CHAPTER V

An Urgent Request

Judy whirled around to see a tiny girl with short brown curls and an older boy who might be her brother. Both of them were out of breath, as if they had been running. It was the boy who had spoken. But now the little girl asked, “Were you talking about a doll?”

“Were we, Honey?” Judy said.

“We certainly were,” Honey replied. “Yours, when you were little.”

“Oh, I thought—” the little girl began.

“Quit thinking about it, Penny. It won’t help,” the boy interrupted.

“Who are you?” Judy asked the children. “And where did you come from?”

“I’m Paul and she’s Penny. We came from the car,” the boy explained. “Mom can’t get it started. She needs someone to push her.”

“I’m her man,” Horace said.

He turned his car around and invited the children to come with him.

“Do we have to?” Penny asked shyly. “I want to stay here and play. I’m tired of riding.”

“Me, too. You’ll find Mom all right. Our car’s stalled just a little way beyond your sign. It’s an old beat-up green car,” Paul explained.

“I’ll find it.”

“I hope he can start it,” the little boy said as Horace drove off to assist his mother. “We were on our way to Uncle Paul’s house. We expected to get there this afternoon, but Mom says she’s so tired she can’t drive another mile. That’s why I asked if we could stay overnight. Mom said maybe you would let us stay until she figures out what to do next. We saw your sign just before we had the accident.”

“Accident!” exclaimed Judy and Honey in one breath.

“Well, we were sort of shoved off the road,” Paul told them.

“They did it on purpose,” the little girl said. “Then they emptied out all our suitcases and went off with Mommy’s pocketbook.”

“Keep still about that, Penny!” the boy said severely. “We weren’t supposed to tell.”

“But she had the green doll—”

At this, the boy clapped his hand over his sister’s mouth with such violence that the child began to cry.

“You shouldn’t have done that. You’ve hurt her!” cried Honey.

“She talks too much,” was the boy’s brief explanation.

“I like little girls who talk too much,” Judy said, taking Penny to a more secluded part of the grove to comfort her and find out what the real trouble was.

“Paul didn’t mean it,” Penny defended her brother. “He’s just scared, and so is Mommy.”

“I should think she would be! Are you sure those men caused the accident on purpose to steal her pocketbook?”

“No-o,” the little girl said slowly. “They wanted something else. They talked as if they’d been to Uncle Paul’s house looking for it and couldn’t find it. It was a—a _correction_.”

“A correction?”

“Yes, but it’s a secret. I mustn’t tell anyone about it because it will get us into trouble.”

“Then why are you telling me?” asked Judy.

“Because,” Penny explained quickly, “you get into trouble sometimes when you don’t tell things. Mommy did. I’d never, never steal anything after what she told me. Only bad people steal.”

“That’s right,” agreed Judy.

Maybe she had agreed too quickly. Her answer seemed to disturb the little girl.

“Sometimes,” Penny said, “when you’re little, you make mistakes. That’s different, isn’t it?”

“Quite different,” agreed Judy, wondering what all this was leading up to.

“Why?” Penny asked unexpectedly.

“Well, I suppose it’s because you can learn from your mistakes.”

“What mistake was Penny talking about?” asked Paul.

He had been exploring the grove with Honey, who had discovered the hollow tree and pointed out the hole that looked like an open mouth.

“I don’t really know,” Judy confessed. “Your little sister didn’t make herself very clear.”

“She hadn’t better,” Paul said threateningly. “I’ll never tell her any of my secrets after this. What made you spill all that about Mom’s pocketbook, Penny? Those kids said they’d trail the thieves and make them give it back.”

“But they didn’t,” Penny said. “They let the robbers get away.”

“Maybe we can pick up their trail again if you will tell us about it,” Judy suggested. “Were the thieves in a car?”

“Yes,” Paul replied. “They came alongside and crowded Mom off the road. She got out to see how much damage she’d done when she hit the bank. That was when they pointed the gun at her and went through all our luggage. They didn’t take anything except her pocketbook. They grabbed it and ran back to their car and drove away. If we can’t get our car started I guess we’ll have to stay here. Uncle Paul will pay for us. He has lots of money,” the boy finished proudly.

“What is your uncle’s whole name, Paul?” asked Judy.

“He’s my great-uncle really. It’s Paul Riker, the same as mine.”

“That’s the man who was robbed! I remember it from the newspaper account,” Judy whispered excitedly to Honey. “Wait till Horace hears about this!”

“I like it here,” announced Penny. “Do you allow children to climb the trees?”

“If they’re careful—”

But they were both off to the hollow tree. Paul started at once to climb it, but Judy saw Penny stop and put her hand inside the hollow place.

“What’s she found?” Honey whispered.

“Maybe she’s discovered the secret of the voice,” Judy whispered back.

“Look!” Penny cried as they both came over to see. “Is this a fairy bed? Do you think fairies live in here? I heard them whispering.”

“Did you hear what they said?”

“No, just whispers.” Penny turned a solemn little face to Judy. “Did you hear them, too?”

“The fairies? Perhaps,” Judy said thoughtfully. “What have you in your hand, Penny?”

Penny was glad to show her. It was a soft little cushion of moss she had picked from inside the tree. There was nothing else to be found in the hollow except bits of decayed wood. Judy put her hand in to see.

“Do you feel anything?” asked Penny.

“Just the moss.”

“Isn’t it soft?” the little girl said, stroking the piece she was holding. “You can pet it like a kitten. It’s a pretty green, too—almost the color of the doll. Please, will you help us find it?”