"But where will we hunt?"
"Maybe she"s gone with some other girl somewhere."
"You know that can"t be so," Ruth said. "There isn"t a girl friendly enough with her for her to say ten pleasant words to. The poor little mite! I"m just as sorry as I can be for her, Curly."
"Well!" returned Curly, "what did she want to tell a story for? I know what she did. She left the candle burning in her room because she was afraid to come back to it in the dark after supper. I made her own up to that."
"Oh! the poor child!" cried Ruth.
"And she didn"t understand the electric light. They don"t have electricity in the town where she comes from; natural gas, instead. So that"s the _why_ of the fire," Curly said. "I picked that out of her long ago."
"And she was so close-mouthed with us!" exclaimed Ruth.
"She doesn"t like it at Briarwood. She doesn"t like the girls. She doesn"t like the teachers. Old Scratch!" exclaimed the boy, "I don"t blame her--and I guess I"d run away myself."
"You don"t suppose she _has_ run away, Curly Smith? Not for _keeps_?"
"I don"t know," answered the boy. "Her folks don"t treat her right, I guess. They sent her to Briarwood to get her out the way. So she says. And she"s afraid of what her father will do to her if he ever hears about that candle and about how the dormitory got afire."
"That"s why she wouldn"t write to him for a contribution to the rebuilding fund," cried Ruth.
"I guess so," said Curly. "She never said much to me about it. I just wormed it out of her, as you might say. She isn"t so awful happy here, you bet."
"Oh, Curly! I blame myself," groaned Ruth.
"What for?"
"Because I ought to have learned more about her--got closer to her."
"You might"s well try to get close to a p.r.i.c.kly porcupine," laughed the boy. "She"d made up her mind to hate the rest of you girls and she"s going to keep on hating you till the end of time. That"s the sort of a girl Amy is."
"And nothing to be proud about," declared Ruth, with some vexation. "Don"t you think it, Curly?"
"Huh! I don"t. You"re silly, Ruth--but I like you a whole lot more than I do Amy."
"Goodness! what a polite boy," cried Ruth. "There"s the telephone!"
She ran back upstairs, hoping the message would be that Amy Gregg was found. But that was not it. Over the wire Mrs. Tellingham herself was speaking to Ann.
"No, Ma"am. We don"t know where to look for her," Ann said.
"We haven"t any idea."
"Yes, Ma"am; Helen and I have looked. She hasn"t taken any of her clothes."
"Oh, goodness! you don"t really suppose she"s run away?"
"Do come here, Ruth, and hear what Mrs. Tellingham says!"
Ruth went to the telephone and heard the princ.i.p.al of Briarwood Hall talking. What Mrs. Tellingham said was certainly startling.
It seemed that Amy Gregg had received a letter that afternoon. It was from her father, and, of course, was not opened by the princ.i.p.al. But afterward--after the child had disappeared from the premises, of course--the letter came into Mrs. Tellingham"s hands. It was found by Tony Foyle down by the marble statue in the sunken garden. Evidently Amy had run there, where she would be out of the way, to read it.
It was a very stern letter and accused Amy of some past offense before she had left home. It likewise said that Mr. Gregg had received an anonymous letter from some girl at Briarwood, telling about the fire, and about Amy"s supposed part in starting the blaze, and complaining that Amy would not ask for a contribution to the dormitory fund.
Mr. Gregg was extremely angry, and he told his daughter that he would come to Briarwood in a few days and investigate the whole matter. Why Amy Gregg should run away was now clear. She was afraid to meet her father.
"Make sure that the poor child is nowhere about Mrs. Smith"s, Ruth," Mrs.
Tellingham begged her over the wire. "I am sure I should not know what to say to Mr. Gregg if he comes and finds that his daughter has disappeared.
The poor child! I shall not sleep to-night, Ruth Fielding. Amy must be found."
Ruth felt just that way herself. No matter what her friends said in contradiction, Ruth felt that she was partly to blame. She should have kept a close watch over Amy Gregg.
"I let that picture-making get in between us," she wailed. "I"m glad it"s all done and out of the way. I"d rather not have written the scenario at all, than have anything happen to Amy."
"You"re a goose, Ruthie," declared her chum. "You"re not to blame. Her father"s harshness with her has made the child run away. _If_ she has."
"Her own unhappy disposition has caused all the trouble," said Ann, bitterly.
"Oh! don"t speak so," begged Ruth. "Suppose something has happened to her."
"Nothing ever happens to kids like her," said Ann, bruskly.
But that was not so. Something already had happened to Amy Gregg. She was lost!
CHAPTER XXI
HUNTING FOR AMY
In spite of her seemingly heartless words, it was Ann Hicks who agreed to go with Ruth to hunt for the lost girl. Helen frankly acknowledged that she was afraid to tramp about the woods and fields at night, with only a boy and a lantern for company.
"Come along, Ruthie. I have helped find stray cattle on the range more times than you could shake a stick at," declared good-natured Ann Hicks.
"Rouse out that lazy boy of Grandma Smith"s."
Mrs. Sadoc Smith had to give just so much advice, and see that the expedition was properly equipped. A thermos bottle filled with coffee went into Ruth"s bag, while Curly was laden with a substantial lunch, a roll of bandages, a bottle of arnica and some smelling-salts, beside the lantern.
"Huh!" protested the boy to Ann, "if she was sending us out to find a lost _boy_ all she"d send would be that cat-o"-nine-tails of hers that hangs in the woodshed. I know Gran!"
"And the cat-o"-nine-tails, too, eh?" chuckled the Western girl.
"You bet!" agreed Curly, feelingly.
They set forth with just one idea about the search. Amy Gregg, as far as Curly could remember, had expressed a wish to go to but one place. That was the old dam up in Norman"s Woods, where he and Ruth had gone fishing.
They were quite sure that it would be useless to hunt for the girl in any neighbor"s house. And Mrs. Sadoc Smith"s premises had already been searched. They had shouted for Amy till their throats were sore before the news had come from Briarwood Hall. The fact that Amy had been suffering from a physical ailment, as well as one of the mind, troubled Ruth exceedingly.