RECOVERED TREASURE
To her great surprise Billie found that not only her father but the boys
were up and had for the past half hour been busily engaged in eating a
breakfast prepared for them by the rosy and good-natured farmer's wife.
They greeted the unexpected apparition of Billie with enthusiasm, and
their impromptu hostess turned cheerfully back to the frying pan to fry
another egg for the new arrival.
"I bet I know why you got up," said Ferd, his mouth full of biscuit and
jam. "Come on over, Billie, and after you've daintily pecked at some
food we're all going to look for your trunk."
"But I'm not hungry," protested Billie, as Teddy dragged a chair up to
the table for her. "Don't you think we'd better get started right away?"
"Not before you've had some breakfast," said her father, and so she
hurriedly ate--it might be said "gobbled," if it were not so
unladylike--the breakfast that Mrs. Jenkins placed before her.
If it had not been for the real cause of her excitement the boys might
have found amusing her effort to gulp down her whole breakfast in the
time one usually takes to drink a cup of coffee. As it was, they
sympathized, and once when she choked and became painfully red in the
face, Ferd gravely handed her a glass of water and Teddy gallantly
offered to pat her on the back.
When, contrary to everybody's expectations, the meal came to an end
without any further mishap, Billie crumpled her napkin into a ball and
threw it on the table.
"I won't eat another bite for anybody," she said, adding, as she started
for the hall: "I'll put on my hat and be right with you."
In the bedroom she found that Laura and Violet had turned over for a nap
and she stood for half a minute looking down at them reflectively and a
little scornfully.
"Go ahead--sleep," she said under her breath. "It isn't your five
thousand dollars." This was hardly fair, seeing that that five thousand
dollars meant almost as much to Laura and Violet as to Billie herself in
the happiness it would bring.
With one last disgusted look she fled from the room and joined the boys
and Mr. Bradley in the hall. Mrs. Jenkins had directed them to the
station, and, anxious to waste no further time, they set off at once.
"Daddy, do you suppose we'll find it?" asked Billie, her breath coming
fast. "There were a good many trunks destroyed in the baggage car,
weren't there?"
"It was hard to tell the extent of the damage," said Mr. Bradley,
anxious to reassure her, yet afraid to raise her hopes too high.
"However," he said, quickening his step a little, "there's the station
right before us, so we ought to find out before long."
Early as they were, there was already a line of people on the rickety
station platform and Billie was seized with a fresh spasm of dismay.
"Goodness! they couldn't possibly have saved trunks enough to go round,"
she cried, and Teddy, though he was feeling very anxious himself,
laughed at her.
"There were two baggage cars, both loaded, you know," he reminded her.
"And one of them wasn't touched by the fire. We'll hope yours was in
that one."
"Oh, Teddy, you're such a comfort!" she cried, and squeezed his arm
gratefully, at which Teddy flushed happily.
"Have we got to stand in line?" Billie whispered nervously to her father
a minute later. "I know I can't stand still and behave myself, Daddy.
Couldn't we go up and have a look around?"
"That wouldn't do any good," said her father, glancing at the piled-up
baggage. "It would only make more confusion. And still----" He thought
for a moment and then suddenly he strode off down the station and toward
the guard who had been friendly the night before.
Billie could hear nothing, but she saw enough to make her heart beat
faster. Mr. Bradley whispered a few words to the man who was at first
inclined to be impatient and made a quick gesture as if to wave Mr.
Bradley back to his place in the line.
However, Billie could see that whatever her father was saying was making
an impression, for suddenly the guard straightened up and began to look
interested.
"I wonder what Dad's handing him," said Chet slangily in her ear.
"Look!" cried Billie, clutching his arm. "They're going to look for
something--probably our trunk. No, they're not. Look how excited he is!
And Daddy, too! Oh, Chet, what in the world----" the last words were a
wail, and Chet squeezed her hand warningly.
"Come on, let's find out," he said. "It looks as if something was up."
The four young people came within earshot just in time to hear the last
part of Mr. Bradley's sentence.
"If it was only a few minutes ago, he hasn't had time to get far," her
father was saying with a grim light in his eyes.
Billie could stand the suspense no longer, and she rushed forward,
grasping her father's arm. The earnest conversation between the guard
and Mr. Bradley and their evident excitement had already attracted the
attention of the line of people, and now they watched Billie curiously.
"Daddy, what do you mean?" Billie cried in a voice tense with
excitement. "Is the trunk safe? Have you found it?"
"Yes. But only to lose it again," said her father, and then went on
hurriedly to explain. "The guard says he saw a trunk here only a little
while ago that answers our description, but now it's gone. He remembers
seeing a suspicious looking man hanging around, and it's barely possible
that the man may have stolen it. He also remembers seeing this fellow
drive off in a Ford car just a few minutes ago."
"O-oh!" cried Billie incredulously. "The trunk has been stolen!" Then
she whirled around and faced the guard. "Are you sure it was our trunk?
Could you describe it?"
"Yes," the guard answered, excited himself by this time. "I took special
notice of it because it was so odd and shabby."
"That trunk was worth five thousand dollars!" wailed Billie, thereby
causing another ripple of surprise among the onlookers. Then she turned
pleadingly to her father.
"Daddy, we must find the trunk, we must!" she cried. "Just think what it
means." She was on the verge of tears, and her father came suddenly to a
decision. He turned quickly to the guard.
"Is it possible to get a machine around here--a fast one?" he asked.
"I don't know. But here's the man who keeps the livery stable."
Suddenly a well-dressed man, who had been watching the proceedings with
lively interest, stepped forward and addressed Mr. Bradley courteously.
"I have my car here," he said, adding with a smile of pride: "And she's
guaranteed to overtake anything that runs on four wheels. She's at your
disposal, if you can run her. My man went on an errand."
"That's kind of you, sir," cried Mr. Bradley heartily. "If you will show
me----"
"I'll say so," said the stranger boyishly, and led the way around the
station to a car which, even in this minute of excitement, the boys eyed
delightedly.
"I'll drive," announced Teddy; and before any one could have interfered
if they had wanted to, he had jumped into the driver's seat and had
thrown in the clutch. Teddy was young, but he knew all about cars.
Mr. Bradley took the seat beside him and the two boys and Billie
scrambled into the tonneau. Mr. Bradley motioned to the owner of the
car.
"Will you come?" he asked, but the man shook his head.
"No, thanks," he answered, "I'd rather stay here and watch for some
other missing baggage. Good luck!" and he waved to them as the big car
glided forward under Teddy's touch and shot around a turn in the road.
The wind roared in Billie's ears and whipped little strands of hair
across her eyes, but she pushed them back impatiently and fixed her eyes
upon the flying ribbon of road ahead.
"Faster, Teddy, faster!" she kept urging until even that young
scatterbrain began to wonder at her.
"Can't be done, Billie!" he yelled back finally. "We're going about
sixty now, and if we meet anything on the road, we'll have a smash-up."
"Be careful, Teddy," cautioned Mr. Bradley. "We don't want an accident."
"Oh, but we've got to catch that thief!" wailed Billie, hoping each time
they rounded a bend in the road to see their quarry just ahead. "He may
have got too much of a start----"
"Don't worry," Teddy shouted back. "No start will help a flivver against
a car like this. Say, but she's a beauty! Just listen to that engine!"
But Billie was in no mood to listen to anything except the jingle of
queer old coins in a shabby old trunk. Then suddenly there came a yell
from Teddy and an exclamation from Mr. Bradley.
"There he is!" cried Teddy, leaning down over the wheel as though he
would force even more speed out of the flying car. "See him, Billie?
Didn't I tell you a flivver didn't have a chance?"
Even as Teddy spoke, the man in the machine ahead of them looked back.
Then abruptly, and to the great surprise of Billie and the boys, he
stopped his car and began groping wildly in the bottom of it for
something.
Then, while every second brought them nearer, the man did an astonishing
thing. He lifted a small object, which Billie excitedly recognized as
the trunk, and with an effort succeeded in getting it over the side of
the car.
Then he dropped it in the road and turned for a swift moment to look at
his pursuers before he started his car again. It was only a moment, but
those in the car behind were near enough to get a good look at his face.
It was a repulsive face topped with a mass of vivid red hair. But what
the boys and Billie most noticed was his unusually wide, loose-lipped
mouth.
So busy was Teddy in looking at the thief that, if it had not been for
Billie, he would surely have run over the precious trunk in the road.
She stood up waving her arms excitedly.
"Teddy, look out! If you run over my trunk----" and Teddy swerved so
suddenly that she was nearly thrown from the car. However, Chet caught
her and put her safely back in the seat; and in another minute Teddy had
brought the big car to a sliding standstill.
They tumbled to the roadside, and Billie, rushing over to the trunk,
sank to her knees regardless of three inches of dust in the road, and
encircled the shabby old thing with her arms.
And Teddy, watching her, said with a grin:
"Gosh! who wouldn't be a trunk?"