CHAPTER XIV 

DICK AND SAM IN CHICAGO 

"Get some water, Songbird, quick!" 

"Oh, Sam, shall I get some smelling salts!" cried Grace. 

"I guess the water will do, Grace. Here, stand on this side, so those other girls can't see Nellie," went on the boy. "No use of letting them know everything." 

Grace understood and she and Sam shielded Nellie and carried her to a campus bench. Then Songbird arrived with a cup of water from a well. Just as he handed it over, Nellie opened her eyes. 

"Oh! I--I--what happened?" she murmured. "Oh, I remember now!" And a look of pain crossed her face. 

"Take a drink of water, dear," said her sister, and held the cup. Nellie took a sip and then Grace bathed her forehead with some water poured on a handkerchief that Sam passed over. Soon the girl sat up straight. 

"I--I'm all right now," she faltered. "It--it was such a--a shock. Oh, Sam, do you really think Tom is bound for Alaska?" 

"It looks like it, Nellie," he answered. "I'll tell you all about it, if you'll walk down the road, away from those other students." And then, as they walked away slowly, Sam and Songbird told their story, the two girls hanging on their every word. 

"It's awful, terrible!" murmured Grace. "Poor Tom, he must be clear out of his mind!" 

"That's the only explanation," answered Sam. "He'd never do such a thing if he was in his right senses." 

"Oh, but he may lose his mind entirely," gasped Nellie. "I've read of such cases in the newspapers. A person wanders off and forgets who he is, or where he came from, and all that! Supposing Tom went to Alaska and that happened to him! Why, we might never be able to find him!" And the tears began to course down Nellie's cheeks. 
Was it the reason that Nellie was upset?
"I--I'm all right now," she faltered. "It--it was such a--a shock. Oh, Sam, do you really think Tom is bound for Alaska?" 