CHAPTER XVIII GOOD NEWS TRAVELS FAST
A perfect delirium of happiness reigned at Kill Kare that morning. Frombeing an abode of deep gloom, it had suddenly been transformed into acorner of Paradise.
For Cora was back again! Here she was, a little trembly about the mouth,a little teary about the eyes, her hands and arms bearing the marks ofscratches where they had come in contact with thorns, her garments tornfrom pushing her way through the underbrush, but with no damage that awarm bath and a good breakfast and a long sleep would not repair.
They brought her in triumph into the house and seated her at thebreakfast table that they had just deserted, while Aunt Betty and themaid hurried about to prepare her something hot and comforting.
"I ought to go to my room first and freshen up and change my clothes,"the girl objected, her purely feminine instincts coming to the fore, nowthat she was once more in touch with civilization. "I must look a perfectfright."
"Just at this moment you are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen,"declared her brother fervently.
"That's what!" confirmed Walter. "We've been wanting to see you so badlythat now we can't bear to take our eyes off you."
"You're not going to get out of our sight again in a hurry," maintainedPaul.
As for Bess and Belle, their voices broke so when they tried to speakthat they had to content themselves with pats and hugs.
As for Aunt Betty, she went around hardly knowing, as she declared,whether she was awake or dreaming, while she laughed and cried at thesame time.
"Such a hideous nightmare as this has been!" ejaculated Jack, as hehugged his sister for the twentieth time.
"You must be nearly starved to death, you poor darling!" exclaimed Bess.
"Haven't you had anything to eat since yesterday noon?" asked Belle.
"Not enough to give me indigestion," laughed Cora--she could laugh now,though a few hours before she had thought she could never laugh again. "Asoup cube and a chocolate tablet can hardly be called overfeeding, thoughI did have a few blackberries to help out. But even at that I have someprovisions left," and she took the remaining soup cube out of her pocket.
Bess pounced upon it.
"One of the two I slipped into your pocket for a joke yesterday morning!"she exclaimed.
"It was a very lucky joke for me," smiled Cora. "I'm going to have thisone framed as a memento of my escape."
There was something more nourishing and abundant before her now, and shedid it full justice, while the others looked on happily.
Then, when she had partially satisfied her hunger, questions poured inupon her in a flood, and she had to narrate all the details of herexperience from the moment she had been beguiled by the shamming motherbird to the never-to-be-forgotten moment when she had heard the hummingof the aircraft motor in the sky.
"If help ever came from heaven it did that time!" she said tremulously,and they all agreed with her most fervently.
"And, oh, girls," she said to Bess and Belle, "if you only knew how Ifelt when she spoke, and, almost at the same moment, I saw those twobraids on the aviator's head and realized that I was talking to a woman!"
"We know," the girls assured her soothingly.
"She's a dandy!" exclaimed Jack emphatically.
"You bet she is!" declared Walter.
"She's as plucky as they make 'em," said Paul. "I only hope she beats therecord."
"I'd like to be there at Governor's Island to greet her when she comesdown," said Jack.
"Even if she puts the men in the shade by beating their time?" asked Bessmischievously.
"Even so," said Jack stoutly.
"Cora's got the start on all of us now," laughed Bess. "We're only motorgirls but now she's an aviator girl."
"Weren't you frightened just a tiny bit when you felt yourself going upin the air?" asked Belle.
"Not a bit," replied Cora. "Possibly I might have been if thecircumstances had been different. But I was so delighted to get away fromthose dreadful woods that nothing else mattered. I think I'd have riddenon a lion's back, if he'd promised to bring me home."
The girls took charge of Cora now, and although the boys remonstrated,she was borne away to her room to rest and bathe and change her clothes.
"And now," said Jack, drawing a long breath, "it's up to us to get busyand call off the searching parties. I suppose I ought to have done it themoment Cora landed, but for the life of me I couldn't tear myself away."
"You're excusable," laughed Walter. "But you stay right at home, old man,with your sister. Paul and I will get on the job and attend toeverything."
Jack protested, but they would take no denial. They jumped into the carand whizzed down to the sawmill.
They found the foreman and Baxter deep in consultation. The latter saw atonce from the boys' faces that they had good news, and hurried to meetthem.
"We've got her!" cried Walter.
"Safe and sound at Kill Kare," added Paul.
"You don't say!" exclaimed the foreman with a broad smile.
"Bully!" cried Baxter in great relief.
"Where did you find her?" asked the foreman.
"We didn't find her at all," grinned Paul. "She found us."
"Came back by the sky route," chuckled Walter.
Then, as they saw the mystified looks, they hastened to explain.
"That aeroplane!" exclaimed Baxter. "We were watching it fly over here alittle while ago."
"It was too far up for us to see that there were two in it," remarked theforeman. "Well, I guess Miss Kimball can claim that she's the only personthat has ever been brought out of the woods in any such way as that."
"And by a woman aviator, too," observed Baxter. "I've never had muchfaith in women taking up flying, but I'm glad now they have. It beats theDutch what the women are doing these days."
"They'll make us men take to cover if we don't watch out," laughedWalter. "But now we've got to hustle and call off the men who are beatingthe woods. We can't thank you folks enough for all you have done for us."
"We'd like to leave some money with you to pay the men for their troubleand time," added Paul.
"Not a cent," said the foreman decidedly. "Their wages go on just thesame, and they'd only feel hurt if you offered it. It's just a case ofcommon humanity, and they've all been glad to volunteer."
"Well, anyway," said Paul, "we'll have a big open air spread on the lawnat Kill Kare to celebrate Miss Kimball's safe return, and we want all thesawmill crew up there to the last man."
"That's different," grinned the foreman. "They'll all come to that. Butyou're taking a pretty big contract if you undertake to give a spread tomy lumberjacks."
"You can't frighten us," laughed Walter. "We'll fill them up to thechin."
Baxter undertook to telephone the news to all those whom he hadpreviously called upon for help, and the boys, leaving their car at themill, hastened to the rendezvous in the forest.
Joel was in charge, and a number of weary searchers who had draggedthemselves in were sitting about, munching sandwiches and drinkingcoffee.
The boys whooped out a yodel as soon as they came in sight, and wavedtheir hats.
The men jumped to their feet, and Joel came running out to meet thebearers of good news.
"Thank the good Lord!" he exclaimed, as he saw their jubilant faces. "Idon't need to ask what's happened. You've found 'er."
"We've got her," beamed Paul.
"An' wuzn't she hurt none?" asked Joel.
"Nothing but a few scratches."
The men crowded round with eager questions, and their delight wasunbounded, for none knew better than they what risks Cora had run inthose trackless woods.
One of the men volunteered to stay behind and notify the other searchersas they should come in, and then, with hearts light as thistledown, theboys and Joel retraced their steps to the mill, jumped into the car and"burned up" the road on the way to Kill Kare.
They had
gone perhaps half the distance when they saw a figure on theside of the road that somehow seemed familiar.
They slowed up a little as the man approached, and then Paul gave a lowwhistle.
"It's that old pirate that took the gypsy girl away from us the othermorning!" he ejaculated.
"So it is," replied Walter, as he took a closer look. "I wonder what theold rascal is doing around here."
"Up to no good, I'll be bound," remarked Joel, his old antipathy towardthe vagrant people asserting itself.
"I've a good mind to speak to him," said Paul, who was driving, as heslowed up a little.
"What's the use?" replied Walter. "You won't get anything out of him thathe doesn't want to tell you. And that'll be mighty little, or I miss myguess."
The gypsy had looked up as the car approached, and it was apparent thathe had recognized the boys, for the same scowl came over his face thatthey had seen on the first occasion of meeting.
"Hello, friend," said Paul, as the car stopped close beside the gypsy.
The man looked at him sullenly, but did not respond.
"Is your camp anywhere around here?" asked Walter.
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"No understand," he said blankly.
They tried again with the same result, and as there was evidently nochance of getting an answer, they drove on.
"If we'd promised to give him a five dollar bill, he'd have understoodall right," laughed Walter.
"I'll bet he's prospecting around to find a good location for the camp,"observed Paul.
"It's time then to put double locks on houses and barns," growled Joel."I'd hoped thet I'd never see hide nur hair uv them light-fingeredvarmints ag'in."