CHAPTER VII
ROBBED
Crack! Crack!
The girls started to a sitting posture and regarded each otherfearfully.
"What is it?" cried Mollie, her eyes big and round in the semi-dark."Betty, what are you doing?"
"That was a shot," responded Betty, her voice quivering withexcitement. "I've been listening for it all night. Who's coming--"
"Oh, dear!" wailed Amy. "I knew some one would get killed! It's worsethan some awful nightmare."
But Betty was already running from the room, with Mollie close at herheels. Reluctantly, Grace and Amy slipped on their robes and slippersand followed.
Betty almost ran into Mrs. Irving on the landing, and gasped anapology.
"Oh, dear, what do you suppose it is?" she panted, as they went ondown the stairs together. "If another of the boys is hurt--"
But at that moment the boys themselves came bursting in upon them,rumpled, sheepish and out of temper, to confront the excited girls inthe lower hall.
"What do you know about that?" cried Roy disgustedly. "If I'm not thebiggest fool that ever lived, I'll eat my hat."
"Far be it from me to stop you," growled Will. "He must have passednear enough to touch you, and you let him get away."
"Well, you needn't rub it in," retorted Roy, turning upon himsavagely, while the girls looked from one to the otheruncomprehendingly. "You ought to know I'm sore enough without havingyou find fault."
"Cut it out, fellows," Frank put in peaceably. "It wasn't anybody'sfault; just hard luck, that's all."
"But what?" Mollie interrupted impatiently. "What happened?"
"Well, you see it was like this," began Will, still in a bad temper."We fellows decided that our friend, Adolph Hensler, might have somemistaken longings for the code letter he dropped, and might follow usand try to steal it back. So we thought we'd set a trap for him bykeeping watch, turn and turn about, in such a position that hecouldn't possibly see us."
"Yes, and that's about all," Roy, speaking bitterly, took the storyaway from Will, "except that it was yours truly's turn at sentryduty, and he went to sleep, leaving Adolph a clear field."
"And did he really come back?" asked Betty, glancing apprehensivelyover her shoulder as though she was afraid the rascal might be closeat hand.
"Yes, he really did," said Roy, still bitterly. "And if I hadn'thappened to see him coming out of the window--"
"Out of the window!" echoed Grace, who, with Amy, had decided thatthe lower hall with company was more to be desired than a roomupstairs alone. "Oh, Roy, from this house?"
"Since this is the only one for three miles around, I suppose itwas," said Roy, with biting sarcasm.
"But he may have been in our room," cried Amy, beginning to shiveragain.
"Very likely," said Will grimly, while Mrs. Irving looked decidedlyworried. "The one good thing about the whole affair is, that hedidn't get the letter."
"Oh, bother the letter," cried Mollie, cross because she could notstop trembling. "I--I wish it were daylight. I never wanted to seethe sun so much."
"Well, it is, almost," said Frank, waving his hand toward the eastwhere a dim grey veil was replacing the blackness of night. "Adolphmust have been hanging around for some time, before he got the chancehe wanted."
"Before I went to sleep," put in Roy moodily.
"But didn't you follow him?" queried Betty, eagerly.
"Of course," said Will, "until he disappeared in the woods; and youmight just as well hunt for a needle in a haystack, as look for himthere. Besides, we wanted to see if you girls were all right."
"Well, we're not," said Grace dispiritedly. "We didn't have halfenough sleep, and now we've been scared to death for the second timein one night."
"Well," said Mrs. Irving, coming out of a brown study, and speakingdecidedly. "There's nothing to be gained by standing here. Probablynone of us will be able to sleep any more to-night, but we can atleast get dressed. Come, girls, we don't want to add sickness to ourproblems."
"This time we're all going to watch," Will called after them, as theystarted up the stairs. "If Adolph comes back again, he won't get awayso easily."
Slowly the girls reentered their room, and were relieved to find thatthe long night with all its weird suggestions and imaginings, wasreally over. Beds and dressers were distinctly visible in the faintgrey light that filtered into the room. Soon the sun would be up.
"Oh, I'm so tired," sighed Mollie, sinking down on the edge of herbed and gazing about her disconsolately. "I feel as if I ought to betremendously excited, but I'm too sleepy to care much aboutanything."
"Wait till the sun comes up," said Betty, recovering a little of herold cheeriness. "That makes everything look different. I wonder," sheadded, as if the thought had not been in her mind all the time, "howAllen is. The noise didn't even seem to disturb him. I think I'll askMrs. Irving if I can go--and--see----"
"Why, of course you can," said Mrs. Irving, who happened to bepassing the door at that particular minute, and looking in at hersmilingly. "I was just going to visit the patient myself; so if youhurry and get dressed, we can go together."
It is safe to say that Betty was fully dressed, to the last littlepattings and fluffings of her blue morning dress, before ten minuteswas up, and, with Mrs. Irving, was walking with rapidly beating heartdown the hall toward Allen's room.
The door had been left open in case he needed anything during thenight, and now his voice greeted them before they reached it.
"Hello," it called imperatively. "I want to know something."
"All right," said Mrs. Irving sunnily, pushing the door open andadvancing toward the patient, while Betty lingered a little in thebackground. "You're not the only one. How are you feeling thismorning?"
"All right--fine," he amended, as his eager eye caught sight ofBetty. "Never was feeling better in my life. Decidedly grateful forbeing allowed to live at all--when there are so many beautiful thingsto look at," this with so direct and ardent a gaze upon Betty, thatshe turned and looked out of the window, unwilling to let him seewhat her face must reveal.
Mrs. Irving laughed a little and began to adjust his pillowscarefully.
"We are going to have a doctor for you today," she announced, andAllen sat up in bed with a jerk.
"What for?" he demanded. "I don't need any doctor. I'm feeling allright now, and ten to one, he'd make me sick. They always do. Pleasedon't bring one of them in here."
"Don't make a fuss and get excited, please," Mrs. Irving cautionedhim gently, while her eyes dwelt with humorous sympathy upon Betty'sback. "I'm going down to prepare some breakfast, and perhaps Bettycan persuade you about the doctor."
Before either of them realized it, she was gone, leaving them alone.Still Betty forgot to turn round.
For several minutes, Allen lay and regarded her contentedly. Then hegave a mountainous sigh, and finally:
"What have I done?" he queried pathetically. "It's one of theprettiest backs I ever saw, but that's no reason why I should have tolook at it all the time. Besides, you seem to forget that I have asore shoulder."
Betty turned to him swiftly, half laughing and half grave.
"I never know when to believe you," she said, coming toward himslowly and moving a chair up to the edge of the bed. "You see, that'sthe worst of having a bad reputation."
"I haven't," he denied stoutly, feeling for her hand, which, however,persisted in evading his. "I've never said anything to you, BettyNelson, that wasn't true. If you'll give me your hand, my shoulderwill stop aching."
Betty laughed whimsically.
"And you said you never had told me anything that wasn't true," shereminded him.
"I repeat it," he answered doggedly, succeeding at last in findingher hand, and holding it tight. "Just being near you makes me sohappy, I haven't time to think of pain."
"D--did you hear all the noise just a little while ago?" stammeredBetty hastily. "You must have wondered what it was all about."
"I did
," he replied, still with his eyes on her face. "I started toget out of bed and see for myself, only I found I was kind of wabbly,and thought better of it. What--"
"Oh, Betty!" Mollie flung wide the door and burst in upon them."Excuse me, but I had to tell you. What do you suppose has happenednow?"
She sank down on the edge of the bed, and looked at themdespairingly.
"Well, what?" asked Betty impatiently. "Has anybody else been shotor--"
"Goodness, it's worse than that!" cried Mollie hysterically. "Youknow, we've never bothered to lock up our good things, because therenever seemed any danger at all of robbery on Pine Island--"
"Yes, yes," cried Betty, fairly wild with impatience. "I know allthat. Tell me, what happened?"
"Well," said Mollie, refusing to be hurried, "we thought of ourjewelry, looked for it--and it was----"
"Gone!" cried Betty, reading the answer in Mollie's face. "Oh,Mollie, my pin and my bracelet----"
"Yes, and my gold watch, and Grace's pearl lavalliere, and goodnessknows how many other things," Mollie finished, in the calmness ofdespair.
"And of course, it was that spy that did it!" cried Betty. "Now,we've got to catch him!"