THE SEARCH
"Where can they be, David?" asked Madge anxiously. "Do you suppose they
have run away?"
"Nothing can possibly have happened to the children in such a few
moments. We will find them. They are probably hiding somewhere to tease
you."
But though he made a systematic hunt about the yard, he did not find
them.
"Dot! Daisy!" called Madge, "it's time to go home. If you'll only come
here, I will tell you the nicest fairy story you ever heard."
Madge did not go into the house at once to tell Phil and Miss Betsey of
the disappearance of the children. She would surely discover them and it
was not worth while to worry Phil. But although she argued within
herself that nothing serious could have happened to the babies, she had
a premonition of disaster. Only a moment before they had been chasing
butterflies. It would seem as though a wicked hobgoblin had come up out
of the ground and carried them off.
Next to Miss Taylor's back yard there was another field enclosed by a
low stone wall. It would have been easy work for Dot and Daisy to crawl
over it, and Madge knew their propensity for getting into mischief.
David and Madge clambered hastily over the wall into the field. It was
an open one, covered with low, waving grass, where the presence of even
little four-year-old girls could be seen at a glance.
The conviction that the children had been mysteriously kidnapped began
to grow upon Madge. Yet Miss Betsey Taylor's home was a quarter of a
mile distant from any other house, and neither David nor Madge had seen
any sign of a tramp. The little captain made up her mind that she _must_
tell Phil. It was no longer fair to keep her chum in the dark. Phil must
assist in the search for her sisters.
"Don't be frightened," consoled David, interpreting the look of fear in
Madge's eyes. "I promise to find the children for you."
Madge went into the house with slow, dragging steps. She tried to hide
her fright, but her face betrayed her. She was utterly wretched. She had
come, uninvited, to visit her best friend, and Phil's father and mother
had treated her as though she were another grown-up daughter. Now, as a
reward, she had lost their beloved babies. For, if Madge had not been
talking with David, Dot and Daisy would never have run away from her and
disappeared.
Phyllis sprang to her feet when she caught sight of Madge. She had been
wondering why her chum had not come in. One look at Madge's white face
was enough to convince her that something serious had happened.
"Don't worry so, Madge," comforted Phil, when the girl had stammered out
her story, "I'll find those children. Nobody has run off with them.
Don't you know that getting themselves lost and frightening people
nearly out of their wits is the thing that Dot and Daisy love best in
the world?"
Phyllis and Madge ran out of the parlor together, followed more slowly
by Miss Betsey, who was not at all sure that she relished so much
excitement. Phyllis Alden did not realize how thoroughly Madge and David
had looked for the lost babies before her friend had brought the news to
her. If she had, Phil would have been more alarmed.
David determined to discover the missing children before Madge returned
to the yard. But where else should he seek for them? With a swift
feeling of horror, the boy thought of one more possible place. If his
surmise should prove true! Poor Madge! David thought of her with a
sudden flood of sympathy. Instinctively he realized, after his short
acquaintance with her, that she was the type of person who would never
recover from such a sorrow as the loss of these children would be.
While David thought he ran. He hoped to make his investigation before
Madge and Phil could come into the yard.
Several rods back of the barn in Miss Taylor's back garden there was a
disused well which had been closed for several years. A few days before
Miss Betsey had sent for a man to have this well reopened. The man had
not finished his work. He had gone away, leaving the well open with only
a plank across it.
But David was not allowed to inspect the place undiscovered. Madge and
Phyllis were not long in finding him. "Look in the barn, won't you?"
David called back to the girls. "The children may be hiding under the
hay."
Phyllis slipped inside the barn door. But Madge had ransacked the barn
too thoroughly to believe that there was a chance of finding the babies
there. Besides, she had seen David Brewster's face. He was pale through
his sunburn, so she left the barn to Phil and followed at his heels.
"You've an idea what has happened to the children. Please tell me what
you think," she pleaded.
The boy shook his head resolutely. "Don't ask questions, I've no time to
talk," he answered rudely. Yet David did not mean to be unkind. He only
knew that he could not face the look in Madge's eyes should his
suspicion prove true. Besides, there was no time to waste. Already they
must have waited too long to save the children if the little ones had
fallen down the old well.
Instantly David knew. The plank that had lain across the well had fallen
over on one side. The children must have stepped on this plank and gone
down. David dropped flat on his stomach and peered over into the hole.
"Look out!" he cried sharply to Madge, she was so near him.
Madge felt herself reel. The air turned black about her and the earth
seemed slanting at her feet, miles and miles away. A feeling of deathly
nausea crept over her. Then she pulled herself together. There might yet
be hope, and there was surely work to be done. She dropped on the ground
beside David.
As they knelt side by side on the edge of the well they heard a little,
weak, moaning cry, and straining their eyes distinguished faintly the
tops of two curly heads. Madge uttered a cry of relief. As nearly as she
could judge, the babies were standing upright in the well with their
arms about each other. They were nearly dead with fright and
suffocation, but the wonderful instinct of self-preservation had made
them continue to keep on their feet. There was not more than a foot of
water in the bottom of the well, and Madge believed that the fall had
not seriously hurt them.
"Dot! Daisy!" called Madge, trying to speak in natural tones.
Daisy turned a pair of big black eyes to the little light that shone
above her. Hanging over the edge of the well she spied her Madge and
stretched both tiny arms upward.
"You tumbled into a big hole, didn't you, dears?" soothed Madge
cheerfully, although she was trembling. "Stand up just a moment longer,
won't you, darlings? Madge is right here and she will not go away. We
will have you out of that dark place in a minute."
David had disappeared after his first glance at the children. Madge felt
absolutely sure that he would be able to get the babies out of the well
within the next few moments. She did not know how and she didn't think.
It was her part to keep up the children's courage. Somehow she knew that
this strange boy, of whom everybody spoke ill, would justify the curious
confidence she had placed in him from their first meeting.
When David returned he brought with him Phil, Miss Betsey, and Jane, the
cook. He carried a small clothes basket in his hand with handles at
either end and a great coil of heavy rope.
Turning to Madge he said, "One of us must go down in the well. Shall I
go, or will it be better for me to draw up the basket? I am the
strongest."
For answer Madge took hold of the rope. "Let me go," she begged.
"It is my place," demurred Phyllis, with a white face.
"Phil!" Madge's eyes said all she could not speak. It was her fault that
Dot and Daisy had fallen into the well. Could she not be allowed to risk
herself to save them?
Phyllis stepped back. During this brief exchange of words David had not
been idle. He had knotted his rope securely about Madge's waist.
Over the side of the old well he had seen many loose bricks and open
places. With him above to steady her, a plucky girl could manage to
climb down the side of the well with small danger to herself.
Madge slipped the rope around one arm. If she fell, she might, with
David's assistance, be able to drop down sailor fashion.
She dared not glance down as she began the descent, finding open spaces
for her feet and hands along the brick wall. "Steady, steady!" she
could hear David's voice cheering her, as foot by foot he let out more
of his rope.
David had not trusted to his own strength alone. The rope he guided was
in Phil's hands and also those of Jane, the cook.
When Madge was within two feet of the bottom of the well she jumped and
gathered little Dot, who had toppled over, in her arms. Daisy was still
standing, although she tottered and clung to her rescuer's skirts.
"Let down the basket quickly!" cried Madge. Like a flash the basket
swung down. The little captain made haste to lift poor Dot into it. The
basket had a rope tied on the handle at each end. Madge could see that
David had replaced a heavy plank across the mouth of the well, and that
he sat astride it, so as to be able to draw up the basket without
striking it against the sides of the well.
Madge took little Daisy in her arms and cuddled her head on her
shoulder, so she should not see what was taking place. "Shut your eyes,
baby," she pleaded. "We'll soon be out of this dark old place."
Daisy did not answer. The wreath of daisies with which Madge had crowned
her little head still hung loosely down among her black curls.
It seemed ages before Dot was safely landed on the ground and gathered
in Phil's arms. During that time Madge had never ceased comforting
Daisy. But when the basket descended for the second time Daisy refused
to get into it. She was too frightened. She clung desperately to Madge
and would not unloosen her fat arms from about the girl's neck.
What was to be done? The little captain was afraid to put Daisy in the
basket while the little girl fought and struggled. She would probably
fling herself out in her fright and be badly hurt. It was almost a
miracle the way in which the two babies managed to fall straight down in
the well without striking against the sides.
"Can't you coax her, Phil?" asked Madge in desperation. "She is
determined not to go into the basket."
But all Phyllis's efforts to persuade her baby sister to return to terra
firma via the basket route proved unavailing. Daisy kicked and screamed
at the slightest attempt on Madge's part to put her into the basket.
"If you will bring a ladder and lower it into the well I believe I can
climb up with Daisy on my back," proposed Madge faintly. The strain was
beginning to tell upon her.
"I'll have one down in ten seconds," called David cheerily.
He was back to the edge of the well almost instantly with a long ladder
that he had spied leaning against a fruit tree. He cautiously lowered
it to the waiting girl.
Madge tested it to see that it was firm, then, setting Daisy down, she
bent almost double.
"Climb on Madge's back, dear. Daisy must be very brave. Then we'll go
up, up, up the ladder to Sister Dot. Put your arms around Madge's neck
as tightly as ever you can," directed the little captain.
The novelty of the situation appealed to Daisy and she fastened her fat
little arms about poor Madge's neck in a suffocating clasp. Slowly but
surely, in spite of the hampering embrace, Madge climbed steadily to the
top, to be met by the firm, reassuring grasp of David's strong hands.
Phil lifted the clinging Daisy from Madge's tired back. The little
captain staggered and would have fallen but for David, whose hand on her
elbow quickly steadied her.
Then the boy of whom Miss Betsey entertained such unpleasant suspicions,
the "ne'er-do-weel" of the community, took charge of the situation with
a dignity that surprised even Madge, who believed in him.
"I think it will be best for me to notify Dr. Alden of what has
happened. I will telephone him, then drive over and bring him back. It
will be better not to let Mrs. Alden know that the children fell into
the well. Dr. Alden can look them over. As your mother is recovering
from a long illness, she must not be worried or frightened. What do you
think of my plan, Miss Alden?"
Phyllis quite approved of the suggestion. She looked at David almost
wonderingly. Was this resolute, self-contained young man the surly,
unapproachable boy she had always disliked to encounter when calling
upon Miss Betsey? She awoke to a tardy realization that whatever faults
David Brewster possessed, they were merely on the surface, and that at
heart he was a good man and true. And although David never knew it, on
that day he made another friend whose friendship was destined to prove
as faithful as that of Madge Morton.
That night as the two chums, wrapped in their kimonos, were having a
comfortable little session together before going to bed, Phyllis said
thoughtfully, "Do you know, Madge, I think David Brewster is splendid. I
am afraid I have misjudged him."
"Phil," said Madge with conviction, "David is a man, and I am sure he is
good and true at heart, no matter how gruff he may seem on the surface.
I asked Tom to take him with us on the trip, and now that he has
consented to go, I feel as though I were responsible for him. I know
Miss Betsey believes him to be sneaking and undependable. So far,
however, I have seen nothing about him that looks suspicious, and I do
not believe him to be a sneak. I trust David now, and I am going to keep
on trusting him."