"Keep zem safe, if you can Senora," pleaded the girl. "Zat—zat villain, if I must call him such—zat Valdez may come back for zem."
Mrs. Kimball started.
"Don't worry, mother," said Cora. "Jack is home now, to say nothing of Walter and Harry."
"Oh, my poor boy!" exclaimed his mother. "I must go to him. Dr.
Blake ought to be here."
"There comes his car now," volunteered Belle. "I know the sound."
Several events, of no particular importance now followed each other in rapid succession. It was Dr. Blake who had arrived, and he was soon subjecting Jack to a searching medical examination, with the result of which, only, we need concern ourselves. Cora, slipping the bundle of papers the Spanish girl had given her into the house safe, begged Walter to keep a sharp lookout for the possible return of the mysterious man, and then she went back to stay with Inez until Dr. Blake should be able to see the foreign visitor. Harry and Walter talked in the library, and Bess and Belle—after a brief chat with the other boys, went home to tell their folks the news, and consult Mr. Robinson about the Spanish prisoner.
"Rest—rest and a change of scene—a complete change is all he needs," had been Dr. Blake's verdict regarding Jack. "If he could go south for the winter, it would be the making of him. He'll come back in the spring a new lad. But a rest and change he must have. His nerves demand it!"
"And we shall see that he gets it," said Mrs. Kimball. "Now about that girl, Doctor."
"Nothing the matter with her—just starved, that's all. The easiest prescription to write in the world. Feed her. You've already got a good start on it. Keep it up."
"Of course you can't advise us about her father, and the story she tells."