OUT OF THE FRYING PAN
"Stay here? I should say not!" exclaimed Dolly. "I'm almost
starved--and, Bessie, they must be terribly worried about us, too. And
now tell me, as we go along, how you ever found me. I don't see how you
managed that."
So, as they made their way down the trail, Bessie told her of all that
had happened since her rude awakening at the camp fire, just after the
gypsy had carried Dolly off.
"Oh, Bessie, it was perfectly fine of you, and it's only because of you
that we're safe now! But you oughtn't to have taken such a risk! Just
think of what might have happened!"
"That's just it, Dolly. I've got time to think about it now, but then I
could only think of you, and what was happening to you. If I'd stopped
to think about the danger I'm afraid I wouldn't have come."
"But you must have known it was dangerous! I don't know anyone else who
would have done it for me."
"Oh, yes, they would, Dolly. That's one of the things we promise when we
join the Camp Fire Girls--always to help another member of the Camp Fire
who is in trouble or in danger."
"Yes--but not like that. It doesn't say anything about going into danger
yourself, you know."
"Listen, Dolly. If you saw me drowning in the water, you'd jump in after
me, wouldn't you? Or after any of the girls--if there wasn't time to get
help?"
"I suppose so--but that's different. It just means going in quickly,
without time to think very much about it. And you had plenty of time to
think while you were tramping along that horrid dark trail after me."
"Well, it's all over now, Dolly, and, after all, you had to save both of
us in the end."
"That was just a piece of luck, and a trick, Bessie. It didn't take any
courage to do that--and, beside, if it hadn't been for you I would never
have had the chance to do that. I wonder why Lolla let you have her
knife to cut those cords about me?"
"I think she's a regular actress, Dolly, and that she wanted to make me
feel absolutely sure she was on our side, so that we would both be there
in that trap when she and Peter came back."
"It's a good thing he was such a coward, Bessie."
"Oh, I think he'd be brave enough if he just had to fight with a man, so
that it was the sort of fighting he was used to. You see it wasn't his
plan, and when I said I'd use that knife he couldn't see why he should
run any risk when all the profit was for the other man."
"And when you played that trick with your voice he was frightened,
because he'd never heard of anything of that sort, and he didn't know
what was coming next. I think that would frighten a good many people who
are really brave."
"Bessie, why do I always get into so much trouble? All this happened
just because I changed those signs that day."
"Oh, I don't know about that, Dolly. It might have happened anyhow. I've
got an idea now that they knew we were around, and that John planned to
kidnap one of us and keep us until someone paid him a lot of money to
let us go. Something Lolla said made me think that."
"Then he was just playing a joke when he said he wanted to marry me?"
"Yes, I think so, because I don't think he was foolish enough to think
he could ever really get you to do that. I did think so at first, but if
that had been so I'm quite sure that Lolla wouldn't have helped him."
"She'd have been jealous, you mean?"
"Yes, I'm quite sure, you see, that she saw him and talked to him when
we went over to their camp that time, so that she could take orders from
him to Peter. He knew he'd be watched, so he must have made up his mind
from the first that he would have to have help."
"I wonder what he is doing now, Bessie."
"I certainly hope he's still over there at the camp, sitting near that
guide. The guide said he would shoot him if he tried to get away, you
know."
"My, but I'll bet there's been a lot of commotion over this."
"I'm sure there has, Dolly. Probably all the people at the hotel heard
about it, too. I'll bet they've got people out all through the woods
looking for us."
"I wish we'd meet some of them--and that they'd have a lot of sandwiches
and things. Bessie, I've simply got to sit down and rest. I want to get
back to Miss Eleanor and the girls, but if I keep on any longer I'll
drop just where we are. I'm too tired to take another step without a
rest."
"I am, too, Dolly. Here--here's a good place to sit down for a little
while. We really can't be so very far from Long Lake now."
"No," said a voice, behind them. "But you're so far that you'll never
reach there, my dears!"
And, turning, they saw John, the gypsy, leering at them. His clothes
were torn, and he was hot and dirty, so that it was plain that he had
had a long run, and a narrow escape from capture. But at the sight of
them he smiled, evilly and triumphantly, as if that repaid him amply for
any hardships he had undergone.
"Don't you dare touch us!" said Bessie, shrilly.
She realized even as she said it, that he was not likely to pay any
attention to her, but the sight of his grinning face, when she had been
so sure that their troubles were over at last, was too much for her.
She sank down on a log beside Dolly, and hid her face in her hands,
beginning to cry. Most men, no matter how bad, would have been moved to
pity by the sight of her sufferings. But John was not.
"Don't cry," he said, with mock sympathy. "I am not going to treat you
badly. You shall stay in the woods with me. I have a good hiding place,
a place where your friends will never find you until I am ready. You are
tired. So am I. We will rest here. It is quite safe. A party of your
friends passed this way five minutes ago. They will not come again--not
soon. I was within a few feet of them, but they did not see me."
Bessie groaned at the news. Had they only reached the place five minutes
earlier, then, they would have been safe. She was struck by an idea,
however, and lifted her voice in a shout for aid. In a moment the
gypsy's hand covered her mouth and he was snarling in her ear.
"None of that," he said, grittingly, "or I will find a way to make you
keep still. You must do as I tell you now, or it will be the worse for
you. Will you promise to keep quiet?"
Bessie realized that there was no telling what this man would do if she
did not promise--and keep her promise. He was cleverer than Peter, and,
therefore, much more dangerous. She felt, somehow, that the trick which
had worked so well when Dolly had used it before would be of no avail
now. He might even understand it; he was most unlikely, she was sure, to
yield to superstitious terror as Peter and Lolla had done. And, leaning
over to Dolly, she whispered to her.
"Don't try that trick, Dolly. You see, if the others had dared the voice
to do something they would have found out that there was really nothing
to be afraid of--and I'm afraid he'd wait. It may be useful again, but
not with him, now. If we tried it, and it didn't work--"
"I understand," Dolly whispered back. "I think you are right, too,
Bessie. We'd be worse off than ever. I was thinking that if only some of
the other gypsies were here we might frighten them so much with it that
they'd make him let us go."
"Yes. We'll save it for that."
The gypsy was still breathing hard. He looked at the two girls
malignantly, but he saw that they were too tired to walk much unless he
let them rest, and, purely out of policy, and not at all because he was
sorry for them, and for the hardships he had made them endure, he let
them sit still for a while. But finally he rose.
"Come," he said. "You've been loafing here long enough. Get up now, and
walk in front of me--back, the way you came."
They groaned at the prospect of retracing their footsteps once more, but
he held the upper hand, and there was nothing for it but obedience. That
much was plain. Desperately, as they began to drag their tired feet once
more along the trail, they listened, hoping against hope for the sounds
that would indicate that some of the searchers they were sure filled the
woods were in the neighborhood.
But no comforting shouts greeted them. The woods were silent, save for
the calls of birds and animals, which, friendly though they might be,
were powerless to aid the two girls against this traditional enemy of
every furred and feathered creature in the forest.
Steadily they plodded on. Bessie knew the ground well by this time, and,
one by one they passed the landmarks she knew so well, until they came
at last to the cross path which had brought Bessie back to the trap
Lolla had prepared for her. And there they came upon a startling
interruption of their journey.
For suddenly Lolla herself, who had evidently been hiding there when
they had passed, alone, before their meeting with John, sprang out and
stood in front of them. Long as she had resisted her fear of the
supernatural force that had come to the aid of the girls, she was
plainly afraid of it still, for at sight of them her cheeks paled, and
she cried out in terror. And behind her, as scared as she was herself,
came Peter, the big gypsy, shaking in every limb.
"A fine mess you made of things--letting them escape," growled John, as
he saw his two compatriots. "If I hadn't found them on the trail, by
sheer luck, they'd have been back at the lake by this time."
"Let them go--for heaven's sake, let them go, John," wailed Lolla.
"There is a devil fighting for them--he will kill you if you try any
longer to keep them from their friends."
"Pah! What child's talk is this? Be thankful that I do not beat you with
my stick for letting them get free!"
"Listen to her, John," said Peter, warningly. "She speaks the truth. It
was a devil that spoke from the air. I saw his horns and his red tail.
Be careful--he may be here now."
John laughed, scornfully.
"Run away, if you are afraid," he said. "I will manage alone now. I
would not trust you--you have failed me once, both of you. Do not think
you can frighten me into failure because you are as brave as
a--chicken!"
"Let them go, I say," said Peter, with a sternness in his voice that
gave Bessie a new ray of hope. "I have had my warning, I will profit by
it."
"You coward!" sneered John.
But that was too much for Peter. With a cry of rage he sprang forward.
"I fear no man, no man I can see or touch," he cried. "And no man shall
call me coward!"
In a moment the two were grappling in a furious fight. John was smaller
than Peter, but he was wiry and as lithe and powerful as a trained
athlete, so that he was a match, at first, for the rugged strength of
Peter. But he had had a hard day, and gradually Peter's strength wore
him down, and, as they crashed to the ground together, Peter was on top,
and plainly destined to be victor in the fight. He looked up at the two
girls.
"Go!" he said. "I will have nothing to do with you. I am fighting with
my friend to save him, not for your sakes, you who have a devil to help
you. If he keeps you harm will come to him. John, listen to me: I do
this because you are my friend."
Bessie and Dolly needed no second invitation. Amazing as was this
latest intervention in favor, they were too happy to stop to question
it. It was their chance to escape, and five minutes later they were out
of sight, and making their way, as fast as their tired bodies would
allow them to do, toward Long Lake and safety.