As the machine drove away several street urchins came running toward the girls, begging the privilege of carrying their bags. Nan would have refused, the bags being not at all heavy and the walk to the end of the dock from the entrance not very far, but Bess nudged her sharply.
"Go ahead," she urged. "I have a quarter to pay for it. Don't be a silly."
So Nan obeyed and reluctantly handed over to one of the eager street urchins the handsome bag which contained, among other things, Mrs. Bragley's papers. Bess had already loaded the small boy with her own belongings, and it seemed impossible to Nan that the lad could be able to carry it all.
Yet he sauntered ahead quite cheerfully while the other boys turned away disappointed to wait for the next arrival.
As the girls emerged from the long, tunnel-like entrance into the bright sunshine of the dock they quickened their steps instinctively. The steamshipDorian, which was to carry them to Florida, was already waiting for the passengers.
Nan had never seen a harbor like this before, and she gazed with fascinated eyes out over the glistening water, dotted thickly with craft of all sizes and descriptions.
There were a great many docks like the kind upon which she and Bess were standing, and they stretched out into the harbor like so many legs of an octopus, cleaving the brilliant water with dark ugly gashes.
Over all the bustling harbor was a sense of feverish activity, of mystery and romance, of adventuring in far, fair lands that set Nan's blood atingle and made her breath come quickly.
"What are you waiting for?" Bess asked impatiently, and Nan roused from her reverie with a start.
"I wasn't waiting, I was just looking," said Nan in a soft voice, as they started up the gangplank that led to the deck of theDorian. "I never saw anything so wonderful."
"Beg pardon, Miss," said a voice in her ear, and a small hand was laid upon her arm.
Nan turned quickly and saw that it was their small luggage carrier. In their preoccupation the girls had both of them forgotten about their precious bags.
With quick fingers Nan fished in her purse forthe necessary quarter, gave it to the boy and received her bag in return.
"Oh, Bess!" she cried as the boy tipped his cap and started on, "how could I ever have done such a thing? Why, if I had lost this bag I never would have dared face Mrs. Bragley again. Never in this wide world!"
"I wish Mrs. Bragley were in Guinea," said Bess crossly. "She and her old papers are just about going to spoil our trip. They are making you as nervous as a cat."
"Sh-h, Bess, not so loud," cautioned Nan, as they stepped upon the deck of theDorianand handed over the tickets which Papa Sherwood had secured for them.
It was perhaps fortunate for the girls' peace of mind that they did not notice two men who were closely behind them. One of the men was fat and short and had little eyes and a bald head, which he was now mopping vigorously with a rather soiled handkerchief.
His companion was his complete opposite. He was tall and thin, with a severe, straight line for a mouth and long, nervous hands, and had a habit of caressing his beardless chin as though a beard had once grown there.
As the tall thin man, whom his companion called Jensen, overheard Nan's startled reference to Mrs. Bragley's papers, he put a hand upon the fat man'sarm and nodded once with a sort of jerk of satisfaction.
"What did I say, Davis?" he asked, in a carefully guarded voice. "I tell you, I am never wrong." And his eyes followed the girls as they started down the deck in the direction of their cabin.
As they, in turn, stepped upon the deck, the short man looked up at his tall companion and said rather enigmatically: "Sometimes I wonder, Jensen, whether you are a great man, or a great fool. It's certainly great to have them on this trip to Florida with us."
Although the girls knew nothing of this strange conversation, Nan was extremely careful to stow her bag away in a corner of their stateroom and piled several things on it and about it so that it could not be easily seen by curious eyes.
"Nan, if you don't leave that old thing alone I'm going to throw it overboard," Bess finally said complainingly. "You act as if it contained diamonds and rubies instead of——"
"Oh, please hush," said Nan, rising quickly from her knees and coming over to Bess. "I don't know what has gotten into me lately, Bess dear," she said, speaking so earnestly that her chum regarded her in surprise; "but ever since I took charge of those papers I have had the strangest impression that I am being watched."
"Nan!" cried Bess, looking uneasily over hershoulder, "what a terrible thing. But, of course, it's only imagination," she added easily, for it was instinct with Bess to cast aside anything that threatened to worry her or interfere with her fun. "I told you the old papers were getting on your nerves."
"You're right," said Nan, with a little sigh as she rose to take off her coat and hat and straighten her hair before the tiny mirror. "They certainly are getting on my nerves."
"Well, for goodness' sake get them off then," commanded Bess, bouncing impatiently on a berth. "I never saw such a girl to take everybody else's troubles on her own shoulders. I'll be glad when you turn the papers over to Mr. Mason."
Nan smiled a resigned little smile at her reflection in the mirror. Then she came over and put an arm about her pouting chum.
"All right," she promised gaily, "I won't ever do it again. Only come on and smile, honey. If you knew how pretty you look when you do, you would never do anything else."
There are very few girls who can withstand an appeal like that, and Bess was not one of them. A smile replaced the frown immediately and the next minute she was chatting merrily about their crowded little stateroom and the two narrow berths, one above the other, wondering with a grimace whether they would be seasick or not, and so, on and on, tillNan's momentary depression forsook her and she felt again the thrill that had quickened her blood as they had stood on the dock, gazing out over the harbor.
Yet, almost unknown to Nan herself, there lingered in the back of her mind a strange, uneasy premonition of trouble to come, and again and again her eyes sought the spot where the bag with Mrs. Bragley's papers stowed safely inside lay hidden.
"I wonder which one of us is going to take the upper berth," Bess chattered gaily on. "You had better, Nan, because you're thinner than I. And then if the berth should cave in it wouldn't hurt you so much because there would be something soft to fall on. It's a snug little place, isn't it?"
"Snug is right," said Nan, with a giggle. "You can't turn around without running in to something."
"That's Linda's fault. She shouldn't have wrecked the heating system at school in the Palm Beach season. If it had been in December now, or March, there wouldn't have been such a crowd and we could have had a real honest to goodness stateroom, instead of this two-by-one hole in the wall."
"Elizabeth, how shocking," laughed Nan. "You must have been taking lessons from Walter." And then, for no apparent reason at all, or perhaps because of the expression in her chum's eyes as theyrested upon her, Nan became suddenly confused and hurriedly changed the subject.
"Let's go outside," she suggested, rising and making toward the door of the stateroom, which opened directly out upon the deck. "It—it's awfully hot in here."
Bess laughed tantalizingly and stretched lazily as she prepared to follow her chum.
"Nan, honey," she drawled, irrelevantly, or so it seemed to Nan, "you are a darling, but, oh, you're awfully foolish."
It was a wonderful journey, that one to Jacksonville, and one the girls never forgot. At first the weather was unpleasant, cold and blowy, but toward the afternoon of the second day the gentle winds of the south fanned them with their welcoming breath, and heavy wraps began to feel burdensome.
At first the girls had been afraid that they would become seasick and had wondered what they would do should such a weakness overtake them.
"I know I'll just lie down and die, if I get sick on this steamer," Bess had declared.
"Oh, no, you won't, Bess," Nan had made reply. "You'll do as everybody else has to—grin and bear it."
"But to be sick on a ship that is rolling and pitching all the time——"
"You can keep in your berth, you know."
"There is no fun in that."
"Then go on deck—and make an exhibition of yourself."
"Nan Sherwood, I think that, on occasion, you are utterly heartless."
"So are you."
"Oh, I see. Trying to get square for what I said about Walter Mason."
"Not at all. I am only——"
But there Nan had had to stop, for a sudden lurch of the steamer had thrown her against the wash-stand. Bess had gone sprawling on the floor.
"I—I didn't think it would be so rough," Bess had gasped out, on arising.
"I—I don't think it is going to be so awful bad," Nan had declared. And she had been right. By noon of the second day the sea was quite smooth. Neither of the girls felt a bit of seasickness and both were glad to go on deck and enjoy the sunshine.
"What a change since yesterday," said Bess, as the two girls stood by the rail looking out over the lazily rolling water. "It seems almost like magic, doesn't it?"
"It's wonderful," breathed Nan happily. "It seemed so silly to pack all my summer things when the wind was blowing like mad and it was ten above zero in Tillbury. But now I'm mighty glad we did. Whew, isn't this coat warm!"
"Cheer up," cried Bess gaily. "Maybe by to-night it will be so warm we can put all our winter things in storage and blossom out in silk georgette and white flannels like veritable butterflies from a crystal—Imean chrysalis. Nan, are you listening to me?" she demanded severely, for Nan's eyes had deserted the long line of lazy combers and were following the figures of two men, one long and one short, who were strolling slowly down the deck.
"Bess, do you see those men?" asked Nan, with a troubled inflection that caused Bess to look at her sharply.
"Yes, my dear," she answered. "My eyes are still in good working condition."
"Does there seem anything strange about them?" Nan insisted. "Anything like spying?"
Bess jumped and regarded the back of her chum's head reproachfully.
"For goodness' sake, Nan!" she cried, "you are never going to start that all over again, are you? I thought you had got over that silly notion you had of being followed."
"I wish it were only a notion, Bess," said the girl, turning such a serious face to her chum that for once even careless Bess was sobered.
"Why, Nan, what do you mean?" she asked. "You can't mean that there is really somebody spying upon you!"
"That's just what I do mean," said Nan soberly. "I didn't want to worry you, Bess, so I didn't tell you. But something happened last night——" She stopped suddenly, for the two men were coming back again, apparently absorbed in conversation.
Nan's eyes were following the figures of two men strolling down the deck. (See page 140)Nan's eyes were following the figures of two men strolling down the deck. (See page140)
Presently the tall man and his short companion passed and as they did so Nan gave each a searching look. The men did not happen to see the girls, and soon were out of sight around a turn.
"I am almost sure they are the same," murmured Nan and her face was a study.
"Nan, you talk in riddles!" cried her chum. "What does it mean?"
"I'll tell you, Bess, even though I don't want to frighten you still more."
And thereupon Nan related how she had seen two strange men near her home and at the local drugstore and the railroad station, and how one had stepped up as if to speak to her and then hurried away.
"I am almost sure they are the same, and, oh, Bess, one of them has such an awful look in his eyes! I am sure they cannot be at all nice."
"Humph! That is certainly strange," murmured Bess. "I guess those chaps will bear watching. What can they be up to, do you think—watching your house and following you like that?"
"I haven't finished. Last night——"
"Oh, yes, you started to tell about last night. Go ahead—oh, it's so exciting—just like a movies!"
"You remember we went down to the dining-room together," Nan went on in a low tone, "and I suddenly remembered that we had forgotten to lock the door. I was a little frightened, for I thought ofMrs. Bragley's papers and our jewelry, and I almost ran back.
"Just as I opened the door," Nan's voice quickened with excitement and Bess leaped forward eagerly, "I saw a shadow on the glass of the other door—the one that opens upon the deck."
"Why, Nan! are you sure?" gasped Bess, catching herself up quickly to add, "Never mind. Don't bother to answer me. What happened next?"
"Well, for a minute I just stood there," said Nan, her eyes searching nervously for the reappearance of the two men on deck. "I guess I was just too surprised or frightened to speak, for the shadow on the door was that of a man, and he was trying the door!"
"Oh, Nan, what did you do?" demanded her wide-eyed chum. "I should just have screamed and run away."
"A lot of good that would have done," said Nan, a little contemptuously. "I wanted to scream, but I didn't think of running away."
"Of course you wouldn't," said Bess humbly. "But go on, Nan. What did you do?"
"I threw a bathrobe over my grip in the first place," said Nan. "I had left it standing out in the room. And then I pulled the door open just as the man started to open it from the outside."
"Oh, Nan!" cried Bess again. "Then he really meant to come in?"
"Of course he did—although he said he didn't," said Nan grimly. "When I pulled the door open suddenly and stood looking at him he acted as if I was a ghost or something. He did for a minute, that is. Then he straightened up and sort of put on a smile—you know, the way you would put on a coat to cover up a soiled dress or something——"
"Why, Nan, I never——" Bess began indignantly, then interrupted herself again. "Never mind me," she begged. "You've got me so excited that I don't know just what I'm saying. What happened then, Nan? Didn't you say something?"
"Of course I said something," returned Nan. "I asked him what he was doing at my stateroom door and what he wanted."
"What did he say?" whispered Bess, her eyes wide in wonder.
"He said that he was very sorry. That he thought this was his stateroom. That he wouldn't have startled me for the world. And then he bowed himself out and I slammed the door after him."
"But, Nan," Bess had regained her breath again and felt in the mood for an argument, "how do you know that the man really hadn't made a mistake? I suppose it would be easy enough to get mixed up."
"Bess, that man didn't make any mistake," said Nan Sherwood with such conviction in her voice that once more Bess was startled.
"How do you know?"
"He was the meanest man I ever saw—his looks I mean," said Nan, apparently not noticing her chum's interruption. "If you could have seen him as I opened the door, you would feel just the way I do. He had probably seen us going down to dinner and thought it was a good chance to get into the stateroom and steal——"
"Steal!" gasped poor Bess, for Nan was getting her pretty thoroughly frightened. "You mean he was a thief, Nan?"
"Of course," Nan returned impatiently. "I don't suppose honest men are in the habit of sneaking into empty staterooms."
"But if it was a mistake——" Bess interrupted, grasping at a straw.
"It wasn't any mistake," Nan repeated gravely. "If he had thought it was his own door, he would have opened it quickly. He wouldn't have been so slow and cautious about it."
"But, Nan! what could he have wanted to steal from us? It isn't as though we had one of those handsome staterooms down below that cost a fortune to hire even for a night. We haven't anything so very valuable."
"Except Mrs. Bragley's papers," said Nan grimly. "I wonder you didn't think of them."
"Oh!" said Bess. "The papers! Yes, of course there were the papers. Why, Nan," she turned upon her chum excitedly, "do you really supposethey can be as important as that? Why, I never dreamed——"
"I know you didn't. But I did," said Nan decidedly. She then added under her breath as the two men turned a corner and again headed down the deck toward them: "Don't say anything. Wait until these men have passed and then look at them, the tall, thin one in particular."
Bess was about to exclaim, but Nan silenced her with a look and they waited quietly while the strangers once more sauntered past them. Evidently they were taking a prolonged constitutional about the deck.
Bess stole a quick glance at them and then turned back to her chum.
"They are the same men who passed us just a little while ago," she said with a puzzled frown.
"Yes. And one of them, the tall, thin one with a slit for a mouth, is the man who tried to enter our stateroom," said Nan earnestly. "I'm just telling you this so that you will be more careful to lock our stateroom door whenever you go in or out."
"Goodness—Gracious—Agnes!" gasped Bess, mimicking Procrastination Boggs in her agitation. "You are actually making me nervous, Nan Sherwood. Lock the door, indeed! As if we were afraid of being murdered in our beds! Why, I sha'n't sleep a wink to-night. I never heard of such a thing."
"You needn't look at me as if I were to blame," said Nan with spirit. "I didn't ask that horrid thin thing and his little fat friend to follow us all over and nearly give me heart failure. I'll be glad when this trip is over, I'll tell you that."
"So will I," said Bess morosely. "But I'll be gladder still when you get rid of those old papers of Mrs. Bragley's—if that is what they are after."
"The one thing that makes me feel good," said Nan thoughtfully, as if speaking to herself, "is that the papers must be worth something or these horrid men wouldn't be so anxious to get them back. Maybe we shall find that poor Mrs. Bragley is a rich woman yet."
"Either that, or else that we have made a big mistake and the men are not after the papers at all."
"But if not after the papers, what?"
"I don't know."
That night the girls were very careful to lock both doors and Bess even went to the length of suggesting that they pile some furniture against them.
"It might be a good idea," Nan had replied, laughing at her, "if there were only some furniture to pile. What are you doing, Bess? You aren't stuffing cotton in the keyhole?"
"You needn't laugh, Miss Smarty," Bess had retorted, straightening up defiantly with a large wad of the cotton still in her hand and a telltale tuft of it protruding from the keyhole. "I'm not going to have any skinny old man with a funny mouth looking in at me while I sleep, I can tell you! Nan Sherwood," she added threateningly, as Nan went off into a gale of uncontrollable mirth, "if you don't stop laughing, I'll stuff the rest of this cotton down your throat, and I just hope you'll choke."
"Oh, Bess! Elizabeth Harley!" gasped Nan. "You look so foolish standing there with that wadof cotton in your hand. And the keyholes look as if they had the earache. Oh, oh!" and she went off again into half hysterical laughter.
Bess, after staring at her a minute, gave up all attempt at being dignified and joined in merrily.
"Goodness! you would make an Egyptian mummy laugh, Nan Sherwood," said Bess, as she wiped away the tears of mirth. "Who ever heard of keyholes having the earache! Just the same," she added more soberly, as she started to unfasten her dress, "you have got me terribly worried about those men. I know I'll dream of them all night."
"Oh, no, you won't," said Nan serenely, as she set about the business of undressing. Then she added, with a chuckle: "I feel perfectly safe now that the keyholes are stuffed!"
It was not long after this that the two girls laid down to sleep. But Nan was restless and could hardly close her eyes.
"Those old papers," she murmured to herself. "I should have turned them over to Mr. Mason, or put them in the ship's safe. I don't see why I make myself keep them, unless it is that I want to prove to myself that I havesomebackbone."
Presently she heard Bess breathing heavily, showing her chum was in the land of slumber, and then gradually she dozed off.
Nan had been asleep about an hour when she awoke with a start.
She had heard a noise, of that she felt certain—a noise out of the ordinary and not connected with the running of the ship.
What was it? Was somebody trying the door?
She turned over and, feeling for the push button, turned on the electric light. This move awakened Bess.
"What's the matter, are you sick?" asked the latter.
"No. I—I heard something—it woke me up," Nan replied and got to her feet.
"Maybe those men——"
"Hush! If they are outside the door they may hear you, Bess."
With caution the two girls tiptoed to first one door and then the other and peered out.
In the cabin only a porter sleeping in an armchair was to be seen, while out on the deck not a soul was in sight.
"You must have been dreaming, Nan," said Bess, yawning. "Come, let us try to get some more rest before morning."
Nan was not satisfied and looked all around the stateroom, thinking a mouse might be wandering around. But no mouse was found, and at last both girls retired again. But Nan did not sleep very well and was glad when the rising sun proclaimed another day at hand.
Nan, swinging one bare foot experimentally overthe edge of her berth, felt it caught and held tight by an invisible hand. She peered over the edge of the berth at the imminent risk of falling over herself and breaking her neck, and found, as she had expected, that Bess was her captor. The latter was holding on to her foot with one hand and rubbing her eyes sleepily with the other.
"Say, let go my foot," Nan hailed her inelegantly. "Haven't you got enough of your own that you have to steal one of mine?"
"You talk as if we were centipedes," said Bess, releasing Nan's foot and sitting up grumpily in the berth. "I told you I wouldn't sleep a wink last night, and I didn't."
"You aren't the only one," said Nan, as she swung her other foot over the edge of the berth and felt gingerly for a footing on the one below. "I didn't sleep very well myself. But never mind," she added, as she slipped safely to the floor, unharmed by her perilous descent. "We'll forget all about such little things as sleepless nights when we get out on deck. Have you forgotten that we reach Florida to-day?"
Bess stared at her a minute, then scrambled quickly out of bed and began pulling on her clothes hastily, getting them awry in her eagerness to get dressed in the shortest time possible.
"Gracious, Nan," she cried reproachfully, as she began to drag the comb impatiently through hertumbled curls, "you scared me so with those men and Mrs. Bragley's horrible papers that I forgot everything else. Fancy! A few hours more and we shall be in Florida!"
Immediately this thought put all other thoughts to flight in the mind of careless but lovable Bess Harley, and she would have left the door of their stateroom wide open had not Nan reminded her to close it and turn the key in the lock.
The girls ate breakfast hurriedly, and when they came out on deck it was after eight o'clock. That gave them just time to pack their few belongings before theDoriansteamed up the St. Johns River into the busy harbor of Jacksonville.
Bess's prediction had come true. Over night the weather had become so delightfully mild that heavy clothing was not only unnecessary, but very uncomfortable, and the girls had donned white suits and white hats with stockings and shoes to match. They were looking distinctly attractive—and knew it. At least Bess did. And it must be admitted that even modest Nan had been surprised and not a little pleased by her radiant reflection in the tiny mirror in their stateroom.
And now, though they knew that the last minute packing should be done first, they still lingered by the rail, gazing over the brilliantly calm water to where the tropically beautiful Florida coast stood out boldly against the skyline.
"What wonderful, wonderful weather!" sighed Nan, as they finally deserted the rail and made their way through the excited crowd—for nearly every one on board theDorianhad come out on deck, clad in white flannels and other summery attire, eager to get their first glimpse of Florida—and on toward their stateroom.
Suddenly Nan clutched her friend's arm and pointed excitedly.
"Look!" she cried in a low voice. "The tall man! He's there with the fat one in front of our door. And, Bess, look! He has something in his hand. It's a key!"
"Oh, Nan!" gasped Bess, "he would never dare. Not in this crowd!"
"Come on!" ejaculated Nan tensely, as she elbowed and pushed her way through the crowd.
The two girls were almost upon the thin man and his companion before they were discovered. Then the fat man nudged his friend sharply, and before the girls could blink the men had slipped around the corner of the cabin and were lost to view among the crowd.
"Let's go after them," cried Bess excitedly. "We mustn't let them get away from us, Nan. Why, they were trying to get into our room. I saw them."
"Oh, Bess, hush," begged Nan as several people turned to look at the girls curiously. "Come inside a minute. I want to talk to you."
She opened the door and half pushed, half dragged the excited Bess inside the stateroom where the latter sank upon the berth and stared at her friend indignantly.
"You've gone and let them get away," she accused her hotly. "And that ugly thin man was trying to get in. We saw him."
"I know all that," said Nan a trifle impatiently. For several days her nerves had been under a considerable strain and the effort to think and act for Bess as well as herself was beginning to tell on her. "It wouldn't have done us the slightest good in the world to have gone after him. We never could have found him."
"But we can at least tell the captain," returned Bess, jumping to her feet impatiently. "I never saw a girl like you, Nan. I really believe you intend to let him get away."
"Well, what else can I do?" asked Nan quietly. "If I go to the captain and tell him I found a couple of men standing in front of my door and that I want them arrested, he will think that I'm crazy."
"But they had a key! They were trying to get in! We saw them!" insisted Bess, pacing excitedly up and down the small stateroom.
"I know we did," said Nan patiently. "But the captain could never arrest the men on such evidence. He would want proof. And you know as well as I do that we haven't any."
"We-el," said Bess irresolutely, sitting down on the edge of the berth and staring blackly at the opposite wall, "I suppose you are right, Nan Sherwood. You usually are. But I do know one thing." She stirred impatiently and mechanically straightened her pretty white hat. "And that is that I won't enjoy myself one bit till we make those men stop following us around and trying to get into our room with skeleton keys. I suppose that is what he had. Oh, dear, it does seem as if something were always happening to take the joy out of life!"
Nan ventured a shaky little laugh at this and began automatically picking up her things and stuffing them into her bag.
"You had better get ready, Bess," she advised. "We shall reach Jacksonville in a little while. We don't want to be left behind."
"I should say not!" said Bess vehemently. "I wouldn't stay on this old boat another night after what happened this morning—not for anything. I hope," she added, as she slammed her brush into her suitcase, "that we sha'n't see any more of those horrid men after we once get on shore."
"I hope we sha'n't." Nan echoed the wish fervently, but in her heart she was very sure that they had not seen the last of the tall, thin man and his chubby companion.
That they were after the papers that had been entrusted to her care by poor, confiding Sarah Bragley,she had little doubt. And the fact that whoever these men were, they were desperately anxious to recover the papers showing the widow's title to the tract of land in Florida, fostered Nan's belief that the property must be of considerable value and automatically strengthened her determination to hold on to the papers at all cost.
She was so engrossed with her own thoughts that Bess had to speak to her twice before she could bring her back to a realization of the present.
"Hurry up," she cried, handing Nan her suitcase and fairly pushing her out on the deck. "From the noise everybody is making, I guess we're there. For goodness' sake, Nan!" she exclaimed as her chum switched her suitcase from one hand to the other, so that it would be between Bess and herself, "don't bump that bag into me—especially right behind the knees. You are apt to make me sit down suddenly."
"You couldn't. There's too much of a crowd," laughed Nan, then added in a lower tone, while her eyes nervously searched the crowd about her: "Please help me to look out for my bag, honey. I'm awfully afraid I might lose it."
The two girls saw nothing more of the men who had played such a mysterious part in their trip, and before they had started, with hundreds of other gaily dressed people, down the gangplank of theDorianthey had almost forgotten their strange adventure.
Nor, under the circumstances, could this be wondered at. All about them was the bustle and excitement that is always attendant upon going ashore.
Every one was in hilarious holiday mood, and Nan and Bess would have been queer indeed if they had not entered into the spirit of the day with all their hearts.
"I just can't keep my feet still," Bess confided to her chum, as they filed slowly down the gangplank. "Isn't this the most wonderful day you ever saw in your life, Nan? Just think, this kind of weather inFebruary! It does me good," she added, her eyes sparkling, "to think of all the other girls at home going around with furs on and thick coats and complainingof the cold. Oh, how I wish I could see them now."
"Elizabeth! what a mean disposition," said Nan demurely, adding with a twinkle in her eyes, while she tried hard to keep her feet from fox-trotting away with her down the gangplank: "Though I would like to send a little note to Linda and tell her to be careful not to go out in the cold. It might make her nose red. Oh, Bess, look down there!" She leaned forward suddenly, her eyes shining with eagerness. "Isn't that Grace? And Walter——"
"And Rhoda! Yes, it is, and they are waving to us," cried Bess eagerly. "Of course Grace and Walter said they would be here to meet us, but I was afraid they never would find us in all this crowd."
Someway the girls got down to the dock, were hugged by Grace and Rhoda, greeted hilariously by Walter, and were hustled, out of breath, through the crowd that thronged about them.
"How in the world did you get here, Rhoda?" demanded Nan, when she could get a chance to ask the question.
"I thought I'd surprise you," declared the girl from Rose Ranch. "I fixed it all up with Grace and told her not to say a word."
"It's grand!" declared Nan, beaming.
"The best ever," added Bess. "Oh, what grand times we girls are going to have!"
"Sure we are going to have a grand time," saidthe girl from Rose Ranch. "I think I deserve it, after all the trouble I've been through."
"What do you suppose, she was in a railroad wreck," burst out Grace. "A real, live-to-goodness wreck, too."
"Oh, Rhoda, were you injured?" cried Nan quickly.
"Just a few scratches—on my left elbow and my shins. But it was a close call, I can tell you."
"Where was it?" asked Bess.
"Out in Connecticut. I went there to visit a distant relative of my dad. It was a little side line and our train ran into a freight. We knocked open a car full of chickens and what do you think? Those chickens scattered far and wide. I'll bet many a family is having chicken dinner on the sly this week!"
"Then nobody was hurt?"
"Oh, yes, several were more or less bruised and one man had an arm broken. But everybody was thankful, for they said it might have been much worse. But it certainly was funny to see those chickens scattering in every direction over the snow-covered fields," and Rhoda laughed at the recollection.
"Gee, if a fellow had been there with a gun he might have had some hunting," cried Walter.
"Oh, Walter, you wouldn't hunt chickens with a gun, would you?" asked Nan, reproachfully.
"Don't know as I would," was the quick reply.
"Oh, but now we are together, won't we have lovely times," cried Bess.
"The very best ever," echoed Nan.
"Going to let me out?" demanded Walter.
"No, indeed, Walter, you are included."
The girls and Walter continued to compare notes, when all of a sudden Rhoda uttered a cry.
"Girls, am I seeing a ghost?" she asked, staring straight ahead of her toward a group of richly dressed people who were talking and laughing together. "Or is that Linda Riggs?"
"Goodness, don't say it, Rhoda!" cried Bess in dismay. "It can't be Linda!"
But it was! For at that moment the youngest of the much over-dressed women in the group turned with a laugh to speak to someone behind her, and the girls found themselves face to face with their schoolgirl enemy, Linda Riggs.
For all their dislike of the girl, the chums would have spoken to her. But Linda stared at them coolly for a second, and then deliberately turned her back upon them and began to speak to a tall, gray-haired man at her right, who the girls instinctively felt must be her father, the railroad president.
"Those young ladies seemed to know you, my dear," they heard the tall man say to Linda, as, flushed and indignant, the girls and Walter pressed on through the crowd.
"They do," they heard Linda answer contemptuously, and with no attempt to lower her voice. "But I prefer not to know them—especially that Sherwood girl."
What the tall man said in answer, the girls could not hear, for they were once more engulfed in a sea of chattering humanity whose din swallowed up all individual sound.
Impulsive Bess wanted to turn back and tell "that horrible Riggs girl" what she thought of her, but Nan put an arm about her angry chum and hurried her on.
"But, Nan, I don't see how you can stand such things and never say a word," cried Bess, indignantly. "I do believe you haven't any spirit. I never could take an insult like that so calmly."
"I'm not a bit calm," replied Nan, gripping her bag fiercely. "Right this minute, I'd like to get hold of Linda Riggs and tear her hair out by the roots."
"Why didn't you do it then?" demanded excited Bess, and at this query even Walter, who had been more incensed than any of the girls at the insolent speech of Linda's, had to laugh.
"Yes, I would look pretty, wouldn't I?" laughed Nan, all her wrath vanishing on the instant, although her dislike of purse-proud Linda was more real than ever, "announcing my arrival in Jacksonville by a street fight?"
"You would look pretty any way—even pulling Linda's hair out," laughed Walter in her ear.
"Please don't be foolish, Walter," returned Nan loftily, at which, for some unaccountable reason, Walter only chuckled the more.
The speech and the chuckle troubled Nan. It seemed in some ridiculous fashion to bear out the silly things Bess had said about her and Walter earlier in the trip.
She forgot all about her perplexity a few moments later, however, when Walter helped Nan and Bess and Grace into the roomy tonneau of his big car, put Rhoda in the front seat, squeezed himself in behind the wheel, and started the motor.
"Well, how do you like Jacksonville, girls?" he called back to them as the machine glided easily forward. "As good as Tillbury, is it?" he added, with a glance at Nan and Bess.
"Not nearly," answered Bess loyally, although in her heart she knew that they could put two or three Tillburys in Jacksonville and never miss them.
The girls had known in a rather vague way that Jacksonville was a big place, but they had never expected to see anything like the bustling, thriving, wide-awake city they now drove through.
"Why, it is almost as noisy and crowded as New York," said Bess, wide-eyed, as Walter skilfully threaded his way through the heavy traffic. "Andwe thought that was simply awful. Walter, please be careful."
"Don't worry," Walter sang back, grazing the rear wheel of another machine by the very narrowest margin possible. "If we did hit anything, we wouldn't be the ones to get hurt. This old bus could stop an express train."
"Maybe it could," retorted Bess. "But please try it some time when you are alone."
"Don't mind him," said Grace, with her quiet smile. "You know Walter never does all he says."
"Don't I though——" Walter was beginning, when his sister cut him off by turning eagerly to Nan and Bess.
"We're stopping at the Hampton," she said, the Hampton being one of the largest and most important of all the large and important hotels in Jacksonville. "Mother has engaged a perfectly lovely room for you girls. Rhoda and I room together. It is just for one night, you know, for we are going to take the train for Palm Beach to-morrow morning."
"Then," cried Nan, happily, "we shall have all the rest of to-day to do as we please in."
"What bliss," breathed Bess. "Walter, you are going to be a perfect angel, aren't you, and take us for a lovely long, long ride?"
"At your service, fair damsel," said Walter gallantly. "We were planning that anyway," he wenton to explain. "Mother and dad thought they would like to come along, too."
"More bliss," cried Bess, adding, as a cloud suddenly darkened her face: "I do hope we don't run across Linda any more. I declare, if I ever hear her say another word against you, Nancy Sherwood, I shall just have to kill her, that's all."
"Well, I must say I do wish she would stay home where she belongs," said Nan with a troubled frown. "Wherever we go she seems sure to turn up and spoil everything—or try to. I wonder if Cora is with her," she added. "I didn't see her at the dock."
"Humph, you don't think she would be at the dock, do you?" asked Walter, joining in the conversation. "Cora is a regular lady's maid to Linda now, so Grace says. She must be a funny kind of girl to stand for that sort of thing."
"Oh, Cora isn't so bad," said Nan. "I imagine she would like to break away from Linda, but she doesn't know just how to do it. Is this where we get out, Walter?" she asked, as the car slowed down before a building that looked more like a palace than a hotel.
"This is where we get out," replied Walter, jumping from his seat and running around to open the door for the girls. "Right this way, ladies. Follow me and you'll wear diamonds. Here, boy!" he spoke to a loitering colored boy who stood at the hotel entrance. "Carry these grips up to three-twenty.The hat boxes, too. I suppose you want the hat boxes," he said, turning to the girls with a grin.
"Well, I should say!" replied Bess. "Neither Nan nor I would ever smile again if we should lose one of those hats. Would we, Nan?"
But Nan was looking behind her with startled eyes and never even heard her friend's question.
"Walter!" she cried, grasping the boy's arm and pointing excitedly down the street, "do you see those men over there getting out of that taxi? Quick! They are turning into that hotel."
"The little fat fellow and the long, thin man?" asked Walter, with a mystified line between his brows. "What about them? Friends of yours?"
"Take a good look at them," Nan cried, impatiently shaking his arm, while Grace and Rhoda looked on in amazement. "If you should see them again, I want you should know them."
Walter was frankly bewildered by this time. But he obediently took a long look at the short, fat man and the long, thin one. Then, as they disappeared around a corner, he turned back to Nan and led her toward the hotel entrance.
"Why, Nan, you are trembling," he said, as they followed the colored boy through a handsome courtyard and between rows of beautiful palm trees. "I never knew you to be like this before. What's the matter? If either of those men have bothered you," he added, glowering fiercely, "I'll wring their necks."
Nan gave a funny little hysterical laugh at this, and the laugh helped to steady her after the shock she had had at the unexpected reappearance of the two men.
"I don't want you to wring anybody's neck," she said, as they passed through another big door and stopped before an elevator. "Only please, Walter," she looked up at him appealingly, "watch out for them and let me know if you see them again. They are following us."
Walter's bewilderment was beginning to change to alarm, and he would have demanded to know all about the strange affair at once, had not the three girls come up to them at that minute.
On the ride up to the third floor of the hotel, where the room engaged for Nan and Bess was located, Grace reminded Nan of nothing so much as a human interrogation mark.
She fairly besieged the girl from Tillbury with questions, which would have been very embarrassing to poor Nan had not Rhoda interposed in her behalf.
"I don't suppose Nan wants to tell us about it now, Grace," she said. "Let's wait till we get upstairs."
Whereupon Grace was silenced temporarily. As for Bess, she was nearly as disturbed as her chum, and the journey up to the third floor seemed interminable.
They reached it, however, and the girls stepped out into a handsome corridor and were preceded by the velvet-footed bellboy past interminable closed doors, to be stopped finally before one particular door, closed like the rest, but evidently belonging, for the space of a day and night at least, to Nan and Bess.
Walter dismissed the boy with a tip, and, drawing a long key from his pocket, inserted it in the door. A moment more and they had stepped into a beautifulroom, all blue and gold, and with deep, lacily curtained windows and twin beds set over in one corner, with a small table and a reading lamp beside each one.
If the girls had not been used to handsome surroundings, the beauty of the room might have overwhelmed them a little. As it was, they were merely delighted.
Walter set the bags and hat boxes inside the door for them, and then turned to Nan, who was regarding her own particular bag with a disturbed little frown.
"I don't know what the matter is, Nan," he said in a low voice. "But if there is anything about those men you don't like I'll see that they don't worry you."
"Thank you, Walter. You're a dear," said Nan gratefully. "I'll tell you all about it just as soon as I can. And you really can help me, Walter, if you want to."
"I'll say I do," returned Walter boyishly. "See you later," and he went out quickly, closing the door behind him.
As Nan turned back into the room she found Bess regarding her with a mischievous little smile that said as plainly as words: "What did I tell you, Nan Sherwood?"
Nan felt unreasonably angry, but she was not given very much time to nurse the feeling. Gracewas upon her like a young whirlwind, dragging her over to one of the beds and demanding in no uncertain tone what she had to say in explanation of her queer conduct a few minutes before. Rhoda sat down on the other side of Nan, her face eagerly flushed.
"I never was so curious in my life, Nan Sherwood," she said. "Hurry up and tell us all about it."
Nan obediently went over the whole story. She told where she was carrying Mrs. Bragley's papers, and of her, Nan's, strange impression of being watched ever since the papers had come into her possession.
Then while Grace and Rhoda's eyes became wider and wider she told of the two men they had met on the boat and the tall one's evident desire to get into their cabin, for some reason known only to himself. And lastly she related how on that very morning they had found the mysterious men in suspicious proximity to their stateroom again and how the two had disappeared upon catching sight of the girls.
"Why, it's a regular mystery!" Grace cried eagerly, and Bess turned away from the mirror where she was fixing her hair and looked at her. "A real mystery!"
"You speak as if you liked it," she said impatiently. "It is lots of fun, I must say, to have Nanso worked up and nervous all the time that you can't say boo to her without making her jump. If those old men don't get arrested or something pretty soon," she added, turning back to the mirror, "I'll have to do something desperate, that's all."
"Please don't," said Nan, with a laugh. "Enough is happening, goodness knows, without you starting something, too. Oh, come on, girls," she added, jumping up and flinging off her hat and coat. "I'll find out something definite about Mrs. Bragley's property before long, I hope, and then I'll be able to get rid of these horrid old papers. In the meantime, here we are in Jacksonville, and to-morrow we start for Palm Beach and everything is wonderful and lovely. Who's that?" A tap had sounded on the door and the girls started. "You open it, Bess. I have my hands full."
"Goodness! did you see me jump then?" Bess demanded grumpily. "I'll be as bad as Nan before you know it."
The visitor proved to be no one more formidable than Grace's mother, and as the girls were very fond of her, they greeted her with literally open arms.
Of course Grace had to recount to her all over again the story Nan had told her and Rhoda, and before she finished Mrs. Mason was looking rather grave.
"It certainly does look as though those papers of yours were important, Nan," she said. "That is evidentlywhat the rascals are after. I'll tell Mr. Mason, if you say so——"
"Oh, yes," Nan put in eagerly.
"And between us we ought to solve the mystery—if there is one."
"If there is one!" Grace exclaimed indignantly. "Well, I never!"
"Come, dear," Mrs. Mason merely said, "I know Nan and Bess must be a little tired after their trip, and they will just have time to rest for an hour and freshen up before lunch."
She led the reluctant Grace from the room. With a laughing word Rhoda followed them, and the chums were left alone.
That afternoon they went out right after lunch to see Jacksonville. The Mason's car was waiting for them outside as they stepped out upon the sidewalk in front of the hotel, but Nan was surprised to find Mr. Mason instead of the lawyer's son behind the wheel.
And then she saw Walter! He was in a beautiful, brand new little two-seater, which was shaped very much like a torpedo and came smartly close to the ground.
Nan, who was following her chums into the big car, stopped short at this strange apparition and uttered an exclamation of surprise. The others followed the direction of her glance, and Bess stood up excitedly.
"Hey, Walter! Where did you get the new car?" she asked. "Goodness, isn't it a beauty!"
"Do you like it?" asked the boy proudly, as the nose of the impertinent-looking little runabout stopped short within about two inches of the back of the big car. "Dad said he was afraid I would smash the jumbo, so he bought this little toy for me. Some class, isn't it?"
The girls were enthusiastic, and, indeed, it was an unusually handsome little car, and Nan ran around to get a closer look at it.
"Dad got it for me just in time," Walter said, patting the glossy side of his new steed.
"Why?" asked Nan innocently.
"Because there are too many in the party to ride in the big car, and we can have a much better time in the little fellow, I am sure. Come on, jump in."
Although she was eager to try the new car, Nan never wanted anything so little as she did to ride with Walter at that particular time.
But Mr. Mason had already started his motor, and there was nothing for Nan to do but to obey Walter and "jump in."
The little car had a surprisingly deep, wide tonneau, and Nan sank back in it luxuriously. She was conscious of the admiring scrutiny of spectators, and then Walter did a few skilful things to the machine and it started purringly forward after the big car,both for all the world like a full-grown horse and its colt.
Nan sighed contentedly. If it had not been for Bess and the teasing she was sure to get when they were alone together in their room, she would have been completely happy.
Bess turned and waved to her, and the action, Nan knew as well as if her chum had put it into words, meant: "What did I tell you, Nan Sherwood?"
The tourists had a beautiful time, and everybody decided that if Palm Beach went ahead of Jacksonville it would have to be very wonderful indeed.
Jacksonville itself seemed to them very much like any busy, thriving city—except that there were more hotels. But when they came to the outskirts of the city they were charmed and wanted to go on forever.
Having lived all their lives in a temperate climate, the tropical beauty of the Florida country entranced them and they exclaimed again and again as beautiful new panoramas opened before them. The moss-hung live oaks especially drew exclamations of wonder from Nan.
"What a perfect picture they form," she said. "Oh, how I wish I could make sketches of them!"
"You'll see plenty to sketch when you get to Palm Beach," said Walter.
They visited the public parks and drove out to some of the suburbs. Everything interested the girls very much and they frankly said so.
"Everything is just about perfect," declared Bess.
"All but the darkeys!" sighed Rhoda. "I think it is all perfectly lovely but the negroes. There are so many of them, and they one and all look thoroughly shiftless."
"Oh, no, not shiftless," put in Mr. Mason. "They are just care-free."
"Humph! All right, then. Care-free. Just too lazy to care for anything at all, if they can get enough to eat, and I suppose that is not hard down here."
"They are quite all right when you get used to them," put in Mrs. Mason.
It was nearing dusk when they at last turned back toward the city, and it was then that Walter reminded Nan of her promise to tell him all about the mysterious men who had startled her so.
Nan obeyed, but, strangely enough, felt none of the uneasiness that she had felt on board the boat and in the hotel. There was something about the luxurious comfort of the car and Walter's reassuring presence that made her feel quite safe.
But Walter himself was anything but calm. He glowered fiercely at the road ahead of them and his hands clenched tightly on the wheel.
"It's a rotten shame!" he burst out, when Nan had finished her story. "If I once get hold of those fellows there won't be enough left of them to identify."
"But you will help me find Mrs. Bragley's property for her, won't you?" insisted Nan. "She said it was at a place called Sunny Slopes."
"Sunny Slopes, Sunny Slopes," Walter repeated thoughtfully. "The name sounds rather familiar to me. I tell you what I'll do," he said, turning to Nan with sudden decision. "Dad knows the names of nearly all the places through here. And if this Sunny Slopes is anywhere near Palm Beach we'll drive over in the car. How does that suit you?"
"Oh, fine," said Nan happily, adding as she gave him a demure glance: "Only we will drive over in the big car and take the girls along."
"What's the matter with this car?" asked Walter, turning to look at her. "I thought you liked it."
"I love it!" said Nan fervently, adding with a funny little smile that Walter did not understand: "I think on that particular trip, I would like to go in the big car."
The morning after their delightful ride about Jacksonville, they took the train for Palm Beach. They found to their disgust that Linda and her party were also on board.
"Goodness! I think Linda must be following us, too," Bess grumbled to Nan, looking blackly after their schoolmate as she walked haughtily down the car aisle. "To look at her you would think she owned the world at least. Oh, if I could only prove that it was she who damaged the heating plant upat school, wouldn't it be a wonderful chance to get even with her?"
"I don't see why you should want to waste time getting even with her," Nan remarked calmly. "We have more interesting things to occupy our time."
"That's all very well for you," grumbled Bess, still feeling cross and injured by the unexpected appearance of Linda. "ButIhaven't any Walter."
Nan was just about to say something unpleasant when Walter himself hailed them. Grace and Rhoda were with him and all wore smiles to match the morning.
"Come on back," the boy invited. "Dad's got chairs for the whole crowd where we can get the finest view. But he said we had better grab 'em quick, because there's no knowing how long they will last in this crowd."
So the girls followed him to the observation car and would very probably have forgotten all about Linda, had not the girl herself made that impossible.
It was hot, and there were few people in the car, but Linda and one of the ladies in her party walked up and down, looking occasionally out of the windows, as if their energy was inexhaustible.
That would not have been so bad, had not Linda chosen to ignore the girls so pointedly, brushing past with her head held in the air and a manner which said very plainly, "Who are those little specks ofdust over there? Know them? Why, of course not!" Finally Bess felt as though she could not stand it a moment longer.
"She's doing it on purpose, the horrid thing," Bess fumed to Nan. "If she doesn't stop pretty soon, I'll give her a push and topple her over. She'll not look so haughty then, I fancy."
Perhaps it was just as well for all concerned that Linda stopped her bad-mannered performance shortly after that, for Bess could not have been restrained much longer. With this annoyance removed, they had opportunity to enjoy the ride to the full.
Mr. Mason proved a very interesting companion, for he knew the names of the places they passed and told the girls funny stories about things that had happened in each one of them until they were tired out from the laughter.
"I never knew there were so many resorts in the world," sighed Nan, leaning back lazily in her chair. "The only place I really ever connected with Florida was Palm Beach. But it seems that is only one of about a million."
"Hardly that," laughed Mr. Mason. "It is true there are a great many resorts in Florida, but the most beautiful and famous of them is Palm Beach."
"Mr. Mason," spoke up Bess, with a wicked little look at Nan, "is it true that most of the people who go to Palm Beach are either bald-headed millionairesor fussy women who just go there to show off their clothes?"
Mr. Mason laughed heartily at this, and the rest of his family joined in, while Nan shot a reproachful glance at her chum.
"No, my dear," said the gentleman finally, a humorous twist in the corners of his mouth. "I can't say that all the guests at Palm Beach are of the particular varieties you have mentioned. There are bald-headed millionaires, of course, and plenty of fussy, over-dressed women, but the people that I have mostly met in the hotels have struck me as being nice folks, very much like ourselves——"
"Stop handing yourself bouquets, Dad," Walter broke in, with a chuckle.
"I included the whole family," said Mr. Mason gravely. "The millionaires," he went on, "don't come to the hotels as a rule. They build themselves beautiful bungalows along the shore and take their recreation mostly in private clubs."
"Oh, dear! I think that's horrid," pouted Bess. "That's one of the things I came for especially. I wanted to see a dozen real live millionaires all in one spot."
"You shall see plenty of millionaires," promised Mr. Mason. "Although we won't guarantee to have them all in one spot."
A few hours later the tide of passengers flowed from the train at Palm Beach and the girls, bornealong with the crowd, looked about them eagerly.
They had heard a great deal about the beauty of this famous winter resort, but they realized in that one swift glance that nothing they had ever heard had half done it justice.
"Is that a hotel over there?" asked Nan of Grace, as they allowed themselves to be swept on by the merry crowd. Bess and Rhoda were coming slowly along behind them. "That immense yellow building with the green blinds?"
"Yes, that's the Royal Poinciana," answered Grace. "Where we are going to stay, you know."
"Oh, are we?" asked Nan faintly, as she gazed up at the Royal Poinciana Hotel, which was six stories in height and seemed to cover several acres of ground. "Goodness, it seems as if the whole world ought to be able to get in there. And what's that?" she went on, pointing to another yellow building with green blinds. "Its twin?"
"Yes. They call it The Breakers," returned Grace, rather enjoying her new rôle of guide. "It isn't quite as large as the Royal Poinciana, but dad says it is just as good."
Before long they reached the hotel and they waited while Walter, Bess, Rhoda and Mr. and Mrs. Mason came puffing up to them, warm from the heat of the afternoon sun.
"Come ahead, folks," said Mr. Mason, engineering his flock up the steps of the hotel to the porch."Let's get cooled and brushed up a bit, and then we can come out and see the sights. This is the biggest crowd I have ever found here," he added, as they entered the darkened, cool lobby of the hotel with a conscious sigh of relief, "and that is saying a good deal."