The Blue Grass Seminary Girls' Vacation Adventures Part 18

The man at the cashier's desk was looking at her suspiciously. Shirley, glancing up, caught the look. Again she made a desperate search of her pockets, but the search was futile. There was no money there.

Shirley turned to the cashier.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "but I have misplaced my money. I'll have to ask you to wait till to-morrow."

"Misplaced your money, eh," sneered the man, looking at Shirley's shabby attire. "I suppose, when you came in here, you were sure you had money, were you?"

"Of course I was," said Shirley indignantly.

"Well, I'm not so sure. I've seen your kind before. I guess I had better call an officer."

Shirley became greatly frightened.

"Please don't do that," she said, in great alarm. "I'll pay you to-morrow sure. Honestly I will."

"That's an old one," said the cashier. "Either you will dig up ten cents right now or I shall call a policeman."

"But I haven't ten cents," said Shirley tearfully.

"Then I shall call the officer," said the cashier, and reached for the desk telephone.

Shirley, badly frightened, did not know what to do. She did not know that the cashier, thinking she was trying to defraud him, would not have called the police, but was simply trying to frighten her into paying.

But help came from an unexpected source.

A young man who had been an interested listener to this conversation suddenly stepped forward, and laid a dime on the counter.

"There is your ten cents," he said quietly to the cashier. "Let the boy alone. Can't you see he is honest?"

"About as honest as the rest of 'em," sneered the cashier, picking up the dime.

Shirley turned to her benefactor.

"Thank you, sir," she said earnestly. "I'll see that you get it back."

"Oh, all right," said the young man with a laugh, "but I guess it won't break me if I don't."

It was plain to Shirley that he never expected to have it returned, and upon that instant she decided that he should.

"If you will give me your card," she said, "I shall see that you get it back to-morrow."

The young man smiled at her.

"Well, if you insist," he said, with a smile, and extracted a card from his pocket, and handed it to Shirley.

Shirley stuffed it into her pocket.

"Thank you very much," she said quietly. "Good-bye."

She left the store and walked down the street. It was now half-past eight, as Shirley saw by the street clock.

"I guess I might as well go home and risk being seen," she told herself.

She stopped at the next corner and hailed an approaching car. She was just about to step aboard, when she suddenly remembered she did not have carfare. She stepped back abruptly. The conductor rang the bell angrily, and the car went on.

"My gracious," said Shirley to herself, "it's a long way to Walnut Hills but I guess I shall have to walk it. I wonder if I can find the way?"

She stood still for several minutes.

"Well," she said at last, "I might as well start. There is no use standing here. I'll just have to follow the car line, and ask if I lose my way."

First she made her way to Fourth and Walnut Streets, and then she started off in the direction taken by a Walnut Hills car.

She was forced to ask directions several times before she got very far, but nevertheless she made fair progress. She was just congratulating herself upon her good fortune in getting out of so serious a predicament so easily, when something else happened.

Around the corner, suddenly, came a crowd of boys, their ages ranging from twelve to fifteen. This part of the city was by no means the best, and Shirley thanked her stars that she was attired in boy's clothes.

But her attire was not to stand her in good stead now.

The crowd of boys came on at a run, and when directly in front of Shirley the leaders stopped.

"Look here, fellows," said one of them. "Here is a poor kid all by himself. He looks big enough to fight. Shall we take him along?"

"Sure," came from the rest.

The boy who had first spoken grabbed Shirley by the arm, and shook him.

"Can you fight?" he asked.

Shirley again was almost in tears.

"No," she quavered.

"Well," came the reply, "you'll have to fight. We are going after the Eighteenth Street gang and we need reinforcements. You will help. But if you don't fight, well, you'll get the worst of it anyhow. Come on."

Shirley hung back, but it was no use. A boy grabbed her by either arm, and she found herself being hurried along.

"We'll fix 'em this time," was the cry of the boys.

CHAPTER XII.-SHIRLEY FINDS A CHAMPION.

Shirley realized that she was in a serious predicament. Guarded as she was, she had no hope of escape, and she realized that the situation was rapidly growing worse. Every step forward took her that much nearer danger. Still she did not wish to betray that she was a girl, so she wiped the tears from her eyes with a quick brush of her sleeve and moved along with the rest without resistance.

Two blocks further on the gang came to an abrupt stop, and the two who seemed to be the leaders conferred. Then, at an order from one, the gang divided into two parts. Shirley found herself under the direction of a boy whom his companions called d.i.c.k.