THE RACE FOR LIFE
It took the united efforts of the Cape May police, Tom Curtis, and Roy
Dennis to make the chauffeur who had come back with Roy's car say where
he had met Philip Holt, and when Philip had turned over the automobile to
him to be brought back to Roy.
The chauffeur was frightened; he finally broke down and told the whole
story. Philip Holt had driven from the farmhouse where he left Tania to
the nearest village. There he had hired the chauffeur and the man had
taken Philip within a few miles of New York. In the course of the ride,
Philip had told the automobile driver the same story about Tania that he
had told the old man in the tumbled-down farmhouse:
Tania was Philip's sister. He was hiding her from enemies, who wished to
steal the child away from him. If anybody inquired about the child or
about him the chauffeur was to say nothing. Philip would pay him
handsomely for bringing the car back to Cape May.
The reason that Philip Holt had sent back Roy Dennis's automobile was
because he knew that Roy would put detectives on his track if he failed
to return it. Besides, it would be far easier for Philip Holt to get away
with his precious iron safe if he were free of all other entanglements.
It was nearly midnight before the story that the chauffeur told was clear
to Tom Curtis. The man believed that he knew the very house in which
Tania was probably concealed. There was no other place like it near the
town where the chauffeur lived.
Tom got out his own automobile. The chauffeur would ride with him. They
would go directly to the old farmhouse. Tania would be there and all
would soon be well.
It was about nine o'clock the next morning when Tom's thundering knock at
the rickety farmhouse door brought the foolish old man to open it. As
soon as Tom mentioned Tania, the old fellow was alarmed. He was stupid
and poor, but Philip Holt's behavior had begun to look strange even to
him.
The old farmer was glad to tell Tom Curtis everything he knew. It was all
right. Tania was safe upstairs. He would take Tom up at once to see her.
He was just on his way up to take Tania her breakfast. Indeed, the old
man explained with tears in his eyes, he had not meant to assist in the
kidnapping of a child. He was only a poor, lonely old fellow and he
hadn't meant any harm. He had never seen Philip until the moment that the
young man appeared at his door in his automobile and asked him to look
after his sister for a few days.
The farmer's story was true. Philip Holt had no idea how he could safely
dispose of Tania. Quite by accident, as he hurried through the country,
he had espied the old house. If Tania could be kept hidden there for a
few days he would then be able to decide what he could do with her.
Tom would have liked to bound up the old stairs three steps at a time to
Tania's bedroom door. Poor little girl, what she must have suffered in
the last three days! But Tom's thought was always for Madge. Before he
followed the farmer to Tania's chamber he wrote a telegram which he made
the chauffeur take over to the village to send immediately. It read: "All
is well with Tania. Come at once." And it was addressed to Madge Morton.
Tom was trembling like a girl with sympathy and compassion when he
finally reached little Tania's bedroom door. He wished Madge or his
mother were with him. How could he comfort poor Tania for all she had
suffered?
Tania's jailer unlocked the door and knocked at it softly. The child did
not answer. He knocked at it again and tried to make his voice friendly.
"Come to the door, little one," he entreated. "I know you will be glad to
see who it is that has come to take you back to your home."
Still no answer. Tom could endure the waiting no longer, but flung the
door wide open. No Tania was to be seen. There was no place to look for
her in the empty room, which held only a bed and a single chair. But a
window was open and the arm of the old cedar tree still pressed close
against the sill. Tom could see that small twigs had been broken off of
some of the branches. He guessed at once what had happened. Tania had
climbed down this tree and run away. But Tom felt perfectly sure that he
would be able to find her before the houseboat party and his mother could
arrive.
The houseboat girls and Miss Jenny Ann were overjoyed at Tom's telegram.
Mrs. Curtis was with them when the message came. She was perhaps the
happiest of them all, although she had never been an especial friend of
little Tania's. In the last few days her conscience had pricked her a
little and her warm heart had sorrowed over the missing child.
Yet, up to this very moment, Mrs. Curtis did not know the truth about
Philip Holt. Just before they started for the train that was to bear them
to Tom and Tania Madge told Mrs. Curtis that Philip had stolen the child
from them and that they also believed he had run off with their
treasure-chest.
Mrs. Curtis listened very quietly to Madge's story. When the little
captain had finished she asked humbly, "Can you ever forgive me, dear? I
am an obstinate and spoiled woman. If only I had listened to what you
told me about Philip this sorrow would never have come to you. Tom also
warned me that I was being deceived in Philip Holt. But I believed you
were both prejudiced against him. When we recover Tania I shall try to
make up to her the wrong I have done her, if it is ever possible."
During the journey Madge and Mrs. Curtis sat hand in hand. Captain Jules
looked after Miss Jenny Ann, Lillian, Phil and Eleanor, although he was
almost as excited by Tom's news as they were.
At the country station the chauffeur was waiting to drive Tania's friends
to the lonely old farmhouse that the child had thought a dungeon.
Tom and Tania would probably be standing in the front yard when the
automobile arrived. They were not there. The old farmer explained that
Tom and Tania had gone out together. They would be back in a few minutes.
To tell the truth, the man did expect them to appear at any time. He
could not believe that Tania was really lost, although Tom had been
searching for her since early morning and it was now about four o'clock
in the afternoon.
For two hours the houseboat party waited. The girls walked up and down
the rickety farmhouse porch, clinging to Captain Jules. Mrs. Curtis and
Miss Jenny Ann remained indoors. At dusk Tom returned. He was alone and
could hardly drag one foot after the other, he was so weary and
heartsick. To think that after wiring her he had found Tania he must face
Madge with the dreadful news that the child was lost again!
Two long, weary days passed without news of the lost Tania. The houseboat
party made the old farmhouse their headquarters while conducting the
search. At first no one thought to penetrate the cedar swamp where Tania
had hidden herself, but the idea finally occurred to Tom Curtis, and on
the third morning he and Captain Jules started out.
All that third anxious day the girls searched the immediate neighborhood
for Tania. When evening came they gathered sadly in the wretched
farmhouse, to await the return of Tom Curtis and the old sea captain.
Madge was lying on a rickety lounge, with her face buried in her hands.
Phyllis was sitting near the door. Mrs. Curtis stood at the window,
watching for the return of her son. In a further corner of the room, Miss
Jenny Ann, Lillian and Eleanor were talking softly together.
Suddenly each one of the sad women became aware of the captain's presence
as his big form darkened the doorway. A ray of light from their single
oil lamp shone across his weather-beaten face. Phil saw him most
distinctly and read disaster in his glance. With the unselfish thought of
others that invariably marks a great nature, she went swiftly across the
room and dropped on her knees beside Madge.
Madge sprang from her lounge and stumbled across the room toward the old
sailor. Phil kept close beside her.
"Tania!" whispered Madge faintly, for she too had seen the captain's
face. "Where is my little Fairy Godmother?"
"We have found Tania, Madge," said Captain Jules gently, "but she is very
ill. We found her lying under a tree in the swamp, delirious with fever.
She is almost starved, and she is so frail--that----" The old man's voice
broke.
"Don't say she is going to die, Captain Jules," implored Mrs. Curtis. "If
she does, I shall feel that I am responsible. Surely, something can be
done for her." The proud woman buried her face in her hands.
At that moment Tom entered, bearing in his arms a frail little figure,
whose thin hands moved incessantly and whose black eyes were bright with
fever.
With a cry of "Tania, dear little Fairy Godmother, you mustn't, you
shan't die!" Madge sprang to Tom's side and caught the little, restless
hands in hers.
For an instant the black eyes looked recognition. "Madge," Tania said
clearly, "he took me away--the Wicked Genii." Her voice trailed off into
indistinct muttering.
"She must be rushed to a hospital at once." Captain Jules's calm voice
roused the sorrowing friends of little Tania to action.
"I'll have my car at the door in ten minutes," declared Tom huskily.
"Make her as comfortable as you can for the journey."
It was in Captain Jules's strong arms that little Tania made the journey
to a private sanatorium at Cape May. Madge sat beside the captain, her
eyes fixed upon the little, dark head that lay against the captain's
broad shoulder. The strong, magnetic touch of the old sailor seemed to
quiet the fever-stricken child, and, for the first time since they had
found her, Tania lay absolutely still in his arms.
Mrs. Curtis occupied the front seat with her son, who drove his car at a
rate of speed that would have caused a traffic officer to hold up his
hands in horror. It had been arranged that Tom should return to the
farmhouse as soon as possible for the rest of the party.
No one of the occupants of the car ever forgot that ride. Once at the
hospital, no time was lost in caring for Tania. The physician in
attendance, however, would give them no satisfaction as to Tania's
condition beyond the admission that it was very serious. Mrs. Curtis
engaged the most expensive room in the hospital for the child, as well as
a day and night nurse, and, surrounded by every comfort and the prayers
of anxious and loving friends, Tania began her fight for life.