"Why, Pen!" he exclaimed. "Is this a stay-up late, or a get-up early?"
"Both, Larry. I couldn"t sleep. I am still thinking of our flight up--where I found myself."
"I know," he said comprehendingly. "You have to get away from people and things to do that--to get the right line on yourself; and that is the only place you can do it. But I met a man at the hotel who knows you."
"Not Hebby!"
"No; I dodged Hebby for fear he"d quiz me or follow me. This other man began a cross exam., so I beat it. He said he was from the ranch where you stopped. I asked the clerk when I paid my bill who he was, and he said he was a sheriff, or had been one. Maybe Hebler got him to track you. I dodged his questions so as not to put him wise."
"He isn"t a colleague of Hebby"s," denied Pen. "He is the foreman of the ranch where I stayed. I think he was there in town to meet the Kingdons."
"He met some people who went out to the ranch, but this man stayed on at the hotel. The night clerk said he would be there until noon to-day. We had better get ready for the next train."
"I am ready," said Pen quietly.
CHAPTER XVI
To the delight of his young pa.s.sengers Kurt drove at a speed never before attempted when they were with him. At the hotel there was a rallying reunion of the Top Hill family.
"Where is Pen?" Mrs. Kingdon was finally permitted to ask.
"She didn"t come with us," said Kurt, grimly enjoying Hebler"s quick attention. The children had been previously and carefully coached to make no mention of Pen"s departure.
He made an excuse to leave the hotel parlor and went down to the office.
"Is there an aviator registered here?" he asked the clerk.
"Sure there is," replied the clerk proudly. "Larry Lamont. Some flier, too. He"s going over to France soon--into the French service."
Lamont! Kurt turned a little pale. "Is he here now?"
"His things are here, but he"s out with his aeroplane somewhere."
Kurt breathed a little easier and resolved to remain at the hotel until the aviator should return.
When the rest of the party came through the office on their way to the dining-room, Francis lagged behind and handed Kurt a letter which the latter abstractedly slipped into his pocket.
At dinner he was seated at the end of the table farthest removed from Mrs.
Kingdon, so he had no opportunity for a word with her in regard to Pen. As they were going out from dinner she called to him:
"The children are clamoring for a movie. They don"t get many opportunities to see one, and I haven"t the heart to refuse them their first request after my long absence. So we are all going. Will you come, too?"
"I can"t, I fear. I have a little matter of business to attend to, but I will be here after the picture show."
"I imagine we will not be back very soon. Billy always insists on seeing a picture twice at least."
Kurt remained in the office when the others had gone. Presently the clerk said to him: "Here comes Lamont now!"
A slim, graceful-looking young man smoking a cigarette was just swinging in from the street.
Instantly Kurt went forward to meet him.
"Mr. Lamont?" he asked.
"Yes," admitted the aviator warily.
"My name is Walters. I"m from the ranch where Miss Lamont has been visiting. Are you her brother?"
Lamont shook the ashes from his cigarette.
"I beg your pardon," he replied coldly. "I have no sister."
He pa.s.sed on, leaving Kurt still at sea as to the relationship of the aviator and Pen.
Then he heard Lamont addressing the clerk.
"I want to leave an early call for the first east-bound."
Kurt went out on the street. He could always think more clearly in the open, and he felt that he had much need for thought. Added to his other disturbing emotions was the most stinging one of jealousy. The truth that struck home was the knowledge that the supposed theft of the ring hadn"t made him so wretched as the a.s.surance that she loved another--was another"s. He hadn"t been jealous before--not of Jo nor even of Hebler, but he instinctively felt that this Romeo-like youth whom she had sought was the one who had the first claim.
"He shall not have her!" he muttered when he had walked the streets for some time. "I"ll take her from him--from everyone."
He went to the little theatre to tell the Kingdons that he should remain in town all night. Kingdon could drive the car home and Hebler could run the racer.
He walked into the little lobby. The bill boards showed him it was a wild and wholly western scenario, and he felt certain that no less than two performances would satisfy Billy"s cravings. He went inside and stood scanning the well-filled house until he located his little party well up in front--children"s choice of seats. He started down the aisle. The preliminary pictures of the cast were being shown. On the screen flashed the lines:
THE THIEF or MEG O" THE PRAIRIES _By Bobbie Burr_
A picture of "Meg O" the Prairies" followed. Kurt turned and walked back to the last row of seats, the only ones vacant.
The theatre was dark. An improvised orchestra was essaying something that sounded like strains of Dixie, Columbia, America and the Star-Spangled Banner combined, and the audience were continually standing up and sitting down, in a state of bewilderment and doubt as to which was the national air.
Then suddenly on the white screen was enacted the regulation, popular style of Western play. Ranch settings, tough bar-room, inevitable cowboys, bandits, Indians, and lovers twain, held the audience enthralled. There were the many hair-breadth escapes, pursuits, timely rescues featuring the one girl, daughter of a ranchman, attired in semi-cowboy regalia, who rode like mad and performed all kinds of wonderful feats, and for whose hand the hero, villain and cowboys hazarded their lives and fortunes. The old, old picture that came with the first film and will last while there are boys and men with the hearts of boys. Look upon it tenderly, promoters of educational pictures and uplifting reels, for it carries a romance never attained in reality and irresistibly appeals to the idealism of young blood and young hearts.
For an instant, when the first picture of "The Thief" was thrown on the screen, Kurt felt a queer sensation as one who intuitively perceives something of danger in the dark. A swift, warning note like a sharp pain struck him.
With tense nerves, he waited for the scenes in which she would appear. All the little well-remembered gestures, the graceful movements, the tender graces which he had been wont to steel himself against were there. They brought him a feeling that was exquisite in its pain. With no outward show of emotion his whole being quivered and throbbed at each appearance of the boyish figure ever recurring on the screen.
Once her eyes, wistful and entreating, seemed to meet his in mute reproach. Then the little theater was lighted, the improvised orchestra renewed its efforts. He went quickly out and stopped at the hotel to leave a note for Kingdon. Again he walked and lost himself in memories, seeing as in a mirror all the incidents that had so intrigued his interest, but which now in the light of his new understanding seemed so very patent.
Suddenly he recalled her letter still unread. That might show some motive for her incognito and explain her arrest by Bender.
He returned to the hotel. The hour was very late. He learned that the ranch party had long since departed and that Larry Lamont had gone to his room.