Part 33 (2/2)
”Go away! Go away! Don't touch me!” she gasped.
”Hush, Grace, you are safe,” answered Sam, gently.
”Oh, Sam! I forgot!” She struggled to her feet, he still supporting her.
”Did--did you find them? Did you bring them back?” she asked wildly.
”You mean Dora and Nellie?” asked d.i.c.k and Tom, in a breath.
”Yes! yes!”
”We don't know where they are. Tell us about it,” went on d.i.c.k.
”Oh, it's terrible!” cried Grace, and now the tears began to course down her cheeks. ”We got a note--at least Dora did--stating you had had a fall from the biplane and were hurt. The note was signed 'Tom,' and we of course thought Tom had sent it. It said to keep the matter quiet but to come without delay--down this road to the old white cottage. So the three of us started off as soon as we could. Dora was so afraid it was serious she ran nearly all the way, and Nellie and I ran, too. We had thought you were at the cottage, but when we got there we didn't see anybody. While we hunted around a big touring car, one of the kind with a closed coach top, dashed up. There was a man running the car and another man inside, a fellow who looked like a doctor. The driver asked if we were the girls who had come to see d.i.c.k Rover, the aviator, and we said yes. Then he said the car had been sent for us and for the doctor, and for us to get in and he would take us to d.i.c.k Rover at once. We got in, and then, before we knew it, the touring car was rus.h.i.+ng along the road at a great rate of speed. We asked the doctor about you, d.i.c.k, but he said he hadn't seen you yet. Then we asked the driver, but he acted so queer we began to get suspicious. Then, oh, wasn't it strange? Nellie saw a card on the floor of the car, and picked it up, and it was Josiah Crabtree's visiting card! She showed it to Dora and I, and Dora screamed, and wanted to leap out of the car. But the doctor--if he was a doctor--held her, and held Nellie, too. But I was too much for him. I don't know how I did it, but, just as we were rounding a curve rather slowly, I flung myself out of the door, and I landed in some bushes. I got scratched a little, as you can see, but I wasn't hurt, and I started to run back to the seminary and was doing that when I saw your flying machine. You know the rest.” And now Grace stopped, too exhausted to say another word.
”And the touring car went on?” queried d.i.c.k.
”Yes! yes! I saw the man shut the door, too. Oh, d.i.c.k, they have carried poor Nellie and Dora off, just as they carried Dora's mother off!”
”They kept to this road?”
”I believe so. I don't know of any cross road this side of Beechwood.”
”Then we'll get after them at once!” declared d.i.c.k. ”Sam, do you want to take Grace back, or come with us?”
”Well--I--er----”
”Go with them, Sam--they may need you!” broke in the girl quickly. ”I can go back alone, and I'll send word to the authorities, over the telephone. Hurry! hurry, or it will be too late!”
The boys needed no further urging. d.i.c.k and Tom ran for the flying machine, and soon the explosions of the motor filled the crisp autumn air. Then all the boys leaped on board. d.i.c.k was at the wheel, and he sent the _Dartaway_ along at a good rate of speed. Sam looked back, to see Grace hurrying in the direction of Hope Seminary.
”I hope she gets back safely,” he said anxiously.
”I think she will,” answered Tom. ”Those rascals are all further along the road--waiting for Nellie and Dora.”
”Keep your eyes open,” put in d.i.c.k. ”Don't let anything escape you. We must spot that auto without fail!”
CHAPTER XXI
FOLLOWING DORA AND NELLIE
The nerves of the Rover boys were on edge. d.i.c.k and Tom were particularly anxious, for those who had been thus rudely carried off were very dear to them.
”I wonder who that so-called doctor was?” mused Sam, as the DARTAWAY sailed along, keeping over the road as well as the windings through the dense woods permitted.
”Most likely some tool of Crabtree or Sobber, or both,” answered Tom.
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