The Rover Boys in the Air Part 33

"Yes, just as I told you. Oh, Mr. Rover, is anything wrong?"

"I don't know--I hope not. But I think we had better go after them at once. Good day." And d.i.c.k fairly ran back to where Tom and Sam rested near the biplane.

"Start her up, quick!" he said to his brothers, in a low voice.

"Something is wrong! We've got to get after the girls right away!"

"What is it?" demanded Tom, leaping to his feet, while Sam did the same.

"I'll tell you when we are on the way. Quick, start the propellers! I'll take the wheel," and d.i.c.k sprang into the seat.

In another moment the engine had been started, and with a rush and a whizz the _Dartaway_ left the campus. d.i.c.k made a turn, then headed in the direction of the road through the woods. He flew low and rather slowly.

"Keep your eyes open," he cautioned, "for any sight of the girls--or any sight of our enemies." And then he related as much as he knew of what had occurred.

"Do you think somebody sent that message to decoy Dora away from the seminary, d.i.c.k?" asked Sam.

"Doesn't it look that way? Why should anybody send word that I was hurt, when I wasn't?"

"I think you are right!" declared Tom. "I think I can see through it,"

he went on quickly. "They found out they couldn't dynamite dad or Uncle Randolph into giving up that money, and they couldn't get at Mrs.

Stanhope or Mrs. Laning to get it, so now they are going to see what they can do through Dora--and maybe Nellie and Grace."

"That's exactly the way I figure it!" exclaimed d.i.c.k. "And the sooner we reach the girls the better! For all we know, it may even now be too late!"

"Oh, let us hope not!" cried Sam.

"Did they go on foot?" asked Tom.

"Yes."

"Were they to meet anybody?"

"I don't know. Miss Haven said they went off in a great hurry--which was natural, if they thought I had tumbled out of the biplane and been hurt.

I suppose poor Dora was scared half to death," and d.i.c.k heaved a long sigh.

As the flying machine swept along over the woods and the roadway the three youths kept their eyes on the alert for a sight of the girls. For a long time they saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then Sam uttered a cry:

"See! see! There is Grace! She is waving her handkerchief at us!"

All looked in the direction indicated, and at a spot along the road where there was quite a cleared s.p.a.ce they saw Grace Laning standing on a flat rock, waving frantically at them. They had to make a circle, and then, with care, d.i.c.k brought the biplane down into the roadway.

"What is it, Grace?" yelled Sam, as he leaped from his seat. "Where are the others?"

"Oh, Sam!" moaned the girl, and then they saw that her hair was awry and her shoes were covered with dust. "Oh, save them! Go after them at once!" And then she staggered forward and fainted in Sam's arms.

The three Rovers were greatly alarmed and for the moment did not know what to do. Then d.i.c.k rushed to the side of the roadway, where some water trickled along in a hollow, and brought some, using a collapsible cup they carried when on a trip. With this they bathed Grace's face and they forced a little water into her mouth, and soon she opened her eyes and stared around her.

"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 rushing 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.