SURPRISES ALL AROUND
Mr. Alexander might have spared his friends the disagreeable part of
playing sweethearts to his wife, because the man who had been at the
hotel when the Dalken party arrived, left there that same day,
without having discovered that the supposed competitors for the
envied tract of land south of Montezumas Castle were right at hand.
But it was not so simple a matter to dispose of Mrs. Alexander’s
yearnings to pretend to be a youthful magnet once more. Having
received such an unusual suggestion from her practical, unromantic
husband, she took full advantage of it—much to Mrs. Courtney’s
disgust and certain pangs of jealousy. Thus the first surprise came
to the three men who had been plotting to evade the man they thought
was in Flagstaff for a secret purpose. Had they known that this same
man was then on his way to Williams, where he had heard the New York
and Chicago financiers were to be, what might have been their
fears—knowing that Algy was lounging about that small town, waiting
for Mrs. Alexander to give him the next cue?
While Mr. Alexander stood grinning at his two associates, after
having confided to them the plan he had evolved to protect their
interests, Jack crossed the room to join them. He saw the
expressions of fierce rebellion upon the faces of Mr. Fuzzier and
Mr. Dalken, but he had no key to the situation then.
“Say, Dalky, it’s pretty late to start for the Castle now, because
there is no comfortable place where we could spend the night, you
see?” asked Jack.
“I don’t care where we go—Alex. has made such a mess of things,”
growled Mr. Dalken.
Mr. Alexander chuckled aloud, then turned to Jack and told of his
wonderful plan to throw dust in the eyes of the supposed Director of
the Copper Company. Jack laughed heartily, when he heard that his
guardian and Mr. Fuzzier were expected to play the roles of romantic
beaux.
Just at this moment Polly came down the stairs, and, seeing the men
standing as though waiting for their friends, she hastened to join
them.
“I left Nolla and Dodo with Mrs. Alexander, who is unusually anxious
to make a good impression upon the gentlemen of our group,”
explained Polly, with an amused laugh at Mr. Dalken.
“Humph!” came from that disgruntled individual.
Then Jack spoke to Polly. “I was just telling Dalky that it was too
late to start for the Cliff Dwellings to-day. We ought to get up
early in the morning and have a full day in which to properly see
the Castle.”
“Yes, but I thought the main object in this trip was to help Dalky
and the other two men to get out of the way of their competitor for
that tract of land? If that is so, we’d better lose no more time,
because I saw that man start off in an automobile just as I was
about to leave my room, before coming down here,” explained Polly.
“By Jingo! Then we’d better be off!” exclaimed Mr. Fuzzier.
“I should say so!” added Mr. Dalken, turning to catch hold of Jack’s
arm. “You run out and see if we can start in a car at once—Mr.
Alexander, Fuzzy and myself. Hustle a good driver into the seat, and
tell him not to wait for anything.”
Without waiting to hear more Jack hurried away to do his guardian’s
bidding, and Polly was left to answer the anxious questions of the
three men. All she could add to her information, however, was of no
consequence to the three speculators.
“Polly, we’ll leave you to explain to the others why we had to rush
away without waiting to say good-by,” said Mr. Dalken, taking Mr.
Fuzzier’s arm, to make him come with him.
“What about our luggage, Dalken?” asked Mr. Alexander, not so
anxious to go away in this fashion.
“Oh! Jack will attend to that. The bags can be taken on to the Grand
Canyon, where we will meet the ladies.”
Thus, before the rejuvenated mother of Dodo could appear to
captivate her two promised admirers, they had vanished from
Flagstaff. Jack saw them off, and then turned to laugh at the whole
plot.
“If we could get rid of Mrs. Alexander as easily as she rid herself
of A. A. A., there might be hopes of enjoying ourselves during the
next few days. But she will be in a dreadful mood when she learns
how her beaux have disappeared.”
Polly laughed, too, because she could picture the consternation of
Dodo’s mother. It would be difficult to make her believe the truth
about the sudden departure of the men, and little Mr. Alexander
would have to bear the brunt of her anger in the long run.
Soon after the automobile carrying the three financiers had rolled
away, Mrs. Alexander “in all her conquering glory” came into the
room where Polly and Jack were wondering how she would receive the
news. She certainly meant business—if one might judge of her
intentions by her costume and make-up. Eleanor and Dodo wisely
remained out of sight of their companions; there would have been a
unanimous scream of laughter, had they met each other’s eyes.
“Well, dearies, here I am, ready to start, when you say the word,”
began Mrs. Alexander, but she looked around quickly for signs of her
promised suitors.
“All right, Mrs. Alex.,” replied Jack suavely, “we are all ready,
too. Come, girls! The car is outside.”
Jack and Polly led the way, and in a short time all were in the
automobile, and the chauffeur was given the word to start.
“But, wait! Where are the gentlemen?” cried Mrs. Alexander.
“Oh! they will not be with us on this short outing. We are going to
drive to the Lowell Observatory this afternoon, and postpone the
trip to Montezumas Castle for to-morrow. You see, such an outing
will need the most of an entire day, if it is to be enjoyable,”
explained Jack, nonchalantly.
“All the same, I don’t see why they couldn’t have come with us,”
complained the lady, sulkily.
Eleanor and Dodo had not heard of the unexpected departure of the
three men, and they were not in the surprise which Polly and Jack
would have to spring upon them later. So they all drove to see the
famous observatory where investigations of the planet Mars were
made. Late that afternoon they returned to the hotel, Jack wondering
how he should tell Mrs. Alexander that her beaux had fled.
Flagstaff, being a popular summer vacation place, was, at this time
of year, quiet and settled for the winter’s rest. Consequently the
tourists might be said to have taken possession of the hotel, since
so few visitors stopped there during the cold season.
Upon arriving at the hotel Mrs. Alexander looked eagerly around for
her husband and his two friends, and Jack seized this opportunity to
inform the dismayed lady of the necessity of their hurried trip.
“Well! Any man that would consider a paltry strip of western land in
preference to a _lady_ isn’t worth wasting my time. Let Ebeneezer
run them off, as I’m sure he did in order to annoy me, but I’ll find
other company, just as good as those two old men!” threatened Mrs.
Alexander, angrily.
Having delivered herself of this ultimatum Dodo’s youthfully dressed
mother turned haughtily away and went up to her room. The other
members in the group were too tired to bother about changing their
motor clothes for the evening, and they decided to have supper,
dressed as they were, and then retire in order to be up early in the
morning for the trip to the Castle cliffs.
Dodo telephoned to her mother’s room to tell her they were waiting
for her to join them in the dining-room, but Mrs. Alexander said she
was having her supper sent to her room. Therefore the young people
and Mrs. Courtney thought no more of the matter, and enjoyed the hot
meal while wondering what the three absent men were doing.
Upon bidding each other good-night, later in the evening, Jack
reminded all that the car would be ready at eight the following
morning.
“We’ll be ready, too, never fear,” returned Mrs. Courtney.
And so they were; but Mrs. Alexander sent word by Dodo that she had
had enough of gazing at blank walls and pretending to go into
raptures over a gaping hole!
“Just like Ma,” added Dodo, having given the message to Jack. “If
that hole, or the wall, was noted for the visits paid by some
personages of fame, she’d camp on the spot in order to say she’d
been one of a party where the princess, or a governor, or some other
big gun was the feature.” Dodo’s disgusted tone and expression told
plainly that she did not favor such pretensions.
“Well, it’s too bad we have to leave Mrs. Alexander alone all day,
but she prefers it to going to the cliffs,” sighed Mrs. Courtney,
starting for the automobile.
“Don’t worry about Ma. She’ll console herself with a yellow novel,”
said Dodo.
Mrs. Courtney did not approve of the manner in which Dodo spoke of
her mother, and she wished the girl would use more consideration in
speaking so disrespectfully of her before Polly and Eleanor, but she
felt that she had no right to advise or correct another woman’s
daughter. And Polly and Eleanor, knowing that Dodo spoke truly about
her mother’s weaknesses, kept silent on what they thought to be
rather blunt statements.
That day was spent in seeing the National Monument of cliffs
situated on Beaver Creek, in the Verde Valley, and by sunset time
they were on their way back to their hotel.
“To-morrow we will visit Humphrey’s Peak,” said Jack, looking at his
trip-book. “I was told that we can get one of the finest views of
any in the west from the top of that peak. The clerk at the hotel
says it is possible, on a clear day, to see over 75,000 square miles
of territory—think of that! Don’t forget your kodaks, girls,
because you’ll want them once you get to the top of the peak.”
“It seems rather risky, Jack, to try to gain the summit of that peak
in this cold weather,” remarked Mrs. Courtney. “The snows will have
made the trails impassable, and the guides may have trouble in
finding the way.”
“Oh, well, we’ll see how high we can climb without losing our way,”
returned Jack, indifferently.
“The auto can carry us part way up the mountain,” added Polly, “and
we can ride horses the rest of the way, if the day is pleasant.”
“That’s what I thought,” explained Jack. “Carry the lunch in the
car, and eat before we start for the climb to the peak. It will be
easy enough to come down again, and then we will be back in the
hotel by dark.”
Mrs. Courtney was not so sure about it all, and she determined to
inquire of the hotel proprietor, if the trip would be absolutely
safe.
When the party of five went to the desk to ask for mail, they were
surprised to hear that Mrs. Alexander had paid her bill and
departed. All the word she left was that she would meet them at the
hotel at Grand Canyon. This news annoyed Dodo, because she felt sure
that her mother had stopped to get Algy at Williams, and would go on
to Grand Canyon without a thought of being misunderstood by others
who knew nothing of her social aspirations. She was gone, however,
and nothing more could be done about it.
Jack and his friends went to sleep that night fully convinced that
Mrs. Alexander had called for Algy, and then gone on to Grand Canyon
with him. And Mr. Dalken, with his two companions, anxious to
forestall the Copper Company by securing options on the great tract
of land south of Montezumas Castle, believed the little hoax Mr.
Alexander had played upon his wife had worked successfully to keep
from their competitors all facts about their launching a new company
to mine the valuable ore from the Verde Valley. Perhaps it was just
as well that no one knew what Mrs. Alexander was doing, and what she
contemplated doing for the next few days.
After leaving the hotel at Flagstaff, Mrs. Alexander had boarded the
train and went as far as Williams. Here, as Dodo had thought, she
expected to find Algy and persuade him to attend her on the way to
the Tovar Hotel at Grand Canyon. But she was destined to have
another disagreeable surprise.
She had not telephoned nor wired Algy that she would arrive that
noon, because she was so sure he would be impatiently waiting for
her. To her dismay, therefore, she found that a Mr. Dunlap had been
at the hotel for a few days and had struck up a sudden friendship
with young Alveston. Then Algy, dissatisfied with his lonesome life
at Williams, swallowed the tempting bait held out to him by the wily
promoter. When Mr. Dunlap proposed that the young man be his guest
upon a little side trip to an interesting point which he was about
to visit, Algy hailed the invitation as a godsend. Consequently the
two started off in a luxurious limousine at about the same time that
Jack and his party left the hotel at Flagstaff for Montezumas
Castle.
Because of this acceptance of the invitation, Algy was not to be
found when Mrs. Alexander arrived. The man who owned the hotel at
Williams, where Algy had stopped, knew only that the trunks had been
sent on to Grand Canyon, and that the young man had driven away in
another man’s car.
“I’m sure they went on to Grand Canyon, so I’ll take the next train
from here. What time will I get there?” said Mrs. Alexander, having
to hide her annoyance, since no one was present upon whom she dared
vent her anger.
“You’ll have to wait around here for several hours, Ma’am, as there
will be no train until four this afternoon. You’ll get to Grand
Canyon in time for supper,” explained the man, politely.
“Dear me! And there’s nothing for me to do here, is there?” she
exclaimed, impatiently.
“Well, that depends on what you like to do. Now, we-all find so much
to do, every day, that the days are too short for us,” laughed the
man.
“I suppose everybody—that is every one worth while, goes right
through to Grand Canyon, so Williams never sees society people,”
remarked Mrs. Alexander, with a superior air, calculated to impress
this mere nobody of a man.
“Sometimes society persons find themselves stranded here,” chuckled
the man, who cared naught for this lady’s hoity-toity manners.
“There happens to be such a man, right this minute—just as mad at
being delayed in his plans, as you can be. He’s said to be some
punkins back in Chicago, where he’s a big lawyer.”
“Oh, really! Who is he?” asked Mrs. Alexander, finding life might be
bearable in Williams.
“Why, he’s the Executor of the White Ranch, down Verde Valley way.
He is said to reckon his income with seven figures to the left of
the decimal!”
“I do not think I am acquainted with him, though I have met so many
millionaires lately that he may be one of them,” mused Mrs.
Alexander, seeming to be trying to recollect.
“Reckon you haven’t met this one,” continued her informer. “He only
left the ranch yesterday, and must have expected to meet some
arrivals in this town to-day. They didn’t arrive, and now he’s got
to stay over and do some waiting, I’m told. If you happened to know
him, it would help kill time for you.”
“That would be very pleasant for me, but he is not around, and I’ll
be going on to Grand Canyon in a few hours’ time.”
“You must have struck a lucky day, Ma’am, for here comes Mr.
Belnord—the man I was just telling you about. He’s strolling across
the verandah this minute, as though he wanted to kill time. He’ll
ask me if there is any telegrams or ‘phone messages in another
moment,” whispered the gossipy clerk.
Mrs. Alexander knew the man to be a stranger, but she made up her
mind to get acquainted with a millionaire who might be looking for a
companion to wile away wearisome hours. Hence she planned quickly.
“Oh, yes! I met him in ——” exclaimed she.
Just as the frowning gentleman reached the desk to address the
clerk, the lady who was standing there dropped her costly handbag.
Naturally the newcomer picked it up and bowed politely as he
returned it to the owner.
“Oh, thank you,” said Mrs. Alexander in a demure tone. Then in a
surprised way, held out a daintily gloved hand, as she exclaimed
gladly: “Why! If it isn’t Mr. Belnord! To think of meeting you in
this out-of-the-way spot. The last time I saw you was over a year
ago, at a fête in Chicago.”
She acted the part of a delighted old friend to perfection, and Mr.
Belnord, chagrined that he could not place so charming a lady,
accepted her word for it and kept rummaging through the memory cells
of his brain for a possible clue to her identity.
They shook hands like old friends, and Mrs. Alexander began to
rattle off her complaints against a railroad that failed to run a
train to Grand Canyon to accommodate her. Then she added naively:
“My father, Mr. Alexander, and my younger sister, Dorothy, were to
have met me here to-day, but I suppose they went on with Mr. Dalken
and Mr. Fuzzier to visit the cliffs of the Verde Valley. I am weary
of so many side-trips, and I decided to meet them here. Do you
remember my sister, Mr. Belnord?”
“No, Miss Alexander, I’m ashamed to say I do not. I remember I saw
nothing but you, when you were present, remember,” replied the
gallant gentleman of forty years. “But Fate has been more than kind
to me to-day in giving me an opportunity to amuse you while you are
delayed by the wretched train service.”
Mrs. Alexander managed to hold back a smile of gratification at the
success of her little trick, and Mr. Belnord considered himself very
clever in learning the lady’s name with so little trouble. But he
also caught the names of the three men he had cause to chase,—and
the very three he was waiting in Williams to meet—if the estate
agent, Dunlap, was to be trusted. It now behooved him to find out
all he could from this talkative woman, who evidently had reached
the spinster’s age of garrulity.
The two walked slowly away from the desk, and sought the comfortable
easy chairs in the parlor. Here Mrs. Alexander proceeded to
captivate her new admirer, being wary to steer clear of reefs
whenever the conversation seemed to turn to their former friendship.
But Mr. Belnord cared naught about former or future friendships—he
was anxious to learn about the present plans of certain men this
lady knew, and so, before she boarded her train for Grand Canyon,
where she expected to find Algy, he had found out all he needed to
know for the present.