The boys excused themselves while the three others lingered over the tea cups.
“I never saw Marshall refuse a second helping of dessert,” Mrs. Mallow said, her brows knit. “They are up to something, and it isn’t candy,”
Doris observed sagely. “Watch out for practical jokes. I think Marshmallow is getting a little bored with this life.”
“What, after being practically blown up by an oil well, and hobnobbing with cowboys?” Kitty exclaimed.
“I just have a hunch,” Doris said. “We’ll fool them by going to bed early. I’m about dead for sleep.”
“And I,” Kitty seconded.
It was scarcely nine o’clock when Doris, Kitty and Mrs. Mallow retired to their respective rooms. The boys had not yet returned.
Doris was awakened by an insistent rapping on the door from a dream in which she was galloping over the country pursuing an airplane on horseback.
“Who’s there?” she called.
“It is I, Mrs. Mallow,” came the reply. “Doris, I am so worried. Marshall and Dave have not yet returned and it is past eleven o’clock.”
Doris jumped from the bed and slipped a kimono over her pajamas as she switched on the light. Kitty sleepily demanded what the matter was, but Doris first opened the door to admit Mrs. Mallow.
She, too, was in dressing gown and slippers.
“I am worried about the boys,” she confessed. “I usually don’t worry about Marshall at all. I know he can take care of himself—back home in Plainfield, but in this rough frontier country I am ill at ease.”
“This is Saturday, isn’t it?” Doris asked. “There is nothing to worry about. They have gone to the weekly movie show. Even Mr. and Mrs. Saylor drove to town, and most of the ranch hands rode in.”
“That must be it,” Mrs. Mallow sighed. “You are such a comfort, Doris! I’ll go back to bed now, but I know I shan’t sleep until they are back.” Kitty stretched her graceful arms and yawned unabashed.
“If you can’t sleep, Mrs. Mallow, why not sit up with us a while?” she suggested. “I’ve had a beauty nap, and am all rested.”
“Oh, no,” Mrs. Mallow protested. “You girls get all the sleep you can. Some day you will realize how a mother worries over little nothings.” She rose to go, and had just put her hand on the knob of the door when the sound of a motor was heard in the yard.
“There they are now!” Doris exclaimed.
“It may be the Saylors returning,” Mrs. Mallow said. “I’ll just wait and see.”
The three waited in silence.
Footsteps approached, hesitated, and then continued past the door.
“Is that you, Dave?” Doris called.
There was no reply.
“Marshall!” Mrs. Mallow cried out, her voice sharp with anxiety.
The sound of gruff whisperings could be heard. “I told you they were up to some joke,” Doris said under her breath. She tiptoed to the door and suddenly threw it wide.
“Boo!” she shouted. “You can’t fool—oh!” The girl reeled back and slammed the door.
“It—it’s that Moon man, and somebody else!” she gasped.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” moaned Mrs. Mallow. “And we are here by ourselves.”
“Say, inside there,” demanded someone from beyond the door. “Open up!”
“You had better get away in a hurry,” Doris cried back bravely. “You are trespassing!”
“No, I’m not,” came the reply. “I’m a deputy sheriff and I’m here with Mr. Moon who claims that two young fellers living here tried to burglarize his room at the hotel.”
The occupants of the room looked at one another, speechless.
Kitty dived under the covers, but Doris hurried to her clothes and began to dress as rapidly as possible.
Presently she was clad, and opened the door again.
“What you say is absurd,” she said.
“I’m sorry, lady, but I’m only doing my duty,”
said a man, flashing his badge. “You’ll have to let me look in the boys’ room.”
Doris was thinking quickly. How could she hold off these men?
“If they’re in their room—which they won’t be —we’ll wake ’em quick enough,” Moon laughed evilly. “Come on, Sheriff. Look in the next room.”
CHAPTER XVII
The Plot That Failed
Doris, her heart in her mouth, followed the men to the door of the chamber occupied by the two boys.
“Is this where they sleep?” the deputy sheriff demanded.
Doris refused to answer.
“Try it anyhow, Sheriff,” Moon commanded.
The officer rattled the doorknob and then pushed violently against it. Under his weight the door flew open.
“Here, show a light,” Moon laughed again. “I guess we’ll find the place empty.”
Doris’s hair almost rose on end as she heard a voice, unmistakably Dave’s, murmur sleepily:
“Wha-what’s the matter? Who’s there?”
The sheriff struck a match, and by the dim flare revealed the two boys in their beds, covered to their chins. Dave was blinking sleepily, but Marshmallow, his mouth open, snored gently.
“I guess you were wrong, Mr. Moon,” the officer said.
“I—well, I could have sworn—” stammered th« discomfited Moon.
“What’s the matter, Doris?” Dave demanded, now wide awake.
“I don’t know, but it is outrageous,” stormed the girl. “Now, will you men please leave these grounds at once before I call for help!”
“I’m sorry, lady, but I was just doin’ my duty,” the sheriff apologized, backing away.
Henry Moon, speechless, was already in full retreat. A moment later the car was heard to move off into the warm, dark night.
“Are they gone?” came from Marshmallow.
“Yes,” Doris replied. “And will you two please—”
“Explain?” Dave finished for her. “Certainly!”
Throwing back the covers, he jumped from the bed, fully clad, as Doris switched on the light.
Marshmallow followed suit, likewise revealing himself in the clothing he had worn at the table.
“It’s a long story, mates,” Marshmallow grinned.
“But first make sure that those men have really gone,” Dave cautioned.
“I’ll tell Mrs. Mallow and Kitty that everything is all right,” Doris said.
She paused at the door of her room and Kitty’s to tell the news, and then made sure that Moon and the deputy sheriff had gone.
A few minutes later all five were assembled in the boys’ room, the two girls and Mrs. Mallow listening with horror to the boys’ story.
“It was all my idea,” Marshmallow began, “and if you think I’m bragging, I’ll confess that nothing