one and at the mercy of the two ruffians, flashed before her.

"I'll walk to Oakdale," she said, with a determined nod of her head.
"And I'll not stop for an instant until I notify the police."

Grace never forgot that lonely walk. The darkness of a moonless night
settled down upon her before she had gone three miles, but she would not
allow herself to think of fear. She stumbled frequently as she neared
her journey's end, and her tired body cried out for rest, but she pushed
resolutely on, almost sobbing with relief as she entered the suburbs of
the town. It was nearly eleven by the city hall clock when she hurried
up the steps of the police station.

"Well, well!" said Chief Burroughs, as Grace rushed unceremoniously into
his office. "Here's the lost girl now. I just received word that you
were missing. Your father and one of my men left here not five minutes
ago. They went to the livery to hire a rig."

"Oh, try and stop them, Mr. Burroughs," cried Grace excitedly. "'Phone
the livery and tell them that I'm here. Then listen to me, for I've
walked all the way from Forest Park and there's no time to lose."

"Walked from Forest Park?" exclaimed the chief, as he turned to the
'phone. "Why that's a good twelve miles and----"

"I know," interrupted Grace, then was silent, for the chief had begun
talking to the livery.

"It's all right," he said, hanging up. "They'll be here directly. Caught
them just in the nick of time, however. Now what's on your mind, Grace?"

"They're going to rob old Judge Putnam," Grace burst forth incoherently.
"He's all alone. Oh, do send some one out there quickly, or it may be
too late. Isn't there a telephone in the judge's house? He ought to be
warned."

"Who's going to rob the judge? What are you talking about, my child?"
asked the chief. "No, the judge has no 'phone. He thinks them a
nuisance."

Grace rapidly told of her adventure in the woods, and her escape from
the cottage. Before she had finished Chief Burroughs had begun to act.
Summoning three special policemen, he narrated briefly what he had just
heard, and five minutes later Grace had the satisfaction of knowing
that, fully armed, they were well on their way to the Putnam estate.

"I can't understand why the girls didn't miss me," she said to the
chief, as she sat awaiting her father's appearance.

"Miss Bright and Miss O'Malley, who were in the second wagon, thought
you were in the first with Miss Pierson and Miss Nesbi