“Then that means that the hi-jackers probably will try to move their truck out now!” Kathleen exclaimed. “They may make it too, because it isn’t far to the state line and the road block probably has been lifted.”
“We must stop them somehow! Let’s get back to Calico Cottage as fast as we can!”
They pounded down the road, hoping as they ran that a car would come along. None did. In Diethelm’s coupe, the distance they had traveled from the junction with the private road had seemed very short. Now, the reverse was true.
Though the distance could not be more than a third of a mile, it seemed endless to the two Scouts. Alternately running and dog-trotting, they finally reached Calico Cottage, winded and perspiring.
As they crossed the yard, Miss Meadows came to meet them.
“I’ve had such a time,” she began. “At first, I couldn’t get my call through. Why, what’s happened?”
Judy explained only briefly. She cut her story short by demanding: “Aunt Mattie, how soon do you think help will get here?”
“Ten minutes or longer. My call just went through. Before that the line was busy, and I couldn’t get the operator to understand that this was an emergency!”
“Ten minutes!” Judy groaned. “That will give Diethelm all the time he needs to warn those men!”
“I saw a ranger car turn down the private road quite awhile ago,” Miss Meadows contributed.