“Oh, what shall we do—what shall we do?”

It was Mrs. Wadsworth who uttered the words. She sat in the luxuriously furnished living room of the Wadsworth mansion, wringing her hands while the tears stood on her cheeks. In front of her was the rich jewelry manufacturer, pacing up and down and biting his lip in deep thought.

“Don’t take it so hard, Alice, my dear,” said the husband in a husky voice. “It’ll come out all right—I am sure it will.”

“But, Oliver, I am so frightened! Think of those poor girls in the hands of those awful gypsies—or somebody just as bad, or worse! It’s dreadful! I can’t bear to think of it!” and Mrs. Wadsworth’s tears began to flow afresh.

In a corner of the library sat old Caspar Potts, white-haired and with eyes that were no longer bright. The professor’s head was shaking from side to side.

“I wish Davy were here,” he quavered. “I’m sure that boy could do something.”

“He has telegraphed that he is on the way, 193along with Roger Morr,” said Mr. Wadsworth.

“Good! Good! He’ll do something—I know he will! Davy is a great boy!” and the old professor nodded his head vigorously. Ever since he had taken our hero from the poorhouse years before, Dave had been the very apple of his eye.

Oliver Wadsworth walked to a writing-table, and from one of the compartments drew a much-rumpled sheet of paper, which had come to him in a dirty envelope several days before. The envelope had been post-marked, “Halwick,” the name of a town about thirty miles away.

“What are you going to do about that demand for money?” questioned Mrs. Wadsworth, as she watched her husband peruse the note—something he had done a great number of times.

“I don’t know,” he answered helplessly. “We have been given at least ten days in which to raise it, so there is no great hurry about deciding the question.”

“Is Mr. Porter in favor of meeting the demand?”

“He is like myself, he doesn’t know what to do. He and Dunston Porter are both of the opinion that this demand for fifty thousand dollars may be just the forerunner of other demands. They may want every cent all of us are worth before they give the two girls up,” added the jewelry manufacturer.

194“But, Oliver! if you don’t give them the money——”

“I know, I know, Alice. We’ll have to fix it up somehow,” answered the husband hastily. Then he sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. “Please don’t worry so. I am sure we’ll be able to fix this matter up somehow sooner or later, and that the girls will come back safely.”

“Oh, I wish I could believe you!” burst out the distressed woman. And then, unable to control herself longer, she burst into a passionate fit of weeping, and betook herself away to her bedroom.

From outside came the sound of an automobile rolling along the gravel roadway, and looking from a window the manufacturer saw Dave’s father alight, followed by Dunston Porter. Both showed signs of weariness, and the look on the face of each betokened keen disappointment.

“Any success?” demanded the jewelry manufacturer quickly, as the pair entered the house.

“Nothing worth speaking about,” answered Dunston Porter. “We hired another detective and sent him off to Halwick.”

“The authorities have no news whatever,” added Dave’s father. “They have received telegrams from all the large cities within three hundred miles of this place, and not a trace of the 195girls has come to light. They claim that it’s the strangest disappearance on record.”

“But this demand for money——” began Oliver Wadsworth.

“Yes, they are trying to sift that out, too. But they don’t seem to be able to get anywhere with it. They have advised that you continue to keep quiet about it, and they said they would keep quiet, too. Nevertheless, I think the news has leaked out somehow.”

“Let me see that letter again,” said Dunston Porter, and perused the communication as carefully as the jewelry manufacturer had done. It was written in heavy lead pencil in evidently a disguised hand, and was as follows:

“The to girls Jessie Wadsworth and Laura Porter are safe in our hands. We will take good care of them but you wil haf to pay the price and do it inside of ten days or two weeks at longest. We mean busines so no funy work. We want fifty thousand dollars from you Mr. Wadsworth and from them Porters. Each of you can pay as much of the amount as you plese. We want the money in cash and wil send you word just were it is to be placed and at what time. If you fale us you will be mighty sory for we mean busines. Dont make no mistak about that. If you pay the money as we want the girls will be back home safe inside of two days and not a hare of there head harmed. Now take warning for we mean busines and wont stand for no nonsence.”

196“This was either written by a very illiterate person or else by somebody who tried to make out he was such,” was Dunston Porter’s comment.

“I think it is just such a letter as one of those young gypsies might write,” answered Dave’s father. “Most of them have some education, but not a great deal.”

Both Mr. Wadsworth and Dave’s father had had a great deal of business to attend to during the past few weeks, and Dunston Porter had been kept busy assisting Mr. Basswood in turning the vacant land on the outskirts of Crumville into building plots and offering them for sale. But since the unexpected and mysterious disappearance of the two girls all thoughts of business had been brushed aside.

“Dave and Roger ought to be here almost any time now,” remarked Dunston Porter. “But what good their coming on the scene is going to do, I can’t surmise.”

“You can’t blame them for wanting to come after receiving such news,” remarked Mr. Wadsworth. “Dave, I know, thinks a great deal of his sister, and you all know that he and Jessie think a great deal of each other.”

“Yes. And I know that Roger has his eye o............