Elinor felt a secret pride at this statement. It was she, then, who had brought the rescuer! Billie felt sure it was her own strong wish that had drawn Richard to them in their great need, while Phoebe, filled with the conviction of her faith, believed he had been sent in answer to her fervent prayers. If Richard had been consulted about this and had spoken the truth from his heart, could he have explained the irresistible impulse that had urged him to climb the steep road up the mountain on that dark night? At this juncture, Ben and Percy, more dead than alive from running, almost fell into the room. "Great Caesar's ghost," Percy ejaculated in a weak voice, "but we have had a fright about you, and here you are giving an evening reception!" "Nothing has happened, then?" Ben managed to gasp. "That little arch fiend led us into a jungle and lost us," went on Percy. "We heard the bugle calls for help. Gee! But we have had a run." "And you're all right? You're safe?" cried Ben, counting them over. "And Mr. Hook has been protecting you? Thank heavens for that." "My dear young man," observed Miss Campbell with some irritation, "will you please to turn around and look at that front door or slide or whatever you call the thing? I wish you to know that we have had one of the most exciting evenings of our lives. This house was attacked and broken into by a dozen ruffians and if it hadn't been for Alberdina, there, who has the mind of a general and knew exactly how to build a barricade with trunks, Phoebe would certainly have been tarred and feathered, even before Mr. Hook came to our rescue----" "He heard my bugle," announced Elinor. "I wished for him," thought Billie. "I prayed for him," said Phoebe in a low voice. "If Richard Hook had not appeared and permitted himself to be shot by Billie without uttering a sound----" "Oh, I let out a yell," broke in Richard. "We would have all been murdered, like enough." "But where are your sister and Miss Swinnerton?" asked Ben. "I suppose I had better be getting back to them," said Richard, who had quite forgotten that he had left two unprotected maidens asleep in a traveling van on a ledge half a mile below. Percy and Ben offered to go back for him, but he would not consent, and Billie, solicitous and full of contrition for her reckless shooting, had the "Comet" out in a jiffy although Richard had asked to be allowed to walk. They found the van dark and quiet. Evidently the girls had heard nothing of the rumpus on the mountain and had felt no uneasiness about Richard, who was accustomed to taking strolls at untimely hours. It did not take long to bring the motor car back to camp and before midnight a peaceful calm had settled over the log hut.