"I think she does fine for one who has never tried to write, but she is a little hard to make out. Read it to me, perhaps you can better understand just what she means," said he, handing me a letter of several pages as we sat on the deck facing the setting sun, with our feet on the rail. I first glanced over it, then began to read:
"Dear Daddy:
"We got here all right or I would not be able to write. At first I was scared but Mr. Woburn was so nice that I soon began to like it, I mean the cars and the towns we went through. In the evening we got to Jacksonville and then after eating supper I had to go to bed. It seemed so funny to sleep in that little place while the train runs so fast. My new clothes were so much bother, I wished I had my regular clothes—they are so much quicker—but I suppose it will be a long time before I get them again.
"The next morning we were at Richmond—Mr. Woburn told me these names—then Washington, so much more beautiful than anything you ever told me about, then Baltimore and Philadelphia. We did not go to New York, but I am going there to-morrow with one of my teachers to get the clothes and things I need for school. It does not begin for two weeks, and I and another girl are the only ones here now ahead of time. It is in a great big woods, a beautiful place. Mr. Woburn came clear up here with me and talked with the principal. He said that because I knew Mr. Wood we would get along fine, but I must never go out alone. A teacher who I like and plays music I can listen to all day will go with me. She says I can write to you every day and I will. Tell Mr. Wood if he is there yet that I love him almost as much as I do you, Daddy. I hope you don't miss me as I do you. Tell Don his cooking is the best, but maybe I will get used to the kind we have here. I must go to bed now. My room is a great, big long one and my teacher uses the other end of it, and tells me everything I want to know. She knows so much about everything.
"She says that nobody knows what our first name is here but the registrar, and you must get used to me signing my name,
"Miss Canby,
"With lots of love."
When I stopped reading Howard laughed outright, arose and rubbed his hands, then slapped me on the back.
"That sounds to me just as though little Jim were talking. Now I feel sure and am satisfied. I can fight wild cats, a buzz-saw, or all the Huns." Then, sobering some, he sauntered down the deck and returned to where I sat, still holding little Jim's letter, said soberly, "Wood, again I am indebted to you. I don't believe I could ever have accomplished it, so well and quickly. Somehow, now that she is away and in safe hands, I am greatly relieved."
"You give me undue credit. I am glad little Jim is safe, but a double purpose robs me of credit. The way things now stand we could not prove our case without little Jim's testimony. My unsupported evidence would be strained to prove the Hun boat fired through your boat while you were diving. For that reason they may be interested in getting her out of the way. That's why Father Woburn was sent. Even if they do learn where she is they have a better chance at heaven—and you know that is nil—than to get her now."