By this time the automobile had reached the hotel. Miss Sallie led the
way to the dining room and they formed rather a weak-kneed procession,
for they were beginning to experience that all-gone feeling that comes
after a fright.
The luncheon hamper full of good things had been carried back into the
hotel, since there had been neither time nor opportunity for the picnic
party the girls had planned.
"I think a little food is what we really need, now," exclaimed Ruth.
"Cheer up, Mollie and Grace. Bab, smile for the ladies. It's all over.
Here we are, safe, and we are going to have a beautiful time at Major
Ten Eyck's. Please, dear friends, don't begin to take this gloomy view
of life. As for the anarchist person who attacked us in the woods, you
may depend upon it that he and his friends are so frightened they will
be running in an opposite direction from Tarrytown for another week. As
for the foreign young man who stepped up to the rescue, he should
certainly be thanked."
Ruth had by nature a happy temperament. She quickly threw off small
troubles, and depression in others made her really unhappy.
"It was truly a daring deed," replied Barbara, "and all the more daring
considering that the tramp would have made about two of the cyclist. But
the blow he gave was as swift and sure as a prize fighter's."
"Did you notice that the poor woman was rather pretty?" commented
Mollie.
"My dear child," cried Miss Sallie, "I really believe you would notice
people's looks on the way to your own execution. Now, for my part, I
could not see anything. I was almost too frightened to breathe. I felt
that I should faint at any moment."
"Why, Aunt Sallie, you are more frightened now than you were then,"
exclaimed her niece. "You were as calm as the night. As for Grace, she
looked like a scared rabbit. Mollie, darling, I'm glad you had the
presence of mind to scream. If you hadn't Aunt Sallie and the motor
cyclist might have looked for us in vain."
While she was speaking the cyclist came into the dining-room.
As soon as Miss Stuart saw him she rose from the table in her most
stately manner and walked over to meet him.
"Sir," she said, and Ruth gave the merest flicker of a blink at Bab,
"you did a very brave thing to-day, and I want to thank you for all of
us. If you had not been there my niece and her friend would undoubtedly
have been kidnapped. You perhaps saved their lives. They might have been
killed by those ruffians. Won't you give us your name and address? My
brother, I am sure, would like to write to you himself. We shall be
indebted to you always."
The young man's face flushed with embarrassment.
"It was nothing, I assure you, Madam," he replied. "It was easy because
the man was intoxicated. He went over at the first blow. My name," he
continued, "is Martinez. José Martinez. My address is the Waldorf, New
York."
"I am Miss Stuart," said Miss Sallie, "and I would like to present you
to my niece, Miss Ruth Stuart, and her friends Miss Grace Carter and
Misses Barbara and Mollie Thurston. It would give us great pleasure if
you would lunch with us, Mr. Martinez."
"When a man saves your life you certainly can't stand on ceremony,"
commented Miss Sallie to herself.
An animated discussion followed. Mr. Martinez had been to see the chief
of police, he said, who would call on Miss Stuart that afternoon, if
convenient. He could not offer any hope, however, of catching the men.
Miss Sallie replied that, for her part, she hoped they wouldn't take the
creatures. It would do no good and she did not want to spend any time
cooped up in a court room in such scorching weather. But did Mr.
Martinez think it would be dangerous for them to take a trip up into the
hills the next day?
"It would depend upon the road," replied Mr. Martinez. "That is, if the
trip were taken by automobile. Of course my motor cycle can run on any
road."
"It is a good road," replied Ruth. "At the crossroads there is a bad
road; but, fortunately, we do not have to take it, since the new road
with the bridge has been opened up, so Major Ten Eyck says."
In which case Mr. José Martinez was of a mind with the young ladies that
the trip would be perfectly safe.
Miss Sallie gave a sigh of relief. If this estimable young man
sanctioned the trip she felt they might take it with clear consciences.
But she did hope her brother's views on the subject would be the same.
Then the talk drifted into other channels.
"You are a Spaniard, I presume, Mr. Martinez?" questioned Miss Sallie.
"Yes, Madam, a Spaniard by birth, a Frenchman by education and at
present an American by choice. I have lived in England, also, but I
believe I prefer America to all other countries, even my own."
Miss Stuart was much gratified at this avowal. She felt that in
complimenting America he was complimenting her indirectly.
"Have you seen the Alhambra and the Rock of Gibraltar?" demanded Mollie,
her wide, blue eyes full of interest.
"Oh, yes, Madamoiselle," replied the handsome Spaniard, smiling at her
gently, "I have seen the Alhambra many times, and Gibraltar once only."
A curious shade passed over his face as if Gibraltar held memories which
he was not anxious to revive.
"Does the Rock of Gibraltar really look like a lion?" asked Grace, who
had not noticed his distaste to the mere mention of the name.
"I do not know, Madamoiselle," he replied shortly. "I saw it only from
land. I was," he added hesitatingly, "very ill when I was there."
The waiter announced the chief of police to see Miss Sallie, and the
luncheon party adjourned to the shady side of the piazza.
All this time Barbara had been very quiet, so quiet, indeed, that Ruth
had asked her in a whisper, as they left the dining room, if she were
still feeling the shock of the morning.
"Oh, no," replied Barbara, "I am simply trying to stifle a ridiculous
fear I have that, maybe, we ought not to go to-morrow. It is absurd, so
please don't mention it to the others, especially as even Miss Sallie
thinks it safe, and little coward Mollie is not afraid."
"You are just tired, poor dear," said sympathetic Ruth. "Come along up
to your room, and we shall have a little 'relaxation,' as my old colored
mammy used to say. We'll spend a quiet afternoon in our rooms, and at
sunset we can take a spin along the river bank before supper. What do
you say?"
"I am agreeable," replied Bab.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Martinez," said Ruth, as the others came up. "You
will be wanting to take your siesta now, I suppose. Siestas, in Spain,
are like afternoon tea in England, aren't they? Here in America we don't
have either, much, but I think we shall need both to-day. Perhaps we
shall see you at dinner?"
"If I may have that pleasure," replied the Spaniard, bowing low.
"Strangers of the morning are friends in the afternoon, in this, our
life of adventure," laughed Ruth as they passed along the corridor to
the steps.
But they did not see the stranger again that day. For some mysterious
reason he left the hotel in the afternoon, and did not return until
nearly midnight, when Barbara, who happened to be awake, heard him
whistling softly as he went down the hall to his room.