and show Mary the grounds," suggested the +hostess. "I have to attend to some business with these men." + +Mary still wore the white dress, of some open wrought material, like +drawn work, and not usually made up into frocks. It was soft and +clinging, and her velvet ribbon wound around the waist fell in an +artistic sash clear to the end of her full skirt. Her braids were +unbound and finished in their own natural curls, this tendency to +really curl having been hailed by the girls as worthy of an entirely +different mode of hair dressing. + +Ginghams for mornings, as customary, gave the other girls quite a +different appearance, and in a stolen moment, while dressing, Cleo +managed to show Mary a scout uniform. The simple khaki outfit seemed +to Mary the most remarkable "rig" she had ever seen, even books had not +given her such an idea of a practical girl's uniform. + +The polite dismissal of Mrs. Dunbar's followed just as two very +business-like men stepped into the oaken hall. + +"Do you remember about your basket?" Madaline asked. She was wildly +wondering if the live thing had crawled away. + +"Oh, yes, indeed. I am going to it directly. Come on, girls, till I +show you my pet." + +Everyone thought of snakes, varied with a pretty baby bunnie, or +perhaps a bird's nest of helpless fledglings, but Mary's pet was none +of these. + +Out on the small window nook, just off the breakfast room, she found +the basket quite as she had left it. The girls watched her eagerly as +she first drew out a soft white covering. It was now becoming apparent +that this self-same Mary possessed an entirely undeveloped sense of +humor, for as she watched the eager faces crowding about her she was +surely, deliberately delaying the process of displaying her "pet." + +"Guess!" she asked naïvely. + +"A snake!" from Grace. + +"A-a--new bird!" from Madaline + +"A baby bunnie!" from Cleo. + +"I thought you would all say a doll," she replied, "for I had one old +doll I never could quite give up. But I didn't bring her, and none of +you have guessed. I am afraid you are going to be dreadfully +disappointed." + +Without further ado she drew from the basket nothing more than a small +ordinary looking plant! + +"Oh!" sighed Madaline, betraying her chagrin. "Only a flower!" + +"That's all," admitted Mary, "but I don't believe you ever saw just +this kind," and her voice was as soft and crooning as if she had been +petting a real baby. + +Cleo and Grace exchanged significant glances. Was the girl queer after +all? they were asking. + +The little plant looked like nothing more than the ordinary +Jack-in-the-Pulpit, but Mary's tenderness in handling the beautifully +wrought brass jar, in which the plant was growing, betokened something +much more precious than our wood friend Jack. + +"He's hungry," went on the child, and at this Grace burst into +laughter. Cleo was tittering, and Madaline all but pouting her +disappointment. + +"I know what you think," Mary said with a good natured smile, "but this +little flower really eats--and for his breakfast I must find a fly or +spider." + +"Oh mercy!" shrieked Grace. "Mary, what are you talking about?" + +"Well, you just wait and see. There, catch that little fly or just +shoo it over this way." + +Becoming serious now, serious enough to see the fun out at any rate, +the girls waved hands and handkerchiefs around some perfectly innocent +little flies, and presently they made for the plant which Mary had +again deposited on the window box. For a minute or two the insects +buzzed around, then made for the flower of the plant. + +"Mercy!" screamed Grace. + +"Land sakes!" added Cleo. + +"Oh!" ejaculated Madaline. + +But the little fly was gone. The plant had actually eaten it up! +Swallowed it whole! + +The girls looked at Mary now, as if she were almost uncannily wise, or +in some way magical. She expected their attitude, evidently, for her +own low musical laugh followed. + +"I know you think it is very queer, girls," she explained, "but in the +country I come from this is a common plant. Grandie calls it by a long +name, but most people call it the Pitcher Plant. You see, it is filled +with something that attracts insects, and when they go in for the +nectar they can't get out. This kind is rare, and I have watched it +lest Janos would get it. In New York he could sell it and I know he +would have taken it, but I have kept it hidden for a long time. See +how pretty its colors are, and how wonderfully it is shaped and formed?" + +"Oh, I remember now," said Cleo. "I have heard Daddy talk of such +plants, but of course I never saw one. It is something of an orchid, +isn't it?" + +All three were now examining Mary's "Pet" closely, getting innocent +little flies in line for the scent, which might attract them, and +otherwise enjoying the novelty. + +"Is it valuable?" asked Madaline, noting the rare crimson color inside +the cup. + +"Yes, I think this one is, but I like it more than any of the others +because I raised it myself. But when you come to our place I will show +you our wonders," she offered. + +"Is that why you always gather roots?" asked Cleo. + +"Not exactly," Mary replied, just a trace of her cloud threatening to +darken her face. "But I can't talk about all of it now. I am sure it +must be time to go visit Grandie. Do you suppose we may go soon?" +This question was addressed to Cleo. + +"I'll see if Auntie has finished," Cleo answered, running back to the +house. Mary arranged a safer place for her pitcher plant, out where +insects might find its fatal honey. Then, gathering up the basket, +she, with the others, hurried back to the veranda. They found the +three men just leaving, and as Mrs. Dunbar smiled frankly it was easy +to guess the result of their interview had not been altogether +unpleasant. + +Michael had also been in the conference, and he delayed a moment to +speak privately with Mrs. Dunbar. + +"How is Shep?" she asked aside, so that her voice could not reach the +girls. + +"Coming around all right," replied the man, gladly. And he brought in +a clew to his enemy. "Step inside and look at this." He took from his +pocket a handkerchief. It was yellow in color, silk in texture, and +was bordered with drawn work. Mrs. Dunbar examined it closely. + +"Foreign, of course," she replied. "Those people seem to be pretty +well organized. Take care of that, Michael; we may easily match it up +later. Now I have to see what we are going to do about Professor +Benson. The girls seem to need very little assistance, but we must +watch closely to see they make no mistakes. This is more of a plot +than I supposed, but our police are glad to get on the track of these +men. Here are the children. If they ask for Shep make some reasonable +excuse." + +The wonderful story of the pitcher plant, of how it ate breakfast of +flies and bugs, also what especial value it was--this and much more was +poured into the ears of Mrs. Dunbar before she had a chance to grasp +the meaning of the newest excitement. + +"Wonderful! wonderful!" replied the hostess, really deeply interested +in the "fly catcher." "I have always wanted to see one of those plants +act." + +"I am going to give you this one--please, Mrs. Dunbar," said Mary, +timidly. "Janos, that is Reda's brother, has been watching for it. He +said a New York woman had offered him a lot of money for one. That is +why I brought this one with me. Will you--accept it?" + +"Oh gladly, Mary dear. It is a real curiosity, and when Mr. Dunbar +comes home he too will be delighted with it. But now I have such good +news about Professor Benson. He is getting much stronger. The doctor +saw him this morning, and thinks he has been suffering from shock and +fear. He advised, however, that we leave him quiet this morning. I +knew that would be a disappointment to you, Mary dear, but you wouldn't +want to delay his progress." + +"Oh, no indeed," and the two hands clasped excitedly. "If only he can +recall--get back his memory," Mary corrected hurriedly, "perhaps after +all it might all come back." + +"You will be able to help the doctors in a day or two, I am sure," +suggested Mrs. Dunbar. "It appears to be a case of stagnated memory. +Something registered in his brain as extremely important is simply +clogged there. When he is stronger, then suggestion may be the key to +open that congested memory valve." + +"I know--yes--I know," replied Mary, and the far-away look in her own +eyes gave the girls a hint which they were sure to follow promptly. + +They immediately changed the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AT THE STUDIO + +"You don't mind my running away again, girls?" Mrs. Dunbar asked, +folding the yellow telegram into the most unnecessarily minute squares. +"It is such a nuisance, but I have to see some of those delegates +safely out of New York. Mere artists are not always prudent tourists." + +"Auntie dear, we hate to have you go." Cleo dipped her head in the +quaint bird-like perk. "But we can have a lovely time here even +alone--I mean without you. Oh, no, not without you----" And the burst +of laughter that applauded her confusion was like a full colored +illustration of a verbal mistake. "Now, you all know what I mean," she +finished, pouting prettily. + +"Of course we do," acceded her aunt. "You can have a perfectly lovely +time without me, and get into the most delicious mischief, tagging poor +Jennie along. I have given her orders, you know, to report to me by +phone if you take a notion to go up in an airship, or tie a kite by +hand to the moon, so don't venture too far from good old earth. Mary, +you are getting rosy already. It seems to me, for an old nurse your +Reda has rather suddenly given up her charge, not to have inquired for +you this morning." + +"Oh, Reda wouldn't. She is dreadfully afraid of strangers," replied +Mary. + +"Why--pray?" asked Mrs. Dunbar simply. Mary shifted uneasily, +shrugging her shoulders in the only foreign mannerism she carried, and +answering with nothing more than a fleeting expression of annoyance. + +"Oh, Reda is so queer, Aunt Audrey," Grace assisted, "she would run +like an Indian if you just looked at her square in the eye." + +"Is she Indian, Mary?" pressed Mrs. Dunbar gently. + +"Yes, that is, she is from a Pacific Island outside of Central America. +You see, we were there when Loved One--went away." + +Jennie was dusting the rails of the porch, and the little family kept +moving about to accommodate her brush and polishing cloth. + +"I must take a bag this time," Mrs. Dunbar said, reverting to her +necessary New York trip. "I rather envy you chickens running around +with no other cares than the next hour's adventure. Mine are all cut +and antiseptically dried." + +"And we never know what ours are going to be," remarked Madaline who +was vainly trying to trap a feeble little fly, to feed to the pitcher +plant. + +"Come on," suggested Grace, "if we are not going to the Sanitarium +let's go to the village. I haven't spent every single cent of my +allowance yet, and I should hate to have my princely remittance +overlap." + +"Whackies on the nut-sundae!" cried Madaline. "I am bankrupt till my +ship comes in." + +"And I have to send home my Scout Sacrifice," said Cleo. "I promised +mother I would not forget a little personal contribution to a charity +case we are interested in. A child has to have an operation on her +eyes, and we scouts are providing the comforts." + +"Oh yes, Mumsey gave mine. She was afraid I would disgrace the troop +by forgetting to remit," confessed Madaline. + +"And daddy turned mine in, likely for the same reason," said Grace. +"Cleo, you are the only one trusted to do her part at this distance. +Mary, when you are a scout, you will better understand all our secrets. +They're just deli-cious," and she rolled her round eyes till they +threatened to take tucks in her dimples. + +It required some coaxing to induce Mary to go to the village with them, +but they finally won out, and when Mrs. Dunbar embarked for her train, +the four little girls waved a happy good-by, interspersed with +reiterated promises to be good, and all mind Jennie. + +"Can you come to my house now?" asked Mary after the luxury of nut +sundaes, purchased with the combined balance of Madaline's and Grace's +cash on hand had been disposed of, and the girls faced the early +afternoon on Bellaire Center. + +"I don't know," faltered Cleo. "We didn't ask Jennie." + +"But I am so anxious to see if our things are all right," Mary almost +begged. "You needn't be afraid of Reda, I am sure she is gone away." + +"How do you know?" Grace asked frankly. + +"She would be too frightened to remain at our house after last night. +Besides she often goes to New York with Janos. She gets all my clothes +there." + +"Doesn't she take you to see them, or be fitted?" asked the literal +Madaline. + +"Oh no, I am not allowed to go on trains. Someone might see me." + +Everyone laughed at this, and Mary saw the joke herself. Nevertheless, +she made no attempt to explain why she was not supposed to be seen by +people outside of the little mountain town. + +"I am afraid I shall have to go alone, if you girls feel you ought not +to come," she said presently. "I really have to attend to some +important things, and we all left in such a hurry last evening." + +"Oh, if you have to go we simply must go with you," Cleo decided +promptly. + +"Surely, Captain Cleo," spoke up Grace. "You see, Mary, Cleo is our +captain when we are away from headquarters. Oh, Mary, I do wish you +were a scout, you would just love it." + +"I am sure I should, I know it takes a lot of courage, and one must do +many noble deeds to keep up to the pledges. I should just love to know +all about it, and I hope you will tell me some day. Still," and she +shrank a little in that timid self-conscious way, "I don't want you to +take any risks with me, on account of your scout pledge." + +"Please don't think that way, Mary," begged Madaline, always ready with +sympathy. "We all just love you, and want to be with you, it has +nothing to do with scouting." + +"No, indeed," Grace enthusiastically seconded this opinion. "What we +are doing with you is a positive joy." + +"I don't know what would have become of us in Bellaire if we hadn't met +you," Cleo chimed in, serious beyond contention. "Of course, we met a +few girls, but we are so accustomed to adventures and activities. I +guess we require more things to happen than do most girls. Now, Mary, +we will go with you up to the studio, if I can find a boy to take a +message to Jennie. I don't want to phone, as she might not understand." + +The small boy, not difficult to find around soda fountains on summer +afternoons, was glad to accept the offer of a nickel to take a note to +Cragsnook, and thereupon the girls set out for Second Mountain. + +Mary led the way, romping over vacant lots, climbing fences and +otherwise taking short cuts to the hillside. + +"We accidentally found your mountain cave one day in a shower," Cleo +told her, as they neared that cedar covered mountain table. "We were +up here in that dreadful storm the other day." + +"Oh, were you? Reda and I had been to the village for Grandie's +medicine, and we were also caught in it," said Mary. + +No reference was made to the overheard conversation. Not that Cleo +wanted to be secretive, but because she felt it might be embarrassing +to refer to it. + +In spite of the fortifying sunshine, and the fact that Mary had talked +of neighbors not far from the studio, the girls each felt a certain +apprehension as they neared the scene of their recent exciting +adventure. Madaline was noticeably quiet, and not even a beautiful +gray squirrel, that hopped directly in their path, with a saucy flirt +of its bushy tail, evoked so much as a joyous shout from her. Still +she wanted to go to the studio, and now they were in full sight of the +low terra cottage lodge. + +"Oh, it will seem so strange without Grandie," Mary commented, "but I +am so happy that his memory is coming back. If only he could +remember--" She checked herself, as she always did, when accidentally +she might mention the urgent necessity for Professor Benson +"remembering." + +In a very business-like way, quite astonishing to her companions, Mary +slipped her finger in a tiny pocket, made in her black velvet belt, +produced from it a latch key, and with this opened the big, heavy door. + +Grace and Cleo were at her heels, determined to show their courage, but +within the room everything was still, too still to be pleasant. + +"Reda put things in order before she left," Grace remarked. "What a +pretty, low, rumbly place this is!" + +"How can you be sure Reda is gone?" Cleo asked, staring at the glass +door through which the queer lights had warned them of the intruders' +danger the night before. + +"Here's her everyday fichu," Mary replied. "She never goes out without +one--even wears it around the house, so she has donned her best. Yes, +she has gone to New York. Here's her yellow handkerchief; she has +dressed all up in her nicest things. Let's see if she has taken her +bag." + +Opening a small door off the hall, opposite the sinister glass portal, +Mary entered a sleeping room profusely trimmed up with the brightest of +chintz draperies and colorful hangings. + +"Yes, her bag is also gone. Well, girls," and Mary turned to them with +a frank smile, "I did like Reda, of course, but sometimes she has +frightened me so, and then Janos was so awfully rough with dear +Grandie." + +"But whatever will you do without a housekeeper?" asked Cleo. + +"I don't know really"--and she blinked threateningly--"but at any rate +I am glad to be free!" + +A sense of security had now come to the girls, and they were flitting +around, looking at this thing and that, quite as if they had just +stepped into some attractive shop to inspect its wares. But they did +not go near the leaded glass door! + +"Now, girls," Mary called quite soberly, emerging from Reda's room, "I +am going to give you a real treat. Just watch." + +She sprang to the big glass door and, pressing the set in the lock, the +portal slid smoothly back. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" The exclamation was a soft cadenza, uttered by all +three spectators. + +The open door revealed a glorious collection of blooming orchids! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ORCHIDIA + +"Oh, how perfectly gorgeous!" This a solo from Grace. + +"Heavenly, I think!" Cleo chimed in. + +"Wherever did you get them all?" asked Grace. + +Like a little floral queen, Mary ushered her visitors into this +mysterious room, the orchid sanctum of Professor Benson. It was all +that the girls had proclaimed it, gorgeous, heavenly and wonderful! +The variegated tones of lavendar, known only as orchid, were as elusive +as the subtle scent of this tropical bloom. The whole diffusing into +something so indescribable that even the spontaneous girls failed for +once to rally immediately to a sense of reality. It seemed like a +dream, like a picture book, or even a wonderful pastel! + +Never before had Mary's quaint personality seemed so well set as she +flitted about, bringing her face down to the affectionate shade of +flower upon flower, yet never touching with so much as a finger tip the +perishable bloom. + +The room was, or always had been, a conservatory--the original owner, +the famous artist Imlay, delighting in bringing to perfection there the +many rare plants and flowers. So the place lent itself exactly to the +work of Professor Benson. Many of the orchids hung in leafy baskets, +seemingly not requiring soil, but subsisting, as they so peculiarly do, +almost in air. + +"What are they all for?" stammered Grace. + +"Girls, I wish I could tell you all about our orchids, but you see----" +Mary hesitated, put her finger to her lips and her eyes went blank. + +"I am sure you will soon, Mary-love," Cleo assisted the perplexed +child, "and we wouldn't want to know anything of your affairs that you +are not at liberty to tell. Whenever we ask a question that is out of +order, as we say at our scout meetings, just you answer 'secret' and we +will at once change the subject. There, isn't that fair?" + +"You are all so fair and thoughtful," Mary replied. "I just feel I can +hardly wait to see Grandie, and get his permission to tell you at least +a part of our story. But now let me show you some of our rarest +orchids. Come over here and see these growing on the side of this +rubber tree." + +Time passed quickly in such delightful surroundings, and when Cleo +glanced at her wrist watch she discovered two hours had been consumed +in the time since leaving home, and Jennie should not be made anxious, +they had subsequently decided. Consequently the orchid room could not +longer be enjoyed on this first visit. + +"You see, the wires Grandie uses to give a very light heat," Mary +explained. "He is working on a new electric system, and had just +turned the current on to try it last night. It is off now. I know how +to throw on and off the switch," she assured the girls, as Madaline +edged gingerly from the room. + +"Don't be afraid, Madie," said Grace. "The wires are now all as dead +as fish hooks, and much less dangerous." + +"What do you suppose the strange men intended to do?" ventured Cleo. +"Just say 'secret' if I am on the wrong track." + +"Oh, I know they meant to harm Grandie," replied Mary, soberly. "They +pretended, I suppose, that they came to buy orchids, but more likely +they came to steal them. Then Janos is always wanting Grandie to take +his old queer medicines, and I know they do not make him better. But +do come along, girls, they really might be daring enough to come back." + +At this Grace and Madaline made a bee-line for the front door, which +stood safely wide open. Cleo remained back with Mary, who was most +particular about spraying a few precious plants with water from an +atomizer before she left. + +"No danger of those men coming back to Bellaire by train," said Cleo, +as Mary finally sprang the lock on the big door, "but, of course, they +might come by auto," she added. + +"I heard Janos say he could not get a license to drive a car," Mary +said, "and I was glad of that. You see, these foreigners know very +little about machinery." + +"But they could hire a driver," suggested Grace. + +"They would not," Mary insisted, shaking her head. "They are too +secretive, and would be afraid others would find them out. Oh dear," +and she sighed deeply. "I do not see why we have to suffer so. I have +been so happy with you girls I can almost forget, but when I come up +here it all rushes back!" + +"Now--now, now," warned Grace in her boyish way. "No fair getting +glumpy. You are just exactly like a perfectly different girl, +Mary-love. We do not intend to let you do any back-sliding. You can +learn that much scouting right off, and I think, Cleo, as soon as we +get back home we will make her--yes, make her," and she raised her +voice in mock severity, "take our scout pledge of good cheer." + +Mary smiled through misty eyes. All three scouts had attempted to take +one of her arms, and as she really had not enough members to go around +that way, Madaline grabbed the ends of her big long braids, and +declared she just had to hold on to something. + +They tramped along, down the broad path and again out into the roadway +from the once famous artist's estate. + +"You have neighbors within call, should yon have needed them, Mary," +Cleo said. "I am glad you were not too lonely before we met you." + +"Yes, but I have never known the folks who live in that house," she +replied, drawing in her lips to a very thin red line. "I heard one of +the maids make a remark about us one day, and I never wanted to know +any of them after that." + +"I don't blame you," agreed Madaline. "Mean maids are so mean, and +lovely ones are as nice as Jennie, and she's perfect. I hope she won't +mind us coming up here?" a little anxiously. + +"As long as we are getting back in such good time I am sure she won't," +Cleo assured them. + +"You know, girls," said Mary, stopping suddenly to better gain their +entire attention, "I did not forget to bring some flowers back. I am +sure Mrs. Dunbar would have loved them, and I should have so enjoyed +giving her some, but I promised Grandie never to bring any through the +streets. He is so queer about them, you see," and once more the secret +topic was inadvertently touched upon. "I may have all I like always," +she hurried to explain, "in fact I have many named, and they are my +very own, but just yet I would not risk letting people know we have +them." + +"Oh," said Grace so simply, and so softly that the expression might +have been an echo from the sigh of a passing summer breeze. + +"But the queer wild bushes and things all growing around the windows?" +asked Madaline. "Why do you have them near the glorious orchids?" + +"Grandie thinks they are a protector. You can only see them when you +look in through the glass, and so no one would ever guess they really +hide orchids," Mary explained. + +"And that is why you get all the wild roots from the fields?" Grace +exclaimed, delighted to have solved that much of the mystery. + +"Yes, that is partly the reason, but Grandie makes a fine fertilizer +out of the roots, also. You see our beauties are very tender, and must +have special heat and special nourishment." + +"And how will you know your house is safe while you are away?" pressed +Cleo. + +"Of course we don't know," Mary replied, "but there wasn't anything +else to do. I feel you girls have done it all. I have been such a +baby and, as Reda always insisted, I have seemed half asleep. But +honestly, girls," and again Mary pulled them up to a standstill in +their walk, so that her remarks would not possibly go astray. "I am +like someone who really was asleep, and was just waking up. At least +that is the way I feel." + +"And you are getting such a lovely color," Grace complimented. "Even +if things did get stolen from your house for want of caretakers it +seems to me worth while for you and the professor to grow strong," +declared the practical little scout. + +"It is, indeed," agreed Mary. "You really can't know how much it means +just yet. Secret!" she called out, inaugurating Cleo's idea of +avoiding the forbidden topic by giving the cry of warning. + +They all joined in the laugh that followed, and when they took to the +road that slanted down over Second Mountain like an inclined pole, they +trotted along, almost running down the steep grade. + +"We ought to have brakes to go down here safely," said Cleo. "But I do +love to run down a big, high hill. Let's!" + +"I'll race you," challenged Madaline, and the words were no more than +uttered when the four girls dashed off, throwing back shoulders and +bracing heads high to avoid rolling "head over heels" down the steep +mountain road. + +Past the vineyard, past the quarry pole, and still on past the mountain +house, they kept up the uncertain pace, and finally, reaching a smooth, +almost level lawn, that stole out to play on the roadside, they all +flopped down so suddenly and so unceremoniously that they all but +rolled in sheer disregard of possible grown-up dignity. + +Recovering their equilibrium, the quartette at once set to their +popular lawn-loved task of searching for four-leaf clovers. So intent +were they in the hunt they did not observe the approach of two maids, +coming towards them from the house they sat directly in front of. But +they heard them presently! + +"I know it's that queer old gypsy that comes over the mountain every +day," said one. "I told Officer Brennen if he wanted to get her--he +might stop in here." + +At that remark the girls paused in their hunt, and listened intently. + +"Hush!" said the other maid. "There's the little girl now with those +visitors at Cragsnook." + +Mary dropped all her clovers as if they suddenly burned her fingers. +Her face flushed deeply. + +"Come on, girls!" said Cleo, aloud. "We are all rested enough now, I +guess," and it was a much sobered group that again picked up the trail +down the mountain into Bellaire Center. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PROFESSOR BENSON + +Trust to girls to solve problems. There were those wonderful orchids, +to be aired and watered daily, that beautiful studio which had been +rented furnished, and for which Professor Benson was personally +responsible, yet the girls managed it all beautifully. + +Tom, the trusted taxi driver, was engaged to take them to the studio +and back every morning, and quite as if the task were a joy, and it +really was; the girls went back and forth, saw that everything was all +right, and daily Mary became more and more accustomed to the change in +her surroundings. + +Following orders at the sanitarium, Mary had not yet visited her +"Grandie," but this morning the telephone permission had been called +in, and on their way from the studio she was to stop at Crow's Nest. + +"I am so glad you decided to lay off your pure white, Mary dear," said +Mrs. Dunbar as the girls were ready to leave. "It was pretty and +becoming, but having worn it so long must have been depressing. Now +you just look like a rose bud in that soft pink, and I feel certain +Professor Benson will be delighted with the improvement." + +"It was so good of you to shop for me, Mrs. Dunbar," answered Mary. "I +suppose I would have had pretty things before, if anyone could have +bought them, but you see Reda didn't know," she finished loyally. + +"Course not," chimed in Madaline. "So long as she drained the rainbow +dry of colors for herself, she didn't care what happened to anyone +else. Aunt Audrey, you just ought to see her room at the studio. It +looks like a leaky paint shop." + +"Yes, Reda loves colors herself," agreed Mary, "but I think one reason +why she thought I ought always wear white was for Loved One. But I am +sure _she_ would dress me in flower colors if she were here," said +Mary, gently, smoothing the soft pink voile she now wore so becomingly. + +"All aboard!" cried Cleo, climbing into her place on the seat beside +Tom. Since she was too young to drive a car, she did the next best +thing--took a seat beside the driver. No wonder Mary was a changed +child, to see her as she sat between Grace and Madaline, her cheeks as +pretty and pink as the new dress; her heavy braids, though braided +still, unbound half way with the ends floating around in curls, the +delight, if not the envy, of her companions. Surely Mary was already a +much changed girl. As Grace had threatened, she had been initiated +into the Girl Scout secrets to the extent of taking the "good cheer and +helpful" pledge, and that this had furnished the stray child with a +practical motto, was very evident in the almost complete effacement of +her former wistful, dejected and often gloomy moods. Altogether it was +a delightful achievement, due principally to the subtle and gentle +influence of the sincere little Girl Scouts. + +Over the hill now to Second Mountain seemed almost too short a run, +save that to-day when "Orchidia," the house of orchids, had been looked +after, there was to be the visit to Professor Benson, the long +wished-for meeting of Maid Mary and her "Grandie." + +Everything seemed as usual at the studio. The flowers were blossoming +riotously, and the place was heavy with the glory of the tropics +confined in a mere glassy room of this temperate zone. + +"It must be wonderful in the land where these come from, Mary-love," +said Cleo, as she bent over a magnificent gray lavender bloom, melting +into liquid purple, and shading again into misty pinks, like tints from +a spring sunrise over the ocean--a sunrise that steals the gray mists +and snatches up the pearly foam, to paint its unnamed colors on an +expectant sky. "Oh, it must be too wonderful to describe," said Cleo, +enthused to rapture. + +"It is, indeed," said Mary, "but I often thought the wealth of flowers +there was too much for earth. You see, it is very near the equator, +very hot and so unbearably oppressive. That is what gave us all the +deadly fever." She was trimming off a few withered leaves from a plant +in its hanging basket, and standing on the high rustic stool, her face +above the blossoms, brought sighs of admiration even to Grace, who +ordinarily disclaimed so small a thing as mere vanity. + +"But, Mary, how did you become so well educated away out there?" asked +Cleo. + +"Oh, I had an English nurse, and a governess always," replied Mary, +surprise at the question toning her answer. + +"And your daddy?" Grace had asked the question before she had a chance +to "feel her way to it." + +"Daddy!" answered Mary, a tear falling into the heart of an orchid. +"Daddy--was lost!" + +"In the sea?" Cleo felt impelled to ask further. + +"Yes, he had the fever, and some sailors took him out on the water to +refresh him--and he was lost, overboard!" + +"Oh, how dreadfully sad!" murmured Grace, putting her arm around Mary, +who sat now on a bench in a bower of ferns. "But, Mary-love, see all +the sisters you have now, and you know how dearly we all do love you!" + +"Yes," Mary finally answered, "but I feel little bit guilty, that is +not exactly guilty, but deceitful, as I cannot tell you who I am +really. There! I should cry 'Secret' to myself, for I am getting on +dangerous ground. Come along! I am going to keep my scout pledge in +mind, and smile away my tears. See!" and she brushed two living pearls +from her cheeks. "There now, all our work is done, and we are ready +for Grandie." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Madaline, in evident delight. "See the perfectly +gorgeous butterfly! However did it get in here?" + +"Oh, we coax them in once in a while, but they soon fly out to freedom +again. Yes, that is a beauty. He has taken some of the orchid +colors," said Mary. + +The brilliant, noiseless, flying creature soared up and sailed down +from flower to flower, resting finally on a humble little clover bloom. + +"See, he likes the field blossoms best," remarked Cleo. "I suppose if +we opened a window he would turn his back on all this vain-glory, and +float away to a roadside buttercup." + +"Come along, pretty maidens, we must away!" quoted Mary. "Grace, +please be sure the latch is tightly fastened on the fern window. Did I +put enough water in their fountain?" + +"Oh, plenty," replied Grace. "See the hose is still dripping." + +"All right. Come, I am just all a-quiver to see Grandie. And, girls, +will you mind if I ask you to go out first? I must bring one little +thing to Grandie, and it's part of our secret." She smiled sweetly and +the girls answered with just as pretty, dimpled acquiescence. + +No one would dream of inquiring what Mary was bringing to the sick man +at Crow's Nest, but it seemed to be associated with the orchids. Just +why anything there should be made a secret of puzzled the girls. + +In a few minutes Mary joined them on the porch, and Tom threw in the +clutch of the car, rather impatiently, as they piled in the machine +again. + +It was a perfect day, and the girls fairly bubbled with the joy of it, +as the taxi rattled on. + +"You come in with me, won't you, Cleo?" Mary asked, when the car swung +into Crow's Nest tan-barked drive. + +"If you want me to," assented Cleo, "but do you think your Grandie +would like a third party to spoil your fairy confab?" + +"Oh, I am sure he would like to meet all the girls again," Mary spoke +politely, "but just to-day among those strangers, perhaps two of us +would be best." + +So it was agreed, and Cleo jumped out with Mary, while Grace and +Madaline prepared to play "finger scotch" while they waited outside in +the car. + +A boy in white duck uniform opened the door and showed the girls into a +very restful waiting room. Presently a white robed nurse appeared, +took Mary's name simply as "Mary to see Professor Benson," went to a +wall phone, and returned to conduct the girls to the waiting patient. + +What a lovely surprise! There sat the professor out in a big, +comfortable steamer chair, on the loveliest little porch, right out of +the window from his own room. + +"Grandie! Grandie, dear!" cried Mary, almost running to throw her arms +around him. + +"Mary, Mary darling!" he answered, extending his hands to meet her +embrace. + +Cleo held back. She would not intrude on that moment of happiness, as +the two, speechless with affection, held each other in fond embrace. +Then Mary threw up her head to look in the face of the man who seemed +the only parent and protector she had known for so long a time. + +"How perfectly lovely you look, Grandie!" she exclaimed. "Why, +whatever did they do to you? You--look so--different." + +She was studying a change, unable to name it, but impossible to escape +it. He was different. His eyes were bright, and they looked at her +with a focus directed from a clear mind. + +"And you, baby!" he answered. "At last you have taken on the sunlight. +What is it--with you?" + +"Oh, my pink dress!" Mary answered promptly. "See, here is Cleo in her +sea-green, and the other girls outside are wearing, one a blue and the +other yellow. You always loved the bright colors so, Grandie, but you +know Reda would not let me have anything but white." + +"Oh, yes, that was it," he replied, including a smiling greeting to +Cleo in his pleasant bow. "Yes, Reda wanted white, and it always made +me think of death." + +"Now, Grandie, don't you think I am waking up, if not actually awake?" +and Mary made a pretty little curtsey with a sweep of her skirts. "Oh, +you won't know me. All the ghosts of our tropical home are melting +away. The girls are too lovely, and Mrs. Audrey Dunbar is simply the +most charming woman----" + +"Dunbar, did you say, Mary? Dunbar?" he repeated a question of memory +in his voice. + +"Yes," spoke Cleo quickly. "Did you ever know the name, Professor?" + +"I may have, child. You see, my brain, as it grows stronger, fancies +it knows many more things than it really does. The cells seem to be +jealous of each other, and they keep prodding me to recognize their +claims on memory, one before the other, as quickly as any new, +interesting topic is mentioned. But the doctors here know, and I am +certain they will untangle the snarl presently. Then, Mary-love, we +may be able to trace our lost prize." He kissed her forehead to make +the hope more emphatic, and she, leaning close to him in his big chair, +tilted her head nearer still, acknowledging the caress. + +"Perhaps you may have known some of Uncle Guy Dunbar's people," +suggested Cleo. "I know they were all scientists. Uncle Guy is a +writer, you know." She was addressing the professor. + +"It might be, little girl," he replied, a thoughtful look overspreading +his handsome, scholarly face. "But, Mary, dear, how is the studio?" he +asked. + +"Just lovely, Grandie. Everything is behaving beautifully, and we go +every day to attend to things----" + +"Doesn't Reda look after things properly?" + +"Oh, yes, certainly," Cleo answered before Mary could do so. She saw +the professor was ignorant of the changes at the studio, and wisely +guessed he should not be taxed with too many cares, without permission +from the sanitarium nurse. Mary took Cleo's cue quickly, and, after +making a few general comments, tactfully changed the subject. + +Then remembering Mary had planned some secret for the professor, Cleo +stepped out in the hall, ostensibly to read a big, framed testimonial, +but really to give Mary some time alone with him. A nurse stepped up +to Cleo and spoke very cordially. + +"Isn't he wonderfully better?" asked the white gowned young woman, with +the capable air, so characteristic of professional women. + +"Yes, he seems greatly improved," replied Cleo. + +"His mind is unfolding like a child's," went on the nurse. "The +doctors think his home life has been against him. He is such a +profound student, and has had no relaxation. The wheels just buzz in +one direction all the time," said the nurse with a very attractive +smile. Cleo had always a high regard for the graduate nurse, but she +decided this girl was her ideal of the type. + +"Are you cousins?" asked the nurse kindly. + +"No," replied Cleo, "but very dear friends." + +"I must go now," Mary's voice floated from the little veranda off the +professor's room, and Cleo turned back from the corridor. "Cleo, come +here a moment," called Mary. "Grandie wants to say something to you." + +Cleo advanced to take the professor's hand as he held it to her. + +"Little girl," he said, as his eyes lighted with a soft, affectionate +glow. "Mary has been telling me--and it is all remarkable. You are +wonderful little girls to have rescued her, and I feel, daughter, the +time is coming when we shall be able at least to thank you, though we +never can do that adequately. I have given Mary permission to break a +pledge we took when we came back to New York months ago. Months!" he +repeated. "It seems like years. But I believe now it was all a +question of health; we were both sick from fright. There!" and he +reluctantly raised his voice to the note of dismissal. "I must not +anger my good nurse, and this interview was restricted to just thirty +minutes by that faithful little clock." + +"Then you think the--other matter--will be all right that way." Mary +faltered with the evident intention of being understood by the +professor only. + +"Oh yes, child, that is splendid. Just do it as we planned--and, Mary, +remember to use your cheeks. Daughter," this to Cleo, "see that my +little girl draws some money for the good things you all like. She has +plenty of it," and he shook his head definitely. "She must not want +for anything a little girl should have." + +More puzzled than ever, Cleo made her adieux, and when she and Mary +joined Grace and Madaline in the auto she personally felt like a +wonderful book with uncut pages--overburdened with hidden information +and delicious secrets. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A SECRET SESSION + +"Girls!" Mary addressed all three, just before dinner on the evening of +the day she had called at Crow's Nest, "we must have a real +conference--the kind you have told me about in your scout talks. How +shall we begin, and where can we go to make sure no one will overhear us?" + +"In our play-room over the garage," suggested Cleo, "that's really our +club room, you know." + +"Yes, that is the safest place," Grace agreed, while Madaline wagged +"yes" with her bobbed head. "Besides, we can leave Shep outside, and he +will warn us if anyone should come around," finished Grace. + +But in spite of their serious business, they were really human little +girls after all, for even the prospect of Mary's secrets did not +forestall a vigorous romp to the garage. Madaline fell in first on +Michael's sponges, tools and accessories, for the Dunbar car, which had +been laid up for repairs during the absence of the owner, Mr. Guy Dunbar, +was now being overhauled--a sign the owner was expected soon to return. + +"Oh, Michael!" Madaline apologized, gathering up her feet in their pretty +pomps, and shaking herself free from the accessories, "I couldn't help +tumbling in, and I hope I didn't scatter your nuts and bolts and things!" + +"All right, little girls," Michael greeted them. "The room up-stairs is +all aired, and Jennie was down to-day with some fixin's. Why don't you +ask her and me to join your club?" he joked inquiringly. + +"Yes, of course we should," assented Cleo, who was regarded as Captain. +"That will be lovely; you could be our--our----" + +"Grand Marshal!" suggested Michael. + +"Yes," and Grace clapped her hands joyfully. + +"And Jennie could be our--our----" But Madaline, who attempted to assign +Jennie, was failing miserably in the attempt. + +"Don't give Jennie too high an office," interposed Michael with a twinkle +in his eye. "I wouldn't exactly care to have her for my boss." + +"Come along to the meeting, girls!" called Cleo, "and we will vote on the +new members. Michael, if you are black-balled you may blame Madaline, +you know," and as a protest against such a contingency, Michael pegged +his biggest sponge at Madaline, who ducked just in time to give the wet +flap to Grace. The jolly interlude somewhat delayed the business session +originally set out for, but it evidently acted as a stimulant to the +proceedings when they finally got under way, for a livelier session could +scarcely be imagined. + +Cleo explained some of the routine of regular meetings to the new member, +inscribed on the scout book simply as "Maid Mary," then all further +formalities were wavered and business plunged into. + +"I am so anxious to tell you at least some of our story, girls," began +Mary, "and I know, as Grandie gets stronger, he will be able to remember +some of the important missing details. You know, of course, he is not my +grandfather, but a gentleman who rescued me," she said. + +"Rescued you from what?" asked Madaline, impulsively. + +"That's all in the story," replied Mary, "and honestly, girls, I don't +know how to begin, but I think I ought to go backwards." + +"Yes, do," urged Cleo. "It will be clearer to us if we can connect with +the parts we have actually experienced." + +"You wonder, of course," Mary began again, "what actually happened that +first night I came here. Really someone did call me," Mary insisted with +wide eyes. "I can hear the voice yet. I know it was someone who knew +me, therefore it must have been Reda." + +"We all thought someone was around," Cleo ventured, "and did you know +Shep was shot in the leg that night?" + +"No, really," exclaimed Mary in astonishment. "I am sure Reda did not do +that. She is dreadfully afraid of a revolver. Once when Grandie had +one, as he thought someone was prowling about, he left it under his +pillow, and Reda wouldn't touch it, and you would never imagine what a +silly thing she did. She scooped it up on a dust-pan and dumped it in +the bureau drawer. Can you imagine anyone doing that with a loaded +revolver?" + +"Oh, how absurd!" exclaimed Grace. + +"It was lucky it was not self-cocked," declared Cleo. + +"Well, I know Reda wouldn't touch a revolver, so no one I knew could have +injured lovely Shep," said Mary, somewhat dismayed. + +"But you remember, Mary, the man you called Janos was out from New York +that day," suggested Madaline. + +"Yes, I know," said Mary, "but I hope it was in no way my fault poor Shep +was injured." + +"Of course it was not," Cleo said quickly, seeing a possible unpleasant +trend in their review. "It must have been someone who was just prowling +around. You know, girls, all Jennie's lettuce was pulled up by the roots +the night before Shep was shot." + +At the mention of lettuce Mary flushed. Then recovering her composure, +she remarked: + +"Reda would pull up garden things. She couldn't seem to understand that +growing things were private property. You see, in her country every sort +of stuff grows so luxuriously Reda never could understand why it is +different here. She was always searching for greens to cook for Grandie, +and I was often afraid she would give him something poisonous," Mary +said. "Poor Reda," she sighed. "I wonder where she is?" + +"But, Mary," urged Cleo, "do you know actually that you climbed out the +window in your nightie, and sat on a limb of the tree exactly like Peter +Pan in Kensington Gardens? I shall never forget how cute you looked, +even in lantern lights, as you hugged the button ball tree!" and at the +joyous memory all the girls fairly rolled in glee. Grace slid off the +improvised couch; Madaline doubled up on the steamer rug which was +serving as an Oriental on the floor, and Cleo put her perky little head +through such a course of exercises as would have done credit to a beauty +specialist in neck treatment. It was so very funny a thing to remember. +Mary perched in a tree à la Peter Pan, in her white night robe, Cleo +climbing out after her in her bluebird pajamas, then the spectators +around the base of the tree in various improvised garbs, not really +passed by the censor. Yes, it was howlingly--shriekingly funny, just now! + +"But do let us get along with the mysteries," begged Grace, unwinding +herself. "Mary, you were going backwards and you haven't got past the +first tree." + +"Well, I guess I will have to jump to the most interesting part," said +Mary. "You see, girls, my mother's folks didn't want her to marry my +daddy, because he wasn't rich. He was a scientist, and I am sure a +wonderful man, but mother's folks were very wealthy, and when she went +off exploring with daddy her folks sort of deserted her. Then, when she +fell ill, and daddy fell ill, and I was going to be all alone----" She +paused to choke back too determined a sigh, then continued. "When they +feared they were going, one of the other explorers promised to look out +for me. He is Grandie, but his name isn't Benson, but he doesn't know +that I know that. He lost a very precious treasure, and on account of +that he is sort of hiding, although he really never did a single thing +wrong," declared Mary, loyally. + +"Did they go out on a regular exploring expedition?" asked Cleo very +seriously, a new thought coming to her active brain. + +"Yes, I suppose so. Why?" Mary inquired in turn. + +"I was just thinking--but never mind. Don't let me interrupt you, Mary. +Tell us about your daddy." + +"Daddy was determined not to let the fever take him, so, sick as he was, +he insisted on going out to sea, but he--didn't come back." + +Quick to save Mary from the threatening tears, Grace asked, "What were +they exploring for?" + +"Why, for orchids. I thought you knew," replied Mary, rather surprised +at the question. + +"No, we didn't know," Cleo said very thoughtfully, "but we guessed those +wonderful orchids must have come from a tropical clime." + +"Yes, we brought the bulbs with us, and that's where I still have to say +'secret,' Cleo dear," Mary responded, smiling to assure her friends she +would have told them more of the mystery if she had been free to do so. + +"And what is your name, really?" ventured Madaline. + +"You may think it very strange, but I am not sure. Daddy used a book +name, out on his exploration trips, and mother's family name was never +mentioned. Grandie had my papers but you see"--and she hesitated quite a +long time, then in a subdued voice she continued--"you see Grandie became +ill, and he forgot. That is one reason why I am so happy his memory is +returning." + +"Oh, wouldn't it be lovely if you turned out to be a great lady!" +Madaline rhapsodized, true to form in a girl's love of excitement. + +"I wouldn't want to be a great lady!" replied Mary, tossing back her head +disdainfully. "I would rather just be a little girl scout like you!" + +"Hurrah! Hurrah! for our new Tenderfoot. Let's put her through an +initiation, girls!" suggested Cleo. "Mary, don't forget where you left +off, and we'll take a recess. Come on. First you must slide down that +pole. Look out for Michael; he has a pail of water he might like to see +you slide into." + +Romping and racketing took the place of serious reminiscences for the +time, and if Mary felt inclined to be sorrowful at her revived memories +the True Treds quickly vanquished the gloom foe, until tiring of the very +vigorous exercise, they settled down again for a last word before closing +the meeting. + +"Was Reda with you all the time?" Cleo asked Mary when they were finally +quieted to rational speech. Somehow Cleo seemed to sense a solution to +the mystery Mary was so cautiously unfolding. + +"She left the island with us. We must have been very near the equator +off of Central America, and when the fever broke out all the English +left. We came on a very miserable ship, but we were very glad to escape." + +"And those men Reda knows," went on Cleo, like a little inquisitor, "did +you meet them on the ship?" + +"I don't really know, but I have heard Grandie declare to Reda that they +followed us. I blame them for most of our trouble, of course." + +"And I would, too," declared Grace. "Good thing you scared them off with +your flare-up, Madaline. Will you ever forget that movie scene, with all +the lights!" + +"But, girls," insisted Mary, serious again, "you know I do not feel I +should stay here, as I am staying, any longer than I actually have to. I +know you are all perfectly lovely, and Mrs. Dunbar is like a--young woman +who lives in a shoe, with so many children and so forth, but I also know +something about propriety, and it seems an imposition for me to bother +you so much." + +"There, now," wailed Cleo, "just when everything is being so beautifully +fixed. Mary-love, I have a real scheme, but it's a secret. Can't I have +a secret same as you?" Cleo twisted her head characteristically. "At +any rate," she continued, "we haven't any idea of letting out Peterina +Panna (that's my feminine for Peter Pan); we haven't any idea of letting +her escape. She must stay right here until all this delicious mystery is +cleared up. You see, Peterina Panna, we are only beginning to know your +fairyland story, and now I for one am determined to put all the pieces +together and make a beautiful real dream out of it, only, of course, the +dream must be true." + +"Yes, and I just wrote home begging an extension of time, so I could be +in the fairy play at the end," declared Madaline, "for I am going to have +you worked into a princess or something beautiful like that," decided +romantic little Madaline. + +"I know you are all sincere," Mary said gently, "and of course it would +be difficult to arrange about going away just now, with Grandie not +strong. But he suggested that I ask Mrs. Dunbar's advice on a boarding +school." + +"Don't you dare!" cried Cleo. "She might just pack us all off, and of +course we couldn't blame her, for we have turned Cragsnook into a regular +institution for noisy girls. But, hark ye! Aunt Audrey loves it that +way, and she is planning more noise for Uncle Guy's return. And wait +until you see him! You will love him. But please to remember he is +especially _my_ uncle. And now, scouts, I am going to call this meeting +adjourned. I can smell harvest apples all the way up here. Is there +anything better than those juicy early apples!" + +The girls made that opinion unanimous, and what was left of Michael's +apples fifteen minutes later would not even make pickings for Jennie's +pet gray hen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE SHADOWS + +"Cleo, come here," Grace beckoned her chum, as Mary and Madaline +started for a fishing trip to the little brook that capered through the +Cragsnook lands, at the foot of an ambitious group of hills. "I am +just so anxious to talk to you," Grace almost implored. + +"And I am just dying to talk to you," declared Cleo, "so we ought to +have a lovely time. Come on for a walk down to the stone bridge. No +one is going that way at this hour." + +"Because lovers are scarce around here, I suppose," Grace guessed, "for +twilight, lovers and stone bridges are always combined in the movies." + +"Then we will be the lovers," proposed Cleo. "Come along, darling," +and she twined her arm around the shoulders of her friend, in sincere +affection, if in pretended affectation. + +"I know what you are going to say," Grace began. "It's about Mary's +secret." + +"Of course," admitted Cleo. "I have been breathless with excitement +since she told us. Grace, do you see what may have happened? Just +what _may_ have, of course." + +"You mean she may belong to people in America who would love to know +about her?" + +"Yes, that is an easy guess. But why should Professor Benson deny her +identity?" + +"He is also denying his own. Why does he do that?" + +"And there is not the slightest possibility he could ever have +committed a crime. No man with his personality is ever a criminal." + +"No, indeed," vouched Grace, quite unconscious of posing as an expert +on character. + +"It's very mysterious," went on Cleo, "and when Mary mentioned the name +Dunbar to him he seemed to recall it somehow. I asked him if he ever +knew anyone named Dunbar, and he passed it off on his brain playing +queer tricks on him. But all the same he did seem to have a memory of +it." + +"Now, Cleo Harris, don't you dare go getting Mary in your family," +ordered Grace, jokingly. "It would be just Cleoistic to have it turn +out that way. No, Mary is going to be a princess, to suit Madaline +this time. Let's sit down here on the bridge and try to figure it all +out," she proposed. + +The broad stone coping over the little stream offered an attractive +resting place for the self-appointed delegates, and the twilight hour a +most opportune time for their conference. + +"I am going to do two things first----" began Cleo. + +"Oh, I wouldn't," mocked Grace. "I would do one thing first, the other +way would be woozy." + +"Now you know what I mean, and this isn't a grammar test," pouted Cleo. +"Well, then, first, I am going to write to Uncle Guy. He knows so much +about detective work--all writers do, you know, and I feel he could +help us solve the mystery. I am going to send him that picture we took +the other day, so he can see what Mary looks like." + +"I think that is really a brilliant idea, Cleo," said Grace, seriously. +"There might be some reason for Professor Benson noticing the name +Dunbar. Even if I do take the risk of you getting in a claim, still, I +have to be fair," and she squeezed the arm that lay over her own. "I +think the pictures are splendid. I sent one to Margaret. Somehow I +feel a little lonely for Margaret, don't you?" + +"Yes, it would have been lovely for her to share all this, but perhaps +they may come to New York before the season is over. Let us hope so. +Now, for my second big idea: I am going to make inquiries at the New +York museum about exploring parties. They may have records of the +scientific men who went to the tropics for orchids, and I may be able +to solve some of the mystery that way." + +"Say, Cleo," said Grace, dimpling and making pretty faces at the +slanting rays dipping into the brook from the early nightfall, "I do +believe you are related to your Uncle Guy, the writer, for you have +such original ideas. However did you think of that?" + +"Oh, it is not original, really, Grace. I saw an account of a report +of such an expedition in one of Uncle Guy's magazines, and that gave me +the idea." + +"But it wouldn't give me such an idea in a thousand years," admitted +Grace. "However would you go about it?" + +"I'll try to get some dates and other facts from Mary, and then I'll +just write a letter. Maybe I will ask you to do the writing, as your +hand is much better than mine." + +"Oh, I'll be glad to help out even as your secretary, but suppose we +accidentally betray Mary's secret--then what would happen?" + +"I have thought of that," Cleo reflected, "and I have decided, since +Professor Benson and Mary are both so good, nothing but good can +eventually be discovered about them. Even a lot of mistakes can't be +really held against one, and I am hoping there won't even be mistakes, +but glories to unfold. Isn't it exciting! Aunt Audrey is just +fascinated with Mary, and is going to paint her as soon as things +straighten out, and I for one can feel the tangles putting out into a +straight line right now. Here they come, with their fish poles. Don't +they both look like a picture? Mary is so quaint, and Madaline is such +an adorable baby. Come on, and see the fish they didn't catch." + +"We did, too, catch something," declared Madaline, when all four girls +met on the bridge. "We caught a lovely big fat turtle. Just see!" + +It was indeed a lovely turtle she set down on the rough country walk, +and, perhaps scenting the damp grass near the brook, Mr. Turtle +promptly crawled off to possible seclusion and hoped for safety. Even +turtles have preferences, and do not always appreciate the personal +attention of Girl Scouts. They seem to prefer the company of hop toads +and toad stools. + +"Oh, I'll lose him!" cried Madaline; "and I wanted him for Michael's +garden. He would chase all the other little eating bugs and worms, +wouldn't he, Mary?" and down the side of the bank, running to the +brook, Madaline pursued the recalcitrant reptile. But the hill was +very steep, the stones loose, and the sand slippery, and Madaline began +to slide. + +"Oh, look out, Madie!" yelled Grace. "You'll slide right in the brook!" + +But it was too late. Madaline had no chance to "look out." All she +could do was to slide, and that she kept at, rolling stones and tossing +sand down in a perfect avalanche. + +"Oh! oh! oh!" screamed Mary, digging her heels deep in the loose bank +in an attempt to follow the sliding figure ahead. "You'll go right in +the brook and it's deep. We're so near the dam!" + +"And you'll be in with her," screamed Cleo--"Madaline, grab that bush, +never mind the old turtle!" + +But Madaline had now reached the bottom, and feet first she struck the +water, just as Mary grabbed her skirt and held on tight enough to keep +her from sliding in further. + +"Oh, my!" cried Madaline, trying to back out. "I thought I was gone." + +"You were!" insisted Grace, who had come to the edge by way of a safer +track through bushes instead of on an avalanche. "You almost +frightened us to death! Just see how swift the water is here." + +"I don't want to see it. The earth is swift enough for me," declared +Madaline, shaking the water out of her slippers, which fortunately had +not fallen off in the water. "I have been both fishing and turtle +hunting to-night, and all I got was--wet," she groaned. "And my nice +clean gingham! Whatever will Jennie say!" + +"Nothing, dearie, don't you mind," soothed Cleo. "We are so glad to +see you safely landed we can even forgive the turtle. It was a +perfectly foolish thing to do, to fall in the brook at this hour, with +not even a boy scout to perform a daring, dashing rescue. Madie, I'm +surprised at your lack of judgment. Think how Mally Mack would have +loved to pull you out by the hair!" + +"And carry you home in his manly arms!" chimed in Grace. "What a +chance wasted!" + +"And think of rolling our little fat girl on a big bumple barrel----" + +But Madaline had recovered her poise and posture, not to mention +proclivities, and, taking to the better foot-hold on the clumps of +grass along the bank, a little farther from the bridge, she managed to +scamper after both her tormentors. Mary was also in the race, and on +reaching the road safely even the turtle was forgotten. + +"Am I all mud?" asked Madaline, shaking her skirts. + +"No, really you are not," Mary assured her. "It is only your slippers +and stockings, and it is so dark they won't show. But I hope my pretty +dress is not soiled. I was foolish to put it on for fishing, but I was +so proud I wanted to try it." + +"Oh, come on. It's getting dark and Aunt Audrey is having company," +said Cleo. "Madaline, you will have to change your shoes, of course, +then we can come out again, and go for a walk. It's all right to go +toward the village, but we must turn our backs on the mountains with +sundown. Mary-love, when may we go up to the studio to do some +exploring?" she changed the subject. "You know you said you wanted to +look over Reda's things and send them to her, if you knew where she +might get them?" + +"Yes, I have been anxious about that," said Mary, falling in step with +Cleo, while Grace went ahead with Madaline. "I would so like to know +about Reda. I wonder where she is?" + +"Wouldn't she go to friends?" Cleo asked. + +"Oh, those men would frighten her, and you remember what that woman on +the mountain road said about police the other day," and Mary shuddered +as she recalled the maid's careless speech about the police looking for +the gypsy woman. "I feel so helpless sometimes," the child sighed. + +"But please don't, Mary," Cleo spoke up. "You have no idea how much we +girls have done already in difficult matters. Why, I wouldn't be +afraid to go to New York with Aunt Audrey and look for Reda, if you are +worried about her," Cleo volunteered. + +"Oh, I wouldn't have you think of such a thing," Mary quickly replied +with something like fear in her voice. "I hope Mrs. Dunbar is not +taking any trouble about her?" + +"No, indeed. Aunt Audrey is so busy with her pictures I don't see what +she does when Uncle Guy is home, and he wants any attention," Cleo +remarked. "Mary, I wondered if we might not pack up Reda's things? +She won't come back now, surely, and I think you might feel better to +be sure her folks would not come around for anything. Have you any +address we might send to?" + +"No, but she kept papers. I could understand them if we could find +them. Perhaps we better look to-morrow. Here we are home, and the +girls have gone in already. I guess we must have crawled slower than +Madaline's turtle." + +"And it's quite dark," said Cleo. "Mary," she whispered, "isn't that a +man over there behind that tree? See, he just stepped back from the +light. Let us talk as if we saw the other girls so he won't think +we're alone," she hastily muttered. Then in a clear voice she +called--"Wait a minute, Benny, I want you to carry this" (it was the +fishing rod). "Oh, all right," she kept on to the imaginary boy. +"Here it is," and with that both girls ran into the driveway and up to +the house like two frightened deer. At the porch they stopped +breathless. Mrs. Dunbar and two friends were sitting there. + +"Well, what's the trouble, girls?" she asked. "Running away from the +new moon?" + +"No, Auntie," Cleo replied, "but we thought we saw someone back of the +tree--a man, and when he saw us he seemed to hide. Where's Michael?" + +"I'll call him if you are timid, but we are going to have some +gentlemen callers this evening. Maybe you are running away from one of +them," she said with a light laugh. "But you girls set such store by +Michael, I am afraid I shall have to have the garage moved up nearer +the house. Never mind, our good watchman will be home soon. Uncle Guy +will be in Chicago this week," she finished with an inflexion of +pleasure anticipated. + +Cleo was just deciding she must get her letter off to her Uncle Guy's +hotel quickly, as she calculated wisely he would give more attention to +a letter than he would be able to give to conversation for some days +after his home-coming. + +Leaving her guests for a few moments, Mrs. Dunbar touched the call +button for Michael, and when he came up the path Cleo and Mary went to +meet him. They told him the shadow story, of course, even offered to +go down the walk and point out the tree, but he declined their +assistance. + +"Now, I'll tell you girls," he said, shaking his head as he always did +when uttering an important fact, "we have a special watchman guarding +this place and maybe it was him" (he might have said he, but grammar is +not so important to a handy man as are good tools, and Michael always +had these). + +"Oh, a watchman!" exclaimed Cleo. "I'm so glad. Now, Mary dear, don't +you go climbing any more trees," she warned with a pinch for Mary's +elbow. + +"No, you had better all behave," added Michael, "for our man is a +regular hawk for night watching. I had to introduce him to Shep; knows +his step clear down the road. Not that he makes a sound we can hear, +but a dog, you know--a dog has ears in his paws, and they hear sounds +for a long distance in the ground," he declared. + +"I guess so," said Mary, simply, "for I have seen dogs listen to things +so far off. But the watchman--would he shoot anyone who came around?" +There was anxiety in her voice. + +"Well, no," conceded Michael; "he wouldn't exactly shoot first shot; he +might fire that over a prowler's head. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing," fluttered Mary, "except that my old nurse is odd and +doesn't know American ways very well. And if she should come around +looking for me, a watchman would not understand her, I'm afraid." + +"Tell me what she looks like and I'll post Jim. He's a careful enough +chap, but you know, young ladies, we have had some trouble about here +lately." + +Mary described Reda as best she could, and being assured the man behind +the tree was really some passerby and not a prowler, the girls went +back to the house to find Grace and Madaline. + +The two latter could hardly wait to come down the stairs by steps, so +impatient were they to reach Cleo and Mary. + +"Oh, look!" exclaimed Grace. "Here's a letter for Mary. We picked it +up out by the gate. It must have been left there just as we came +along. But we couldn't see that it was a letter until we got into the +light. Here, Mary," and she handed over a square, common business +envelope. "It is only addressed to 'Maid Mary,'" finished Grace. + +"Come on up to our room, to my room," suggested Cleo, surmising the +letter might be better read privately. "Aunt Audrey has guests on the +porch." + +"All right," agreed Mary, crushing the letter in her hands. "Come +along, girls. Whatever it is we may all know it, I don't want any +_new_ secrets; the _old_ ones are heavy enough burdens." + +Up in Cleo's room, under the softly shaded light, Mary tore open the +envelope. She knew the hand was laboriously penned by some foreigner. +Then she read aloud: + + +"Reda is sick. She says you can't come here, but wants her things. +Send the box by express. Reda will come out when she can walk. + +"Carmia Frantez." + + +An address was carefully spelled out, and there followed this +postscript. + + +"I go to school, and we don't want Janos to get our letters. Dominic +is going to take this out on the train; he is a good honest boy. +Answer to this house by the number I give here. Carmia." + + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mary, staring at her companions. "That must have been +the man we saw behind the tree. And this Carmia is a little girl I +have heard Reda speak of. Now what shall I do! Poor Reda!" she +sighed. "I hope she is not very sick." + +"Let's go the first thing in the morning to pack her box," suggested +Cleo. "Then we can send it to her by express," and this plan was +promptly decided upon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HIDDEN TREASURES + +A feeling akin to relief, if not that of actual safety, brightened the +girls next day when, with keen anticipation for the promised +excitement, they started off for a hike to the studio, there to box up +Reda's belongings, and also to hunt for possible clews to the +ever-deepening mystery of Mary's identity, and the professor's secret. + +Having assured Mrs. Dunbar that the next door neighbors to the studio +were easily within call, as well as convincing her that gardeners and +workmen were constantly in the fields and estates adjoining the studio, +she consented to their going in charge of Shep, who was now fully +recovered from his wound and lame leg. + +It was early, and the dew still lay in a liquid veil over the grass and +wild flowers along the way, but the Girl Scouts, Mary being a novice +and on probation, were too much interested and excited to observe the +beauties of nature this day. + +"I suppose Reda has lots of queer things," ventured Madaline when they +had passed the mountain house and started on the down-grade the other +side. + +"Yes," replied Mary. "She was always bringing things from New York. +Her sort of people never seem to have enough. They keep storing and +piling up every sort of trash. Grandie would get out of patience at +times and threaten to throw it all out of doors." + +Tangles of wild morning glories crept cautiously over the steps at the +studio, where now the absence of human traffic was beginning to show in +that vague, venturesome way vegetation has of creeping in where mortals +have deserted. The grass grew so much higher on the lawn, the flowers +were having such a joyous time spreading all over and blooming as they +chose, while the trumpet vine had actually climbed down from its arch +with the ramblers, and was shamelessly romping all over the fern patch, +fairly strangling the wild maidenhairs in its reckless ramblings. + +"Where shall we begin?" Cleo asked as the girls tramped into the long, +quiet hall. "Isn't it cave-like to come into an empty house? Oh, I +know; see the hall clock has stopped ticking, and when a tick goes out +it seems to leave a smoke of silence," she finished. "There, don't you +think I have an imaginative brain?" + +"I'd call it a loony brain," replied Grace. "Talking about the smoke +of silence! Sounds like a new name for a cigarette!" and they all +enjoyed a good laugh at the comparison. + +"At any rate," decided Cleo, "it is always more quiet after a clock +stops than it is in any other room where no clock ever ticked. So +there!" + +"Let's wind the clock, start it up, and stop the argument," proposed +practical Grace. "Tell me how many winds, Mary!" She had climbed on a +wooden chair, had the door of the big clock open, and was examining the +queer mechanism. + +"I don't know a thing about the clock," Mary admitted. "Grandie always +attended to it, but I suppose you just turn the key until it feels hard +to turn. I have always heard a clock must not be wound too tight----" + +At the side of the grandfather's antique time-piece a long door opened, +Grace discovered, and being interested in the odd piece of furniture, +she swung this out. As she did so a package rolled out on the floor. + +"Something stored away here, I suppose," said Grace. "Shall I replace +it, Mary?" picking up the newspaper package and holding it out to Mary. + +"Let me see it?" Mary asked. + +It was a long, slim package, wrapped in a faded and yellow newspaper. +Unfolding the wrappings, nothing but a piece of bamboo-like cane, about +as large as a flute, was revealed. + +"That's queer," Mary commented. "I wonder what good that old piece of +stick is?" She held it up and saw that the ends were sealed. + +"Something is bottled up in that," declared Cleo. "Bamboo is always +open and hollow between joints." + +"Let's get something and press the ends in," suggested Grace. "It +might be something breakable." + +"Or explosive," ventured Madaline, who had not forgotten her first +night's experience at the studio. + +Mary was turning the piece of cane upside down, shaking it, listening +for any rattle within, and otherwise examining it most carefully. +Meanwhile Cleo had rescued the wrappings, and was trying to connect the +line of print. She smoothed out the torn, yellow pieces, and presently +her eye fell upon a ringed line paragraph, the ring being a penciled +circle, usually made to attract the eye to a special item. + +"Let's see what's marked here," she suggested, going closer to the +window for better light. "Oh, look, Mary," she exclaimed again, "this +tells of an exploring expedition leaving New York. Maybe that is a +report of your folks and the professor! See, it reads," and she +pressed the very much crinkled pieces to something of smoothness. + +"'Left for the tropics to hunt orchids. Professor Blake and party----' +Now, that's torn out into a real hole, and we can't get the names of +the party. Did you ever see anything so aggravating?" + +"But Professor Blake," repeated Mary. "That isn't our professor!" + +"Didn't you say his name was not Benson?" Cleo reminded her. + +"Yes, I knew it was not Benson, but I thought it was," she hesitated. +Her grandie had not given his permission to the publication of his real +name. "At least," continued Mary, "I didn't know it was Blake." + +"How foolish we are!" exclaimed Cleo. "Surely there would have been +more than one professor on that trip. And this may only, after all, be +an item of general interest. But don't you think, Mary, we had better +take it along and read it carefully when we have time?" + +"That's a good idea," agreed Mary, "and I think I had better do the +same thing with this shiny stick. It may be some kind of flute, but I +would not like to try to blow on it. So many things from the tropics +are poisonous. Let's wrap it up again," she suggested. + +"But not in this paper," objected Cleo. "I want to read all of this +again, and it must not be further damaged. Here, Shep," to the +faithful dog, who lay nose deep in a big soft rug, "come along and I'll +get you a nice cool drink. You are cooled off now, and I know you want +a drink after that tramp over the mountain." + +The shaggy shepherd dog followed Cleo to the faucet that dripped on a +stone flagging near the back door. He drank the pan of water Cleo drew +for him, shook himself vigorously, then started in for a "sniffing +tour," as Madaline described the canine method of investigation. He +was left quite alone and to his own resources while the girls continued +in their attempt to gather up Reda's things. + +"I feel queer to go among her trinkets," said Mary. "She was always so +careful no one should see her belongings." + +"All old people are that way," said Madaline, who was having the time +of her life pulling trash out of the big rattan trunk. "You don't +intend to send all this stuff, do you, Mary?" she asked. + +"Oh, no, certainly not," Mary replied, "but it is rather hard to tell +the hay from grass in Reda's wardrobe." + +"And I must say," put in Grace, "she had a queer idea of the uses of a +bureau. Just look at all the moldy roots and growing things!" Grace +was gingerly touching the "moldy things" in a rather vain attempt at +exploring the depths of the old mahogany bureau drawers. + +"Don't throw any of those away," warned Mary, "because--well, because +they might grow into pretty orchids, you know," she finished, with such +a poor attempt at disguising her real meaning that it almost shouted +out past her actual words. + +"Of course they must be flower bulbs," assented Grace, "but fancy +keeping them in a bureau drawer!" + +Bits of bright ribbons, odds and ends of lace, so much lace of all +kinds, and such a tangle of threads, strings, tapes and almost +everything that could snarl up, was dragged out by Madaline from a work +box, that she jammed the whole mass back in despair. "She won't need +any of that," Cleo decided, "and I guess some new sewing stuff will be +welcome whenever Reda gets a chance to use it." + +"But she must have her thimble," insisted Mary. "Just wait until I get +this dress and shawl in the box, and I'll try to find it--I think she +kept it there." + +"Oh, look here," called Madaline. "Here is a cute little secret place +in the work box. See, the top comes out when you press here." As she +pressed the indicated spot in the finely inlaid box a secret drawer +shot out. This was literaly crammed with papers, printed and written, +and even here were the remains of the dried roots, the dust of bulbs, +and the powder of dried leaves. + +"Should we look over her papers?" asked Madaline, again referring to +Mary. + +"Well, I don't believe we should," decided the girl, whose face was +flushed with the excitement of the hunt. "Yet they might be important +to Grandie. Suppose we tie them up in something and save them until he +is strong enough to look over them? He brought Reda here penniless, +and without any belongings, and whatever she has he would have a +perfect right to look over," finished Mary. + +"I think so, too," agreed Madaline, evidently disappointed her find had +not yielded some exciting clew. + +Gathering up the papers, a picture fell to the floor. Madaline quickly +recovered it, and presently all the girls were scrutinizing the +photograph. + +"It is you and your mamma," declared Cleo. "Look at both your eyes, +and her wonderful mound of hair." + +"Yes, that is truly Loved One," said Mary, tenderly brushing the bits +of leaves from the picture. "I have never seen this before. I wonder +why Reda hid it away from me?" + +"And here's another," called Grace. "This is some man dressed as +a--tourist--I guess. See his big hat and the short trousers." + +"Oh, that's daddy!" cried Mary. "Let me see it. Darling daddy," she +exclaimed, grasping the new found treasure and holding it in close +scrutiny. "Wasn't he handsome!" + +All the girls pored over the picture of the tall, good-looking man, +dressed in the light clothing usually worn in warm countries, the big +helmet hat pushed back from his face, and his hand resting on a stout +bamboo stick. + +"See, he has that sort of cane," corrected Cleo. "Wouldn't it be +wonderful if it were really a piece of his own walking cane?" + +"It really might be," Mary reflected. "Dear me, I do wonder why Reda +hid those things? And she must have taken them from Grandie or from my +things. They certainly could not have been hers." + +On the reverse side of the picture was the name of some photographer in +Panama, and having made careful examination without success for +possible notes or written names, as might give further information, +Mary folded her two pictures carefully, and laid them aside with the +bamboo stick. + +All this time the girls kept wondering why Mary could not tell them +what was the nature of the loss that had so affected the professor. +Hiding himself and hiding Mary seemed a strange thing to do, except for +some reason that might entail danger in discovery, and what possible +danger could there be in two perfectly honest persons using their own +names? + +"I was to look for Reda's thimble," said Mary, jamming in the trunk +some heavy coats and woolens that seemed necessary to take off the +clothes hooks. "I guess I had best put all the little things in this +flat basket," she decided, opening up a small hand-woven affair, such +as girls use for embroidery cases. + +Attacking the Philippine work box once more, Mary took all the movable +compartments that she could locate by shaking and rattling, and at last +found one in the very bottom of the box; released by such a snap +spring, it surely must have originally been a trick box. + +"Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "Just look here!" and, holding the small tray +up to the astonished gaze of the girls, they beheld a glittering array +of jewels. + +"Oh, how beautiful," called out a voice in which all three were blended. + +"These must have been Loved One's!" said Mary, in an awed voice, and +her companions, too astonished to speak, simply stared at the +glittering treasures. + +There were several pins with beautiful sparkling stones, a number of +rings, lockets; in fact the collection seemed to include a supply of +fine jewelry, such as a woman of means and social prominence might +covet. + +"However will you carry them?" asked Madaline, first to recover from +the surprise. + +"I don't know," Mary replied, still dazed and overcome. To her the +discovery meant more than a collection of jewelry; it meant that her +mother must have been a wealthy and prominent woman. This fact, +however, Mary always understood, but in her hands now were seemingly +new proofs. + +"Let us attend to the orchids to-day, Mary," suggested Grace, "while +you finish your packing. Come on, Madie, get the small cans." + +"All right," Cleo agreed. "I'll help Mary find something to carry her +treasures in, and also help her finish packing. We will then likely +all be finished about the same time. What a lot of things we have to +look over when we get home! Mary, I am sure some of those lockets will +have pictures in them," and all the while she was talking Cleo was +running here and there, or hither and thither, as Jennie would have +said, in a hurry to finish the tasks. + +"I know where I can get a good strong bag," Mary said, "but I haven't +been upstairs since we went away. This big bungalow, having the +sleeping rooms on the first floor, always seemed complete without +upstairs." + +"I'm not afraid to go up," Cleo volunteered. "I'll take Shep. Where +is he?" + +At the sound of his name Shep sprang forward, carrying in his teeth the +remnants of a yellow handkerchief he had torn almost to shreds. + +"Why, Shep, what are you doing? You never tear things." Cleo charged, +attempting to rescue the remains of the yellow silk handkerchief. + +But Shep would not release his hold on the rags--instead he growled. +Could Cleo have known why, she would have complimented him on being go +clever a detective, for the handkerchief was one of Reda's and mate to +the one Shep brought in with him the night he received the bullet in +his leg. But the girls knew nothing of this. + +"Shall we go up for the bag?" Cleo asked Mary, desisting in her efforts +to unmask Shep. + +"I suppose we better," Mary replied, as they made their way to the end +of the hall from which point the hidden stairs were built. "It is so +long since I have been up here I shall hardly know what it looks like." + +Mary went first and Cleo followed close to her heels. At the top Mary +stood still and drew back a little. Then she turned and motioned to +Cleo. + +"What's the matter?" whispered Cleo, seeing Mary make haste to collect +the most important things. + +"There are a lot of strange boxes and things up there," Mary said in a +hushed voice. "Hark! What was that!" + +Both girls stood breathless, afraid to move. Over in a far corner of +the long, dark room, something chattered and squeaked, then squealed! + +"What ever can it be?" asked Cleo. "It is surely something alive, but +I don't know what could make that sort of noise." + +"I do," said Mary. "That's a monkey. How do you suppose it got in +here?" + +"You go over and look, if you are not afraid," suggested Cleo, "and I +will stay here to guard Shep. Hear him! He would go wild for a +monkey." + +A clear line over the boxes, and through the long room showed nothing +more sinister than that some small animal could be hidden there, so +Mary stepped over the litter, and soon discovered the origin of the +queer noise. + +"Oh, the dearest little thing!" exclaimed Mary, putting out her arms to +the frightened monkey, that immediately crawled into her safekeeping. +"How did it get in here?" + +"Come on," implored Cleo, fearful someone might be in bidding. "Let us +get away. You are not afraid of him?" + +"No, indeed. Just see how glad he is that we found him. I wonder how +long he has been up here!" + +But even a starving monkey would not be sufficient cause for longer +delay, so, urging Mary down, Cleo held Shep fast while Grace hurriedly +locked the door that led to the second floor of the studio. + +Now surely they must make haste to get away. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE MASCOT'S RESCUE + +"Oh, the poor little thing! See how he cuddles up! Wasn't he +frightened to death!" and Mary hugged the chattering little animal +under her arm, like a short haired terrier, or even an abused and +exhausted little kitten. To the other girls it seemed quite impossible +to realize this was really a monkey, and the domestic puppy or kitten +naturally furnished a comparison. + +"Oh, do let's hurry!" begged Madaline. "How do we know someone will +not burst in upon us?" + +"We don't," replied Cleo, without the hope of reassurance. "But we +have to depend on Shep. I think he is behaving beautifully with a real +monkey on the premises; no jealousy in good old Shep." She was making +all possible haste with picking up the most important articles they had +gathered to bring back with them to Cragsnook. "I have your treasures, +Mary," she said, making a final hard knot in the shawl that held the +jewelry. "The other girls are all ready. Come on, don't let us wait a +moment longer," she cautioned. + +"Can you carry the cane, and these pictures?" Mary asked. "I guess I +can manage them if you cannot." + +"Oh, no, you must take care of Chatterbox. He is lively enough to keep +you busy. Here, Grace, you shoot the bolts on the doors as we pass +out. Come on, Shep. Keep near the ladies, but let them pass out +first," finished Cleo, determined to make the exit something of an +imitation fire drill, if not in point of the numbers in line, at least +in point of the caution applied. + +The fright experienced when something "alive" had actually been +discovered upstairs supplied enough excitement to make the whole +situation extremely alarming. What could have brought a monkey there +but humans, and what purpose had anyone in such an exploit? Between +the finding of the monkey and the discovery of the jewels, the girls +felt their day had thus far been one of unusual thrills, but a sense of +actual danger seemed threatening to explode at their very heels now, +and, making tracks over the mountain, away from the uncanny studio, +they put into execution the Girl Scouts' danger drill, if not the +school girls' fire drill. Once away from the house, Mary "collapsed +into a dead silence," as Madaline expressed it in a whisper to Grace. +Even the monkey's chattering was not answered. + +Indeed, Mary was silent, almost to the point of a threatening "mood," +since seeing the collection of empty boxes, and her friends were +determined she would not relapse into anything so unpleasant. Plainly +the boxes were ready to be packed; then the finding of the monkey +convinced Mary that strangers had come into the studio, and were making +preparations to loot it. Who they were, and just what they "were +after, she could only surmise. But it was a most unpleasant surprise, +amounting to a shock, and that to come just when things seemed to be +shaping so favorably for everyone. + +"Certainly I should not think of taking you up there again," said Mary +finally, "but what can I do about the orchids?" + +"They must be cared for," Madaline said sagely, "but we could never go +up there, and perhaps--perhaps----" + +"Get packed in one of the boxes, Madie?" teased Grace. "That surely +would be dreadful. But don't you worry, Mary-love. We will find a way +to take care of the studio until Professor is able to come back. Of +course, I don't see how we are ever going to let you go there again, +but since we don't have to decide that to-day let us postpone the evil. +Too bad we didn't have a chance to look into the boxes; we might have +been able to tell where they came from," she reasoned. + +"Don't you dare go blaming Mally Mack for furnishing the boxes," +objected Cleo. "I am sure no one in Bellaire would give away boxes to +steal stuff from the studio," she declared. "At any rate someone has +surely been busy up there, and I am glad our wires didn't cross again. +Fancy us going up those stairs and seeing a couple of burglars squat +among the boxes!" + +This calamitous consideration acted as a spur to the romping girls, who +were once more discovering short-cuts home from Second Mountain, and +joining hands, they raced pell-mell through the daisy field, down to +the path that edged the brook. + +"I think it is too mean," grumbled Madaline. "We hadn't entirely +searched all the places, nooks and boxes and things. We may have left +a lot of valuables behind us for the robbers to pack in their boxes." + +Everyone laughed at Madaline's literal and explicit surmise. It was +characteristic of Madaline that she should stamp a mere guess with a +most definite label, but the excitement of the flight with the +treasures was too absorbing to admit of this trifle being noticed. + +"I hope Aunt Audrey is in," said Cleo. "We must, of course, bring +these things to her at once. She will know best what to do with them." + +"And we better not mention them to anyone," cautioned Grace, "else we +might again be visited with night prowlers." + +That the strange child should fall back into a condition such as the +scouts first found her in was additional cause for alarm. She scarcely +spoke in answer to the questions piled upon her. Who might have been +in the studio? What would they ever intend to do with so tiny a little +baby monkey? What had they expected to put in all those boxes? Such +questions came thicker than the stones they skipped over, but in reply +the girls received nothing but skeleton answers from Mary, and these +were built of simple, meager words. + +"But the orchids? What can we do about them?" Grace insisted. This +roused Mary. She was seen to shudder, and heard to sigh before +replying: + +"Girls, please forgive me for being so rude. But so much is rushing +all about me, I can hardly think. I shall never let you go with me to +the studio again----" + +"Then you shan't go either!" promptly interrupted Cleo. "Your danger +would be as great as ours, and we will never leave you until every +thread of this mystery is untangled." + +"Indeed, we will not," echoed Grace, while Madaline too offered her +pledge of loyalty to their new member. + +"You are sure the monkey will not bite you?" questioned Cleo, glad to +change the subject. + +"Oh, no indeed," Mary replied, patting the animal, that now seemed much +at home, and quite content, in the hollow of her arm. "They are wise +little creatures; we have many of them in South America, and this one +seems to be trained." + +"Whatever will your aunt say, Cleo?" Grace exclaimed. "Just think of +fetching another surprise. We thought the fly catcher plant quite +wonderful; but just imagine a real little monkey!" + +"Oh, Aunt Audrey loves pets," declared Cleo, "and you see how well she +has treated us!" + +"I should say so," affirmed Madaline, "and we are pretty noisy pets at +that." + +"Uncle Guy will be delighted with this monkey, I am sure," continued +Cleo, qualifying which monkey she referred to, "that is if he gets home +in time, and if we are allowed to keep our chatterbox. Suppose someone +takes him from us?" + +"Can't have him," objected Grace, attempting to pat the dark spot of +fur in Mary's arm. "He's going to be our mascot, aren't +you--Peetootie? Wonder what we'll name him?" + +"Let's have a real party for him----" But Grace had no time to finish +out her party plans, for the roof of Cragsnook now loomed up through +the trees. + +"Mary," interrupted Cleo, "what do you think will be best to do about +the orchids? We are almost home, and I think it would be better to +have some suggestion to offer Aunt Audrey." + +"Oh, it all seems so hopeless now," sighed Mary, "and just when Grandie +is getting better and I felt so--so--happy!" + +"Now don't you go worrying like that," Grace put in quickly. "These +things are just new--new adventures," she declared, "and you will see +how they all help to clear up the big mystery which is back of the +whole thing," offered Grace. "Don't you think, Mary, we might get +someone to go live in the studio, and take care of it? Someone whom +you could trust, of course." + +"If we only could--but then, you see, Grandie feels he is guarding +something----" + +As Mary faltered Cleo filled in the hesitation with a suggestion that +they lay the whole story before Mrs. Dunbar and see what she might +propose. It struck the girls as queer that the Professor should be +"guarding" something in the deserted studio, but they were too +considerate of Mary's feelings to press that point. + +Cleo was carrying the hand-made basket, and in it the bundle of +jewelry, tied up in Reda's black silk shawl, while each of the other +girls was burdened with the most important of the articles unearthed in +the search at the studio. + +"I am so afraid someone may suspect we are carrying valuables," said +Grace. "Cleo, do be careful, don't tip your basket, some jewel might +slide out." + +"No danger. They are all secure in the shawl," replied Cleo. + +"Of course it is lovely to have these things if they all prove to be +Loved One's," Mary said gently, "but do you know I really believe I +care more about the pictures than anything else. They make me feel as +if--as if--I just visited with daddy and mother again." + +"There's Michael out in the back lots. Let's go through that way and +we won't be apt to meet people on the road," suggested Grace, plainly +anxious to get the jewels into Cragsnook without any possibility of +molestation. + +Greeting Michael pleasantly, they were attempting to hurry along, past +the garage, when he called them to wait a moment. + +"If you are going up to the house," he said, "would you mind telling +Jennie that my cousin got in from Long Island to-day--a woman looking +for a place out here? And ask Jennie if she can make room for her +until I get a chance to look around for a place. I am sorry she came +without giving me more time, but I just got the card on this mail." + +"Certainly, Michael," offered Cleo. Then a thought struck her that +seemed to offer some solution of the difficulties at the studio. Maybe +Michael's cousin could keep house for Mary and her grandfather? + +"Mary," she whispered, "do you mind if I ask Michael about his cousin? +She might go to the studio for us." + +"Oh, wouldn't that be splendid!" and something like joy shot across +Mary's pale face. "I know any friend of Michael's would be faithful." + +But Michael was just spying the little animal in Mary's arm. And the +animal seemed to be just spying Michael! + +"What on earth--have you got--there!" gasped the caretaker. + +"Oh, the dearest little monkey----" Cleo attempted to explain, but was +interrupted with a protest. + +"A monkey!" cried Michael. "Of all the hated animals of the earth a +monkey is the worst. Where ever did you pick the creature up?" He +stepped nearer to examine the mascot, in spite of his denunciation. + +"Now you couldn't hate a little thing like that," insisted Grace. +"Just see, he wants to shake hands with you." + +Rather awkwardly the man extended one big brown finger. The queer +little creature made a comical effort to grasp it, and at the same time +shake his wizened head with a show of monkey intelligence. + +"I don't exactly know why it is, but the Irish hate monkeys!" admitted +Michael, with a hearty laugh that interpreted the joke. + +"But you will love this one," insisted Mary. "He is as tame as a +kitten." + +"And even Shep was kind to him," went on Grace. "Say, Michael," +coaxingly, "couldn't we take him in your rooms for something to eat? +He must be starved. We found him--in an empty house," explained Grace. + +"And he needs it--I mean an empty house," declared Michael. "Can't you +see him making himself at home in my little sitting room? I'll bet he +would want to sleep in my best tea pot, or maybe he would prefer my new +hat. They always like hats when they go around with the organ +grinders. But tell me, girls, where did you get him? I don't want a +couple of hurdy-gurdy pushers coming down on me for their monka," he +finished, with a very weak imitation of the Italian accent. + +"Someone left him in Mary's house, or else he came in by the chimney," +said Madaline. "But at any rate he is ours, and we are going to have +him for a pet. Now, Michael, please give him something to eat. See +how pale he is." + +Whether willingly or reluctantly, Michael now led the way to his +quarters in the garage, and as quickly as the monkey smelled food Mary +had her own troubles in restraining his appreciation. He wanted to +walk all over everything and sample every article in sight that even +looked like food. + +"He surely was hungry," admitted Michael, showing an interest in the +animal in spite of his voiced dislike for it. "They are kinda cute, +ain't they now?" he ventured. + +"And say, Michael," began Cleo at this favorable opening, "do you think +your cousin would like to take a place up at Second Mountain? You see, +Mary's folks are all away. You know her grandfather is in Crow's Nest, +and they have some beautiful things at the studio that should be cared +for." + +"We can give her good wages," assured Mary, "and Grandie would so +appreciate a real housekeeper." + +"Say, listen!" said Michael. "I'll forgive the monkey now. That's the +very place for Katie Bergen. Just you run along and fix it up with +Jennie for to-night, and I'll take care of the monkey." + +"There!" said Cleo, when they left the garage, "isn't that just like a +good natured old Michael? He's petting our mascot already." And they +all agreed it was just like Michael to pet a monkey. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +REDA'S RETURN + +When Mrs. Dunbar heard the story of the day's adventures, even she +showed surprise. + +"I hardly know how to excuse myself for allowing you girls to go up +there alone," she said, when the scouts had unfolded the exciting +story, "except that you always do seem so capable!" Then she laughed +and tapped Cleo under the chin. "Of course you would be capable," she +added, "when you are related to me." + +"Oh, there really wasn't any danger," Grace hurried to say, fearful +their wings of adventure might be clipped by the scissors of prudence. +"Besides, we had Shep with us, you know." + +"Yes, and, Auntie, he acted so queerly," said Cleo. "He found an old +yellow handkerchief, and simply insisted on tearing it to shreds. I +never saw him hate anything so." + +"Yellow handkerchief, did you say?" repeated Mrs. Dunbar, and when Cleo +said "yes" the aunt just shook her head understandingly. She knew it +was also a yellow handkerchief that Shep dragged in with him the night +he received the bullet wound. The two articles must have belonged to +the same person. No wonder Shep would hate both! + +"But do let me get a look at those wonderful trinkets," said Mrs. +Dunbar, when they finally did manage to reach the sitting room and +there drop some of the bundles and baskets. "I have never hoard of +such a story. To think old Reda had all those hidden away. Of course, +you being so young, Mary dear, she may have just intended to keep them +till you grew up," she concluded. + +This explanation did not seem to satisfy some of her listeners, +although Mary was inclined to accept it. Presently Mrs. Dunbar was +examining the little cameos, the quaint foreign rings, and +lockets--there were a number of lockets. Then Mary offered the +photographs for her inspection. The trained eye of the artist lingered +on these. Yes, Mary surely was like her pretty mother; and the tall +soldierly man! What a pity he had to go so soon from the life of his +daughter. + +"Makes me think of Guy," Mrs. Dunbar remarked, "with his love of +adventure. He must have been of the same temperament, for I am sure I +will soon have to pack up my kit and go traveling if I am to be with my +own good looking boy," and she gave one of her happy, rippling laughs. +Audrey Dunbar was still a girl, and "her boy's" tour through the west +had been her first separation from him since their marriage. + +"But he will soon be home," she added, as if the girls had been +following her thoughts. "Then let us be prepared for more surprises." + +"Why?" asked Madaline shyly. + +"Oh, because he is a very surprising boy!" declared the young wife, +"and when he becomes a scout--Mercy me! what wonderful things will +happen! But now I am going down to see your other find--the monkey. +Cleo dear, you know my weakness for queer animals, and my love for +monkeys often got me in trouble during my hand-organ days. Come along. +It will be tea time before we know it." + +In the few hours following it was difficult to make sure just which end +of Cragsnook was most fascinating. The girls went from one "exhibit" +to the other, with seemingly increasing interest, until Mrs. Dunbar +finally locked all the valuables in the safe, and Michael, down in his +quarters, had rigged up a cage for "Boxer." The girls decided he might +be called Boxer because they found him in a box, and also because +Michael had already discovered he could use his "fists." + +After tea Mary declined an invitation to take a run to the village. +She seemed overdone with the day of excitement. + +"But you girls go, and bring me some stamps, if you will," she said. +"I want to write a whole book to Grandie to-night. It seems the most +satisfactory way of talking to him now," she finished. + +"But you will see him to-morrow," Cleo reminded her. "Why write?" + +"Oh, I like him to get my good morning kiss with his breakfast," +responded Mary, "and, besides, I may be able to prepare him for some of +the surprises." + +So Cleo, Grace and Madaline went off to the village, although reluctant +to leave Mary alone. Still, her plea to write letters seemed a request +not to be interrupted. + +Almost before it could be realized thunder rolled over the mountains. +A telephone announced the girls would stay with Lucille and Lalia, whom +they had met in town, and that all would return by auto as soon as the +shower passed. Mary sat by the low window looking ever the porch. +Jennie was busy in the kitchen, and Mrs. Dunbar was in her study, +writing to the home-coming boy. The storm came on so suddenly that +Mary hurried to close the long French window off the living room, when +something like a moan sounded, she thought, under the window! + +She listened! Yes, surely that was someone moaning. Stepping through +the window out onto the porch, a sheet of rain dashed in her face, +blinding her so that, for the moment, she was forced to take refuge +behind the swinging hammock. + +Flashes of lightning now showed a blackened sky, and the terrifying +peals of thunder seemed to swallow every other earthly sound. + +"But I am sure I heard a human voice," Mary told herself. "I must see +if anyone is about here suffering." + +She was minded to attempt to call for Jennie, when again a low, pitiful +moan came as an echo to a terrific thunder clap. + +"Who is it?" called Mary, but the sound had died down, and was lost in +the storm. + +"It could not have been Shep," Mary was thinking, "and I can't go +inside without finding out what it is. Who is there?" she called, +bravely throwing her skirt over her head to ward off the beating rain. + +"Mary! Marie, come to Reda!" came a faint reply, and at the sound of +the voice, unmistakably that of her old nurse, Mary jumped from the +porch, out into the blasting storm, and attempted to follow the +direction whence came the sound. + +"Reda! Reda! Where are you?" she called frantically. "It is I, Mary. +Answer, where are you?" She stopped under a tree to avoid a very +deluge that poured down on the path. For a moment she hesitated. What +if that letter from New York had been a ruse to trick her into +following someone with the idea of helping Reda? But surely that was +Reda's cry. + +Again she called and called, but no reply came back, and baffled, as +well as frightened, she ran to the house, in through the hall, her +dripping garment leaving a path of water as she went, until she reached +Jennie in the kitchen. + +"Oh, Jennie," she gasped, "someone is out in the storm! They called +me. I am sure it is my old nurse, Reda! How can we find her in this +awful downpour?" + +"Out in the storm--who?" asked the maid, astonished at the plight of +the girl who stood trembling before her. + +"I am sure it is Reda, and she will perish," wailed Mary. "What shall +I do?" + +"Now don't take on so," commanded Jennie, beginning to realize what it +all meant. "Just you wait until a few of these awful claps are over, +and we will quickly find anyone who is out there. Just hear that! +Mercy! what a dreadful storm! I am so glad the girls did not venture +home. I could scarcely get the windows shut when it broke like a +cloud-burst." + +"Why, what is the matter?" came Mrs. Dunbar's voice from the hall. +"Jennie, I am sure someone is crying out in the storm," she called. + +"Come, we must see who it can be." + +"I am afraid it is Reda, my nurse," said Mary, now almost in tears. +"Oh, do you think she will perish? I was out but could not find her." + +Hurried arrangements were made now to summon Michael, and as the storm +had somewhat abated it was soon possible to go out with lanterns and +search. + +Clad in raincoats and rubbers, Mary, Jennie and Mrs. Dunbar went first +along the path, toward the gate. Everything seemed quiet, except the +late splashes of rain from the trees, and in spite of repeated calls no +answer came, and no trace of the storm's victim could be found. + +"Nobody about," announced Michael, as if satisfied the search had been +futile. + +Then a stir in the hedge attracted Mary's attention. + +"Listen!" she exclaimed. "Something stirred in here!" + +"Fetch the lantern, Michael," commanded Mrs. Dunbar. "I do see the +bushes moving." + +He brought the light, and swung it into the thick hedge. + +"Oh, Reda," cried Mary. "Reda, are you dead!" she screamed, throwing +herself down by a huddled figure that lay ominously still in the deep, +wet grass. + +"Mary, wait," ordered Mrs. Dunbar kindly. "Here, Michael, give me the +light so you can lift her. She may be just overcome." + +But Mary was on her knees beside the old nurse, whose face, bared to +the glare of the lantern, looked so death-like! + +"Reda! Reda!" called Mary, pressing her young face down to the +shriveled features. "Oh, speak to Mary. It is I, Maid Mary! See, I +am with you." + +But no sound came from the frozen lips, nor did the wrinkled hands +answer Mary's warm grasp. + +"She is likely stunned," said Mrs. Dunbar, encouragingly. "Michael, +can you carry her?" + +"Certainly I can," declared the stalwart man, and shouldering the inert +burden, her arms brought over his strong chest, and her limbs fetched +around under his own strong arms, he carried the unconscious woman up +the steps into Cragsnook. + +Speechless with terror, Mary followed, while Mrs. Dunbar led the way +with the light, and Jennie had hurried on ahead to make ready, scarcely +knowing where the gruesome burden was to be rested. + +"On the couch in the library," ordered Mrs. Dunbar, "and, Jennie, +telephone at once for Dr. Whitehead. I feel sure she is only stunned. +Mary dear, be brave," she continued. "We will surely bring your poor, +old nurse back to you," she finished. + +But Mary stood like one transfixed, gazing at the helpless figure +huddled on the low, leather couch. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ORPHAN OF THE ORCHIDS + +Anxious hours at Cragsnook followed that night's storm. Reda, who had +been ill in New York, had somehow managed to make her way to Bellaire +when she was overtaken by the cloud-burst and stunned from fright of +lightning and thunder. But with the skillful work of Dr. Whitehead, +assisted by Jennie, Kate Bergen (Michael's cousin who arrived after the +shower), Mrs. Dunbar and the girls, the old nurse finally opened her +eyes, and showed signs of life. + +"Oh, I never knew how much I loved her until I saw her lying so +deathlike," Mary murmured, when Mrs. Dunbar insisted the child should +leave the bedside of Reda. "If she had died, and I had not found her +in time----" + +"Now, Mary-love," coaxed Grace, "you know you are a scout, and we never +indulge in foolish fancies like that. Just think how fine it is that +she has been saved, and think how good Mrs. Dunbar is." + +"Oh, I know and think of that constantly," declared Mary. "This house +is nothing short of an institution since I came to it," she went on. +"And do you know, Cleo," turning to the one girl who had the right +there of relationship to Mrs. Dunbar, "it all frightens me when I feel +so much at home here, almost as if I too belonged at Cragsnook. It is +presuming, and I can't account for that in me. I have always been so +timid." + +"You are cured, that's why," said Cleo, urging Mary to bed, for it was +well past midnight. "A girl scout simply can't be timid, that is a +really, truly good as gold scout girl, and we all know you are exactly +that. But not one more word to-night. I have been appointed captain +and it is my duty to sound taps, or, as Benny Philow or Mally Mack +might say, 'douse the glim.' I think that's the cutest expression," +and to demonstrate just how "cute" it was she snapped off the lights. + +Next day everything was in confusion, and excitement was too weak a +word with which to describe the conditions that existed at Cragsnook. +Reda had come to with all the strength characteristic of her sturdy +race, and nothing but main force kept her from running away. She was +frightened to death of the place, of the people around her, and nothing +that Mary could say would assure her no harm could come to anyone who +was within the hospitality of that generous home. And Reda had +explained to Mary it was the jewels she had hidden for the child that +had caused her most anxiety. She feared Janos would find them. + +The advent of Katie Bergen, Michael's cousin, seemed nothing short of +providential, and to her was at once entrusted the care of the +obstreperous patient. + +"I think, dear Mrs. Dunbar," said Mary rather timidly, "it would really +be much better to take Reda back to the studio. Once there she will +quiet down, and that may save her from higher fever." + +"Perhaps you are right," Mrs. Dunbar agreed; "the doctor says she has +been a very sick woman, and her collapse was only natural, considering +what she went through. Has she told you why she was so eager to see +you?" + +"Partly," Mary replied. "You see, she was sort of conscious +[Transcriber's note: conscience?] stricken that something would happen +to me, and she felt obliged to warn me. And she also wanted to give me +Loved One's jewels." + +"But nothing did happen," blurted out Madaline, keen on the trail of +the mystery. + +"Oh, do tell us, Mary," begged Grace. "It seems to me we will have so +much to find out all at once it will be rather overwhelming if we don't +start in." + +"Well, you little scouts run along and enjoy your story," suggested +Mrs. Dunbar, "and I will see about having Reda sent up to the mountain. +I am sure, Mary, you are right. She may be saved a real relapse if we +agree with her. And, of course, Katie is going to be your housekeeper. +I would envy you if I hadn't such a treasure in Jennie. This is really +her house, and I am a guest, it seems to me," and it was hoped by every +little girl present that the delicious compliment floated out to +Jennie, who was busy in the breakfast room just at that moment. + +"Please let _me_ tell you something first," begged Cleo, when the girls +were left to themselves. "I am fairly bursting with the news. You +know I wrote out the whole story to Uncle Guy. I wanted him to know +all about it when he came home and also, ahem"--and the perky little +head perked perceptibly--"I may as well admit, girls, I am ambitious to +keep the family honors up in the writing line, so I just wrote all this +glorious vacation to Uncle Guy, making it just like a summer story. I +sent our pictures----" + +"Mercy me, Cleo!" interrupted Grace, "I guess you will be a story +writer. Just see how you have us all keyed up, and won't tell us what +happened. What did your Uncle Guy say?" she demanded. + +Cleo laughed triumphantly. "There, I knew I would get you excited----" + +"Cleo Harris!" shouted Madaline, almost forgetting the presence of a +sick person out on the enclosed side porch, where Reda was being fixed +up for her journey over the mountain. "Cleo," repeated Madaline, "you +tell us instantly what your Uncle Guy said!" + +"Your commands are my pleasures," replied Cleo in mock dramatic +emphasis. "There, doesn't that sound like a book? Uncle Guy wrote to +me and to Aunt Audrey, and he merely said not to let a single kid +escape. That my letter had knocked him silly, and that his cousin, +whom he discovered out in the western camp, was coming home with him." + +"Who is the cousin?" asked Grace. + +"A man, a lovely man, just like Uncle Guy. He was an explorer, or +still is, and has been away for some years," she glanced rather +anxiously at Mary, but the latter never changed her serious expression. +Then Cleo said pointedly, "Mary, your father was an explorer, wasn't +he?" + +"Yes, he went away in search of orchids," faltered Mary, "and you know +he never came back from the sea, when the men took him out to the ocean +to cool him in that frightful fever." + +"And you left the island with the professor a few days after?" pressed +Cleo. + +"Yes, oh yes. We had to get away. Grandie was getting sick, you know; +that is how he lost--his memory." + +"Yes," said Cleo, simply, but Grace and Madaline had "seen a light," +which Mary still appeared blind to. + +Mrs. Dunbar was very busy arranging for the removal of Reda, but in a +moment of cessation she was heard talking to Crow's Nest over the +phone. She gave orders to the sanitarium that Professor Benson should +be brought down to Cragsnook for a ride late that afternoon, as the +girls would not go up there that day. Besides, Mrs. Dunbar was +declaring, the ride would do him good. + +"Oh, won't that be lovely!" and Mary almost danced out of her glumps. +"Just think of Grandie here!" + +"Now, Mary-love, you promised some of Reda's news. Do tell us before +something else happens to put off all our delicious mysteries," +implored Madaline, quite as if the telling would give the same joy to +Mary as the news would furnish to herself. + +"What did she want to warn you of?" prompted Grace. + +"Oh, Janos and his men. They were coming out here to take all +Grandie's orchids away. And they brought the monkey to scare him. He +was dreadfully frightened of a monkey once in the tropics, and Janos +knew it, so he just planned that awful trick on him----" + +"With our lovely little Boxer! How perfectly absurd," exclaimed Grace, +at the risk of spoiling all the thrilling story Mary had undertaken to +tell them. + +"Yes," went on Mary, "and the night you girls came, that first night, +you remember?" + +"Yes, when I turned on the lights," inserted Madaline. + +"That was the night they first planned to scare Grandie's secret from +him. They were all three out in that orchid room, just waiting to +break in and--oh, I can't say what they were going to do to get +Grandie's secret from him." She was now on the verge of sobbing, and +the girls had no idea of letting any such thing occur. + +"But Madaline turned the tables," Cleo said cheerily, "and she shooed +off the--desperate thieves!" and Cleo again reverted to type as a +fiction fixer. + +"And the really cruel part of it all was," continued Mary, "Grandie did +not know and does not know yet what became of the treasure they are all +seeking. He lost it with his memory," she said almost in a whisper. +"And it was daddy's just as I was his. I was to be given mother's +family with the treasure as a peace offering." + +"What was it?" asked Cleo. "Can you tell us now, Mary-love?" she asked +gently. + +"Yes, Grandie said I might tell you now, for he does not fear things as +he did before he went to the sanitarium. He has recovered courage, +which was simply clogged up in his congested mind. Yes, he said I +might tell you now that he lost the most famous orchid in the world, +the 'Spiranthes Corale.' That means coral lady tresses. It was in +search of that daddy and the expedition went out. Daddy found it. It +was almost beyond price. Then Loved One died, dear daddy was stricken, +and all the papers and this wonderful bulb were given Grandie. He lost +them! Do you wonder he almost went crazy?" + +For a few minutes the girls did not speak. It seemed rather +disappointing that the whole mystery should center around the bulb of +an orchid. + +"Oh, I know," exclaimed Cleo presently. "I have read of the famous +orchid hunts and the fabulous sums of money offered for the most rare +species. Of course that was the sort of expedition your folks were on, +Mary-love. And, of course--why, girls, that's just what our newspaper +clipping was all about. The one we found wrapped around the old stick +in Mary's big clock!" + +"Get it! Get it!" cried Madaline, who literally tumbled after Grace, +in haste to reach the old bit of newspaper that had been carefully +stored away in the scouts' desk, for they had been assigned one general +and especial desk in Cragsnook. + +"And the precious bulb was never found?" Cleo said to Mary, seeming to +embrace her with a look, so filled was her expression with genuine +affection. + +"No, it has gone, and with it the one hope of Loved One's last word to +me, that the famous orchid which was to be given to her mother in this +country would unite me with her family, and prove daddy a real +explorer." + +"And don't you know who her family are?" asked Cleo, unable to suppress +her increasing excitement. + +"Not exactly, for Grandie begged me not to ask until he had recovered +the bulb. He always felt his memory must come back. Now, of course, +it is months, and we have given up hope. But I don't care any more, +for I have found so many other darling loves in life." She threw her +arms around Cleo, and if the latter had ever given in to tears she +might have been pardoned a few just then--the kind that come with too +much joy. + +"Mary!" she said gently, "now I know why Professor Benson once called +you the orphan of the orchids, but suppose, suppose your daddy didn't +die?" she ventured. + +"I have often thought of that," said the child. "But even if he lived +he could never find me, for he would think I died with so many others, +and I suppose I could not even look for him, until I grow up like Loved +One, and go off again to search among the orchids. I wouldn't fear +that fever when the goal might mean daddy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MAID MARY AWAKE + +"We had better tell her," said Mrs. Dunbar to Cleo, an hour later, +after Cleo had talked things over with G-race, while she left Madaline +to entertain Mary. "As you say, my dear, it does look as if your +vacation story is going to have a very happy ending." + +Cleo flitted back to her companions. They divined from her manner that +the hoped-for good news was to be "thrown on the screen." + +"Mary," began Cleo, who had dropped in a safe coil on the rug at Mary's +feet, "are you prepared for the very biggest thing in all the world to +happen? Can you stand the most astonishing kind of news?" and she +managed to secure Mary's hand to give her confidence. + +"Oh, yes, Cleo dear, but don't tell me if you are not sure? I have +been dreaming such glorious things since--you talked of--daddy!" + +"It is just about him, Mary, I want to speak. He may be alive----" + +"Oh, how do you know? Who has found him----" + +"Don't become too excited now," pleaded Cleo, while Grace and Madaline +both closed in affectionately about Mary's chair. "Of course we cannot +be too positive, but Uncle Guy has wired he is bringing back--your +daddy!" + +"Oh!" the sound was a sigh, a gasp, then Mary began to slip down deep +into the chair. + +"Now, don't you dare faint!" called Madaline, with the magic way she +always exercised of averting evil through sheer innocent challenge. +"Here, Grace, hold her head while I fetch water," and while Grace +attempted to support the head Madaline had been fondling, Mary raised +it with a look of unspeakable joy. + +"Oh, girls!" she murmured, "how did you do it?" + +"Oh, we didn't," disclaimed Cleo. "No girls really could; we just +lived up to our laws and rules and inspirations, and all those powers +united to bring our happy result. It would be perfectly silly to say +girls could do such things." + +"But we did all the same," came from Grace, "and it would be sillier to +say the rules and the laws and the inspirations did them. Wouldn't it? +You wrote the whole story and even sent Mary's picture to your uncle." + +"But daddy!" Mary begged. "Tell me, where is he now? How did your +uncle find him?" + +"Our uncle," corrected Cleo. "I am almost afraid to tell you this +part. The girls will say I was in the secret all the time, and I +wasn't, truly. Mary--you are my cousin!" + +"She is not--no fair!" cried Grace, actually slamming a pillow on +Cleo's head. "I warned you long ago not to dare to claim her----" And +the thumping of soft pillows supplied the omission of words. + +"At least let me tell it," said Madaline in mock scorn. "Be generous +enough to give us that much glory. You see, ladies and gentlemen (to +an imagined audience), this little girl," slamming Cleo with another +pillow, "wrote a letter to her cousin. Her cousin had found his +cousin, and his cousin made Mary Cleo's cousin, because Cleo's +cousin--was----" + +Realizing Mary was not in a mood for such joking, Madaline apologized +with a kiss on the softly pinked cheek. "Mary-love," she confessed, "I +just did that to ward off tears. Cleo would have disgraced the scouts +in another moment." + +"We got the most important clew in the old bamboo cane," said Cleo, +seriously. "That was literally stuffed with papers, and one was a +baptismal certificate, giving your name, Mary, as Marie Hastings +Dunbar." + +"Dunbar!" repeated Mary, "and the men all called daddy Dunnie. That +was his name, Dunbar!" + +"Yea, and Aunt Audrey has found out that Constance Hastings, your +mother's mother, is in one of the finest hotels in New York now! The +Hastings own the most famous orchid collection in this country." + +"They are millionaires," began Mary, but her voice was almost scornful. + +"Yes, I know. Aunt Audrey has talked with Mrs. Gilmore Hastings over +the telephone. She will be apt to take you from us, if you don't hold +tight." + +"Never! Never! Never!" defied Grace. "She is our Mary--yes, cousin +Mary, for isn't Cleo's Aunt Audrey our Aunt Audrey--by vacation scout +laws?" + +Only the girls that they were could have absorbed so many surprises at +a sitting, but such is the nature of nature's best product, and that +product is always lively, happy girls! + +What happened between that time and next morning would take volumes to +relate, but it might as well be admitted that Jennie had to fairly camp +out in the hall that night to stop the talking, and it was away past +midnight when she succeeded. Even then it would be false to claim that +Mary actually slept. + +Early in the evening Mrs. Dunbar had very carefully unfolded the story +to Professor Benson when he came down over the mountain in the car Mrs. +Dunbar had ordered. So that he, too, was somewhat prepared for the +astounding surprise. The return of Jayson Dunbar from the mystery of +orchid land seemed almost too wonderful, but the Professor admitted he +had always hoped Jay would "turn up." + +"And every letter I wrote to mother I kept hinting that the glories of +Bellaire were actually taking root in my soul," said Cleo, as the girl +dressed next morning, almost unconscious of the task they were +performing. "Now she will understand the metaphor." + +"And Michael is going to give us all a ride up to the studio before +breakfast," exclaimed Madaline. "He wants to try the car to make sure +it is all right." + +"Try it on us," laughed Grace. Nevertheless she was the first one to +find the best seat, when the car directly honked at the door. + +Reda was beautifully installed in her own room, and pompously accepting +the ministrations of Katie Bergen, when the girls found her at the +studio. How delightful it all was! Mary was speechless with sheer joy. + +"It is perfectly glorious!" she kept exclaiming. "And to think that +daddy is coming! How can I believe it after all my dark days!" + +"Girls! Let's have one more blissful look in the orchid room!" begged +Grace. "It won't be the same when others come." + +Almost like a little procession they wended their way into the +conservatory. At the opening of the door they were almost overcome +with the perfume of the tropics that burst from the riot of glory there. + +They looked from one bloom to another. Mary told them how Professor +Benson had made every sort of bulb bloom in the hope of finding the +lost treasure, the rarest orchid in the world. Then she explained why +she and Reda had gathered queer roots from which the botanist had +ground fertilizer, but that all of this had not brought forth the +priceless bloom. + +They were reluctantly leaving when Madaline and Grace espied Mary's old +home-made doll. It was so quaint and queer they both sought to reclaim +it at once. + +"Just look!" said Madaline. "What a funny old doll!" + +"Isn't it jolly," added Grace, whose hand was on the discarded toy just +as Madaline picked it up. + +"Why, the orchids have taken root in it, Mary," declared Grace. "See, +this sprout growing out of the arm!" + +"Let me see!" almost cried Mary. "Oh, girls, it is it! It is the lost +orchid. Grandie had sewed it up in the doll! Look. See that stem!" +She was shouting almost wildly, for there, shooting from the broken arm +pit of the queer old hand-made doll was the unmistakable tendril of the +long sought for orchid. + +"And we both found it at exactly the same minute!" announced Grace when +the full value of their discovery dawned upon them. "Cleo found an +adorable cousin, and you and I, Madie dear, found the lost orchid!" + +Mary held the doll up to the astonished gaze of her companions. To +think that tiny green shoot should mean so much! That hidden in the +queer doll was a prize, almost beyond price, and for this prize +covetous men had followed Mary and her guardian from the tropics! + +The girls stood there almost reverently. + +And, unconsciously, Mary posed again as the Orphan of the Orchids! + +Michael had been off to Crow's Nest for the professor and he was now +back with the splendidly improved man, a scholar and a scientist every +inch, who stood there in sight of his orchid room. + +"Grandie! Grandie!" called Mary, "see, we have found it. You sewed it +up in the doll you made me! Don't you remember how you told me never +to part with that old rag baby?" + +Like a flash it all came back! Yes, when the fever threatened his life +he had decided the child could keep her doll free from suspicion, and +in this he had sewed the precious orchid bulb. + +"Girls! Girls!" he exclaimed, "am I dreaming? And I didn't betray my +trust! Dunnie, you may come back to us now; I have saved for you both +your darling child and your precious orchid!" + +Meanwhile the greatest of great preparations were being completed at +Cragsnook. Only the freest use of telegraph had contented Guy Dunbar +to stay with the train that bore him and his famous cousin back to +civilization. + +The train was in. Michael and Shep met it. Boxer had been compelled +to stay home though Michael wanted to take him, and all the girls "with +Mrs. Dunbar and Professor Benson stood on the porch, under the arch of +growing roses that welcomed the comers to Cragsnook. + +"Don't get too excited, Mary," begged Madaline, always to be depended +upon for breaking too heavy a silence. + +"There they come," shouted Cleo, and nothing but a firm hold laid on +her very skirts by Mrs. Dunbar kept the impetuous little scout from +running out too near the approaching motor. + +Folded in her daddy's arms, Mary seemed for a moment miles and miles +away. Then she turned to the girls and tried to speak, but she only +managed to say: + +"Girls, I am wide awake at last." + +"Say, Audrey," said Guy Dunbar, after he had embraced his wife and +looked about him at the group of girls, "this surely is a real old home +week. I always knew you ought to run a boarding school!" + +"Or a merry-go-round, Uncle Guy," Cleo supplemented. "This house, with +Aunt Audrey as leader, has been a regular picnic grounds all Summer." + +"And to think I should literally fall over old coz, Jay Dunbar, in a +western lumber camp," said jolly Guy Dunbar, thumping his own brilliant +head. + +Mary and her father (he did look like Guy Dunbar) were too spellbound +to notice their surroundings. But as quickly as he could manage it +Professor Benson spoke to the wanderer. "It's like the real page in +our old log, Dunnie," said the professor, "and your precious Spiranthes +Corale has been found. I lost it, but Mary's, friends have recovered +it and now you are the famous explorer you set out to become." And he +held up the quaint doll with the miraculous green shoot stealing +through its arm pit. + +"Some little Girl Scouts!" declared Guy Dunbar, leading the way to the +house. + +"How shall we end it?" asked Cleo. "Mary's daddy is found, the orchid +is found, new cousins are found--oh, girls! I have so many wonderful +endings for our vacation story we shall have to vote on the fade-out!" +she decided, while the girls fell into line for a Scout parade to +victory. + +And the joys of that wonderful reunion must occupy our own interest in +these self-same little girls until we meet them again in the next +volume, to be entitled, THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST--OR THE WIG WAG +RESCUE. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE*** + + +******* This file should be named 25626-8.txt or 25626-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/6/2/25626 + + + +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 F3. 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, is 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. + diff --git a/25626-8.zip b/25626-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..63fff3b --- /dev/null +++ b/25626-8.zip diff --git a/25626.txt b/25626.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..50b740d --- /dev/null +++ b/25626.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6037 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Girl Scouts at Bellaire, by Lilian C. +McNamara Garis + + +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 Girl Scouts at Bellaire + Or Maid Mary's Awakening + + +Author: Lilian C. McNamara Garis + + + +Release Date: May 27, 2008 [eBook #25626] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE + +or + +Maid Mary's Awakening + +by + +LILIAN GARIS + +Author of + + "The Girl Scout Pioneers," + "The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest," Etc. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +New York +Cupples & Leon Company + + + + +THE GIRL SCOUT SERIES + +By LILIAN GARIS + + THE GIRL SCOUT PIONEERS, + Or, Winning the First B. C. + + THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE + Or, Maid Mary's Awakening + + THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST + Or, The Wig Wag Rescue + + +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, NEW YORK + + + +Copyright, 1920, by +Cupples & Leon Company + + + +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. JOYS AND JOY RIDING + II. BEAUTIFUL BELLAIRE + III. THE BROKEN MARATHON + IV. THE EAGLE'S FEATHER + V. ON THE TRAIL + VI. A LITTLE MAID IN CLOVER + VII. WITHIN A MOUNTAIN CAVE + VIII. SUNSET'S INSPIRATION + IX. THE SECRET SPRING + X. NEW FRIENDS + XI. A CRY IN THE NIGHT + XII. A STARTLING EXPERIENCE + XIII. MARY'S MYSTERIOUS PET + XIV. AT THE STUDIO + XV. ORCHIDIA + XVI. PROFESSOR BENSON + XVII. A SECRET SESSION + XVIII. IN THE SHADOWS + XIX. HIDDEN TREASURES + XX. THE MASCOT'S RESCUE + XXI. REDA'S RETURN + XXII. THE ORPHAN OF THE ORCHIDS + XXIII. MAID MARY AWAKE + + + + +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE + + +CHAPTER I + +JOYS AND JOY RIDING + +"Next to a honeymoon I think a vacation out in Bellaire is about the +best," decided Grace. + +"And, pray, what is your idea of a honeymoon?" inquired Cleo. + +"Well, it's something like a trip to Europe in one way, because it's +hard to arrange; that is, a real honeymoon is, and it's almost as +thrilling because it's so entirely different. Sister Mabel is trunking +what she can't get in her hope chest, and she says a wedding is the one +unlimited wonder of life." + +"But why the trip to Europe?" persisted the logical Cleo. + +"Oh, you don't have to be so exact," retorted Grace, unwilling to show +defeat. "I was only thinking that when some one goes away--far away, +all sorts of nice things are said about them; and when a girl gets +married her maw" (and Grace drawled the ma) "says she has been a +perfect daughter." + +"Oh, I see," Cleo replied, somewhat satisfied at the diagraming, "and +our vacation out at Bellaire is to be a cross between a wedding and a +trip to Europe. I'll take the wedding wing, please," and she hummed +the march that always echoes orange blossoms. + +"Wedding ring, you mean. Well, I'll take the port that puts me beyond +criticism, not too far away, of course," qualified Grace. "But do you +know, Cleo, your aunt is a perfect fairy godmother to come to the +rescue now. Think of early summer in the New Jersey mountains! No end +of bunnies and wood nymphs out there!" + +"Well, you see, mother and father have to travel this summer, and Aunt +Audrey is going to stay home. Here's Madaline. Let's see what she +thinks about it all. Maybe she'll add the christening to our wedding +and honeymoon," suggested Cleo. + +"Oh, girls, you should see the dearest little piccaninny I just saw----" + +A gale of laughter interrupted Madaline. + +"There!" exclaimed Cleo. "Didn't I tell you she would bring the +christening!" + +"What's the joke? One black baby is cute and funny, but not bad enough +to give you two girls a fit," Madaline remarked rather peevishly. + +"Oh, come on, Madie," coaxed Cleo, linking her arm into that of the +dimply girl, "we were just waiting for you to decide all the details. +Your dad, and my dad, and Grace's dad may be traveling about all +summer, and our mothers are lovely to let us all go off together. We +have just been saying this vacation promises to be the biggest event in +our lives, next to going on a honeymoon, or having the unlimited joy of +the--those who get all sorts of unsolicited compliments," she patched +up the "far-away" possibilities. "And when you said 'kinky' kid we +thought that supplied the missing link, the christening. But isn't it +glorious to go away out to Jersey in a touring car, with trunks +strapped on----" + +"And our feet on a mountain of boxes," put in Madaline with a rather +discounting tone of voice. "Of course, I adore motoring, but I think +we should decide on the exact size and number of hat boxes." + +"Practical Packie!" declared Cleo, "and that's a good joke, isn't it? +Speaking of packing, I never knew they called Patsies Packies, until +Mother told me the other day that's the most common of the little Irish +nicknames. Isn't it cute? Packie Mower! I believe we will christen +you Madie," suggested Cleo. + +"No, please don't. You know I am a little bit truly Irish, and that +might sound like a parody." + +"I can just see how we will get ready for that vacation if we keep on +wandering," Cleo reminded her companions. "Makes me think of the song +about the butcher who rambled, and rambled until the butcher cut him +down. Oh, no, it was some one else who rambled, because the butcher, +of course, did the cutting. They always do. But we do the rambling, +and we always do that. Now, let us plan for that tour, and the +vacation to follow." + +"First, Cleo," said Madaline quite seriously, "let me say, I think your +aunt is a dear to take us in for our vacation. Mother may go to the +beach later, but I think the country first is just wonderful." + +"And we are sure to have a great and glorious adventure," said Grace. +"Three of us couldn't miss finding that." + +"Like a wedding!" Cleo teased Grace. + +"Oh, you're horrid!" Grace pouted. "I'll withdraw that illustration if +it will make peace in the family. But about the hat boxes. I must +take my leghorn hat in the car, and in a box." + +"And I have my brown poke. I couldn't possibly travel in that," added +Cleo, "yet I must take it." + +"There's my frilly georgette. It would look like a rag if it were not +packed in special tissue paper for traveling," affixed Grace, "but one +small trunk certainly won't take in big hats." + +"Oh, I'll tell you!" Cleo discovered. "We try our best hats in one box +all fitted in together. If they won't go we'll pack them in a big +strong wooden box, and express them. I do hate boxes to spoil a nice +long ride like that, when we want to snooze off, and feel luxurious." + +"And they look so common when they're all strapped around like gypsies +moving. As if we couldn't wait for the express," added Madaline. + +"There, don't you see how near we are coming to a honeymoon?" said +Grace. "I'm sure no hope chest of mine will ever be more important +than this vacation trunk. Shall we take our Scout uniforms?" + +"Shall we?" echoed Madaline. + +"Oh, certainly," replied Cleo. "The mountains are wonderful for hikes." + +"But we are going to make it an absolute vacation," Grace reminded the +others. + +"We will surely want a hike for the fun of it," resumed Cleo, "and I +don't believe we could enjoy the mountains, if bush and bramble bite at +our regular skirts. The khaki is so strong and durable, it defies even +the wild black berries, and you know what pests they are." + +"Well, I brought each of us a little note book; daddy gave them to me," +said Madaline, "and let's sit down, and make out our lists and +schedules. Isn't it thrilling? Surely this is as good as a honeymoon, +just as Grace says. We might call it a 'Junior Jaunt,' I'm going to +put that at the head of my note book," and the dimples dotted in +advance the precious page of preparations. + +While we leave the chums to their plans for the vacation at Bellaire, +which is to be much more than a vacation in its exploits, experiences, +and adventures, we may renew our acquaintance with these same girls met +in the first volume of the series: "The Girl Scout Pioneers; or, +Winning the First B. C." As told in this story it was through the mill +town of Pennsylvania, known as Flosstown, because of its noted silk +industries, that the True Tred Troop of Girl Scouts found scouting a +delightful means of getting in touch with girls in the mills, whose +characteristics and peculiar foreign traits stamped them as +picturesque, novel and fascinating. Tessie and Dagmar, two girls of +the Fluffdown Mills, decide to break away from their surroundings and +do actually run away, falling into the "hands of the police," in a most +peculiar way. + +Dagmar is housed in a novel jail, while Tessie is "at large" still, +trying to make her way to the beckoning city, with its alleged thrills +and glories. After disastrous experiences Tessie obtains employment in +the home of the fairy-like Jacqueline Douglass, and through the jolly +scouting of Cleo, Grace and Madaline (the trio who tied a man to a tree +in River Bend Woods) the runaway girls are finally brought together at +a Fairy-Fantasy in the wildwoods, all secretly planned by Jacqueline. +The identity of the man who was the "victim of scouts" is finally +disclosed, and the mystery is eventually unraveled. A hidden deed, +worthy of particular merit, was privately marked to the credit of Cleo, +who had risked her life to save that of another girl, and, in doing so, +had promised herself no one would know of the adventure. But for this +she is finally awarded the Bronze Cross, much to her own and her +companions' surprise. + +The story has a purpose, and to both the American girls and those of +foreign extraction it shows the value of such safe and sane agencies as +the Girl Scouts, while the book is absorbing in its plot, quite +irrespective of the Scout detail. + +And now the three girls of True Tred Troop are deciding to shed their +drills and meetings, while seeking adventure in the pretty town of +Bellaire, nestled against the New Jersey mountains. Madaline had +furnished the note books, while she and her companions were furnishing +the notes. + +"There," decided Cleo, jerking her head to one side in the bird-like +way that had earned for her the name of Perky, "if we carry all these +plans out we will surely have a wonderfully neat trip. I want it to be +neat, and I positively protest against bananas, oranges, or other +slushy fruit en route. When we want to eat a la carte we must +dismount. Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if our car should break down, +and we would have to finish our journey on muleback!" + +"Or take a stage coach!" suggested Grace. + +"I prefer an express wagon, it's more roomy," put in Madaline, "and a +stage coach in Jersey would be nothing but a plain jitney, full of +women, and bundles----" + +"And nary a bandit to hold us up, except the charity campaigners +demanding their toll," finished Cleo. "Well, I guess we had best stick +to the good touring car, and thank our lucky stars dad has business in +New York, and momsey wants to do some shopping, that includes everybody +and everything. Now there is nothing left but the horrible details, +all written down in Madie's nice little books. Thank you, Madie, for +the contribution, and now let's adjourn. There is no end of things to +attend to. Isn't it just glorious to think of having at least a month +in the best part of young summer?" + +They all thought it was, and with the decision their actual +preparations were begun. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BEAUTIFUL BELLAIRE + +The great day had come, and with it the girls arrived in Bellaire, +after a delightful motor trip from Pennsylvania. Stopping in the +morning at New York, Mr. Harris, whose guests they were, piloted them +to one of the big hotels, where their own touring car took its place in +the long line of handsome motors, and where Collins, the Harris +chauffeur, looked quite as important as any of the other uniformed +drivers. + +"Now, suppose we were all piled up with hat boxes," whispered Grace to +Madaline, for Grace had a distinct liking for good style. + +"But isn't it warm?" remarked Cleo, whose tangled tresses had a way of +gathering heat. "I almost wish I had worn a thin blouse." + +"We'll order a light lunch, Kimball," remarked Mrs. Harris to her +husband, "as the girls can scarcely wait to get out to Bellaire. Then +I'll return with you, and we will leave them to their fate. I'm sure +it will be a kind fate when directed by your good natured sister. Hope +she won't spoil them." And the waiter returning with the order would +surely have smiled, had he been human, and not a waiter, for the group +awaiting his approach made small effort to conceal his welcome. + +En route once more from New York to Bellaire it seemed but a few +minutes' run, when finally they drew up to the big rustic house, set +back in a rocky nook against the mountain. + +"Oh, isn't it lovely!" exclaimed Madaline, "and everything is so clear +after smoky Pennsylvania." + +"Yes, Bellaire is beautiful," Cleo replied, with a show of pride that +her relation should be the benefactor. "I know we'll have a wonderful +time. Aunt Audrey is like a girl herself, and she knows what girls +enjoy." + +"Oh, her husband is the author, isn't he?" Grace remembered. "We'll +have a chance to see how he writes all his funny books." + +"'Fraid not," said Cleo, "Uncle Guy is away. We are going to have +everything to ourselves but his study. You can be sure that's all +locked up. But look! See that queer woman dressed like a gypsy! See +her going along by the hedge! What--do you suppose she is looking for?" + +"Early dandelions, perhaps," ventured Mrs. Harris, who had overheard +the question as she stopped in her luggage directions to Collins. + +"But she isn't like a gypsy either," Cleo insisted. "Look at the lace +head dress!" + +"And the girl with her," interposed Grace. "My, but she's dressed +queer, too. Looks like something from the stage or movies." + +The old woman and child had now come up to the big gateway, where the +touring car was parked awaiting the exit of another motor that happened +to be standing in the Dunbar driveway. As the strange little girl +gazed at the tourists she dropped something--a book--and the woman with +her, evidently a caretaker, shook her violently at the trivial accident. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Grace. "How rough, just for dropping a book!" + +"But look! how that girl stares!" whispered Madaline. "As if she +couldn't get her eyes off us." + +"Isn't the girl pretty," commented Cleo. The tourists were now gazing +with fascinated interest at the old woman in her remarkable garb, and +the brown-haired child, with the strange, glaring eyes, that seemed to +affix themselves on the three scout girls. Altogether she seemed quite +unlike other children. Her heavy brown braids hung over her shoulders +like a picture of Marguerite in the opera, while her white gauzy dress +was banded around with rows of black velvet, just like the artistic +costumes worn in Greek plays. This style on so young a child gave a +very stagy and quaint effect. She, like the woman, had a piece of lace +on her head, but the one was white, the other black. + +"See, they have been gathering flowers," decided Cleo, and at that +moment the woman picked up the book, and attempted to drag the child +away in spite of the latter's very evident desire to stare longer at +the faces in the big touring car. "I should like to know where they +live. We must find out if Aunt Audrey knows them." + +"Can't get at my note book," remarked Grace, as Collins started in the +drive, "but I am sure not to forget that girl." + +"Nor the old woman," added Madaline. "I shouldn't want her for a +nurse." And the last glimpse of the strangers showed the child still +dragging behind the woman. + +The excitement of arriving at Cragsnook, with its joys of new-found +interest, however, soon erased the picture of the pathetic little child +and her caretaker from the minds of the three scouts, and when next +morning Mrs. Harris bade them good-by and started back to New York, she +had no idea what part that first incident of their arrival would play +in the children's vacation at Bellaire. In the care of Mrs. Guy +Dunbar, otherwise Audrey Harris, sister to Cleo's father, the girls +were indeed well placed and safely established, but Bellaire, being a +mountain town near New York, possessed many possibilities for +exploration, and at this delightful task the girls determined to set +out promptly, for even vacation is not interminable. + +"You may roam as far as you like," Aunt Audrey told them next morning, +when the call of summer fairly shouted in each pair of expectant ears. +"The girls next door, Lucille and Lalia, are coming over to meet you, +and they will show you all the roads, and ways to get lost and found +in." + +"But, Aunt Audrey," began Cleo, "we saw the queerest woman yesterday +just as we arrived. She was dressed like--well, like a circus person, +and she had a little girl with her who just looked scared to death. Do +you know who she could be?" + +Aunt Audrey burst into a musical laugh. "Many Bellairites dress like +circus folks," she answered. "In fact Uncle Guy often charges me with +that sort of thing. But what was the special offense of your circus +lady? What did she look like particularly?" + +"Oh, she wore a black lace scarf on her head, and had some sort of big +flowered skirt, and a waist with sleeves like airships. Then the +little girl looked like a Greek dancer, and seemed scared to death," +illustrated Cleo. + +"I don't happen to place that piece of scenery," replied Mrs. Dunbar +facetiously, "but if you see her again, and I'm within call, give me a +whistle, and I'll report for inspection duty. You know I do quite a +bit of painting, and I might like to have a model of that sort. I am +sure old Sophia (or is she Azirah?) would fill in beautifully on an oil +I am making of yon mountain," with a hand wave in the direction of the +gray hills looming in hazy tints and shadowy glows against the early +morning sky. Mrs. Dunbar was a beautiful woman, just young enough, +rompish enough, and wise enough to get a very good time out of life, +and pass some of the pleasure on. With her ashen blonde hair and very +deep blue eyes, she looked like a "piece of scenery" herself, as she +fluttered about the breakfast room--which was a porch opening from the +dining-room, while she made her young visitors happy with her charming +grace and genial hospitality. + +Grace and Madaline were fascinated by the artistic arrangements of the +Dunbar home, but with one member an author and the other a painter, +surely unusual taste and effect were to be expected. + +"What wonderful plants and vines, and how early for them to be +so--profuse!" Grace felt safe in remarking, growing things always +seeming exempt from the rule against remarks and criticism. + +"Yes, we have a patent hot-house," replied Mrs. Dunbar, "and it works +better than the big one out at the garage. You see, Jennie, our cook, +is an old fashioned Jersey woman, and she is resourceful, I must admit. +See that little shed made of boxes against the kitchen window? Well, +Jennie does all her winter gardening in that, heats and irrigates it +directly from the kitchen. She claims the steam of cooking is the very +best propagator, and we all have to agree with her. Just see the sweet +potato vine and the peanuts. Don't they look like the very finest +ivies?" + +The girls examined the fine growing tendrils that climbed so gracefully +from a tiny brick wall, just edging the breakfast room. The "wall" was +composed of white tile bricks, and the soft green vines, tumbling over +the edges, and capering up on the window ledges, made an effect at once +free and conventional. + +"Peanuts and sweet potatoes!" exclaimed Madaline. "Who would think +they grew such beautiful, soft green vines!" + +"I'll leave Cleo to show you about," announced Mrs. Dunbar. "I'm going +to a town meeting this morning. We are working for a circulating +library, to give reading to the people tied up in the hills. You see +stretched out there, over the golf links as far as you can see, are +farmers' homes. The folks are always so busy, and always so tired, +they very seldom get to our pretty library, so we can see no good +reason why we can't send our library put to them by motor. And you +youngsters will be interested in knowing this plan includes Girl Scouts +and Boy Scouts as distributors. Help yourselves to investigating," she +concluded, snatching up her white sailor hat and jabbing it on her head +with a most determined if a bit reckless slam. "I'm off till lunch, +one thirty, you know. Have a nice time," and Audrey Dunbar was off to +tackle the novel project of a traveling library for New Jersey farmers. + +Left to themselves the girls literally broke loose, and it was not +surprising that Jennie should leave her work more than once, to watch +surreptitiously, lest some of her choice baby begonias, set out in +their tiny and perishable hand painted pots, come to grief in the +rampage of the romping girls. + +"Good to populate this big house," commented Jennie, "but swoopy to +start out with." At the same time Jennie smiled approvingly as she +stopped to watch the three girls run from vase to picture, and from +curios to brasses, in their tour of inspection through the artistic +home of Guy and Audrey Dunbar. Just now all three chums were squatted +on a beautiful old blue Chinese rug, noses almost buried in the silky +fiber, each declaring the tones were different blues from those +discovered by the other. + +A tap-tap of the brass knocker on the "pig-door" off the side porch +announced the callers, Lalia and Lucille Hayden, and brought the scout +girls up from their rug inspection. + +Having met their neighbors the evening previous, the three visitors +were soon ready to join them in the proposed tramp over Second Mountain. + +"Our violets are just violeting," began Lucille, a jolly little girl +who looked like a Japanese doll, with her glossy hair all drawn back in +the ultra fashioned style, quite novel to the girls from Pennsylvania. +"And there's no end of bunnies, if you like them," she went on, +"although I must confess a rabbit or a rat is apt to make me jump at +any time. Some of the boys from the academy are in the cross-country +run, and they're due over the Ridge this morning. We may get a chance +to cheer them if we hurry along," she finished. + +No need to urge the girl scouts toward that prospective goal, and a few +minutes later the mountain paths registered the first steps in the +vacation days of the True Tred Girls. + +And the path trodden pointed the way to strange adventures--strange +even for such experienced hikers as were the visiting girl scouts. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BROKEN MARATHON + +"Cheers! Joy! Also thrills!" called Lalia, from her lookout on top of +a big green rock. "There come the boys! See their red shirts!" + +"Oh, yes," agreed her sister, almost pushing her off the big bowlder in +an attempt to get the desired view. "Sure enough. Come on, girls. +Slide down the rocks on that side and we'll just about meet their line! +Oh! there's Bob Bennet, I know his red head; and Andy MacMurry, I know +his biplane arms. See them swing!" and Lucille all but lost her +balance on the steep down grade, in her attempt to imitate the +dauntless Andy, who was just then making famous strides toward the golf +links, in the last lap of the Academic Cross Country run. + +Along the line of contestants for honors were five boys in all, +representing the survival of the fittest in the Spring Sporting Event. +Two red shirts were easily distinguishable, as representing the home +team, and as these were none other than Bob Bennet and Andy MacMurry +mentioned by Lucille, the girls' interest immediately centered in the +flying red specks, moving along the great, green golf links like some +animated brightly painted automatons. Heads back, chests out, feet +scarcely seeming to move, the two red figures were keeping well up with +those in gray, and the others in yellow. + +"Andy's winning!" shouted Grace, who had quickly made distant +acquaintance with the lightsome runner. + +"No, it's Bob!" insisted Lucille. "See his red head like a torch +bearer?" + +"I think Grace is right," corrected Lalia. "That's Andy--see the arms +swing!" + +"If we could only get over to the club house to see the finish," +suggested Lucille. "Oh, there are the Morgans in their car! They will +give us a lift. Come on, girls, we can get to the avenue before they +pass down," and giving an extra spurt to their already overstrained +runners, the girls vied with the real contestants in the honors of +marathon. + +No need to ask for the lift in the Morgan car, for it seemed all +Bellaire was making for the club house to see the finish of the Cross +Country Run, and the girls piled on the big car exactly as girls do, +when coming and going, to and from the ocean, in the height of bathing +season. + +"If our boys only hold out!" breathed Lalia. "We'll have the loveliest +time at the club house, all our crowd are invited, and we may take our +guests, of course," indicating the three visitors who were quite as +eagerly interested in the race as were the local members of the party. + +"We are starting pretty well," remarked Cleo, holding tightly to her +support on the side of the auto. "We didn't expect to fall into a race +first day!" + +"Oh, vacation is always one grand frolic out here," responded Lucille, +"and we always like to make a good start. Here we are," as the car +followed the long line of autos threading their way in to the driveway, +leading to the big, crowded club house on the emerald golf links. + +By this time the runners were almost on their last lap, and cheering +and shouting made the air vibrant with the joy of youth and the glory +of healthful sport. + +"Andy! Andy! Come on, Andy!" yelled the crowd. + +"At-a-boy! At-a-boy!" came the shouts of youngsters who seemed to be +suspended in the air, hanging on to everything they could grasp, with +reckless risk to life and limb. + +The club house orchestra had stopped its entertaining tunes, for guests +cared no more for music, the scholaristic runs being of more than usual +importance in deciding the season's championship. + +"Bob! Go it, Bob!" went up a newly invigorated yell, as the runners +turned from the broad field into a narrow stretch, that was outlined by +the "tape" or finishing line. + +"Oh!" screamed Cleo suddenly. "Look! That girl is directly in the +way!" and just as she spoke the figure of a girl was seen to dart from +somewhere directly into the first runner's path. She had raised her +slim arms as if to stop him, and in the surprise of her sudden +appearance Andy, who was well in the lead, stopped, staggered and then +toppled over in a heap! + +Instantly everything was in wild confusion. The crowds closed in +around the finishing runners, so that from the cars or club house it +was impossible to see more than a solid mass of persons. + +"Is he dead?" boys were asking. + +"Who was the ghost?" demanded others. + +"She ought to be shot," insisted some of the academy boys. + +"It was bad enough, to be on the last lap, but to have a ghost shoot +out like that would finish any fellow's heart," declared the boy at +Cleo's ear. "I hope they teach her a lesson." + +"Grace!" Madaline exclaimed. "Did you see that dress? It was the same +we saw on the queer girl who stared at us so! Maybe--she's crazy or +something. I'm sure I could tell that was the same white dress with +the black winders." + +"Yes," declared Cleo to the other girls, "we saw her yesterday, and she +was with the oddest-looking woman." + +"Oh, I'll bet she's the girl they call Mary! Lives somewhere in the +mountain, and has that funny old woman with her!" declared Lucille. +"If she isn't crazy she's very queer. And however did she get in that +line without being seen?" + +"Why, she just jumped from behind the hedge," said Angela Morgan, who +was driving the car slowly out of the heavy traffic, "and I have seen +her with that foreign woman down by the springs, always hunting +flowers. They are a queer pair." + +"Do you think the crowd will be rough with her?" asked Cleo anxiously. +"I never saw such eyes as that child looked out of. Like eyes that +looked and couldn't see, sort of dazed," explained Cleo. + +"Well, we can't hear who won or what happened until some of the crowd +passes out," said Lalia, "If Bob or Andy didn't win I'll be just sick +in bed." + +"And if anything happened to that queer little girl I'll have more than +a mere collapse," added Madaline, who had been almost a silent +spectator of the whole proceedings. + +Just then there was a break in the line of cars, and directly in front +of the Morgan machine dashed the little girl in her white dress, her +two big braids flopping up and down on her slight shoulders. + +And before anyone could reach the roadway, she had again slipped behind +the dense hedge and was lost to view. + +"Well, I never!" gasped Cleo. + +"We'll have to find that woodland fairy some day," declared Lucille, +and just then they heard that Bob had won the race. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE EAGLE'S FEATHER + +It took but a few days for the visitors to become so well acquainted in +their surroundings that even the generous assistance of Lalia and +Lucille was no longer necessary at "the steering wheel." The diversity +of scenery in Bellaire furnished such a contrast to that of Flosston +that every day unfolded new wonders, and more interesting exploits. + +But it was the mystery of the queer little girl, who frightened Andy +MacMurry out of his race, and who had met the girls on their arrival in +Bellaire, that furnished the real peak to their mountain interest and +adventure. They were determined to hunt her out and unravel the +mystery. + +"The strange part of it is," said Cleo, as she and her chums were +making a schedule for next day in the faithful little note books +provided by Madaline at the beginning of their trip, "the very queer +part of it is," she continued, "how the girl pops out of nowhere at +almost any time, and she seems to disappear just when one thinks she is +well within reach." + +"Yes," added Grace, "I heard the drug store boy say this morning that a +girl named Mary from Second Mountain was getting medicines without +leaving any name, and under the new law some drugs, not poisons either, +have to be signed for. And Dave, that's the druggist's name, said he +supposed now she wouldn't come any more, because when he told her that, +she gave him a look like a scared owl. I guess he means an owl looks +without seeing, because that's the way our mystery girl looks." + +"But she isn't blind," commented Cleo, "for I saw her look straight at +us the day we came." + +"And now, because we are determined to run her down I suppose it will +be ages before we get a glimpse of her again," Grace complained, +impatient for the promised excitement. "I asked the druggist if he +knew her, and he laughed sort of queer, and said someone in the family +must be a root and herb fiend, for she bought the queerest old dried +roots and foreign herbs, that no one else ever called for. They even +had to send to New York to get some of her orders filled. What do you +suppose anyone wants old dried up roots for?" + +"You can well guess that old Turkish woman, or whatever she is, can do +woozy things with 'yarbs,'" said Cleo, giving the provincial +pronunciation to the word "herbs." Then they noted the chime in the +hall calling the hour for lights out, and consequently folded their +note books to comply with the rules. "But just suppose she is feeding +them to Mary! Oh, maybe that's what's the matter with her!" and Cleo +bounced from the divan over to the desk to make one last note in the +day's records. "There! I shall be sure to remember it was I +who--originated that. I'm sure it is going to be part of our plot!" + +"And I guess," ventured Grace, "that they get the roots--for--well, for +hair tonic," she floundered. "Roots ought to be good for bald heads!" + +"Hair roots would be, of course," put in Madaline, excusing a yawn, +"but I never saw them advertised." + +"When I go in business I shall advertise real hair roots, planted on +bald heads. Satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded," quoted Grace. + +"Anyone may have marvelous hair by applying Madame Gracia's hair +roots," added Cleo. "Just rub it on and watch it sprout! Well, we +will go over Second Mountain to-morrow morning, as Aunt Audrey is away, +and we will be left entirely to ourselves. But I must not forget very +first thing to write to mother. You know she and dad are going West +next week, and I may spend the entire summer with Aunt Audrey. You +girls are to stay as long as you like, for Flosston Mill magnates, +including both your fathers, may have to come to New York for +headquarters, and then all our families will leave Pennsylvania." + +"Isn't that glorious!" Grace exclaimed. "I think it's a perfectly +splendid idea to have all our dads in the one firm. They can't do +anything to separate us," and she gave Cleo an appreciative hug. + +"Don't forget to dress in uniform to-morrow," Cleo reminded her chums. +"We have had enough vacation from scouting I think. I'm really sick +for my old, practical self." + +"Well, I renew my pledge every day, of course," Madaline declared. +"But I do feel lonely for my nice, tidy uniform. Do you suppose we +shall attract attention around here?" + +"No, indeed," answered Cleo. "I saw a group of girls yesterday in +scout uniform. I suppose there is a troop here. But we don't have to +look it up unless we get still more lonely. Well, good night, girlies. +I am going to try the new dream pillow. Isn't it darling?" and she +pressed her cheek to the tiny heart-shaped down pillow, with its +embroidered motto case, the latest remembrance from her loving mother. + +"We might make them for gifts," remarked Grace. "I think them too +sweet for words!" + +"And that perfume is--orchid, isn't it?" asked Madaline. "It is too +delicate for anything else." + +"Yes, momsey likes orchid, and dad buys it, so I guess that's her +sachet. Good-night again, girls, and to-morrow we go hunting our +wood-nymph; and, girls," with a premonitory perk of her shapely head, +"be sure to lock your window because it is right off the porch roof, +and with Aunt Audrey away, we can't be sure of old Michael's police +ability." + +"Oh, Cleo," gulped Madaline, who, being dimply, always seemed the baby +of the trio, "do you think anyone would climb up the post poles?" + +"No, certainly not, silly," replied Cleo with a show of scorn, "but you +see, I must share the responsibility when Aunt Audrey is away, and it +is always best to keep windows directly off low roofs locked. Then, if +anyone should try to get in we would be sure to hear them. Run away +now, and try on your new Billie Burkes. Maybe I'll come in and inspect +them when I get myself ready." + +The low mountain house presently echoed with the girls' laughter, for +indulging in their usual propensity to prolong recreation, a +dressing-up contest was crowded in the hour of undressing. Billie +Burks and boudoir caps, under long capes and wild draperies, furnished +equipment adequate and ridiculous, so that even Jennie, who was dragged +from her mending out to the second hall to serve as audience, found +herself laughing foolishly at the girl scouts' antics. + +Cleo impersonated "Walla-Hoola," with a string of twenty neckties +(borrowed from Uncle Guy's room) dangling around her waist, over a +combination of pink crepe and bluebird pajamas. At the back of her +neck, in savage glee, was propped the piano feather duster, the same +being somewhat supported by another necktie of Kelly green hue, that +banded her classic brow. + +Madaline "tried on" Circe, all swathed up in a billowy white mosquito +netting, that might never again be used as a bed canopy. She found her +"rock" on a third floor landing, and clung frantically to the stairs +post, while the wild sea of perfectly good oak steps dashed savagely at +her uncovered toes. She also pink-pinked Cleo's ukelele, according to +Circean traditions. + +Grace rolled around the floor in the ocean waves--the lost soul who was +to be saved by someone, anyone would do, so far as Grace was concerned. +All she had to worry about apparently was the roll. Had she been a +little older, and just a little more rotund, one might have suspected +her indulging in a treatment; but it required, finally, the combined +strength of Cleo and Jennie to extricate the "lost soul" from the +meshes into which that roll and a couple of fine silkoline quilts had +engulfed her. + +"Mrs. Dunbar wouldn't like to have the quilts soiled," interposed +Jennie wisely, "and now, girls, dear, do run along to bed. You've had +a fine time, and I enjoyed the show first rate." + +"Thank you, Jennie!" panted Grace, crawling out of her cocoon like a +human caterpillar. "We had a lovely time also. And, Jennie, will you +please be sure to leave your door open? Michael may be a very sound +sleeper, and you know we all have to be on guard to-night." + +"Indeed, Grace, not a step could come up that gravel path, or through +the grass itself, but I would hear it"--Jennie was proud of her +nocturnally acute sense of sound, or suspicion of mere noises--"and you +may sleep sound as Michael himself, for nothing will come near this +lodge unbeknownst to Jennie Marlow." + +"That's a good Jennie," Cleo patted the trusted servant, "and if I hear +even the tiniest bit of a noise, like a chipmunk, or a tree toad, you +can expect me to come pouncing into your nice big feather bed." + +"And leave us!" protested Madaline, who was no longer the entrancing +Circe. + +"There'll be room for all of you, crosswise, like our old buckboard," +Jennie assured them once more, and this time the "good-night" was +allowed to take effect. + +A half hour later Cragsnook was snuggled in the stillness of a +beautifully soft night, pillowed against the Jersey mountains, and +cradled in the sweet scented foliage of giant tulip trees and ambitious +beeches. The trees at night seemed unfathomable, and this denseness +increased the darkness and magnified the shadows. + +But the three girl scouts under Jennie Marlow's protection, slept and +dreamed of their next day's quest in search of Mary, the phantom wood +nymph, or Mary the fleet-footed maid of Second Mountain. + +She must surely live somewhere between Bellaire and that mountain, +beyond which the girls had no definite idea of territory. A pretty +lake formed the boundary, and up to that line they had planned their +search. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ON THE TRAIL + +After all their preparations for burglars or other scary visitors, it +was rather disappointing to come down to breakfast next morning just as +calm and complaisant as usual; in fact it was calmer, for the absence +of Aunt Audrey was readily felt in something like loneliness. Madaline +was even threatened with a fit of homesickness. + +Jennie brought the muffins, and it struck Cleo she was quieter than +usual. A snappy "good morning" in that tone that implies "eat in a +hurry and clear out," added another note to the already discordantly +charged atmosphere. + +"Do you know, girls," announced Grace, pushing aside her grapefruit, "I +feel exactly as if something were surely going to happen to-day." + +"So do I," spoke up Cleo; "I feel as if a nice early hike over the big +gray mountain is going to happen, and I am sure of it." + +"But I mean something odd and queer," insisted Grace. + +"Did you feel that way the day you tied the man to the tree?" teased +Cleo. + +"If you did, I'm not going out with you," spoke up Madaline, +disregarding table manners to the extent of making a pyramid from her +yellow muffin crumbs. "I feel awfully queer, too, and I'm not going to +take a risk with Grace, if she's going to be reckless." + +"Can't see why you should fear me, Madie." Then noticing the homesick +look on the usually dimpling face, Grace "broke out," as Cleo called +her spells of exhilaration. "I'll tell you," offered Grace. "We'll +take our mountain sticks, loaded water pistols, and I have Benny's air +gun, and we'll go hunting. Of course we wouldn't really shoot bunnies, +but--we'll shoo them. Andy Mack told me yesterday the woods are just +full of all kinds of young hunters now, but they are mostly from the +city, and after flowers. You can take a bag or a basket, Madaline, to +carry home your precious roots in, because you know what a time we +always have spoiling our hats that way." + +Madaline gave a wan little smile, for her, and then surprised her chums +with declaring she believed she would stay home and help Jennie +transplant some lettuce, as she loved to do transplanting. + +Whether or not the remark was overheard in the kitchen, Jennie swung +open the door as Madaline finished speaking, and as she confronted the +girls there was no mistaking the look on her closely lined face. + +Jennie was mad! + +"Lettuce!" she repeated. "Indeed we have none to transplant. My +beautiful bed is entirely destroyed!" + +"Oh, how?" exclaimed the girls. + +"I don't know," replied the maid, still seething with indignation, "but +I'm likely to think it wasn't a mountain rabbit that did the damage, +for the plants were yanked up by the roots, and bunnies just nibble the +tops!" + +"Oh, that's such a shame!" declared Cleo, "and you were counting on +having it just right when Uncle Guy returns. Who would do that?" + +"Well, there's some awful queer folks around here lately," went on +Jennie, as she slipped the breakfast dishes on the tray. "They don't +know anything about folks' rights. Think everything growing is common +property. There's one old woman who pretends she doesn't understand me +when I tell her to stop digging in the lawn, and what she digs is +nothing but old roots and weed stuff," and Jennie threw back her +shoulders, assuming an attitude of righteous indignation. + +"What kind of looking woman is she?" asked Cleo, thinking, of course, +of the queer woman in the foreign costume. + +"She looks like a circus parade," Jennie declared, "but she's no more +circus than I am. It's lots easier to hide mistakes when one pretends +she's foreign and doesn't understand." + +"And has she a little girl with her?" questioned Grace. Even Madaline +was interested now. + +"Yes, poor child. A half-scared-to-death little thing, that runs like +a bunnie if you speak to her," replied the maid. + +"That's just whom we are looking for," declared Cleo. "We saw them the +day we came, and felt that the little girl needed friends. Then at the +Cross Country Run the other day she almost knocked Andy Mack down; she +jumped out so suddenly just as he turned into the last lap. She is +crazy, I think," finished Cleo. + +"Then, I'm not going to hunt her," declared Madaline, "crazy folks are +dangerous." + +Jennie laughed at their expressed fears. "That child isn't crazy," she +declared, "but it's a wonder she isn't, with that old woman tagging +around. Well, I don't suppose she stole my lettuce, but I'm going to +watch out for people on these grounds after this," and Jennie swung +herself through the double acting door with such energy, the portal +made a swift return trip on its hinges. + +"There's some connection between buying roots in the drug store, +digging roots from the lawns, and--maybe she took the lettuce," figured +Cleo. + +"Oh, come on," implored Grace. "I'm sure we will find that little +fairy out to-day, and I promise you, Madie, I won't do anything rash. +Come along, there's a dear," and Grace slipped her arms around the girl +who threatened to come down with a fit of lonesomeness. "Come on, +maybe we'll meet Andy's little brother." + +"I'll go, not on account of the little brother though," quickly +explained Madaline, to forestall a laugh. + +But it was the little brother, Malcolm by name and Mally by adoption, +who "happened to meet" the girls, just under the mountain. + +"Where y'u goin'?" he inquired, winding up his kite string, regardless +of the trees between the kite and his hand. + +"Hunting," answered Grace. "Want to come?" + +"Huntin' what?" asked Mally. + +"We're not sure, but we'll take anything we can find, even little +boys!" teased Cleo. + +"Oh, will you!" Mally fired back. "You don't have to. Say, Madaline, +I know where there's some Jack-in-the-Pulpits," he added, sidling up to +Madaline. "The kind you were looking for the other day. Jack Hagan is +going to meet me over by the creek at ten, and if you girls want to +come along I'll show you where to hunt things." + +"No bears?" protested Cleo. + +"Well, there's weasles and mink in that creek, and you'd think they +were bears if one of those grabbed you," Mally declared. + +"Lead the way!" ordered Grace, mounting her staff on her shoulder, and +the little hunters started off. + +"Say, Mally," began Cleo, as they struck a clearance in the otherwise +tangled brush and bramble path, "do you ever see a little girl who has +big long braids, and never wears a hat?" + +"Sure," replied the boy. "That's Mary. Her old granddad's a nut." + +"Has she a granddad?" Cleo followed. "I knew it. A girl like that +always has. Where do they live?" + +"Don't you know? Huh!" Mally answered scornfully. "Thought everybody +knew old Doc Benson. He's a nut on flowers and growin' things." + +"But where does he live? Could we go near his house?" Grace asked +eagerly. + +"If the old lady doesn't chase you," replied the boy, making a running +jump over a huge stone, one of the many bowlder rocks that continually +roll down the mountain. + +"Suppose she does. She can't hurt us, can she?" pursued Cleo. + +"One of the fellows said she hurt him all right," declared Mally. "She +shook him 'til he lost all his marbles. Hey, Jack!" he yelled, cupping +his hands to his red lips. "Here we are, over near the swamp!" + +Jack evidently spied his chum at that moment, for although tall brush +obstructed his view of the hunters, he answered with a "Whoo-hoo," and +ran along in their direction. It took but a few moments for him to +reach the party. + +"I'm late," he apologized, his grin and freckles supplying real local +color to the dramatic statement. "Had to dig a big fern root for Mary." + +"Oh, for our Mary--the queer Mary?" exclaimed Grace. + +"They call her Maid Mary," went on Jack, "but she ain't big enough to +be no maid. She couldn't cook nor nuthin'." + +"Maid Mary!" repeated Cleo. "That's awfully romantic. Wherever did +she get the maid tacked on?" + +"That's her name," insisted Jack. "She al'lus says it is, when you ask +her." + +"But where is she now? We want to see her," said Grace. + +"Come along then and I'll show you where she's diggin'. She's al'lus +diggin' roots." + +Now, all keyed up, and plainly excited that Jack and Mally should lead +them so readily to their quarry, the girls followed the boys in +silence--the boys, however, did plenty of talking to fill in the +breach. They evidently cared less for Maid Mary than they did for +"Sunnies," and as the creek was their hunting ground for the wily +little fish and they were now going away from the pools and puddles +that ran and swelled into the creek, both lads were inclined to travel +faster than even scout girls could follow over the rough hills. + +"There she is!" exclaimed Mally, pointing to a white speck in a green +field. "Better run up quiet or she'll dash off like a deer," and +making some mysterious sign to Jack, the erstwhile pathfinders darted +off themselves toward their clew. + +"There she is," repeated Grace, "and as brother Benny would say, Now it +is up to us!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A LITTLE MAID IN CLOVER + +"Do hurry, Madie, she may run away!" warned Cleo. They were hurrying +indeed, and the request seemed superfluous, for never did three girls +make more haste in crossing that stretch of meadow. In fact Grace and +Cleo were running, and now Madaline jumped to their pace. + +"Do you think maybe they keep goats?" the latter managed to ask, and in +spite of their serious haste both Cleo and Grace shouted in laughter. + +"Goats!" they both exclaimed. + +"Because if they do I'm not going near the old place. I'm awfully +afraid of goats and geese." + +"Because you're so nice and fat!" teased Cleo. "You're afraid they'll +take you for--for sausage. But--here we are! Don't let us frighten +the child," and her voice was now lowered to a whisper. + +The little girl, with the long brown braids, sat in a bed of beautiful +pink clover, and with her back to the intruders she had not yet sensed +their approach. As before, she wore a white dress and no hat. + +"Hello!" spoke Grace cautiously. + +She sprang up, but Cleo placed her hand kindly on the basket of ferns +and clovers. + +"Oh, don't go!" pleaded Cleo. "We want to talk to you." + +"But I can't," faltered the child, and the rich cultured tone betrayed +her good breeding. In fact she used the long "a" in can't and the +girls at once decided she was English. + +"Oh, why not?" Cleo followed up quickly. "Don't you want to know us? +We are strangers here." + +"I should love to know you," the girl replied, and the tanned skin was +suffused with a conscious blush, "but I am not permitted to make +friends." + +"But we are Girl Scouts," argued Grace, assuming her most cajoling air, +"and we are supposed to make friends with everybody," she finished. +Grace tactfully fondled a beautiful spray of clover that was making its +way out of Mary's basket. This action evidently pleased the child, for +she smiled, and handed the spray over to its admirer. + +"I have read of Girl Scouts," answered the stranger, "and if only +granddaddy would allow me what a wonderful time we could have! Do you +all gather flowers in nature study, as your books say you should?" + +"Oh, yes, indeed we do," replied Cleo heartily. "Do sit down on this +little mound where you were when we came along, and let us have a nice +quiet talk. No one is near to hear us!" + +At that the strange girl glanced furtively toward a clump of blackberry +bushes and put her finger to her lips. + +"Reda is there, my nurse, you know, and she is very strict. I could +win granddaddy over only for her," and the deep-set eyes seemed to +freeze over in that glassy stare the girls had noticed before. + +"Quick, tell us, where do you live? May we go to your house? Perhaps +your grandfather would like us?" Cleo was crowding her questions, lest +the woman called Reda should suddenly pounce upon them. + +"Perhaps," said the girl, now so dreamy and vague the girls almost felt +helpless to pursue their mission. + +"Do tell us where, please!" pleaded Grace, watching the bushes swish +back from the place she felt Reda was concealed in. + +"By the big twin chestnuts," replied the child. + +"What is your name?" asked Cleo eagerly. + +"Maid Mary!" again came an answer, but the little stranger was now +moving off in spite of all the efforts being made to detain her. +Madaline was almost too far away to take part in the conversation, she +was plainly afraid of the woman in the bushes. + +"What is the rest of your name--Mary what?" insisted Grace. + +"Reda says it is only Maid Mary, but I know the rest of it, and some +day I am going to tell it!" flashed the child with a sudden blaze of +defiance. + +"Where are the twin chestnuts?" asked Cleo, determined not to thus +leave the clew they had so eagerly sought. + +"Over the mountain by the lake," replied Mary, and "Good-by," she +almost sobbed. "I love you! There!" she cried, springing over the +little stream at their feet, just as the unwelcome figure of old Reda +emerged from the blackberry patch. + +The girls stood staring at the fleeing child. They saw the old women +put her hand up to shade her eyes, that she might better see who they +were, for undoubtedly she suspected Mary had spoken to them. Then Cleo +whispered to Grace: + +"Make believe picking something! Don't let her see us looking." + +"Here are some more!" called Grace loudly to Madaline, waving a bunch +of quickly gathered daisies and clover. "Wait a minute, and see this +one." + +The call was given to throw the old woman off the track, and give her +the impression that nothing more than flower gathering had been their +intent. + +Madaline appeared glad enough to see Grace and Cleo coming toward her, +for at that very moment she had decided to run. + +"Can you see what--the old woman is doing?" Grace asked Cleo. "Don't +look--back--directly but stop to pick up something, then you can see." + +"She must be scolding," replied Cleo, "for she's wagging her head, and +shaking her old brown fist. Dear me, how I hated to let her swallow up +that lovely girl. Do you suppose we can ever rescue her?" + +"Do I?" flaunted Grace. "I just can't wait to get at that rescuing. I +guess all our scouting will have to come back to a S.O.S., for never +was there a clearer case of need than this. That hateful old woman has +the child hoodooed, or hypnotized, or flimflammed," she declared, +giving a wide choice of active transitive verbs for Cleo to choose from. + +"But isn't the girl a darling?" enthused Cleo. "I could just love her +like a picture in a book. And she said she loved us! Wasn't that +quaint!" + +"Oh, Madaline! You missed it!" Grace charged the girl who was too +timid to interview Maid Mary. "We are going to find her house. And +she's just _wonderful_." This last was pronounced with that effusion +peculiar to the modern use of the word "wonderful." Nothing could +possibly be more or at least so superlative. + +"Why didn't you lasso the old woman?" teased Madaline, referring to the +trick Grace played on another occasion told in our first volume. + +"I would have, only you were too far away to pull the rope!" fired back +Grace. Nevertheless her tone implied she would not stop at rope or +swing, if she found such a feat necessary in the rescue of Maid Mary. + +"What a queer name--Reda," Cleo reflected, when once again they started +over the rough road toward Cragsnook. "It ought to be pronounced as it +is spelled instead of 'ree'--she looks red enough in that blazing +outfit." + +"But what a pretty accent the girl used," remarked Grace. "Do you +suppose she's English?" + +"Maybe from Boston," suggested Cleo, "but the old woman, I should +judge, is a native of the whole geography, well beaten with an oceanic +egg beater, or if not that conglomeration, I should guess she owned an +entire island in the wildest ocean, where there were nothing but +ship-wrecked rummage sails and old crow squaks." + +"That's bad enough, anyway," commented Madaline, who seemed a trifle +out of the picture, "and I think she is all of that and more." + +"Just you watch the True-Treds make for the twin chestnuts!" orated +Cleo. "Old Lady Reda had better look out for her lace sun bonnet and +flowered petticoat. They may get mixed up in the shuffle." + +"How about grandpop?" asked Grace. "What do you propose to do with +him?" + +"Smother him in his 'yarbs' and roots," pronounced Cleo dramatically, +and when they entered the path to Cragsnook, busy brains were +concocting marvelously daring schemes to bring about the rescue of Maid +Mary. + +"Do you think your Aunt Audrey will mind?" questioned Madaline, always +sure to find an alibi for anything too risky. + +"No, indeed," stoutly declared Cleo. "I shouldn't wonder but she would +want to adopt Maid Mary for a model, with those Marguerite braids, and +her far-away eyes. Oh, isn't it too exciting? Do you think we need +tell Jennie?" + +"I--wouldn't," replied Grace, fully conscious such a risk was not to be +even thought of. + +Madaline was a nice little fat dimply girl, and no one could blame her +for not wanting to run from horrid old women up on mountain tops, +nevertheless she had never failed in her own peculiar way of performing +scout duties, and even the braver girls loved her baby ways of +accomplishing the tasks. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WITHIN A MOUNTAIN CAVE + +Mrs. Dunbar was busy in New York, taking an active part in an art +convention, nevertheless she made a flying trip out to Cragsnook that +afternoon, to make sure her young guests were happy and well. Being +real girls and therefore pardonably human, in telling their adventure, +the scouts did not enlarge on their meeting with Maid Mary; in fact the +detail involving the displeasure of Reda, the old nurse, was quite +lightly passed over in their account of the day as made to the hostess. + +Mrs. Dunbar enjoyed the joke perpetrated by Madaline, in her suspicion +of a possible goat farm being tucked away in the mountains, thence Maid +Mary and the pompous Reda were wont to lug the roots; at the same time +she felt unequal to a better guess at the puzzle, for it was now +conspicuously clear that roots, all kinds of roots, were being gathered +continuously by the little girl and her picturesque attendant. + +The three visitors and Mrs. Dunbar were enjoying a refreshing west wind +on the square porch, outside the library window, for their confab, and +in their summer uniforms the girls made a picture not wasted on the +artistic eye of Audrey Harris Dunbar. + +"I can truthfully report," she remarked, smiling graciously and +betraying considerable of her own good looks, "that you three little +girls are already much improved by your visit. I have to make out a +blanket statement, as we say in club work, when we make one report +cover a number of items, and I would just like to illustrate that +statement with a color picture of you girls. You are positively rosy." + +The compliment was plainly merited, for Madaline and, Grace had taken +on a generous coating of tan and color, and even Cleo's usually pale +face was prettily suffused with a shell-pink glow, which brightened her +gray eyes, and enhanced the attractive effect of a face all but plain, +too keenly intelligent to be overlooked in beauty. + +"We all feel better for getting back in service," Cleo replied to her +aunt's favorable criticism. "I guess even vacation needs a little duty +to keep the play part happily outlined." + +"Yes, little niece, you show your daddy's wisdom there, and of course +that means you are very like me," with a swoop of her graceful arm +coming up to the breast in mock dramatic fashion. "I always knew +brother Kimball and I were very much alike, and now I am positive. Of +course Kim aimed to be practical, and he has succeeded, while I--just +slosh around in my paints. But really, children, I must be off again +to that convention. I suppose we will plan to make interior +decorations in mural designs around the Capitol dome, to give +neighborly effect to our friends in Mars or Saturn or even Venus. Now +be good," and she embraced all three with her affectionate smile, "go +hunting if you like, but better take Lucille or Lalia along. They are +older, you know, and should be wiser, although you have quite +astonished me with your applied good sense thus far. I shall send a +be-ee-u-tiful report to Flosston. You know, of course, the factory is +moving headquarters to New York, and all your families may tour this +way eventually. By-by! I hate to go, but I can't let the other ladies +do all the gold work on the Capitol." + +Sheer admiration silenced the girls for some moments after her +departure. Audrey Dunbar seemed like a breath of the refreshing west +wind herself, and it was not to be wondered at that her guests should +appreciate her generous hospitality and personal attention. + +"Shall we have to take Lucille and Lalia?" It was Grace who put the +gloomy question. + +"I don't know," faltered Cleo. "You see, we don't really know what we +may fall into on the other side of the mountain." + +"Maybe bandits and caves--and--things," suggested Madaline, +characteristically. + +"There might be caves, natural ones, I mean," Cleo remarked, "but I +don't fancy we would run into any real live bandits, Mally Mack and +Jack Hagan seem to monopolize that title in Bellaire, and you know what +perfectly little gallants they both are. But we have to live up to our +reputation, I suppose, and be wise. It might be wisest to take the big +girls along. When, do you suppose, will we ever be classed as big +girls?" she almost grumbled. + +"Then suppose I run over and see if they can go," Grace proposed, +showing her impatience to be on the trail. "A shower might come up and +then we couldn't go until to-morrow." + +"All right," agreed Cleo. "I'll address the postals while you run +over. I see you have both written letters home on your cards." + +"And I am going into the garden with Jennie," declared Madaline. "You +won't really mind, Cleo, if I don't go along?" + +"No, indeed, Madie dear. You just suit your sweet self, and have a +good time. That's the very best way for us all to be sure of enjoying +ourselves. But look out for pinching beetles in the vines. They bite, +you know." + +When Grace returned with Lalia, the three, including Cleo, lost little +time to taking up the mountain trail towards the Twin Chestnuts, +indicated by Maid Mary as marking the spot where she and her mysterious +grandfather, as well as the picturesque Reda, occupied some sort of +cottage--just what kind even Lalia did not pretend to know. + +"We rarely go into Second Mountain," she explained as they started off, +"except for dogwood berries in the fall. We do go then in classes from +school, for the hills are perfectly beautiful with the red dogwood and +the dark blue 'bread and butter' vines. The berries make lovely +decorations. And the milk weed pods, too--I have some still from last +year." + +"It must be glorious in autumn," Cleo answered. "If mother and father +get back from their tour in time we might take a house out here, +instead of a New York apartment." + +"Let's cut through the golf links, then we will be up near the mountain +house and we can stop in the observatory. Have you taken in the view +yet?" asked Lalia. + +"No, but we would love to," answered Cleo. "Auntie told us we should +take her field glasses for it though." + +"It would be better to look through the glasses, of course, but even +with the naked eye you get a wonderful view. What's the matter, Grace? +Getting too warm?" + +Grace had taken off her neckerchief, and was carrying her hat, and +puffing audibly. + +"Yes, I am warm. Your mountains are lovely to look at, but a little +hard to tread even for us True Treds. Either that or we are going to +have a shower!" surmised Grace. + +"Both!" declared Lalia, "just look at that cloud! It's swooping down +like a big black blanket. Now we have got to hurry. We must get to +the mountain house or we will be drenched. There's no other possible +shelter." + +"Away up there?" inquired Cleo, pointing to the hotel on top of the +hill. "I don't believe we can ever get there before your blanket dumps +its contents. See, it threatens to burst now!" + +At that moment a vivid flash of lightning cut from one black hill in +the clouds and buried itself behind another. As if piercing the +fathomless blanket and renting holes in its inky cover, a downpour of +rain broke through, and even before reaching the earth it could now be +seen descending in a heavy mist at the hill top. + +"There we are!" shouted Lalia, "and here we are--all dressed up and no +place to duck! We can't reach the Mountain House. Let's make for that +rock! It may afford some shelter." + +Without thought of dissent Cleo and Grace followed their leader through +the now pouring shower. The rain seemed almost solid, its sheets were +so dense in the downfall, and the terrific peals of thunder, that +echoed and rolled over the hills, gave such monstrous volumes of sound +as only the big canyons between solid rocks emit. It seemed the stones +themselves would be torn out from their pits in the frightful +vibrations. + +Already thoroughly drenched, the girls in scout uniform seemed scarcely +better off than Lalia in her pretty gingham, the summer weight khaki of +the skirts, and the soisette blouses shedding the heavy rain more +readily, only because of the uniform straight lines and absence of +frilly pockets to catch the "buckets'" spill. As for hats--the girls +were utilizing these as shields, holding them at ever-swerving angles, +to keep the blinding rain out of their eyes. + +The big black rock with torrents of water how gushing down its furrows +and rills, was reached at last and to the delight of the wayfarers it +did offer shelter. + +"Why, just see here!" exclaimed Grace, the first to reach port, "here +is a cave. We said there ought to be caves in these mountains. And we +can all fit in out of the storm. Isn't this wonderful?" + +"Port haven in our story, surely," quoth Lalia, "I thought I knew these +parts, but I never before discovered these Monte Cristo apartments. +Shall we ring for the janitor?" + +"Pray do not," replied Cleo, swishing her reservoir hat around to empty +its contents. "Let us woo the wooseys undisturbed. I should like to +dump the mud out of my boots!" + +The rain on the uncovered rocks was still splashing, and a strong wind +howling through the trees added to the din. Only at close range could +the girls make their voices intelligible. But it was so good to be +within shelter. Welcome indeed is any port in a storm. + +"There must be more dugouts in this rock," Cleo said, attempting to +survey the curved bowlder that formed a huge support for the cedars +growing from its top, in a great swerving hedge, clear up into Second +Mountain. + +"But one is enough for us," Grace reminded her. Then a sound +penetrated the now ceasing roar of the torrent. Voices surely, +somewhere! + +"Hark!" All three girls uttered the exclamation simultaneously. + +"It's at the other side!" whispered Cleo, "and it's a woman's voice." + +They listened, scarcely breathing. + +"That's Mary!" suddenly exclaimed Grace, in the same subdued voice. "I +know it is." + +They waited a few seconds, listening. The first voice was now answered +by another. It was plainly that of the old woman Reda, for the queer, +rapid flow of language was not English. + +"Reda!" whispered Cleo. "Is that Spanish?" + +"Who's Reda?" repeated Lalia. + +"The queer old woman with the little girl Mary," replied Cleo. "Are +you afraid of her?" + +"No," answered Lalia with something of a sneer. "I guess we three +could manage her if we had to. Shall we peek?" + +"Listen!" commanded Cleo. + +Came a small voice through the jagged rocks: "But I will not, Reda, I +am not asleep. I saw other girls just like me, and I know I have not +the sleeping fever. You always try to make me afraid!" This was Mary. + +The angered tones of the old woman that followed this mild outburst of +defiance could not be understood except through their accents and +emphasis, for the dialect was part Spanish and part West Indian, such +as might be used by natives of Central America. + +"She's awfully mad!" warned Grace. "We better stay hiding!" + +The other girls apparently held the same view of the situation, for +while keeping necks craned and ears attentive to the intermittent +voices, all were careful not to allow so much as the edge of a skirt to +flutter out from behind the hiding rock. + +"I do not believe grandpa has it at all," came the decided tones of +Mary's round voice. "It is lost forever, and we shall never find it. +And next time Janos comes I shall tell him I will not stay here. I am +not a baby, and I feel strong and able--to--to go!" she finished, +throwing a dramatic quiver into these last words, thereby proving the +intensity of her emotion. + +Almost a shriek from the old woman followed the declaration, and for a +few seconds the girls felt as if something dreadful might happen to the +child. Then, like some wild, reckless creature, the girl Mary was seen +to dash out from her shelter in the rock, unmindful of the rain still +falling, and before the eavesdroppers realized it, she was speeding +down the hill, the long braids dangling over her shoulders, and her +perpetual white dress soon climbing like a veritable swaddling cloth +about her lithe form. + +As if delighted with the play of the rain drops, she would toss up her +face to defy them as she ran; then flop her arms up and down in a +flying motion, not really unlike a wild mountain bird. + +While the girls watched spellbound, they saw presently the old woman +trudge along after her, still muttering the unintelligible gibberish, +easily translatable into wrath and fury, whatever its peculiar language. + +"Can we go now?" ventured Cleo. + +"It's almost stopped raining," replied Lalia, and as they left the cave +a sense of disappointment threw its shadow over all three. + +They could not go to the Twin Chestnuts that afternoon, but they felt +more positive than ever that Maid Mary was in danger, and their +enforced delay in her rescue only served to heighten its purpose. + +After explaining to Lalia as much as seemed due in point of politeness, +the three girls stopped to arrange their disordered attire in the path, +before taking the main thoroughfare through the village. As they +adjusted their hats and straightened skirts, they were suddenly +conscious of being watched--had that feeling of eyes questioning them. + +All three turned suddenly as if answering a voice. As they did so they +faced a man--actually confronted him, almost brushing against him. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Grace involuntarily. + +"Pardon, miss," spoke the man in a distinctly foreign accent, "but were +you not with the child, the Maid Mary? Have you seen her to-day? Yes? +No?" + +Cleo was the first to realize the possible significance of this +seemingly inoffensive query, and her look to the other girls signaled +them to be cautious. + +"We have only been in the mountain, and were caught in the shower," she +replied evasively, "and it does not seem to be all over yet so we must +hurry. Come on, girls!" she called, and when the foreigner asked the +next question he had the echo of his own voice for an answer. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SUNSET'S INSPIRATIONS + +"Now, you see, we will have more trouble to reach her. That man knew +we were in the cave, and he also knew Mary and old Reda were behind the +next rock. He must have followed us all the way down the hill!" This +was Cleo's almost breathless pronouncement, made directly she and Grace +reached the porch of the cottage. Lalia had declined their invitation +to rest a few minutes before getting into more comfortable attire, so +she was not in the conference. + +"You could see he was related to the old woman," replied Grace. "His +eyes and that kinky hair made him look so much like her." + +"They are surely natives of the same country," commented Cleo, "but +they may not be related to each other. Oh, I'm so disappointed; I felt +sure we could get to the girl's house this afternoon. And did you hear +her courage voiced in that decided threat? That she would go away, and +that it, whatever it was, is lost forever? Could they be holding Mary +for ransom?" + +"Kidnapped, do you mean?" gasped Grace. + +"I don't know what I do mean, but I sort of wish Uncle Guy were home. +If we run into too much danger he would surely know how to rescue us," +concluded Cleo. + +"Don't let's tell Madaline. She might be too nervous, and I guess she +and Jennie had a fine time planting their lettuce after the shower," +said Grace quietly. + +"Oh, did you get caught in the shower?" anxiously asked Madaline with +trowel in hand, and beautifully decked out in one of Mrs. Dunbar's +artist's smocks, somewhat bedaubed with paint. "We were alarmed. The +lightning struck a tree over in the orchard." + +"But it couldn't strike us, for we were buried in a beautiful cave, and +if we had only known what a perfectly fine little bandit hang-out we +were going to discover, we would have brought our hike packs along. +Sorry you missed it all, Madie," said Cleo affectionately. + +"But we had a visitor," announced Madaline. "He came just after you +left, and he asked so many questions, Jennie sent me out with an excuse +to get Michael. He said he was looking for a place to board, but we +knew better. He was looking for information," she declared. "We +transplanted a whole bed of tomatoes though. Don't I bear evidence of +the applied arts in my smock and with the aroma of the green vines +proclaiming me--the man with the rake?" she finished grandly. + +"A lovely little speech, Madaline. You are a very artistic farmer," +Cleo complimented. "And I hope your tomatoes tomate beautifully. But +tell us about your visitor?" + +"Oh, he wore a yellow duster, like an automobile coat and----" + +"That's the man we saw!" Grace interrupted, forgetting in her +excitement the plan of keeping their adventure from Madaline. + +"Yes, he went toward Second Mountain," continued Madaline, +unsuspiciously, "and Jennie told Michael to be sure and let Shep loose, +so he would know we had a big dog around. Jennie doesn't like Shep to +run through her garden, of course, but she said it would be a good +thing to have that man know we were guarded." + +"Yes," answered Cleo, exchanging glances with Grace. "It's a good +thing to have a dog in a big forest like this. Aunt Audrey home?" + +"Nope," replied Madaline. "Come on, let's dress, Jennie promised to go +to the Lake with us after dinner." + +"Oh, goody, goody," exclaimed Cleo. "Come on, Grace. I feel like an +escaped eel in these togs. We had a good time in our old scout +uniforms, didn't we? Nothing like it in a good drenching downpour," +and she spread out her khaki skirt at each hip in imitation pannier +effect, although the effect was rather slippery, to say the least. + +It was while Madaline was washing, Cleo and Grace made opportunity to +exchange opinions on the strange visitor. + +"Do you suppose he is following us?" asked Grace. "If so, don't you +think we had better tell Jennie?" + +"I shouldn't like to," demurred Cleo, "because you know that would +surely put the kibosh on our hikes. If Aunt Audrey were home I feel +certain she would allow us our liberty, conditionally, of course. +Pshaw! I wish the horrid man had kept away. Isn't it mean!" + +Madaline appeared, rosy and shining, from the lavatory; evidently her +gardening experience had been both enjoyable and profitable. + +Garbed in pretty dainty frocks, and carrying gorgeously brilliant +sweaters, the trio, with Jennie as chaperon, raced off to the lake +directly after dinner. The evening was delightfully clear and cool +after the shower, and the promise of a row out through the willow-bound +water was sufficient lure to banish from their minds all thoughts of +the suspicious man and the threatening old woman. + +A group of boys down on the little pavilion was found to include Andy +and Mally Mack, as well as Jack Hagan, and very generously they offered +to give the girls a boat ride. + +"Anything from a tug to a canoe!" proffered Andy, "and you may row, +sail or paddle." + +"That's lovely," acknowledged Cleo, "but we promised to take a big flat +boat so Jennie may come this time," she smiled gratefully. "We would +love a canoe ride, some evening when Aunt Audrey is home." + +Doing the next best thing to taking part in the sail, that of providing +the big flat bottom boat for the party, the boys promptly rowed up to +the clear end of the float and assisted Jennie to embark. Of course +the girls hopped in, disdaining so much as the kind hand Andy offered +them, and with a united push they were sent out into the pool, that now +in sunset looked like "a rummage sail [Transcriber's note: sale?] in a +paint shop," as Grace described the brilliantly lighted waters. + +Regretful glances were sent after that "big flat bottom boat," but +women like Jennie had to be humored, and even good natured boys +realized this. + +Grace and Cleo rowed up the stream. Many pleasure craft were afloat, +and the visitors already knew a number of Bellaire girls and boys who +called pleasant greetings. + +The lake, wide at the basin, narrowed off into a tiny stream as it +followed the course, tracing its origin in the mountain springs. +Willows thick as a tasseled hedge hid the banks, and teased the boat as +the girls ducked and dipped their way, determined to go to the end, or +till they touched bottom. + +"It will be almost dark in that dense thicket," Jennie warned them, +"and you know we are a good mile from nowhere." + +"Oh, just a little farther," begged Cleo; "we want to say we went to +the very end." + +"Very well," agreed Jennie, who was plainly enjoying the delightful +sail in the colorful twilight. + +"Look!" exclaimed Grace suddenly. "There's someone in wading! Oh! +see, it's our little Mary." + +"Sure enough," followed Cleo. "How can she be away down here so late? +Let's call." + +"No, wait till we are a little nearer," suggested Grace, thinking +quickly, a call meant for Mary might also be heard by someone else. +"We can row almost up to her." + +Pulling their oars with a firm stroke it took but a few minutes to come +within speaking distance of the girl, who now, seeing the approaching +boat, was standing knee deep in a golden path of water. + +"Who is she?" asked Jennie, gazing intently at the odd figure, for as +ever Mary wore white, and her heavy braids fell into the big pocket +made of her up-turned skirt. She looked like some elfin sprite painted +in pastels, with all the soft greens of foliage, and the wonderfully +mellow tints of crimsoned gold shed from the sunset, surrounding the +picture and forming an inimitable background. + +"Oh, that's our little friend Mary," Cleo replied to Jennie's question. +"She's lovely, and Aunt Audrey knows about her." This last of course +was said to assure Jennie of the propriety of her charges making +friends with the girl in wading. + +"Mary! Mary!" called Grace. "Come on for a sail! We have room!" + +It was typical of Grace to do a thing like that--to call out the +invitation without consulting anyone, or considering possible +consequences. + +"Hello, girls!" came back Mary's response. "I'd love to go--if----" + +As Cleo at least expected, there was someone in the background watching +Mary, but the assurance in Mary's voice, that of a new note of courage, +further emboldened Cleo. "Oh come on, Mary," she urged. "We will just +row you around here if you like. Jump in!" Cleo insisted, while Mary, +now clinging to the side of the boat with one hand, depended on the +other to keep her light skirts clear of the water. + +"Oh, I am so glad you came," she said. "I did not know just what to +do. I thought I might see some of the boys who would help me. Is this +your mother?" She stopped suddenly, and stared at the astonished +Jennie. + +"No, this is Jennie, our friend, our manager," Cleo replied kindly. +"But she is just as safe as a mother; you need not fear to speak before +her. How can we help you?" + +"Janos came to-day," Mary almost whispered, "and I am so afraid of him +now. He knows I have friends. He saw you in the cave, but I did not +know you were there during the storm." She was speaking quickly, +fearfully, in fact, and had no chance to observe the changes working +through Jennie's quizzical expression. "And he knows where you +live----" + +"Was it he who came to our house this afternoon?" asked Madaline. +"Does he wear an auto duster?" + +"Yes, that is Janos. And now he wants to get us all away again. O +dear! poor granddaddy! I know he is sick, but he thinks he is all +right," and the child almost sobbed in her helplessness. + +"But is someone watching you now? Is Reda over there?" asked Cleo, +indicating the willow banks. + +"No, I ran down and said I was going to find my basket I left somewhere +before the storm. But they surely will come soon." + +"If you are afraid, child," spoke up Jennie, "just you come along with +us. We can get a car in the village and I will take you home myself." + +Four pair of grateful eyes sent their thanks to Jennie. Mary touched +her hand as it rested on the side of the boat. + +"Oh, that is so good of you. But--Janos and Reda are not like +Americans, they are from the tropics, you know, and different. Oh, we +are so miserable and unhappy!" Tears now glistened in the heavy lashes +that fringed her dark eyes, and no one seemed to know just what to say +next. Cleo was first to recover herself. + +"If you could possibly come with us to the landing we might make some +excuse for picking you up, and Jennie could go home with you. We might +all go. I'll tell you!" a sudden inspiration breaking in on the +difficult situation. "Jump in. We will row back as quickly as we can +and send the boys over to Bailey's for a big car. Then we will all +drive up the mountain with you. We will have the man for protection, +and if your old Reda is not good-natured we will not let you stay there +to-night. Would your grandfather care? Might he allow you to spend a +night with us?" + +All the hidden and suppressed hopes in that strangely veiled +countenance seemed to burst through now, and Mary's expression, from +one of almost impenetrable gloom, assumed a strange light--perhaps +borrowed from the sunset. + +"Oh, it is too good to be true!" she sighed. "Someone at last is not +afraid to help me!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SECRET SPRING + +That settled it. Before Mary realized her position she was sitting +securely in the broad seat at the stern of the gliding boat, with +Madaline's arm around her, while her delighted fingers trailed through +the water, and her almost frightened gaze was fastened on Jennie's face. + +"You are a real woman," she surprised her friends by declaring. "Do +you know I have not seen anyone like you to talk to since Loved One +went away. She was my mother," the child said solemnly. + +"When did she die?" Jennie ventured. + +"When I was eleven. I am thirteen now." + +"And where did you live then?" pressed Cleo, feeling the time was +opportune for obtaining something of Mary's history. + +"Oh, very, very far away, on an island off Central America," came the +surprising answer. + +"Do your relatives live there?" inquired Grace, gently. + +"No, they all died with the fever, that is, Loved One did, and daddy +was lost at sea. Reda thinks I had it, and she says I must not do +things like other girls or it will come back and kill me, but I don't +believe her now. Since I have known you girls I feel so much stronger +and wiser," she finished quaintly, with a significant toss of her head. + +"The idea of telling you you were sick, and scaring you into it," +indignantly spoke Jennie, in whom an instant dislike for the sinister +Reda had taken root. "A good way to make a child sick, I should say. +But what right has she over you? Is she a relative?" + +"A relative?" and Mary almost laughed. "No, indeed. Nothing but an +old nurse, and not my real nurse either. You see, when granddaddy--as +I call him--had to leave the tropics, we had to take the first steamer +to get away, and I had no one to care for me after Loved One went, so +we just had to accept Reda. Then Janos is her brother, I guess, or +some sort of relative, and I could get along with her if he would stay +away. I can't tell you the whole story, for it is granddaddy's secret, +and I have promised him I would never, never tell anyone why we are up +here in the mountains, and why I can't use my own name!" + +Again that veil dropped over the soft dark eyes. No one felt like +speaking then, for they noticed the girl swallowing hard to choke back +the sorrow that threatened to overcome her. + +"Well, here we are almost in." It was Jennie who broke the silence, as +the boat, now out in the broad open lake, became one of the many +turning in at nightfall. "And there are the boys waiting to land us. +You don't suppose, Mary, that old woman will make trouble for you?" +This with a show of anxiety at the rather difficult position the party +now found themselves in. + +"No, I am not a bit alarmed. They may think I have got lost, or I +might have fallen in the water. Perhaps she and Janos would be glad if +I never came back. Then they would have granddaddy all to themselves, +and I suppose they would torture him to find out his secret. Oh! +dear!" she sighed, "if it were not for him I believe I would just run +away." + +"You must never think of that," Jennie counseled, "unless of course +those foreigners torment you. Cleo, you tell Andy to charge the car to +your uncle, Mr. Dunbar, and be sure to say we are in a hurry." + +Arrangements were made so promptly Mary was almost bewildered. Another +wonder had suddenly come into the life of the timid little girl. She +was actually riding in an automobile. How magical is the power of true +friends! + +"It's just like my dream," she said naively. "I dreamed last night I +had a ride in an airship, and I haven't been in an automobile since we +came to Bellaire." + +"When was that?" asked Madaline, who kept very close to Mary as if +considering the stranger her own especial charge. + +"About four months ago--in winter," Mary replied. "First we stopped in +a city, then Janos brought us out here." + +Cleo wanted to ask why Mary always gathered flowers and roots, but +conscious that many personal questions were more necessary than these, +she felt those less important must wait for another time. + +"Oh, see!" suddenly exclaimed Mary. "There go Janos and Reda looking +for me! Now we can all go in and be talking to granddaddy when they +come back. Isn't that fortunate!" + +Everyone thought so, for, in spite of all their scout courage, the +girls were not especially anxious to run headlong into the arms of two +foreigners, who would undoubtedly be angry. The prospect of meeting a +benevolent old grandfather was much more comfortable to speculate upon. + +"Turn in here," Mary told the driver, and her friends noticed a certain +dignity in her command, usually found only among those accustomed to +give orders. "There's grandie," she called. "See, he is coming to +meet us. Drive slowly, he is not strong on his limbs." + +The man they approached was not old, but very tall, stooped and +distinguished looking. As the car drew up he threw back his shoulders +and stood like some figure posed in defiance. "Granddaddy, here I am!" +called Mary, attempting to climb out; "were you frightened about me?" + +"Mary! Mary!" he exclaimed. "What does it mean?" and each word +sounded like a low moan. + +Plainly he was trying to figure out what had happened that the child +should return with strangers. Likely he had feared an accident. + +"It only means, Grandie, that we have friends, and you are not to +refuse them. Let us hurry in before Reda returns. Can your man wait?" +she asked Jennie. + +"Not very long, I'm afraid," Jennie replied. "We too have folks who +may be anxious about us. But we will be glad to meet your +grandfather." How the girls blessed her for this! + +"Call him professor. Everyone does," Mary managed to say as they +alighted. + +"Come in, welcome!" announced the man, turning to the foot path that +outlined the drive leading to the house. + +It was a queer party that left the auto and silently followed Mary and +the professor up to the artistic cottage, that stood almost hidden in +tall, heavy chestnut trees. In spite of the general loss of this sort +of tree, those sheltering the terra cottage bungalow were especially +healthy and majestic, as could be seen even in the fast descending +nightfall. + +Mary rushed on ahead and touched the electric light button inside the +door, then she threw open the portal, quite like an experienced little +hostess. + +"This is the Imlay studio," remarked Jennie, who was the only one in +the party familiar with Bellaire. "I thought it was closed when he +died so suddenly." + +"Did he die here?" asked the man Mary called Grandie, a note of alarm +in his voice. + +"Oh no, he was abroad and did not return," replied Jennie. It was +evident this information brought relief to the questioner, for under +the light that shone from the spray of brass lanterns his face +perceptibly softened. + +Somehow all the mysterious influence which had seemed to surround Mary +at their first meeting with her was now oppressively noticeable within +that house. It was scantily furnished with what remained of artist +Imlay's belongings, but the air of suspicion usually associated with +old, abandoned places seemed to fairly seethe through the air. Even +Jennie felt it, and to the scout girls, more vividly conscious always +of any antagonism, the surroundings were actually uncanny. + +"Won't you sit down?" said Mary, observing the almost rigid attitude of +her callers. But each politely declined to share the seat offered on +the handsome low divan. Grace noticed its carvings looked rather +ferocious, while Madaline clung to Jennie, without any pretense of +apology. Cleo was now peering at something behind the stained glass +door that separated the long living room from that adjoining. It was +not exactly a light, yet it passed back and forth and threw weird +shadows through the glass. She was wondering if the people kept any +other servant than Reda, who was surely not in the house at the time. + +Scuffling about aimlessly, the professor suddenly dropped wearily into +a big oaken chair, and as Mary turned toward him she too caught sight +of the shadows now flickering through the leaded glass, with sinister +effect and creepy significance. It might be the shaded glow of a small +flash light. + +"Grandie!" Mary gasped. "Who are they? Did Janos bring--anyone? Oh, +don't move! It may be a trap!" + +"Mary, Mary!" he moaned, "must I leave you!" and choking sobs shook the +man so convulsively that Jennie dashed across the room and put her hand +on the trembling form. + +"Sir!" she spoke almost in a whisper. "You must not fear any harm from +those wild people. We know they are trying to injure you, but the +little girls have found a way to help. We have a man and a car at the +door," she said close to his ear. "Can't you and the child leave this +horrible place at once?" She spoke quickly, in muffled tones. + +"Oh, if we only could!" Mary sobbed. "Grandie dear, you are falling +ill! What have they done to you? I heard Janos threaten Reda!" + +The figure in the chair was now sagging into a helpless heap. Cleo and +Grace, quick to sense the necessity for prompt action, had both hurried +to the door to call the driver from the car. Even Madaline forgot her +own timidity, and seeing a switch button for what she thought to be +lights, she crossed to the corner and quickly pressed a tiny button. +As she did so she felt something like a wire with a spool attached, and +almost unconsciously she gave the spool a yank. Instantly a flood of +light of marvelous brilliancy engulfed the room. + +"Oh!" Madaline screamed, shocked by the glare and a queer sizzling +noise that hissed through the room. Jennie covered her eyes and clung +to a chair, but Mary jumped to her feet and stood staring silently at +the leaded glass door. + +"Don't move!" she ordered. + +There was a sudden crash, the sound of splintering glass, and then the +room fell again into the sullen light reflected only from the group of +hanging brass lanterns, the artistic shades for the regulation electric +lights. + +"They are gone!" breathed Mary. "Oh, what a miracle that was! You +touched the wire--that sent a current all about them! Grandie!" She +threw her arms about the shaking form, "you and I would never have +thought of that. Are you safe? Our friends have saved us!" + +And Madaline in her fear had actually touched off that alarm! + +"Why!" she stammered, recovering herself and springing over to the side +of Cleo and Grace, who had reentered the room. "How did I do that?" + +"You touched the secret spring," said Mary. "Even I would have been +afraid to do it, for it is so highly charged. But you see our--enemies +got the shock, and we only saw the light. How--merciful to think they +have gone!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +NEW FRIENDS + +The very last to recover her composure was Jennie. Woman-like, she had +courage enough to face the possibility of caring temporarily for a sick +man, but the sudden manifestation of light and the unexplained racket +and noise that followed were too much for the good-natured Jennie's +nerves. She was now "going to pieces," and the girls found more to do +for her than they did to care for Mary and the professor. + +"Come on, Jennie," begged Cleo, "just get in the car and we will all +hurry out of here as fast as we can. You and Professor Benson take the +back seat, and we will all pile in as best we can. I could ride on the +tool box if I had to." + +"Oh, yes, do come away," Jennie managed to say between gasps of "oh +dear me" and "gracious sakes alive." But she was following advice, and +was soon being assisted to the back seat by Tom, the driver, who never +for a moment lost the set hack-man's look, in spite of all the +excitement. "Whatever will Mrs. Dunbar say to all this," further +wailed Jennie. + +"Don't you worry! Aunt Audrey will be glad we were able to help, and +that you were with us," declared Cleo. "Mary says it will be all right +to take her grandfather to the private sanitarium, the one we passed +along the mountain. Tom knows all about it, and thinks it is almost +like a hotel, specially for sick people. Then Mary is coming home with +us," declared Cleo delightedly. "Isn't that too lovely?" + +Everyone agreed it was, this being evinced by the display of alacrity +with which the party were all hurried in the car. Mary had managed to +put together somehow a grip filled with the most necessary things for +her grandfather. This she directed Tom to take care of, while in her +own hands she carried a deep, woven basket, heavy with some articles +surely too weighty and compact to be clothing. + +Finally "embarked," as Grace called it, they were just turning out into +the roadway when Reda appeared alone. Seeing the car she stopped stock +still in her tracks, so that Tom was obliged to jam on the brakes or +run her down. He did not shift his gears and execute the change of +speed without uttering the usual man's grumble, and no one could blame +him for this. + +"Reda!" called Mary, "we are going out with some friends. You lock up +and take care of things. Go on now," she told Tom. "We don't want to +hear what she thinks about it." + +It was well they did not hear, for a more surprised and excited old +woman than the self-same Reda it would not have been difficult to +imagine. She gurgled, choked, gulped and stuttered in the foreign +dialect, which only the professor and Mary could have understood. + +Last seen she was going toward the Imlay studio, that was, and the +house of terrors, as it had that evening proved to be for the young +visitors at Bellaire. + +But the evening was now delightfully changed, and just as her +association with the girls had noticeably stimulated and enlivened +Mary, so the meeting with the very much alive party had an encouraging +effect on Professor Benson. He was now sufficiently recovered to sit +up and talk with Mary, and seemed very much relieved to be saved from a +bad night in the studio. He insisted he could walk unassisted when Tom +drew up to Crow's Nest Retreat, and as he imparted a volume of +mysterious instructions and warnings to Mary, besides offering the most +profuse attestation of thanks to his rescuers, no one would have +imagined him other than a man suffering from a slight nervous attack. + +Mary went to the door of the sanitarium with him, and her friends +discreetly allowed these two a few moments to themselves. + +"Isn't it too wonderful!" breathed Grace as they passed from hearing. + +"To think we are going to have Mary with us to-night," added Cleo with +a gust of anticipation. + +"Can she sleep with me?" asked Madaline. "My bed is the largest." + +"Whatever Aunt Audrey says, of course," Cleo felt obliged to answer. + +Tom and Mary were returning, and although it was fully dark now, as +Mary stepped again in the car the girls realized she had been crying. + +"I have never been away from him before since Loved One asked him to +care for me," she explained, "but I feel somehow different now. I do +believe I was going to grow black and suspicious, like Reda, when you +met me." + +"No wonder," Jennie almost snapped. "I'm not what could be called a +nervous woman, but this evening has been more than I would like to run +into again. Not that I am not very glad to have been along, though I +didn't help much, with my own fussing," she felt obliged to add, for +Cleo had pinched her arm and Grace unbuttoned her sweater, in an +attempt to give the cue not to hurt Mary's feelings. + +"Will everything be all right at your cottage, Mary?" asked Cleo, +kindly. + +"It will have to be for to-night," she replied. "But granddaddy has +such precious belongings I will have to attend to things early +to-morrow morning. He is dreadfully worried about leaving things, of +course, but Janos has gone, and those others----" Her hands went up in +a gesture of consternation, and the girls withheld their questions as +to who the others were, and what could have been the nature of the +mysterious happening in the back room of Imlay Studio. + +All this time Mary was guarding the hand-made basket with jealous care, +keeping it on her lap, and steadying it with arms as the car rumbled +down the mountain road. + +They were now within sight of Cragsnook and Jennie shifted about in +evident relief. + +"Here comes Shep!" exclaimed Madaline, as the big, shaggy dog rushed +out from the heather-edged driveway. + +"And there is Aunt Audrey," added Cleo. "I'm so glad she's home." + +At the sight of another stranger Madaline could feel Mary shrink back, +and the faint sigh that escaped her lips was noticed by Grace as well. + +"You will love Aunt Audrey," said Grace in Mary's ear. "She is only +aunt to Cleo, but we all call her Aunt Audrey, and she's just lovely." +This in the most reassuring tones. + +"Oh, yes," Mary answered, conscious her tremor of timidity had been +noticed. "She looks so--so like my own Loved One as I remember her. I +was thinking I may make a lot of mistakes, but you will excuse them?" + +The round of chuckles, and the merry twitters given her in lieu of +formal opinions, restored her sinking spirits somewhat, but each of the +three attentive, sympathetic girls keenly realized Mary's discomfiture. + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Mrs. Dunbar as they drew in. "Whatever became +of you all? If Mally Mack had not met me at the station, and told me +you were going for a mountain drive, I should have been a little bit +worried." + +"We brought you company, Aunt Audrey," Cleo answered, before Jennie had +a chance to offer any explanation. "This is Mary Benson, you know. +The little girl we met when we first came to Bellaire." + +"Oh, yes. How do you do, Mary?" Mrs. Dunbar greeted the now really +frightened little girl. "It's so lovely to have you come and visit my +little ones. You see, they thought three would be really a crowd, and +that they would never grow lonely for home, but I have noticed the +tell-tale signs lately. Now, a real visitor will be the very best +thing to effect a cure," and she was urging Mary into the house, quite +as if her presence were indispensable for the evening's happiness. + +The big, soft, dark eyes set so deep in the olive skin, just tinted now +with a trace of excitement's color, gazed up into Mrs. Dunbar's face +with all the yearning and longing of a lonely, forsaken child. + +"Thank you," Mary managed to articulate, but the effort was mingled +with a little choking sob. + +Jennie drew Mrs. Dunbar into the library while the girls proceeded to +the living room. + +"Such a time as we have had," she exclaimed, "and I can't say it was +all my fault. You see those children were so determined to help that +poor friendless child that I just had to go along, or let them go +alone, and I was sure you would not want that, Mrs. Dunbar." + +"Hush!" putting a finger on her lip and a smile with it. "It is +perfectly all right. I have known the children were on the trail of +the poor little dear, and I'm just glad they rescued her, to-night +especially. I saw three men running for the train I got off, and Mally +Mack told me one was a Turk the officers are after! Don't say anything +about it, but I know one of these was the man who meets the Indian +woman, she who cares for Mary." + +"Indian?" repeated Jennie. "Is she that?" + +"Likely that--or part negro. I am sure she is from some Central +American territory. I have used her type in painting. But come on. +Let us give the children a little spread. Phone for some cream, and we +will soon have them all happy enough to forget their fright. I know +they are just dying to tell me all about it." + +No mistake about that. Even the presence of Mary did not appease the +children's eagerness to take Mrs. Dunbar into their exciting secret, if +a matter known to so large a number can be classified as a secret or +even a mystery. + +In the rooms above the oak lined hall the girls could now be heard +welcoming Mary, with all the natural excitement of her peculiar +situation. Grace wanted her to try on her pale green organdie, because +it would go so beautifully with her topaz eyes. Madaline insisted her +baby blue was much more attractive, as one of Mrs. Dunbar's pictures +showed a girl with brown braids gowned in heavenly blue, while Cleo +offered her choicest frock, the coral pink with all the +dinglely-danglely pink rose-buds dropping around the tunic. But Mary +shook her head, and declined all the kindly offered finery. + +"You see," she exclaimed, her eyes fairly glaring in unrestricted +admiration at the gorgeous display of clothes, "I have to wear white. +Reda says if I do not I shall get the fever and die as Loved One did." + +"Oh, how perfectly ridiculous!" exclaimed Cleo. Then, fearing Mary +would take offense, she hastened to add: "I am sure Reda is simply +superstitious. I have known a child who wore white until she was +seven, because her mother favored that as a sort of prayer, a +consecration, and of course that was all right when its meaning was +sincere, but to wear white to ward off a fever looks uncanny, foolish. +Can't you put on a color if you choose?" and the beautiful pink dress +threw a covetous glow up into Mary's classic face. + +"Oh, of course I could," she demurred, "but----" + +"But we wouldn't ask you to," and Cleo gave the sign for returning the +pretty gowns to their respective closets, by putting the pink voile on +its white silk hanger. "White is lovely, and it becomes you +beautifully. Don't you think so, girls?" + +They did, of course, and when just then Jennie called them to the +dining-room for the spread, so delightful on any summer evening, Mary +seemed to forget the terrors of that hour, when Professor Benson so +barely escaped the trap that had been set for him at the Imlay Studio. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A CRY IN THE NIGHT + +It was while Jennie served a dainty sherbet--an extra, considering ice +cream and cake were a sufficiently delightful treat--that Cleo slipped +out into the library where Mrs. Dunbar was writing letters. Grace and +Madaline were outdoing each other in entertaining the guest, and +altogether the evening was one of enjoyment, especially for Mary. Her +eyes were now almost as bright as those of the girls who surrounded +her, and had Reda been able to see her, she surely could not have +honestly warned her against "being like other girls." Only that +occasional shadow of fear that crossed her face, blotting the life out +of her eyes, and glazing them with the ice of terror, did actually mark +her as being "different." Even now this fear flitted into her gaze, +and with it her slim, brown hands were seen to grasp tightly any object +within their reach. + +Cleo retold to her aunt that part of the evening's experience which +Jennie had begun, but it was concerning the professor and his +unprepared retreat to the Sanitarium that she particularly asked advice. + +"Do you suppose he will be very anxious about Mary?" asked Cleo. "He +does not know us, and when we left him he still seemed dazed from the +fright." + +"We might call Crow's Nest on the telephone and ask how he is," +suggested Mrs. Dunbar. "I think we should do so. Do you want to ask +Mary about it?" + +Cleo bit her lip in serious consideration. For a little girl she was +rather wise, as her aunt had before acknowledged. + +"You see, Auntie," she finally said, "we three are trained Girl Scouts. +Every day we renew our pledges to help others, and every evening we +make a sort of survey of the day to be sure we are not allowing our +delightful vacation to monopolize all our interests. We say, you know, +that happiness was born a twin, and we know from experience we have +lots better times when we share happiness with someone who needs it." + +"Wonderful wisdom for such a little girl," replied the aunt with an +embracing smile, absolutely devoid of ridicule, but plainly illumined +with appreciation. "I know about your wonderful scout activities, and +I have not so soon forgotten how you won your bronze cross----" + +"Oh, I don't mean to attach any glory to myself," Cleo interrupted, +somewhat embarrassed at the turn in the conversation. + +"I understand, dear. You just want to be perfectly sure you are doing +all you can for the case of Mary, as that has come your way in +scouting?" + +"Yes, that is our vacation case, we are sure, so of course I just had +to insist on Jennie coming with us to-night. I am afraid she was +awfully frightened." + +"She was, but maybe you can convert her to your ranks. At any rate she +was astonished at the way you carried things through. Now, about Mary. +Shall we speak to her about phoning the Sanitarium?" + +"I guess we had better not mention it to her until we find out if he is +all right. If he were very ill do you think we need tell her +to-night?" Cleo asked. + +"You are right, Tody," the aunt replied, using the pet name given Cleo +by her mother on special occasions. "Just go out with the others and +shut the door while I phone." + +There was no possibility of Mrs. Dunbar's voice being heard over the +din of merry-making in the dining-room, for just then Grace was making +a speech, and Madaline was applauding, while Cleo quickly fell in with +the fun, by parading around the room with a table candle in each hand, +and an upturned fruit basket on her head. + +Mary sat back on the window seat, spellbound. Being a real girl in +spite of her peculiarities, she would occasionally burst into the most +musical ripple of laughter, then suddenly check herself, as if fearful +of violating some obligation to be sad or melancholy. + +Presently Mrs. Dunbar appeared at the door to suggest bed time, and +when she gave no message to Mary from her telephone call Cleo surmised +the news was not what they had hoped for. Passing by her aunt in the +hall, Mrs. Dunbar whispered, "Sleeping," and Cleo knew Mary might take +alarm at that report, for the dread fever she so often mentioned was +always termed the "sleeping fever." But it was bed time and in the +delicious process of undressing and donning gowns or pajamas the girls +enjoyed the usual pranks that are ever unusual, and seem different +every time they are indulged in. There were pillow fights, parades, +sponge splashes, ghost dances, and other stunts "too numerous to +mention," but it must be recorded that it required the combined +persuasion of Jennie, with her two funny pig tails hanging over her +voluminous night dress, and Mrs. Dunbar in the most fragile of +negligees to induce the girls to turn out lights, and finally get +settled for the night. + +It had been possible to decide with whom Mary should sleep. Each bed +would have held her in addition to its usual occupant, but on drawing +straws the lot fell to Madaline, who had coveted it from the first, as +her bed was really of double size. + +"Mine is the only big, full grown straw!" declared Madaline proudly, +waving the whisk that had been plucked from Jennie's broom, "and now, +ladies, we bid you a fond farewell. Come on, Mary." + +The exit was quite dramatic in character, for Madaline accidentally +tripped over a fur rug, and was spilled rather rudely all over the hall +floor, but a little thing like that had no effect on the delighted +Madaline, who rather expected Mary would unfold her confidence once in +the quiet of their own room. + +"I hope dear Grandie is all right," Mary sort of sighed as they each +took to their own side of the big roomy bed. "I have never been away +from him before." + +"Oh, he will have the very best of attention at that retreat," Madaline +declared, although she knew absolutely nothing of the place. "Has he +money with him?" she ventured. + +"Oh, yes. He always has his check book and his deposits are all in a +good New York bank," returned Mary without offense, realizing the +question was plainly one made out of simple kindness. + +She had donned the white night dress, the girls reasoned she would +prefer it to the colored crepe pajamas, and Madaline, watching her +shake out all the glory usually bound in those two heavy braids of +chestnut hair, was lost in admiration. + +"However did your hair grow so beautifully long and thick?" she +inquired, lifting the cloak of many tresses in both her hands. + +"Loved One had wonderful hair," replied Mary, "and I guess hot +countries are supposed to be best for the growth also," she added. +Then, as if unhappy thoughts would torment her, she sighed a little. + +"Are you lonely?" Madaline asked gently. + +"Oh no," brightening up with a correct sense of politeness. "I was +just thinking how Reda blames my hair for what she thinks is a symptom +of the fever. You know her people have such tight kinky hair, they +cannot understand ours. Those who do grow longer hair are of a +different race, and they have that very straight, stiff Indian kind. +But daddy told Grandie mine should never be cut, so Reda didn't dare to +cut it, as she has often wanted to. Madaline," Mary suddenly +exclaimed, a certain timid appeal in her voice, "did you notice the +little basket I brought with me?" + +"Oh yes, where did you put it?" eagerly inquired the girl on the other +side of the bed. + +"I put it out on a little porch I saw back of the dining-room. Do you +think it will be all right?" + +"Oh, yes, but why did you set it outside?" + +"It's better in the air," replied Mary, and Madaline had not the +courage to ask if "it" were alive, and why it should need air. Instead +she hurried her preparation, and both were soon ready, so the light was +snapped out. Madaline thrilled as she recalled what happened when she +touched the button of another light a few hours earlier. + +In less than an hour every tousled head was buried deep in its fragrant +pillow, and even we are not permitted to "tap the tank of dreams." +Surely a girl scout and her visitor may dream her own dreams; why +should outsiders pry into their secrets? + +Mrs. Dunbar, however, had not retired as early as did her young guests. +In fact she phoned again to the Sanitarium to find out, if possible, +how Professor Benson seemed, then whether his sleep was natural, his +respiration normal, and to obtain such other information as might +indicate the man's condition. + +Word came back over the wire that his sleep did not seem natural, +although he showed no fever, but he called constantly for protection, +as if in fear of someone harming him. Mrs. Dunbar gave orders that +everything possible be done for his comfort, and she promised to call +the next day personally to look after him. As everyone in Bellaire +knew Mrs. Guy Dunbar, her wishes were sure to be respected, and no +doubt her interest obtained for the sick man all possible "special +attention." + +A little later even the lights in the study and Mrs. Dunbar's room were +extinguished, and the tranquillity of slumber fell softly over the +sloped roof of Cragsnook. + +It must have been past midnight--no one had at the moment any thought +of time--when something aroused the household! + +Cleo jumped out of bed and rushed to her aunt's door! Mrs. Dunbar +heard her step, and the door was opened when she reached it. + +"Oh, what was that?" gasped Cleo. + +"I don't know, but it sounded like a cry! Listen!" + +A low, moaning wail, almost like wind through the attic chimney, +sounded again. + +"There! That's someone calling," replied Mrs. Dunbar. She snatched a +small revolver from under her pillow, threw on a dressing gown, stuck +her feet into her slippers, all at the same moment. Cleo threw around +her own shoulders a cape she found over a chair and both were ready now +to investigate. + +Down the hall pattering feet told of the other girls' alarm. + +"Oh, Cleo," begged Grace, "where are you? What is that dreadful noise?" + +"Come in," answered Mrs. Dunbar, "and just don't be too alarmed. I am +able to fight anything that groans that way. Come along, Cleo. You're +not afraid, are you?" + +"I would be if I stood still and listened to that," replied the little +scout. "Here, girls, get some weapon. These old swords are all +right," springing to a chair and bringing down from their hanging place +at the hall door two glittering Turkish blades. "You won't have to use +them, but it's best to be armed," insisted Cleo. "Where's Mary?" + +"Oh, I forgot all about her!" gasped Madaline. + +"We must look for her," said Mrs. Dunbar promptly, and leading the way, +she, with the revolver, Cleo, Grace and Madaline with swords, and also +carrying an East Indian spear each, they made their way down the hall +to Madaline's room. + +Cleo pushed open the door. + +The bed was empty! + +"She's gone!" exclaimed Cleo excitedly. + +"And the screen is out of the window. Look!" cried Grace. + +Beyond the bed the low latticed window was flung wide open, its screen +lay where it had fallen, and the pretty draperies were almost torn from +their hangings. + +"Oh!" gasped Madaline. "Someone has stolen her!" + +But Mrs. Dunbar thoughtfully shook her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A STARTLING EXPERIENCE + +Mary was gone and through the window! That was plain even to the +excited girls who, in the night, stood around Mrs. Dunbar, aghast with +wonder, and fearful for the safety of the little girl, so lately their +companion. + +"No one could have dragged her through the window without disturbing +us," Mrs. Dunbar said. "One of you girls call Jennie, and I will phone +the garage for Michael." + +All the fear that at first seemed to paralyze the girls was now +dispelled in their anxiety for the safety of Mary. + +"Come on!" Grace replied promptly. "I'll run down to Jennie's room and +get her to help us!" + +"And I'll go with you," declared Madaline without a tremor in her voice. + +"I shall have to go to my room to phone, Cleo," said Mrs. Dunbar. "But +we haven't searched any yet. She may be somewhere about, although the +window has been so pulled apart." + +"Better get Michael at once, I should think," Cleo suggested. "I'll +stay here till you come back." + +"Not afraid alone----" + +"Not a bit. This is like one of our real scout experiences. Do hurry, +Auntie, I am so afraid those people may have carried Mary off!" she +urged. + +It took a few minutes to arouse the man in the garage, with the +telephone call. Meanwhile, Cleo was cautiously and quietly looking +about the room. First, naturally, she looked under the bed, next she +threw open the door of the closet, being wise enough to jump to the +hall door as she did so, but not so much as a piece of clothing +stirred. Other articles of furniture in the room that could possibly +serve as a screen were then scrutinized, but they offered no clew. + +Finally Cleo stepped to the window ledge, and peered out into the thick +trees that surrounded the house. She put her hands to her eyes to +shade them from the light--wasn't that something white in the button +ball tree? + +Neither Mrs. Dunbar nor the girls had come back to the room, and for a +moment Cleo hesitated, perched there at the window. Should she turn +off the light to be able the better to see into the darkness? + +The white object appeared to move a trifle, and it seemed large, even +like a girl's form. + +Cleo jumped from the window seat and touched the button to shut off the +light. At the same moment Grace and Madaline entered the room. + +Both screamed as they encountered the darkness. + +"Oh, Cleo, where are you?" begged Grace. + +"She's gone, too!" wailed Madaline. + +"Hush!" whispered Cleo, as soon as she could make herself heard. +"There's something white out in the tree!" + +"Oh, where is Aunt Audrey?" Madaline pleaded, turning to run. + +"Never mind," Grace assured her. "Whatever it is it can't get in here. +Let us help Cleo." + +Cleo was now standing on the window ledge with her feet inside the room +and her head and shoulders out in the darkness. Grace and Madaline got +hold of her somehow, for her leaning position out of the high window +seemed apt to overbalance her at the slightest move. + +"It must be Mary!" Cleo whispered, "and in the tree. How ever can we +get her?" + +"How did she get there?" Grace asked, meaning the question to answer +Cleo's. + +"The limbs touch the piazza roof. But listen, girls, she may be +asleep, and if we should wake her suddenly she would fall. You go tell +Aunt Audrey while I stay and watch. No, Madaline, wait a moment, get +me the flash light I laid on the dresser. You can see it from the hall +light. Yes, that's it. Let me have it." + +"What are you going to do?" Madaline asked under her breath, but with a +show of alarm. + +"I must see if that is Mary. If it is, she is in danger of falling if +asleep; if awake she may jump. There, did you hear that! It was a +shot--out by the front gate!" + +"Oh!" shuddered Madaline. "Do come in, Cleo, they may shoot you." + +"No, they can't see me, and I must go to the edge of the roof," and +breathing her scout prayers for safety, Cleo climbed over the sill, and +cautiously crept to the edge of the slanting roof. + +All this time the figure in the tree remained stationary as a gray +shadow, just blanching white as Cleo slowly turned her little flash +light upon it. + +"It is Mary!" she whispered to Madaline, back at the window. "Quick, +get Aunt Audrey and the girls out under the tree! I can reach her! +Have them pull out the porch mattresses!" + +Almost choked with excitement, Madaline managed to reach Mrs. Dunbar, +repeat Cleo's orders, then hurry with her and Grace, who was now +dragging Jennie along, down the stairs to the front door. + +Mrs. Dunbar held her revolver in her right hand while Jennie unbolted +the big heavy door. + +"Let me go first!" Mrs. Dunbar ordered. "Jennie, flash the light ahead +of us." + +As the maid followed this order a small streak of light made a safe +path out to the edge of the porch. + +"There comes Michael," exclaimed Jennie, venturing out next, and no one +could have misunderstood the note of relief in her voice. + +Above them Cleo had climbed in the tree as quietly as the green limb, +swaying under her light weight, permitted. Her flash light now was in +the pocket of her pajamas, and as she mounted a strong branch and +pulled herself nearer the tree trunk, she seemed scarcely more than +some wild night bird seeking refuge. + +She could now see Mary's face, and as it showed no expression of +recognition she was confident the girl was sleeping. Crawling nearer +with slow, sure moves, holding to small branches from overhead, and +then balancing to the strong limb on which she sat and hitched herself +along, Cleo paid no heed to the commotion under the tree. + +She must first grasp the girl who sat so silently, her one arm wound +around the light tree trunk, her head leaning against it in the most +matter-of-fact attitude, almost caressing the gray button ball wood, +while even in the dark those two dark braids of hair were tragically +outlined against the white of her clinging night robe. + +One more shift of her body and Cleo had her arm around Mary. With the +other she held firmly to the tree. + +"Quick!" she called now, realizing the mattresses were placed beneath +them. "We may fall!" + +As she spoke Mary shuddered, and gasped. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Reda, I am here!" + +"It is not Reda," Cleo answered in that droning voice she believed +necessary to use. + +"It is I, Cleo. Be careful. We are safe. Don't move!" for the one +bare arm was relinquishing its hold on the tree. "Wait a minute. We +can climb down. See, Michael has fetched a ladder." + +Somehow realizing her strange predicament, the girl at once became +obedient to Cleo's orders. She turned exactly as directed, made her +way down the branches to the unobstructed tree trunk, where she backed +to the tall, strong ladder, placed securely against the bark by Michael. + +Willing hands assisted her as she reached the lower rounds, then Cleo +followed, descending so quickly she reached the ground almost as soon +as did Mary. + +It was a strange sight. All the girls in their pajamas. Grace had +secured an extra green jersey sweater. Madaline was garbed in the +lavender cape Cleo had discarded when she climbed through the window, +while Mary stood like a statue, in her clinging white, with Cleo beside +her, looking as if she had stepped out of a comic opera in her blue +bird pajamas. But the audience was unresponsive. + +Michael, the dignified, was too busy to notice costumes. Jennie had +troubles of her own with her quickly arranged attire, and Mrs. Dunbar +was far more concerned with the whole situation than to take any notice +of its special, striking effect. + +"Oh, what was it?" Mary murmured, rubbing her hand across her head as +if in pain. "I thought Reda called. She said Grandie wanted me, and I +hurried to her!" + +"You likely did hear a call," said Mrs. Dunbar, "but it may have been +our pet owl. Come, let us all get inside. Isn't it fortunate no one +was hurt? Cleo, however did you get out on that tree without shocking +Mary from her perch?" + +But Cleo had observed she, of ail the group, was alone in a real pajama +outfit, and consequently took herself off promptly to more secluded +quarters, and was then not at hand to answer for her courage. + +It was almost an hour before the excitement had sufficiently abated to +permit thoughts of returning to bed, and then it was arranged that all +four girls should pile into the room with the twin beds, while Mrs. +Dunbar's room was thrown open between, by rolling back the folding +doors. + +Such chattering, such gabbing and such giggling! Naturally the night's +experience was entitled to a thorough review, and it must be said the +girls did the subject full justice. + +Mary, however, was inclined to be taciturn. Every now and then her +eyes would "shoot," as Grace called the queer expression, and when the +lights were still on, and this peculiar look could be noticed, her +friends made no apology for their good natured remonstrance. + +"Here, now, Mary!" Grace would then call. "Don't you dare go off +walking trees in your sleep again. This was a wonderful night, +but--let's call it a day." + +"One night of this kind is a regular week," Cleo added, "and I vote we +make this very minute the end of a perfect day." + +It really was "a lot of fun" to be all tucked into one room, and Mrs. +Dunbar remained down stairs for a considerable time while the +youngsters toned themselves down. Cleo made an opportunity to whisper +to Madaline and Grace not to speak of the shot they had heard fired, +but Mrs. Dunbar and her gardener were just then quietly discussing that +phase of the affair. + +"Michael, what was that shot, do you know?" she asked. "I did not want +to mention it before the girls." + +"Nor did I, madam," and the old gardener shifted uneasily. "Yes, I +know what it was. They got--poor--Shep." + +"You--can't--mean our lovely--Shep has been shot!" + +"I wish I didn't, but we may be able to bring him around. He's not +dead. They struck his thigh, and I was after him as quick as I heard +his first whine. That is why I could not answer the telephone at once." + +"Oh, Michael. Do everything possible to save our dog. You know how +much we think of him, and we expect Mr. Dunbar home from his trip soon. +Do you think we can save him?" + +"I'll take him to the vet's first thing comes daylight," replied the +man. "I wouldn't want to take a year's wages in exchange for Shep." +He snapped these last words with rather a vengeful meaning. "And I'd +like to say, madam, if I might," he continued, "it was a blessing those +little girls went after that other youngster to-night, from what I +heard later. Seems to me sometimes the babies do know more than their +elders." + +"Yes, Michael," replied Mrs. Dunbar to whom the news that her dog +having been shot was distinctly a shock. "I, too, heard rumors of +strange men in town, as I came up from the station. Of course, the +police will investigate to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MARY'S MYSTERIOUS PET + +The morning dawned on Cragsnook quite as complaisantly as if the night +had shed nothing but joy. And quite as indifferently did the girls +take up the fun where they left off past midnight, when sheer fatigue +had put an end to their tireless pranks. Kicking themselves happily +into the new day, vague remembrances of the wild excitement forging +through more welcome emotions, the Scouts and their visitor were +actually ready for breakfast when Jennie chimed the gong. + +Madaline, secretly cherishing the mystery of "something alive" being in +Mary's hidden away basket, could scarcely wait for the meal to end +before asking Mary about it. + +But there were a number of interruptions. Mrs. Dunbar was called twice +from the table to answer the telephone, and her monologue hinted the +police might be anxious to make an investigation at Cragsnook. Always +affable, especially to officials, the last answer given simply was: + +"Very well, as early as you please." + +That was but a few minutes ago, and now a car was rumbling up the drive. + +"You girls may run off and show Mary the grounds," suggested the +hostess. "I have to attend to some business with these men." + +Mary still wore the white dress, of some open wrought material, like +drawn work, and not usually made up into frocks. It was soft and +clinging, and her velvet ribbon wound around the waist fell in an +artistic sash clear to the end of her full skirt. Her braids were +unbound and finished in their own natural curls, this tendency to +really curl having been hailed by the girls as worthy of an entirely +different mode of hair dressing. + +Ginghams for mornings, as customary, gave the other girls quite a +different appearance, and in a stolen moment, while dressing, Cleo +managed to show Mary a scout uniform. The simple khaki outfit seemed +to Mary the most remarkable "rig" she had ever seen, even books had not +given her such an idea of a practical girl's uniform. + +The polite dismissal of Mrs. Dunbar's followed just as two very +business-like men stepped into the oaken hall. + +"Do you remember about your basket?" Madaline asked. She was wildly +wondering if the live thing had crawled away. + +"Oh, yes, indeed. I am going to it directly. Come on, girls, till I +show you my pet." + +Everyone thought of snakes, varied with a pretty baby bunnie, or +perhaps a bird's nest of helpless fledglings, but Mary's pet was none +of these. + +Out on the small window nook, just off the breakfast room, she found +the basket quite as she had left it. The girls watched her eagerly as +she first drew out a soft white covering. It was now becoming apparent +that this self-same Mary possessed an entirely undeveloped sense of +humor, for as she watched the eager faces crowding about her she was +surely, deliberately delaying the process of displaying her "pet." + +"Guess!" she asked naively. + +"A snake!" from Grace. + +"A-a--new bird!" from Madaline + +"A baby bunnie!" from Cleo. + +"I thought you would all say a doll," she replied, "for I had one old +doll I never could quite give up. But I didn't bring her, and none of +you have guessed. I am afraid you are going to be dreadfully +disappointed." + +Without further ado she drew from the basket nothing more than a small +ordinary looking plant! + +"Oh!" sighed Madaline, betraying her chagrin. "Only a flower!" + +"That's all," admitted Mary, "but I don't believe you ever saw just +this kind," and her voice was as soft and crooning as if she had been +petting a real baby. + +Cleo and Grace exchanged significant glances. Was the girl queer after +all? they were asking. + +The little plant looked like nothing more than the ordinary +Jack-in-the-Pulpit, but Mary's tenderness in handling the beautifully +wrought brass jar, in which the plant was growing, betokened something +much more precious than our wood friend Jack. + +"He's hungry," went on the child, and at this Grace burst into +laughter. Cleo was tittering, and Madaline all but pouting her +disappointment. + +"I know what you think," Mary said with a good natured smile, "but this +little flower really eats--and for his breakfast I must find a fly or +spider." + +"Oh mercy!" shrieked Grace. "Mary, what are you talking about?" + +"Well, you just wait and see. There, catch that little fly or just +shoo it over this way." + +Becoming serious now, serious enough to see the fun out at any rate, +the girls waved hands and handkerchiefs around some perfectly innocent +little flies, and presently they made for the plant which Mary had +again deposited on the window box. For a minute or two the insects +buzzed around, then made for the flower of the plant. + +"Mercy!" screamed Grace. + +"Land sakes!" added Cleo. + +"Oh!" ejaculated Madaline. + +But the little fly was gone. The plant had actually eaten it up! +Swallowed it whole! + +The girls looked at Mary now, as if she were almost uncannily wise, or +in some way magical. She expected their attitude, evidently, for her +own low musical laugh followed. + +"I know you think it is very queer, girls," she explained, "but in the +country I come from this is a common plant. Grandie calls it by a long +name, but most people call it the Pitcher Plant. You see, it is filled +with something that attracts insects, and when they go in for the +nectar they can't get out. This kind is rare, and I have watched it +lest Janos would get it. In New York he could sell it and I know he +would have taken it, but I have kept it hidden for a long time. See +how pretty its colors are, and how wonderfully it is shaped and formed?" + +"Oh, I remember now," said Cleo. "I have heard Daddy talk of such +plants, but of course I never saw one. It is something of an orchid, +isn't it?" + +All three were now examining Mary's "Pet" closely, getting innocent +little flies in line for the scent, which might attract them, and +otherwise enjoying the novelty. + +"Is it valuable?" asked Madaline, noting the rare crimson color inside +the cup. + +"Yes, I think this one is, but I like it more than any of the others +because I raised it myself. But when you come to our place I will show +you our wonders," she offered. + +"Is that why you always gather roots?" asked Cleo. + +"Not exactly," Mary replied, just a trace of her cloud threatening to +darken her face. "But I can't talk about all of it now. I am sure it +must be time to go visit Grandie. Do you suppose we may go soon?" +This question was addressed to Cleo. + +"I'll see if Auntie has finished," Cleo answered, running back to the +house. Mary arranged a safer place for her pitcher plant, out where +insects might find its fatal honey. Then, gathering up the basket, +she, with the others, hurried back to the veranda. They found the +three men just leaving, and as Mrs. Dunbar smiled frankly it was easy +to guess the result of their interview had not been altogether +unpleasant. + +Michael had also been in the conference, and he delayed a moment to +speak privately with Mrs. Dunbar. + +"How is Shep?" she asked aside, so that her voice could not reach the +girls. + +"Coming around all right," replied the man, gladly. And he brought in +a clew to his enemy. "Step inside and look at this." He took from his +pocket a handkerchief. It was yellow in color, silk in texture, and +was bordered with drawn work. Mrs. Dunbar examined it closely. + +"Foreign, of course," she replied. "Those people seem to be pretty +well organized. Take care of that, Michael; we may easily match it up +later. Now I have to see what we are going to do about Professor +Benson. The girls seem to need very little assistance, but we must +watch closely to see they make no mistakes. This is more of a plot +than I supposed, but our police are glad to get on the track of these +men. Here are the children. If they ask for Shep make some reasonable +excuse." + +The wonderful story of the pitcher plant, of how it ate breakfast of +flies and bugs, also what especial value it was--this and much more was +poured into the ears of Mrs. Dunbar before she had a chance to grasp +the meaning of the newest excitement. + +"Wonderful! wonderful!" replied the hostess, really deeply interested +in the "fly catcher." "I have always wanted to see one of those plants +act." + +"I am going to give you this one--please, Mrs. Dunbar," said Mary, +timidly. "Janos, that is Reda's brother, has been watching for it. He +said a New York woman had offered him a lot of money for one. That is +why I brought this one with me. Will you--accept it?" + +"Oh gladly, Mary dear. It is a real curiosity, and when Mr. Dunbar +comes home he too will be delighted with it. But now I have such good +news about Professor Benson. He is getting much stronger. The doctor +saw him this morning, and thinks he has been suffering from shock and +fear. He advised, however, that we leave him quiet this morning. I +knew that would be a disappointment to you, Mary dear, but you wouldn't +want to delay his progress." + +"Oh, no indeed," and the two hands clasped excitedly. "If only he can +recall--get back his memory," Mary corrected hurriedly, "perhaps after +all it might all come back." + +"You will be able to help the doctors in a day or two, I am sure," +suggested Mrs. Dunbar. "It appears to be a case of stagnated memory. +Something registered in his brain as extremely important is simply +clogged there. When he is stronger, then suggestion may be the key to +open that congested memory valve." + +"I know--yes--I know," replied Mary, and the far-away look in her own +eyes gave the girls a hint which they were sure to follow promptly. + +They immediately changed the subject. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +AT THE STUDIO + +"You don't mind my running away again, girls?" Mrs. Dunbar asked, +folding the yellow telegram into the most unnecessarily minute squares. +"It is such a nuisance, but I have to see some of those delegates +safely out of New York. Mere artists are not always prudent tourists." + +"Auntie dear, we hate to have you go." Cleo dipped her head in the +quaint bird-like perk. "But we can have a lovely time here even +alone--I mean without you. Oh, no, not without you----" And the burst +of laughter that applauded her confusion was like a full colored +illustration of a verbal mistake. "Now, you all know what I mean," she +finished, pouting prettily. + +"Of course we do," acceded her aunt. "You can have a perfectly lovely +time without me, and get into the most delicious mischief, tagging poor +Jennie along. I have given her orders, you know, to report to me by +phone if you take a notion to go up in an airship, or tie a kite by +hand to the moon, so don't venture too far from good old earth. Mary, +you are getting rosy already. It seems to me, for an old nurse your +Reda has rather suddenly given up her charge, not to have inquired for +you this morning." + +"Oh, Reda wouldn't. She is dreadfully afraid of strangers," replied +Mary. + +"Why--pray?" asked Mrs. Dunbar simply. Mary shifted uneasily, +shrugging her shoulders in the only foreign mannerism she carried, and +answering with nothing more than a fleeting expression of annoyance. + +"Oh, Reda is so queer, Aunt Audrey," Grace assisted, "she would run +like an Indian if you just looked at her square in the eye." + +"Is she Indian, Mary?" pressed Mrs. Dunbar gently. + +"Yes, that is, she is from a Pacific Island outside of Central America. +You see, we were there when Loved One--went away." + +Jennie was dusting the rails of the porch, and the little family kept +moving about to accommodate her brush and polishing cloth. + +"I must take a bag this time," Mrs. Dunbar said, reverting to her +necessary New York trip. "I rather envy you chickens running around +with no other cares than the next hour's adventure. Mine are all cut +and antiseptically dried." + +"And we never know what ours are going to be," remarked Madaline who +was vainly trying to trap a feeble little fly, to feed to the pitcher +plant. + +"Come on," suggested Grace, "if we are not going to the Sanitarium +let's go to the village. I haven't spent every single cent of my +allowance yet, and I should hate to have my princely remittance +overlap." + +"Whackies on the nut-sundae!" cried Madaline. "I am bankrupt till my +ship comes in." + +"And I have to send home my Scout Sacrifice," said Cleo. "I promised +mother I would not forget a little personal contribution to a charity +case we are interested in. A child has to have an operation on her +eyes, and we scouts are providing the comforts." + +"Oh yes, Mumsey gave mine. She was afraid I would disgrace the troop +by forgetting to remit," confessed Madaline. + +"And daddy turned mine in, likely for the same reason," said Grace. +"Cleo, you are the only one trusted to do her part at this distance. +Mary, when you are a scout, you will better understand all our secrets. +They're just deli-cious," and she rolled her round eyes till they +threatened to take tucks in her dimples. + +It required some coaxing to induce Mary to go to the village with them, +but they finally won out, and when Mrs. Dunbar embarked for her train, +the four little girls waved a happy good-by, interspersed with +reiterated promises to be good, and all mind Jennie. + +"Can you come to my house now?" asked Mary after the luxury of nut +sundaes, purchased with the combined balance of Madaline's and Grace's +cash on hand had been disposed of, and the girls faced the early +afternoon on Bellaire Center. + +"I don't know," faltered Cleo. "We didn't ask Jennie." + +"But I am so anxious to see if our things are all right," Mary almost +begged. "You needn't be afraid of Reda, I am sure she is gone away." + +"How do you know?" Grace asked frankly. + +"She would be too frightened to remain at our house after last night. +Besides she often goes to New York with Janos. She gets all my clothes +there." + +"Doesn't she take you to see them, or be fitted?" asked the literal +Madaline. + +"Oh no, I am not allowed to go on trains. Someone might see me." + +Everyone laughed at this, and Mary saw the joke herself. Nevertheless, +she made no attempt to explain why she was not supposed to be seen by +people outside of the little mountain town. + +"I am afraid I shall have to go alone, if you girls feel you ought not +to come," she said presently. "I really have to attend to some +important things, and we all left in such a hurry last evening." + +"Oh, if you have to go we simply must go with you," Cleo decided +promptly. + +"Surely, Captain Cleo," spoke up Grace. "You see, Mary, Cleo is our +captain when we are away from headquarters. Oh, Mary, I do wish you +were a scout, you would just love it." + +"I am sure I should, I know it takes a lot of courage, and one must do +many noble deeds to keep up to the pledges. I should just love to know +all about it, and I hope you will tell me some day. Still," and she +shrank a little in that timid self-conscious way, "I don't want you to +take any risks with me, on account of your scout pledge." + +"Please don't think that way, Mary," begged Madaline, always ready with +sympathy. "We all just love you, and want to be with you, it has +nothing to do with scouting." + +"No, indeed," Grace enthusiastically seconded this opinion. "What we +are doing with you is a positive joy." + +"I don't know what would have become of us in Bellaire if we hadn't met +you," Cleo chimed in, serious beyond contention. "Of course, we met a +few girls, but we are so accustomed to adventures and activities. I +guess we require more things to happen than do most girls. Now, Mary, +we will go with you up to the studio, if I can find a boy to take a +message to Jennie. I don't want to phone, as she might not understand." + +The small boy, not difficult to find around soda fountains on summer +afternoons, was glad to accept the offer of a nickel to take a note to +Cragsnook, and thereupon the girls set out for Second Mountain. + +Mary led the way, romping over vacant lots, climbing fences and +otherwise taking short cuts to the hillside. + +"We accidentally found your mountain cave one day in a shower," Cleo +told her, as they neared that cedar covered mountain table. "We were +up here in that dreadful storm the other day." + +"Oh, were you? Reda and I had been to the village for Grandie's +medicine, and we were also caught in it," said Mary. + +No reference was made to the overheard conversation. Not that Cleo +wanted to be secretive, but because she felt it might be embarrassing +to refer to it. + +In spite of the fortifying sunshine, and the fact that Mary had talked +of neighbors not far from the studio, the girls each felt a certain +apprehension as they neared the scene of their recent exciting +adventure. Madaline was noticeably quiet, and not even a beautiful +gray squirrel, that hopped directly in their path, with a saucy flirt +of its bushy tail, evoked so much as a joyous shout from her. Still +she wanted to go to the studio, and now they were in full sight of the +low terra cottage lodge. + +"Oh, it will seem so strange without Grandie," Mary commented, "but I +am so happy that his memory is coming back. If only he could +remember--" She checked herself, as she always did, when accidentally +she might mention the urgent necessity for Professor Benson +"remembering." + +In a very business-like way, quite astonishing to her companions, Mary +slipped her finger in a tiny pocket, made in her black velvet belt, +produced from it a latch key, and with this opened the big, heavy door. + +Grace and Cleo were at her heels, determined to show their courage, but +within the room everything was still, too still to be pleasant. + +"Reda put things in order before she left," Grace remarked. "What a +pretty, low, rumbly place this is!" + +"How can you be sure Reda is gone?" Cleo asked, staring at the glass +door through which the queer lights had warned them of the intruders' +danger the night before. + +"Here's her everyday fichu," Mary replied. "She never goes out without +one--even wears it around the house, so she has donned her best. Yes, +she has gone to New York. Here's her yellow handkerchief; she has +dressed all up in her nicest things. Let's see if she has taken her +bag." + +Opening a small door off the hall, opposite the sinister glass portal, +Mary entered a sleeping room profusely trimmed up with the brightest of +chintz draperies and colorful hangings. + +"Yes, her bag is also gone. Well, girls," and Mary turned to them with +a frank smile, "I did like Reda, of course, but sometimes she has +frightened me so, and then Janos was so awfully rough with dear +Grandie." + +"But whatever will you do without a housekeeper?" asked Cleo. + +"I don't know really"--and she blinked threateningly--"but at any rate +I am glad to be free!" + +A sense of security had now come to the girls, and they were flitting +around, looking at this thing and that, quite as if they had just +stepped into some attractive shop to inspect its wares. But they did +not go near the leaded glass door! + +"Now, girls," Mary called quite soberly, emerging from Reda's room, "I +am going to give you a real treat. Just watch." + +She sprang to the big glass door and, pressing the set in the lock, the +portal slid smoothly back. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" The exclamation was a soft cadenza, uttered by all +three spectators. + +The open door revealed a glorious collection of blooming orchids! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ORCHIDIA + +"Oh, how perfectly gorgeous!" This a solo from Grace. + +"Heavenly, I think!" Cleo chimed in. + +"Wherever did you get them all?" asked Grace. + +Like a little floral queen, Mary ushered her visitors into this +mysterious room, the orchid sanctum of Professor Benson. It was all +that the girls had proclaimed it, gorgeous, heavenly and wonderful! +The variegated tones of lavendar, known only as orchid, were as elusive +as the subtle scent of this tropical bloom. The whole diffusing into +something so indescribable that even the spontaneous girls failed for +once to rally immediately to a sense of reality. It seemed like a +dream, like a picture book, or even a wonderful pastel! + +Never before had Mary's quaint personality seemed so well set as she +flitted about, bringing her face down to the affectionate shade of +flower upon flower, yet never touching with so much as a finger tip the +perishable bloom. + +The room was, or always had been, a conservatory--the original owner, +the famous artist Imlay, delighting in bringing to perfection there the +many rare plants and flowers. So the place lent itself exactly to the +work of Professor Benson. Many of the orchids hung in leafy baskets, +seemingly not requiring soil, but subsisting, as they so peculiarly do, +almost in air. + +"What are they all for?" stammered Grace. + +"Girls, I wish I could tell you all about our orchids, but you see----" +Mary hesitated, put her finger to her lips and her eyes went blank. + +"I am sure you will soon, Mary-love," Cleo assisted the perplexed +child, "and we wouldn't want to know anything of your affairs that you +are not at liberty to tell. Whenever we ask a question that is out of +order, as we say at our scout meetings, just you answer 'secret' and we +will at once change the subject. There, isn't that fair?" + +"You are all so fair and thoughtful," Mary replied. "I just feel I can +hardly wait to see Grandie, and get his permission to tell you at least +a part of our story. But now let me show you some of our rarest +orchids. Come over here and see these growing on the side of this +rubber tree." + +Time passed quickly in such delightful surroundings, and when Cleo +glanced at her wrist watch she discovered two hours had been consumed +in the time since leaving home, and Jennie should not be made anxious, +they had subsequently decided. Consequently the orchid room could not +longer be enjoyed on this first visit. + +"You see, the wires Grandie uses to give a very light heat," Mary +explained. "He is working on a new electric system, and had just +turned the current on to try it last night. It is off now. I know how +to throw on and off the switch," she assured the girls, as Madaline +edged gingerly from the room. + +"Don't be afraid, Madie," said Grace. "The wires are now all as dead +as fish hooks, and much less dangerous." + +"What do you suppose the strange men intended to do?" ventured Cleo. +"Just say 'secret' if I am on the wrong track." + +"Oh, I know they meant to harm Grandie," replied Mary, soberly. "They +pretended, I suppose, that they came to buy orchids, but more likely +they came to steal them. Then Janos is always wanting Grandie to take +his old queer medicines, and I know they do not make him better. But +do come along, girls, they really might be daring enough to come back." + +At this Grace and Madaline made a bee-line for the front door, which +stood safely wide open. Cleo remained back with Mary, who was most +particular about spraying a few precious plants with water from an +atomizer before she left. + +"No danger of those men coming back to Bellaire by train," said Cleo, +as Mary finally sprang the lock on the big door, "but, of course, they +might come by auto," she added. + +"I heard Janos say he could not get a license to drive a car," Mary +said, "and I was glad of that. You see, these foreigners know very +little about machinery." + +"But they could hire a driver," suggested Grace. + +"They would not," Mary insisted, shaking her head. "They are too +secretive, and would be afraid others would find them out. Oh dear," +and she sighed deeply. "I do not see why we have to suffer so. I have +been so happy with you girls I can almost forget, but when I come up +here it all rushes back!" + +"Now--now, now," warned Grace in her boyish way. "No fair getting +glumpy. You are just exactly like a perfectly different girl, +Mary-love. We do not intend to let you do any back-sliding. You can +learn that much scouting right off, and I think, Cleo, as soon as we +get back home we will make her--yes, make her," and she raised her +voice in mock severity, "take our scout pledge of good cheer." + +Mary smiled through misty eyes. All three scouts had attempted to take +one of her arms, and as she really had not enough members to go around +that way, Madaline grabbed the ends of her big long braids, and +declared she just had to hold on to something. + +They tramped along, down the broad path and again out into the roadway +from the once famous artist's estate. + +"You have neighbors within call, should yon have needed them, Mary," +Cleo said. "I am glad you were not too lonely before we met you." + +"Yes, but I have never known the folks who live in that house," she +replied, drawing in her lips to a very thin red line. "I heard one of +the maids make a remark about us one day, and I never wanted to know +any of them after that." + +"I don't blame you," agreed Madaline. "Mean maids are so mean, and +lovely ones are as nice as Jennie, and she's perfect. I hope she won't +mind us coming up here?" a little anxiously. + +"As long as we are getting back in such good time I am sure she won't," +Cleo assured them. + +"You know, girls," said Mary, stopping suddenly to better gain their +entire attention, "I did not forget to bring some flowers back. I am +sure Mrs. Dunbar would have loved them, and I should have so enjoyed +giving her some, but I promised Grandie never to bring any through the +streets. He is so queer about them, you see," and once more the secret +topic was inadvertently touched upon. "I may have all I like always," +she hurried to explain, "in fact I have many named, and they are my +very own, but just yet I would not risk letting people know we have +them." + +"Oh," said Grace so simply, and so softly that the expression might +have been an echo from the sigh of a passing summer breeze. + +"But the queer wild bushes and things all growing around the windows?" +asked Madaline. "Why do you have them near the glorious orchids?" + +"Grandie thinks they are a protector. You can only see them when you +look in through the glass, and so no one would ever guess they really +hide orchids," Mary explained. + +"And that is why you get all the wild roots from the fields?" Grace +exclaimed, delighted to have solved that much of the mystery. + +"Yes, that is partly the reason, but Grandie makes a fine fertilizer +out of the roots, also. You see our beauties are very tender, and must +have special heat and special nourishment." + +"And how will you know your house is safe while you are away?" pressed +Cleo. + +"Of course we don't know," Mary replied, "but there wasn't anything +else to do. I feel you girls have done it all. I have been such a +baby and, as Reda always insisted, I have seemed half asleep. But +honestly, girls," and again Mary pulled them up to a standstill in +their walk, so that her remarks would not possibly go astray. "I am +like someone who really was asleep, and was just waking up. At least +that is the way I feel." + +"And you are getting such a lovely color," Grace complimented. "Even +if things did get stolen from your house for want of caretakers it +seems to me worth while for you and the professor to grow strong," +declared the practical little scout. + +"It is, indeed," agreed Mary. "You really can't know how much it means +just yet. Secret!" she called out, inaugurating Cleo's idea of +avoiding the forbidden topic by giving the cry of warning. + +They all joined in the laugh that followed, and when they took to the +road that slanted down over Second Mountain like an inclined pole, they +trotted along, almost running down the steep grade. + +"We ought to have brakes to go down here safely," said Cleo. "But I do +love to run down a big, high hill. Let's!" + +"I'll race you," challenged Madaline, and the words were no more than +uttered when the four girls dashed off, throwing back shoulders and +bracing heads high to avoid rolling "head over heels" down the steep +mountain road. + +Past the vineyard, past the quarry pole, and still on past the mountain +house, they kept up the uncertain pace, and finally, reaching a smooth, +almost level lawn, that stole out to play on the roadside, they all +flopped down so suddenly and so unceremoniously that they all but +rolled in sheer disregard of possible grown-up dignity. + +Recovering their equilibrium, the quartette at once set to their +popular lawn-loved task of searching for four-leaf clovers. So intent +were they in the hunt they did not observe the approach of two maids, +coming towards them from the house they sat directly in front of. But +they heard them presently! + +"I know it's that queer old gypsy that comes over the mountain every +day," said one. "I told Officer Brennen if he wanted to get her--he +might stop in here." + +At that remark the girls paused in their hunt, and listened intently. + +"Hush!" said the other maid. "There's the little girl now with those +visitors at Cragsnook." + +Mary dropped all her clovers as if they suddenly burned her fingers. +Her face flushed deeply. + +"Come on, girls!" said Cleo, aloud. "We are all rested enough now, I +guess," and it was a much sobered group that again picked up the trail +down the mountain into Bellaire Center. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PROFESSOR BENSON + +Trust to girls to solve problems. There were those wonderful orchids, +to be aired and watered daily, that beautiful studio which had been +rented furnished, and for which Professor Benson was personally +responsible, yet the girls managed it all beautifully. + +Tom, the trusted taxi driver, was engaged to take them to the studio +and back every morning, and quite as if the task were a joy, and it +really was; the girls went back and forth, saw that everything was all +right, and daily Mary became more and more accustomed to the change in +her surroundings. + +Following orders at the sanitarium, Mary had not yet visited her +"Grandie," but this morning the telephone permission had been called +in, and on their way from the studio she was to stop at Crow's Nest. + +"I am so glad you decided to lay off your pure white, Mary dear," said +Mrs. Dunbar as the girls were ready to leave. "It was pretty and +becoming, but having worn it so long must have been depressing. Now +you just look like a rose bud in that soft pink, and I feel certain +Professor Benson will be delighted with the improvement." + +"It was so good of you to shop for me, Mrs. Dunbar," answered Mary. "I +suppose I would have had pretty things before, if anyone could have +bought them, but you see Reda didn't know," she finished loyally. + +"Course not," chimed in Madaline. "So long as she drained the rainbow +dry of colors for herself, she didn't care what happened to anyone +else. Aunt Audrey, you just ought to see her room at the studio. It +looks like a leaky paint shop." + +"Yes, Reda loves colors herself," agreed Mary, "but I think one reason +why she thought I ought always wear white was for Loved One. But I am +sure _she_ would dress me in flower colors if she were here," said +Mary, gently, smoothing the soft pink voile she now wore so becomingly. + +"All aboard!" cried Cleo, climbing into her place on the seat beside +Tom. Since she was too young to drive a car, she did the next best +thing--took a seat beside the driver. No wonder Mary was a changed +child, to see her as she sat between Grace and Madaline, her cheeks as +pretty and pink as the new dress; her heavy braids, though braided +still, unbound half way with the ends floating around in curls, the +delight, if not the envy, of her companions. Surely Mary was already a +much changed girl. As Grace had threatened, she had been initiated +into the Girl Scout secrets to the extent of taking the "good cheer and +helpful" pledge, and that this had furnished the stray child with a +practical motto, was very evident in the almost complete effacement of +her former wistful, dejected and often gloomy moods. Altogether it was +a delightful achievement, due principally to the subtle and gentle +influence of the sincere little Girl Scouts. + +Over the hill now to Second Mountain seemed almost too short a run, +save that to-day when "Orchidia," the house of orchids, had been looked +after, there was to be the visit to Professor Benson, the long +wished-for meeting of Maid Mary and her "Grandie." + +Everything seemed as usual at the studio. The flowers were blossoming +riotously, and the place was heavy with the glory of the tropics +confined in a mere glassy room of this temperate zone. + +"It must be wonderful in the land where these come from, Mary-love," +said Cleo, as she bent over a magnificent gray lavender bloom, melting +into liquid purple, and shading again into misty pinks, like tints from +a spring sunrise over the ocean--a sunrise that steals the gray mists +and snatches up the pearly foam, to paint its unnamed colors on an +expectant sky. "Oh, it must be too wonderful to describe," said Cleo, +enthused to rapture. + +"It is, indeed," said Mary, "but I often thought the wealth of flowers +there was too much for earth. You see, it is very near the equator, +very hot and so unbearably oppressive. That is what gave us all the +deadly fever." She was trimming off a few withered leaves from a plant +in its hanging basket, and standing on the high rustic stool, her face +above the blossoms, brought sighs of admiration even to Grace, who +ordinarily disclaimed so small a thing as mere vanity. + +"But, Mary, how did you become so well educated away out there?" asked +Cleo. + +"Oh, I had an English nurse, and a governess always," replied Mary, +surprise at the question toning her answer. + +"And your daddy?" Grace had asked the question before she had a chance +to "feel her way to it." + +"Daddy!" answered Mary, a tear falling into the heart of an orchid. +"Daddy--was lost!" + +"In the sea?" Cleo felt impelled to ask further. + +"Yes, he had the fever, and some sailors took him out on the water to +refresh him--and he was lost, overboard!" + +"Oh, how dreadfully sad!" murmured Grace, putting her arm around Mary, +who sat now on a bench in a bower of ferns. "But, Mary-love, see all +the sisters you have now, and you know how dearly we all do love you!" + +"Yes," Mary finally answered, "but I feel little bit guilty, that is +not exactly guilty, but deceitful, as I cannot tell you who I am +really. There! I should cry 'Secret' to myself, for I am getting on +dangerous ground. Come along! I am going to keep my scout pledge in +mind, and smile away my tears. See!" and she brushed two living pearls +from her cheeks. "There now, all our work is done, and we are ready +for Grandie." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Madaline, in evident delight. "See the perfectly +gorgeous butterfly! However did it get in here?" + +"Oh, we coax them in once in a while, but they soon fly out to freedom +again. Yes, that is a beauty. He has taken some of the orchid +colors," said Mary. + +The brilliant, noiseless, flying creature soared up and sailed down +from flower to flower, resting finally on a humble little clover bloom. + +"See, he likes the field blossoms best," remarked Cleo. "I suppose if +we opened a window he would turn his back on all this vain-glory, and +float away to a roadside buttercup." + +"Come along, pretty maidens, we must away!" quoted Mary. "Grace, +please be sure the latch is tightly fastened on the fern window. Did I +put enough water in their fountain?" + +"Oh, plenty," replied Grace. "See the hose is still dripping." + +"All right. Come, I am just all a-quiver to see Grandie. And, girls, +will you mind if I ask you to go out first? I must bring one little +thing to Grandie, and it's part of our secret." She smiled sweetly and +the girls answered with just as pretty, dimpled acquiescence. + +No one would dream of inquiring what Mary was bringing to the sick man +at Crow's Nest, but it seemed to be associated with the orchids. Just +why anything there should be made a secret of puzzled the girls. + +In a few minutes Mary joined them on the porch, and Tom threw in the +clutch of the car, rather impatiently, as they piled in the machine +again. + +It was a perfect day, and the girls fairly bubbled with the joy of it, +as the taxi rattled on. + +"You come in with me, won't you, Cleo?" Mary asked, when the car swung +into Crow's Nest tan-barked drive. + +"If you want me to," assented Cleo, "but do you think your Grandie +would like a third party to spoil your fairy confab?" + +"Oh, I am sure he would like to meet all the girls again," Mary spoke +politely, "but just to-day among those strangers, perhaps two of us +would be best." + +So it was agreed, and Cleo jumped out with Mary, while Grace and +Madaline prepared to play "finger scotch" while they waited outside in +the car. + +A boy in white duck uniform opened the door and showed the girls into a +very restful waiting room. Presently a white robed nurse appeared, +took Mary's name simply as "Mary to see Professor Benson," went to a +wall phone, and returned to conduct the girls to the waiting patient. + +What a lovely surprise! There sat the professor out in a big, +comfortable steamer chair, on the loveliest little porch, right out of +the window from his own room. + +"Grandie! Grandie, dear!" cried Mary, almost running to throw her arms +around him. + +"Mary, Mary darling!" he answered, extending his hands to meet her +embrace. + +Cleo held back. She would not intrude on that moment of happiness, as +the two, speechless with affection, held each other in fond embrace. +Then Mary threw up her head to look in the face of the man who seemed +the only parent and protector she had known for so long a time. + +"How perfectly lovely you look, Grandie!" she exclaimed. "Why, +whatever did they do to you? You--look so--different." + +She was studying a change, unable to name it, but impossible to escape +it. He was different. His eyes were bright, and they looked at her +with a focus directed from a clear mind. + +"And you, baby!" he answered. "At last you have taken on the sunlight. +What is it--with you?" + +"Oh, my pink dress!" Mary answered promptly. "See, here is Cleo in her +sea-green, and the other girls outside are wearing, one a blue and the +other yellow. You always loved the bright colors so, Grandie, but you +know Reda would not let me have anything but white." + +"Oh, yes, that was it," he replied, including a smiling greeting to +Cleo in his pleasant bow. "Yes, Reda wanted white, and it always made +me think of death." + +"Now, Grandie, don't you think I am waking up, if not actually awake?" +and Mary made a pretty little curtsey with a sweep of her skirts. "Oh, +you won't know me. All the ghosts of our tropical home are melting +away. The girls are too lovely, and Mrs. Audrey Dunbar is simply the +most charming woman----" + +"Dunbar, did you say, Mary? Dunbar?" he repeated a question of memory +in his voice. + +"Yes," spoke Cleo quickly. "Did you ever know the name, Professor?" + +"I may have, child. You see, my brain, as it grows stronger, fancies +it knows many more things than it really does. The cells seem to be +jealous of each other, and they keep prodding me to recognize their +claims on memory, one before the other, as quickly as any new, +interesting topic is mentioned. But the doctors here know, and I am +certain they will untangle the snarl presently. Then, Mary-love, we +may be able to trace our lost prize." He kissed her forehead to make +the hope more emphatic, and she, leaning close to him in his big chair, +tilted her head nearer still, acknowledging the caress. + +"Perhaps you may have known some of Uncle Guy Dunbar's people," +suggested Cleo. "I know they were all scientists. Uncle Guy is a +writer, you know." She was addressing the professor. + +"It might be, little girl," he replied, a thoughtful look overspreading +his handsome, scholarly face. "But, Mary, dear, how is the studio?" he +asked. + +"Just lovely, Grandie. Everything is behaving beautifully, and we go +every day to attend to things----" + +"Doesn't Reda look after things properly?" + +"Oh, yes, certainly," Cleo answered before Mary could do so. She saw +the professor was ignorant of the changes at the studio, and wisely +guessed he should not be taxed with too many cares, without permission +from the sanitarium nurse. Mary took Cleo's cue quickly, and, after +making a few general comments, tactfully changed the subject. + +Then remembering Mary had planned some secret for the professor, Cleo +stepped out in the hall, ostensibly to read a big, framed testimonial, +but really to give Mary some time alone with him. A nurse stepped up +to Cleo and spoke very cordially. + +"Isn't he wonderfully better?" asked the white gowned young woman, with +the capable air, so characteristic of professional women. + +"Yes, he seems greatly improved," replied Cleo. + +"His mind is unfolding like a child's," went on the nurse. "The +doctors think his home life has been against him. He is such a +profound student, and has had no relaxation. The wheels just buzz in +one direction all the time," said the nurse with a very attractive +smile. Cleo had always a high regard for the graduate nurse, but she +decided this girl was her ideal of the type. + +"Are you cousins?" asked the nurse kindly. + +"No," replied Cleo, "but very dear friends." + +"I must go now," Mary's voice floated from the little veranda off the +professor's room, and Cleo turned back from the corridor. "Cleo, come +here a moment," called Mary. "Grandie wants to say something to you." + +Cleo advanced to take the professor's hand as he held it to her. + +"Little girl," he said, as his eyes lighted with a soft, affectionate +glow. "Mary has been telling me--and it is all remarkable. You are +wonderful little girls to have rescued her, and I feel, daughter, the +time is coming when we shall be able at least to thank you, though we +never can do that adequately. I have given Mary permission to break a +pledge we took when we came back to New York months ago. Months!" he +repeated. "It seems like years. But I believe now it was all a +question of health; we were both sick from fright. There!" and he +reluctantly raised his voice to the note of dismissal. "I must not +anger my good nurse, and this interview was restricted to just thirty +minutes by that faithful little clock." + +"Then you think the--other matter--will be all right that way." Mary +faltered with the evident intention of being understood by the +professor only. + +"Oh yes, child, that is splendid. Just do it as we planned--and, Mary, +remember to use your cheeks. Daughter," this to Cleo, "see that my +little girl draws some money for the good things you all like. She has +plenty of it," and he shook his head definitely. "She must not want +for anything a little girl should have." + +More puzzled than ever, Cleo made her adieux, and when she and Mary +joined Grace and Madaline in the auto she personally felt like a +wonderful book with uncut pages--overburdened with hidden information +and delicious secrets. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A SECRET SESSION + +"Girls!" Mary addressed all three, just before dinner on the evening of +the day she had called at Crow's Nest, "we must have a real +conference--the kind you have told me about in your scout talks. How +shall we begin, and where can we go to make sure no one will overhear us?" + +"In our play-room over the garage," suggested Cleo, "that's really our +club room, you know." + +"Yes, that is the safest place," Grace agreed, while Madaline wagged +"yes" with her bobbed head. "Besides, we can leave Shep outside, and he +will warn us if anyone should come around," finished Grace. + +But in spite of their serious business, they were really human little +girls after all, for even the prospect of Mary's secrets did not +forestall a vigorous romp to the garage. Madaline fell in first on +Michael's sponges, tools and accessories, for the Dunbar car, which had +been laid up for repairs during the absence of the owner, Mr. Guy Dunbar, +was now being overhauled--a sign the owner was expected soon to return. + +"Oh, Michael!" Madaline apologized, gathering up her feet in their pretty +pomps, and shaking herself free from the accessories, "I couldn't help +tumbling in, and I hope I didn't scatter your nuts and bolts and things!" + +"All right, little girls," Michael greeted them. "The room up-stairs is +all aired, and Jennie was down to-day with some fixin's. Why don't you +ask her and me to join your club?" he joked inquiringly. + +"Yes, of course we should," assented Cleo, who was regarded as Captain. +"That will be lovely; you could be our--our----" + +"Grand Marshal!" suggested Michael. + +"Yes," and Grace clapped her hands joyfully. + +"And Jennie could be our--our----" But Madaline, who attempted to assign +Jennie, was failing miserably in the attempt. + +"Don't give Jennie too high an office," interposed Michael with a twinkle +in his eye. "I wouldn't exactly care to have her for my boss." + +"Come along to the meeting, girls!" called Cleo, "and we will vote on the +new members. Michael, if you are black-balled you may blame Madaline, +you know," and as a protest against such a contingency, Michael pegged +his biggest sponge at Madaline, who ducked just in time to give the wet +flap to Grace. The jolly interlude somewhat delayed the business session +originally set out for, but it evidently acted as a stimulant to the +proceedings when they finally got under way, for a livelier session could +scarcely be imagined. + +Cleo explained some of the routine of regular meetings to the new member, +inscribed on the scout book simply as "Maid Mary," then all further +formalities were wavered and business plunged into. + +"I am so anxious to tell you at least some of our story, girls," began +Mary, "and I know, as Grandie gets stronger, he will be able to remember +some of the important missing details. You know, of course, he is not my +grandfather, but a gentleman who rescued me," she said. + +"Rescued you from what?" asked Madaline, impulsively. + +"That's all in the story," replied Mary, "and honestly, girls, I don't +know how to begin, but I think I ought to go backwards." + +"Yes, do," urged Cleo. "It will be clearer to us if we can connect with +the parts we have actually experienced." + +"You wonder, of course," Mary began again, "what actually happened that +first night I came here. Really someone did call me," Mary insisted with +wide eyes. "I can hear the voice yet. I know it was someone who knew +me, therefore it must have been Reda." + +"We all thought someone was around," Cleo ventured, "and did you know +Shep was shot in the leg that night?" + +"No, really," exclaimed Mary in astonishment. "I am sure Reda did not do +that. She is dreadfully afraid of a revolver. Once when Grandie had +one, as he thought someone was prowling about, he left it under his +pillow, and Reda wouldn't touch it, and you would never imagine what a +silly thing she did. She scooped it up on a dust-pan and dumped it in +the bureau drawer. Can you imagine anyone doing that with a loaded +revolver?" + +"Oh, how absurd!" exclaimed Grace. + +"It was lucky it was not self-cocked," declared Cleo. + +"Well, I know Reda wouldn't touch a revolver, so no one I knew could have +injured lovely Shep," said Mary, somewhat dismayed. + +"But you remember, Mary, the man you called Janos was out from New York +that day," suggested Madaline. + +"Yes, I know," said Mary, "but I hope it was in no way my fault poor Shep +was injured." + +"Of course it was not," Cleo said quickly, seeing a possible unpleasant +trend in their review. "It must have been someone who was just prowling +around. You know, girls, all Jennie's lettuce was pulled up by the roots +the night before Shep was shot." + +At the mention of lettuce Mary flushed. Then recovering her composure, +she remarked: + +"Reda would pull up garden things. She couldn't seem to understand that +growing things were private property. You see, in her country every sort +of stuff grows so luxuriously Reda never could understand why it is +different here. She was always searching for greens to cook for Grandie, +and I was often afraid she would give him something poisonous," Mary +said. "Poor Reda," she sighed. "I wonder where she is?" + +"But, Mary," urged Cleo, "do you know actually that you climbed out the +window in your nightie, and sat on a limb of the tree exactly like Peter +Pan in Kensington Gardens? I shall never forget how cute you looked, +even in lantern lights, as you hugged the button ball tree!" and at the +joyous memory all the girls fairly rolled in glee. Grace slid off the +improvised couch; Madaline doubled up on the steamer rug which was +serving as an Oriental on the floor, and Cleo put her perky little head +through such a course of exercises as would have done credit to a beauty +specialist in neck treatment. It was so very funny a thing to remember. +Mary perched in a tree a la Peter Pan, in her white night robe, Cleo +climbing out after her in her bluebird pajamas, then the spectators +around the base of the tree in various improvised garbs, not really +passed by the censor. Yes, it was howlingly--shriekingly funny, just now! + +"But do let us get along with the mysteries," begged Grace, unwinding +herself. "Mary, you were going backwards and you haven't got past the +first tree." + +"Well, I guess I will have to jump to the most interesting part," said +Mary. "You see, girls, my mother's folks didn't want her to marry my +daddy, because he wasn't rich. He was a scientist, and I am sure a +wonderful man, but mother's folks were very wealthy, and when she went +off exploring with daddy her folks sort of deserted her. Then, when she +fell ill, and daddy fell ill, and I was going to be all alone----" She +paused to choke back too determined a sigh, then continued. "When they +feared they were going, one of the other explorers promised to look out +for me. He is Grandie, but his name isn't Benson, but he doesn't know +that I know that. He lost a very precious treasure, and on account of +that he is sort of hiding, although he really never did a single thing +wrong," declared Mary, loyally. + +"Did they go out on a regular exploring expedition?" asked Cleo very +seriously, a new thought coming to her active brain. + +"Yes, I suppose so. Why?" Mary inquired in turn. + +"I was just thinking--but never mind. Don't let me interrupt you, Mary. +Tell us about your daddy." + +"Daddy was determined not to let the fever take him, so, sick as he was, +he insisted on going out to sea, but he--didn't come back." + +Quick to save Mary from the threatening tears, Grace asked, "What were +they exploring for?" + +"Why, for orchids. I thought you knew," replied Mary, rather surprised +at the question. + +"No, we didn't know," Cleo said very thoughtfully, "but we guessed those +wonderful orchids must have come from a tropical clime." + +"Yes, we brought the bulbs with us, and that's where I still have to say +'secret,' Cleo dear," Mary responded, smiling to assure her friends she +would have told them more of the mystery if she had been free to do so. + +"And what is your name, really?" ventured Madaline. + +"You may think it very strange, but I am not sure. Daddy used a book +name, out on his exploration trips, and mother's family name was never +mentioned. Grandie had my papers but you see"--and she hesitated quite a +long time, then in a subdued voice she continued--"you see Grandie became +ill, and he forgot. That is one reason why I am so happy his memory is +returning." + +"Oh, wouldn't it be lovely if you turned out to be a great lady!" +Madaline rhapsodized, true to form in a girl's love of excitement. + +"I wouldn't want to be a great lady!" replied Mary, tossing back her head +disdainfully. "I would rather just be a little girl scout like you!" + +"Hurrah! Hurrah! for our new Tenderfoot. Let's put her through an +initiation, girls!" suggested Cleo. "Mary, don't forget where you left +off, and we'll take a recess. Come on. First you must slide down that +pole. Look out for Michael; he has a pail of water he might like to see +you slide into." + +Romping and racketing took the place of serious reminiscences for the +time, and if Mary felt inclined to be sorrowful at her revived memories +the True Treds quickly vanquished the gloom foe, until tiring of the very +vigorous exercise, they settled down again for a last word before closing +the meeting. + +"Was Reda with you all the time?" Cleo asked Mary when they were finally +quieted to rational speech. Somehow Cleo seemed to sense a solution to +the mystery Mary was so cautiously unfolding. + +"She left the island with us. We must have been very near the equator +off of Central America, and when the fever broke out all the English +left. We came on a very miserable ship, but we were very glad to escape." + +"And those men Reda knows," went on Cleo, like a little inquisitor, "did +you meet them on the ship?" + +"I don't really know, but I have heard Grandie declare to Reda that they +followed us. I blame them for most of our trouble, of course." + +"And I would, too," declared Grace. "Good thing you scared them off with +your flare-up, Madaline. Will you ever forget that movie scene, with all +the lights!" + +"But, girls," insisted Mary, serious again, "you know I do not feel I +should stay here, as I am staying, any longer than I actually have to. I +know you are all perfectly lovely, and Mrs. Dunbar is like a--young woman +who lives in a shoe, with so many children and so forth, but I also know +something about propriety, and it seems an imposition for me to bother +you so much." + +"There, now," wailed Cleo, "just when everything is being so beautifully +fixed. Mary-love, I have a real scheme, but it's a secret. Can't I have +a secret same as you?" Cleo twisted her head characteristically. "At +any rate," she continued, "we haven't any idea of letting out Peterina +Panna (that's my feminine for Peter Pan); we haven't any idea of letting +her escape. She must stay right here until all this delicious mystery is +cleared up. You see, Peterina Panna, we are only beginning to know your +fairyland story, and now I for one am determined to put all the pieces +together and make a beautiful real dream out of it, only, of course, the +dream must be true." + +"Yes, and I just wrote home begging an extension of time, so I could be +in the fairy play at the end," declared Madaline, "for I am going to have +you worked into a princess or something beautiful like that," decided +romantic little Madaline. + +"I know you are all sincere," Mary said gently, "and of course it would +be difficult to arrange about going away just now, with Grandie not +strong. But he suggested that I ask Mrs. Dunbar's advice on a boarding +school." + +"Don't you dare!" cried Cleo. "She might just pack us all off, and of +course we couldn't blame her, for we have turned Cragsnook into a regular +institution for noisy girls. But, hark ye! Aunt Audrey loves it that +way, and she is planning more noise for Uncle Guy's return. And wait +until you see him! You will love him. But please to remember he is +especially _my_ uncle. And now, scouts, I am going to call this meeting +adjourned. I can smell harvest apples all the way up here. Is there +anything better than those juicy early apples!" + +The girls made that opinion unanimous, and what was left of Michael's +apples fifteen minutes later would not even make pickings for Jennie's +pet gray hen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +IN THE SHADOWS + +"Cleo, come here," Grace beckoned her chum, as Mary and Madaline +started for a fishing trip to the little brook that capered through the +Cragsnook lands, at the foot of an ambitious group of hills. "I am +just so anxious to talk to you," Grace almost implored. + +"And I am just dying to talk to you," declared Cleo, "so we ought to +have a lovely time. Come on for a walk down to the stone bridge. No +one is going that way at this hour." + +"Because lovers are scarce around here, I suppose," Grace guessed, "for +twilight, lovers and stone bridges are always combined in the movies." + +"Then we will be the lovers," proposed Cleo. "Come along, darling," +and she twined her arm around the shoulders of her friend, in sincere +affection, if in pretended affectation. + +"I know what you are going to say," Grace began. "It's about Mary's +secret." + +"Of course," admitted Cleo. "I have been breathless with excitement +since she told us. Grace, do you see what may have happened? Just +what _may_ have, of course." + +"You mean she may belong to people in America who would love to know +about her?" + +"Yes, that is an easy guess. But why should Professor Benson deny her +identity?" + +"He is also denying his own. Why does he do that?" + +"And there is not the slightest possibility he could ever have +committed a crime. No man with his personality is ever a criminal." + +"No, indeed," vouched Grace, quite unconscious of posing as an expert +on character. + +"It's very mysterious," went on Cleo, "and when Mary mentioned the name +Dunbar to him he seemed to recall it somehow. I asked him if he ever +knew anyone named Dunbar, and he passed it off on his brain playing +queer tricks on him. But all the same he did seem to have a memory of +it." + +"Now, Cleo Harris, don't you dare go getting Mary in your family," +ordered Grace, jokingly. "It would be just Cleoistic to have it turn +out that way. No, Mary is going to be a princess, to suit Madaline +this time. Let's sit down here on the bridge and try to figure it all +out," she proposed. + +The broad stone coping over the little stream offered an attractive +resting place for the self-appointed delegates, and the twilight hour a +most opportune time for their conference. + +"I am going to do two things first----" began Cleo. + +"Oh, I wouldn't," mocked Grace. "I would do one thing first, the other +way would be woozy." + +"Now you know what I mean, and this isn't a grammar test," pouted Cleo. +"Well, then, first, I am going to write to Uncle Guy. He knows so much +about detective work--all writers do, you know, and I feel he could +help us solve the mystery. I am going to send him that picture we took +the other day, so he can see what Mary looks like." + +"I think that is really a brilliant idea, Cleo," said Grace, seriously. +"There might be some reason for Professor Benson noticing the name +Dunbar. Even if I do take the risk of you getting in a claim, still, I +have to be fair," and she squeezed the arm that lay over her own. "I +think the pictures are splendid. I sent one to Margaret. Somehow I +feel a little lonely for Margaret, don't you?" + +"Yes, it would have been lovely for her to share all this, but perhaps +they may come to New York before the season is over. Let us hope so. +Now, for my second big idea: I am going to make inquiries at the New +York museum about exploring parties. They may have records of the +scientific men who went to the tropics for orchids, and I may be able +to solve some of the mystery that way." + +"Say, Cleo," said Grace, dimpling and making pretty faces at the +slanting rays dipping into the brook from the early nightfall, "I do +believe you are related to your Uncle Guy, the writer, for you have +such original ideas. However did you think of that?" + +"Oh, it is not original, really, Grace. I saw an account of a report +of such an expedition in one of Uncle Guy's magazines, and that gave me +the idea." + +"But it wouldn't give me such an idea in a thousand years," admitted +Grace. "However would you go about it?" + +"I'll try to get some dates and other facts from Mary, and then I'll +just write a letter. Maybe I will ask you to do the writing, as your +hand is much better than mine." + +"Oh, I'll be glad to help out even as your secretary, but suppose we +accidentally betray Mary's secret--then what would happen?" + +"I have thought of that," Cleo reflected, "and I have decided, since +Professor Benson and Mary are both so good, nothing but good can +eventually be discovered about them. Even a lot of mistakes can't be +really held against one, and I am hoping there won't even be mistakes, +but glories to unfold. Isn't it exciting! Aunt Audrey is just +fascinated with Mary, and is going to paint her as soon as things +straighten out, and I for one can feel the tangles putting out into a +straight line right now. Here they come, with their fish poles. Don't +they both look like a picture? Mary is so quaint, and Madaline is such +an adorable baby. Come on, and see the fish they didn't catch." + +"We did, too, catch something," declared Madaline, when all four girls +met on the bridge. "We caught a lovely big fat turtle. Just see!" + +It was indeed a lovely turtle she set down on the rough country walk, +and, perhaps scenting the damp grass near the brook, Mr. Turtle +promptly crawled off to possible seclusion and hoped for safety. Even +turtles have preferences, and do not always appreciate the personal +attention of Girl Scouts. They seem to prefer the company of hop toads +and toad stools. + +"Oh, I'll lose him!" cried Madaline; "and I wanted him for Michael's +garden. He would chase all the other little eating bugs and worms, +wouldn't he, Mary?" and down the side of the bank, running to the +brook, Madaline pursued the recalcitrant reptile. But the hill was +very steep, the stones loose, and the sand slippery, and Madaline began +to slide. + +"Oh, look out, Madie!" yelled Grace. "You'll slide right in the brook!" + +But it was too late. Madaline had no chance to "look out." All she +could do was to slide, and that she kept at, rolling stones and tossing +sand down in a perfect avalanche. + +"Oh! oh! oh!" screamed Mary, digging her heels deep in the loose bank +in an attempt to follow the sliding figure ahead. "You'll go right in +the brook and it's deep. We're so near the dam!" + +"And you'll be in with her," screamed Cleo--"Madaline, grab that bush, +never mind the old turtle!" + +But Madaline had now reached the bottom, and feet first she struck the +water, just as Mary grabbed her skirt and held on tight enough to keep +her from sliding in further. + +"Oh, my!" cried Madaline, trying to back out. "I thought I was gone." + +"You were!" insisted Grace, who had come to the edge by way of a safer +track through bushes instead of on an avalanche. "You almost +frightened us to death! Just see how swift the water is here." + +"I don't want to see it. The earth is swift enough for me," declared +Madaline, shaking the water out of her slippers, which fortunately had +not fallen off in the water. "I have been both fishing and turtle +hunting to-night, and all I got was--wet," she groaned. "And my nice +clean gingham! Whatever will Jennie say!" + +"Nothing, dearie, don't you mind," soothed Cleo. "We are so glad to +see you safely landed we can even forgive the turtle. It was a +perfectly foolish thing to do, to fall in the brook at this hour, with +not even a boy scout to perform a daring, dashing rescue. Madie, I'm +surprised at your lack of judgment. Think how Mally Mack would have +loved to pull you out by the hair!" + +"And carry you home in his manly arms!" chimed in Grace. "What a +chance wasted!" + +"And think of rolling our little fat girl on a big bumple barrel----" + +But Madaline had recovered her poise and posture, not to mention +proclivities, and, taking to the better foot-hold on the clumps of +grass along the bank, a little farther from the bridge, she managed to +scamper after both her tormentors. Mary was also in the race, and on +reaching the road safely even the turtle was forgotten. + +"Am I all mud?" asked Madaline, shaking her skirts. + +"No, really you are not," Mary assured her. "It is only your slippers +and stockings, and it is so dark they won't show. But I hope my pretty +dress is not soiled. I was foolish to put it on for fishing, but I was +so proud I wanted to try it." + +"Oh, come on. It's getting dark and Aunt Audrey is having company," +said Cleo. "Madaline, you will have to change your shoes, of course, +then we can come out again, and go for a walk. It's all right to go +toward the village, but we must turn our backs on the mountains with +sundown. Mary-love, when may we go up to the studio to do some +exploring?" she changed the subject. "You know you said you wanted to +look over Reda's things and send them to her, if you knew where she +might get them?" + +"Yes, I have been anxious about that," said Mary, falling in step with +Cleo, while Grace went ahead with Madaline. "I would so like to know +about Reda. I wonder where she is?" + +"Wouldn't she go to friends?" Cleo asked. + +"Oh, those men would frighten her, and you remember what that woman on +the mountain road said about police the other day," and Mary shuddered +as she recalled the maid's careless speech about the police looking for +the gypsy woman. "I feel so helpless sometimes," the child sighed. + +"But please don't, Mary," Cleo spoke up. "You have no idea how much we +girls have done already in difficult matters. Why, I wouldn't be +afraid to go to New York with Aunt Audrey and look for Reda, if you are +worried about her," Cleo volunteered. + +"Oh, I wouldn't have you think of such a thing," Mary quickly replied +with something like fear in her voice. "I hope Mrs. Dunbar is not +taking any trouble about her?" + +"No, indeed. Aunt Audrey is so busy with her pictures I don't see what +she does when Uncle Guy is home, and he wants any attention," Cleo +remarked. "Mary, I wondered if we might not pack up Reda's things? +She won't come back now, surely, and I think you might feel better to +be sure her folks would not come around for anything. Have you any +address we might send to?" + +"No, but she kept papers. I could understand them if we could find +them. Perhaps we better look to-morrow. Here we are home, and the +girls have gone in already. I guess we must have crawled slower than +Madaline's turtle." + +"And it's quite dark," said Cleo. "Mary," she whispered, "isn't that a +man over there behind that tree? See, he just stepped back from the +light. Let us talk as if we saw the other girls so he won't think +we're alone," she hastily muttered. Then in a clear voice she +called--"Wait a minute, Benny, I want you to carry this" (it was the +fishing rod). "Oh, all right," she kept on to the imaginary boy. +"Here it is," and with that both girls ran into the driveway and up to +the house like two frightened deer. At the porch they stopped +breathless. Mrs. Dunbar and two friends were sitting there. + +"Well, what's the trouble, girls?" she asked. "Running away from the +new moon?" + +"No, Auntie," Cleo replied, "but we thought we saw someone back of the +tree--a man, and when he saw us he seemed to hide. Where's Michael?" + +"I'll call him if you are timid, but we are going to have some +gentlemen callers this evening. Maybe you are running away from one of +them," she said with a light laugh. "But you girls set such store by +Michael, I am afraid I shall have to have the garage moved up nearer +the house. Never mind, our good watchman will be home soon. Uncle Guy +will be in Chicago this week," she finished with an inflexion of +pleasure anticipated. + +Cleo was just deciding she must get her letter off to her Uncle Guy's +hotel quickly, as she calculated wisely he would give more attention to +a letter than he would be able to give to conversation for some days +after his home-coming. + +Leaving her guests for a few moments, Mrs. Dunbar touched the call +button for Michael, and when he came up the path Cleo and Mary went to +meet him. They told him the shadow story, of course, even offered to +go down the walk and point out the tree, but he declined their +assistance. + +"Now, I'll tell you girls," he said, shaking his head as he always did +when uttering an important fact, "we have a special watchman guarding +this place and maybe it was him" (he might have said he, but grammar is +not so important to a handy man as are good tools, and Michael always +had these). + +"Oh, a watchman!" exclaimed Cleo. "I'm so glad. Now, Mary dear, don't +you go climbing any more trees," she warned with a pinch for Mary's +elbow. + +"No, you had better all behave," added Michael, "for our man is a +regular hawk for night watching. I had to introduce him to Shep; knows +his step clear down the road. Not that he makes a sound we can hear, +but a dog, you know--a dog has ears in his paws, and they hear sounds +for a long distance in the ground," he declared. + +"I guess so," said Mary, simply, "for I have seen dogs listen to things +so far off. But the watchman--would he shoot anyone who came around?" +There was anxiety in her voice. + +"Well, no," conceded Michael; "he wouldn't exactly shoot first shot; he +might fire that over a prowler's head. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing," fluttered Mary, "except that my old nurse is odd and +doesn't know American ways very well. And if she should come around +looking for me, a watchman would not understand her, I'm afraid." + +"Tell me what she looks like and I'll post Jim. He's a careful enough +chap, but you know, young ladies, we have had some trouble about here +lately." + +Mary described Reda as best she could, and being assured the man behind +the tree was really some passerby and not a prowler, the girls went +back to the house to find Grace and Madaline. + +The two latter could hardly wait to come down the stairs by steps, so +impatient were they to reach Cleo and Mary. + +"Oh, look!" exclaimed Grace. "Here's a letter for Mary. We picked it +up out by the gate. It must have been left there just as we came +along. But we couldn't see that it was a letter until we got into the +light. Here, Mary," and she handed over a square, common business +envelope. "It is only addressed to 'Maid Mary,'" finished Grace. + +"Come on up to our room, to my room," suggested Cleo, surmising the +letter might be better read privately. "Aunt Audrey has guests on the +porch." + +"All right," agreed Mary, crushing the letter in her hands. "Come +along, girls. Whatever it is we may all know it, I don't want any +_new_ secrets; the _old_ ones are heavy enough burdens." + +Up in Cleo's room, under the softly shaded light, Mary tore open the +envelope. She knew the hand was laboriously penned by some foreigner. +Then she read aloud: + + +"Reda is sick. She says you can't come here, but wants her things. +Send the box by express. Reda will come out when she can walk. + +"Carmia Frantez." + + +An address was carefully spelled out, and there followed this +postscript. + + +"I go to school, and we don't want Janos to get our letters. Dominic +is going to take this out on the train; he is a good honest boy. +Answer to this house by the number I give here. Carmia." + + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mary, staring at her companions. "That must have been +the man we saw behind the tree. And this Carmia is a little girl I +have heard Reda speak of. Now what shall I do! Poor Reda!" she +sighed. "I hope she is not very sick." + +"Let's go the first thing in the morning to pack her box," suggested +Cleo. "Then we can send it to her by express," and this plan was +promptly decided upon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HIDDEN TREASURES + +A feeling akin to relief, if not that of actual safety, brightened the +girls next day when, with keen anticipation for the promised +excitement, they started off for a hike to the studio, there to box up +Reda's belongings, and also to hunt for possible clews to the +ever-deepening mystery of Mary's identity, and the professor's secret. + +Having assured Mrs. Dunbar that the next door neighbors to the studio +were easily within call, as well as convincing her that gardeners and +workmen were constantly in the fields and estates adjoining the studio, +she consented to their going in charge of Shep, who was now fully +recovered from his wound and lame leg. + +It was early, and the dew still lay in a liquid veil over the grass and +wild flowers along the way, but the Girl Scouts, Mary being a novice +and on probation, were too much interested and excited to observe the +beauties of nature this day. + +"I suppose Reda has lots of queer things," ventured Madaline when they +had passed the mountain house and started on the down-grade the other +side. + +"Yes," replied Mary. "She was always bringing things from New York. +Her sort of people never seem to have enough. They keep storing and +piling up every sort of trash. Grandie would get out of patience at +times and threaten to throw it all out of doors." + +Tangles of wild morning glories crept cautiously over the steps at the +studio, where now the absence of human traffic was beginning to show in +that vague, venturesome way vegetation has of creeping in where mortals +have deserted. The grass grew so much higher on the lawn, the flowers +were having such a joyous time spreading all over and blooming as they +chose, while the trumpet vine had actually climbed down from its arch +with the ramblers, and was shamelessly romping all over the fern patch, +fairly strangling the wild maidenhairs in its reckless ramblings. + +"Where shall we begin?" Cleo asked as the girls tramped into the long, +quiet hall. "Isn't it cave-like to come into an empty house? Oh, I +know; see the hall clock has stopped ticking, and when a tick goes out +it seems to leave a smoke of silence," she finished. "There, don't you +think I have an imaginative brain?" + +"I'd call it a loony brain," replied Grace. "Talking about the smoke +of silence! Sounds like a new name for a cigarette!" and they all +enjoyed a good laugh at the comparison. + +"At any rate," decided Cleo, "it is always more quiet after a clock +stops than it is in any other room where no clock ever ticked. So +there!" + +"Let's wind the clock, start it up, and stop the argument," proposed +practical Grace. "Tell me how many winds, Mary!" She had climbed on a +wooden chair, had the door of the big clock open, and was examining the +queer mechanism. + +"I don't know a thing about the clock," Mary admitted. "Grandie always +attended to it, but I suppose you just turn the key until it feels hard +to turn. I have always heard a clock must not be wound too tight----" + +At the side of the grandfather's antique time-piece a long door opened, +Grace discovered, and being interested in the odd piece of furniture, +she swung this out. As she did so a package rolled out on the floor. + +"Something stored away here, I suppose," said Grace. "Shall I replace +it, Mary?" picking up the newspaper package and holding it out to Mary. + +"Let me see it?" Mary asked. + +It was a long, slim package, wrapped in a faded and yellow newspaper. +Unfolding the wrappings, nothing but a piece of bamboo-like cane, about +as large as a flute, was revealed. + +"That's queer," Mary commented. "I wonder what good that old piece of +stick is?" She held it up and saw that the ends were sealed. + +"Something is bottled up in that," declared Cleo. "Bamboo is always +open and hollow between joints." + +"Let's get something and press the ends in," suggested Grace. "It +might be something breakable." + +"Or explosive," ventured Madaline, who had not forgotten her first +night's experience at the studio. + +Mary was turning the piece of cane upside down, shaking it, listening +for any rattle within, and otherwise examining it most carefully. +Meanwhile Cleo had rescued the wrappings, and was trying to connect the +line of print. She smoothed out the torn, yellow pieces, and presently +her eye fell upon a ringed line paragraph, the ring being a penciled +circle, usually made to attract the eye to a special item. + +"Let's see what's marked here," she suggested, going closer to the +window for better light. "Oh, look, Mary," she exclaimed again, "this +tells of an exploring expedition leaving New York. Maybe that is a +report of your folks and the professor! See, it reads," and she +pressed the very much crinkled pieces to something of smoothness. + +"'Left for the tropics to hunt orchids. Professor Blake and party----' +Now, that's torn out into a real hole, and we can't get the names of +the party. Did you ever see anything so aggravating?" + +"But Professor Blake," repeated Mary. "That isn't our professor!" + +"Didn't you say his name was not Benson?" Cleo reminded her. + +"Yes, I knew it was not Benson, but I thought it was," she hesitated. +Her grandie had not given his permission to the publication of his real +name. "At least," continued Mary, "I didn't know it was Blake." + +"How foolish we are!" exclaimed Cleo. "Surely there would have been +more than one professor on that trip. And this may only, after all, be +an item of general interest. But don't you think, Mary, we had better +take it along and read it carefully when we have time?" + +"That's a good idea," agreed Mary, "and I think I had better do the +same thing with this shiny stick. It may be some kind of flute, but I +would not like to try to blow on it. So many things from the tropics +are poisonous. Let's wrap it up again," she suggested. + +"But not in this paper," objected Cleo. "I want to read all of this +again, and it must not be further damaged. Here, Shep," to the +faithful dog, who lay nose deep in a big soft rug, "come along and I'll +get you a nice cool drink. You are cooled off now, and I know you want +a drink after that tramp over the mountain." + +The shaggy shepherd dog followed Cleo to the faucet that dripped on a +stone flagging near the back door. He drank the pan of water Cleo drew +for him, shook himself vigorously, then started in for a "sniffing +tour," as Madaline described the canine method of investigation. He +was left quite alone and to his own resources while the girls continued +in their attempt to gather up Reda's things. + +"I feel queer to go among her trinkets," said Mary. "She was always so +careful no one should see her belongings." + +"All old people are that way," said Madaline, who was having the time +of her life pulling trash out of the big rattan trunk. "You don't +intend to send all this stuff, do you, Mary?" she asked. + +"Oh, no, certainly not," Mary replied, "but it is rather hard to tell +the hay from grass in Reda's wardrobe." + +"And I must say," put in Grace, "she had a queer idea of the uses of a +bureau. Just look at all the moldy roots and growing things!" Grace +was gingerly touching the "moldy things" in a rather vain attempt at +exploring the depths of the old mahogany bureau drawers. + +"Don't throw any of those away," warned Mary, "because--well, because +they might grow into pretty orchids, you know," she finished, with such +a poor attempt at disguising her real meaning that it almost shouted +out past her actual words. + +"Of course they must be flower bulbs," assented Grace, "but fancy +keeping them in a bureau drawer!" + +Bits of bright ribbons, odds and ends of lace, so much lace of all +kinds, and such a tangle of threads, strings, tapes and almost +everything that could snarl up, was dragged out by Madaline from a work +box, that she jammed the whole mass back in despair. "She won't need +any of that," Cleo decided, "and I guess some new sewing stuff will be +welcome whenever Reda gets a chance to use it." + +"But she must have her thimble," insisted Mary. "Just wait until I get +this dress and shawl in the box, and I'll try to find it--I think she +kept it there." + +"Oh, look here," called Madaline. "Here is a cute little secret place +in the work box. See, the top comes out when you press here." As she +pressed the indicated spot in the finely inlaid box a secret drawer +shot out. This was literaly crammed with papers, printed and written, +and even here were the remains of the dried roots, the dust of bulbs, +and the powder of dried leaves. + +"Should we look over her papers?" asked Madaline, again referring to +Mary. + +"Well, I don't believe we should," decided the girl, whose face was +flushed with the excitement of the hunt. "Yet they might be important +to Grandie. Suppose we tie them up in something and save them until he +is strong enough to look over them? He brought Reda here penniless, +and without any belongings, and whatever she has he would have a +perfect right to look over," finished Mary. + +"I think so, too," agreed Madaline, evidently disappointed her find had +not yielded some exciting clew. + +Gathering up the papers, a picture fell to the floor. Madaline quickly +recovered it, and presently all the girls were scrutinizing the +photograph. + +"It is you and your mamma," declared Cleo. "Look at both your eyes, +and her wonderful mound of hair." + +"Yes, that is truly Loved One," said Mary, tenderly brushing the bits +of leaves from the picture. "I have never seen this before. I wonder +why Reda hid it away from me?" + +"And here's another," called Grace. "This is some man dressed as +a--tourist--I guess. See his big hat and the short trousers." + +"Oh, that's daddy!" cried Mary. "Let me see it. Darling daddy," she +exclaimed, grasping the new found treasure and holding it in close +scrutiny. "Wasn't he handsome!" + +All the girls pored over the picture of the tall, good-looking man, +dressed in the light clothing usually worn in warm countries, the big +helmet hat pushed back from his face, and his hand resting on a stout +bamboo stick. + +"See, he has that sort of cane," corrected Cleo. "Wouldn't it be +wonderful if it were really a piece of his own walking cane?" + +"It really might be," Mary reflected. "Dear me, I do wonder why Reda +hid those things? And she must have taken them from Grandie or from my +things. They certainly could not have been hers." + +On the reverse side of the picture was the name of some photographer in +Panama, and having made careful examination without success for +possible notes or written names, as might give further information, +Mary folded her two pictures carefully, and laid them aside with the +bamboo stick. + +All this time the girls kept wondering why Mary could not tell them +what was the nature of the loss that had so affected the professor. +Hiding himself and hiding Mary seemed a strange thing to do, except for +some reason that might entail danger in discovery, and what possible +danger could there be in two perfectly honest persons using their own +names? + +"I was to look for Reda's thimble," said Mary, jamming in the trunk +some heavy coats and woolens that seemed necessary to take off the +clothes hooks. "I guess I had best put all the little things in this +flat basket," she decided, opening up a small hand-woven affair, such +as girls use for embroidery cases. + +Attacking the Philippine work box once more, Mary took all the movable +compartments that she could locate by shaking and rattling, and at last +found one in the very bottom of the box; released by such a snap +spring, it surely must have originally been a trick box. + +"Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "Just look here!" and, holding the small tray +up to the astonished gaze of the girls, they beheld a glittering array +of jewels. + +"Oh, how beautiful," called out a voice in which all three were blended. + +"These must have been Loved One's!" said Mary, in an awed voice, and +her companions, too astonished to speak, simply stared at the +glittering treasures. + +There were several pins with beautiful sparkling stones, a number of +rings, lockets; in fact the collection seemed to include a supply of +fine jewelry, such as a woman of means and social prominence might +covet. + +"However will you carry them?" asked Madaline, first to recover from +the surprise. + +"I don't know," Mary replied, still dazed and overcome. To her the +discovery meant more than a collection of jewelry; it meant that her +mother must have been a wealthy and prominent woman. This fact, +however, Mary always understood, but in her hands now were seemingly +new proofs. + +"Let us attend to the orchids to-day, Mary," suggested Grace, "while +you finish your packing. Come on, Madie, get the small cans." + +"All right," Cleo agreed. "I'll help Mary find something to carry her +treasures in, and also help her finish packing. We will then likely +all be finished about the same time. What a lot of things we have to +look over when we get home! Mary, I am sure some of those lockets will +have pictures in them," and all the while she was talking Cleo was +running here and there, or hither and thither, as Jennie would have +said, in a hurry to finish the tasks. + +"I know where I can get a good strong bag," Mary said, "but I haven't +been upstairs since we went away. This big bungalow, having the +sleeping rooms on the first floor, always seemed complete without +upstairs." + +"I'm not afraid to go up," Cleo volunteered. "I'll take Shep. Where +is he?" + +At the sound of his name Shep sprang forward, carrying in his teeth the +remnants of a yellow handkerchief he had torn almost to shreds. + +"Why, Shep, what are you doing? You never tear things." Cleo charged, +attempting to rescue the remains of the yellow silk handkerchief. + +But Shep would not release his hold on the rags--instead he growled. +Could Cleo have known why, she would have complimented him on being go +clever a detective, for the handkerchief was one of Reda's and mate to +the one Shep brought in with him the night he received the bullet in +his leg. But the girls knew nothing of this. + +"Shall we go up for the bag?" Cleo asked Mary, desisting in her efforts +to unmask Shep. + +"I suppose we better," Mary replied, as they made their way to the end +of the hall from which point the hidden stairs were built. "It is so +long since I have been up here I shall hardly know what it looks like." + +Mary went first and Cleo followed close to her heels. At the top Mary +stood still and drew back a little. Then she turned and motioned to +Cleo. + +"What's the matter?" whispered Cleo, seeing Mary make haste to collect +the most important things. + +"There are a lot of strange boxes and things up there," Mary said in a +hushed voice. "Hark! What was that!" + +Both girls stood breathless, afraid to move. Over in a far corner of +the long, dark room, something chattered and squeaked, then squealed! + +"What ever can it be?" asked Cleo. "It is surely something alive, but +I don't know what could make that sort of noise." + +"I do," said Mary. "That's a monkey. How do you suppose it got in +here?" + +"You go over and look, if you are not afraid," suggested Cleo, "and I +will stay here to guard Shep. Hear him! He would go wild for a +monkey." + +A clear line over the boxes, and through the long room showed nothing +more sinister than that some small animal could be hidden there, so +Mary stepped over the litter, and soon discovered the origin of the +queer noise. + +"Oh, the dearest little thing!" exclaimed Mary, putting out her arms to +the frightened monkey, that immediately crawled into her safekeeping. +"How did it get in here?" + +"Come on," implored Cleo, fearful someone might be in bidding. "Let us +get away. You are not afraid of him?" + +"No, indeed. Just see how glad he is that we found him. I wonder how +long he has been up here!" + +But even a starving monkey would not be sufficient cause for longer +delay, so, urging Mary down, Cleo held Shep fast while Grace hurriedly +locked the door that led to the second floor of the studio. + +Now surely they must make haste to get away. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE MASCOT'S RESCUE + +"Oh, the poor little thing! See how he cuddles up! Wasn't he +frightened to death!" and Mary hugged the chattering little animal +under her arm, like a short haired terrier, or even an abused and +exhausted little kitten. To the other girls it seemed quite impossible +to realize this was really a monkey, and the domestic puppy or kitten +naturally furnished a comparison. + +"Oh, do let's hurry!" begged Madaline. "How do we know someone will +not burst in upon us?" + +"We don't," replied Cleo, without the hope of reassurance. "But we +have to depend on Shep. I think he is behaving beautifully with a real +monkey on the premises; no jealousy in good old Shep." She was making +all possible haste with picking up the most important articles they had +gathered to bring back with them to Cragsnook. "I have your treasures, +Mary," she said, making a final hard knot in the shawl that held the +jewelry. "The other girls are all ready. Come on, don't let us wait a +moment longer," she cautioned. + +"Can you carry the cane, and these pictures?" Mary asked. "I guess I +can manage them if you cannot." + +"Oh, no, you must take care of Chatterbox. He is lively enough to keep +you busy. Here, Grace, you shoot the bolts on the doors as we pass +out. Come on, Shep. Keep near the ladies, but let them pass out +first," finished Cleo, determined to make the exit something of an +imitation fire drill, if not in point of the numbers in line, at least +in point of the caution applied. + +The fright experienced when something "alive" had actually been +discovered upstairs supplied enough excitement to make the whole +situation extremely alarming. What could have brought a monkey there +but humans, and what purpose had anyone in such an exploit? Between +the finding of the monkey and the discovery of the jewels, the girls +felt their day had thus far been one of unusual thrills, but a sense of +actual danger seemed threatening to explode at their very heels now, +and, making tracks over the mountain, away from the uncanny studio, +they put into execution the Girl Scouts' danger drill, if not the +school girls' fire drill. Once away from the house, Mary "collapsed +into a dead silence," as Madaline expressed it in a whisper to Grace. +Even the monkey's chattering was not answered. + +Indeed, Mary was silent, almost to the point of a threatening "mood," +since seeing the collection of empty boxes, and her friends were +determined she would not relapse into anything so unpleasant. Plainly +the boxes were ready to be packed; then the finding of the monkey +convinced Mary that strangers had come into the studio, and were making +preparations to loot it. Who they were, and just what they "were +after, she could only surmise. But it was a most unpleasant surprise, +amounting to a shock, and that to come just when things seemed to be +shaping so favorably for everyone. + +"Certainly I should not think of taking you up there again," said Mary +finally, "but what can I do about the orchids?" + +"They must be cared for," Madaline said sagely, "but we could never go +up there, and perhaps--perhaps----" + +"Get packed in one of the boxes, Madie?" teased Grace. "That surely +would be dreadful. But don't you worry, Mary-love. We will find a way +to take care of the studio until Professor is able to come back. Of +course, I don't see how we are ever going to let you go there again, +but since we don't have to decide that to-day let us postpone the evil. +Too bad we didn't have a chance to look into the boxes; we might have +been able to tell where they came from," she reasoned. + +"Don't you dare go blaming Mally Mack for furnishing the boxes," +objected Cleo. "I am sure no one in Bellaire would give away boxes to +steal stuff from the studio," she declared. "At any rate someone has +surely been busy up there, and I am glad our wires didn't cross again. +Fancy us going up those stairs and seeing a couple of burglars squat +among the boxes!" + +This calamitous consideration acted as a spur to the romping girls, who +were once more discovering short-cuts home from Second Mountain, and +joining hands, they raced pell-mell through the daisy field, down to +the path that edged the brook. + +"I think it is too mean," grumbled Madaline. "We hadn't entirely +searched all the places, nooks and boxes and things. We may have left +a lot of valuables behind us for the robbers to pack in their boxes." + +Everyone laughed at Madaline's literal and explicit surmise. It was +characteristic of Madaline that she should stamp a mere guess with a +most definite label, but the excitement of the flight with the +treasures was too absorbing to admit of this trifle being noticed. + +"I hope Aunt Audrey is in," said Cleo. "We must, of course, bring +these things to her at once. She will know best what to do with them." + +"And we better not mention them to anyone," cautioned Grace, "else we +might again be visited with night prowlers." + +That the strange child should fall back into a condition such as the +scouts first found her in was additional cause for alarm. She scarcely +spoke in answer to the questions piled upon her. Who might have been +in the studio? What would they ever intend to do with so tiny a little +baby monkey? What had they expected to put in all those boxes? Such +questions came thicker than the stones they skipped over, but in reply +the girls received nothing but skeleton answers from Mary, and these +were built of simple, meager words. + +"But the orchids? What can we do about them?" Grace insisted. This +roused Mary. She was seen to shudder, and heard to sigh before +replying: + +"Girls, please forgive me for being so rude. But so much is rushing +all about me, I can hardly think. I shall never let you go with me to +the studio again----" + +"Then you shan't go either!" promptly interrupted Cleo. "Your danger +would be as great as ours, and we will never leave you until every +thread of this mystery is untangled." + +"Indeed, we will not," echoed Grace, while Madaline too offered her +pledge of loyalty to their new member. + +"You are sure the monkey will not bite you?" questioned Cleo, glad to +change the subject. + +"Oh, no indeed," Mary replied, patting the animal, that now seemed much +at home, and quite content, in the hollow of her arm. "They are wise +little creatures; we have many of them in South America, and this one +seems to be trained." + +"Whatever will your aunt say, Cleo?" Grace exclaimed. "Just think of +fetching another surprise. We thought the fly catcher plant quite +wonderful; but just imagine a real little monkey!" + +"Oh, Aunt Audrey loves pets," declared Cleo, "and you see how well she +has treated us!" + +"I should say so," affirmed Madaline, "and we are pretty noisy pets at +that." + +"Uncle Guy will be delighted with this monkey, I am sure," continued +Cleo, qualifying which monkey she referred to, "that is if he gets home +in time, and if we are allowed to keep our chatterbox. Suppose someone +takes him from us?" + +"Can't have him," objected Grace, attempting to pat the dark spot of +fur in Mary's arm. "He's going to be our mascot, aren't +you--Peetootie? Wonder what we'll name him?" + +"Let's have a real party for him----" But Grace had no time to finish +out her party plans, for the roof of Cragsnook now loomed up through +the trees. + +"Mary," interrupted Cleo, "what do you think will be best to do about +the orchids? We are almost home, and I think it would be better to +have some suggestion to offer Aunt Audrey." + +"Oh, it all seems so hopeless now," sighed Mary, "and just when Grandie +is getting better and I felt so--so--happy!" + +"Now don't you go worrying like that," Grace put in quickly. "These +things are just new--new adventures," she declared, "and you will see +how they all help to clear up the big mystery which is back of the +whole thing," offered Grace. "Don't you think, Mary, we might get +someone to go live in the studio, and take care of it? Someone whom +you could trust, of course." + +"If we only could--but then, you see, Grandie feels he is guarding +something----" + +As Mary faltered Cleo filled in the hesitation with a suggestion that +they lay the whole story before Mrs. Dunbar and see what she might +propose. It struck the girls as queer that the Professor should be +"guarding" something in the deserted studio, but they were too +considerate of Mary's feelings to press that point. + +Cleo was carrying the hand-made basket, and in it the bundle of +jewelry, tied up in Reda's black silk shawl, while each of the other +girls was burdened with the most important of the articles unearthed in +the search at the studio. + +"I am so afraid someone may suspect we are carrying valuables," said +Grace. "Cleo, do be careful, don't tip your basket, some jewel might +slide out." + +"No danger. They are all secure in the shawl," replied Cleo. + +"Of course it is lovely to have these things if they all prove to be +Loved One's," Mary said gently, "but do you know I really believe I +care more about the pictures than anything else. They make me feel as +if--as if--I just visited with daddy and mother again." + +"There's Michael out in the back lots. Let's go through that way and +we won't be apt to meet people on the road," suggested Grace, plainly +anxious to get the jewels into Cragsnook without any possibility of +molestation. + +Greeting Michael pleasantly, they were attempting to hurry along, past +the garage, when he called them to wait a moment. + +"If you are going up to the house," he said, "would you mind telling +Jennie that my cousin got in from Long Island to-day--a woman looking +for a place out here? And ask Jennie if she can make room for her +until I get a chance to look around for a place. I am sorry she came +without giving me more time, but I just got the card on this mail." + +"Certainly, Michael," offered Cleo. Then a thought struck her that +seemed to offer some solution of the difficulties at the studio. Maybe +Michael's cousin could keep house for Mary and her grandfather? + +"Mary," she whispered, "do you mind if I ask Michael about his cousin? +She might go to the studio for us." + +"Oh, wouldn't that be splendid!" and something like joy shot across +Mary's pale face. "I know any friend of Michael's would be faithful." + +But Michael was just spying the little animal in Mary's arm. And the +animal seemed to be just spying Michael! + +"What on earth--have you got--there!" gasped the caretaker. + +"Oh, the dearest little monkey----" Cleo attempted to explain, but was +interrupted with a protest. + +"A monkey!" cried Michael. "Of all the hated animals of the earth a +monkey is the worst. Where ever did you pick the creature up?" He +stepped nearer to examine the mascot, in spite of his denunciation. + +"Now you couldn't hate a little thing like that," insisted Grace. +"Just see, he wants to shake hands with you." + +Rather awkwardly the man extended one big brown finger. The queer +little creature made a comical effort to grasp it, and at the same time +shake his wizened head with a show of monkey intelligence. + +"I don't exactly know why it is, but the Irish hate monkeys!" admitted +Michael, with a hearty laugh that interpreted the joke. + +"But you will love this one," insisted Mary. "He is as tame as a +kitten." + +"And even Shep was kind to him," went on Grace. "Say, Michael," +coaxingly, "couldn't we take him in your rooms for something to eat? +He must be starved. We found him--in an empty house," explained Grace. + +"And he needs it--I mean an empty house," declared Michael. "Can't you +see him making himself at home in my little sitting room? I'll bet he +would want to sleep in my best tea pot, or maybe he would prefer my new +hat. They always like hats when they go around with the organ +grinders. But tell me, girls, where did you get him? I don't want a +couple of hurdy-gurdy pushers coming down on me for their monka," he +finished, with a very weak imitation of the Italian accent. + +"Someone left him in Mary's house, or else he came in by the chimney," +said Madaline. "But at any rate he is ours, and we are going to have +him for a pet. Now, Michael, please give him something to eat. See +how pale he is." + +Whether willingly or reluctantly, Michael now led the way to his +quarters in the garage, and as quickly as the monkey smelled food Mary +had her own troubles in restraining his appreciation. He wanted to +walk all over everything and sample every article in sight that even +looked like food. + +"He surely was hungry," admitted Michael, showing an interest in the +animal in spite of his voiced dislike for it. "They are kinda cute, +ain't they now?" he ventured. + +"And say, Michael," began Cleo at this favorable opening, "do you think +your cousin would like to take a place up at Second Mountain? You see, +Mary's folks are all away. You know her grandfather is in Crow's Nest, +and they have some beautiful things at the studio that should be cared +for." + +"We can give her good wages," assured Mary, "and Grandie would so +appreciate a real housekeeper." + +"Say, listen!" said Michael. "I'll forgive the monkey now. That's the +very place for Katie Bergen. Just you run along and fix it up with +Jennie for to-night, and I'll take care of the monkey." + +"There!" said Cleo, when they left the garage, "isn't that just like a +good natured old Michael? He's petting our mascot already." And they +all agreed it was just like Michael to pet a monkey. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +REDA'S RETURN + +When Mrs. Dunbar heard the story of the day's adventures, even she +showed surprise. + +"I hardly know how to excuse myself for allowing you girls to go up +there alone," she said, when the scouts had unfolded the exciting +story, "except that you always do seem so capable!" Then she laughed +and tapped Cleo under the chin. "Of course you would be capable," she +added, "when you are related to me." + +"Oh, there really wasn't any danger," Grace hurried to say, fearful +their wings of adventure might be clipped by the scissors of prudence. +"Besides, we had Shep with us, you know." + +"Yes, and, Auntie, he acted so queerly," said Cleo. "He found an old +yellow handkerchief, and simply insisted on tearing it to shreds. I +never saw him hate anything so." + +"Yellow handkerchief, did you say?" repeated Mrs. Dunbar, and when Cleo +said "yes" the aunt just shook her head understandingly. She knew it +was also a yellow handkerchief that Shep dragged in with him the night +he received the bullet wound. The two articles must have belonged to +the same person. No wonder Shep would hate both! + +"But do let me get a look at those wonderful trinkets," said Mrs. +Dunbar, when they finally did manage to reach the sitting room and +there drop some of the bundles and baskets. "I have never hoard of +such a story. To think old Reda had all those hidden away. Of course, +you being so young, Mary dear, she may have just intended to keep them +till you grew up," she concluded. + +This explanation did not seem to satisfy some of her listeners, +although Mary was inclined to accept it. Presently Mrs. Dunbar was +examining the little cameos, the quaint foreign rings, and +lockets--there were a number of lockets. Then Mary offered the +photographs for her inspection. The trained eye of the artist lingered +on these. Yes, Mary surely was like her pretty mother; and the tall +soldierly man! What a pity he had to go so soon from the life of his +daughter. + +"Makes me think of Guy," Mrs. Dunbar remarked, "with his love of +adventure. He must have been of the same temperament, for I am sure I +will soon have to pack up my kit and go traveling if I am to be with my +own good looking boy," and she gave one of her happy, rippling laughs. +Audrey Dunbar was still a girl, and "her boy's" tour through the west +had been her first separation from him since their marriage. + +"But he will soon be home," she added, as if the girls had been +following her thoughts. "Then let us be prepared for more surprises." + +"Why?" asked Madaline shyly. + +"Oh, because he is a very surprising boy!" declared the young wife, +"and when he becomes a scout--Mercy me! what wonderful things will +happen! But now I am going down to see your other find--the monkey. +Cleo dear, you know my weakness for queer animals, and my love for +monkeys often got me in trouble during my hand-organ days. Come along. +It will be tea time before we know it." + +In the few hours following it was difficult to make sure just which end +of Cragsnook was most fascinating. The girls went from one "exhibit" +to the other, with seemingly increasing interest, until Mrs. Dunbar +finally locked all the valuables in the safe, and Michael, down in his +quarters, had rigged up a cage for "Boxer." The girls decided he might +be called Boxer because they found him in a box, and also because +Michael had already discovered he could use his "fists." + +After tea Mary declined an invitation to take a run to the village. +She seemed overdone with the day of excitement. + +"But you girls go, and bring me some stamps, if you will," she said. +"I want to write a whole book to Grandie to-night. It seems the most +satisfactory way of talking to him now," she finished. + +"But you will see him to-morrow," Cleo reminded her. "Why write?" + +"Oh, I like him to get my good morning kiss with his breakfast," +responded Mary, "and, besides, I may be able to prepare him for some of +the surprises." + +So Cleo, Grace and Madaline went off to the village, although reluctant +to leave Mary alone. Still, her plea to write letters seemed a request +not to be interrupted. + +Almost before it could be realized thunder rolled over the mountains. +A telephone announced the girls would stay with Lucille and Lalia, whom +they had met in town, and that all would return by auto as soon as the +shower passed. Mary sat by the low window looking ever the porch. +Jennie was busy in the kitchen, and Mrs. Dunbar was in her study, +writing to the home-coming boy. The storm came on so suddenly that +Mary hurried to close the long French window off the living room, when +something like a moan sounded, she thought, under the window! + +She listened! Yes, surely that was someone moaning. Stepping through +the window out onto the porch, a sheet of rain dashed in her face, +blinding her so that, for the moment, she was forced to take refuge +behind the swinging hammock. + +Flashes of lightning now showed a blackened sky, and the terrifying +peals of thunder seemed to swallow every other earthly sound. + +"But I am sure I heard a human voice," Mary told herself. "I must see +if anyone is about here suffering." + +She was minded to attempt to call for Jennie, when again a low, pitiful +moan came as an echo to a terrific thunder clap. + +"Who is it?" called Mary, but the sound had died down, and was lost in +the storm. + +"It could not have been Shep," Mary was thinking, "and I can't go +inside without finding out what it is. Who is there?" she called, +bravely throwing her skirt over her head to ward off the beating rain. + +"Mary! Marie, come to Reda!" came a faint reply, and at the sound of +the voice, unmistakably that of her old nurse, Mary jumped from the +porch, out into the blasting storm, and attempted to follow the +direction whence came the sound. + +"Reda! Reda! Where are you?" she called frantically. "It is I, Mary. +Answer, where are you?" She stopped under a tree to avoid a very +deluge that poured down on the path. For a moment she hesitated. What +if that letter from New York had been a ruse to trick her into +following someone with the idea of helping Reda? But surely that was +Reda's cry. + +Again she called and called, but no reply came back, and baffled, as +well as frightened, she ran to the house, in through the hall, her +dripping garment leaving a path of water as she went, until she reached +Jennie in the kitchen. + +"Oh, Jennie," she gasped, "someone is out in the storm! They called +me. I am sure it is my old nurse, Reda! How can we find her in this +awful downpour?" + +"Out in the storm--who?" asked the maid, astonished at the plight of +the girl who stood trembling before her. + +"I am sure it is Reda, and she will perish," wailed Mary. "What shall +I do?" + +"Now don't take on so," commanded Jennie, beginning to realize what it +all meant. "Just you wait until a few of these awful claps are over, +and we will quickly find anyone who is out there. Just hear that! +Mercy! what a dreadful storm! I am so glad the girls did not venture +home. I could scarcely get the windows shut when it broke like a +cloud-burst." + +"Why, what is the matter?" came Mrs. Dunbar's voice from the hall. +"Jennie, I am sure someone is crying out in the storm," she called. + +"Come, we must see who it can be." + +"I am afraid it is Reda, my nurse," said Mary, now almost in tears. +"Oh, do you think she will perish? I was out but could not find her." + +Hurried arrangements were made now to summon Michael, and as the storm +had somewhat abated it was soon possible to go out with lanterns and +search. + +Clad in raincoats and rubbers, Mary, Jennie and Mrs. Dunbar went first +along the path, toward the gate. Everything seemed quiet, except the +late splashes of rain from the trees, and in spite of repeated calls no +answer came, and no trace of the storm's victim could be found. + +"Nobody about," announced Michael, as if satisfied the search had been +futile. + +Then a stir in the hedge attracted Mary's attention. + +"Listen!" she exclaimed. "Something stirred in here!" + +"Fetch the lantern, Michael," commanded Mrs. Dunbar. "I do see the +bushes moving." + +He brought the light, and swung it into the thick hedge. + +"Oh, Reda," cried Mary. "Reda, are you dead!" she screamed, throwing +herself down by a huddled figure that lay ominously still in the deep, +wet grass. + +"Mary, wait," ordered Mrs. Dunbar kindly. "Here, Michael, give me the +light so you can lift her. She may be just overcome." + +But Mary was on her knees beside the old nurse, whose face, bared to +the glare of the lantern, looked so death-like! + +"Reda! Reda!" called Mary, pressing her young face down to the +shriveled features. "Oh, speak to Mary. It is I, Maid Mary! See, I +am with you." + +But no sound came from the frozen lips, nor did the wrinkled hands +answer Mary's warm grasp. + +"She is likely stunned," said Mrs. Dunbar, encouragingly. "Michael, +can you carry her?" + +"Certainly I can," declared the stalwart man, and shouldering the inert +burden, her arms brought over his strong chest, and her limbs fetched +around under his own strong arms, he carried the unconscious woman up +the steps into Cragsnook. + +Speechless with terror, Mary followed, while Mrs. Dunbar led the way +with the light, and Jennie had hurried on ahead to make ready, scarcely +knowing where the gruesome burden was to be rested. + +"On the couch in the library," ordered Mrs. Dunbar, "and, Jennie, +telephone at once for Dr. Whitehead. I feel sure she is only stunned. +Mary dear, be brave," she continued. "We will surely bring your poor, +old nurse back to you," she finished. + +But Mary stood like one transfixed, gazing at the helpless figure +huddled on the low, leather couch. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE ORPHAN OF THE ORCHIDS + +Anxious hours at Cragsnook followed that night's storm. Reda, who had +been ill in New York, had somehow managed to make her way to Bellaire +when she was overtaken by the cloud-burst and stunned from fright of +lightning and thunder. But with the skillful work of Dr. Whitehead, +assisted by Jennie, Kate Bergen (Michael's cousin who arrived after the +shower), Mrs. Dunbar and the girls, the old nurse finally opened her +eyes, and showed signs of life. + +"Oh, I never knew how much I loved her until I saw her lying so +deathlike," Mary murmured, when Mrs. Dunbar insisted the child should +leave the bedside of Reda. "If she had died, and I had not found her +in time----" + +"Now, Mary-love," coaxed Grace, "you know you are a scout, and we never +indulge in foolish fancies like that. Just think how fine it is that +she has been saved, and think how good Mrs. Dunbar is." + +"Oh, I know and think of that constantly," declared Mary. "This house +is nothing short of an institution since I came to it," she went on. +"And do you know, Cleo," turning to the one girl who had the right +there of relationship to Mrs. Dunbar, "it all frightens me when I feel +so much at home here, almost as if I too belonged at Cragsnook. It is +presuming, and I can't account for that in me. I have always been so +timid." + +"You are cured, that's why," said Cleo, urging Mary to bed, for it was +well past midnight. "A girl scout simply can't be timid, that is a +really, truly good as gold scout girl, and we all know you are exactly +that. But not one more word to-night. I have been appointed captain +and it is my duty to sound taps, or, as Benny Philow or Mally Mack +might say, 'douse the glim.' I think that's the cutest expression," +and to demonstrate just how "cute" it was she snapped off the lights. + +Next day everything was in confusion, and excitement was too weak a +word with which to describe the conditions that existed at Cragsnook. +Reda had come to with all the strength characteristic of her sturdy +race, and nothing but main force kept her from running away. She was +frightened to death of the place, of the people around her, and nothing +that Mary could say would assure her no harm could come to anyone who +was within the hospitality of that generous home. And Reda had +explained to Mary it was the jewels she had hidden for the child that +had caused her most anxiety. She feared Janos would find them. + +The advent of Katie Bergen, Michael's cousin, seemed nothing short of +providential, and to her was at once entrusted the care of the +obstreperous patient. + +"I think, dear Mrs. Dunbar," said Mary rather timidly, "it would really +be much better to take Reda back to the studio. Once there she will +quiet down, and that may save her from higher fever." + +"Perhaps you are right," Mrs. Dunbar agreed; "the doctor says she has +been a very sick woman, and her collapse was only natural, considering +what she went through. Has she told you why she was so eager to see +you?" + +"Partly," Mary replied. "You see, she was sort of conscious +[Transcriber's note: conscience?] stricken that something would happen +to me, and she felt obliged to warn me. And she also wanted to give me +Loved One's jewels." + +"But nothing did happen," blurted out Madaline, keen on the trail of +the mystery. + +"Oh, do tell us, Mary," begged Grace. "It seems to me we will have so +much to find out all at once it will be rather overwhelming if we don't +start in." + +"Well, you little scouts run along and enjoy your story," suggested +Mrs. Dunbar, "and I will see about having Reda sent up to the mountain. +I am sure, Mary, you are right. She may be saved a real relapse if we +agree with her. And, of course, Katie is going to be your housekeeper. +I would envy you if I hadn't such a treasure in Jennie. This is really +her house, and I am a guest, it seems to me," and it was hoped by every +little girl present that the delicious compliment floated out to +Jennie, who was busy in the breakfast room just at that moment. + +"Please let _me_ tell you something first," begged Cleo, when the girls +were left to themselves. "I am fairly bursting with the news. You +know I wrote out the whole story to Uncle Guy. I wanted him to know +all about it when he came home and also, ahem"--and the perky little +head perked perceptibly--"I may as well admit, girls, I am ambitious to +keep the family honors up in the writing line, so I just wrote all this +glorious vacation to Uncle Guy, making it just like a summer story. I +sent our pictures----" + +"Mercy me, Cleo!" interrupted Grace, "I guess you will be a story +writer. Just see how you have us all keyed up, and won't tell us what +happened. What did your Uncle Guy say?" she demanded. + +Cleo laughed triumphantly. "There, I knew I would get you excited----" + +"Cleo Harris!" shouted Madaline, almost forgetting the presence of a +sick person out on the enclosed side porch, where Reda was being fixed +up for her journey over the mountain. "Cleo," repeated Madaline, "you +tell us instantly what your Uncle Guy said!" + +"Your commands are my pleasures," replied Cleo in mock dramatic +emphasis. "There, doesn't that sound like a book? Uncle Guy wrote to +me and to Aunt Audrey, and he merely said not to let a single kid +escape. That my letter had knocked him silly, and that his cousin, +whom he discovered out in the western camp, was coming home with him." + +"Who is the cousin?" asked Grace. + +"A man, a lovely man, just like Uncle Guy. He was an explorer, or +still is, and has been away for some years," she glanced rather +anxiously at Mary, but the latter never changed her serious expression. +Then Cleo said pointedly, "Mary, your father was an explorer, wasn't +he?" + +"Yes, he went away in search of orchids," faltered Mary, "and you know +he never came back from the sea, when the men took him out to the ocean +to cool him in that frightful fever." + +"And you left the island with the professor a few days after?" pressed +Cleo. + +"Yes, oh yes. We had to get away. Grandie was getting sick, you know; +that is how he lost--his memory." + +"Yes," said Cleo, simply, but Grace and Madaline had "seen a light," +which Mary still appeared blind to. + +Mrs. Dunbar was very busy arranging for the removal of Reda, but in a +moment of cessation she was heard talking to Crow's Nest over the +phone. She gave orders to the sanitarium that Professor Benson should +be brought down to Cragsnook for a ride late that afternoon, as the +girls would not go up there that day. Besides, Mrs. Dunbar was +declaring, the ride would do him good. + +"Oh, won't that be lovely!" and Mary almost danced out of her glumps. +"Just think of Grandie here!" + +"Now, Mary-love, you promised some of Reda's news. Do tell us before +something else happens to put off all our delicious mysteries," +implored Madaline, quite as if the telling would give the same joy to +Mary as the news would furnish to herself. + +"What did she want to warn you of?" prompted Grace. + +"Oh, Janos and his men. They were coming out here to take all +Grandie's orchids away. And they brought the monkey to scare him. He +was dreadfully frightened of a monkey once in the tropics, and Janos +knew it, so he just planned that awful trick on him----" + +"With our lovely little Boxer! How perfectly absurd," exclaimed Grace, +at the risk of spoiling all the thrilling story Mary had undertaken to +tell them. + +"Yes," went on Mary, "and the night you girls came, that first night, +you remember?" + +"Yes, when I turned on the lights," inserted Madaline. + +"That was the night they first planned to scare Grandie's secret from +him. They were all three out in that orchid room, just waiting to +break in and--oh, I can't say what they were going to do to get +Grandie's secret from him." She was now on the verge of sobbing, and +the girls had no idea of letting any such thing occur. + +"But Madaline turned the tables," Cleo said cheerily, "and she shooed +off the--desperate thieves!" and Cleo again reverted to type as a +fiction fixer. + +"And the really cruel part of it all was," continued Mary, "Grandie did +not know and does not know yet what became of the treasure they are all +seeking. He lost it with his memory," she said almost in a whisper. +"And it was daddy's just as I was his. I was to be given mother's +family with the treasure as a peace offering." + +"What was it?" asked Cleo. "Can you tell us now, Mary-love?" she asked +gently. + +"Yes, Grandie said I might tell you now, for he does not fear things as +he did before he went to the sanitarium. He has recovered courage, +which was simply clogged up in his congested mind. Yes, he said I +might tell you now that he lost the most famous orchid in the world, +the 'Spiranthes Corale.' That means coral lady tresses. It was in +search of that daddy and the expedition went out. Daddy found it. It +was almost beyond price. Then Loved One died, dear daddy was stricken, +and all the papers and this wonderful bulb were given Grandie. He lost +them! Do you wonder he almost went crazy?" + +For a few minutes the girls did not speak. It seemed rather +disappointing that the whole mystery should center around the bulb of +an orchid. + +"Oh, I know," exclaimed Cleo presently. "I have read of the famous +orchid hunts and the fabulous sums of money offered for the most rare +species. Of course that was the sort of expedition your folks were on, +Mary-love. And, of course--why, girls, that's just what our newspaper +clipping was all about. The one we found wrapped around the old stick +in Mary's big clock!" + +"Get it! Get it!" cried Madaline, who literally tumbled after Grace, +in haste to reach the old bit of newspaper that had been carefully +stored away in the scouts' desk, for they had been assigned one general +and especial desk in Cragsnook. + +"And the precious bulb was never found?" Cleo said to Mary, seeming to +embrace her with a look, so filled was her expression with genuine +affection. + +"No, it has gone, and with it the one hope of Loved One's last word to +me, that the famous orchid which was to be given to her mother in this +country would unite me with her family, and prove daddy a real +explorer." + +"And don't you know who her family are?" asked Cleo, unable to suppress +her increasing excitement. + +"Not exactly, for Grandie begged me not to ask until he had recovered +the bulb. He always felt his memory must come back. Now, of course, +it is months, and we have given up hope. But I don't care any more, +for I have found so many other darling loves in life." She threw her +arms around Cleo, and if the latter had ever given in to tears she +might have been pardoned a few just then--the kind that come with too +much joy. + +"Mary!" she said gently, "now I know why Professor Benson once called +you the orphan of the orchids, but suppose, suppose your daddy didn't +die?" she ventured. + +"I have often thought of that," said the child. "But even if he lived +he could never find me, for he would think I died with so many others, +and I suppose I could not even look for him, until I grow up like Loved +One, and go off again to search among the orchids. I wouldn't fear +that fever when the goal might mean daddy!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MAID MARY AWAKE + +"We had better tell her," said Mrs. Dunbar to Cleo, an hour later, +after Cleo had talked things over with G-race, while she left Madaline +to entertain Mary. "As you say, my dear, it does look as if your +vacation story is going to have a very happy ending." + +Cleo flitted back to her companions. They divined from her manner that +the hoped-for good news was to be "thrown on the screen." + +"Mary," began Cleo, who had dropped in a safe coil on the rug at Mary's +feet, "are you prepared for the very biggest thing in all the world to +happen? Can you stand the most astonishing kind of news?" and she +managed to secure Mary's hand to give her confidence. + +"Oh, yes, Cleo dear, but don't tell me if you are not sure? I have +been dreaming such glorious things since--you talked of--daddy!" + +"It is just about him, Mary, I want to speak. He may be alive----" + +"Oh, how do you know? Who has found him----" + +"Don't become too excited now," pleaded Cleo, while Grace and Madaline +both closed in affectionately about Mary's chair. "Of course we cannot +be too positive, but Uncle Guy has wired he is bringing back--your +daddy!" + +"Oh!" the sound was a sigh, a gasp, then Mary began to slip down deep +into the chair. + +"Now, don't you dare faint!" called Madaline, with the magic way she +always exercised of averting evil through sheer innocent challenge. +"Here, Grace, hold her head while I fetch water," and while Grace +attempted to support the head Madaline had been fondling, Mary raised +it with a look of unspeakable joy. + +"Oh, girls!" she murmured, "how did you do it?" + +"Oh, we didn't," disclaimed Cleo. "No girls really could; we just +lived up to our laws and rules and inspirations, and all those powers +united to bring our happy result. It would be perfectly silly to say +girls could do such things." + +"But we did all the same," came from Grace, "and it would be sillier to +say the rules and the laws and the inspirations did them. Wouldn't it? +You wrote the whole story and even sent Mary's picture to your uncle." + +"But daddy!" Mary begged. "Tell me, where is he now? How did your +uncle find him?" + +"Our uncle," corrected Cleo. "I am almost afraid to tell you this +part. The girls will say I was in the secret all the time, and I +wasn't, truly. Mary--you are my cousin!" + +"She is not--no fair!" cried Grace, actually slamming a pillow on +Cleo's head. "I warned you long ago not to dare to claim her----" And +the thumping of soft pillows supplied the omission of words. + +"At least let me tell it," said Madaline in mock scorn. "Be generous +enough to give us that much glory. You see, ladies and gentlemen (to +an imagined audience), this little girl," slamming Cleo with another +pillow, "wrote a letter to her cousin. Her cousin had found his +cousin, and his cousin made Mary Cleo's cousin, because Cleo's +cousin--was----" + +Realizing Mary was not in a mood for such joking, Madaline apologized +with a kiss on the softly pinked cheek. "Mary-love," she confessed, "I +just did that to ward off tears. Cleo would have disgraced the scouts +in another moment." + +"We got the most important clew in the old bamboo cane," said Cleo, +seriously. "That was literally stuffed with papers, and one was a +baptismal certificate, giving your name, Mary, as Marie Hastings +Dunbar." + +"Dunbar!" repeated Mary, "and the men all called daddy Dunnie. That +was his name, Dunbar!" + +"Yea, and Aunt Audrey has found out that Constance Hastings, your +mother's mother, is in one of the finest hotels in New York now! The +Hastings own the most famous orchid collection in this country." + +"They are millionaires," began Mary, but her voice was almost scornful. + +"Yes, I know. Aunt Audrey has talked with Mrs. Gilmore Hastings over +the telephone. She will be apt to take you from us, if you don't hold +tight." + +"Never! Never! Never!" defied Grace. "She is our Mary--yes, cousin +Mary, for isn't Cleo's Aunt Audrey our Aunt Audrey--by vacation scout +laws?" + +Only the girls that they were could have absorbed so many surprises at +a sitting, but such is the nature of nature's best product, and that +product is always lively, happy girls! + +What happened between that time and next morning would take volumes to +relate, but it might as well be admitted that Jennie had to fairly camp +out in the hall that night to stop the talking, and it was away past +midnight when she succeeded. Even then it would be false to claim that +Mary actually slept. + +Early in the evening Mrs. Dunbar had very carefully unfolded the story +to Professor Benson when he came down over the mountain in the car Mrs. +Dunbar had ordered. So that he, too, was somewhat prepared for the +astounding surprise. The return of Jayson Dunbar from the mystery of +orchid land seemed almost too wonderful, but the Professor admitted he +had always hoped Jay would "turn up." + +"And every letter I wrote to mother I kept hinting that the glories of +Bellaire were actually taking root in my soul," said Cleo, as the girl +dressed next morning, almost unconscious of the task they were +performing. "Now she will understand the metaphor." + +"And Michael is going to give us all a ride up to the studio before +breakfast," exclaimed Madaline. "He wants to try the car to make sure +it is all right." + +"Try it on us," laughed Grace. Nevertheless she was the first one to +find the best seat, when the car directly honked at the door. + +Reda was beautifully installed in her own room, and pompously accepting +the ministrations of Katie Bergen, when the girls found her at the +studio. How delightful it all was! Mary was speechless with sheer joy. + +"It is perfectly glorious!" she kept exclaiming. "And to think that +daddy is coming! How can I believe it after all my dark days!" + +"Girls! Let's have one more blissful look in the orchid room!" begged +Grace. "It won't be the same when others come." + +Almost like a little procession they wended their way into the +conservatory. At the opening of the door they were almost overcome +with the perfume of the tropics that burst from the riot of glory there. + +They looked from one bloom to another. Mary told them how Professor +Benson had made every sort of bulb bloom in the hope of finding the +lost treasure, the rarest orchid in the world. Then she explained why +she and Reda had gathered queer roots from which the botanist had +ground fertilizer, but that all of this had not brought forth the +priceless bloom. + +They were reluctantly leaving when Madaline and Grace espied Mary's old +home-made doll. It was so quaint and queer they both sought to reclaim +it at once. + +"Just look!" said Madaline. "What a funny old doll!" + +"Isn't it jolly," added Grace, whose hand was on the discarded toy just +as Madaline picked it up. + +"Why, the orchids have taken root in it, Mary," declared Grace. "See, +this sprout growing out of the arm!" + +"Let me see!" almost cried Mary. "Oh, girls, it is it! It is the lost +orchid. Grandie had sewed it up in the doll! Look. See that stem!" +She was shouting almost wildly, for there, shooting from the broken arm +pit of the queer old hand-made doll was the unmistakable tendril of the +long sought for orchid. + +"And we both found it at exactly the same minute!" announced Grace when +the full value of their discovery dawned upon them. "Cleo found an +adorable cousin, and you and I, Madie dear, found the lost orchid!" + +Mary held the doll up to the astonished gaze of her companions. To +think that tiny green shoot should mean so much! That hidden in the +queer doll was a prize, almost beyond price, and for this prize +covetous men had followed Mary and her guardian from the tropics! + +The girls stood there almost reverently. + +And, unconsciously, Mary posed again as the Orphan of the Orchids! + +Michael had been off to Crow's Nest for the professor and he was now +back with the splendidly improved man, a scholar and a scientist every +inch, who stood there in sight of his orchid room. + +"Grandie! Grandie!" called Mary, "see, we have found it. You sewed it +up in the doll you made me! Don't you remember how you told me never +to part with that old rag baby?" + +Like a flash it all came back! Yes, when the fever threatened his life +he had decided the child could keep her doll free from suspicion, and +in this he had sewed the precious orchid bulb. + +"Girls! Girls!" he exclaimed, "am I dreaming? And I didn't betray my +trust! Dunnie, you may come back to us now; I have saved for you both +your darling child and your precious orchid!" + +Meanwhile the greatest of great preparations were being completed at +Cragsnook. Only the freest use of telegraph had contented Guy Dunbar +to stay with the train that bore him and his famous cousin back to +civilization. + +The train was in. Michael and Shep met it. Boxer had been compelled +to stay home though Michael wanted to take him, and all the girls "with +Mrs. Dunbar and Professor Benson stood on the porch, under the arch of +growing roses that welcomed the comers to Cragsnook. + +"Don't get too excited, Mary," begged Madaline, always to be depended +upon for breaking too heavy a silence. + +"There they come," shouted Cleo, and nothing but a firm hold laid on +her very skirts by Mrs. Dunbar kept the impetuous little scout from +running out too near the approaching motor. + +Folded in her daddy's arms, Mary seemed for a moment miles and miles +away. Then she turned to the girls and tried to speak, but she only +managed to say: + +"Girls, I am wide awake at last." + +"Say, Audrey," said Guy Dunbar, after he had embraced his wife and +looked about him at the group of girls, "this surely is a real old home +week. I always knew you ought to run a boarding school!" + +"Or a merry-go-round, Uncle Guy," Cleo supplemented. "This house, with +Aunt Audrey as leader, has been a regular picnic grounds all Summer." + +"And to think I should literally fall over old coz, Jay Dunbar, in a +western lumber camp," said jolly Guy Dunbar, thumping his own brilliant +head. + +Mary and her father (he did look like Guy Dunbar) were too spellbound +to notice their surroundings. But as quickly as he could manage it +Professor Benson spoke to the wanderer. "It's like the real page in +our old log, Dunnie," said the professor, "and your precious Spiranthes +Corale has been found. I lost it, but Mary's, friends have recovered +it and now you are the famous explorer you set out to become." And he +held up the quaint doll with the miraculous green shoot stealing +through its arm pit. + +"Some little Girl Scouts!" declared Guy Dunbar, leading the way to the +house. + +"How shall we end it?" asked Cleo. "Mary's daddy is found, the orchid +is found, new cousins are found--oh, girls! I have so many wonderful +endings for our vacation story we shall have to vote on the fade-out!" +she decided, while the girls fell into line for a Scout parade to +victory. + +And the joys of that wonderful reunion must occupy our own interest in +these self-same little girls until we meet them again in the next +volume, to be entitled, THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST--OR THE WIG WAG +RESCUE. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE*** + + +******* This file should be named 25626.txt or 25626.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/6/2/25626 + + + +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 F3. 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, is 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. + diff --git a/25626.zip b/25626.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d1f32c --- /dev/null +++ b/25626.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b90ec2 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #25626 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25626) |