JUST IN TIME
It seemed as though if there really was anybody left in charge of the
Gandy house and premises, such a caretaker would have appeared before
this to demand of the party of young folks from Roselawn what they
wanted. As Jessie Norwood walked up the lane, with little Henrietta by
the hand and followed by Darrington Drew, she saw no person at any
window or door.
The tower might have been abandoned years before, as far as appearance
went. But Mark Stratford's discovery seemed to make it plain that the
tower was sometimes in use.
Jessie noted that the tower stood on a knoll behind the house from
which vantage the race track some quarter of a mile away might be
seen. With good field glasses one might stand in the second story of
the tower and see the horses running on the track. Then, if there was
a sending radio set in the tower, the reports of races could be
broadcasted in secret code to sets tuned to the one in the tower.
Of course, if the radio instrument was so illegally used, it was only
so used while the races were being held at the Harrimay Track. Then
the folding aerials were raised and made use of. The cry for help that
had been broadcasted and which Jessie and Amy had heard might have
been sent out from this station some night when Martha Poole or her
friends had neglected to shut off the aerial by dropping it flat upon
the roof of the tower.
The question now was, had Bertha stolen her way into the tower at that
time, or was she held prisoner there? Evidently Martha Poole and Sadie
Bothwell were determined to hold the girl until after the court had
settled in their favor the Ellison will case.
Jessie and those with her came to the foot of the tower. All the lower
windows were boarded up and the door was tightly closed. There were
shades at the upper windows, and they fitted tightly.
"You call Bertha, honey," said Jessie. "Tell her we've come to let her
out. Did you try that door, Darry?"
"Not much! We don't want to be arrested for trying to commit
burglary."
"Shout for Bertha, Henrietta," commanded Jessie.
Immediately the little girl set up a yell that, as Burd declared,
could have scarcely been equaled by a steam calliope.
"Bertha! Bertha Haney! Come out and see my new dress!"
That invitation certainly delighted Amy and Burd. They sat in the car
and clung to each other while they laughed. Little Henrietta's face
got rosy red while she shouted, and she was very much in earnest.
"Bertha! Bertha Haney! Don't you hear me? I got a new dress! And we've
come to take you home. Bertha!"
Suddenly the lower door of the tower opened a crack. An old, old
woman, and not at all a pleasant looking woman, appeared at the
crack.
"What you want?" she demanded. "Go 'way! Martha Poole didn't send you
here."
Jessie spoke up briskly. "We've come to see Bertha. This is her little
cousin. You won't refuse to let her see Bertha, will you?"
"There ain't nobody here but a sick girl. She ain't to be let out. She
ain't right in her head."
"I guess that is what is the matter with you," said Darry Drew,
sternly. He had come nearer, and now, before the woman could shut the
door, he thrust his foot between it and the jamb. "We're going to see
Bertha Blair. Out of the way!"
He thrust back the door and the old woman with it. They heard a
muffled voice calling from upstairs. Little Henrietta flashed by the
guardian of the tower and darted upstairs.
"Bertha! Bertha! I'm coming, Bertha! I got a new dress!"
"You better go up and see what's doing, Jess," said Darry. "I'll hold
this woman down here."
Jessie was giggling, although it was from nervousness.
"And I thought you did not want to be considered a burglar?" she said
as she passed hastily in at the door.
"Oh, well, we're in for it now," Darry called after her. "Be as quick
as you can."
Jessie found a door open at the top of the flight. Henrietta was
chattering at top speed somewhere ahead. The rooms were dark, but when
Jessie found the room in which Henrietta was, she likewise found a
girl bound to a chair in which she sat, with a towel tied across her
mouth which muffled her speech.
"Here's Bertha! Here's Bertha!" cried Henrietta eagerly.
Jessie had the girl free and the towel off in half a minute. She saw
then that the prisoner was the girl she and Amy had seen carried away
by Martha Poole and Sadie Bothwell, out of Dogtown Lane.
"Oh, Miss! is this little Hennie? And have you come to take me away?"
gasped Bertha.
"Surely. Are you Bertha Blair?"
"Yes, ma'am. Hennie calls me Bertha Haney. For I lived with her mom
after my mother died. But my name's Blair."
"My father is Robert Norwood, the lawyer," said Jessie swiftly. "He
wants you to testify in court about what you heard when that old man
made his will at Mrs. Poole's house."
"Oh! You mean Mr. Abel Ellison? A gentleman came and asked me about
that once, and then Mrs. Poole said I'd got to keep my mouth shut
about it or she'd put me away somewhere so that I'd never get away."
"So I ran away from her," said Bertha, "and tried to go to Dogtown and
see Hennie and the Foleys. Why! wasn't you one of the girls, Miss,
that saw Mrs. Poole putting me into that car?"
"Yes," sighed Jessie. "I saw it, but couldn't stop it."
"Well, they brought me right out here, and I've been here ever since.
When Mrs. Poole isn't here that old woman comes and keeps me from
running away."
"But once," Jessie suggested, "you had a chance to try to send out a
cry for help?"
"There's a radio here. They used it one night. Then I tried to call
for help over it. But they heard me and stopped it at once."
"Just the same, that attempt of yours is what has brought us here
to-day. I will tell you all about it later. Come, Bertha! We will get
you away from here before Mrs. Poole comes. And we must take you to
the city to see my father at once."
As they left the tower and the ugly old woman, they heard the latter
calling a number into the telephone receiver. She was probably trying
to report the outrage to Mrs. Poole.
"But the woman will never dare call the police," Darry assured Jessie.
"You tell your father all about it, and he'll know what to do."
"And we must see Daddy Norwood as soon as possible," the girl said. "I
must take Bertha to him. The case is already in court."
"I'll fix that for you, Miss Jessie," Mark Stratford said. "I can get
you to town just as quickly as the traffic cops will let me--and they
are all my friends."
Darry considered that he should go, too. So they dropped Amy and
little Henrietta, with Burd Alling, at Roselawn, and after a word to
Momsy, started like the flight of an arrow in Mark's powerful car for
New York.
Jessie and Bertha Blair had never ridden so fast before. Mark
Stratford knew his car well, and coaxed it along over the well-oiled
roads of Westchester at a speed to make anybody gasp.
But haste was necessary. They knew where the court was, and they
arrived there just after the noon recess. Mrs. Norwood had reached her
husband's chief clerk by telephone, and he had communicated the news
to the lawyer. Mr. Norwood had dragged along the prosecution until the
missing witness arrived. Then he introduced Bertha Blair into the
witness chair most unexpectedly to McCracken and his clients.
If Mr. Norwood's side of the argument needed any bolstering, this was
supplied when Bertha was allowed to tell her story. The judge even
advised the girl, or her guardians if she had any, that she had a
perfectly good civil case against Martha Poole for imprisoning her in
the tower on the Gandy farm.
These matters, however, did not interest Jessie Norwood and her
friends much. They had been able to assist Mr. Norwood in an important
legal case, and naturally everybody, both old and young, was
interested in Bertha Blair, the girl who had been imprisoned. Momsy
said she would put on her thinking cap about Bertha's future.
Meanwhile Bertha and little Henrietta went back to the Foleys for a
while. Henrietta was bound to be the most important person of her age
in all of Dogtown. No other little girl there was the possessor of
such finery as she had.
What Mark Stratford had said to Jessie about Superintendent Blair kept
recurring to the Roselawn girl, and she felt that she should tell the
man who had charge of the Stratford Electric Corporation radio program
about the girl who had been rescued from the horsewoman. As we meet
Jessie and Amy and Bertha and all their friends in another volume,
called "The Radio Girls on the Program; Or, Singing and Reciting at
the Sending Station," in all probability Jessie Norwood will do just
that.
"You girls," Darry Drew said to Jessie and Amy, "have got more radio
stuff in your heads than most fellows I know. Why, you are as good as
boys at it."
"I like that!" exclaimed his sister. "Is there anything, I'd like to
know, that girls can't beat boys at?"
"One thing," put in Burd Alling solemnly.
"What's that?"
"Killing snakes," said Burd.
"Wrong! Wrong!" cried Jessie, laughing. "You ought to see little
Henrietta attack a flock of snakes. She takes the palm."
"Think of it, a little girl like that going after snakes!" murmured
Burd. "She must have nerve!"
"She has," declared Jessie. "And she is as clever as can be, too, in
spite of her odd way of expressing herself."
"I wonder what they'll do about Bertha Blair," came from Darry.
"She certainly had an adventure," observed Burd. "Maybe the movie
people will want her--or the vaudeville managers. They often pick up
people like that, who have been in the limelight."
"I don't think Momsy will allow anything of that sort," returned
Jessie. "I'm sure she and Daddy will think up something better."
Suddenly Amy, who was resting comfortably in the porch hammock, leaped
to her feet.
"I declare! I forgot!" she cried.
"Forgot what?" came in a chorus from the others.
"Forgot that special concert to-day--that one to be given over the
radio by that noted French soprano. You know who I mean--the one with
the unpronounceable name."
"Oh, yes!" ejaculated Jessie. "Let me see--what time was it?" She
consulted her wrist watch. "I declare! it starts in five minutes."
"Then come on and tune in. I've been thinking of that concert ever
since it was advertised. Miss Gress, the music teacher, heard her sing
in Paris and she says she's wonderful. Come on. Will you boys come
along?"
"Might as well," answered Darry. "We haven't anything else to do."
"And I like a good singer," added Burd.
In another moment all were trooping up to Jessie's pretty room where
she had her receiving set. The necessary tuning in was soon
accomplished and in a minute more all were listening to a song from
one of the favorite operas, rendered as only a great singer can render
it. And here, for the time being we will say good-bye to the Radio
Girls of Roselawn.
THE END
CLASSIC SERIES
Heidi
By Johanna Spyri
Treasure Island
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Hans Brinker
By Mary Mapes Dodge
Gulliver's Travels
By Jonathan Swift
Alice in Wonderland
By Lewis Carroll
Boys and girls the world over worship these "Classics" of all times,
and no youth is complete without their imagination-stirring influence.
They are the time-tested favorites loved by generations of young
people.
The Goldsmith Publishing Co.
NEW YORK, N. Y.
Books for GIRLS
THE PEGGY STEWART SERIES
By GABRIELLE E. JACKSON
Against the colorful background of Annapolis and a picturesque southern
estate, Gabrielle E. Jackson paints the human and lovely story of a
human and lovely girl. Real girls will revel in this wholesome tale and
its enchanting telling.
Peggy Stewart at Home
Peggy Stewart at School
The Motor Girls Series
By MARGARET PENROSE
A dashing, fun-loving girl is Cora Kimball and she is surrounded in her
gypsy-like adventures with a group of young people that fairly sparkle.
Girls who follow their adventurous steps will find a continuing delight
in their doings. In the series will be found some absorbing mysteries
that will keep the reader guessing so that the element of supense is
added to make the perusal thoroughly enjoyable.
The Motor Girls
On Tour
At Lookout Beach
Through New England
On Cedar Lake
On the Coast
On Crystal Bay
On Waters Blue
At Camp Surprise
In the Mountains
Helen In the Editor's Chair
By RUTHE S. WHEELER
"Helen in the Editor's Chair" strikes a new note in stories for girls.
Its heroine, Helen Blair, is typical of the strong, self-reliant girl
of to-day. When her father suffers a breakdown and is forced to go to a
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in their year on the Herald will keep you tingling with excitement from
the first page to the last.
The Goldsmith Publishing Company
NEW YORK, N. Y.
Books for GIRLS
The Merriweather Girls Series
By LIZETTE EDHOLM
The Merriweather girls, Bet, Shirley, Joy and Kit are four fun-loving
chums, who think up something exciting to do every minute.
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horseback riding, tennis, and adventures during their school vacations.
EVERYGIRL'S SERIES
Grouped in the Everygirl's Series are five volumes selected for
excellence. Shirley Watkins, Caroline E. Jacobs and Blanche Elizabeth
Wade contribute stories that are both fascinatingly real and touched
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herself enthralled to the end.
The S. W. F. Club--By Caroline E. Jacobs
Jane Lends a Hand--By Shirley Watkins
Nancy of Paradise Cottage--By Shirley Watkins
Georgina Finds Herself--By Shirley Watkins
THE PEGGY STEWART SERIES
By GABRIELLE E. JACKSON
Against the colorful background of Annapolis and a picturesque southern
estate, Gabrielle E. Jackson paints the human and lovely story of a
human and lovely girl. Real girls will revel in this wholesome tale and
its enchanting telling.
Peggy Stewart at Home
Peggy Stewart at School
The Goldsmith Publishing Company
NEW YORK, N. Y.
Books for GIRLS
THE MERRIWEATHER GIRLS SERIES
By LIZETTE EDHOLM
The Merriweather girls, Bet, Shirley, Joy and Kit are four fun-loving
chums, who think up something exciting to do every minute.
The romantic old Merriweather Manor is where their most thrilling
adventures occur. The author has given us four exceptional titles in
this series--absorbing mysteries and their solutions, school life,
horseback riding, tennis and adventures during their school vacations.
The Merriweather Girls and the Mystery of the Queen's Fan
The Merriweather Girls on Campers Trail
The Merriweather Girls in Quest of Treasure
The Merriweather Girls at Good Old Rock Hill
CAMPFIRE GIRLS SERIES
By MARGARET PENROSE
These stories take in the activities of several bright girls who become
interested in all present day adventures.
Campfire Girls of Roselawn Campfire Girls on Program
Campfire Girls on Station Island
Campfire Girls at Forest Lodge
EVERYGIRL'S SERIES
Grouped in the Everygirl's Series are five volumes selected for
excellence. Shirley Watkins, Caroline E. Jacobs and Blanche Elizabeth
Wade contribute stories that are both fascinatingly real and touched
with romance. Every girl who dips into one of these stories will find
herself enthralled to the end.
The S. W. F. Club----By Caroline E. Jacobs
Jane Lends a Hand----By Shirley Watkins
Nancy of Paradise College--By Shirley Watkins
Georgina Finds Herself--By Shirley Watkins
The Goldsmith Publishing Company
NEW YORK, N. Y.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Campfire Girls of Roselawn, by Margaret Penrose