"Only what, Mr. Haley?" asked Aunt 'Mira.

"They shouldn't be there alone. Somebody should be with them," said the schoolmaster desperately.

"Ain't that the trewth?" cried Aunt 'Mira. "I wish I was with 'em myself. I read in the _Fireside Fav'rite_ that 'tain't considered a proper caper, anyway, for a young gal to go anywhere much alone without a chaperon."

At this moment there came a rap upon the side porch door. Aunt 'Mira rose to respond, and as she went into the little boxlike hall she failed to quite close the sitting room door. Therefore the trio left behind heard plainly the following dialogue:

"Miz' Scattergood! I declare, how fl.u.s.tered you look. Come in--do."

"No wonder I'm fl.u.s.tered. I--I---- No, I won't come no farther than the hall, Miz' Day. I'll tell ye here."

"Oh! what is it?" gasped Aunt 'Mira. "Nothin's happened to 'Rill?"

"That's jest what it is. Oh, Miz' Day, I'm an ol' fool!"

The fact that Mrs. Scattergood was frankly weeping was what held the trio of men in the sitting room silent.

"What you done now?" demanded Aunt 'Mira with a grimness that seemed to point to her special knowledge of her visitor's foolishness on previous occasions. "I told her the trewth----"

"My soul an' body, Miz' Scattergood, the trewth in your hands is jest as dangerous as a loaded gun. What did you tell her?"

"'Bout Janice. Hopewell had been keeping it from her--that Janice had gone away, ye know. Gone away to Mexico, I mean. And when I told her it scart her so---- I come right over for you, Miz' Day. You're sech a master-hand when a body's sick."

"Dr. Poole been there?"

"Yes. An' he's afeard----"

"You wait jest a minute," said Mrs. Day. "I'll put on somethin' an' go with ye. But 'tis my opinion, Sarah Scattergood, that you oughter wear a muzzle!"

The heavy woman bustled about for her things without saying a word to her husband and the young men until she was ready for departure.

"I'm going over to Hopewell Drugg's, Jase. You'll hafter git along as best you kin till I come back. There's bread in the breadbox an' a whole jar of doughnuts. Be sure an' keep the b.u.t.t'ry door shut and put out the cat. There's suet tryin' out in the oven--don't fergit it when ye make the fire in the mornin'. Maybe I'll be back by mornin'; but Rill's took a bad turn an' I sh.e.l.l stay if I'm needed. Goo' night, Mr. Haley. Goo'

night, Mr. Bowman."

She went out, following the birdlike Mrs. Scattergood. Soon after Nelson and Frank strolled down Hillside Avenue together. Frank had been as silent as the schoolmaster for some time. At last he said:

"When will you start?"

Nelson jumped. His face flushed and then paled and he stared with darkening eyes into his companion's countenance.

"You--you're a mind reader," he said at last, trying to laugh.

"I only know what _I'd_ do if I were in your shoes," the civil engineer said. "I know how you feel. I couldn't bear it as well as you have if my---- Well, if anybody belonging to me as Janice does to you, Haley, were taking such a trip."

Nelson groaned. "I don't know what to do. The School Committee will raise a row----"

"Let 'em," Frank said briskly. "You're making it harder for yourself to go by thinking of your duties here. Cut loose! If you went to the hospital with a broken leg they'd have to get along without you. This is a whole lot more important than a broken leg."

"You're right!" groaned Nelson, who felt himself roweled by circ.u.mstances. "I must go."

"When?"

"It will have to be after the bank opens to-morrow."

"You'll go from Middletown, then? I'll see if I can get you transportation for part of the way to Chicago at least. You're a member of my family," and Frank grinned.

"That's awfully good of you," responded Nelson.

"And say!"

"What is it?" asked the schoolmaster.

"How are you fixed financially? I can put my hands on a little more money. You see, I expect it is on some of my money that Marty got away."

"What do you mean?"

"I lent him most of the money I had about me," confessed Frank. "I didn't know what he wanted it for--the young rascal! But if you need more than you have handy----"

"Thanks ever so much, Bowman; but I've quite a little saved up now. I sha'n't need such help as _that_."

They parted on the corner and Nelson went home to Mrs. Beaseley's to write his resignation from the situation of princ.i.p.al of the Polktown school. He was very sure that to leave the school board in the lurch in this way, with less than twenty-four hours' notice, would terminate his engagement in this school for all time.

"But I must go after Janice--I _must_!" he thought, tossing wakefully in his bed. "I can wait no longer."

CHAPTER XXI

AT LA GUARDA

Janice and Marty, clinging together on the rough platform of Manuel's wagon for fear of falling off, saw very little of the country through which they traveled that evening. That the way was rough they knew, and that spa.r.s.e trees bordered it on either hand was likewise apparent even in the dusk. But they saw no habitations and no light save the distant stars.

The mules rattled on at a jog-trot, while Manuel beguiled the way with untranslatable songs in the vernacular. If Marty asked him a question about the way or the distance or the time, all Manuel said was:

"We reech there preety soon, _hombre_--alla right!"

By and by they did espy lights ahead. It was then almost midnight. A group of hors.e.m.e.n arose suddenly like shadows out of the mesquite and hailed the driver.

"_Viva Mejico!_" squalled Manuel before he could pull his mules to a standstill.

A sharp demand in Spanish made Janice cower in her place on the reach and cling more tightly to Marty's hand. They listened to Manuel chattering a reply in which was included Don Jose's name. In a moment they were driving on, undisturbed.

"That chief, huh! _he_ know the good Don Jose," Manuel said to his pa.s.sengers.

"Suppose he had _not_ known him?" drawled Marty in the semi-gloom.

They could see that Manuel shrugged his shoulders; but he made no other reply.