It had never occurred to Ka-kee-ta's frizzled head that Tessie could leave the royal suite without his knowledge, not while he stood beside the door. He did not understand that the suite was a corner one with exits on two corridors, and no one had thought it necessary to tell him. So when he saw Tessie come in with Mr. Bill, when he thought that she was with Granny in the room, he gave a howl of surprise and stared at her as if she were a ghost instead of a flesh-and-blood girl in a white dinner frock and a rose wrap. Tessie frowned.
"Do be quiet, Ka-kee-ta!" she ordered impatiently. "He always makes me think of a dog," she said to Mr. Bill. "At night, you know, he just curls up here beside the door and goes to sleep. He is always here! It's so tiresome. I do think that queens have to put up with an awful lot of disagreeable things!" And she sighed.
"They get an awful lot, too," reminded Mr. Bill with a grin. "And as our wise young friend, Joseph Cary, so truthfully remarks, you have to pay for everything you get. Having Ka-kee-ta as a doormat isn't much of a price to pay for all the romance and the luxury and the——"
"Oh, isn't it!" interrupted Tessie, her nose in the air. "I'll lend him to you, and you can see what fun it is to have him at your heels all the time."
"He wouldn't be lent!" declared Mr. Bill hastily, for in spite of his words, he did not want Ka-kee-ta at his heels for a minute. It was all right for Tessie to have a bodyguard, but it would be far from all right for the basement floorwalker of the Evergreen to be so attended. "What was your uncle afraid of in his islands that he trained a man to stand beside him with an ax in his hand?" he asked curiously.
"The people!" Tessie told him in a whisper. "That's another reason why I'm not so crazy over this queen business as I was. I never used to be afraid of anything, and now I'm afraid of almost everything!"
Mr. Bill laughed indulgently because he was not afraid of anything, and admiringly because Tessie was so adorable when she was afraid of almost everything. He took her hand and pressed it. Immediately Ka-kee-ta, who stood in the open door watching them with the wide questioning eyes of a child, gave another howl. Mr. Bill hastily jumped away from Tessie.
"The dickens!" he exclaimed.
"You see how it is!" Tessie shrugged her shoulders as she clasped the hand Mr. Bill had squeezed. "He is just impossible! Sometimes,"she lowered her voice as if she would not for the world let Ka-kee-ta hear what she was going to say, "I have a mind to give the whole thing up!"
Mr. Bill stared at her in horrified astonishment. "Your kingdom?" he gasped.
She nodded.
"You couldn't do it!"
"Why couldn't I?"
Mr. Bill's reason was not a very good one. "Because," he said vaguely. But when Tessie showed an impatient dissatisfaction with it he found another reason. "It isn't done, you know! Kings and queens have to stay on their thrones as long as the people want them there."
"That's exactly the idea," mourned Tessie. "As long as the people want them on thrones! But suppose the people don't want them?" She shivered as she remembered what Mr. Pracht had said happened when the Sunshine Islanders did not want the king who was on their throne.
Mr. Bill was puzzled. "What is it?" he demanded sharply. "What's happened? I could see all evening that something was the matter. When we played hearts you acted as if your mind was miles away. You let dad give you every heart in the pack. What is it? Has the special representative come? What makes you talk as if your people didn't want you for their queen?" He started to go closer and then remembered the watch-dog and walked to the door and shut italmost on Ka-kee-ta's tattooed nose. "What is it?" he asked again, and now he was very close to Tessie. He looked anxiously into her troubled face. He wanted to help her. He had never wanted to help a girl as he wanted to help Tessie.
Tessie's voice shook as she answered him. "The special representative is a prisoner in the islands. The Sons of Sunshine—I told you about them?—have captured him and locked him up. They don't want a white ruler—a white queen! And I heard to-day that when the Sunshine Islands people don't like their king, they boil him in oil!" Her lip quivered. Her eyes were big and frightened as she looked at Mr. Bill.
"I don't believe it!" declared Mr. Bill quickly. "I don't believe a word of it! Such things aren't done now! Maybe in the Dark Ages, but not now! Take it from me! It sounds like a rank movie!" he insisted.
Tessie smiled wanly. It was cheering to hear Mr. Bill declare with so much warm emphasis that he did not believe the Sunshine Islanders kept up their ancient customs. "It made me want to sell the islands right away," she faltered.
"Sell the islands!" He was shocked. "You can't do that!" he exclaimed. "Dad wouldn't let you!"
Tessie looked at him quickly, almost suspiciously. "What do you mean? What has your father and the Evergreen to do with my islands?"
Mr. Bill flushed and stammered. "Nothing of course," he said. "Only he is awfully interested! He's tried to help you in every way, given you unlimited credit and advice and everything. And he wouldn't like you to do anything without his per—I mean without talking to him. I wouldn't want you to sell your islands, either. I like to think of you as a queen! You are such a peach! You should be a queen!" And his hand shot out again, and it would have found her fingers if she had not moved away from him.
"I think," she said with a quick catch of her breath, "you had better go. It must be Ka-kee-ta's bedtime!" she insisted, when he showed no sign of going.
"Darn Ka-kee-ta!" he exclaimed somewhat rudely.
But he had to go away, and when he had reluctantly said good night and disappeared down the corridor, Tessie turned impatiently to her bodyguard, who was yawning beside the door.
"You see, Ka-kee-ta," she said slowly and distinctly so that he would be sure to understand her, "nothing happened to me when I went away without you. I think I shall leave you at home often."
Ka-kee-ta shook his frizzled head and waved his ax. "The Tear of God!" he rumbled. "The king's jewel!"
Tessie looked at him, and her eyes widened."If I leave the Tear of God with you will it be all right?" she guessed. "You aren't looking after me, are you, Ka-kee-ta? It's the king's jewel you are taking care of." And when he said never a word, but just stood and gaped at her, she plucked courage to ask him in a frightened whisper; "Ka-kee-ta, did you ever see any one boiled in oil?"
The words were scarcely across her lips before she discovered that she did not want to hear what Ka-kee-ta had seen. She did not want to know how savage her people could be. She shut the door and went to her own room, the most puzzled little queen in the world.
There were many questions to puzzle her, questions concerning the islands and Joe Cary, who was so anxious for her to abandon the islands, and Mr. Bill, and old Mr. Kingley, who was so eager for her to keep her inheritance. What difference did it make to old Mr. Kingley whether she was a queen or not? She could understand why Joe Cary wanted her to abdicate. Joe didn't believe in queens nor in kings. But Mr. Kingley— What business was it of his? And Mr. Bill! He had said he didn't believe the Sunshine Islanders were savage or cannibal. She would believe Mr. Bill, she decided with a fluttering heart. Of course he knew. And he was right! So long as she remained in Waloo the Sunshine Islanders—even the revolutionary Sons of Sunshine—couldnot harm her. But she couldn't remain in Waloo forever and be the queen of the Sunshine Islands, too! That wouldn't be fair. Joe Cary said it wouldn't be fair. She would ask Mr. Bill the very first thing in the morning. Mr. Bill really knew more about kings and queens than Joe Cary anyway. He had seen some of them. Mr. Bill's own mother had told her that he had seen Queen Mary of England. Oh, dear! Wouldn't she ever go to sleep?
It was a long time before her busy little brain would let her go to sleep, and it seemed no time at all after she was asleep before she was wakened by Granny, who handed her a letter. The sun was streaming through the open window with a dash and a vigor which made Tessie's sleepy eyes blink. So she had slept after all, for it was black night when she had closed her eyes and now it was bright day. She looked at the letter.
"What is it?" she asked sleepily.
"It was just sent up from the office. And it's marked important." Granny sounded important as she showed Tessie the word scrawled on the envelope. "I thought perhaps it might be something about that special representative. Maybe he has escaped from those rebels!" suggested Granny, eager to know what was inside the letter which was so important on the outside. "Really, Tessie, when I think of those Sons of Sunshine I wish Johnny was here instead of at that Boy Scoutcamp. I've got more confidence in a good strong American boy than I have in all the frizzle-headed, tattooed natives in the world! Even if they do carry axes in their hand."
Tessie scarcely heard Granny. She had opened the letter, but something in the black writing made her face turn white.
"What is it, Tessie?" Granny caught her shoulder. "Tell Granny what it is? Drat that Pete!" she murmured under her breath. "I wish he had run away with a circus, instead of to sea to be washed up on that island and make trouble for us all."
"It's—it's from that Mr. Pracht!" gulped Tessie. "And he says I can have until night to make up my mind to sell the islands. And he says he forgot to say that sometimes usurpers are sent to live in a leper colony. I don't want to be a leper, Granny!" And she clung to the strong hands which had reached out to clasp her.
"There, there, my lamb!" crooned Granny. "Of course you don't! And you shan't be a leper! You leave it to Granny, and get up and get dressed so you'll be ready for what comes. And that Pracht might as well understand that he's going the wrong way. He can't scare a Gilfooly. Maybe he can surprise 'em, but he can't scare 'em! Look at your Uncle Pete! Died a king! All the rebels in six cannibal islands didn't scare him a mite! If those Sunshine Islands are worth buying,they're worth holding on to until we know more about them. You just write this Pracht man a letter and tell him you aren't selling any islands to-day. Perhaps then he'll offer more," she added shrewdly.
"I don't care what he offers, he can't buy my islands!" exclaimed Tessie, gathering courage from Granny's proud boast that a Gilfooly was not to be frightened. "A queen can't resign her job unless her people ask her to, and Mr. Pracht isn't one of my people. He's a Pennsylvania German. He said so."
"That's it! That's it!" declared Granny, delighted to see that Tessie's white face had turned pink again. "You just put that in the letter! What we got to do, Tessie Gilfooly, is to find out why he wants to buy those islands, and then we'll know more about selling them."
Tessie slipped into her gorgeous negligée of pink georgette and lace, thrust her feet into pink satin mules, and sat at her desk to write to Mr. Pracht that she would never think of selling her islands to anybody, that she hoped he would say no more about it. As for leper colonies and shark's oil, she was not afraid. She was a Gilfooly, of the same blood as King Pete, and the Gilfoolys were not afraid of anything or anybody.
"That's right!" indorsed Granny, who was looking over Tessie's shoulder. "They aren't!"
"E-ven reb—" Tessie's hurried pen halted, andTessie looked at Granny. "One l or two in rebels, Granny?" she asked uncertainly.
"It don't make any difference," exclaimed Granny, "so long as there's plenty of courage in the Gilfoolys."
"Perhaps I'd better let Norah Lee write it on the typewriter." Tessie eyed her letter dubiously.
"Don't you do it, dearie! Just sign your name and put it in this envelope. There are some letters that secretaries shouldn't write. You just finish it as good as you begun it, and I guess Mr. Pracht will understand it, no matter how many l's you put in rebels."
Tessie sighed gently. "I often wish I'd finished high school, Granny," she said slowly. "Mr. Bill went to college," she added sadly as she signed her letter "Queen Teresa of the Sunshine Islands." "There!" she slipped the letter into an envelope and ran her pink tongue over the gummed flap. "If you'll give that to Ka-kee-ta and ask him to take it to Mr. Pracht. To Mr. Pracht himself!" she insisted. "When Mr. Pracht sees Ka-kee-ta and his ax, perhaps he won't be so free with his words. And while Ka-kee-ta is out, tell him to buy me some chocolates. He might as well get a five-pound box, and they can put it on the bill," she said with a right royal disregard for payment.
As she went back to her room, she passed a longmirror which flashed her a picture of a slim little girl in a lovely pink negligée, with a tousled head and a flushed face. She went back and looked in the mirror again. Suddenly she remembered that a month ago she had no lovely pink negligée, no pink satin mules, and that at this time of the morning she would have been selling aluminum in the Evergreen basement for hours. How wonderful it was! She smiled radiantly and blew a kiss to the girl in the mirror, who was smiling, too.
"Oh, Granny!" Tessie hugged her Granny. "Can you believe it? Isn't it great to be a queen?"
Granny hugged her. "I wonder," she said absently, "what Mr. Pracht will say when he reads your letter?"
Tessie snapped her fingers. She was a Gilfooly, you know, and the Gilfoolys were a fearless race.
"That for Mr. Pracht!" she exclaimed. "And that for his threats!" She snapped her fingers again. "Isn't there a law, Granny," she asked suddenly, "that protects people from threats? I'm going to ask Mr. Bill!"
"Ask Joe Cary," advised Granny. "He'll know more about law than Mr. Bill. I wouldn't be surprised if there was such a law, Tessie, and if there ain't there ought to be. It was like your wise little head to think of it. Mr. Pracht will feel smart if he finds himself in jail, won't he? Now what are you going to have for breakfast? Ihad some strawberries, some ham and eggs and some hot cakes."
"I'll have some, too," Tessie said, after she had giggled at the attractive picture Granny had painted of the disturbing Mr. Pracht tightly locked in jail. "And don't forget the cream! I like a lot of cream."
Ka-kee-ta should have made the round trip to Mr. Pracht in the Pioneer Hotel, which was one block from the Waloo, before Tessie was bathed, dressed and breakfasted, but he did not return by the time she had finished the last of the hot cakes. He did not return for lunch. Tessie, who had a thousand-and-one things to do, began to wonder.
"Where do you suppose he is?" she asked Granny. "What do you suppose has happened to him?"
"Maybe he met a friend," suggested Granny, who was wondering herself what had detained the queen's messenger. "I hope you'll give him a good piece of your mind when he does come back, Tessie. He shouldn't loaf when you send him on an errand. Maybe he went to lunch with a friend."
Tessie laughed to think of frizzled Ka-kee-ta and his ax going to lunch with a friend, but her face sobered when she remembered that, so far as she knew Ka-kee-ta had no friends in Waloo.
"I'm worried," she told Granny, and she looked worried. "I suppose I'm responsible for Ka-kee-ta.Do you suppose Mr. Pracht could have done anything to him?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," confessed Granny with grim reluctance. "A man who will threaten a little girl like you would do anything. Why don't you call up Joe Cary and ask him what he thinks?" Granny had called on Joe for so long that it had become a habit to consult him on every occasion.
"I'll call up Mr. Bill! He knows more than Joe Cary. Joe Cary never went to college. He only went to an art school!"
"There are some things you learn without going to college," murmured Granny, as Tessie flew to the telephone.
"Lost Ka-kee-ta!" repeated Mr. Bill over the wire, and he laughed. "I thought that was what you wanted to do."
"I never wanted to lose him!" Tessie declared indignantly. "I just wanted him to leave me alone once in awhile. I'm afraid something has happened to him."
"What could have happened to a big strong native with an ax in his hands?" Mr. Bill laughed again. He sounded anything but sympathetic. "Have you reported it to the hotel detective? He would know how to trail your bodyguard. Or the police? A man like Ka-kee-ta couldn't disappear without leaving some clue. I'll bring the store detective around if you say so?"
"You needn't bother!" There was a bit of an edge in Tessie's voice, even if it was tremulous. It hurt Tessie to have her call for help regarded as a joke. "I'll speak to the hotel detective. And I'll ask Joe Cary to help me find Ka-kee-ta. But as long as your father is so interested in my islands, I wish you would ask him why the syndicate that wants to buy them stole my bodyguard?"
"Tessie!" exclaimed Mr. Bill. He stopped laughing as soon as he heard the edge in Tessie's voice. Perhaps the edge was sharp enough to cut him. "Tessie!" he said again, but she did not answer him. He hung up the receiver and hurried to get his hat. He would go right over to the Waloo and see what was the matter with Tessie. He met his father at the door.
"Where are you going?" old Mr. Kingley asked young Mr. Kingley.
"To the Waloo!" Mr. Bill answered hurriedly. "Tessie Gilfooly has lost that native bodyguard of hers."
"Lost—" Mr. Kingley caught his son by the sleeve and held him tight—"wait a minute, Bill, and tell Gray. He might as well use the story." He rubbed his hands together in his satisfaction. "My soul! We must have had a million dollars' worth of good publicity out of Queen Teresa already! Tell Gray all about it before you go, Bill. He will just have time to catch the afternoon papers."
"Darn the papers!" cried Mr. Bill, trying to free himself from the paternal clutch on his sleeve. But whether he wanted to or not, he had to wait and tell Mr. Gray what Tessie had told him.
"Perhaps you shouldn't publish it yet," he said doubtfully, when at last he was free to go.
"Not publish it!" His father was shocked at such a thought. "Of course it should be published. Why not? Queen Teresa wants to find her bodyguard, doesn't she? If the story is published, all Waloo will help her. It can't hurt her to have it published. What could happen?" He looked hungrily at his son as if, perhaps, he scented more publicity.
"She could be boiled in oil if the Sons of Sunshine got hold of her," muttered Mr. Bill, as he remembered what Tessie told him was sometimes done to monarchs in the Sunshine Islands.
"Bill! Don't be flippant as well as foolish," counseled his disgusted father. "Queens aren't boiled in oil now. That makes a fine story, Gray. A fine story! I bet the other stores, the Bon Ton and the Mammoth, envy us our queen!" He laughed with good-natured triumph. "You can run along now, Bill, and tell Queen Teresa we want to help her in every way we can. Be sure and put that in your story, Gray, that we are helping the queen in every way we can to find her bodyguard."
But Mr. Bill had delayed too long. By the timehe told the story to Mr. Gray, Joe Cary had taken his hat and gone to the Waloo. Joe found only Granny in the big sunny room, for Tessie had gone over to Marvin, Phelps & Stokes, to ask Mr. Marvin if there wasn't a law which would make Mr. Pracht stop threatening her, and stop stealing Ka-kee-ta. Tessie knew that Mr. Pracht had stolen Ka-kee-ta.
"I wanted her to wait until you came," Granny said. "But she wouldn't do it. She feels responsible for Ka-kee-ta. She said if it hadn't been for her, he would be in the Sunshine Islands this minute, safe and sound."
"He would probably have been killed by the Sons of Sunshine," corrected Joe. "You know I think I'm getting a line on this, Granny. And it's bigger than I thought. I made it my business to talk to that Pracht last night, and something he said roused my suspicions. If I'm right, Tessie has a big power against her. She wants to be careful."
"What is it, Joe?" begged Granny. "What was Pete up to before he died?" She was sure that Pete had been up to something, and her voice shook as she begged Joe to tell her what it was.
"I'll tell you just as soon as I'm sure," promised Joe. "I'm going after Tessie now. She shouldn't have gone out alone, not after defying Pracht as she did."
"She wasn't alone. Johnny came back from camp this morning, and he went with her."
"Johnny!" Joe laughed as if a Boy Scout would be little protection against the power he feared. When he saw Granny's worried face, he patted her arm comfortingly. "Don't you worry, Granny. Everything's all right!" he declared. "I'll bring Tessie right back!"
But when he reached the sumptuous offices of Marvin, Phelps & Stokes, Tessie had left.
"About five minutes ago," Bert Douglas told him. "Rum story she had to tell, wasn't it? Of course Mr. Marvin is going to make that Pracht stop frightening her. We don't stand for that sort of thing in this country. She was as pretty as a picture when she told her story. But, Cary, there must be something queer about those islands. Mr. Marvin thinks so, too, but Mr. Phelps is nuts for them. He says it takes him back to the days when he wanted to be a pirate."
"Were they able to help Tessie at all?" asked Joe. What did he care about Mr. Marvin—or even Mr. Phelps?
"Not much. We've had a wire from Pitts, the special representative, from San Francisco. I suppose when he comes the mystery will be cleared." And he chuckled. The mystery intrigued Bert as much as the islands did Mr. Phelps.
"San Francisco!" exclaimed Joe. "I thought he was a prisoner on the islands?"
"I rather think Pracht sent us that word to scare the queen. Anyway, Mr. Marvin had a wire this morning that seems all right. I was just going to tell Miss Gilfooly when she came in, the Boy Scout at her heels. She mustn't do anything until Pitts arrives. But I expect, and I know Mr. Marvin thinks so, too, that Ka-kee-ta lost his way. Miss Gilfooly probably found him at the hotel when she went back."
Joe looked at him. "You don't think there is anything in Pracht's threat to make trouble for Tessie if she doesn't sell the islands to his syndicate, do you?" he asked bluntly.
Bert regarded him with amused surprise. "My dear fellow, what could he do? Use your gray matter! Those islands are in the Pacific Ocean, two hundred and eighty-seven miles south of Honolulu. They are very beautiful and may be very valuable, but Pracht wouldn't resort to crime to get them. No syndicate would. It's ridiculous!"
"Two hundred and eighty-seven miles south of Honolulu," repeated Joe. "And much nearer to the United States than Honolulu. Don't forget that! There are people, Douglas, who would be glad to get control of a group of islands near the United States."
Bert jumped to his feet and stared at Joe. "What do you mean, Cary? What do you mean?" he demanded.
But Joe would not tell him what he meant."Think it over," he advised, instead. "Think several things over, and perhaps you'll understand that Pracht means all, and more, than he threatens, that he is determined to get possession of those islands. We've got to find Ka-kee-ta. I'll trot back to the Waloo. Perhaps Tessie will be there by the time I am."
"Sure to be," agreed puzzled Bert. "She left a good ten minutes ago. But I wish you'd make your meaning a little clearer, Joe. I'd like to have it a little clearer before I speak to Mr. Marvin."
Joe was halfway to the elevator before Bert finished, and he did not turn back to explain his meaning. He hurried to the hotel, but Tessie was not there. Johnny was on the davenport with a big box of chocolates.
"I don't know where Tessie went," he told Joe languidly. "She asked me to go in the Bon Bon Box, and buy her five pounds of chocolates, and I did. I saw her get into a car and——"
"What car?" snapped Joe. "It wasn't her own car! Her own car was standing in front of the hotel. I saw it when I came in."
"Not her own car!" cried Granny, and her face turned a pasty gray as she stared at Joe. "Not her own car, Joe! Then somebody's kidnaped her! I know they have! Poor little Tessie!"
"Bless me!" Mr. Kingley stared unbelievingly into Joe Cary's excited face. "Queen Teresa kidnaped? Nonsense, Cary! Such things aren't done in Waloo in broad daylight. You say it's true? What a story! I must have Gray telephone theGazettethat we have a front page story for them. Bless me!"
"Never mind the publicity end of this now, Mr. Kingley!" exclaimed Joe, so disgusted that he could scarcely speak calmly. "Let's think of Tessie first and the Evergreen second for a change."
Mr. Kingley opened his mouth to say that the Evergreen must always come first, and people, no matter who they were, second, but as he looked at Joe, he suddenly decided that some explanations were better left unmade.
"The little queen is all right!" he insisted instead. "Of course she is! This is Waloo, the United States, not a savage island. Nothing could happen to Miss Gilfooly in Waloo. She's all right! What makes you think she was kidnaped? Who kidnaped her? Where was that frizzle-headed bodyguard? Why wasn't he on his job?" He shot the questions, one after another at Joe, and then was impatient because they were not answered.
"You forget that Ka-kee-ta disappeared first," Joe said, as quietly as he could when he was so full of disgust and impatience. "Tessie was trying to find him when she was carried off. I don't know who did it, but I'd be willing to bet that a tow-headed man with a big nose had a hand in it—a big hand!" He looked keenly at Mr. Kingley, as he described the man he thought had had a hand in kidnaping Tessie.
Mr. Kingley snorted contemptuously. "Bets won't get you anywhere," he said scornfully. "What you want are a few facts. Do you know where she was and what she was doing when she was kidnaped?"
"Her brother Johnny saw her get into a car, and as soon as the door was shut, the car dashed up the street and around a corner."
Mr. Kingley rubbed his hands together and nodded approvingly. "Now you're talking. You show you have something to work with. I don't suppose you have the number of the car?" There was considerable superiority in his voice because, of course, Joe did not have the number.
"Yes, I have! And a description, too. The car was a dark blue limousine and its license number was 13,023!" He moved closer to Mr. Kingley and eyed him oddly, but Mr. Kingley did not become at all excited when he heard the license number.
"13,023," he repeated slowly. "Well, haveyou found whose car that is? It seems simple enough now, Cary. Whose car is it?"
Joe looked at him. Was it possible that he didn't know whose car bore the license number 13,023? Joe watched him like a hawk as he told him whose car it was.
"The car is listed," he said slowly, "as belonging to Mr. W. A. Kingley—Mr. William A. Kingley!"
"No!" exclaimed Mr. William A. Kingley in a surprise that seemed genuine, although Joe could not believe that any man would be ignorant of the license number of his own car. "It can't be!"
"Owner of the Evergreen," went on Joe, with a thump on the table to drive the fact home.
"It's been stolen!" declared Mr. Kingley excitedly. "My car has been stolen! I don't know a thing about this! I don't even believe it!" he exclaimed shrilly.
"When I got the information from the police," Joe told him slowly, "I telephoned to your house to learn if your car was there."
"And it was!" insisted Mr. Kingley, leaning forward in his big chair. "Of course it was!"
"It was not!" Mr. Kingley sank back with a groan. "And your chauffeur was found in the garage, tied and gagged!"
"Bless me!" In the face of such facts Mr. Kingley could only stammer and sputter. "Whocould—who could—who found him?" he demanded sharply.
"Your daughter telephoned to the garage for the car, and when it wasn't brought around, she went herself to see what was the matter. She found the chauffeur on the floor tied and gagged."
"But what did he say? What did he say?" Mr. Kingley had jumped up from his big chair and was tramping up and down the office with quick excited steps.
"He said he had the car all ready to drive out, when two men came in and threatened him with a gun. They gagged him, tied him up and drove the car out of the garage. He didn't know either of them, he said. Never saw them before. They were both masked, but he thought one of them, at least, was a Jap." He stopped and looked at Mr. Kingley significantly.
"A Jap!" repeated Mr. Kingley aghast. He stared at Joe, and he tried with all of his might to understand what Joe so plainly wanted him to understand. "I never employed a Jap in my life," he said hurriedly. "Not in any capacity!"
"Didn't you?" questioned Joe, with even more of that puzzling significance.
"A Jap kidnaping the Queen of the Sunshine Islands," Mr. Kingley said slowly. His eyes brightened. "Such pub—I mean," as he caught the indignant flash in Joe's eyes—"I mean, I hope it won't lead to any international complication."
"I hope not," agreed Joe, wishing he could raise the top of Mr. Kingley's head, with its shining scalp and fringe of pepper-and-salt hair, and take a look at his mental machinery. "You can't tell me anything more then, Mr. Kingley? You don't know anything about this?" His eyes seemed to be boring into Mr. Kingley's very soul.
"Know? How should I know anything?" demanded Mr. Kingley, and he looked insulted.
"Several little things made me think that possibly you might know more about the Sunshine Islands and their queen than you admit," Joe told him with more of that disagreeable significance. "Maybe you know more about the Sons of Sunshine than I do," he added, as Mr. Kingley turned away with a muttered exclamation.
"Yes, yes," he said hastily. "Bill told me about them, that they had threatened to make trouble for Miss Gilfooly. I told Bill then that she should ask for police protection, but Bill laughed at me and said Ka-kee-ta with his ax was worth a platoon of police."
"I thought you would know about them," Joe went on completely ignoring what Mr. Bill said. "And perhaps you know about the special representative—I believe his name is Pitts? The Sons of Sunshine claimed they had him a prisoner."
"I don't know a word about him!" Mr. Kingley seemed pained to hear that Joe thought that he did. "I don't see why you come here, Cary,and talk to me as if I were implicated in this kidnaping. Why aren't you running down this clue you have? Did Ethel telephone to the insurance company? Who got the number anyway? Are you sure that it's correct?"
"I'm sure. Johnny Gilfooly took the number, and he's a Boy Scout and trained to observe."
"Why wasn't he looking after his sister? Aren't Boy Scouts trained to take care of their sisters?" Mr. Kingley sounded quite as unreasonable as he looked.
"Tessie sent him into the Bon Bon Box for some chocolates——"
"Then he didn't see his sister kidnaped?" Mr. Kingley interrupted quickly.
"Yes, he did. He was just coming out when he saw Tessie get into the car. It dashed away, but not before he had snatched his pencil from his pocket and written the number on the box of candy. He did it mechanically, and when Tessie didn't come home, we were glad he did. It's the only clue we have. It is mighty strange that she should have been carried away in your car, Mr. Kingley!" he insisted.
"Very, very strange," agreed Mr. Kingley with a frown. "And very strange that I didn't hear about the car until you came in. Why didn't Ethel telephone to me?"
"Your line was busy. And Bill— Where is your son Bill, Mr. Kingley?" he asked sharply.
"My son Bill! Why—why—" What on earth was Joe Cary driving at. No wonder he stammered.
It seemed to Joe that he was just stammering to gain time.
"Yes, your son Bill!" he repeated sharply.
"What do you mean?" demanded Mr. Kingley.
"Just what I say. Where's young Bill Kingley?" insisted Joe, growing more suspicious every minute.
"Who wants Bill Kingley?" asked a voice from the doorway, and Mr. Bill himself came in. He looked excited and worried. "I say, dad, have you heard? Queen Teresa has been kidnaped! We've got to find her! There are three reporters out here."
"Reporters! Why should they come to me?" wondered Mr. Kingley, chafing under the fiery gaze of Joe Cary.
"Tessie was carried off in your car," Joe reminded him. "I should think the police, as well as the reporters, would want to talk to you. The Queen of the Sunshine Islands was found in the basement of your store, and now she has been carried off in your car. It sounds——"
"How!" interrupted Mr. Bill, stepping in front of his shrinking father and facing Joe. "How does it sound to you, Cary?" he asked thirstily.
"Queer!" Joe told him flatly. "Darned queer! But if you don't tell all you know now, Mr. Kingley,you'll have to come through some day!" He regarded Mr. Kingley with an odd combination of eager hope and hot defiance. Would Mr. Kingley tell all he knew now?
But Mr. Kingley had stood all he was going to stand from Joe Cary. "You—you—" he stammered furiously and had to stop for breath. "You're discharged! Discharged! Do you hear? I won't let any employee talk to me as if I were a kidnaper and a thief!"
"Yes, you will!" Joe dared to say to his purple face. "Unless you prove you aren't a kidnaper and a thief! And you'd better not discharge me! I suspect too much! When I'm ready to leave, I'll resign. You had better go now and talk to your reporters," he added with contempt. "You'll miss the afternoon papers if you don't. And that would be too bad, when you have some more publicity for the Evergreen."
"What do you mean, Joe?" asked Mr. Bill, who could not make anything of the eager words that Joe was uttering, and that made his father so apoplectic that he could only gasp and gurgle and shake his fist at Joe as he left the room. "What do you mean?" Joe seemed to mean so much more than he said.
"I haven't time to tell you now!" Joe exclaimed brusquely. "I must find Tessie!" He would have brushed by Mr. Bill, as if Mr. Bill were only apart of the office furniture, but Mr. Bill clutched his arm.
"I'm going to find her, too!" he insisted. "I'm going to find her! Where do you suppose she is? What could have happened to her?" He shivered as he thought of what might have happened to Tessie. "I don't suppose those Sons of Sunshine would stop at anything, would they?" His voice shook as he asked the question.
Joe stood still and looked at him curiously. "Yes," he said as if he knew what he was talking about. "I think there are some things the Sons of Sunshine will not attempt—not in Waloo. Come on, if you're going with me. Do you happen to know," he stopped as a thought flashed through his brain, "do you happen to know if Tessie had the Tear of God with her?"
Mr. Bill shook his head, and the anxious look in his face deepened. Would it make it better or worse for Tessie if she had the royal jewel with her?
"I don't know," he confessed. "She usually did have it around her neck or somewhere else in a safety-bag. Mrs. Gilfooly would know," he suggested when Joe frowned and said nothing.
"Of course," Joe shrugged his shoulders and threw back his head. "Of course, Granny will know!"
When Tessie came out of the big building which housed the offices of Marvin, Phelps Stokes and told Johnny to run into the Bon Bon Box for some chocolates, she saw a big blue limousine draw up to the curb beside her. She recognized the car at once. She had driven in it too many times not to know that it was the Kingley car. When the chauffeur jumped out and came toward her, she did not recognize him, and she thought carelessly that Mrs. Kingley had done what she had threatened to do, hired a Japanese chauffeur.
"They look so smart," Mrs. Kingley had said. "And they are so clever."
"And so unreliable," Mr. Kingley had added, and he had insisted that when all the American men were employed, it would be time enough to hire a Jap.
But Mrs. Kingley had evidently had her way, and Tessie smiled as the chauffeur stopped beside her, bowed humbly, and asked her if she would please come to the car. Tessie turned at once. She naturally thought that Ethel Kingley, or possibly Mrs. Kingley—young Mr. Bill's mother—wanted to speak to her. And although she knew that it is not the thing to order a queen to comehere or go there, still the Kingleys were more than queens to her, and with a thumping heart she went to the car. She even entered it without a question, all aglow with curiosity to hear what Ethel Kingley or Mrs. Kingley—the lordly Mr. Bill's mother—had to say to her.
Before she really realized that there was no one in the car, the chauffeur had sent the machine leaping forward. It rounded a corner on two wheels, and if the traffic policeman had not been engaged in a warm argument with two men in small cars, each of whom wanted the right of way at the same time, it would never have gone any further, for it was breaking the traffic laws with every revolution of its red wheels.
Tessie could have pounded on the glass which separated her from the chauffeur, but it never occurred to her to do that. She thought she had misunderstood the chauffeur and that Ethel Kingley or Mrs. Kingley had asked her to come to the Kingley residence. She was sorry she had not had time to tell Johnny where she was going, but Johnny would take the box of chocolates home and would tell Granny that she had gone to the Kingleys, so that Granny would not worry. If Ka-kee-ta had returned, he would make a fuss because she had the Tear of God. She felt for it in its safety bag around her slim waist. But if Ka-kee-ta wanted to go with her, he should nottake all day for a little errand which should have required only half an hour.
She wondered if Ka-kee-ta had returned. Perhaps she should stop at the Waloo and inquire. She leaned forward to speak to the chauffeur. She never could remember to use the silken tube which hung at the side of the car. But the limousine swerved to the left and dashed down a mean little street, which was not on the way to the Kingleys' big plaster-and-timbered mansion. She knew it wasn't. She had never gone that way before. Why—Why——
Tessie did pound on the glass then, but the chauffeur never turned his head. He just swung the car around another corner, and down another narrow street, and stopped before a brick house. He jumped out and opened the door and motioned to Tessie to step out. But Tessie never moved a muscle. She sat on the broad gray seat of the limousine, as if she never would step out.
"Suppose you take me home now," she said coldly and calmly, although inwardly she was anything but calm and cold. "I know Mrs. Kingley isn't here. And Miss Kingley isn't here, either. You've made a mistake. Take me to the Waloo Hotel at once!"
She spoke like a queen, as if she were accustomed to issuing orders and to being obeyed, and not at all like the frightened little girl she really felt. She told herself that it was ridiculous tofeel frightened. Nothing could happen to her! Not on the street in Waloo in broad daylight!
It made her feel safer to see a group of small boys playing ball on the vacant lot next to the red brick house. One of the boys failed to catch the ball, and it rolled almost under the car.
"Take me home!" ordered Tessie, in her most royal manner.
But the chauffeur only showed his teeth. They made a white streak in his yellow face as he motioned toward the door of the red brick house.
"Ka-kee-ta," he said very slowly and distinctly. "You want Ka-kee-ta?"
"Ka-kee-ta!" That was a very different pair of shoes. So Miss Kingley, or perhaps it was Mrs. Kingley, had found Ka-kee-ta—although what he was doing away down here, miles from the Waloo, Tessie could not imagine—and had sent the chauffeur to take her to him. How kind! How very kind of the Kingleys. She jumped up, eager questions tumbling from her lips. "Why is he here? Why didn't he come home? Is he hurt?" For she was sure that nothing but an injury would keep Ka-kee-ta away from her and from the Tear of God. She was glad she had the Tear of God in the safety bag around her waist. She could show Ka-kee-ta that it was safe. Her face whitened as she thought that Ka-kee-ta might be, must be, badly injured. But still she hesitated to go to him. She stood on the running board of the carand looked up and down the narrow little street.
"Ka-kee-ta, he want you!" exclaimed the chauffeur, and he would have taken her arm to help her, but she pushed him away. She had taken a dislike to him, she did not know why, but she did not want him to touch her, although it was kind of him to bring her to Ka-kee-ta.
She glanced at the red brick house. Was that Ka-kee-ta's frizzled head at an upper window? It looked like it. So he was not badly injured, or he would not be at the window. She drew a long breath of relief. She would go and see what was the matter with him, and if it was nothing serious, she would give him a good big piece of her mind for worrying her. Of course, a queen would have to look after her bodyguard even if her bodyguard had been disobedient and careless. Indeed she would tell Ka-kee-ta what she thought of him.
She stepped forward hurriedly, and in her eagerness to tell Ka-kee-ta how disobedient he had been, she dropped her little beaded bag. It fell from the big embroidered pocket of her Canton crepe frock and rolled under the car, but Tessie never knew it. The chauffeur, who was close at her side, never knew it, either.
The door of the red brick house opened before Tessie could ring the bell, and she went in. The chauffeur waited until the door closed behind her, and then ran back to his car. He jumped in and drove rapidly away. The small boy in search ofhis ball had to wait a minute, until the car had dashed away. And then he saw the beaded bag lying in the street beside the curb and beside the ball.
"Crickey!" he exclaimed, holding it up for the other boys to see. "Look what I found!"
There was no one in the hall as the outside door closed behind Tessie. She stood still for a second, feeling very small and neglected. Since she became a queen, she had been met at front doors with more or less ceremony, and it puzzled her that no one met her now. There was a door at her right. She walked toward it. She could not remember at just which window she had caught that glimpse of a frizzled head. Perhaps Ka-kee-ta was in the room at the right. But when she opened the door, she did not see Ka-kee-ta. She saw Frederic Pracht.
He stepped forward. "Welcome!" he said pleasantly. "Welcome, Your Majesty!"
"Why—why—" stammered Tessie, so surprised she could do nothing but stammer. She sent a hurried glance around the room, but she could not see a trace of her bodyguard. "I thought Ka-kee-ta was here," she managed to say after she had swallowed twice, and impatiently tossed her head to free the frightened lump in her throat.
Mr. Pracht laughed softly, unpleasantly. "This is the Waloo headquarters of the Sons of Sunshine,"he explained gently, and as if she should know that Ka-kee-ta would never be found at the headquarters of that revolutionary organization.
"The Sons of Sunshine," repeated Tessie faintly. The bright color left her face, her bones suddenly felt starchless and limp, but she looked bravely at Mr. Pracht. She remembered that Granny had told her that the Gilfoolys were never afraid. She must not let Mr. Pracht think that a Gilfooly could be afraid, but she half closed her eyes and wished with all of her heart that Joe Cary were with her—or Mr. Bill! If only Mr. Bill were there, she would not mind the unpleasant little smile with which Mr. Pracht was regarding her. She would not mind anything!
"Yes. I am sure that you are going to be a most amiable and obliging queen, and grant the Sons of Sunshine what they ask," Mr. Pracht said, and his voice was far more pleasant than his smile. It was too pleasant, so very pleasant that if Tessie had been any one but a valiant Gilfooly, she would have fainted immediately. "If you refuse," went on the unpleasantly pleasant voice, "you will have to remain here until you see how reasonable their demands are. A strange people, Your Majesty—a strange people! And they have strange customs in their far-away islands. I think I told you of some of them?" And he looked at her and shook his thatched tow-head.
Tessie straightened herself proudly. Shewould not let him see how frightened she was. She would die first.
"You told me of one," she said as scornfully as she could, when she had no starch at all left in her bones. "Something about boiling the kings they don't like in shark oil." And she managed a contemptuous toss of her head, as if she did not believe a word of Mr. Pracht's story.
"Yes," he agreed cheerfully. "That is one of their little customs. But I am sure that they will not have to resort to it soon again. You cannot blame them for wanting a native ruler. You really have no claim on them. Just because your uncle was an unscrupulous man, and influenced the old king to disinherit his sons, is no reason why the people should have to accept another white ruler when they don't want one." He would have gone on to tell Tessie other things about the islands and the rebels, but she interrupted him.
"What do you want of me?" she asked bluntly.
"I told you. Your rights to the Sunshine Islands," he told her as bluntly.
But Tessie, soft, little, frightened Tessie, felt the hot blood of the Gilfoolys rush through her. It seemed to put the starch back in her bones so that she could stand boldly before this hateful, smiling man. Her islands! The very idea! Words Joe Cary had said rushed through her mind. It was funny that she should remember what Joe had said about responsibilities and dutiesnow. But Joe was right. She did have responsibilities and duties. So instead of telling Mr. Pracht exactly what she thought of him, she swallowed the hot words which rushed to her lips, tossed her head, and looked at him questioningly. She must meet craft with craft.
"How do I know that you are what you say?" she asked doubtfully. "You tell me that you represent the Sons of Sunshine, and that the Sons of Sunshine want a native ruler, but I have only your word for it. You must have some credentials or something. I can't dispose of my rights to the islands my Uncle Pete left me and turn the people over to just any one. That wouldn't be right! Joe Cary—" And suddenly she remembered something else Joe Cary had told her. She stared at Mr. Pracht with big astonished eyes. "Joe Cary told me once that there was some country that would like to get possession of my islands so it would have a base, I think he said, nearer the United States. He said the Japanese would give their eyeteeth to get control of the Sunshine Islands. I remember all about it now. How do I know you aren't acting for the Japanese, instead of for the Sons of Sunshine?" she asked shrilly.
He jumped, and all the muscles of his face seemed to tighten as he stared at her. "Japanese!" he repeated sharply.
"Yes. And it was a Jap who drove the car that brought me here," remembered Tessie, puttingtwo and two together. "I would never sell my islands to the Japanese!" she declared firmly. "Never! I don't trust them! And it wouldn't be patriotic! Joe said it wouldn't! And the Baileys, who lived next to us before I was a queen, were from California, and they told me things about the Japanese. If you are working for them, you can tell them I would never think of selling my islands to them!" And she turned away as if to let him know that her decision was made and the interview was over.
Out on the steps, a small boy with a beaded bag in his hand was ringing the doorbell. It sent a loud peal through the house.
"Some one is at your front door," Tessie told Mr. Pracht, who stood biting his nails, and frowning at her as though he had not heard the bell.
"Let it ring," he muttered staring at her. Suddenly he shrugged his shoulders. He had decided on his course of action. "You want Ka-kee-ta?" he said curtly. "Come upstairs."
"I thought you said he wasn't here," she exclaimed. "That surprised me, for I was sure I saw him at the window."
"Come upstairs," repeated Mr. Pracht. "Ka-kee-ta needs you."
Of course, if one of her people needed her, there was nothing for a queen to do but follow Mr. Pracht up the stairs and down the hall. Outside the front door, a small boy stuffed a beaded bagin his pocket and ran down the steps and up the street.
Mr. Pracht threw open the door of a room at the end of the hall, and stood aside for Tessie to enter. She hesitated for the room was dark. It seemed to have no light but from the open door, and she could see nothing in it but shadows.
"Ka-kee-ta?" she called from the threshold. "Ka-kee-ta, are you there?" She was almost sure that Ka-kee-ta was not there, but before she could say so, she was pushed over the threshold and into the darkened room. The door slammed behind her.
"You will stay there until you agree to give up your rights to the Sunshine Islands!" Mr. Pracht called through the door. "Your rights to the islands and the Tear of God! And the sooner you agree the better. Sharks have sharp teeth, you know!"
The afternoon papers carried the story of the mysterious disappearance of Queen Teresa and her bodyguard, but strangely enough, there was very little in the story about the Evergreen. Indeed the store was merely mentioned in the closing paragraph which reminded Waloo where Queen Teresa had been found.
Granny had been interviewed, and she had tearfully told of the appearance of a white-headed, big-nosed, fat man who had wanted to buy the Sunshine Islands, and who had threatened the queen with all sorts of barbarous cruelties if she did not abdicate at once. Granny made no bones about telling the press what she knew of Frederic Pracht, which was little, and what she thought of him, which was much.
"I don't believe the Sons of Sunshine have anything to do with this," she insisted. "I think it was all that Pracht man. He stole the marriage license of her father and mother, and now he's stolen her. I know he has!"
"Be careful, Granny," cautioned Joe with a worried frown. "You don't want to say anything that will make it worse for Tess."
"No, I don't!" choked Granny. "But I thinkpeople should know the truth. I'm not as pleased with this queen business as I was, Joe. I used to think it was grand to be a queen, and there are parts of it that are pleasant, I must say, but there are other parts that I don't hold with at all. I don't see how Pete stood it all alone, away off there in the Pacific Ocean. I've just about made up my mind that Tessie shan't ever go there. She's too little and helpless. What could she do, if those savages should turn against her? You don't think any one would hurt little Tessie, do you, Joe? She's all right, isn't she?" And she went closer to Joe and peered into his face so that her eyes, as well as her ears, could tell her what Joe thought. "You'll find her for me, won't you, Joe?"
"Sure, we'll find her!" declared Joe, with far more confidence than he felt. "The police—every officer in Waloo!—is trying to find her!"
"I'll bet the Boy Scouts can find her!" bragged Johnny, who was thrilled to the very marrow to think that his sister—his own sister who was a queen—had been kidnaped. Gee whizz! what would the fellows say!
Joe gave a start and looked at Johnny. "Thunder!" he said slowly, and then he added more quickly, "Johnny, I believe you've said something! Who's at the head of your Scouts?"
"We got a Scoutmaster for every troop," boasted Johnny, but Joe did not wait for him tofinish. Joe was at the telephone impatiently asking Central for heaven's sake to give him the number he wanted, and not half a dozen numbers he couldn't use.
In an incredibly short time, each Scoutmaster in the city had been asked to have the boys in his troop help find the missing queen of the Sunshine Islands.
"Your boys have been taught to observe," Joe eagerly told the Scoutmasters. "Perhaps one of them saw the car which carried off Miss Gilfooly." Joe never could speak of Tessie as Queen Teresa. It was too ridiculous, and then he did not believe in queens. "The number is 13,023. Just get in touch with your Scouts, and ask them if they have seen it. I know it's just a chance, but Waloo is so big and Miss Gilfooly is so little that we have to snatch at every chance. Her brother is a Scout, you know," he added, while Johnny stood beside him all puffed with pride.
"We'll do our best!" promised the Scoutmasters. "And our boys are all over town. If one of them saw the car, I'm sure he'll report at once. Sorry about the queen. She seemed a nice little girl!"
"She is a nice little girl!" declared Joe, with considerable emphasis.
"You'll find her all right," prophesied the Scoutmaster. "Queens can't be kidnaped in this country."
"Miss Gilfooly was kidnaped!" Joe reminded him curtly. "If you hear anything, call me up at once, at the Waloo!"
He did not feel quite as confident as the Scoutmaster, as he hung up the receiver, but he nodded encouragingly to Granny.
"They'll find her," he said.
"I'm sure I hope so," wailed Granny. "Poor little Tessie! I never should have allowed her to be a queen! I might have known there would be trouble! Queens aren't as fashionable as they were."
"No," agreed Joe. "They aren't. Gee whizz, Granny!" He jumped to his feet and stared down at Granny. "Where do you suppose Tessie is? And Ka-kee-ta? I'd like to ring old Kingley's neck!" he said fiercely.
Granny stumbled to her feet and stared at him. "What has he got to do with it?" she said quickly. "What has Mr. Kingley got to do with Tessie's being kidnaped, Joe?" She caught his arm and held it tight as she questioned him.
"That," Joe told her with a frown, "is something I'm going to find out."
"But there must be something that makes you think he had a hand in it?" insisted Granny, clinging to his arm.
"Nothing definite," scowled Joe. "But it was his car that carried Tessie away!"
Granny clutched his arm tighter and shook him."You don't think Mr. Bill had a hand in it too, Joe?" she cried shrilly. "You don't blame Mr. Bill too, do you?"
"No!" Joe shook his head. He did not see how Mr. Bill could be blamed. Mr. Bill had been working untiringly to find a clue which would lead him to Tessie. He had sworn a mighty oath that he would not close his eyes until he found Tessie. "No," Joe told Granny, "I don't think Bill Kingley knows any more than I do."
"Oh!" Granny released Joe's arm and dropped into a chair. "I thought perhaps you might mean that Tessie had eloped with Mr. Bill, and his father knew about it. I thought that was what you might mean when you said you'd like to wring old Mr. Kingley's neck."
"No, I didn't mean that!" But Joe did not tell her what he did mean. He just stood and stared at the telephone, as if he would force it to ring and tell him where Tessie was.
Granny threw her handkerchief over her face and broke into loud lamentations. Johnny ran to her.
"Don't you cry, Granny! Don't you cry! The Scouts'll find Tessie all right! I wish you'd let me go and help them!"
Granny put her arms around him tight. "No, you can't go, Johnny!" she sobbed. "You can't go! The Sons of Sunshine might take you, too. You stay here with me!"
"It's dreadful!" Norah Lee told Joe. Norah's face was white and anxious, and her voice shook. "If you only knew where to look!"
"That's it!" groaned Joe. "We haven't any idea where to look! It's worse than a needle in a haystack! She might be anywhere!"
"Poor little queen!" sighed Norah. "You know, Joe, there have been moments when I've envied her. I know it was silly, but I did! It was so romantic, you know, and old Mr. Kingley and everybody made such a fuss over her. The world just seemed to center around Tessie Gilfooly. The rest of us weren't there at all. We all envied her!"
"You can't envy her now!" Joe had nothing but scorn for one who envied a queen. He looked oddly at Norah. He could not see why Norah should envy any girl.
"No, we can't envy her now. I'm awfully sorry for you, Joe," she said after a moment. "You must be nearly crazy!"
"It's not knowing where she is," Joe said simply. "And when you think what savage brutes those Sunshine Sons really are, it's enough to make us all crazy!"
"Poor old Joe!" And Norah put her hand on his and squeezed his fingers with friendly sympathy. "Poor old Joe!"
"I'm not any good at all," frowned Joe. "That's what takes the starch out of a fellow. Idon't know what to do! Bill Kingley is running around town like a mad dog, but he isn't getting anywhere. We aren't any of us as helpful as Johnny here."
Johnny raised his head from Granny's shoulder. "The Boy Scouts'll help!" he insisted. "You just see!"
At almost that very moment Charlie Deakin, the young Scoutmaster of Beaver Troop in Northeast Waloo, was going home in the early twilight. He had been thrilled to his heels when Joe called him to the telephone, and asked him to help find Queen Teresa. He had been interested in the queen ever since he read the first story in theGazette. He had gone to the sale in the Evergreen basement for the benefit of the Sunshine Island's shoe fund, and had bought an aluminum stewpan which he had given to his mother, to her undying amazement. He often had seen Tessie driving with her bodyguard and had admired both of them immensely. And now the queen had been kidnaped! He could not believe that any one would be so dastardly as to kidnap such a charming little girl. But if any one had, he would like to find her. He would give everything he had in the world to find her. And as he went home in the early twilight, he considered several plans for calling his troop together, and setting the boys to the task so that they really would find QueenTeresa. At the corner he met Neddie Black, who was an ardent young Scout.
"Hello, Ned!" called Charlie. "I'm glad I met you! I've work for you to do! What's that in your hand?" For from Neddie's fingers dangled a beaded bag, something no Scout would carry.
"I picked it up in the street," explained Neddie, "but I can't find the owner. I thought it belonged to a girl who went into that red-brick house, but no one answered when I rang the bell. There is a dollar and seventy-five cents in it, a vanity case, a handkerchief, a pencil, a lot of samples, some pieces out of the newspaper, a veil, three chocolates and a piece of paper. See!" And he showed Charlie a card on which several words were scribbled.
"'Talcum powder,'" read Charlie Deakin. "'Frederick O'Brien's South Sea Island book!'" His voice rose excitedly. "'Insect powder.' 'Cocoanut oil for Ka-kee-ta!' Where did you find this, Ned?" He gave Ned a little shake, as he questioned him eagerly.
Ned told him that he had been playing ball with a bunch of fellows in the vacant lot over there—he nodded in the direction of the red-brick house—and a limousine had driven up to the curb. Their ball had rolled under the car—the license number was 13,023—Neddie proudly remembered,and he had run to pick it up and had found the purse.
"A girl got out of the car. I supposed it belonged to her. But when I rang the bell, nobody came to the door. The car had gone away, so I put the bag in my pocket. Whose is it, Mr. Deakin, do you know?"
"Neddie Black!" exclaimed Charlie, his voice shaking with excitement. "You go and sit on that curb!" he pointed to the curb in front of the red brick house. "And if any one comes out of that house, you yell as if you were being killed. I have to telephone!" He looked wildly about for a telephone.
"What is it, Mr. Deakin?" begged Neddie, pulling his sleeve. "What is it?" He knew it was something, because Mr. Deakin was so excited and so breathless. He felt a little tingle of excitement himself.
"It means we have a clue to Queen Teresa!" declared Charlie triumphantly. "I'll go in here and telephone, and if you see any one come out of that house, you yell. Gee whizz! Wouldn't it be great if we were to find the Queen! Just suppose she is in the house now!" He stared at the house. "I believe I'll ring the bell and see!"
"Nobody answers the bell!" Neddie told him. "I rang and rang and nobody came. I'll sit here, Mr. Deakin, and play ball while you telephone,and if anybody comes out, I'll yell like sixty. You go and telephone!"
"Well—" Charlie hesitated. He hated to turn his back on the red brick house for fear some one would come out, but he really could do nothing alone. He was not even sure that the little bag belonged to the queen, although he thought it did. The memorandum which mentioned insect powder, Ka-kee-ta, and cocoanut oil should be proof enough for anybody. No one but Queen Teresa would be buying cocoanut oil for Ka-kee-ta. Of course, the bag belonged to the Queen! And Neddie had found it in front of that house, and so the Queen must be in the house. He would telephone to Joe, and when Joe came with the police, he would go with them and find the Queen. And while he telephoned, the Boy Scout would be on guard.
"Keep your eyes and ears open, Neddie," he cautioned as he turned toward the house on his left. "Don't let anything get by you!"
"You bet!" promised Neddie confidently. He threw his ball into the air and caught it, and then bounced it up and down until it led him in front of the red brick house. "I'll keep my eyes and ears wide open," he told himself proudly. "I bet it'll be a good deed if I find a Queen!"