WALTER TO THE RESCUE
A familiar shout roused Nan, and she sat up, pushing the hair back from
her face, and instinctively straightened her dress. She picked up her
hat, which had fallen off when she fell, and she pushed this down over
her soft hair as she stumbled to her feet.
She answered the familiar hail, and in another moment she saw Walter
running toward her, looking very anxious and upset. But when the youth
saw her face he stood still, staring at her stupidly.
"Why, Nan!" he cried, "what is it? You--why, you've been crying!"
"W-with rage," said Nan, a sob rising in her throat. "It's those men,
Walter. They searched me! Oh, I'll never get over it--never!"
This time she broke down completely and Walter ran to her, putting a
protecting arm about her, glancing about him at the same time as if he
hoped to see the men who had frightened her and wreak vengeance then and
there.
"Searched you! Who?" he demanded; then, before she could speak, he
added as though answering his own question: "It was those men, Nan. You
told me. Where are they? Quick! Which way did they go?"
But Nan only shook her head and clung to him a little as though she
found comfort in his being there.
"You couldn't catch them--they have had too much of a start," she said.
Then, with a shudder of remembrance, she drew herself from Walter's
grasp and looked at him wildly. "Walter!" she cried. "There are all our
bags in the auto--Mrs. Bragley's papers--and those--those--beasts around
loose! Oh--oh----" Before she had finished she had started toward the
road on a run with Walter in close pursuit.
They met the rest of the anxious party on the way, but nothing less than
an earthquake could have stopped Nan then. She waved to them and Walter
shouted something unintelligible as he raced past, and they had nothing
else to do but to follow the young lunatics--for that is what they
called them.
When Mr. and Mrs. Mason and the girls arrived at the spot where they had
left their car they found Walter and Nan sitting on the running board
and Nan holding something in her hand which she waved wildly at them.
"They're safe! They're safe!" she called, as Rhoda, Grace and Bess ran
up to her and then stopped short at the disheveled picture she made.
"Why, Nan Sherwood!" began Bess, amazed, "what----"
"Why, Nan, you've been crying!" exclaimed Rhoda, running forward and
putting a protecting arm about her friend.
"You needn't remind me of it," said Nan with a hysterical little sob. "I
may start again."
"But, Nan dear, something very dreadful must have happened to make you
cry so," said Mrs. Mason gravely. "We have been worried about you."
Nan told them all about it, with little catches of her breath in
between, while her listeners grew more and more agitated and Bess wanted
to hire a dozen detectives immediately and give chase.
"So they gave you forty-eight hours, did they?" asked Mr. Mason, his
mouth tightening in a grim line. "Well, I'll give them just twenty-four
hours before they land in jail. Come on, let us get back to the town. I
want to set some wheels in motion."
"But let us look for the rascals ourselves first," pleaded Walter. "They
may not have run off as far as you think."
"Well, it won't do any harm to take a look around," said Mr. Mason.
He and his son went back into the orange grove and there spent the best
part of half an hour trying to get some trace of Nan's assailants. They
found some footprints and followed these, but presently the marks were
lost in crossing a brook.
Some men working in the far end of the orange grove came up and wanted
to know what was the matter.
"You ought to get some bloodhounds on their trail," said one when they
had told their story. "Nothing like them dogs to trail a man."
"We haven't any bloodhounds and we haven't any time to get them,"
replied Mr. Mason.
"We might offer a reward for their capture," suggested Walter.
"We'll do that--if the authorities cannot aid us," said his father.
"Those rascals ought to be hung, Dad."
"I wouldn't say hung, Walter. But they ought to be severely punished. I
fear they have scared Nan so she will not enjoy her visit to Florida."
"You had better take those papers, Dad."
"I think so myself. I can't understand why Nan kept them."
"Oh, some of the other girls thought she'd be afraid to keep them, and
she wanted to show them that she wasn't afraid. But now I guess she had
better give them up."
The search was continued for a while longer and then father and son
returned to the others. Then all set out for town.
The girls plied Nan with questions on the way back, but she was too worn
out with her terrible experience to answer them. The reaction was upon
her, and all she wanted to do was crawl off in a corner somewhere and
think things out.
They found the only hotel in Sunny Slopes, and, under Mr. Mason's expert
management, were soon comfortably installed in a suite of rooms on the
second floor.
"You must rest a bit, Nan," said Mrs. Mason kindly. "If you don't you
may get sick."
"Oh, I can't rest," declared the girl.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Mason made her lie down, and presently Nan dropped
off into a troubled doze. In the meanwhile Mr. Mason, followed by
Walter, had raced off to interview the authorities.
When Nan opened her eyes she found the other girls impatiently waiting
to speak to her.
"Goodness! I thought you were going to sleep forever," said Bess, as she
saw with relief that Nan's eyes were open. Rhoda, who had been moving
around in the other room, came to the door and peeped in.
"And here we've been waiting all this time to tell you the news," said
Grace plaintively.
"News! What news?" asked Nan, still heavy with sleep.
"Who do you suppose is here?" asked Bess, then went on eagerly without
waiting for an answer. "It's Linda, Nan. And she has Cora Courtney with
her. We met them in the hall just now."
"I don't think Linda would have spoken to us, and I'm sure we weren't
going to," Grace took up the story, "but Cora stopped, and so Linda
really had to. I imagine they are none too friendly from the way they
acted to each other."
"It's strange we haven't seen Cora but once before if she has been with
Linda all the time," Bess added excitedly, for this new development had
evidently quite driven Nan's trouble from her mind. "We've seen Linda
innumerable times."
"Probably Linda has been making more of a lady's maid of Cora than
usual," said Nan, putting a hand to her forehead, which was beginning to
throb dully. "And lady's maids aren't very often seen with their
mistresses, you know."
"But what I can't understand," said Rhoda thoughtfully from the doorway,
"is why they didn't stay at Palm Beach. I should like to know what they
are doing here."
"Following me, probably," said Nan, sitting up in bed with a wry little
laugh. "People seem to be getting in the habit!"
Nan dressed a little while after that and went downstairs for dinner,
although her head was still aching painfully.
The attack in the orange grove and the rascals' threat to Nan had now
thoroughly aroused Mr. Mason, and he had been out all afternoon while
Nan slept, making inquiries and setting wheels in motion.
For the short time he had been at work on the case he had made really
remarkable strides. He had found out first of all, through an attorney
in Sunny Slopes, that Mrs. Bragley's papers were perfectly legal and
that she owned a sixth interest in the orange grove, which was worth a
little over thirty thousand dollars. This gave the widow five thousand
dollars--a veritable fortune to the poor woman.
"I'll write to her to-night," Nan declared, even forgetting the ache in
her head in her pleasure at the good news. "Mr. Mason, I think you are
wonderful!"
"No, I'm not, my dear," Mr. Mason denied grimly. "If I had been I should
have landed those rascals who attacked you and that crooked Pacomb who
employed them in jail before to-night."
"Pacomb!" repeated Nan breathlessly, while the others looked interested.
"Jacob Pacomb. Why, he's the man I told you about who sold the property
to Mrs. Bragley."
"You said he was crooked, Dad," said Walter with interest. "How do you
know?"
"I've made inquiries," said Mr. Mason significantly. "And I've found out
that people out here don't think very much of Mr. Jacob Pacomb and his
business methods. I haven't the slightest doubt in the world," he added
earnestly, "but what Pacomb has been behind all these attempts to get
the papers from you, Nan."
"Can't you arrest him?" Grace asked breathlessly. "Of course you can!"
"I can as soon as I prove that he's a thief," her father answered.
Bess, Grace and Rhoda slept well that night, for they were tired out
with excitement, but Nan scarcely closed her eyes. Again and again the
incidents of the day came vividly back to her and she would start up
nervously at the slightest sound.
When morning came she was white and big-eyed, and the girls were shocked
when they saw her.
"For goodness' sake, Nan Sherwood," Bess scolded, all the time hovering
anxiously over her, "I always said that that old woman's horrible papers
would be the death of you, and from the way you look this morning I
guess I'm a good prophet. Here we come to Florida for a good time, and
look what we get!"
"You do look all worn out, honey," said Rhoda, putting an arm about her
chum. "Come down on the porch for a little while in the sunshine. It
will do you good."
"I'm all right," protested Nan. "I just have a little headache, that's
all."
"And no wonder, after all those old papers have made you go through,"
grumbled Bess, as she followed the girls out into the hall. "I'm only
surprised that we are not all dead by this time."
"Now all that we need to make us completely happy," chuckled Nan,
recovering a little of her old spirits, "is to meet dear Linda. She
always has such a pleasant effect upon people."
"Oh, we'll meet her all right, don't worry," said Bess gloomily. "She
always turns up when she is least wanted."
After breakfast, Walter, shocked and worried as were all the rest over
Nan's appearance, suggested that he take her and the other girls, if
they wanted to go, for a little ride in the automobile.
Bess refused on the ground that she had to write some letters, but the
other three said they would go. Mr. Mason had taken charge of Mrs.
Bragley's papers, so that there was that much less for Nan to worry
about. She was thankful for this, as she rather listlessly climbed into
the back seat with Grace and Rhoda.
"Let's go, Walter," she said, as she sank back luxuriously into her
corner. "And I don't very much care if we never get back."
Meanwhile, Bess was having an adventure all by herself. She went up to
her room after the girls left and dutifully wrote two letters, one to
her father and one to her mother.
Then, having had enough of duty for the present, she yawned and
stretched and wondered when Walter and the girls were coming back--or
whether they intended to stay all day.
Then an impish sprite of mischief whispered in her ear and her eyes
danced merrily. On that chance meeting with Cora and Linda in the hall
Cora had told her and Grace that they were staying in a suite of rooms
on the third floor, and had asked them to come to see her and Linda.
And now, to while away the time till the girls' return, Bess proposed to
take advantage of Cora's invitation and call upon her--and Linda.
She slipped along the hall, ran up the stairs to save waiting for the
elevator, and finally found the door, the number of which Cora had given
her some time before.
She heard voices raised in altercation within, and paused before
knocking. Then she heard Nan's name spoken in Linda's unpleasant tones,
and, quite unintentionally, she stood a moment playing eavesdropper.
"I tell you, she is a thief!" Linda was saying, in a voice that showed
she was in one of her frequent rages. "Nan Sherwood has been acting
funny ever since she came to Palm Beach, and that's why I've followed
her here to see what she is up to."
"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Cora shot back, and Bess was curiously
reminded of the turning worm. "I don't believe Nan Sherwood is any
thief. I think she's a mighty nice girl. And every time I think of the
mean trick you played on her, and how you nearly wrecked the school as
well----"
Bess drew in a sharp breath and immediately came to her senses. She
knocked loudly on the door, but the raised voices of the girls within
drowned the sound.
Linda had turned on Cora in a fury.
"You take that back," she shrilled. "If you dare tell anybody about my
wrecking that steam plant----"
But Bess, unable to contain herself another moment, tried the knob, felt
the door yield, and burst in upon the astonished girls.
"Oh!" she cried triumphantly, "I knew I couldn't be wrong! It was you,
Linda, after all!"