The Girl Scouts at Rocky Ledge Part 9

Velvets and ribbons brushed cobwebs and dust, as she slumped down, down----!

Of all her life's dreams what she dreamed when she breathed again seemed the strangest. But it was all broken up like pieces of stars mashed into flashes of dazzling light, and there was no more head nor tail to it.

All she could think of was how tired she was, and she knew she just had to sleep.

If spiders had any talent for observing, those in that cubby hole would have had a wonderful story to tell to the crawling things in roof and rafters, but even they did not so much as try, with a web, to arouse the half-conscious child, and one lacy net was so near Nora's face her gasps of breath swayed and rocked the baby spider in its cradle.

So there she was asleep now, and glad not to know!

Downstairs supper had been prepared and everyone was waiting for Nora.

Who had seen her? Where had she spent the afternoon?

"Vita," said Jerry sharply, "you know you were not to let the child go off these grounds alone."

"I no see her, never. She no come out from the house," protested the frightened Vita.

"Well, we have got to search," decided Ted, her bronzed face plainly showing alarm, and her brown eyes blinking with unnamed fears.

"Where has Cap been?" again demanded Jerry. "He should have been with her."

"He went with the Scouts; they asked for him, and of course, I let him go as usual. I did not know Nora was going out, in fact, I thought she was going to write to her school mates," replied Ted. "But don't let us waste time. I'll take the north way, Vita you go by the Ledge, and Jerry, I suppose you will jump on a horse and scout every way."

"Yes, I'll take Cap and send him on ahead." All the laugh was gone from Jerry's voice now. How quickly the cloud of Anxiety can darken the brightest home?

More than an hour later all three searchers returned to the Nest and admitted they could not find Nora.

"She couldn't be in the house, could she?" asked Ted, disconsolately.

"We looked hastily, but it was best to do all the outdoor looking first," replied Jerry. "Do you suppose she went to visit anyone? Did she make friends with Alma and Wyn, our pet Scouts?"

"I wish she had. There's that about the Scouts, they go in groups,"

answered Ted, with feeling. "Let us look over the house more carefully.

But why should she hide?" A loud bark from Cap answered that question.

"Here! Cap knows where she is. Let him find her," exclaimed Jerry, joyfully.

"It's at the kitchen door," added Ted, hurrying in that direction.

"Quick, open the door, Vita!" commanded Jerry, while the dog barked wildly.

Vita put a trembling hand on the door that led to the back stairs and opened into the kitchen. No sooner had she done so than Cap bounded past her, and the next moment the big dog and the forlorn little prince tumbled into the room.

"Nora!" exclaimed both Jerry and Ted.

"It isn't! It can't be!" faltered the surprised maid. "This is boy----"

"Boy nothing!" almost shouted Jerry, so glad to see Nora in any guise that her strange costume interested him not at all.

"The poor little darling," cried Ted, gathering the black velvet form up into her arms. "What ever happened to you, dear?"

Nora brushed a dusty hand over her blinking eyes. "Oh, I am so glad I am saved. I thought I would surely die."

"Up attic. Why baby! No one could die in our attic. Cap knew you were up there and if you had not tumbled down just when you did he would have gone through the wall to find you, wouldn't you, old fellow?" Jerry asked fondly.

The Saint Bernard was in his native element at the rescue work, and he licked Nora's hand contentedly. Ted had gathered the child up into her arms and Vita was already busy getting a refres.h.i.+ng drink. Jerry, manlike, just looked on, happy beyond words, for in the bad hour previous he was a prey to keen anxiety, and during the process made up his mind in the future to keep Nora closer to the family circle at all times.

Nora had not yet come to the point of talking. Her swoon and its consequent haziness left her in a daze, and with the mother-like arms about her, and the breath of Cap reviving her, and Cousin Jerry's big soft eyes encouraging her, the relief from her fright was slowly creeping over her and it was so delicious she had no idea of dispelling it with mere words.

"I know," said Teddie softly, "you were playing parts, dressing up in the duds from the big chest."

"Did you go to sleep in the trunk?" ventured Jerry, slyly.

"No, I don't know just where I was--I was----" faltered Nora, now beginning to feel a little foolish in her boy's outfit.

"She went up wrong stairs and I guess, maybe, she got lost in the big open attic," Vita volunteered, apparently anxious to forestall further questions.

"No, it was not opened. It was shut tight--very tight," snapped Nora.

She resented Vita's explanation. Somehow she felt Vita was to blame.

"Then you must have struck the spook closet," said Jerry, his old happy tones ringing through the small kitchen. "Say Ted, let's get into the other room. Can you walk, Bobbs, or shall big Cousin Jerry carry you?"

"Oh, I can walk all right," replied Nora, slipping to the floor from Teddie's lap. "But I was so stiff and cramped and--I guess I must have fainted."

"You must have been up there all the time we were hunting for you, and the attic is always hot," added Ted. "I never thought of looking there."

"But Cap did. He knew where you were the moment he came in the house,"

said Jerry proudly. "I tell you, Cap is a regular life-saver. He will have to get another medal for this; even if he didn't drag you out of the spook cabinet, he did tumble in the kitchen with you."

Both Jerry and Ted were too considerate to show surprise at Nora's appearance, but Vita could not or did not attempt to hide her astonishment.

"Guess she thinks the fairies had you," said Jerry softly, when Vita stood in the doorway, her hands on her capable hips and her mouth wide open in a gasp of surprise. But Nora had an uncertain feeling that Vita, as sole tenant of the back stairway, should have made better arrangements than to have a door that would spring shut like that, right at the very top of the dark place.

It was at this point a mistake was made. Nora did not express herself and Vita had no idea of explaining. Mr. and Mrs. Jerry were supposed to know all about the Nest, but did they! In the excitement of finding Nora, the actual hiding place was not being considered.

Quickly as the little girl recovered her self-possession and took part in the conversation, everyone enjoyed a good hearty laugh, naturally led by Jerry.

"What special kind of prince were you, Bobbs?" he asked jovially. "I did not know they hid in dark attics."

"Oh, yes they did," contradicted Ted. "Don't you remember the princes in the tower?"

"I don't, but it doesn't matter. They must have been in a tower or you would not have included the fact in your college course," replied Jerry, always ready to tease on that score. Whenever Ted found a new specimen in the woods, or questioned about a strange bird, he would invariably ascribe the matter to "her college course."

Nora was anxious to get out of the ill-fated costume. She wanted to run upstairs and change, now that her knees had stopped shaking, but Ted insisted she take her supper just as she was, and readily made a merry time out of the near catastrophe. Again Nora missed the point--no sense of humor was a sad lack in so active a girl.

Cap regarded her with an eye almost twinkling. Did he know the attic secret that she had been unable even to realize was a secret?

"Your clothes fit pretty well," said Jerry, "but I think I like you best in your Little Girl Blue dress. Guess, after all, girls really shouldn't wear----"