The Mystery of the Secret Band

It was a difficult task, for the driveway was so covered with slush that it was hard to tell which was road and which was field. But Max made it in low gear, and they came to a stop in front of a barn, under a big tree.

The house was shabby and unpainted; its windows were covered with boards, and its heavy doors without glass. Mary Louise shuddered: it reminded her of Dark Cedars.

Max turned off the motor and jumped out of the car.

“Nobody home, I guess,” he announced.

From her seat in the car Mary Louise stared at the house, peering into the strip of glass above the boards on the windows. She thought she saw a flicker of light, as if a candle were burning. Yes, she was sure of it – and – a face appeared at the window! Two frightened eyes looked right into hers. A second later another face appeared, more plainly than the first, for this person evidently had hold of the candle. The first face had vanished, and Mary Louise saw only that of an exceedingly ugly woman – someone who looked somehow familiar.

That very instant the tiny light went out, and at the same moment Mary Louise sank unconscious in her seat. A stone, hurled from the tree above her, had hit her right on the head!

CHAPTER VIII

Knocked Out

Max, who was standing on the ground near by, heard the heavy thud of the stone as it hit the floor of the car. Turning about sharply, he saw Mary Louise slumped in her seat, unconscious from the blow. He flung open the door and jumped in beside her.

“Mary Lou! Mary Lou! Are you alive?” he cried desperately.

The girl did not answer.

“Help! Help!” he shrieked, at the top of his lungs.

A mocking laugh sounded from the tree above. Max looked up, but in the darkness he could see no one. How he wished he had his flashlight! But it was behind in the rumble seat, and he daren’t waste a minute; he must get Mary Lou to a doctor with all possible speed.

Starting his engine immediately – for there was no reply to his call for help – he circled around the tree and crept cautiously down the slippery hill, praying as he had never prayed before. Oh, suppose Mary Louise were dead!

With as much speed as he dared put on, he drove back to the Center Square hotel. As he came to a stop he felt a little movement beside him, and Mary Louise raised her head and opened her eyes.

“Where are we, Max?” she asked. “What happened?”

“Oh, my darling!” he cried, flinging his arm around her shoulders. “You are alive!”

The girl managed a feeble laugh.

“Of course I am. My head hurts dreadfully, though. What happened?”

“You were hit by a stone – see it there, on the floor? – from that tree we were parked under. It knocked you out… Now, can you manage to walk up to the hotel, or shall I carry you?”

“I can walk,” she replied, taking his arm.

In the light of the hotel doorway Max saw the blood running down her neck. He wiped it with his handkerchief.

“Can we have a doctor immediately?” he asked the hotel clerk the moment they were inside the door.

“Yes, there’s one in the dining room now, eating his dinner. I’ll call him. An accident?”

Max explained the strange happening at the empty house, but the clerk said he did not know anything about the place. He had not heard of any gangsters in these parts.

The doctor came immediately and dressed Mary Louise’s head. The cut was not serious, he assured her; it was not in a vital place. When it was washed and bandaged she was able to eat her dinner with enjoyment.

“Maybe that first person I saw was Margaret Detweiler,” she said. “I wish I could stay here all night and go investigate tomorrow. But Mother wouldn’t approve of it.”

“I should say not!” thundered Max. “I’m taking you back to Mrs. Hilliard tonight, and I think you had better go home to Riverside tomorrow.”

“Indeed I won’t, Max. And that reminds me, I have to be at the hotel tonight at eleven o’clock. I want to spy on an elopement.”

“Elopement! What next?”

“Well, one of the guests, a Miss Stoddard, who happens to be a niece of the founder of Stoddard House, thinks another guest is eloping tonight. She thinks this couple are responsible for all the robberies at the hotel. You know it was a man who entered my room and stole my watch, so I hoped maybe I could identify this fellow as the burglar. If I could, the mystery would be solved.”

“And you could go home?”

“Yes, unless I could find out something more about Margaret Detweiler. But I wouldn’t stay here just on purpose for that. I’d go home and see what I could do from there, with Dad’s help.”

“What time is it now, I wonder?” asked Max. “We must get back without fail!”

“I don’t know,” replied Mary Louise regretfully. “I haven’t any watch.”

“I’m going to buy you one for Christmas, if I get a check from Dad,” announced Max. “Of course, it will be late, but I’ll give you your other present first, so you wouldn’t mind that, would you, Mary Lou?”

“You’ll do nothing of the sort!” protested the girl. “I couldn’t accept it. If you get a check from your father it’s to buy something for yourself. I’ll get an Ingersoll tomorrow when I’m in town… Now, what time is it?”

“It’s half-past eight. If you feel able, I think we better go along, because I don’t dare drive too fast on these slippery roads at night.”

“I’m all right – I only have a headache now. So let’s get going.”

Max paid the bill, and they were off.

“Now, what will your plans be for tomorrow?” he inquired, as they rode along.

“I’d like to come out here and visit that empty house with a policeman,” she replied. “If it’s possible, I will. But of course I have to see what turns up at the hotel. That is my real job: I’m being paid for it, and my father and Mrs. Hilliard are counting on me to do my best.”

“I wouldn’t care if you never saw Center Square again,” muttered Max resentfully. “Still, it would be great to catch the guy who threw that rock at you.”

“And find out whether the girl really was Margaret Detweiler. Yes, and I’d like to see that ugly woman again. I’ve seen her face before somewhere, but I can’t place her. You don’t forget a face like that.”

“There’s something crooked about their hiding in that house,” remarked Max.

“Yes, of course… Well, to continue with my plans: I’ll see what develops tonight. If there really is an elopement, I’ll try to identify that man. If he isn’t anything like my burglar, I’ll believe that Miss Stoddard is guilty herself and that she just made the whole story up to throw suspicion away from herself.”

Max regarded her admiringly.

“You are a pretty clever girl, Mary Lou,” he said. “I do think you’ll make a swell detective.”

“Thanks, Max. But I’m afraid there’s nothing clever about that. It’s just using common sense.”

“Well, the good detectives say that’s the most important thing: not to let anything escape their notice and to use common sense all the time.”