Part 35 (1/2)

”Then you came to Clover Cottage?” suggested Cora, smiling at the two girls.

”Yes, we came here the first night. After that we got work in the motion picture show.”

”And was it your nose I almost burned off?” asked Ed. ”I beg--your--pardon,” and he made a courtly bow to Nellie.

”Yes. That was a great trick,” said Rose. ”We almost killed ourselves trying to hide that night. We managed to walk right past you, though, without your knowing us.”

”And were you the 'carrier pigeon?'” asked Belle. ”It was you, of course, who came up in the automobile, played ghost, and hung the note on the lamp?”

”Oh, yes. The manager of the show wanted us to stay on, and we felt so dreadful that Nellie told him something about our trouble. Then he said he would drive us out to the cottage if we wanted to leave a message. He wrote the note for us, and Nellie crept in and hung it where she said you would be sure to see it.”

”We saw it, all right,” commented Jack, smiling broadly.

”And so they thought we took the old earrings,” spoke up Rose indignantly.

”Well, it did look bad,” said the detective, ”since you had thrown the case away.”

”As if we would steal!” snapped Nellie, her pretty eyes flas.h.i.+ng.

”When we saw that story in the newspaper we had to run away again,”

sighed Rose. ”Oh, it was dreadful!”

”But I was determined from the first that I would find you,” said Jack mischievously, ”and you see--I did.”

”No, I did!” burst out Andy.

”Hush there, boy! Didn't I find you?” asked Jack.

”Well, we are found, anyhow,” commented Nellie, ”and I don't want to be lost again. But who got the earrings?”

”Me for the jig!” shouted Andy. ”Now I come in. You see,” and he straightened up, and thrust his hands in his pockets as he always did when he had anything important to divulge, ”I gave the young lady the card. I gave her the tip about the cops. I piped off old lady Schenk and Ramsy, and say! You ought to see them tear around Chelton when they found everybody in the game had cleared out!”

Andy stopped to laugh. The others laughed without stopping.

”And then--golly! If me mother didn't do the old lady's wash again just because there was a strike at the patch. And--then----She finds the sparklers tied up tight in an old rag of a handkerchief!”

”Your mother found them!” all the girls present asked in accord.

”Sure thing!” replied Andy.

”And Andy knew enough to fetch them to me,” said the detective. ”That is how he came to get the hundred dollars reward!”

”Hundred dollars reward!” repeated Rose and Nellie.

”Don't I look it?” demanded Andy, swinging around to show off to advantage his new clothes.

”You look a couple of hundred,” replied Ed. ”Say, I'd like to get one like that.”

The reporter said something about not having a camera, but Andy did not hear the remark.

”And now,” resumed the detective, ”what are we to do with these young ladies? We have sufficient evidence to keep them away from Mrs. Ramsy.