“Serious!” repeated Dorothy. “Not serious that little Roger is lost, as well as Joe?” Then she asked, looking about her as though she had missed her chum for the first time: “Where is Tavia?”
“She and Nat have not come in yet,” replied Mrs. White, the worried lines deepening in her forehead. “I can’t imagine what can be keeping them.”
Then Dorothy remembered. Tavia and Nat had gone out in the Fire Bird. Even her chum had deserted her. She felt suddenly very helpless and forlorn.
There came the sound of an automobile on the drive without, the sharp tooting of a motor horn—undeniably the Fire Bird.
They all dashed to the door and flung it open just as Tavia’s glad cry rang through the darkness:
“Hello, everybody. We’ve got Roger!”
CHAPTER XI
DOROTHY REACHES A DECISION
Tavia made a rush for Dorothy and caught her in her arms, hugging her hard.
“Darling Doro, see what we’ve brought you,” she cried, and drew forward into the circle of light a sheepish and very much subdued Roger.
Dorothy sank to her knees before Roger and hugged him to her until he grunted. This was purely physical, however, for the returned prodigal was willing for once that his big sister should make as much fuss over him as she wished. It was not much fun to be stuck up in a tree far away from home and it was most awfully good to be with his family again. Then, too, he had feared a scolding and Dorothy’s greeting was a welcome substitute.