out of sight and then
turned and climbed up the steps to the street, silent for the most part,
with only an occasional exclamation of "What _will_ Nyoda do if Sherry
dies?"

Then another swift drive through the silent streets, scarcely any
lighter than they had been before, and they were back at Carver House,
which suddenly seemed empty and dreary with Nyoda gone.

They sat down to the table and ate up the rest of the toast and drank
the rest of the coffee; then the boys started back to their tent in the
woods, and the Winnebagos, beginning to feel weak and shaky now that the
excitement of getting Nyoda ready had passed, went slowly and sadly up
the stairs and crept into bed.

Thoroughly worn out with the strenuous evening and the still more
strenuous night that followed it, they finally fell asleep, while the
sun rose unwelcomed over Carver Hill and the stair clock chimed half
past six in vain.

CHAPTER XV

IT NEVER RAINS--

Sahwah wakened with the sound of a bell ringing in her ears. The house
was still asleep; the sun was pouring in brightly through the south
window of the room. Sahwah wondered idly why the sun was shining in at
that window; it always shone in the other window when she wakened in the
morning. Then she remembered. It all seemed like a dream; the telegram,
the hurried preparations for departure, the swift journey to the station
with Nyoda and the return to Carver House without her. Sahwah was still
piecing together the events of the night before when the shrill ring
sounded through the house again. It was the front doorbell. Sahwah
jumped up and threw on her bathrobe and, yawning widely, ran downstairs.

It was Agony; Agony with a face as pale as a ghost. "What's the matter?"
asked Sahwah in consternation, forgetting her own great news at the
sight of Agony's expression.

"It's Veronica," Agony burst out breathlessly.

"What's the matter with Veronica?" asked Sahwah in alarm.

"She's been arrested!"

Sahwah's heart thumped queerly and then seemed to stand still at this
climax of her forebodings. "What for?" she asked faintly.

Agony came in and sat down on the hall seat "There's so much to tell, I
think I'll begin at the beginning," she said, and Sahwah stood still
with her eyes fastened on Agony's face apprehensively.

"You remember when you were all over at our house for dinner one night,
and papa was home, he told us something about the big case he was
working on, the Atter