"There she goes," Nancy Brown had exclaimed as "The Comet," Billie's
motor, whirled by; "too proud even to ask her old friends to take a
spin."
"Now, Nancy," protested Elinor, "don't be too hard on her. Remember, she
has not seen any of us since we were children. Perhaps she's forgotten
all about us. Besides, I've been thinking that we ought to have done the
first speaking. She was starting right for us when Belle Rogers stopped
her."
"Well, I tried twice to speak to her," said Nancy, "and she wouldn't
look at me. I am afraid we shall never get a ride in that pretty motor
car, and the only one I was ever in was the stationary automobile at the
tintype place at the County Fair."
The girls walked on silently for a few moments. The red motor car had
turned a curve in the road and was out of sight and the place seemed
very lonely and still. The afternoon shadows were beginning to lengthen
as the sun moved slowly behind the pine woods, which formed a dark
background against the flat, green meadows about West Haven.
"I can't imagine why we should be wasting time about a friend who has
forgotten us," exclaimed Mary Price, "when Elinor has brought us out
here to tell us some mysterious secret. Don't you think it's about time
to begin, Elinor? It's getting late and we've still a good ways to go."
"I was just going to," answered her friend, "but suppose we take the
short cut across the fields, and I'll tell you on the way. Two other
people are in the secret, Charlie Clay and Ben Austen. They have
promised to meet us at the old house. Of course, the whole thing may be
of no importance."
"But what is it?" interrupted Nancy. "You keep dodging around the bush."
"Now, Nancy," answered Elinor, who had a calm, placid disposition and
never hurried about anything, "don't put your most peculiar
characteristic off on me. You know very well that you are the one who
loves to keep a mystery until we are all of us nearly bursting with
curiosity."
"Don't quarrel, children," interrupted Mary. "Remember that members of
the Blue Bird Society are bound over not to quarrel."
"We aren't quarreling; we're just discussing. But do go on, Elinor. I
can't stand the suspense much longer."
"What I am going to tell you," said Elinor, "may be of the vastest
importance or it may be just nothing whatever. At any rate, I didn't
want to take any chances and it was simple enough for us to meet the
boys out here and see for ourselves."
"See what, Elinor Butler?" ejaculated Nancy impatiently. "You always
begin at the last of a story and tell backwards."
Elinor smiled provokingly.
"That's to see how much curiosity you can accumulate without exploding,
Nancy, dear."
Nancy shut her lips tightly. She was determined now, at any cost, not to
speak again until Elinor had really started on the story, but how
irritating Elinor could be at times!
Mary was never disturbed over these little tiffs of the two friends
which were merely the ups and downs of the endless conversation that
flowed between them.
"This is what happened then, Nancy darling," continued Elinor, slipping
an arm around her friend's waist, while she locked her other arm through
Mary's. And the three girls hurried on, too absorbed in their intimate
talk to notice the flash of a scarlet motor car through the high bushes,
which bordered both sides of Boulder Lane, the name of the road which
intercepted the two meadows.
"I was coming across Court House Square late yesterday afternoon after
my music lesson. You know I have begun to study with the new teacher,
Mme. Alta. Just as I came to the statue of Thomas Jefferson, I heard
some one call very softly, or rather it was more like a hiss than a
call. I suppose I should have rushed off frightened, but I am never
afraid of people. It's only spiders and snakes and bulls that make me
shiver. So, I didn't run away, but waited, and I discovered that the
hiss came from around the other side of the statue and was not meant for
me at all. Even then I should have gone on if I hadn't heard some one
cry out. I couldn't understand the language, but another voice said in
English: 'There are only two boxes left. Take them to the old house in
Boulder Lane to-night and never keep me waiting this long again.' Then
the other man said something and the English voice said: 'You can haul
them to-morrow morning. It'll be time enough when I get the signal to do
the rest.' I couldn't understand what the man answered, but the English
voice said: 'I'll kill the whole crew of Butlers and anybody else who
interferes with me. I'm in a desperate humor and I won't be bothered.'
Fortunately they took the walk that goes to the docks, because they
would certainly have seen me if they had come around on the other side.
But I saw them plainly when they passed under the electric light. They
looked like seamen."
"'Kill the whole crew of Butlers,'" repeated Mary Price. "Does he mean
that he is going to wipe your family off the face of the earth? And for
what?"
"That is what I want to find out. It wouldn't do any special harm to
take a late afternoon stroll in this direction, if the boys are with us.
I didn't want to say anything to father about it. He is so busy, and you
know how excitable he is. William is exactly like father. Edward and
mother and I are the only calm, peaceful members of the family, and
mother's sick and Edward is at college. Besides, you know, the man may
not have meant us. The county is full of Butlers, dozens of them. Some
of them claim kin and some do not. They are the most quarrelsome,
high-tempered people in existence--that is, all except Edward and me."
The other girls laughed.
"Not high-tempered, Elinor," said Nancy, "but you have a sort of royal
manner when you are displeased that I imagine a queen might have when
one of her subjects is disobedient."
"What's that?" interrupted Mary. "I thought I heard some one call."
The girls paused and listened. They were standing in a broad, flat
meadow which seemed to stretch out indefinitely in one direction like an
enormous pale-green billiard table; but in the other direction, bordered
by alder bushes, lay Boulder Lane; so called because of an immense gray
boulder, which in some prehistoric upheaval had been tossed here, and
which resembled now an old gray sentinel standing on perpetual guard.
"Why, there's the automobile," exclaimed Nancy, after some minutes,
following an occasional flash of red through the bushes, as the flying
motor car sped on up the lane.
"I wonder what she is doing up Boulder Lane? Exploring by herself, I
suppose. It must be lonely," observed Mary.
A fresh salt breeze had sprung up from the ocean, bringing with it the
chill of the oncoming night. The three girls hastened their footsteps.
If they were late, the boys might not wait for them.
"Boys are so unreliable," Mary had remarked.
"Not Ben Austen," said Elinor. "Father says he is as trustworthy as the
Bank of England. But he's slow. He never likes to stop one thing until
he finishes it, no matter what's waiting. He and Charlie are building a
boat somewhere down the beach and they spend all their afternoons at it,
but they are sure to be there if they promised."
By this time the girls had reached the hedge. It was certainly a
lonesome place. The old house which had been unoccupied for many years
because its last occupant had committed suicide by hanging himself from
a beam, appeared in the gathering dusk like a solitary gray ghost; the
front windows resembled two large sad eyes gazing into space and the
walls, streaked with the tempests of many seasons, had the appearance of
a worn, tear-stained face.
"Dear me," whispered Nancy, "I had forgotten what a weird old place this
was. It might be the entrance to a tomb."
"Halo-o-o!" called a boyish voice, and a tall, overgrown lad appeared
coming up the lane from the direction of the beach, followed by a much
smaller youth, who was so absorbed with whittling a little boat that he
did not even look up when the girls answered the call.
"Don't make so much noise, Ben," said Elinor, when they had climbed
through the hedge and congregated together in the lane. "This is just an
investigating party. We are not to take any risks."
"There seems to be nobody around," replied Ben. "We saw an automobile go
past a little while ago with two men in it and some big boxes in the
back. It was almost stuck in the sand. I wonder it could get along at
all. It looked like a big, red lobster."
"Red?" cried the girls in one voice.
"I never saw anything redder in my life," put in Charlie.
"You must be mistaken about the men, then," said Elinor decisively.
"Because Billie Campbell owns it and was running it herself a little
while ago."
"Well, we were not close enough to get a good look, but Billie Campbell
appeared to be two men at that distance. But come along, girls. It is
getting late and we had better not lose any more time. Now, what is it
we are looking for? Butler bundles and boxes?"
"I don't think they can be called Butler bundles," replied Elinor,
"since my family is to be wiped out of existence if it interferes with
the bundles, whatever they are."
The boys and girls who were thoroughly enjoying the fun and mystery of
the expedition now advanced on tiptoe to the ghostly looking house, like
a party of conspirators in a play.
"I feel like a pirate," whispered Nancy, giggling.
Suddenly Ben, who was ahead of the others, stopped and put his fingers
to his lips. He beckoned to them to follow him around to the side of the
house.
"I heard something inside the house," he said, in a low voice. "Wait
here, girls, with Charlie while I take a look."
He crept cautiously around to the front and presently they heard him
open the door and walk boldly in.
"I'm going, too," said Charlie, unable to contain his curiosity any
longer, and the girls followed him single-file into a low-studded, dusty
room, unfurnished except for one rickety chair, but behind that
stood--Billie Campbell! And facing Billie in the dim light just inside
the door stood Ben, surprise written as plainly upon his face as
bravery, defiance, and apprehension were mingled upon hers.
The girls were too amazed to speak at first.
"Billie Campbell!" cried Nancy, at last. "Did two men frighten you and
run away with your automobile?"
Billie nodded. Somehow it was very difficult to keep back her tears now
that help had come; but she never had been a cry-baby even as a child
and now she choked down her sobs with all her strength, for in the
gathering dusk she had recognized the faces of her three childhood
friends who had refused to remember her that day at school.
"Oh, but I'm glad to see you!" she exclaimed. "After the men went off I
noticed that the front door was open and I came in a minute to see if it
really looked as though it were lived in now-a-days as the man said. But
it just looks deserted, and it's dreadfully dusty except here in the
corner and from here to the door,--just as though something had been
dragged across the floor."
The young girl had been talking excitedly, but now she stopped abruptly
and with a friendly look and a gesture of intense relief she stretched
her arms over her head, as though with the relaxation of her muscles she
could also free herself from the sudden shock and dread that had bound
her.
She was tall for her age, fifteen, with a frank, almost boyish face,
fine gray eyes, and a rather large mouth which curled up at the corners
when she smiled and showed two graduated rows of strong white teeth. Her
light brown hair was parted in the middle and rolled on each side into a
thick, knobby plait in the back.
"She's not very strong on looks," thought Nancy, who set great store on
beauty herself, "but she's got the nicest face I ever saw."
"How did it happen?" asked Ben.
Then Billie told how the two men had duped her and left her behind the
deserted house, and how she had found the message on the slip of paper.
"Then the men are coming back?" cried Elinor.
"Perhaps," replied Billie, "and we'd better hurry away from here as fast
as we can in case they come. They may not intend to do me any harm, but
they are a very determined-looking pair of characters, as papa says, and
one of them has a long pistol and a knife in his belt, for I saw them."
"But what about the red motor?" demanded Nancy, whose yearning to ride
in the car had somewhat biased her good judgment.
"I'll just have to lose it, I suppose," answered Billie.
"I have a scheme," put in Charlie, who rarely spoke without due
deliberation. "Miss Campbell is just about as tall as I am--she may be a
little shorter," he added, stretching himself to his full height.
The others smiled secretly at this, for Billie was at least an inch
taller than Charlie, but they knew that the most sensitive spot in his
nature was his height, since he was the oldest member of the party and
Ben overtopped him by nearly three inches. And Charlie had a sneaking
suspicion that he never would be tall enough. His bones were small and
his frame as slender and delicate as a girl's.
"Suppose I put on your hat and veil and your long coat," he continued,
"and sit here on the step waiting. It's getting darker all the time, and
so if the men come back they'll think it is you; but if they thought
somebody was onto them, they would probably break their word and chase
off with the motor."
"I don't think that would be quite fair," said Billie. "Suppose they
found out you were a boy. They might shoot you or something."
"But they won't find it out," answered Charlie. "Hurry up. We have no
time to lose."
"Yes, do," urged Ben. "It's much the best way. We couldn't leave you for
the thieves and it's a pity to lose the car. Besides, the rest of us
will hide in the house and if anything happens, we'll come to the
rescue."
Billie removed her ulster without another word.
"She's a dandy, sensible girl," thought Ben to himself.
"You'd better take the skirt, too. If they saw your trouser legs, it
would be all off," said Billie, as she unbuckled her belt and removed
her gray walking skirt, standing before them without any embarrassment
in a short, red silk petticoat.
"What about shoes?" observed Mary Price. "Those Charlie is wearing are
not much like a girl's shoes."
"How about these pumps? I wear No. fives," said Billie, calmly kicking
off her slippers.
Charlie, good-naturedly, unlaced his stout boy's boots.
"I might be able to get my big toe into them," he said. "Like
Cinderella's step-sisters and the little glass slipper."
"These aren't any Cinderella's," laughed Billie.
How nice these boys and girls did seem to her and how fine it was to be
with them, even in this strange and dangerous situation!
Charlie could wear the slippers, however, although they were somewhat
narrow in the toe, and presently he was fully dressed in a girl's suit,
with his face almost concealed by a long gray chiffon veil, twisted
around Billie's gray felt hat, trimmed with one red wing.
"Hurry, they're really coming," called Billie, catching the familiar
sound of a motor engine in the distance.
"All right," said Ben, who had been hovering around Charlie in pretended
admiration of his changed appearance. "Good luck, old boy!" he added as
he hastened after the girls up the narrow flight of stairs into the
attic, which was perfectly dark and seemed a better place for hiding
than outside, where enough twilight still lingered to make objects
plainly visible.
"We are a good deal like 'The Musicians of Bremen,'" observed Mary, in a
low voice, as they lay stretched face downward on the attic floor.
"Don't you remember that old fairy tale of Grimm's; when the robber came
back to the house in the wood he was bitten and kicked and scratched and
pecked by the dog and the donkey and the cat and the rooster, and then
they set up such a braying and barking and crowing and meowing that he
ran away scared to death?"
"If anything did happen, we might try the howling part," said Billie. "I
should think a piercing shriek from a place like this would scare a
brave man----"
"Sh-h, they're almost here," cautioned Ben. "Don't move, any one. The
floor will creak."
"I'm going to sneeze," hissed Nancy, in the dark.
"Press your upper lip and don't dare do it," whispered Elinor.
"Shut up, all of you," said Ben, as the motor car drew up beside the
hedge at one side of the house.
"If there is any shrieking to be done," added Mary, "I'll do it. I'm the
best shrieker in the sophomore class. I know how to do it in the top of
my head----"
"Sh-h-h!"