All was confusion at the strawberry patch. The two orphan girls, Rose and Nellie Catron, had disappeared the night before, it was said, and not until shortly before the arrival of our friends in the automobiles, was another loss discovered—that of a pair of very valuable diamond earrings, the property of Miss Hanna Schenk, otherwise known among the pickers as “Mrs. Blazes.”
So it was that the Chelton young folks, as Jack said, “struck a hornet’s nest,” for Mrs. Ramsy, somehow, seemed to be of the opinion that Cora could tell, if she would, something about the runaways.
“What could give you that idea, Mrs. Ramsy?” demanded Cora indignantly. “I only saw your nieces while I was here the other day, and I am sure I would have advised them to stay where they were, had they ever mentioned to me their intentions of leaving.”
“That’s all very well, young lady,” growled the woman, “but I noticed how them girls edged up to you, and your friends, and I warn you, if I find that you have helped them off I’ll have the law on you.”
At this the young men came up to the shed where the unpleasant conversation was in progress. Jack, of course, was indignant, and, not only did he oblige Cora to leave the place at once, but, while doing so, he expressed his opinion directly to Mrs. Ramsy as to his personal measure of her character.
The whole affair was rather awkward, and the Robinson girls were obliged to leave the patch once more without their crate of berries.
Just outside the wire fence, and when the girls were about to step into the cars, they were hailed by Andy—the small boy whom Cora had so favored by buying the damaged crate of berries.
“Wait a minute, miss,” he called. “I’ve got something fer you,” and, so saying, he stepped up to the Whirlwind and, very cautiously, handed Cora a slip of paper. She took it and read these scrawled lines:
“Miss: We are going away, but we think we will see you again some day. You will find your crate of berries under the tree where Andy will show you. They belonged to us and we paid for them.
Rose Catron and Nellie Catron.”
Cora looked down at Andy for a further explanation.