CHAPTER XXVII
WALTER TO THE RESCUE
A familiar shout roused Nan, and she sat up, pushing the hair back fromher face, and instinctively straightened her dress. She picked up herhat, which had fallen off when she fell, and she pushed this down overher soft hair as she stumbled to her feet.
She answered the familiar hail, and in another moment she saw Walterrunning toward her, looking very anxious and upset. But when the youthsaw her face he stood still, staring at her stupidly.
"Why, Nan!" he cried, "what is it? You--why, you've been crying!"
"W-with rage," said Nan, a sob rising in her throat. "It's those men,Walter. They searched me! Oh, I'll never get over it--never!"
This time she broke down completely and Walter ran to her, putting aprotecting arm about her, glancing about him at the same time as if hehoped to see the men who had frightened her and wreak vengeance then andthere.
"Searched you! Who?" he demanded; then, before she could speak, headded as though answering his own question: "It was those men, Nan. Youtold me. Where are they? Quick! Which way did they go?"
But Nan only shook her head and clung to him a little as though shefound comfort in his being there.
"You couldn't catch them--they have had too much of a start," she said.Then, with a shudder of remembrance, she drew herself from Walter'sgrasp and looked at him wildly. "Walter!" she cried. "There are all ourbags in the auto--Mrs. Bragley's papers--and those--those--beasts aroundloose! Oh--oh----" Before she had finished she had started toward theroad on a run with Walter in close pursuit.
They met the rest of the anxious party on the way, but nothing less thanan earthquake could have stopped Nan then. She waved to them and Waltershouted something unintelligible as he raced past, and they had nothingelse to do but to follow the young lunatics--for that is what theycalled them.
When Mr. and Mrs. Mason and the girls arrived at the spot where they hadleft their car they found Walter and Nan sitting on the running boardand Nan holding something in her hand which she waved wildly at them.
"They're safe! They're safe!" she called, as Rhoda, Grace and Bess ranup to her and then stopped short at the disheveled picture she made.
"Why, Nan Sherwood!" began Bess, amazed, "what----"
"Why, Nan, you've been crying!" exclaimed Rhoda, running forward andputting a protecting arm about her friend.
"You needn't remind me of it," said Nan with a hysterical little sob. "Imay start again."
"But, Nan dear, something very dreadful must have happened to make youcry so," said Mrs. Mason gravely. "We have been worried about you."
Nan told them all about it, with little catches of her breath inbetween, while her listeners grew more and more agitated and Bess wantedto hire a dozen detectives immediately and give chase.
"So they gave you forty-eight hours, did they?" asked Mr. Mason, hismouth tightening in a grim line. "Well, I'll give them just twenty-fourhours before they land in jail. Come on, let us get back to the town. Iwant to set some wheels in motion."
"But let us look for the rascals ourselves first," pleaded Walter. "Theymay not have run off as far as you think."
"Well, it won't do any harm to take a look around," said Mr. Mason.
He and his son went back into the orange grove and there spent the bestpart of half an hour trying to get some trace of Nan's assailants. Theyfound some footprints and followed these, but presently the marks werelost in crossing a brook.
Some men working in the far end of the orange grove came up and wantedto know what was the matter.
"You ought to get some bloodhounds on their trail," said one when theyhad told their story. "Nothing like them dogs to trail a man."
"We haven't any bloodhounds and we haven't any time to get them,"replied Mr. Mason.
"We might offer a reward for their capture," suggested Walter.
"We'll do that--if the authorities cannot aid us," said his father.
"Those rascals ought to be hung, Dad."
"I wouldn't say hung, Walter. But they ought to be severely punished. Ifear they have scared Nan so she will not enjoy her visit to Florida."
"You had better take those papers, Dad."
"I think so myself. I can't understand why Nan kept them."
"Oh, some of the other girls thought she'd be afraid to keep them, andshe wanted to show them that she wasn't afraid. But now I guess she hadbetter give them up."
The search was continued for a while longer and then father and sonreturned to the others. Then all set out for town.
The girls plied Nan with questions on the way back, but she was too wornout with her terrible experience to answer them. The reaction was uponher, and all she wanted to do was crawl off in a corner somewhere andthink things out.
They found the only hotel in Sunny Slopes, and, under Mr. Mason's expertmanagement, were soon comfortably installed in a suite of rooms on thesecond floor.
"You must rest a bit, Nan," said Mrs. Mason kindly. "If you don't youmay get sick."
"Oh, I can't rest," declared the girl.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Mason made her lie down, and presently Nan droppedoff into a troubled doze. In the meanwhile Mr. Mason, followed byWalter, had raced off to interview the authorities.
When Nan opened her eyes she found the other girls impatiently waitingto speak to her.
"Goodness! I thought you were going to sleep forever," said Bess, as shesaw with relief that Nan's eyes were open. Rhoda, who had been movingaround in the other room, came to the door and peeped in.
"And here we've been waiting all this time to tell you the news," saidGrace plaintively.
"News! What news?" asked Nan, still heavy with sleep.
"Who do you suppose is here?" asked Bess, then went on eagerly withoutwaiting for an answer. "It's Linda, Nan. And she has Cora Courtney withher. We met them in the hall just now."
"I don't think Linda would have spoken to us, and I'm sure we weren'tgoing to," Grace took up the story, "but Cora stopped, and so Lindareally had to. I imagine they are none too friendly from the way theyacted to each other."
"It's strange we haven't seen Cora but once before if she has been withLinda all the time," Bess added excitedly, for this new development hadevidently quite driven Nan's trouble from her mind. "We've seen Lindainnumerable times."
"Probably Linda has been making more of a lady's maid of Cora thanusual," said Nan, putting a hand to her forehead, which was beginning tothrob dully. "And lady's maids aren't very often seen with theirmistresses, you know."
"But what I can't understand," said Rhoda thoughtfully from the doorway,"is why they didn't stay at Palm Beach. I should like to know what theyare doing here."
"Following me, probably," said Nan, sitting up in bed with a wry littlelaugh. "People seem to be getting in the habit!"
Nan dressed a little while after that and went downstairs for dinner,although her head was still aching painfully.
The attack in the orange grove and the rascals' threat to Nan had nowthoroughly aroused Mr. Mason, and he had been out all afternoon whileNan slept, making inquiries and setting wheels in motion.
For the short time he had been at work on the case he had made reallyremarkable strides. He had found out first of all, through an attorneyin Sunny Slopes, that Mrs. Bragley's papers were perfectly legal andthat she owned a sixth interest in the orange grove, which was worth alittle over thirty thousand dollars. This gave the widow five thousanddollars--a veritable fortune to the poor woman.
"I'll write to her to-night," Nan declared, even forgetting the ache inher head in her pleasure at the good news. "Mr. Mason, I think you arewonderful!"
"No, I'm not, my dear," Mr. Mason denied grimly. "If I had been I shouldhave landed those rascals who attacked you and that crooked Pacomb whoemployed them in jail before to-night."
"Pacomb!" repeated Nan breathlessly, while the others looked interested."Jacob Pacomb. Why, he's the man I told you about who sold the propertyto Mrs. Bragley."
"You said he was crooked, Dad," said Walter with interest. "How do youknow?"
"I've made inquiries," said Mr. Mason significantly. "And I've found outthat people out here don't think very much of Mr. Jacob Pacomb and hisbusiness methods. I haven't the slightest doubt in the world," he addedearnestly, "but what Pacomb has been behind all these attempts to getthe papers from you, Nan."
"Can't you arrest him?" Grace asked breathlessly. "Of course you can!"
"I can as soon as I prove that he's a thief," her father answered.
Bess, Grace and Rhoda slept well that night, for they were tired outwith excitement, but Nan scarcely closed her eyes. Again and again theincidents of the day came vividly back to her and she would start upnervously at the slightest sound.
When morning came she was white and big-eyed, and the girls were shockedwhen they saw her.
"For goodness' sake, Nan Sherwood," Bess scolded, all the time hoveringanxiously over her, "I always said that that old woman's horrible paperswould be the death of you, and from the way you look this morning Iguess I'm a good prophet. Here we come to Florida for a good time, andlook what we get!"
"You do look all worn out, honey," said Rhoda, putting an arm about herchum. "Come down on the porch for a little while in the sunshine. Itwill do you good."
"I'm all right," protested Nan. "I just have a little headache, that'sall."
"And no wonder, after all those old papers have made you go through,"grumbled Bess, as she followed the girls out into the hall. "I'm onlysurprised that we are not all dead by this time."
"Now all that we need to make us completely happy," chuckled Nan,recovering a little of her old spirits, "is to meet dear Linda. Shealways has such a pleasant effect upon people."
"Oh, we'll meet her all right, don't worry," said Bess gloomily. "Shealways turns up when she is least wanted."
After breakfast, Walter, shocked and worried as were all the rest overNan's appearance, suggested that he take her and the other girls, ifthey wanted to go, for a little ride in the automobile.
Bess refused on the ground that she had to write some letters, but theother three said they would go. Mr. Mason had taken charge of Mrs.Bragley's papers, so that there was that much less for Nan to worryabout. She was thankful for this, as she rather listlessly climbed intothe back seat with Grace and Rhoda.
"Let's go, Walter," she said, as she sank back luxuriously into hercorner. "And I don't very much care if we never get back."
Meanwhile, Bess was having an adventure all by herself. She went up toher room after the girls left and dutifully wrote two letters, one toher father and one to her mother.
Then, having had enough of duty for the present, she yawned andstretched and wondered when Walter and the girls were coming back--orwhether they intended to stay all day.
Then an impish sprite of mischief whispered in her ear and her eyesdanced merrily. On that chance meeting with Cora and Linda in the hallCora had told her and Grace that they were staying in a suite of roomson the third floor, and had asked them to come to see her and Linda.
And now, to while away the time till the girls' return, Bess proposed totake advantage of Cora's invitation and call upon her--and Linda.
She slipped along the hall, ran up the stairs to save waiting for theelevator, and finally found the door, the number of which Cora had givenher some time before.
She heard voices raised in altercation within, and paused beforeknocking. Then she heard Nan's name spoken in Linda's unpleasant tones,and, quite unintentionally, she stood a moment playing eavesdropper.
"I tell you, she is a thief!" Linda was saying, in a voice that showedshe was in one of her frequent rages. "Nan Sherwood has been actingfunny ever since she came to Palm Beach, and that's why I've followedher here to see what she is up to."
"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Cora shot back, and Bess was curiouslyreminded of the turning worm. "I don't believe Nan Sherwood is anythief. I think she's a mighty nice girl. And every time I think of themean trick you played on her, and how you nearly wrecked the school aswell----"
Bess drew in a sharp breath and immediately came to her senses. Sheknocked loudly on the door, but the raised voices of the girls withindrowned the sound.
Linda had turned on Cora in a fury.
"You take that back," she shrilled. "If you dare tell anybody about mywrecking that steam plant----"
But Bess, unable to contain herself another moment, tried the knob, feltthe door yield, and burst in upon the astonished girls.
"Oh!" she cried triumphantly, "I knew I couldn't be wrong! It was you,Linda, after all!"