A STARTLING TELEGRAM.
Sunset in the Enchanted Valley. Below the little waterfall which plunged
down into the fissure at the southern end of the valley Frank and Bart
had toiled hard all through the day. Their sleeves were rolled up and
their clothes mud-bespattered. There they had worked in the sandy soil
near the stream, and there they had found the shining stuff for which
they sought. Every panful was carefully washed in the stream, showing
dull yellow grains in the bottom when the last particles remained.
Not far away, on the level of the valley above them, set near the
stream, was their tent. In front of it little Abe was building a fire
and was seeking to prepare supper for them, knowing they would be
ravenously hungry when they quit work for the night. At intervals the
cripple hobbled to the brink of the fissure and looked down at them as
they toiled.
No one had troubled them since their return to the valley. No longer did
the place seem enchanted or mysterious. All the mysteries were solved,
and it lay sleeping and silent amid that vast mountainous solitude.
"Well, Bart," said Frank, as he dropped his spade, "it seems to me that
the thing is done to our satisfaction. At the northern end of the valley
we have found Clark's quartz claim, and the specimens we have taken from
it seem decidedly promising. Here we have located this placer, and we
know from what we have washed out that it is rich and will prove
extremely valuable while it lasts. Now it's up to us to register our
claims and open them for operation in the proper manner. We ought to be
satisfied."
"Satisfied!" exclaimed Bart. "You bet I am satisfied! What if I had
remained in Boston, Merry? Why, I would be plugging away to-day on a
poor paying job, with decidedly poor prospects ahead of me. It was a
most fortunate thing for me when I decided to stick by you and come
West."
Frank smiled.
"It was lucky, Hodge," he agreed. "But I don't forget that you came
without a selfish thought on your part. You came to help me in my fight
against Milton Sukes. I am far better pleased for your sake than for my
own that we have had this streak of luck. Let's knock off for the night,
old man. There's no reason why we should stick to it longer."
As they were climbing from the fissure by the narrow and difficult path,
little Abe came rushing excitedly to the brink above and called to them.
"Come quick! Come quick!" he cried.
"What's the matter, Abe?" asked Frank, alarmed by the boy's manner.
"Somebody's coming," said the hunchback; "a man on a horse. He is coming
right this way. He has seen the tent!"
"We may have some trouble after all, Merry," said Hodge.
Ere they could reach the head of the path near the waterfall they
plainly heard the thudding hoofs of the horse coming rapidly in that
direction. When they had reached the level ground above they beheld the
horseman approaching. It seemed that he observed them at the same time,
for he suddenly waved his hat in the air and gave a yell.
"By Jove!" exclaimed Merry, "I know him! It is Wiley!"
"Right you are!" agreed Hodge. "What the dickens could have brought him
here at this time?"
"Perhaps he has some message for me. You know I made arrangements with
him to bring any message of importance."
The sailor drew up his horse as he approached.
"Ahoy there, mates!" he cried. "At last I have struck port, although I'd
begun to wonder if I'd ever find it. This confounded old valley has
moved since I was here last. I thought I knew just where it was, but I
have spent two whole days cruising around in search of it."
"Hello, cap'n!" said Frank. "You're just in time for supper."
"Supper!" exclaimed the sailor. "Say it again! Supper! Why, I have been
living on condensed air for the last twenty-four hours. Look at me! I am
so thin and emaciated that I can't cast a shadow. Hungry! Mates, a
bootleg stew would be a culinary luxury to me. I will introduce ravage
and devastation among your provisions. This morning I found an empty
tomato can and another that once contained deviled ham, and I lunched
off them. They were rather hard to digest, but they were better than
nothing."
He sprang down from his horse, which betrayed evidence of hard usage.
"How did you happen to come?" asked Merry.
Wiley fumbled in his pocket and brought forth a telegram.
"I believe I made arrangements to deliver anything of importance
directed to you," he said. "This dispatch arrived in Prescott, and I
lost no time in starting to fulfill my compact."
Merry took the telegram and quickly tore it open. There was a look of
anxiety on his face when he had read its contents.
"Anything serious the matter?" asked Hodge.
"It's a message from my brother, Dick," answered Frank. "You know I
wired him to address his letters to Prescott. He didn't stop to send a
letter. Instead he sent this telegram. You know Felicia Delores, Dick's
cousin, with whom he was brought up? The climate of the East did not
agree with her, therefore I provided a home for her in San Diego,
California, where she could attend school. Dick has learned that she is
ill and in trouble. He wants me to go to her at once."
"What will you do?" asked Hodge.
"I must go," said Frank quietly.
* * * * *
Frank mounted the steps of a modern residence, standing on a palm-lined
street in San Diego, and rang the bell. He was compelled to ring twice
more before the door was opened by a sleepy-looking Mongolian.
"I wish to see Mr. Staples at once," said Merry. "Is he home?"
"Mistal Staple not home," was the serene answer, as the Chinaman moved
to close the door.
Frank promptly blocked this movement with a foot and leg.
"Don't be so hasty," he said sharply. "If Mr. Staples is not home, where
can I find him?"
"No tellee. Velly solly."
"Then I must see Mrs. Staples," persisted Merry.
"She velly sick. Velly solly. She can't slee anyblody."
"Well, you take her my card," directed Merry, as he took out a card-case
and tendered his card to the yellow-skinned servant.
"No take cald. She tellee me no bothal her. Go 'way. Come
bimeby--to-mollow."
"Now, look here, you son of the Flowery Kingdom," exclaimed Merry, "I am
going to see Mrs. Staples immediately, if she's in condition to see
anyone. If you don't take her my card, you will simply compel me to
intrude without being announced."
"Bold, blad man!" chattered the Chinaman, with growing fear. "I callee
police; have you 'lested."
"You're too thick-headed for the position you hold!" exasperatedly
declared Merry. "Take my card to Mrs. Staples instantly, and she will
see me as soon as she reads my name, Frank Merriwell, upon it."
"Flank Mellowell!" almost shouted the Celestial. "You Flank Mellowell?
Clome light in, quickee! Mladam, she expectee you."
The door was flung open now, and Frank entered.
"Well, you have come to your senses at last!" he said.
"You no undelstand. Blad men velly thick. Blad men make velly glate
tloubal. Little glil she glone; mladam she cly velly much, velly much!"
"Hustle yourself!" ordered Frank. "Don't stand there chattering like a
monkey. Hurry up!"
"Hully velly flast," was the assurance, as the Mongolian turned and
toddled away at a snail's pace, leaving Frank in the reception room.
A few moments later there was a rustle of skirts, and a middle-aged
woman, whose face was pale and eyes red and who carried a handkerchief
in her hand, came down the stairs and found him waiting.
"Oh, Mr. Merriwell!" she exclaimed, the moment she saw him. "So it's
really you! So you have come! We didn't know where to reach you, and so
we wired your brother. He wired back that he had dispatched you and that
he thought you would come without delay."
Her agitation and distress were apparent.
"Felicia," questioned Frank huskily; "what of her?"
"Oh, I can't tell you--I can't tell you!" choked the woman, placing the
handkerchief to her eyes. "It's so dreadful!"
"Tell me, Mrs. Staples, at once," said Frank, immediately cool and
self-controlled. "Don't waste time, please. What has happened to
Felicia? Where is she?"
"She's gone!" came in a muffled voice from behind the handkerchief.
"Gone--where?"
The agitated woman shook her head.
"No one knows. No one can tell! Oh, it's a terrible thing, Mr.
Merriwell!"
"Where is Mr. Staples?" questioned Frank, thinking he might succeed far
better in obtaining the facts from the woman's husband.
"That I don't know. He is searching for her. He, too, has been gone
several days. I heard from him once. He was then in Warner, away up in
the mountains."
Merry saw that he must learn the truth from the woman.
"Mrs. Staples," he said, "please tell me everything in connection with
this singular affair. It's the only way that you can be of immediate
assistance. You know I am quite in the dark, save for such information
as I received from my brother's telegram. It informed me that Felicia
was in trouble and in danger. What sort of trouble or what sort of
danger threatens her, I was not told. In order for me to do anything I
must know the facts immediately."
"It was nearly a month ago," said Mrs. Staples, "that we first
discovered anything was wrong. Felicia had not been very well for some
time. She's so frail and delicate! It has been my custom each night
before retiring to look in upon her to see if she was comfortable and
all right. One night, as I entered her room, light in hand, I was nearly
frightened out of my senses to see a man standing near her bed. He saw
me or heard me even before I saw him. Like a flash he whirled and sprang
out of the window to the veranda roof, from which he easily escaped to
the ground.
"I obtained barely a glimpse of him, and I was so frightened at the time
that I could not tell how he looked. Felicia seemed to be sleeping
soundly at the time, and didn't awake until I gave a cry that aroused
her and the whole house as well. I never had a thought then that the man
meant her harm. She was so innocent and helpless it seemed no one would
dream of harming her. I took him for a burglar who had entered the house
by the way of her window. After that we took pains to have her window
opened only a short space, and tightly locked in that position, so that
it could not be opened further from the outside without smashing it and
alarming some one. I was thankful we had escaped so easily, and my
husband felt sure there would be no further cause for worry. He said
that, having been frightened off in such a manner, the burglar was not
liable to return.
"Somehow it seemed to me that Felicia was still more nervous and pale
after that. She seemed worried about something, but whenever I
questioned her she protested she was not. The doctor came to see her
several times, but he could give her nothing that benefited her. I
continued my practice of looking in at her each night before retiring.
One night, a week later, after going to bed, something--I don't know
what--led me to rise again and go to her room. Outside her door I paused
in astonishment, for I distinctly heard her voice, and she seemed to be
in conversation with some one. I almost fancied I heard another voice,
but was not certain about that. I pushed open the door and entered.
Felicia was kneeling by her partly opened window, and she gave a great
start when I came in so quickly. A moment later I fancied I heard a
sound as of some one or something dropping from the roof upon the
ground.
"I was so astonished that I scarcely knew what to say. 'Felicia!' I
exclaimed. 'What were you doing at that window?'
"'Oh, I was getting a breath of the cool night air,' she answered. 'With
my window partly closed it is almost stuffy in here. Sometimes I can't
seem to breathe.'
"'But I heard you talking, child,' I declared. 'Who were you talking
to?'
"'I talk to myself sometimes, auntie, you know,' she said, in her
innocent way. She always called me auntie. I confess, Mr. Merriwell,
that I was completely deceived. This came all the more natural because
Felicia was such a frank, open-hearted little thing, and I'd never known
her to deceive me in the slightest. I decided that my imagination had
led me to believe I heard another voice than her own, and also had
caused me to fancy that some one had dropped from the roof of the
veranda. After that, however, I was uneasy. And my uneasiness was
increased by the fact that the child seemed to grow steadily worse
instead of better.
"Often I dreamed of her and of the man I had seen in her room. One night
I dreamed that a terrible black shadow was hanging over her and had
reached out huge clawlike hands to clutch her. That dream awoke me in
the middle of the night, and I could not shake off the impression that
some danger menaced her. With this feeling on me I slipped out of bed,
lighted a candle, and again proceeded to her room. This time I was
astonished once more to hear her talking as if in conversation with some
one. But now I knew that, unless I was dreaming or bewitched, I also
heard another voice than her own--that of a man. My bewilderment was so
great that I forgot caution and flung her door wide open. The light of
the candle showed her sitting up in bed, while leaning on the footboard
was a dark-faced man with a black-pointed mustache. I screamed, and, in
my excitement, dropped the candle, which was extinguished. I think I
fainted, for Mr. Staples found me in a dazed condition just outside
Felicia's door. She was bending over me, but when I told her of the man
I had seen and when she was questioned, she behaved in a most singular
manner. Not a word would she answer. Had she denied everything I might
have fancied it all a grewsome dream. I might have fancied I'd walked in
my sleep and dreamed of seeing a man there, for he was gone when my
husband reached the spot.
"She would deny nothing, however, and what convinced us beyond question
that some one had been in her room was the fact that the window was
standing wide open. After that we changed her room to another part of
the house and watched her closely. Although we persisted in urging her
to tell everything, not a word could we get from her. Then it was that
Mr. Staples wired Richard, your brother.
"Three days later Felicia disappeared. She vanished in the daytime, when
every one supposed her to be safe in the house. No one saw her go out.
She must have slipped out without being observed. Of course we notified
the police as soon as we were sure she was gone, and the city was
searched for her. Oh! it is a terrible thing, Mr. Merriwell; but she has
not been found! Mr. Staples believes he has found traces of her, and
that's why he is now away from home. That's all I can tell you. I hope
you will not think we were careless or neglected her. She was the last
child in the world to do such a thing. I can't understand it. I think
she must have been bewitched."
Frank had listened quietly to this story, drinking in every word, the
expression on his face failing to show how much it affected him.
"I am sure it was no fault of yours, Mrs. Staples," he said.
"But what do you think has happened to her? She was too young to be led
into an intrigue with a man. Still, I----"
"You mustn't suspect her of that, Mrs. Staples!" exclaimed Merry.
"Whatever has happened, I believe it was not the child's fault. When I
placed her in your hands, you remember, I hinted to you of the fact that
there was a mystery connected with her father's life, and that he was an
outcast nobleman of Spain. Where he is now I cannot say. I last saw him
in Fardale. He was then hunted by enemies, and he disappeared and has
never been heard from since. I believe it was his intention to seek some
spot where he would be safe from annoyance and could lead his enemies to
believe he was dead. I believe this mystery which hung like a shadow
over him has fallen at last on little Felicia. I would that I had known
something of this before, that I might have arrived here sooner. I think
Felicia would have trusted me--I am sure of it!"
"But now--now?"
"Now," said Frank grimly, shaking his head, "now I must find her. You
say you heard from your husband, who was then in a place called Warner?"
"Yes."
"Then he may have tracked her thus far. It's a start on the trail."
Mrs. Staples placed a trembling hand on Frank's sleeve.
"If you find her--the moment you find her," she pleaded, "let me know.
Remember I shall be in constant suspense until I hear from you."
"Depend upon me to let you know," assured Frank.
A moment later he was descending the steps. He walked swiftly along the
palm-lined streets, revolving in his mind the perplexing problem with
which he was confronted. Seemingly he was buried in deep thought and
quite oblivious of his surroundings. As he passed around a corner into
another street he glanced back without turning his head. Already he had
noted that another man was walking rapidly in the same direction, and
this sidelong glance gave him a glimpse of the man.
Three corners he turned, coming at length to the main street of the
city. There he turned about a moment later and was face to face with the
man who had been following him. This chap would have passed on, but
Frank promptly stepped out and confronted him. He saw a small, wiry,
dark-skinned individual, on whose right cheek there was a triangular
scar.
"I beg your pardon," said Merry.
"_Si, señor_," returned the man with the scar, lifting his eyebrows in
apparent surprise.
"You seem very interested in me," said Merry quietly. "But I wish to
tell you something for your own benefit. It is dangerous for you to
follow me, and you had better quit it. That's all. _Adios!_"
"_Carramba!_" muttered the man, glaring at Frank's back as Merriwell
again strode away.