Grace stood staring about her in blank dismay.  It was nearing seven o’clock, and she was twelve miles from Oakdale.  Why hadn’t the girls waited?  Grace felt ready to cry, then the vision of the poor old judge, alone 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 Nesbit, and vice versa,” replied the chief.  “The second wagon broke down when about half way home.  It took over half an hour to get it fixed, so when it did arrive the girls in the head wagon had all gone home.  Your mother grew uneasy when ten o’clock came, so she telephoned your friends, and on comparing notes you were found to be among the missing.”