and what have you done?"
"Nothing," said the Harvester. "I was so sure she would be on the
streets I just watched, but I didn't see her."
"We will go to the depot," said the doctor. "The first thing is to keep
her from leaving town."
They arranged with the ticket agents, expressmen, telegraphers, and, as
they left, the Harvester stopped and tipped the train caller, offering
further reward worth while if he would find the Girl.
"Now we will go to the police station," said the doctor.
"I'll see the chief and have him issue a general order to his men to
watch for her, but if I were you I'd select a half dozen in the down
town district, and give them a little tip with a big promise!"
"Good Lord! How I hate this," groaned the Harvester.
"Want to find her by yourself?" questioned his friend.
"Yes," said the Harvester, "I do! And I would, if it hadn't been for
her ghastly face. That drives me to resort to any measures. The
probabilities are that she is lying sick somewhere, and if her comfort
depends on the purse that dressed her, she will suffer. Doc, do you know
how awful this is?"
"I know that you've got a great imagination. If the woods make all men
as sensitive as you are, those who have business to transact should stay
out of them. Take a common-sense view. Look at this as I do. If she was
strong enough to travel in a day coach from Chicago; she can't be so
very ill to-day. Leaving life by the inch isn't that easy. She will be
alive this time next year, whether you find her or not. The chances are
that her stress was mental anyway, and trouble almost never overcomes
any one."
"You, a doctor and say that!"
"Oh, I mean instantaneously----in a day! Of course if it grinds away
for years! But youth doesn't allow it to do that. It throws it off, and
grows hopeful and happy again. She won't die; put that out of your
mind. If I were you I would go home now and go straight on with my work,
trusting to the machinery you have set in motion. I know most of the
men with whom we have talked. They will locate her in a week or less.
It's their business. It isn't yours. It's your job to be ready for her,
and have enough ahead to support her when they find her. Try to realize
that there are now a dozen men on hunt for her, and trust them. Go back
to your work, and I will come full speed in the motor when the first man
sights her. That ought to satisfy you. I've told all of them to call me
at the hospital, and I wil
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