"Some one wants Dr. Robbins on the 'phone."
The hall boy brought the message. Dr. Robbins jumped up from her book and hurried to the hall telephone.
"Yes. Hello! That you, Leland?"
"Yes, dear. So glad to get a word with you. How are you?"
"Well? Now, you really can't be——"
"What? Going away? Run away?"
There was a long pause after this monologue.
Dr. Robbins was listening to the voice—presumably that of Leland.
Then—"Leland! Are you crazy?"
Another pause. The young woman's face might have been interpreted, but the 'phone was silent to outsiders.
"You don't mean to say that you are going on some dangerous trip in the mountains—yes, I hear, in the mountains—to help some foolish girl? I know you did not say foolish; I said that. Leland, listen to me. Do you hear? All right. Now, listen. Don't you dare to go away again and not tell me exactly where you are going. I have only just—yes, I know all about your ideas. I am sure she is charming and worthy and all that, but——"
Dr. Robbins tapped her foot impatiently. Oh, the limits of the telephone! If only she could reach that brother!
"If you do not—report—look for you around Hemlock Bend! Yes, we'll do that. Oh, Leland!"
She dropped the receiver and stood like one shocked physically as well as mentally. For a moment she remained there, then turned back to the room at the side of the girls' suite.
Mr. Rand was sitting there.
"What has happened?" he demanded. "You look as if there had been a ghost in that message."
"Oh, there was, Mr. Rand! What shall I do? That brother of mine is running off again!"
"Where?"
"He didn't even say. His words were like those of some madman. If we did not hear from him within three days, we are to look for him about Hemlock Bend."
"Where in the world is Hemlock Bend?"
"As if we knew! That is just like Leland. Poor, dear Leland! Never practical enough even to send a straight message. Oh, Mr. Rand, that boy will kill us yet!"
"Don't you fear, little girl," and there was an unmistakable note of tenderness in Mr. Rand's voice. "One who means well usually does well, however strange may be his methods. The first thing to do is to see if we can get him again at the Restover."
Without waiting for her answer, the gentleman rushed out in the hall himself, and was presently calling up that hotel. As he happened to be one of the owners of the summer house, it was not difficult for him to get direct communication and answers. But the man asked for was gone. Had just gone. Had just caught a north-bound train—the express.
"Can't get him there," reported Mr. Rand to Dr. Robbins. "Now to findHemlock Bend."
Guide books and time-tables were hastily consulted, but evidently the place was too small for printed mention.
Dr. Robbins was in despair. That dreadful young man! Gone to some out-of-the-world place to rescue some absurd girl! And now he had actually gotten away!
Belle, Bess, Betty and Hazel had just returned from a melancholy ramble. Belle was better—really better now than some of her companions, who had been bearing up well under the strain—but all the young faces were very sad. The boys had telephoned that they had some hope for developments in the clew they had gone away to investigate, but that was very meager encouragement. The boys always had hope—over the 'phone. Dr. Robbins told them part of the story.
"Oh, the idea!" exclaimed Belle. "Isn't that like a tale of the olden times—for a young man to run away to rescue a lady! Now, what in the world is she being rescued from? Exactly. That's the impossible Leland. Never says who she is, what she is, or what about her. Now, as if we could put a story like that together!" She sank back as if mentally exhausted from the effort to "put it together."
"But we must find Hemlock Bend," said Betty. "I feel as if I could lay my finger on every bend in the White Mountains."
"All concentrated on your particular person," said Hazel, with a smile. "Well, I feel that way myself, only you being smaller, Betty, have a more compact concentration."
"I think I have it," exclaimed Mr. Rand, as he returned with his hands full of pamphlets. "It is near—near——"
"Let me look, Daddy," interrupted Betty. "I can see better, perhaps."
He handed her one little green booklet. She glanced over it and mumbled a lot of stuff through which she had to pass in order to get at what was wanted. Then she paused. "Oh, yes, there's a place on the Woodland Branch railroad called Hemlock Grove. Of course, that must be around the corner from Hemlock Bend."
They all agreed that it must be. Then to take the trip—they would not wait for three days. Mr. Rand said that would be absurd, but when the boys should return to the hotel, which would be that afternoon, they would all start out in their cars. They would make a double hunt—for Cora and for Leland.
"It is a long trip," said Mr. Rand, "but I will take the big car, and Benson—couldn't do it without Benson—and we will be able to ride or to walk almost the length and breadth of the county."
From that moment until the boys did return the young ladies were all excitement getting ready for the trip.
"I just feel now that something will happen," declared the optimisticBetty. "If four girls and four boys, besides the best man in NewEngland, to wit, my daddy, cannot find them, then, indeed, they arelost."
"Oh, I, too, feel so anxious," sighed Bess. "I think the run will do our nerves good, if nothing else."
"And I feel exactly as if I were starting out to meet Cora," declaredBelle. "Oh, what would I give——"
"We all would," interrupted Hazel.
"But to think that Leland should put us to trouble just now when our hands and hearts are so full," wailed Dr. Robbins.
"Well, as misery likes company, perhaps our trouble will get along better in pairs," said Hazel, without knowing exactly what she meant.
Jack entered the corridor. His handsome, dark face was tanned to a deep brown, and he looked different. Had he news?
"Where is Mr. Rand?" he asked.
"Just calling to the garage," said Belle, a note of question in her answer.
"Well, girls, we have found something. We have found Cora's gloves!"
"Oh, where?" It was a chorus.
"On the road to Sharon. I found one—Ed the other."
He took from his pocket the gloves. They were not very much soiled, and had evidently only lain in the road a short time.
"They are the ones she wore the night of the ball, when she disappeared," said Belle, looking at them carefully.
"Then we will take that road and search every inch of it," declared Bess, also inspecting the gloves. "The dear old things!" and she actually pressed them to her lips. "I feel as if you had brought us a message from Cora."
"Those gloves have never been out of doors a week," said Jack seriously. "They have been carried there—placed there—just to throw us off the track. We will start out in the opposite direction."
"To-night?"
"As soon as you girls can get equipped. We must find Cora now or——"
"We will find her," cried Bess. "I know we will. Oh, just let us get on the road! I think the cars will scent the trail! I feel as if I were simply going out to meet her by appointment."
It was a brave effort, for the girls felt anything but certain. So many hopes had arisen and been dashed down! so many clews had been followed, only to be abandoned! so many messages had been sent in vain!
But with such hope as they could muster up the party in four automobiles started out from the Tip-Top. Without exception every guest was interested in the case, and as the motorists chugged off many were the wishes of good luck that were wafted after them.
To find Cora! to find Leland! or——
Another disappointment would seem too cruel. Walter declared he could pick a trail they had never yet followed. Betty said she knew a very dark and dangerous pass, where she had lost her bracelet. Belle wanted to go by the river road, so that when it was actually left to Bess to decide, as she was next in authority to Cora in the Motor Girls' Club, she spoke for the way through the woods, straight up into a rough and shaggy pass.
"They would never dream of an automobile getting up there," she declared, "and if she is in hiding they have taken her far away from the good roads."
Wonderful for Bess! Wonderful, indeed, is the instinct of love!
Scarcely had they turned into the wooded way than they espied smoke stealing up through the trees.
"There must be some one over there," declared Bess, the first to make the discovery. "See! Yes, there is a flag!"
"Oh, maybe they are those dreadful Gypsies," murmured Belle. "Let us wait for Mr. Rand and the others."
"I am too anxious to see," objected her sister. "The rest are all within calling distance. See, there are the boys. Let us hurry into the side road. Whoever they are, they have had wagons up here."
It required careful driving to cover the pass, for the roadway was newly made, and by no means well-finished. Great stones continually rolled out from under the big, rubber wheels, and Bess was on the alert to use the emergency brake, although the road was somewhat up hill. She feared the motor would stop and that they might back down.
"See!" she exclaimed, "there are children! They must be Gypsy lads and lassies."
Over in a clump of evergreens could be seen some children, playing at a campfire. Yes, they might be Gypsies.
"Wait! wait," called Jack and Ed, who had now observed that the place was inhabited. "We will go in first."
"All right," called back Bess, a little sorry that she could not have had the glory of doing the investigating alone.
By this time most of the searching party had reached the spot.
"We will get out and walk over," suggested Jack, his voice trembling with anticipation.
It was growing dusk, and the smoke seemed to make the woods more uncanny, and the depths blacker and more dismal.
The children in the underbrush had climbed up into the low trees to get a view of the automobiles.
Jack, Ed and Walter were making their way through the brush to reach the spot whence the smoke was coming.
Mr. Rand and his men were hurrying over from the cross road.
"Go slow!" he called, with the disregard of speech that makes a saying stronger.
"All right," answered Jack. "We'll take it carefully."
"It's a camp!" exclaimed Walter, "and Gypsies, I'll wager."
"Oh, I am so frightened!" cried Belle. "Yet I would brave them alone for the sake of dear, darling Cora."
"Of course you would," Betty assured her, as she picked herself up from a fall over some hidden root.
Dr. Robbins had secured a stout stick, and she made her way with more care over the uncertain footing.
"There's a family of them, at any rate," remarked Jack, as he neared the open spot, where now could be seen a hut.
A rough-looking man was waiting to see what they wanted. He smoked a pipe, wore heavy shoes and clothing.
Mr. Rand spoke first.
"Good afternoon, stranger," he said in a pleasant voice.
The man touched his hat and replied with an indistinguishable murmur.
"Camping?" went on Mr. Rand, scarcely knowing how to get into conversation.
"Sort of," replied the man shortly.
"Might we intrude for a little water?" continued the old gentleman."The girls had a dusty ride."
"Certainly," replied the woodsman, motioning toward a pail and dipper on a bench in front of the hut.
"Hard to get at," whispered Jack to Walter, "but he doesn't look so bad."
"No, I rather think he is not the man we want," agreed the other young man.
"Stay here all year?" asked Ed, as he handed the brimming tin dipper toBess, and turned to the stranger.
"Pretty much," spoke the man with the pipe. "But is there anything wrong? Anything I could do for you?"
This caused the whole party to surmise that he must have heard that "something" was wrong. That looked suspicious.
A woman emerged from the hut. She was not altogether untidy, but of course showed that she lived far from civilization. She bowed to the party, then called to the children in the woods.
"Well," said Mr. Rand finally, "we are looking for somebody. You haven't happened to hear or to have seen anything of a young girl in these parts, a girl—who might have gotten lost in the woods; have you?"
"I have heard that a girl was lost," replied the man. "But I'm one of the forest rangers and I keep pretty close to my post at this time of the season, watching for fires. There are so many young folks camping and reckless with matches. Is there no trace of her? The missing girl from the hotel, is the one you mean, isn't it?"
Then he was not a gypsy! The forest ranger!
"No, I am sorry to say we have not yet discovered her," went on Mr. Rand. "But you being here in the very depths of the woods would likely know of any gypsy camps about, I believe."
"There are no camps in the woods this year," the man assured him. "We have kept them out of this particular clearing by law. There are a lot of them scattered about in the mountains, but as far as I could find there is no camp deep in the woods. You see every summer someone gets lost in these woods, and we don't like the gypsies to have the first chance of finding them. But sit down," and he cleared the bench of the water pail. "You must have had a weary search."
Everyone sighed. They were still without a possible clew.
"We will rest for a minute or two," said Mr. Rand, "but we must still cover a lot of road tonight. We are out to find her if she is on the White Mountains."
And so after some conversation and advice from the forest ranger the searching party again pressed on.
"I am not the least bit afraid; in fact, I think I shall just sing to show them I feel secure," and Cora snatched up the guitar. She fingered it tenderly, then let it rest for a moment in her arms. "Did Lena say it was all right?"
"The dogs are drugged. I didn't have the heart to kill the brutes, ugly as they are. They will not awaken."
"Good! Then everything else will be all right. Oh, Helka, can you imagine we are so near freedom?"
"I never was frightened before. Whether it is the thought of meeting David, or whether it is the thought of leaving them all, I cannot say, but I am shaking from head to foot," said the queen.
"That is natural. You have been with them almost all your life. But I shall show you what real life is. This is slavery."
Helka looked about her uneasily. "What shall we do first?"
"When it is very dark, and all are in bed, I will fasten the rope to the big nail that Lena fetched. Then I shall try it from this side, and if it holds me I will slip down. Then I shall run. When you no longer hear the leaves rustle, or if you can hear the whistle I will give you as a signal, then you must come."
"And if you go, and I cannot get out! Oh, Cora, I should die here alone now!"
"Faint heart! Be brave! Be strong! Say you will win!"
Cora was jubilant. To her it meant freedom! She had no fear of detection. All she thought of was success. To get away and then to send word to her dear ones!
Lena tapped on the door.
"Helka," she said, "could I, too, go?"
"You, Lena—why?"
"I will not be happy without Helka and without the good lady. I, too, would go away!"
Her eyes were sad, and her voice trembled.
"Why, Lena, they would search the earth for you—you are a real gypsy," said Helka.
"But I have no mother, no father, and what right have they to me? In the world I could learn, I would work for you, I would be your slave!"
The poor girl was almost in tears. Her manner pleaded her cause more eloquently than could any words.
"How would you go?" asked the queen.
"When I go out to lock the barn, I would just run, and run through the woods. I would wait for you at the big oak."
"Where is Sam?" asked Helka.
"He went out with the wagon this afternoon. He will not be back."
"And Mother Hull?"
"Smoking by the fire. She will sleep. I have put some powder in her tobacco."
Cora murmured a protest.
"Oh, she likes it," and the queen smiled. "Tonight it will be a treat.But the men—the guards?"
"One went to gamble his money that you gave him; the other is out with his fishing pole. I have fixed it all."
"Good girl. You told him I wanted fish for breakfast, and you told the other he could spend his money at the inn. Lena, I wish youcouldcome with us."
"Iamgoing. I will not stay here."
"But in the morning, when they find three gone—what then?"
"In the morning," said Cora, "it does not matter what. We shall be safe some place. Yes, Lena, we will take you. This is no life for any girl."
Lena fell on her knees and kissed Cora's hands wildly. She had befriended Cora ever since she saw her lying so still and white in that awful wagon, and now she might get her reward.
"You will come up with tea when everything is safe," said Helka. "That will be our signal."
Lena went away with a smile on her thin lips. True, she was a real gypsy girl, but she longed for another life, and felt keenly the injustice of that to which she was enslaved.
"Then I will sing," said Cora. "See, the stars are coming out. The night will help us. I have marked every turn in the path. I pretended to be moving the stones from the grass, and I was placing them where I could feel them—in the dark."
"You are a wonderful girl, Cora, and your world must also be wonderful. I have no fear of its strange ways—but my money? How shall I ever be able to get that?"
"Never fear about the money," replied Cora cheerily. "What is rightfully yours you will get. My friends are always the friends of justice."
"And they will not fear the tribe?"
"The tribe will fear them. Wait and see. Now, what shall I sing—the'Gypsy's Warning?'"
"Yes," and Helka lay back on her low divan.
Again Cora fingered the guitar. Daintily her fingers awoke the chords. Then she sang, first low, then fuller and fuller until her voice rang out in the night.
"Trust him not, oh, gentle lady,Though his voice be low and sweet,For he only seeks to win you,Then to crush you at his feet!"
At each stanza Cora seemed to gain new power in her voice. Helka raised herself on her arm. She was enchanted. The last line had not died on Cora's lips when Helka repeated:
"Yes, I am the gypsy's only child!"
The remark was rather a plaint, and Cora came over very close to Helka.
"You must teach me a new song," she said. "I want one to surprise my friends with."
"Then you are so sure of reaching them?"
"Positive. All America will seem small to me when I am free," and she patted the hand of the queen.
"Free!" repeated the other. "I had never thought this captivity until you came; then I felt the power of a civilized world, and I felt the bondage of this."
The girls were speaking in subdued tones. A single word might betray them if overheard. Yet they were too nervous to remain silent, and Helka seemed so impressed, so agitated, at the thought of leaving, forever, her strange life.
"Do you think it is safe about Lena?" she asked. "I would not like to get that faithful child into trouble."
"It would be much safer to take her than to leave her here," Cora reasoned, "for when they found us gone they would surely blame her."
"Yes, that is so. Well, I have never prayed, that has always seemed a weak sort of way to struggle," said the queen, "but it seems to me now that I must seek strength from some One more powerful than those of earth. Theremustbe such a power."
"Indeed there is," replied Cora. "But now let us be happy. See the stars, how they glitter," and she turned back the drapery from the window. "And see, we shall have a great, big, bright moon to show us our way."
"Hush!" whispered Helka. "I heard a step. Listen!"
Neither spoke for some moments. Then Cora said:
"It was someone in the hall, but the person has gone down the stairs."
"I wonder who it could be? Lena would come in."
"Perhaps that little, frowsy Christine. She seems to stay out of nights. I heard her last night when you were sleeping. I really think she came in very late, crept upstairs, and then I am sure she tried this door."
"She did! Why did you not call me?"
"Well, I was positive it was she, and I did not want to make trouble.You see she has been listening again."
"She belongs to another tribe and has only come here lately," said Helka. "I have always suspected she was sent to spy on me. If it were not just to-night—this very night—I would call her to an account."
"If the child is under orders," intervened Cora, "you can scarcely trust her to do otherwise than spy. But what do they want to know about you that they cannot readily find out?"
"You could scarcely understand it dear. We have rival tribes, and they each want me—or my money."
"There is another step! There seems to be so many noises to-night."
"Perhaps that is only because we are listening."
"We want to listen, and we want to hear," and Cora put her ear to the keyhole.
"Are they gone?"
Cora did not answer at once. Then she turned to Helka.
"I am sure I heard two voices. Should we call? Or ask who is there?"
"No, it will be better to take our chances. It would be awful to be disappointed now," said the queen in a whisper.
"Surely Lena would not have betrayed us?"
"Never. She is as faithful as—my right hand."
"Of course! But I cannot help being afraid of everything. Helka, we should take some refreshment. That will give us courage."
"I hope Lena will soon fetch the tea," and the queen sighed. "This suspense is dreadful."
"But it will pay us in the end. If we made a mistake now——"
Cora stopped.
A tap came at the door, at which both girls fairly jumped.
"I will answer," said Helka, immediately regaining her composure. She opened the door.
"I forgot my lesson book in your room to-day," said a voice that proved to be that of Christine, "and may I get it?"
"Not to-night," answered Helka decisively. "You should not forget things, and it is too late for lessons."
"But the man—Jensen—says I must get it. He is my teacher, and he is below."
"Tell him Helka says you must go to bed: to bed, do you hear? At once!I will have Lena see how you obey me."
The girl turned away. Helka locked the door.
"What does that mean?" asked Cora anxiously.
"They are watching us. We must be very cautious. But she is only a timid child and she will go to bed. I do wonder what is keeping Lena?"
"If they should keep her down stairs all night, then could we not venture to leave?" asked Cora.
"I don't know. They might suspect, and they might keep Lena. You take up the guitar and I will ring."
Cora obeyed. How her hands trembled! To be found out would almost mean death to both of them.
Helka pulled the cord that rang the hall bell. Then they waited, but there was no answer. She pulled it again, and after a few minutes she heard the familiar step of Lena.
She opened the door before the Gypsy girl had a chance to knock.
A wild gesture of the girl's hands told Helka not to speak. Then she entered the room.
"They are watching," she whispered, and without waiting for a reply she darted out into the hall again and crept down the stairs.
"Can't we——"
"Hush!" cautioned the queen as she pressed Cora's hands to bid her keep up her courage.
It seemed hours. Would the trees never stop rustling, and would the steps below never cease their shuffling?
"I have said that this was to be my night of music," whispered Helka."The night of the full moon always is. So we must have music!"
A long line of automobiles had rumbled along the narrow road. Not a horn sounded, not one of the cars gave any warning. It was night in the White Mountains, and besides the party from the Tip-Top, who had been searching from late that afternoon, there were also, on Mr. Rand's orders, two officers in a runabout.
"Which way?" called the boys from their car. "Sounds like water!"
"Oh, mercy!" exclaimed Bess, who was quite near. "Don't let us run over a falls!"
"No danger!" came back from the Rand car. "That water is half a mile away."
"This is rather unsafe for the girls, though," said Jack to Ed. "I wonder if they don't want to change cars?"
"I have just asked Bess and Betty," replied Ed, "and they would not hear of it. Strange that such timid girls can be so plucky on occasions."
"They're game all right," observed Jack. "I almost feel, now that we are out in the woods, that Cora is along. It is tough to think anything else."
"Perhaps she is. I never felt as encouraged as I do to-night," declared Ed. "Somehow we started out to win and we've got to do it!"
Now, the one great difficulty of this searching tour was that of not sounding the horns, consequently they had to feel their way, as on almost any part of the mountain roads there might be stray cottagers, or campers, or rustics, in danger of being run down.
The lights flashed brightly as if trying to do their part in the search for Cora Kimball.
Giant trees threw formidable shadows, and smaller ones whispered the secrets of the wood. But the girls and boys, and the women and men were too seriously bent upon their work to notice any signs so unimportant.
Suddenly Jack turned off his power. He wanted to listen.
"Did you hear anything?" asked Ed.
"Thought I did, but these evergreens make all sorts of noises."
"The others are making for the hill. We had best not lose sight of them," suggested Ed.
At this Jack started up again and was soon under way. But something had sounded "human." He felt that there must be some sort of life near them.
In a few minutes he was alongside the other cars.
"What kept you?" asked Bess, eager for anything new.
"Nothing," replied Ed. "We just wanted to listen."
"We will leave the cars here and walk. I thought I saw a light," saidJack.
"I am sure I did," declared Bess. "Oh, If only we find a cave, there are enough of us——"
"The young ladies should not venture too deep in the woods," suggestedOfficer Brown. "We had best leave them with one of the young men here."
"Oh, no," objected Belle. "We must go with you. We are better in a crowd."
"Just as you say. But look! Is not that a light?"
They were almost in front of the old house. Cora and Helka were tying the rope to the open window.
"Sing! Sing!" whispered Lena, at the door. "Mother Hull is listening."
Quickly Cora picked up the instrument again, and, although voice and hands trembled, she sang once more the last verse of the "Gypsy's Warning," while Helka played her little harp.
"Hark! Hark!" shrieked Bess. "That is Cora's voice! Listen!"
Spellbound they stood.
"Yes," shouted Belle. "That's Cora!"
"Oh, quick," gasped Betty, "she may stop, and then——"
A rustle in the bushes close by startled them. A man groped his way out.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"Oh, Leland!"
It was Miss Robbins who uttered the words. She made her way up to the stranger, and while the others stood dumfounded she threw herself in the stranger's arms.
"You, Regina? Here?"
"Yes, is this the Hemlock Bend? Oh, to think that we have found you!"
"But I must go! That was her harp. That was Lillian—somewhere in that thick woods!"
"And the voice was Cora's," interrupted Jack. "Where can she be—to sing, and to sing like that?"
The detectives with Mr. Rand were pressing on. They soon emerged from the thicket and saw the old mansion.
"That is the Bradly place," said Officer Brown. "Only an old woman and a couple of girls live there. That is no place for one to be kidnapped."
"No matter who is there," declared Bess, "I heard Cora sing, and that is Cora's song, 'The Gypsy's Warning.'"
"And I heard Lillian play," declared Dr. Robbins' brother. "I have promised to rescue her to-night."
"And that is why you came?" asked his sister.
"Yes, she is there, in a gypsy den!"
"Is SHE asleep?" asked Cora, as Lena poked her head in the door again.
"Yes, and she will not wake. You may go!"
"One more little song," begged Helka. "I may never play my lute again."
"Why, Lena could bring it," suggested Cora. "It is not much to carry; and your box, I will take that."
Helka ran her fingers over the strings.
"Sing," she said, and Cora sang.
"His voice is calling sweet and low!'Babbette! Pierro!'He rows across, he takes her hand,And then they sail away!"
"Yes," interrupted Helka, "he will come, and he will take my hand. Let us go!"
"There! There!" screamed Bess. "That was Cora's voice!"
"And that was Lillian's lute! Did I not give it to her?" insisted the strange young man, Leland.
"Then our lost ones are together," said Jack. "I am going!"
"Wait! Wait!" begged the detectives. "The dogs in there would tear you to pieces!"
"They must eat my hot lead first," said Jack grimly, drawing his revolver.
"No, wait," implored Mr. Rand. "A false move now may spoil it all."
Every man, young and old, in the party took out his revolver and had it in readiness. Then, in a solid line, they deliberately walked up to the old house—through the path lined with boxwood over the little flower garden.
"Yes, there is a light. See it near the roof?"
The girls were almost on the heels of the men. They could not be induced to remain in the lane.
"What is that?"
"A woman's voice," said Officer Brown. "She is calling the dogs!"
But no dogs came. Instead, a girl, Lena, confronted them.
"What do you want?" she demanded rather rudely.
"You," said the younger officer—Graham by name—and as he spoke he seized her arm.
"I am only Lena. I have done nothing. Let me go. Help! help!" shrieked the girl.
This aroused the old woman. She flung open the door and stood with lantern in hand.
"Lena! Lena," she shrieked. "The dogs! Where are the dogs?"
But Lena did not answer.
"Sam! Jack! Tipo! Where are you all? What does this mean?"
The searchers stood for a moment considering what was best to do. As they did so something came dangling down—the rope from the window near the roof!
"Cora!"
She fell into the very arms of Bess.
Another moment and a second form slid down in that same mysterious way.
It was Helka! And Leland was there to grasp her.
"Lillian!" he murmured.
"Oh, David! Am I—are we safe!"
The door had slammed shut and the old woman was gone.
"Is this the girl we are after?" exclaimed the officer in astonishment.
"None other," declared Mr. Rand. "And I say, boys, just pick these girls up and carry them. That will be no task for you."
Cora was weeping on Jack's shoulder, Helka was folded in Leland's arms.To her he was David.
"What happened?" asked Betty.
"Don't leave Lena," begged Cora. "She must come with us!"
"Simply get everybody down on the road," suggested Mr. Rand, "then we may be able to tell Lena from Cora and all the rest."
How different it was going back over that path! How merrily the girls prattled, and how excited were the men!
It was Cora! Cora! Cora!
And it was Helka! My friend Helka!
Then Lillian. And David! Even Lena!
It was well the automobiles had a few spare seats, for there were now four new passengers to be taken back to the Tip-Top.
"Belle!" said Cora, when she could get her voice, "however did you venture out here?"
"Now, Cora," and Belle protested feebly, "I have been very ill, since you left; and you know I would have gone anywhere to help find you. Anywhere in the world!"
Cora kissed her fondly. Nothing and no one could resist teasing Belle.
"Of course you would! But who has Lena?"
"She is with the Rands," replied Bess, "but we claimed you. Oh, CoraKimball!"
As only girls know how to show affection, this sort was now fairly showered upon the rescued girl.
"It almost seemed worth while to have been lost," Cora managed to say.
"When shall we hear all about it?" asked Belle.
"Not to-night," objected the twin sister. "It is enough to know that we have Cora."
The automobiles were rumbling on. Every mile post took them farther from the gypsies, and nearer the hotel.
"Hey there!" called Mr. Rand. "You boys keep a tight hold!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" shouted back Walter. "Seems to me Mr. Rand is getting very gay," he remarked to Betty.
"He simply means," said the dutiful daughter, "that you must look carefully after the girls. They might be after us—the gypsies, I mean.
"Oh," said Walter, in that way that Walter had.
"However did it happen?" demanded Belle.
"Please let the child draw her breath," insisted Mr. Rand. "Remember, she has been kidnapped—a prisoner, a slave!"
"No, not that," objected Helka. "She was my guest."
"I knew we would find her," declared Betty, crowding up to Cora's chair.
"We didn't," contradicted Ed, "she found us. She simply——"
"Flopped down on us," finished Jack. "Cora, I never knew I loved you until I lost you."
"Oh, yes, you did, Jackie. You always made sugary speeches when—you wanted small change."
"And the dogs?" asked the detectives. "What happened to them?"
"We put them to sleep!" announced Cora, in the gravest possible tones."Do you know, we never could have done it but for Lena."
"Lena shall be rewarded," declared Walter.
"Wallie!" warned Jack.
"The newest girl!" whispered Belle.
"At any rate, no one can steal Helka," said Cora, glancing over at Lillian and David. "But how does he come to be Leland?" The question was aimed at Dr. Robbins.
"Oh, that boy! He must change everything—even his name, although it really is Leland David."
"David for strength, of course," said Cora. "Oh, I just must scream!Think of it! No more dogs! No more eating off the floor——"
She caught Helka's eye. "What is it, Cora?" asked the gypsy queen.Cora clasped her arms about her.
"Isn't she beautiful?" whispered Belle. "Did you ever see such a face?"
"Glorious," pronounced Betty.
"But say, Betty, did you notice how the daddy takes up with the doc?" said Ed. "I am dreadfully afraid of stepmothers."
"I'm not," said Betty, with a shrug of her pretty shoulders. "I rather like them."
"Had one on trial?" teased the boy.
"No, on probation," braved Betty.
"Then," said the officer, aside to Mr. Rand, "we shall raid the place!"
"Exactly, exactly! There may be more girls under the stoop or up the chimney. That place should not be allowed to stand."
"It was a great find," admitted the officer, "but I never would have been able to do anything if the young ladies had not recognized the voice. That place has been there for years. The Bradly house would have got past any of us."
"Yes, the girls helped," said Mr. Rand proudly. "I have a great regard for girls."
"You say silver was stolen from the seashore cottage? Likely it is in that place."
"Haven't the slightest doubt of it, and more, too, I'll wager. Now, boys"—to the officers—"you have done a good night's work. We're a happy family, and I don't want to keep you longer from yours." So, with promises to soon overhaul the old Bradly house, the men of the law departed.
"But why did you sing, Cora? How could you?" asked Ed.
"Oh, I knew I was soon going to be happy, and wanted to get used to it," said Cora, with a laugh.
"You haven't failed," said Dr. Robbins.
"Praise from you? No, thanks to my good friend, we had everything but liberty. Didn't we, Helka?"
"Oh, she's too busy. Let her alone," suggested Jack, his face radiant.
"And you have on my bracelet! Cora Kimball!" accused Betty.
"Another link in the endless chain," explained Cora vaguely. "That is a present from Gypsy Land."
"Suppose we eat," suggested the practical Mr. Rand. "I have cabledMrs. Kimball. She had not yet sailed."
"Oh, poor, darling mother!" exclaimed Cora, her eyes filling.
"Poor, darling—you," added Jack, not hesitating to kiss her openly.
"Next!" called Ed.
"Halves on that!" demanded Walter.
"Fenn!" shouted Cora, for, indeed, the boys threatened to carry out the game.
"Maybe you would like—a minister," suggested Mr. Rand mischievously, glancing at the undisturbed Helka and David.
"For a couple of jobs?" asked Walter, looking keenly at Mr. Rand and carrying the same look into Dr. Robbins' face.
"Well, I don't mind," replied the gentleman. "Betty is getting beyond my control."
But Lillian, the gypsy queen, was not in such a hurry to wed, even her princely David. She would have a correct trousseau, and have a great wedding, with all the motor girls as maids. Her fear of the clan was entirely dispelled, just as Cora said it would be when she breathed the refreshing air of American freedom.
"So you are the Motor Girls?" she asked, trying to comprehend it all.
"They call us that," said Bess.
Then the porter announced supper, and at the table were seated fifty guests—all to welcome back Cora and to sing the praises of the real, live, up-to-date motor girls.
There is little more to tell. A few days later the house where Cora had been held a prisoner was raided, but there was no one there; the place had been stripped, and of Mother Hull and the unscrupulous men not a trace remained.
But Tony Slavo was not so lucky. He was still in the clutches of the law, and there he remained for a long time, for he was convicted of the robbery of the Kimball cottage.
Cora arranged to have the gypsy girl, Lena, sent to a boarding school. As for Lillian, who resumed her real name, Mr. Rand engaged a lawyer for her, and most of the wealth left to her was recovered from another band of gypsies who had control of it. So there was a prospect of new happiness for her and Leland, who promised to give up his odd ways, at least for a time.
Cora soon recovered from the effects of her captivity and she formed a warm friendship for the former gypsy queen, even as did the other motor girls.
"Oh, but wasn't it exciting, though?" exclaimed Bess one afternoon, when, after leaving the Tip-Top Hotel they had resumed their tour through New England. "I shall never forget how I felt when I saw Cora coming down that rope from the window."
"Nor I, either," added Belle.
"I wonder——"
"Who's kissing her now?" interrupted Jack, with a laugh.
"Silly boy! I was going to say I wonder what will happen to us next vacation."
"Hard to tell," declared Ed.
"Let's arrange for us boys to get lost, and for the girls to find us," proposed Walter.
"Don't consider yourselves of such importance," said Hazel, but she blushed prettily.
"Oh, well, it's all in the game," declared Jack. "I feel in my bones that something will happen."
It did, and what it was will be told in the next volume of this series, to be entitled, "The Motor Girls on Cedar Lake; Or, The Hermit of Fern Island." In that we will meet with the young ladies and their friends again, and hear further of Cora's resourcefulness in times of danger.
The tour through New England came to an end one beautiful day, when, after a picnic at a popular mountain resort, our friends turned their cars homeward.
And so, as they are scudding along the pleasant roads, on which the dried leaves—early harbingers of autumn—were beginning to fall—we will take leave of the motor girls.