Dorothy Dale (A Girl of To-Day) | Page 8

were to sell papers to-day, for the Bugle was out, and
Dorothy had told her brothers of the necessity for extra efforts to help
with money matters.
"You may go with one of the regular boys," Ralph Willoby instructed
them. "He can tell you where you would be likely to get customers. Go
into all the stores, of course, and look out for the mill hands, at noon
time."
"I'll sell Bugles to-day," declared Joe, with that splendid manliness and
real earnestness that makes a boy so attractive, especially to his sister.
"It takes a boy," Dorothy said proudly, as her brothers left the office,
each with his bundle of papers, for, of course, Roger had to have a strap
full the same as did Joe. Ralph was glancing over the paper. Evidently
he was pleased with its appearance, for his face showed satisfaction.
"Is it all right?" Dorothy asked, secretly glad the "getting out" was
finished, and that she would not have to write another parade story that
day.
"First-rate," answered the young man, "and I think your father will be
pleased. You had better go home and take him a copy, he may be
anxious to see one."
"I'll go now," she told Ralph, "and I'll be back about noon, when the
boys come in from their routes."
Dorothy passed out, and closed the door after her. Ralph went to the far

end of the office, to finish folding the papers. Scarcely had he taken one
sheet in his hand than he heard something in the hall.
A scream! And in Dorothy's voice!
Darting past the big press, and making his way to the hall door quickly
in spite of the things that barred his path, Ralph pulled open the portal.
The girls were in a heap on the steps! Dorothy and Tavia.
The young man bent down anxiously. The pair seemed unusually still.
"Fainted!" he murmured, trying to lift Dorothy's head.
"Is he--go--gone?" whispered Tavia. "We are not hurt. We only made
believe!"
"Oh!" sighed Dorothy. "I feel as if I were dying! I--I can't breathe!"
"Try to get on your feet," commanded Ralph. "The air will revive you!"
"There!" gasped Tavia. "There's his hat. I grabbed it when he put the
handkerchief, with some stuff on it, to my nose," and the girl held up a
gray slouch hat, the kind western men usually wear.
"That may help us," said Ralph. "But first you must both come down to
the drug store. That stuff he used may sicken you. It has a queer smell."
Once on their feet the girls seemed all right, in fact as Tavia said, they
had only "made believe" to prevent any further violence.
It seemed incredible that two girls should be way-laid in broad daylight,
in the hall of the most public building in Dalton, but the fact was
certainly plain--there was the dirty white handkerchief reeking with
some drug, and besides, there was the hat that Tavia had taken from the
man's head.
Ralph took the girls into the prescription room of the drug store, to see
if they needed any attention, and there to the astonished drug clerk, as

well as to the equally astonished proprietor, Tavia tried to relate what
had happened.
"It was the same man who grabbed my papers the other day," she said.
"I saw him first as I came along William street. Joe and Roger had just
gone in Beck's with their papers, and as I saw the man watching them I
was afraid he might kidnap Roger. I was just thinking who would be
best to call, when he caught me watching him, and then, like a flash, he
sprang into that saloon at the corner. I thought he was frightened lest he
would be caught, and I hurried down here to warn Dorothy. Well, no
sooner had I put my foot inside the hall than he darted at me--"
"Where did he come from?" asked the drug store proprietor.
"Probably through the alley that leads from the saloon to the end of our
building," explained Ralph. "He could easily dash into the hall from
there."
"He was after papers," declared Tavia, "for just as he grabbed me he
saw Dorothy. I was going to scream when he put that queer-smelling
stuff to my nose."
"I screamed when I saw Tavia," ventured the frightened Dorothy, "but
he had me almost before I could open--my--mouth. Tavia squeezed my
hand and I knew she meant for me to be quiet."
"And if you had not closed your eyes he might have given you another
dose," added Tavia, who somehow, seemed to know more than any one
else about the wicked ways of the mysterious stranger.
"But how did he manage to get away so promptly?" asked one