“But you never told me you were engaged!”
“Didn’t I? Well, we’re going to get married next year, just as soon as I’m graduated from Carlisle.”
“Gee, that’s fine,” said Bill. “I certainly congratulate you both. But say, let’s get on with the business end of this gab. Begin with Mr. Evans—when you saw him or heard from him first.”
“Have it your own way,” grinned Osceola. “I came out from New York on an early train to New Canaan yesterday afternoon, after seeing your father off for Washington. The servants were in a great state about the night before. It seems that the shooting woke them up after you and Charlie got out of the house. I read your note and reckoned that since neither you nor Charles nor the plane were on the premises, you’d managed to get off all right. You had told me in your note to stay put till I heard from you, so I stuck round the house all evening, waiting for a wire, or a phone call. I was especially worried about Deborah. She graduated from Barnard in June, and shortly after this Flying Fish affair was cleaned up, I got her the job with Mr. Evans. I knew she was up here in Maine with him, but from what you wrote, it looked as if old Evans had got himself mixed up in a thug war or something, and I didn’t want my girl to be stopping bullets. Mind you, Deb can take care of herself in a mixup better than most men. She’s a swell shot, and she can throw a tomahawk as true as any brave in the Seminole Nation.”
“Great guns! I had no idea she was a Seminole!”
“She sure is,” grinned his friend. “Deb is Sachem of the Water Moccasin Clan in her own right. She’s a sort of ’steenth cousin of mine—and brains—well, she’s two years younger than I am and yet she’s a year ahead of me in college. She’s—”
“Whoa!” laughed Bill. “I’ll take it for granted and all that, that she’s the most wonderful girl in the world.... Get back to your story, now. You were worried because she was up here, you said?”
“Right, I was. But I decided to hang round your place for the night and wait for your message—which never came. If I didn’t hear by morning, my plan was to come along up here by train, whether you needed me or not.”
“And then Mr. Evans turned up, eh?”
“He did. The sound of the plane sent me running out to the hangar in the middle of breakfast. At first when I saw the Loening, I thought you had come back. Then old Evans piled out and introduced Parker, who had flown him down. I took them into the house and we had breakfast together.”