CHAPTER XVII BAD NEWS

On the following day the two young civil engineers were sent with the rest of the gang under Frank Andrews to do some work located along the line about half way to the railroad station.

“That will give us a chance to send off a telegram,” said Dave to the senator’s son. “We can ask Andrews to let us off an hour earlier than usual and ride over to the station and get back to camp in time for supper.”

So it was arranged; and as soon as they quit work, the two young men hurried off on a gallop so that they might reach the station before the agent, who was also the telegraph operator, went away.

“We want to send a telegram to the East,” announced Dave, as they dismounted at the platform where the agent stood looking over some express packages.

“All right, I’ll be with you in a moment,” was the reply. “By the way, you are from the construction camp, aren’t you? I just got a telegram for one of the fellows over there.”

173“Who is it?” questioned Roger.

“I forget the name. I’ll show it to you when we go inside. Maybe you wouldn’t mind taking it over for the fellow.”

“Certainly we’ll take it over,” declared Dave readily.

When they passed into the office, the agent brought the telegram forth from a little box on the wall, and gazed at it.

“David Porter is the name,” he announced.

“Why, that is for me!” cried our hero quickly.

“You don’t say! Well, there you are. It’s paid for.”

Hastily the young civil engineer tore open the flimsy yellow envelope and gazed at the message inside. It read as follows:

“Do you or Roger know anything about Jessie and Laura? Answer immediately.
“David B. Porter.”

“What is it?” questioned the senator’s son eagerly; and without replying our hero showed him the message. Then the two youths stared at each other blankly.

“What in the world——” began Dave.

“Something has happened!” burst out his chum. “Dave, this looks bad to me.”

“They want to know if we know anything. 174That must mean that Jessie and Laura are away from home, and they are without news about them.”

“It certainly looks that way.”

Each of the youths read the telegram again. But this threw no further light on the mystery.

“And to think we didn’t get any letters! That makes it look blacker than ever,” murmured Roger.

“I’m going to answer this at once and see if we can not get further information!” exclaimed our hero. He turned to the station agent. “How long do you expect to remain open?”

“I generally shut down about seven o’clock, but to-night I expect to stay open until the five-forty gets here, which will be about seven-thirty.”

“You haven’t got to go away, have you?” continued Dave. “The reason I ask is that I want to send an important telegram off, and I’d like to wait here for an answer for at least a couple of hours. Of course, I am perfectly willing to pay you for your time.”

“I haven’t anything very much to do to-night after I close up, and if you want me to stay here I’ll do it,” announced the agent, who was not averse to earning extra money.

The two young civil engineers held a consultation, and soon after wrote out a telegram, stating they had heard nothing since the receipt of 175the last letters from home, the dates of which were given. They asked for immediate additional information, stating they would wait at the telegraph office for the same.

“Nothing wrong, I hope?” ventured the station master, after the telegram had been paid for and sent.

“We don’t know yet. That is what we wish to find out,” answered Dave. And then, to keep the man in good humor, he passed over a dollar and told the agent to treat himself from a small case full of cigars which were on sale in the depot.

After that there was nothing for Dave and Roger to do but to wait. The agent sat down to read some newspapers which had been thrown off the last train that had passed through, and even offered some of the sheets to them. But they were in no humor for reading. They walked outside, and a short distance away, and there discussed the situation from every possible angle.

“If we don’t get any news, what shall we do?” queried the senator’s son. “I’m so upset that I know I won’t be able to sleep a wink to-night.”

“Upset doesn’t express it, Roger,” returned Dave soberly. “When I read that telegram it seemed fairly to catch me by the throat. If anything has happened to Jessie and Laura——” He could not finish.

“Dave, do you suppose those gypsies——”

176“I was thinking of that, Roger. Such things have happened before. But let us hope for the best.”

Slowly the best part of two hours passed. Then the station master, having looked through all the newspapers, came out of his office, yawning and stretching himself.

“How much longer would you fellows like me to stay?” he questioned. “You know I open up here at six in the morning, and I live about a mile away and have to hoof it.”

“Oh, don’t go away yet,” pleaded Roger. “The message may come in at any minute. They’ll be sure to send an answer as soon as they get what we sent.”

“Wait at least another half-hour,” added Dave.

“All right;” and the agent went back into his office, to settle himself in his chair for a nap.

Ten minutes later the telegraph instrument began to click. The station agent jumped up to take down the message.

“Is it for me?” questioned Dave, eagerly, and the station master nodded. Then the two youths remained silent, so that there might be no error in taking down the communication that was coming in over the wire.

“Here you are,” said the agent at last, handing over the slip upon which he had been writing. “I’m afraid there is trouble of some kind.”

177Like the other message, this was from Dave’s father, and contained the following:

“Laura and Jessie left on visit to Boston four days ago. Thought them safe. They did not arrive and no news received. Suspect gypsies. Everybody upset. Mrs. Wadsworth prostrate. Will send any news received.”

Dave’s heart almost stopped beating when he read this second telegram, and he could not trust himself to speak as he allowed his chum to peruse the communication.

“Oh, Dave, this is awful!” groaned the senator’s son.

“So it is,” responded our hero bitterly. He read the message again. “I wonder what we can do?”

“I don’t see that we can do anything—being away out here.”

“Then I’m not going to stay here—I’m going home,” announced Dave firmly.

“What!”

“Yes, Roger. I’m going home. Why, you don’t suppose I could stay here and work with such a thing as this on my mind! This looks to me as if Jessie and Laura had been abducted—or something of that sort.”

“Well, if you go, Dave, I’ll go too!” cried the senator’s son. “If anything has happened to 178Laura——” He did not finish, but his face showed his concern.

“Do you want to send any more telegrams?” questioned the station agent. “If you don’t, I’ll lock up.”

“I think I will,” answered Dave. “They’ll want to know whether this telegram was received.” And then, after he and Roger had consulted for a moment, they sent the following:

“Second telegram received. Both too worried to remain. Will come East as soon as possible.
“Dave and Roger.”

Having listened to the operator sending the message off, the two young civil engineers lost no time in leaping into the saddle and setting off for the construction camp. They rode at as rapid a gait as possible, and on that stony trail there was but little chance for conversation.

“It must be the gypsies,” said Roger, when he had an opportunity to speak. “I can’t think of anything else.”

“The gypsies certainly promised to make trouble for them,” answered Dave bitterly. “But to go so far as kidnapping——Why, Roger! that’s a terrible crime in these days!”

“I know it. But don’t you remember what they wrote about the gypsies—how that Mother Domoza and the others were so very bitter because they had to give up their camp on the outskirts 179of Crumville? More than likely your Uncle Dunston, and Mr. Basswood, and Mr. Wadsworth, didn’t treat them any too gently, and they resented it. Oh, it must be those gypsies who have done this!” concluded the senator’s son.

When they arrived at the construction camp, they found that most of the men had gone to bed. But there was a light burning in the cabin occupied by Ralph Obray and several of the others, and they discovered the manager studying a blue-print and putting down a mass of figures on a sheet of paper.

“What do you want?” questioned the manager, as he noted their excited appearance. “Have you struck more bears?”

“No, Mr. Obray. It’s a good deal worse than that,” returned Dave, in a tone of voice he tried to steady. “We’ve got bad news from home.”

“You don’t say, Porter! What is it? I hope none of your relatives has died.”

“My sister is missing from home, and so is the daughter of the lady and gentleman with whom my family live,” announced our hero. And then he and Roger went into a number of particulars, to which the construction camp manager listened with much interest.

“That certainly is a strange state of affairs,” he declared. “But I don’t see what you can do about it.”

180“I can’t stick here at work with my sister and Jessie Wadsworth missing,” declared Dave boldly. “I’ve come to ask you to give me a leave of absence. I want to take the very first train for home.”

“But what can you do after you get there, Porter? If anything has really gone wrong, you can rest assured that your folks and the others have notified the authorities and are doing all they possibly can.”

“That may be true, Mr. Obray,—more than likely it is true. Just the same, unless I get word by to-morrow morning that they are found or that some word has come from them, I want to go home and join in the search.”

“And I want to go with him!” broke out Roger.

“I might as well explain matters to you, Mr. Obray,” said Dave. “For a number of years Jessie Wadsworth and myself have been very close friends, and now we have an understanding——”

“Oh, I see. That’s the way the wind blows, does it?” And the camp manager smiled.

“Yes, sir. And the same sort of thing holds good between Roger here and my sister Laura. That’s the reason he wants to go with me.”

“Oh!” The construction manager nodded his head knowingly. “I understand. Well, I suppose 181if I were situated like that, I’d feel just as you do.”

“Please understand we’re not going away to shirk work or anything like that,” declared Roger. “You ought to know me well enough by this time, Mr. Obray, to know that I am heart and soul in this thing of making a first-class civil engineer of myself.”

“And that’s just the way I feel about it, too,” affirmed Dave.

“Oh, I understand. I have been very well satisfied so far with the showing both of you have made. It has been very creditable. I know you haven’t shirked anything.”

“Of course, it’s too bad we have got to go right on top of having that vacation when our friends came to visit us,” was Dave’s comment.

“That is true, too, Porter. But some things can’t be helped. I take it that you would rather know that your sister and that other young lady were safe, and stick at work, than you would to lay off on account of such an errand as this.”

“You’re right there, Mr. Obray!”

“I’d give all I’m worth this minute to know that Dave’s sister and Jessie Wadsworth were all right!” burst out the senator’s son.

“Well then, if you think you ought to go back home, you may do so,” announced Ralph Obray. 182“But I sincerely hope that by the time you get there this matter will have straightened itself out. And if that proves to be true, I shall depend upon your coming back immediately.”

“We’ll do it,” answered Dave readily. “We’ll come back the very first thing after we find out that everything is all right.” And Roger promised the same.

It can easily be imagined that the two chums did not sleep much that night. They spent the best part of an hour in packing some of their belongings and in informing Frank Andrews of what had occurred. The head of their gang was even more sympathetic than Mr. Obray had been, and said he would do anything in his power to help them.

“I suppose you would like to take the eight o’clock morning train East,” he remarked.

“That’s our idea,” answered Dave.

“Then I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” went on Frank Andrews. “I’ll order up an early breakfast for you, and I’ll have old Hixon ride over to the station with you to bring back your horses.”

And so the matter was arranged.