"My, aren't we dangerous," said Nan, laughing at him.
Nan never afterward knew just how it happened, but some way or other, among the orange trees, she managed to get separated from the rest of the party. She was so engrossed with happy thoughts of the success of her plan to help Mrs. Bragley and so absorbed in imagining the woman's surprise and joy at the news she was about to receive that it was some time before she woke up to the fact that she was alone.
The predicament—if indeed it was one—did not particularly worry her, for she knew that she could find her way back to the road easily enough and that there was no possibility in the world of her becoming really lost.
As she stood reveling in the tropical beauty of the scene and smiling happily to herself, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind that banished the smile from her lips and brought an anxious frown to her brow.
"I've left my bag in the car!" she told herself. "And with all Mrs. Bragley's papers in it! If I should lose them now, after bringing them safely all this way——"
Action followed swift upon the thought, and she started through the grove in the direction she had come.
"Not so fast! Not so fast!" said a voice beside her, and the next moment a man darted out from the shelter of the trees and stepped directly in her path. He was, as Nan knew the minute she heard his voice, the tall, thin man with the straight line for a mouth, with whom she had had so many unpleasant meetings before. His face showed a desperate expression.
Nan did not scream, although much alarmed. She glanced over her shoulder with a half-formed thought of escape, but the man sprang forward and laid a rough hand on her arm.
"None of that, my little lady," said the sneering voice. "You are not going to get away from us this time until we get what we want. Just a little document or two is all we want. Quick now—hand it over."
"I—I haven't any document!" gasped Nan, adding with a little flare of temper: "If you don't let go of my arm I—I'll scream."