Margery agreed to this plan with such an air of relief that it was
plain to be seen what an ordeal it had been for her to try to travel
alone.

With this delay of having to go to Decatur it was past noon before we
got to Ft. Wayne. Once there we were at a loss how to proceed to find
the Striped Beetle and the girls. I believe everyone of us confidently
expected to find them waiting for us at some point where the road
entered the city, and it threw us off our bearings to find they were
not there. Even Nyoda was plainly puzzled what to do. We found the
little Potter Hotel where we were to have stayed and asked to see the
register. It was possible that the girls had been there after all in
spite of the telegram not having been delivered. Telegrams have failed
to connect before. But they had not been there. If they had stayed with
friends we did not know where they were now. It was a riddle. Not
getting any light on the subject we decided to eat our dinner before we
looked farther.

We checked our cameras and the man at the checking counter looked at us
closely when we came up. There was no one else there and he seemed
inclined to be talkative.

"There was a party just like you here yesterday," he said.

"What do you mean by 'just like us?'" we asked.

"Same clothes," he answered. "Four girls in tan suits and green veils
and one in a blue suit and white veil."