Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/31

 The man glanced at a pile of envelopes that lay just inside the window. The upper one was yellow and caught Hugh’s involuntary attention  as he stood by the door. The people were dispersing and the excitement evidently was over.

The telegraph envelope was one of those transparent-faced ones, showing the name and address inside. Half unconsciously Hugh read, “John Edmonds, Rudolm, Minnesota.” He turned  with a gasp and looked closer. A little of the typewritten line was visible below, “Thanks for  letter, will arrive—”

It was his own message that had never been received. His two friends, his only two friends within a thousand miles, were the men who had  vanished into the forest.