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margin-left:1em; } +.toc dt.jl { text-align:left; clear:both; font-variant:normal; } +.toc dt.scc { text-align:center; clear:both; font-variant:small-caps; } +.toc dt span.lj { text-align:left; display:block; float:left; } +.toc dt a { font-variant:small-caps; } +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Motor Girls in the Mountains, by Margaret Penrose + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Motor Girls in the Mountains + or, The Gypsy Girl's Secret + +Author: Margaret Penrose + +Release Date: March 5, 2012 [EBook #39063] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div id="cover" class="img"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="The Motor Girls in the Mountains" width="500" height="812" /> +</div> +<div class="box"> +<div class="subbox"> +<h1>THE MOTOR GIRLS +<br />IN THE MOUNTAINS</h1> +<p class="center">Or</p> +<p class="center">The Gypsy Girl’s Secret</p> +<p class="center"><span class="small">BY</span> +<br />Margaret Penrose</p> +<div class="img"> +<img src="images/logo.png" alt="The Goldsmith Publishing Co." width="200" height="115" /> +</div> +<p class="tbcenter"><span class="sc">Copyright, 1919, by +<br />Cupples & Leon Company</span></p> +</div> +</div> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<dl class="toc"> +<dt><a id="tocsh">CHAPTER</a> PAGE</dt> +<dt><a href="#c1">I. <span class="sc">Breaking the Speed Limit</span></a> 1</dt> +<dt><a href="#c2">II. <span class="sc">Quick Thinking</span></a> 12</dt> +<dt><a href="#c3">III. <span class="sc">The Missing Purse</span></a> 21</dt> +<dt><a href="#c4">IV. <span class="sc">The Sterner Sex</span></a> 29</dt> +<dt><a href="#c5">V. <span class="sc">A Group of Vagabonds</span></a> 39</dt> +<dt><a href="#c6">VI. <span class="sc">A Perplexing Problem</span></a> 47</dt> +<dt><a href="#c7">VII. <span class="sc">The Mountain Camp</span></a> 54</dt> +<dt><a href="#c8">VIII. <span class="sc">Fun in the Open</span></a> 64</dt> +<dt><a href="#c9">IX. <span class="sc">The “Water Sprite”</span></a> 74</dt> +<dt><a href="#c10">X. <span class="sc">Springing a Leak</span></a> 83</dt> +<dt><a href="#c11">XI. <span class="sc">Cora Makes a Discovery</span></a> 92</dt> +<dt><a href="#c12">XII. <span class="sc">An Ugly Customer</span></a> 100</dt> +<dt><a href="#c13">XIII. <span class="sc">A Momentous Step</span></a> 107</dt> +<dt><a href="#c14">XIV. <span class="sc">In the Wilderness</span></a> 115</dt> +<dt><a href="#c15">XV. <span class="sc">Consternation</span></a> 125</dt> +<dt><a href="#c16">XVI. <span class="sc">Help From the Sky</span></a> 132</dt> +<dt><a href="#c17">XVII. <span class="sc">A Joyful Reunion</span></a> 142</dt> +<dt><a href="#c18">XVIII. <span class="sc">Good News Travels Fast</span></a> 150</dt> +<dt><a href="#c19">XIX. <span class="sc">An Uninvited Guest</span></a> 159</dt> +<dt><a href="#c20">XX. <span class="sc">The Greedy Marauder</span></a> 170</dt> +<dt><a href="#c21">XXI. <span class="sc">The Drifting Boat</span></a> 177</dt> +<dt><a href="#c22">XXII. <span class="sc">The Gypsy Camp</span></a> 183</dt> +<dt><a href="#c23">XXIII. <span class="sc">A Tangled Skein</span></a> 189</dt> +<dt><a href="#c24">XXIV. <span class="sc">The Knocking at Midnight</span></a> 195</dt> +<dt><a href="#c25">XXV. <span class="sc">Falsely Accused</span></a> 202</dt> +<dt><a href="#c26">XXVI. <span class="sc">Council of War</span></a> 209</dt> +<dt><a href="#c27">XXVII. <span class="sc">A Narrow Escape</span></a> 216</dt> +<dt><a href="#c28">XXVIII. <span class="sc">Waylaid</span></a> 223</dt> +<dt><a href="#c29">XXIX. <span class="sc">The Plot</span></a> 230</dt> +<dt><a href="#c30">XXX. <span class="sc">Brought Together</span></a> 237</dt> +</dl> +<div class="pb" id="Page_1">[1]</div> +<h2>THE MOTOR GIRLS +<br /><span class="small">IN THE MOUNTAINS</span></h2> +<h2 id="c1">CHAPTER I +<br /><span class="small">BREAKING THE SPEED LIMIT</span></h2> +<p>“Say, girls, isn’t this the best thing ever?”</p> +<p>Cora Kimball, the girl whose hand was on the +wheel of the motor car as it sped swiftly along a +sun-flecked country road, put the words in the +form of a question, but they were really an exclamation +drawn from her by sheer delight in +living. She was gloriously indifferent as to an +answer, but the answer came just the same from +the two pretty girls who occupied the seat behind +her.</p> +<p>“It’s perfectly grand!” cried Belle Robinson, +the more slender of the two, as she snuggled down +still more luxuriously in the soft cushions of the +automobile.</p> +<p>“It seems to me yet as though it must be a +dream,” declared her twin sister Bess, who was +considerably larger than either of her companions. +“Pinch me, somebody, so that I can be sure it’s +real.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_2">[2]</div> +<p>Cora reached over mischievously and took her +at her word.</p> +<p>Bess drew back with a little squeal.</p> +<p>“Ouch!” she exclaimed. “You took a piece out +that time!”</p> +<p>“Well, what if I did?” laughed Cora. “You +can spare a little without missing it.”</p> +<p>“You ought to be thankful to Cora for helping +you to reduce,” put in her sister slyly.</p> +<p>Bess flushed a trifle, for her “plumpness”—she +abominated the word “stout” and avoided it as if +it were the plague—was rather a tender point +with her.</p> +<p>“I don’t care for such drastic methods,” she +retorted. “I’d rather take the flesh off more gradually. +Besides,” she added with a show of pride, +“I’m going down quite fast enough as it is. I’m +two pounds lighter than I was last week.”</p> +<p>“Swell chance you have of getting thinner when +you will keep nibbling at chocolate creams,” remarked +her sister unbelievingly. “You might +hand some over, you stingy thing, instead of keeping +them all to yourself.”</p> +<p>“No such thing!” denied Bess, producing a +small box. “They’re lemon drops, and everybody +knows <i>they</i> don’t make you”—she was going to +say “fat,” but checked herself just in time to substitute +“plump.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_3">[3]</div> +<p>“Slip one into my mouth, Belle,” commanded +Cora. “I don’t dare to take my hand from the +wheel.”</p> +<p>“I noticed that you took it away fast enough +when you wanted to pinch me,” remarked Bess.</p> +<p>“That was different,” returned Cora. “You +asked me to, and I’d do a good deal to oblige a +friend.”</p> +<p>“Heaven save me from my friends,” sighed +Bess, and then they all laughed.</p> +<p>For laughter came easy on a day like this. The +sun of early August was tempered by a light +breeze that removed any suspicion of sultriness. +The road was a good one, and Cora’s car under +her expert guidance glided along with scarcely +a jar. Great trees on either side provided +a grateful shade. Squirrels scolded noisily in +the branches, and here and there a chipmunk +slipped like a shadow along the fences and the +hum of the locusts filled the air with a dreamy +harmony. A bobolink flitted across the road, +dropping a whole sheaf of silver notes from his +joyous throat. It was a day on which it was good +to be alive.</p> +<p>“To think that we’re really on our way to the +Adirondacks,” murmured Belle delightedly. “I’ve +wanted to go there ever since I wore pigtails.”</p> +<p>“And to Camp Kill Kare,” said Bess. “The +very name seems to promise all kinds of fun.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_4">[4]</div> +<p>“Doesn’t it?” agreed Cora. “And how much +more fun it is to go this way than in stuffy old +railway cars.”</p> +<p>“Are you sure we can get there by to-morrow +night?” asked Belle.</p> +<p>“We can if nothing happens to the car,” answered +Cora. “It’s in splendid shape now, and +we’re fairly eating up the miles. Of course, if it +rains and the roads get muddy it may take us a +little longer. But after all the rain we had last +week, I guess we can be sure of good weather. +There isn’t a cloud in the sky now.”</p> +<p>“Did you finally decide to stay at your Aunt +Margaret’s house to-night?” asked Bess.</p> +<p>“Yes,” replied Cora. “Isn’t it lucky that her +home is just about half-way on our trip? If it +hadn’t been for that, we’d have had to bring a +chaperon along with us, and that would have been +a nuisance. I suppose they are a necessary evil, +but I’m awfully glad when we get a chance to do +without one.”</p> +<p>“I suppose your Aunt Betty will be at Kill Kare +when we get there,” remarked Belle.</p> +<p>“She’s already there,” answered Cora. “We +got a letter from her yesterday, saying that everything +was all ready for us and that she was just +dying to see us. And with Aunt Betty in mind, +I’ll take back what I said about chaperons. She’s +a perfect dear, and I’m sure you girls will fall +dead in love with her.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_5">[5]</div> +<p>“I’ve no doubt we shall,” answered Bess. “I’m +prepared to love her just from your description. +But say, girls,” she continued, glancing at her +wrist watch, “do you know that it’s after twelve +o’clock? Don’t you think we’d better be looking +about for some place to stop to get lunch?”</p> +<p>“Hear that girl talk!” mocked Cora. “And +she’s the one that’s always talking about reducing!”</p> +<p>“Oh, that this too, too solid flesh might melt,” +quoted Belle.</p> +<p>“If the truth were known, I’ll wager I don’t eat +as much as either of you two,” retorted Bess. “I +had only a cup of coffee and two rolls this morning.”</p> +<p>“You had more than two rolls,” declared Belle, +“I counted them and there were at least ten.”</p> +<p>“What do you mean, Belle Robinson?” asked +Bess, turning to her sister in bewilderment.</p> +<p>“Rolls on the floor, I mean,” explained Belle, +“when you were going through your reducing exercises.”</p> +<p>Bess turned her eyes to heaven in mute appeal.</p> +<p>“My own sister giving me away!” she moaned. +“Well, our relatives are wished on us, but thank +goodness I can choose my friends.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_6">[6]</div> +<p>“Stop your scrapping, girls,” interposed Cora, +“and listen to me. There isn’t any hotel in sight, +and even if there were, who wants to go indoors +on a day like this? Mary put up a splendid lunch +before we started. What’s the matter with dining +<i>al fresco</i>?”</p> +<p>“Listen to the girl!” exclaimed Belle. “What +does she mean by that?”</p> +<p>“Sounds to me like a sleight of hand performer,” +murmured Bess.</p> +<p>“You’re thinking of ‘presto change,’” laughed +Cora. “No, my benighted sisters. To put the +thing in terms that your limited intelligence can +grasp, I meant that we would eat in the open air.”</p> +<p>“Good!” exclaimed Belle.</p> +<p>“Right here in the car?” asked Bess.</p> +<p>“Why, we could,” answered Cora; “but don’t +you think it would be better yet to find some nice +little place by the side of the road? I’m a little +cramped from sitting so long, and I suppose you +are too. It will do us good to have a change.”</p> +<p>“Let’s choose some place where there’s a brook +or a spring,” suggested Bess. “I’m dreadfully +thirsty.”</p> +<p>“Been eating too many lemon drops,” said +Belle.</p> +<p>“No more than you,” retorted Bess.</p> +<p>“No. But, gracious, that’s too many,” sighed +her sister. “Less candy and more sandwiches for +me when we are in the open air like this! Come, +where’s that brook?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_7">[7]</div> +<p>“I’ve no doubt we can find such a place,” observed +Cora, as she put a little extra speed in the +car. “You girls keep your eyes open and tell me +when to stop. I’ve got all I can do to watch the +road and save some dog or chicken from untimely +death.”</p> +<p>Not many minutes had elapsed before Belle +reached over and touched Cora’s arm.</p> +<p>“The very spot!” she exclaimed. “There’s a +brook and some trees that were just intended for +a picnic party.”</p> +<p>Cora guided the car to the side of the road. +The girls got out and stretched their cramped +limbs with a sigh of relief. The lunch basket was +taken from beneath the seat and carried to a cool +and shady spot beneath a clump of great trees that +stood a few feet away from the road. From a +brook that rippled over the stones with a musical +murmur, they brought a supply of water. A robe +from the car was spread out on the grass, and +napkins from the basket served as miniature tablecloths.</p> +<p>Then Mary’s offerings were brought to light, +and amply maintained that person’s reputation for +culinary skill. Lettuce sandwiches, hard-boiled +eggs, fried chicken legs, lemon tarts and fruit followed +each other in rapid succession. Then, too, +there was a thermos bottle filled with hot, fragrant +coffee.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_8">[8]</div> +<p>Their morning in the open air had sharpened +the appetites of the girls, and they ate with a zest +that would have made a dyspeptic turn green with +envy. Bess, to be sure, tried feebly to bear in +mind her rules for dieting, but the temptation was +too great, and for that once anyway her good +resolutions went by the board.</p> +<p>“I could die happy now,” she murmured, between +bites of a lemon tart.</p> +<p>“You will die anyway if you eat much more,” +said her sister severely. “Bess Robinson, I’m +ashamed of you.”</p> +<p>“You’ll have to take twenty rolls to-morrow instead +of ten, to make up for this,” laughed Cora.</p> +<p>“To-morrow’s a new day,” replied Bess +mutinously. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil +thereof.”</p> +<p>“She’s a hopeless case, I’m afraid,” sighed +Belle. “But come along now, girls, and gather +up these things. We want to get to the house of +Cora’s aunt before it gets dark.”</p> +<p>“Behold a stranger cometh,” remarked Cora, +as a horse and buggy came in sight, with a young +man holding the reins.</p> +<p>The vehicle approached rapidly, and the eyes +of the driver lighted up as he caught sight of the +three girls. Instead of driving by, he reined up +at the roadside and jumping from the buggy +made his way toward the little party.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_9">[9]</div> +<p>He was of medium height, flashily dressed, and +had a weak, dissipated-looking face. The girls +had risen to their feet and drawn a little closer +together as he approached.</p> +<p>He took off his hat and bowed, with a smile +that he tried to make ingratiating.</p> +<p>“I see I’m in luck,” he remarked. “Just in time +to have a bite of lunch, if there’s any left.”</p> +<p>Cora, to whom the other girls looked for leadership, +froze him with a glance.</p> +<p>“If you’re hungry, you can probably get something +to eat at the next town,” she said. “We +haven’t anything for tramps.”</p> +<p>The man flushed uncomfortably, and his impudent +assurance went down several degrees beneath +her stare.</p> +<p>“What’s the use of being so stiff?” he expostulated. +“I’m only trying to be friendly.”</p> +<p>“That’s just what we object to,” replied Cora. +“We don’t want your friendship. My brother will +be along shortly, and perhaps he will appreciate +it more than we do.”</p> +<p>The young man cast a hurried glance up and +down the road. It was evident that, however +strong his craving for feminine society, he had +no desire to meet the brother.</p> +<p>“Oh, well,” he muttered, as he made his way +toward the buggy, “you needn’t be so quick to take +offence. There are plenty of girls who would be +glad of my company.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_10">[10]</div> +<p>And with this, that was meant to be a Parthian +shot, but that only provoked a nervous desire to +laugh on the part of the girls, he gathered up the +reins and drove off.</p> +<p>They saw him go with immense relief, for there +was no other man in sight, and his impudence had +alarmed as well as offended them.</p> +<p>“Well, of all the nerve!” ejaculated Belle.</p> +<p>“You certainly can freeze when you want to, +Cora,” laughed Bess.</p> +<p>“How lucky it was that you thought of Jack,” +said Belle. “Did you see the frightened look that +came into his eyes?”</p> +<p>“That sort of man always is a coward,” replied +Cora. “Perhaps he won’t be so free and easy +when he meets girls alone again. But let’s get +busy now and hustle these things back into the +car.”</p> +<p>They soon had the thermos bottle and the depleted +lunch basket tucked snugly away. The twins +settled down in the rear seat, Cora threw in the +clutch, and the car started.</p> +<p>They had gone perhaps a mile, when they descried +a car coming at a rapid rate from the opposite +direction.</p> +<p>“That man seems to be trying to break the +speed limit,” remarked Cora, as she drove her +own car close to the right-hand side of the road +so as to give plenty of room.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_11">[11]</div> +<p>“Like Jehu, the son of Nimshi, he driveth furiously,” +observed Belle.</p> +<p>Just then the gate of a near-by farmhouse was +pushed open, and a little child about three years +old toddled out into the road, right in the path +of the onrushing car.</p> +<p>A shriek went up from the girls.</p> +<p>“Oh, girls,” screamed Bess, rising from her +seat, “that child will be killed!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_12">[12]</div> +<h2 id="c2">CHAPTER II +<br /><span class="small">QUICK THINKING</span></h2> +<p>For one tense moment it seemed as though +nothing could avert a terrible tragedy.</p> +<p>A woman burst out of the house and ran +screaming toward her child. But it was clearly +impossible for her to reach the little one in time +to save it.</p> +<p>The child, startled by the screams, stood helplessly +right in the path of the Juggernaut that +seemed doomed to crush it.</p> +<p>The driver of the car had seen the danger, and +he instantly threw out the clutch and put on the +brakes. But he was too near to stop in time.</p> +<p>There was only one thing to do, and, like a +gallant man, he did it. He whirled the wheel +around, and the car, its speed diminished but still +considerable, dashed into a tree by the side of the +road. The driver, an elderly man, was thrown +out and lay stunned and bleeding.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_13">[13]</div> +<p>The mother rushed to the little one and gathered +it up into her arms with sobs and exclamations.</p> +<p>The girls, who had been unable to move and +had sat paralyzed with horror, breathed a huge +sigh of relief.</p> +<p>“Thank God, the baby’s saved!” cried Bess.</p> +<p>“Yes,” exclaimed Cora, “but the man may be +killed! Let’s see what we can do to help him.”</p> +<p>The three girls jumped from the car and rushed +over to the injured man.</p> +<p>While the girls are giving first aid to the man, +and the mother is crying and crooning over her +child, it may be well for the sake of those who +have not followed our Motor Girls in their previous +adventures to state a little more fully just +who they were and what they had been doing up +to the time this story opens.</p> +<p>Cora Kimball and her brother Jack—the same +Jack who had been brought in so handily in their +encounter with the impudent young man—were +the children of a wealthy widow living in Chelton, +a New England village located not very far from +the New York line. They were both healthy, +normal, wideawake young people, and took vast +delight in motoring. Either in a motor car or a +motor boat they were equally happy and equally +at home; and Cora was quite as expert in managing +them as her brother.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_14">[14]</div> +<p>Cora’s special chums were Belle and Bess Robinson, +twin daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Perry Robinson, +the former a well-to-do railroad man, living +in the same town as the Kimballs. Belle, as we +have seen, was tall and slender—“<i>svelte</i>” was the +way she liked to put it. And Bess—well, Bess was +“plump,” but a very pretty and charming girl +nevertheless. Of the three girls, Cora was the +natural leader, and the trio were almost inseparable.</p> +<p>Jack Kimball, Cora’s brother, was a manly, +likable chap and devotedly attached to his sister, +although at times he liked to “lord it” over her +with truly masculine complacency. He was a student +at Exmouth College, and his most intimate +friend was Walter Pennington, who spent most +of his vacations and whatever other spare time he +had at the Kimball home. Perhaps Jack’s charming +sister was the special magnet that drew Walter +there so often—— But there, it isn’t fair to +delve too curiously into matters of that kind.</p> +<p>Paul Hastings, who had a position in an automobile +concern, was a close friend of Jack and +Walter, and the girls too liked him very much.</p> +<p>The love of motoring that all six, boys and +girls alike, shared in common had led to many +trips to various parts of the country, in the course +of which they had met with many surprising and +sometimes thrilling adventures. Both Cora and +the Robinson twins had cars of their own, but as +Cora seemed to take the lead in everything, most +of the tours were taken in her car.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_15">[15]</div> +<p>Their trips took them at one time or another +to almost every section of the interior and the +coast. At Lookout Beach, through New England, +on Cedar Lake, at Crystal Bay, on the coast, +even as far as the West Indies, all that happened +to them on these expeditions, and it was much, is +told in the previous volumes of the series.</p> +<p>In the volume immediately preceding this one, +called “The Motor Girls at Camp Surprise,” a +number of very strange happenings are recorded. +To begin with, Cora’s car was stolen and she was +almost inconsolable, for though her mother would +have bought her one to replace it, she had an +affectionate attachment for the old one that had +so many happy memories connected with it. They +found no real track of the thieves until, when they +were spending the early part of the summer at +Camp Surprise, they came across a gang of ticket +counterfeiters, who had set up their plant in an +underground passage leading from the very house +where the girls were staying.</p> +<p>And now, as the reader has seen, the girls were +on their way to spend the late summer in the +heart of the Adirondacks. And right at the outset +they had been witnesses of what was so nearly a +tragedy that for the moment their hearts had +stood still.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_16">[16]</div> +<p>All alert, now that their terror for the child’s +safety was dispelled, the girls hurried over to the +driver, who still lay stretched out in the road. As +they approached he opened his eyes and looked +about him in a dazed way.</p> +<p>“The child,” he murmured, as he brushed his +hand over his forehead. “Is it safe?”</p> +<p>“It’s all right,” replied Cora cheerily, immensely +relieved to find that the driver was not +dead, as she had feared. “But don’t try to talk +now until you feel a little stronger.”</p> +<p>She knelt down and took his head upon her +knee.</p> +<p>“Run to the house, girls, and get some water,” +she commanded, taking charge of things, as she +always did in a crisis.</p> +<p>The farmer’s wife, who had now got back some +of her self-control, led the way into the house, and +in a moment the girls were back with plenty of +cool water and some linen. Cora washed a cut in +the man’s head, deftly tied a bandage around it, +and put some water to his lips, which he drank +eagerly.</p> +<p>The cut was not a serious one, and the farmer, +who had joined the group, announced after a brief +examination that no bones seemed to be broken. +He was urgent that the man should be taken into +the house and a doctor sent for, but the injured +man, who was getting stronger by the minute and +seemed to have a very determined will of his own, +vetoed this emphatically.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_17">[17]</div> +<p>“There’s nothing the matter with me except for +the shock and a few bruises,” he declared. “I’ll +be as well as ever as soon as this dizziness passes +away.”</p> +<p>He proved himself a true prophet, for at the +end of ten minutes he was on his feet and looking +ruefully at his car.</p> +<p>“Pretty much of a wreck, I imagine,” he remarked +with a twisted smile, as he walked around +it and took stock of the damage.</p> +<p>The girls joined in the inspection, and as they +knew as much about automobiles as the man himself, +they satisfied themselves that he had not exaggerated +much in describing it as a “wreck.” The +wheels and part of the body were intact, but the +machinery was badly knocked out of gear. It +was clear that it would not be able to go under its +own power.</p> +<p>“There’s a garage a few miles further on,” the +stranger remarked. “I’ll have to leave word there +and have them come back to get it.”</p> +<p>“No need of doing that,” volunteered Cora. +“We’re going in that direction, and we’ll be glad +to tow you there.”</p> +<p>The man hesitated.</p> +<p>“It’s very good of you,” he replied, “but I’m +afraid I’ve taxed your kindness too far already.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_18">[18]</div> +<p>“It won’t be any trouble at all,” returned Cora +cordially. “You can sit in the front seat with me, +and as my car is a powerful one we’ll be able to +tow yours easily.”</p> +<p>He demurred a little longer, but finally accepted +the offer with hearty thanks. The farmer brought +out a rope, and with the aid of a couple of farm +hands got the wrecked machine out in the road. +Then the two cars were connected and the girls +started off, with a parting wave of the hand and a +smile directed especially to the little toddler, who +was held tightly in the mother’s arm.</p> +<p>“That child won’t be allowed to go out of the +gate alone again in a hurry, I guess,” laughed +Belle.</p> +<p>“It wasn’t the child’s fault,” remarked the +stranger. “I was going altogether too fast. If +I’d been moving at a moderate rate I could have +stopped in plenty of time. Fact is, I was thinking +of something else—none too pleasant thoughts +they were either—and I didn’t realize just how +fast I was going.”</p> +<p>“You were very lucky to get off as well as you +did, Mr.——” Cora hesitated inquiringly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_19">[19]</div> +<p>“Morley,” supplemented the stranger. “Bless +my heart, here I am accepting all this service from +you young ladies and forgetting to introduce myself. +Samuel Morley is my name, and I live in +the town of Saxton, about twenty miles from here. +Yes, as you were saying, I was very lucky to get +off as well as I did—a good deal luckier than I +deserved. Though perhaps it would have been +just as well if I had been killed after all.”</p> +<p>He brought out the last sentence so savagely +that the girls were startled.</p> +<p>“You mustn’t mind what I say,” he said apologetically, +as he noted the look on their faces. +“I’m just a crabbed old stick anyway. If I hadn’t +been that, I wouldn’t have so many painful memories +now. Sometimes they come crowding in upon +me until it seems as though I couldn’t stand them. +But I wouldn’t want to say anything that would +shadow the faces of young girls. There was a +young girl once——”</p> +<p>He caught himself up sharply.</p> +<p>“But here I am doing all the talking,” he said. +“That’s a sign I’m getting old. Now suppose you +girls turn the tables. Tell me all about yourselves +and where you are going.”</p> +<p>The conversation became general then, and +from that time on he carefully refrained from +saying anything bearing on himself, although the +girls, who scented a romance or a tragedy somewhere, +would gladly have forborne their own +talk in order to hear more of his story.</p> +<p>“There’s the garage over there,” he said, as +they drew near the outskirts of a town, pointing +to a low building on the right.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_20">[20]</div> +<p>Cora drove her car close in and the keeper +of the garage came out and unfastened the rope +that bound the two machines.</p> +<p>“I can’t thank you young ladies enough,” Mr. +Morley said gratefully, as he shook hands with +them. “I only hope the time will come when I +can repay the favor.”</p> +<p>“Are you feeling all right now?” asked Cora, +as she got ready to throw in the clutch.</p> +<p>“Nothing worse than a headache. You’re a +first-class doctor,” he replied with a twinkle in his +eye.</p> +<p>Cora laughed.</p> +<p>“Don’t tell any one,” she admonished. “It +might get me into trouble. You know, I haven’t +a license to practise in this state.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_21">[21]</div> +<h2 id="c3">CHAPTER III +<br /><span class="small">THE MISSING PURSE</span></h2> +<p>“What queer things that man said about himself,” +remarked Belle, as she settled back in her +seat.</p> +<p>“I was wild to have him go on,” replied her +sister. “I’m sure he’s got a romance or a mystery +of some kind in his life.”</p> +<p>“Did you see how suddenly he checked himself +when he started to talk about that girl?” asked +Cora.</p> +<p>“Perhaps it was some girl whom he intended to +marry,” said Bess, who had a strong vein of sentiment +in her composition.</p> +<p>“Well, we’ll never get a chance to know,” observed +Belle. “We’ve probably seen Mr. Samuel +Morley for the first and last time.”</p> +<p>“I don’t know about that,” rejoined Cora. “I +have a sort of feeling that we’ll run across him +again.”</p> +<p>“Listen to the seventh daughter of a seventh +daughter,” mocked Belle.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_22">[22]</div> +<p>“Sybilla, the reader of the mystic sphere, the +gazer into the crystal globe!” gibed Bess.</p> +<p>“I’m no prophetess,” disclaimed Cora. “I just +have a feeling that way. Perhaps I’ll have the +laugh on you scoffers yet.”</p> +<p>“We’re willing to wait,” returned Belle. “Just +now it’s the present more than the future that +I’m worrying about. That Good Samaritan act +of ours has taken up a good deal of time. And +you know that we planned to stop in that department +store when we get to Roxbury and buy some +of the things we came away without in our hurry +this morning. I’ve simply got to have that chiffon.”</p> +<p>“And I need a new box of powder,” put in +Bess. “My old one is nearly empty.”</p> +<p>“Such victims of the vanity of this world,” +sighed Cora. “But don’t worry, girls. I’ll throw +in a little extra speed and you’ll hear the car +fairly purr.”</p> +<p>“Not too fast,” cautioned Belle. “After what +we saw to-day in the way of fast driving, I’m willing +to go a little slower.”</p> +<p>“I’ll be careful,” promised Cora; “but all the +same we can afford to go a good deal faster than +we are moving now.”</p> +<p>She threw in more speed, and the gallant car +responded at once with scarcely an added vibration. +In a short time Roxbury was in sight, and +turning into one of the main streets, they drew up +before the doors of the leading store of the town.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_23">[23]</div> +<p>They went at once to the veiling department, +where Belle purchased her chiffon. That and the +powder that Bess secured in the drug department +completed all the buying that they had intended +to do. But they were true daughters of Eve, and +so many things met their eyes that they were sure +they simply could not do without, that before they +knew it they had bought quite extensively.</p> +<p>They were standing at one of the counters, +waiting for their change, which seemed an unconscionable +time in coming.</p> +<p>“Even Job would have lost patience if there +had been department stores in his day,” remarked +Belle.</p> +<p>“But there <i>were</i> department stores then,” replied +Cora.</p> +<p>“What do you mean?” asked Bess.</p> +<p>“There must have been,” said Cora. “Don’t +you remember where Job says: ‘All the days of +my life will I wait till my change come’?”</p> +<p>The girls laughed, but the laugh quickly faded +when Cora gave a startled exclamation:</p> +<p>“Oh, girls, I’ve lost my purse!”</p> +<p>“You don’t mean it!” cried Belle.</p> +<p>“Are you sure?” asked Bess.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_24">[24]</div> +<p>“I had it in my hand just a minute ago,” replied +Cora in much agitation. “I took that ten dollar +bill out of it that they’re making change for now. +I must have laid it down for a minute, and now +it’s gone.”</p> +<p>There were a number of bolts of cloth on the +counter near which the girls were standing, and +they made a hurried search among them without +result.</p> +<p>“And I had nearly a hundred dollars in it,” +mourned Cora. “Will you please help me look +for my purse?” she asked of the man behind the +counter, who had been standing with his back +toward them, busily packing pieces of cloth on +the shelves.</p> +<p>He turned toward them, rather reluctantly the +girls thought, and they were startled to find themselves +looking into the eyes of the young man +who had annoyed them while they were lunching +at the roadside.</p> +<p>A flush suffused his face as the girls looked at +him coldly.</p> +<p>“What can I do for you, ladies?” he asked, in +an obsequious tone that was in strong contrast +with the impudent one he had used a few hours +before.</p> +<p>“I’ve lost my purse about here somewhere,” +said Cora, “and as it had a considerable sum of +money in it I am very anxious to have it found.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_25">[25]</div> +<p>He was profuse in his expressions of regret, and +began with apparent eagerness to turn over all the +goods on the counter, while the girls watched anxiously. +But there was no sign of the purse to be +seen.</p> +<p>Just then the manager of the store came along, +an alert, keen-eyed man, and seeing the little commotion +about the counter, asked courteously if he +could be of any assistance.</p> +<p>He listened carefully to what Cora had to say.</p> +<p>“It’s singular,” he said. “There doesn’t seem +from what you say to have been anybody standing +close by within the last few minutes. Are you +quite sure that you had the purse when you came +to this counter?”</p> +<p>“Positive,” replied Cora. “I haven’t moved +from here since I took the bill out of the purse to +pay for the goods I bought.”</p> +<p>“Have you made a careful search, Higby?” +asked the manager, fixing his sharp eyes upon the +clerk as though he would read him through and +through.</p> +<p>“Yes, sir,” replied Higby; “but I’ll go through +the goods again to make sure.”</p> +<p>He tossed the bolts of cloth about vigorously, +and after a moment gave an exclamation of triumph.</p> +<p>“Here it is!” he cried. “Is this your purse, +miss?” he asked, holding the article out to Cora.</p> +<p>The latter pounced upon it with a little squeal +of delight.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_26">[26]</div> +<p>“Oh, yes, that’s it!” she exclaimed. “Thank +you ever so much.”</p> +<p>“You would better look over the money to make +sure it is all there,” suggested the manager.</p> +<p>Cora ran hastily over the roll of bills.</p> +<p>“It’s all right,” she announced in a tone of +relief.</p> +<p>The manager expressed his gratification at its +recovery, coupled with an expression of regret at +the annoyance she had suffered, and the missing +change having come by this time, the girls hurriedly +gathered their purchases together and left +the store.</p> +<p>“You lucky girl!” exclaimed Belle, as Cora +started the car.</p> +<p>“Luckier than I deserve,” laughed Cora happily. +“It was awfully careless of me to let the +purse out of my hand for a second. It would +have served me right if I had lost it.”</p> +<p>“Do you think you really lost it?” asked Belle +significantly.</p> +<p>The girls looked at each other, and it was evident +that the same thought was shared by all.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_27">[27]</div> +<p>“Perhaps it seems mean to say it,” remarked +Cora slowly, “but since you ask me, I must say +that the whole thing looks queer. There was the +way he kept his back to us when we were looking +for it on our own account. But I don’t lay so +much weight on that, because he might have recognized +us and felt a little sheepish after the way we +took him down this afternoon. But why couldn’t +he have found it before the manager came along, +and why did he find it so promptly when the +manager was standing there watching him? Of +course, it might have been mixed up in the folds +of the cloth the first time, and dropped out when +he went over the goods again the second time. I +suppose anyway we ought to give him the benefit +of the doubt.”</p> +<p>“He doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt from +me,” said Bess in so emphatic a manner that the +others, accustomed to her easy-going ways, looked +at her in astonishment.</p> +<p>“You hard-hearted thing!” exclaimed her sister.</p> +<p>“What do you mean?” asked Cora.</p> +<p>“Listen, my children, and you shall hear,” began +Bess in her best manner. “I kept my eye on +that young gentleman——”</p> +<p>“The Gorgon stare,” murmured her sister.</p> +<p>“When he was turning those bolts of cloth the +second time,” went on Bess, disdaining to dignify +the interruption by noticing it, “and while he was +fumbling them with one hand, I saw him bring up +the purse from beneath the counter with the other +hand and slip it under the cloth. Then, before +I could say anything, he called out that he had +found it. I could have shaken you when you +thanked him so sweetly, Cora Kimball.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_28">[28]</div> +<p>The girls looked at each other aghast.</p> +<p>“Did you ever?” gasped Belle.</p> +<p>“He ought to be exposed!” exclaimed Cora indignantly.</p> +<p>“I suppose he ought,” agreed Bess placidly. +“But after all, the proof wouldn’t be strong +enough. It would be simply my word against his, +and he’d swear black and blue that I was mistaken. +We’d only get mixed up in an ugly mess, +and nothing would come of it after all. I fancy +that that young man will get to the end of his +rope soon enough without our having anything to +do with it. Thank your lucky stars, Cora, that +you’ve got your money back, and let it go at that.”</p> +<p>“To think of Bess playing sleuth and tracking +crime to its lair!” cried Belle. “I didn’t think she +had it in her.”</p> +<p>“Oh, I’m some little bright-eyes, if you ask +me,” remarked Bess complacently, as she reached +out for the last of the lemon drops.</p> +<p>“We’ll have to work this up into amateur theatricals +when the boys join us,” laughed Cora.</p> +<p>“Yes,” agreed Belle, “we’ll stage a one-act +play and call it: ‘The Greed of Gold; or, Bess +Robinson, the Girl Detective.’”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_29">[29]</div> +<h2 id="c4">CHAPTER IV +<br /><span class="small">THE STERNER SEX</span></h2> +<p>“Talking of the boys——” began Bess.</p> +<p>“Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth +speaketh,” drawled her sister.</p> +<p>Bess flushed.</p> +<p>“You think of them just as much as I do, Belle +Robinson, and perhaps more!” she countered. +“But what I was going to say when I was so +rudely interrupted was to wonder when they were +ever going to catch up with us.”</p> +<p>“Jack said they’d surely overtake us before +night,” replied Cora. “Walter and he were all +ready, but Paul had had some things to wind up +for his firm before he started in on his vacation. +He had telegraphed, though, that he would be in +Chelton before noon, and Jack said he’d show us +just how fast that car of his could travel. He’s +awfully proud of that car, but between us, girls, I +don’t think he has anything on this car of mine in +the matter of speed,” and she patted the wheel +affectionately.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_30">[30]</div> +<p>“Let’s hope they don’t get arrested for speeding,” +said Belle.</p> +<p>“Or run over any babies,” put in Bess, with a +lively recollection of the thrilling episode of the +afternoon.</p> +<p>“I guess there’s no danger of that,” said Cora. +“Jack’s keen on speed, but he’s a careful driver +for all that. I tell you what we’ll do, girls. You +keep a sharp lookout in the rear, for they may +come into sight at any minute now, and the minute +you see them coming you let me know. Then I’ll +let out a little and we’ll try to tease them by keeping +just far enough ahead of them to drive them +crazy.”</p> +<p>“That’ll be dandy!” said Belle eagerly. “It’ll +do them good to take some of the conceit out of +them. I suppose they think we’ve been pining to +have them with us.”</p> +<p>“Well, haven’t you?” asked Bess mischievously.</p> +<p>“No, I haven’t,” declared Belle, but in a tone +that somehow failed to carry conviction.</p> +<p>“That looks like their car now!” cried Bess +excitedly, as she caught a glimpse of an automobile +that had just swung around a curve in the +road about half a mile in the rear.</p> +<p>Belle craned her neck in the same direction.</p> +<p>“I guess it is,” she confirmed. “I can make out +three people in it, but they’re too far away to see +their faces.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_31">[31]</div> +<p>“We’ll let them get a little nearer so we can +make sure,” said Cora, settling herself in her seat +and taking a tighter grasp on the wheel, “and +then we’ll let them take our dust and see how they +like it.”</p> +<p>Belle knelt upon the seat to get a better view.</p> +<p>“Sister Anne, Sister Anne, do you see a man?” +chanted Bess.</p> +<p>“Three of them,” replied Belle, “and they’re +coming like all possessed. I’m almost sure it’s +Jack that’s driving. There, one of them has taken +out a handkerchief and is waving it!”</p> +<p>“It’s them,” pronounced Belle a moment later, +forgetting her grammar in her excitement, and +scrambling back into her seat again. “Now, Cora, +it’s up to you to show them what the Motor Girls +can do.”</p> +<p>“See that your hats are on tight, girls,” laughed +Cora. “We’re going to stir up some little breeze.”</p> +<p>They had a long stretch of road in front of +them at the time, with no house or vehicle in +sight. The conditions could not have been better +for a race, and Cora increased her speed gradually +until the car was going like the wind.</p> +<p>The car behind had taken up the challenge at +once and was also coming along at a tremendous +rate. But Belle, venturing sundry peeks behind, +announced gleefully that it was not gaining an +inch.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_32">[32]</div> +<p>“But that isn’t enough,” Cora flung back. “We +want to make them actually drop farther behind. +When we’ve once done that I’ll be satisfied. Then +we’ll slow up and let them catch up to us.”</p> +<p>Two minutes later, Belle clapped her hands in +delight.</p> +<p>“We’ve done it! We’ve done it!” she cried. +“They’re a quarter of a mile farther back than +they were when we started in.”</p> +<p>“Oh, how we’ll rub it into them!” gurgled Bess.</p> +<p>“Well, enough is as good as a feast,” laughed +Cora, in great satisfaction. “Now we’ll give the +lords of creation a chance to explain how they +came to let mere girls run away from them.”</p> +<p>“It will take some explanation,” remarked +Belle.</p> +<p>“They’re great little explainers, though,” said +Bess. “They’d rather die than admit we had +the faster car.”</p> +<p>Cora gradually slackened speed until the car, +while still running swiftly, had reached a more reasonable +rate. Belle’s glances behind told her that +their pursuers were overtaking them by leaps and +bounds.</p> +<p>A moment later there was a wild chorus of +shouts, and Jack’s car drew up alongside. His +two friends, Walter Pennington and Paul Hastings, +were with him, both tall, athletic young fellows, +with frank, pleasant faces.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_33">[33]</div> +<p>The girls looked up with well simulated surprise, +and pleasure that was not at all simulated.</p> +<p>“Why, it’s the boys!” they cried in chorus.</p> +<p>Both cars had by this time come to a full stop, +and the masculine contingent, deserting theirs, +came round to the girls’ car to greet them and to +shake hands. Jack went further and gave his sister +a hearty kiss, a proceeding which brought a +look of envy to the faces of his companions.</p> +<p>“Where in the world have you slowpokes +been?” asked Belle.</p> +<p>“Not much of a compliment, keeping away +from us so long,” pouted Bess in a way to show a +most bewitching dimple.</p> +<p>“I guess they’ve been glad enough to be rid of +us for a while,” chimed in Cora.</p> +<p>Looks full of reproach and denial greeted this +onslaught.</p> +<p>“That’s pretty good!” remarked Paul.</p> +<p>“Rich!” assented Walter.</p> +<p>“Just as if we hadn’t been breaking speed laws +all day long in order to overtake you,” mourned +Jack.</p> +<p>“What’s the use of living when you’re so misunderstood?” +groaned Walter.</p> +<p>“After all the ice-creams and sodas we’ve blown +in on these girls, too!” wailed Paul.</p> +<p>“Let’s find a hole somewhere and crawl away +and die,” suggested Jack.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_34">[34]</div> +<p>“It seems to me that the shoe’s on the other +foot anyway,” said Walter, becoming accuser in +his turn. “It’s you who didn’t want us. Who +was it just now that was trying to run away from +us?”</p> +<p>“Run away from you?” repeated Cora innocently. +“What do you mean by that?”</p> +<p>“You know perfectly well, you little minx,” said +her brother with mock sternness. “There we were, +waving handkerchiefs at you and hustling the old +machine along to beat the band. I know you saw +us, for one of you was looking back.”</p> +<p>“I did see some one waving a handkerchief,” +admitted Belle. “But it looked as though some +ill-bred person was trying to flirt with us, and +of course we didn’t pay the least attention.”</p> +<p>“No,” said Bess primly, “we’d die before we’d +flirt.”</p> +<p>“If we’d wanted to flirt we had a perfectly good +chance to-day while we were eating lunch,” said +Cora. “He had a perfectly lovely necktie, too, +a good deal brighter than any of yours.”</p> +<p>Jack threw up his hands with a gesture of despair.</p> +<p>“No use, fellows!” he exclaimed. “You can’t +pin them down to anything.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_35">[35]</div> +<p>“But what did you have to wave your handkerchief +for anyway to make us stop?” asked Cora +demurely. “All you had to do was to put on more +speed and catch up to us. That car of yours is so +fast, you know. At least that’s what you’ve always +said.”</p> +<p>The boys looked at each other a little disconcertedly.</p> +<p>“W-well,” stammered Jack, “the oil—the sparking +wasn’t working just right——”</p> +<p>“Tell the truth, Jack,” spoke up Walter, with +a fine assumption of candor. “The real reason, +girls, was that we were afraid of bumping into +you——”</p> +<p>“And we didn’t want to spill you all over the +road,” finished Paul.</p> +<p>A groan went up from the girls.</p> +<p>“Oh, Ananias!” exclaimed Bess.</p> +<p>“Ananiases, you mean,” corrected her sister. +“One’s just as bad as the others. They all hang +together.”</p> +<p>“We’re like Ben Franklin when he signed the +Declaration of Independence,” laughed Paul. +“He said they’d all have to hang together or +they’d hang separately.”</p> +<p>“I’ll admit that you have a good car, sis,” said +Jack.</p> +<p>“And if that isn’t enough to take us back into +favor, we’ll do anything else you say,” said Walter, +wringing his hands in pretended agitation.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_36">[36]</div> +<p>“We’ll put on sackcloth and ashes, jump through +a hoop, roll over and play dead,” chimed in Paul. +“No one has anything on us when it comes to +humility.”</p> +<p>“It almost affects me to tears,” said Belle, pretending +to reach for her handkerchief.</p> +<p>“They say cruel and unusual punishments are +prohibited by the Constitution,” laughed Cora, +“so we won’t deprive you of the refining influence +of our society. Heaven knows you need it badly +enough. We’ll let you trail along with us if you’ll +promise to be very, very good.”</p> +<p>“We will,” promised Jack.</p> +<p>“There’s one thing yet that needs to be explained, +fellows,” remarked Walter, as they +climbed into their automobile. “What about that +fellow with the iridescent necktie? I feel the +demon of jealousy gnawing at my vitals.”</p> +<p>“Come, girls, ’fess up,” admonished Jack.</p> +<p>“He was just charming,” said Cora promptly.</p> +<p>“Perfectly lovely,” agreed Belle.</p> +<p>“Such soulful eyes!” exclaimed Bess languishingly.</p> +<p>“That I should ever have lived to hear this!” +groaned Walter.</p> +<p>“I guess our cake is dough,” said Paul.</p> +<p>“Eftsoon and gadzooks!” cried Jack, striking +an attitude, “lead me to him, and sooth it shall go +hard with me if my trusty sword drink not the +caitiff’s blood.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_37">[37]</div> +<p>“I guess you don’t need to go as far as that,” +laughed Cora. “Leave him alone and the police +will take care of him.”</p> +<p>“A-ha, a criminal!” cried Walter.</p> +<p>“That only makes him the more romantic,” declared +Paul.</p> +<p>“It doesn’t help our case one bit,” said Jack. +“Haven’t you heard of how women will deck a +murderer’s cell with flowers?”</p> +<p>“I don’t think he’d have the nerve to be a murderer,” +remarked Belle. “His specialty is stealing +purses.”</p> +<p>And while the boys listened intently and threw +in occasional indignant exclamations, the girls told +of the young man’s attempt to scrape acquaintance, +and of how later he had almost succeeded +in getting possession of Cora’s purse.</p> +<p>“The cur!” growled Jack. “I wish I’d happened +along when he was trying to get fresh!”</p> +<p>“You helped me out just the same, even if you +weren’t there,” replied Cora. “You ought to have +seen how he made tracks for his buggy when I said +my brother would be along shortly.”</p> +<p>“You see,” said Jack, throwing out his chest, +“how the terror of my name has preceded me.”</p> +<p>“It’s comforting anyway,” chimed in Walter. +“It proves that we men are good for something.”</p> +<p>“And that the girls ought to have us with them +all the time as trusty knights and vassals,” added +Paul.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_38">[38]</div> +<p>“You’re too ready to jump to conclusions,” rebuked +Cora. “But now we’d better be hurrying +along. It’s getting towards dark, and we’ll have +all we can do to get to Aunt Margaret’s in time +for dinner.”</p> +<p>“Dinner!” exclaimed Jack. “Where have I +heard that word before? Lead me to it!”</p> +<p>“Do you think you can keep up with us in that +car?” asked Cora wickedly. “If not, I’ll give you +a tow.”</p> +<p>“Listen to her rubbing it in!” moaned Paul.</p> +<p>“It wasn’t enough to beat us,” complained +Walter.</p> +<p>“I guess that fellow was right,” remarked +Jack, “who said that Indians and women were +alike. They both scalp the dead.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_39">[39]</div> +<h2 id="c5">CHAPTER V +<br /><span class="small">A GROUP OF VAGABONDS</span></h2> +<p>The two cars rolled along smartly, for the +various happenings of the day had put the Motor +Girls behind the schedule they had hoped to make. +But despite their best efforts, dusk was settling +down and the stars beginning to peep out when +they drove up to the Kimball’s Aunt Margaret’s +door.</p> +<p>She greeted them affectionately, and after they +had washed off the dust of travel they were seated +at the sumptuous meal she had had prepared in +anticipation of their coming. After dinner was +over, a number of young people in the neighborhood +who had been invited to meet the tourists +dropped in, and there was music and dancing. But +Aunt Margaret’s watchfulness over her charges +prevented this from being prolonged to an unseasonable +hour, and by eleven o’clock all the tired +travelers were sleeping the dreamless sleep of vigorous, +healthy youth.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_40">[40]</div> +<p>They needed a good sleep, for the longest lap +of their journey still lay before them. And it +was at an early hour the next morning that, after +a hearty breakfast and cordial thanks and good-byes +to their gracious hostess, they climbed into +their cars and drove off.</p> +<p>“Off at last for the Adirondacks!” cried Jack +gaily, as he drew in great draughts of the fresh +morning air.</p> +<p>“And for Camp Kill Kare!” added Paul.</p> +<p>The girls had started off a little ahead of them, +but the boys soon drew alongside and Jack signaled +for Cora to stop.</p> +<p>“I would have speech with thee, fair maiden,” +he remarked, as his sister obeyed.</p> +<p>“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Cora in pretended vexation. +“Here are those rude boys interrupting us +just when we were having the loveliest talk.”</p> +<p>“I guess you weren’t talking about anything +very important,” replied Jack.</p> +<p>“No,” said Bess, dimpling, “we were talking +about you boys.”</p> +<p>“And saying what a lovely thing it was to be +all by ourselves for a little while,” put in Belle.</p> +<p>“Girls,” exhorted Walter solemnly, “remember +that if there was an Ananias there was also a +Sapphira.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_41">[41]</div> +<p>“We’re not so keen on having a stag party ourselves,” +explained Jack, “and we thought it would +be a dandy thing if one of you girls would come +into our car and one of us fellows go to yours. +That would make life one grand sweet song.”</p> +<p>“It all comes from what Cora said yesterday +about the refining influence of feminine society,” +said Walter. “I feel the need of that. In fact, +I have a consuming desire to become refined. And +I can’t be, as long as I associate with these two +low-brows. So you’d better let me ride in your +car.”</p> +<p>“And leave us in our native coarseness?” +queried Paul. “Not on your life, old man! I +need refinement just as much as you do.”</p> +<p>“Peace, brethren,” interposed Jack. “We’ll do +this thing on the level. My claims to coarseness +are just as strong as either of yours, but do you +see me engaging in unseemly brawls? Nay and +again nay. We’ll pull straws for it and may the +coarsest man win.”</p> +<p>“I don’t know that we want any of you,” said +Cora. “We don’t take incurable cases.”</p> +<p>“Don’t be too harsh, Cora,” said Belle. “You +know they say there’s a spark of good in the very +lowest.”</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“While the lamp holds out to burn</p> +<p class="t0">The vilest sinner may return,”</p> +</div> +<p>hummed Bess.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_42">[42]</div> +<p>There were no straws at hand, but some matches +served as well, and Walter proved to be the lucky +one. Belle agreed to go to Jack’s car, and Walter +took her place alongside of Bess.</p> +<p>“Hurrah!” cried Walter, as he availed himself +of his good fortune. “I’m saved. I’m doomed +to refinement.”</p> +<p>“Doomed?” laughed Cora.</p> +<p>“Did I say doomed?” Walter answered. “How +careless of me! Of course I meant destined to +refinement.”</p> +<p>“I suppose you’ll be eating lotus blossoms and +water lilies before long,” called out Jack, as the +cars started up again.</p> +<p>“Watch me when lunch time comes,” grinned +Walter. “But I don’t mind what you fellows say. +I’ve got two refining influences while you have +only one.”</p> +<p>“You need all you can get,” was Jack’s parting +shot.</p> +<p>With merry chaff and banter, the time flew by +as though on wings. They had lunch at a quaint +little inn by the roadside, and Walter proved +that the charms of feminine society had not yet +begun to affect his appetite. But then, as he explained, +the cure would be all the more effective +if it were gradual, and he had plenty of time yet +to climb to higher planes.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_43">[43]</div> +<p>In the early afternoon they were turning a bend +in the road, when Cora gave a sudden exclamation.</p> +<p>“Look!” she cried, pointing to a little glade at +the right of the road. “There’s a camp of some +kind. I do believe it’s gypsies!”</p> +<p>“Guessed it right the first time,” declared +Walter.</p> +<p>“That’s what it is,” agreed Bess. “Oh, Cora, +don’t you think we might stop a few minutes? +I’d dearly love to have a look at them, if you +think we can spare the time.”</p> +<p>“I’m not so very keen about it myself,” said +Cora dubiously, for as those familiar with her +previous adventures will remember, her experiences +with these picturesque vagabonds had not +been devoid of unpleasantness and danger. “But +I’ll see what Jack says about it, and if he thinks +we have time, I won’t mind stopping.”</p> +<p>She hailed Jack, and, after consulting his watch, +the latter agreed that they could easily spare a +half-hour or so for a visit to the gypsy camp.</p> +<p>They drew their cars to the side of the road +and picked their way through the woods to the +little dell where the gypsy encampment lay.</p> +<p>It was a typical camp of those strange nomads +in whose blood runs the “call of the wild,” and +who in their mode of life are almost as far removed +from other human beings as though they +lived upon another planet.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_44">[44]</div> +<p>There were perhaps a dozen vans, from which +came strange smells of cooking, amid which onion +and garlic predominated. Unkempt children in +tattered clothing played with dogs that seemed to +be legion, while wrinkled and slatternly women sat +on the steps of the vans or made their way through +the grounds, whining their requests to visitors to +cross their palms with silver and learn in return +all that pertained to their present and future. +Swarthy men, some of them with huge ear-rings +and with sashes and turbans that reminded one of +the pirates of tradition, lay sprawled out on the +grass watching the throng with eyes that were +sometimes indifferent and again sullen and smoldering.</p> +<p>There were just two elements that redeemed +the camp from its general aspect of squalor and +forlornness. One was the fine horses that were +scattered here and there, for the gypsy has the +keenest eye for a good animal of any trader on +earth. The other was the presence of several +gypsy girls of a wild barbaric type of beauty, +whose flashing eyes and gaudy trinkets contrasted +with the prevailing ugliness of their surroundings.</p> +<p>There were a large number of visitors present, +due to the proximity of a large town a mile +or so away, through which the automobiles had +passed just before reaching the camp.</p> +<p>“Here’s the place to have your future told,” +said Jack.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_45">[45]</div> +<p>“Lucky they can’t tell our past,” remarked Walter. +“What a give-away that would be for some +of us.”</p> +<p>“I hope you haven’t any deep dark secret that +would ‘chill the young blood, harrow up our souls’ +if it were told,” laughed Cora.</p> +<p>“Walter just wants to make himself interesting,” +gibed Bess.</p> +<p>“Well, whatever I may have been, I’m all right +now that you girls have undertaken to refine me,” +replied Walter.</p> +<p>“I’m realizing more and more what a tremendous +contract it is,” Cora came back at him. “But +look at that girl over there? Isn’t she a beauty?”</p> +<p>“She isn’t hard to look at, for a fact,” said Jack +judicially, as his eyes fell on the gypsy girl his +sister had indicated. “I think I’ll get her to tell +my fortune. I want to know whether I’m born to +be hanged or drowned.”</p> +<p>“It’s safe to say that you’re booked for a long +life anyway,” remarked Paul. “Only the good +die young.”</p> +<p>The girl had seen that the party were regarding +her with interest, and she came over to them.</p> +<p>“Do you ladies want to have your fortunes +told?” she asked with a winning smile that showed +two rows of beautiful white teeth.</p> +<p>The girls hesitated.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_46">[46]</div> +<p>“Go ahead, girls, and show the sporting spirit,” +urged Jack. “You can get the promise of a perfectly +good husband for fifty cents. And that’s +cheap in these days of high prices.”</p> +<p>“It’s more than some of them are worth,” +laughed Belle.</p> +<p>“I hope that isn’t a shot at us,” said Paul. “I’d +be a bargain at a dollar.”</p> +<p>“She must have been thinking of that Higby +fellow over at Roxbury,” said Bess. “Why, +what’s the matter?” she asked, as the gypsy girl +started violently and turned deadly pale.</p> +<p>Cora sprang to the girl’s side and put her arm +around her to steady her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_47">[47]</div> +<h2 id="c6">CHAPTER VI +<br /><span class="small">A PERPLEXING PROBLEM</span></h2> +<p>The gypsy girl regained her self-control in a +moment and gently put Cora’s helping arm aside.</p> +<p>“It is nothing,” she said. “I just had an attack +of dizziness. The heat of the sun, perhaps.”</p> +<p>It was evident that this last remark was only a +pretext, for a pleasant breeze was blowing and +they were standing under a great tree that shaded +them completely.</p> +<p>“I hope it wasn’t anything I said that startled +you,” said Bess curiously.</p> +<p>“How could it have been?” put in Belle incredulously. +“You only referred jokingly to that +Higby fellow who nearly got away with Cora’s +purse when we were shopping yesterday. I’m +sure there’s nothing in that to startle anybody.”</p> +<p>Cora had been watching the girl intently, and +at this second mention of the young man’s name +she saw a swift spasm—was it of pain or fright +or a combination of both?—sweep over the girl’s +face.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_48">[48]</div> +<p>“Well, never mind,” said Cora briskly, “if +you’re sure you’re all right now. Perhaps you’d +better have a drink of water. Jack, suppose you +go to the car and get one of the drinking cups.”</p> +<p>Jack started promptly to obey, but the girl objected +so strongly that he stopped and stood irresolute.</p> +<p>“No, no,” she said, “please not. Only leetle +deezy, but all right now,” she continued, dropping +into the slipshod gypsy manner of speaking. “Let +me tell pretty ladies’ fortunes.”</p> +<p>But just then one of the gypsy men, who had +been watching the group sharply, stepped up to +the girl and spoke to her roughly in a jargon that +the girls could not understand. It was evidently +a command, for the gypsy girl turned instantly +and went away, disappearing into one of the vans, +while the man, after a scowl that included all the +party, sauntered away and dropped on the grass +beside some of his comrades.</p> +<p>“Well, what do you think of that?” demanded +Belle in amazement.</p> +<p>“Just when she had a husband picked out for +each of you, too,” chaffed Paul. “But cheer up, +girls. We’re here yet. Count on us to the last +breath. You can’t lose us.”</p> +<p>“No such luck,” retorted Bess. “But what on +earth made that man act that way?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_49">[49]</div> +<p>“It isn’t like gypsies to let good money get +away from them,” said Jack, “and they must have +seen from our open countenances that we were +easy marks and ready to cough up.”</p> +<p>“Jack,” said Walter severely, “please pass up +that line of chatter—I mean, please refrain from +such vulgar slang. In my unregenerate days I +could have stood for it—I mean, endured it—but +since I have become refined it hits me on the raw—I +mean, it affects me painfully.”</p> +<p>“Oh, stop your nonsense, you boys,” chided +Cora. “Can’t you see I’m trying to think?”</p> +<p>“Cora’s trying to think!” exclaimed her irrepressible +brother. “Heaven be praised that I +have lived to see this day!”</p> +<p>Cora gave him a scornful glance, and Jack +sagged down at the knees, pretending to wilt.</p> +<p>“Just how did that girl strike you?” asked Cora +thoughtfully.</p> +<p>“A peach,” replied Jack promptly.</p> +<p>“A pippin—I mean, she was very good looking,” +added Walter.</p> +<p>“I’m asking the girls,” said Cora witheringly.</p> +<p>“She didn’t seem to me like a gypsy at all,” +answered Bess. “And yet I suppose of course +she must be, since she’s here with them.”</p> +<p>“Did you notice the way she spoke when she was +off her guard for a moment?” asked Belle. “She +said that she had ‘an attack of dizziness.’ Later +on, she was a ‘leetle deezy.’”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_50">[50]</div> +<p>“Her eyes were blue,” remarked Cora musingly, +“and that is something unusual in a gypsy.”</p> +<p>“But her complexion was as dark as any of the +others,” objected Bess.</p> +<p>“That might be accounted for by the tan from +the open-air life,” replied Cora. “And then, too, +it would be easy to color it artificially.”</p> +<p>“I didn’t know girls ever did such things,” interrupted +Jack with a pained expression.</p> +<p>“And then too,” went on Cora, unheeding, +“when her sleeve fell back, I saw that her arm +was white. But what I’m trying to get at especially +is whom she looks like. She resembles +some one that I’ve seen before, but I can’t remember +who it is.”</p> +<p>“What do you suppose made her act so queerly +when I spoke of the stealing of your purse?” +asked Bess.</p> +<p>“It wasn’t the robbery itself that startled her,” +said Cora. “It was the name of the man, Higby. +He was mentioned twice, and each time she looked +frightened.”</p> +<p>“I wonder if she knows him,” murmured Belle.</p> +<p>“He said there were lots of girls who would be +glad of his company,” laughed Bess. “Perhaps +she is one of them.”</p> +<p>“There was no liking in that look of hers,” +replied Cora emphatically. “It was positive +alarm.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_51">[51]</div> +<p>“If a mere man may break into this discussion,” +said Jack humbly, “you fair detectives haven’t yet +told us why that pirate over there took the girl +away from us.”</p> +<p>“That’s easy,” interposed Walter. “He was +jealous. It was my fatal gift of beauty that worried +him. The girls all fall for it—I mean, are +attracted by it.”</p> +<p>“Girls,” asked Cora exasperatedly, “why are +those long legs of Walter’s like organ grinders?”</p> +<p>“Why?” asked Belle.</p> +<p>“Give it up,” said Bess.</p> +<p>“Because,” explained Cora, “they always carry +a monkey about with them.”</p> +<p>Walter staggered back.</p> +<p>“Stung!” he moaned. “Penetrated, I mean.”</p> +<p>“Well, don’t suffer too much, poor boy,” said +Cora soothingly. “If it’s any comfort to you to +know it, your two accomplices in crime are just as +bad. Women are the only sensible human beings +anyway.”</p> +<p>“Are they human?” asked Walter. “I’ve always +thought of them as angels.”</p> +<p>“Stop trying to square yourself,” said Paul.</p> +<p>“Don’t knuckle down to them,” Jack adjured +him.</p> +<p>“I must,” replied Walter, “or they won’t let me +ride with them any more.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_52">[52]</div> +<p>“We’re not going to, anyway; that is, for the +rest of this afternoon,” said Cora. “I want to +have the girls in the car with me where we can +talk over this thing without being interrupted.”</p> +<p>“Shut out from Eden,” groaned Walter bitterly. +“You wash your hands of me. You cast me into +outer darkness. Just when the better part of my +nature was getting uppermost, you put me back +into low company. I wouldn’t have believed it of +you, girls.”</p> +<p>“Back to the kennel, you hound!” exclaimed +Paul, seizing him by the collar. “You might have +known that the girls would throw you down. They +always do, sooner or later.”</p> +<p>“Well, now that Lucifer as lightning has fallen +from heaven,” remarked Jack, “what do you say +to hustling along? The afternoon waneth and my +appetite waxeth. Dinner at Camp Kill Kare +sounds awfully good to me.”</p> +<p>“I suppose we’ll have to,” assented Cora reluctantly; +“but I would like to have another +glimpse of that gypsy girl first.”</p> +<p>“Nothing doing,” said Jack. “We’re only visitors +here anyway, and we haven’t any right to +intrude on their private affairs when they show us +so clearly they don’t want us to. Ten to one it’s +only a mare’s nest anyway that you’re stirring up, +sis, about the girl. Probably she’s an honest to +goodness gypsy, just like the rest of them.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_53">[53]</div> +<p>“That’s what my common sense tells me,” +agreed Cora, “but something outside of common +sense tells me that she isn’t.”</p> +<p>“That’s the way I feel about it too,” echoed +Bess.</p> +<p>“I too,” agreed Belle. “She may have been +stolen when she was a child. That happens often +enough.”</p> +<p>“Not so often as it used to,” said Paul. “The +telegraph and the telephone make it too risky.”</p> +<p>“Well, how about it?” said Jack. “Are you +three Graces coming along, or do we three scapegraces +have to wend our way to Camp Kill Kare +alone?”</p> +<p>“There she is now!” exclaimed Bess, as she +caught sight of the gypsy girl looking at them +from the door of the van.</p> +<p>But a wrinkled crone who was sitting on the top +step of the van reached out a skinny arm and +angrily pushed the girl inside and out of sight.</p> +<p>“They’ve evidently made up their minds that +we’re showing too much interest in her, and for +some reason they don’t like it,” sighed Cora. +“Well, come along, girls. We’ll have to go. But +that gypsy girl has a history and a secret, and I’d +give a good deal to find out just what they are.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_54">[54]</div> +<h2 id="c7">CHAPTER VII +<br /><span class="small">THE MOUNTAIN CAMP</span></h2> +<p>The Motor Girls, followed by the boys, made +their way briskly back to the cars and climbed in, +Walter resuming his place with the other boys +and Belle going back to Cora and Bess.</p> +<p>For some time previous to running across the +gypsy camp they had been rising higher and higher +into the mountains, and now the road became still +steeper. They had to run more slowly in consequence, +for although both cars were good hill-climbers, +it took a good deal of power to make +any kind of speed. Besides, as they got farther +into the wilderness, the road was rougher and +more neglected. But it was just this wildness +they had come to seek, and their spirits rose with +the difficulties they encountered.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_55">[55]</div> +<p>“You go in advance, Jack,” said Cora, as the +road grew narrower until it was difficult for the +two cars to go side by side. “Of course, having +the faster car, I suppose we ought to show the +way, but we’re nothing if not magnanimous. If +your car balks we’ll push you along. Besides, you +have the map.”</p> +<p>“Don’t worry about pushing us along,” retorted +Jack. “Just for that, I ought to shoot ahead out +of sight and leave you to bitter regrets when you +find yourselves lost in the wilderness. But I’m too +noble to treat helpless girls that way, so you’re +safe for the present. But beware, woman, of +goading me too far! It’s a long worm that has +no turning.”</p> +<p>“If you’re as mixed in your road directions as +you are in your proverbs, I’m afraid we won’t get +to Camp Kill Kare to-night,” rejoined Cora. “But +go ahead now like a good boy, and think up some +more bright things to spring on us. We want to +be by ourselves so that we can talk without foolish +interruptions.”</p> +<p>“They want to talk,” muttered Jack. “What a +novelty!”</p> +<p>“If women talk a good deal, I notice that lots +of men take after their mothers,” replied Belle, +as Jack’s car darted into the lead.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_56">[56]</div> +<p>“Isn’t it tantalizing,” said Cora to her chums, +resuming their interrupted conversation, “that I +can’t think just whom that gypsy girl looks like? +Don’t you know how it is when you are trying to +recall a word or a line of poetry or something, +and have it just on the tip of your tongue but can’t +quite get it? I feel just that way about this resemblance. +I’m perfectly sure I’ve seen some one +very much like her. Can’t you girls help me out? +We’re together so much, and we know the same +people. Put on your thinking caps and see if you +can’t give me a hint.”</p> +<p>“I only wish I could,” replied Belle thoughtfully. +“There <i>was</i> something a little familiar +about the girl, though it didn’t strike me as +strongly as it did you.”</p> +<p>“There was a certain look in her eyes that suggested +somebody I’ve seen,” said Bess, “but for +the life of me I can’t remember who it was. But +even suppose we did remember? It wouldn’t +prove anything. There are lots of people in the +world who look alike and yet who haven’t the +slightest relation to each other.”</p> +<p>“I know it,” admitted Cora. “But just the same +I have what the boys would call a hunch that in +this case it would give us a clue to the gypsy girl’s +secret.”</p> +<p>“If she has any,” laughed Bess.</p> +<p>“Get out your crystal sphere, Sybilla, and pluck +the heart from this mystery,” smiled Belle.</p> +<p>“You girls can laugh if you want to,” rejoined +Cora, “but all the same I’ll think about this and +perhaps dream about it until I recall the face I’m +groping for.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_57">[57]</div> +<p>“I shouldn’t wonder if we’d have something +more practical to think of before long,” remarked +Belle, pointing to the sky. “Do you see those +clouds coming up there? I’ve been watching them +for the last five minutes and they’re getting bigger +and blacker all the time. I’d hate to be caught in +a thunderstorm.”</p> +<p>“And get into Camp Kill Kare all wet and bedraggled,” +added Bess. “Oh, Cora, let’s hurry!”</p> +<p>“It isn’t getting wet that bothers me so much,” +replied Cora. “We could put up the top and keep +dry enough. But a heavy storm would turn the +road into a quagmire, and goodness knows it’s +bad enough as it is.”</p> +<p>The boys ahead had seen the signs, and Jack +shouted back:</p> +<p>“Give her all the juice she can stand, sis! If +the storm only holds off for fifteen minutes we’ll +make the camp.”</p> +<p>His own car shot ahead, and Cora threw in the +speed and kept close behind. They could hear +now faint rumblings of thunder, all the more noticeable +because of the sudden hush that had fallen +over the forest, as birds and animals and insects +sensed the coming storm.</p> +<p>Darker and darker it grew and faster and faster +the cars sped along, as their drivers called on the +last ounce of speed they had in them. Despite +their fluttering of anxiety, the girls had a keen +sense of exhilaration in this race with the elements. +Their veils whipped about their faces and +their glowing eyes and reddened cheeks showed +their inward excitement.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_58">[58]</div> +<p>A jagged flash of lightning shot across the sky, +followed by a deafening peal of thunder. It was +evident that the bolt had struck not far off, for a +moment later they heard the crash of a falling +tree at a little distance to the right.</p> +<p>“Oh, hurry! hurry!” urged Bess and Belle.</p> +<p>“Do you think I’m creeping?” Cora called back. +“I can’t talk to the car and encourage it as I might +a horse. You’ll notice that the boys aren’t leaving +us behind.”</p> +<p>As a matter of fact, the cars were nearly +touching.</p> +<p>“Keep up your pluck, girls!” Jack called back. +“If this map is all right, we’ll make the camp in +five minutes more.”</p> +<p>“If we didn’t have an old tub in front of us, +we’d make it in four,” sang out Cora.</p> +<p>“If the rain will only hold off,” murmured Belle.</p> +<p>But the prospect grew ever more threatening. +The peals of thunder were redoubled and the +lightning played so vividly across the sky that +Bess covered her face with her hands.</p> +<p>“Suppose the car should be struck!” she exclaimed.</p> +<p>“If it were, we’d probably never know it,” was +all the comfort her sister could give.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_59">[59]</div> +<p>Just then there was an appalling roar, and a +great tree, split from top to bottom, swayed for a +moment and then fell with a deafening crash right +across the road, about a hundred feet in front of +the leading car.</p> +<p>There were shrieks from the girls, and a jumble +of shouts came from the boys, as Jack brought +his machine to a halt, and Cora, who had not lost +her presence of mind, did the same.</p> +<p>All jumped out and ran forward. A glance +told them that there was no getting past the tree. +It blocked the road completely. Nor was it possible +to get around the fallen monarch with the +cars, for there was dense undergrowth on both +sides of the road.</p> +<p>“No help for it, girls,” announced Jack, after +a hurried examination of the conditions. “We’ll +have to run for it. I caught a glimpse of the +bungalow a minute ago, and it’s not far from +here. We’ll have to leave the cars here and come +back and cut a path for them after the storm’s +over.”</p> +<p>“But suppose they should be stolen?” objected +Belle.</p> +<p>“Mighty little chance of that in this neck of +the woods,” replied Paul. “You notice we haven’t +met any one for the last two hours. We’ll put +up the tops so that the inside won’t get wet. And +there’ll be some one at the bungalow that we can +send out to guard them and keep you from worrying +about them.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_60">[60]</div> +<p>“Now we’ve got to make tracks for the house. +Come ahead, girls!” cried Jack, as soon as the +tops had been put up.</p> +<p>Each of the boys took charge of one of the +girls, and they skirted the tree, pushing their way +through the underbrush till they reached the road +on the other side.</p> +<p>The outdoor life of the Motor Girls had made +them fleet and strong, and although of course with +their clinging skirts they could not keep up with +the boys, the latter accommodated their pace to +theirs, and they came in sight of the bungalow in +a few minutes.</p> +<p>But the rain was coming, too, and it was a pretty +race. They could see it being driven before the +wind in great gusts, and they felt the pattering +of the advance drops. And just as they gained +the shelter of the bungalow porch, the rain came +down in torrents.</p> +<p>Their coming had been seen from the house, +and Aunt Betty King came running out to meet +them.</p> +<p>“You darlings!” she cried, as she tried to gather +all the girls at once into her arms, and kissed +them in turn. “How glad I am to see you! I’ve +been watching for you for the last two hours and +was beginning to worry for fear you wouldn’t get +here before dark. And how lucky you were to +get here ahead of the storm. But how on earth +did you come?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_61">[61]</div> +<p>“We ran here all the way from Chelton,” said +Jack with a sober face. “How is that for Marathon +work?”</p> +<p>“Don’t pay any attention to that fibber,” laughed +Cora. “You know what Jack is. Our cars are +standing a little way down the road. The lightning +struck a tree and it fell so that it blocked +the path. So we had to make the rest of the way +on foot.”</p> +<p>“You poor dears!” exclaimed Aunt Betty with +ready sympathy. “But come right in now and get +rested. You must be awfully tired after your +long journey, and you’re all out of breath from +running so hard. And you boys, too. Your rooms +are all ready for you and supper will be ready in +a few minutes.”</p> +<p>She led the way inside, followed by the flushed +and panting travelers, glad that the end of their +journey found them safely housed at Camp Kill +Kare.</p> +<p>The bungalow was a strongly built and capacious +one. It had only two stories, but was very +wide and deep. It stood on a high point in the +Adirondack Mountains, with a view that stretched +for many miles in all directions. There was a +large cleared space about the building, but one +had only to go a few rods away to find himself in +a genuine wilderness.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_62">[62]</div> +<p>The bungalow belonged to a relative of Mrs. +Kimball. Usually the owner occupied it himself +during the summer months; but this year he was +on a trip to India, hunting for big game, and he +had placed the camp at Mrs. Kimball’s disposal, +with a cordial invitation to occupy it and make +use of all the facilities it afforded for enjoyment.</p> +<p>As Cora’s mother could not accompany the +young folks, the question of a suitable chaperon +had given her some concern. But this had been +solved by securing the consent of Aunt Betty to +undertake that responsibility.</p> +<p>Mrs. King was not really Cora’s aunt, being a +second cousin of Mrs. Kimball. But everybody +called her by the comfortable and affectionate title +of Aunt Betty, and she was a great favorite in +the Kimball home, which she frequently visited. +She was a widow without children, and she welcomed +the opportunity of mothering this lively +brood of young people.</p> +<p>The main floor of the bungalow was divided +into two parts by the long hall that ran from +front to back. On the right was a large living +room and library combined. Off from this was a +music room, and the girls gave little cries of delight +as they saw a handsome baby grand piano +through the portières.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_63">[63]</div> +<p>On the left of the hall was the dining room, +which appealed more strongly to the boys than +the music room, and back of this was the kitchen, +from which savory odors were wafted to their +olfactory organs.</p> +<p>Up the broad stairs Aunt Betty led the way, +and pointed out to the various members of the +party the rooms they were to occupy. Those of +the girls were on the south side of the house, +while the boys’ quarters faced the north. Trunks +had been sent on before and were in the rooms.</p> +<p>“What perfectly darling rooms!” cried Cora, +as the delighted girls let their eyes roam over +the two connecting rooms that had been assigned +to them.</p> +<p>“That’s all right!” shouted Jack from across +the hall, “but don’t forget that there’s a perfectly +darling little dining room downstairs, and I’m +honing to make its acquaintance.”</p> +<p>“Don’t worry,” flung back Belle. “We’ll be +ready to go down as soon as you are.”</p> +<p>“Ha, ha!” cried Jack. “Listen to my low, +mirthless laugh.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_64">[64]</div> +<h2 id="c8">CHAPTER VIII +<br /><span class="small">FUN IN THE OPEN</span></h2> +<p>Jack’s sardonic laugh seemed to be justified, for +the boys had been below stairs for several minutes +before the girls came trooping down.</p> +<p>“One more proof that I’m never mistaken,” +Jack remarked, as he shook his head sadly at the +laughing bevy.</p> +<p>“You boys haven’t so much to do as we girls +have,” said Belle, making a little face at him.</p> +<p>“We haven’t, eh?” replied Walter. “I lost all +my hair-pins in that mad sprint for the house.”</p> +<p>“And the rain took my hair out of curl,” added +Paul.</p> +<p>“And I had the greatest hunt before I found +my box of powder!” said Jack in a high falsetto.</p> +<p>Just then Mrs. King came in from the kitchen, +where she had been supervising the preparations +for dinner.</p> +<p>“Come right along now and take your places +at the table,” she beamed.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_65">[65]</div> +<p>“Table is my middle name!” exclaimed Jack, +as he led the way, followed by the others.</p> +<p>It was a sumptuous meal that Aunt Betty had +prepared, and with their appetites sharpened by +their long ride, the travelers did it full justice. +And the warmth and good cheer of the cozy dining +room were emphasized by contrast with the +rain that beat upon the windows.</p> +<p>“A regular flood,” commented Jack.</p> +<p>“Noah would have felt at home in that,” said +Bess.</p> +<p>“That reminds me,” interposed Paul. “Noah +was supposed to take two specimens of every kind +of animal when he went into the Ark. But there +was one species he overlooked.”</p> +<p>“What was that?” asked Cora.</p> +<p>“Rats,” replied Paul.</p> +<p>“How do you make that out?” inquired Belle.</p> +<p>“Why,” Paul answered, “he had been sailing +forty days before he saw ary rat.”</p> +<p>There was a moment of stunned silence.</p> +<p>“Ararat!” Cora at length exclaimed. “Paul, +how could you inflict that on us?”</p> +<p>“You ought to be shot at sunrise,” said Bess.</p> +<p>“Now you see, Aunt Betty, what we’ve had to +stand on our journey up here,” moaned Cora.</p> +<p>“I must say you seem to have thrived on it,” +smiled Aunt Betty, looking at the rosy cheeks and +sparkling eyes of the girls.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_66">[66]</div> +<p>“Good for Aunt Betty!” cried Walter. “She +appreciates us! You girls will too, when you’ve +seen a little more of men and realize how we +stand out from the common herd.”</p> +<p>“Who was that woman,” asked Bess, turning +to Cora, “who said that the more she saw of men +the more fond she grew of dogs?”</p> +<p>“Poor, misguided female,” said Paul pityingly. +“I suppose she was an inmate of a lunatic asylum.”</p> +<p>“More to be pitied than censured,” added Jack.</p> +<p>By this time they had reached dessert, and when +they had finished, Aunt Betty proposed an adjournment +to the porch.</p> +<p>“It’s perfectly dry and snug out here,” she said, +“and I think the rain will be over soon anyway. +When it rains so hard up here it doesn’t last very +long. But you girls had better get some wraps, +for even though it is August, the nights are rather +cool, especially after a storm.”</p> +<p>There was an abundance of big, comfortable +chairs on the porch, and they grouped them into +a semi-circle and sat laughing and talking, on the +best of terms with themselves and the world.</p> +<p>“That was rather a narrow escape we had this +afternoon,” remarked Bess. “If we had been a +hundred feet further on the road than we were, +that tree would have come down plump on top of +us.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_67">[67]</div> +<p>“A miss is as good as a mile,” returned Jack +lightly.</p> +<p>“By the way, I suppose those poor old cars of +ours are getting a thorough soaking,” observed +Cora. “What are you going to do about them, +boys? It doesn’t seem to me that we ought to let +them stay there all night.”</p> +<p>“I guess it’s up to us fellows to take a turn +down there and look them over,” answered Jack. +“The fact is that I’ve had such a good dinner that +I feel too lazy to move. But far be it from me +to resist the plain call of duty.”</p> +<p>“What’s the matter with us girls going along +with you?” asked Bess.</p> +<p>Aunt Betty looked aghast.</p> +<p>“What, in all this mud and rain?” she protested.</p> +<p>“You forget that we Motor Girls are used to +being out in all kinds of weather,” laughed Cora. +“But we’ll promise to wrap up well if you let us +go. It’s lucky that our trunks were sent on up +here ahead of us, so that we have our rubbers +and raincoats all ready to get into. Besides, it’s +practically stopped raining now.”</p> +<p>Aunt Betty was very easily won over.</p> +<p>“I’ll send Joel, the stableman, along with a lantern,” +she said. “He knows the woods like a +book by night or day. Then, too, he’s as strong +as an ox, and he can help to get the cars out of +the fix.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_68">[68]</div> +<p>“And we’ll take a couple of axes along,” said +Jack. “I have an idea some tall chopping will +have to be done before we get the cars where +they belong.”</p> +<p>The girls went up to get their raincoats and +overshoes, while the boys got their hats and +hunted up Joel.</p> +<p>He was a tall, gaunt backwoodsman, who in +his earlier days had been a guide in the Adirondack +region. But periodic attacks of rheumatism +had made it difficult for him to continue his calling, +and he had become the man of all work at +Kill Kare Camp. He knew the forest thoroughly +and had an intimate acquaintance with the habits +of every creature that had fur, fin or feather.</p> +<p>Despite his somewhat advanced years, he was +still a powerful man, and his strength was equaled +by his good-nature and reliability.</p> +<p>The boys liked him at once, and he on his part +was very friendly and cordial.</p> +<p>“So you’ve got a couple o’ them buzz wagons +stalled there,” he said. “Never rode in one in +my life, but the pesky things suttinly have it all +over a hoss when it comes to git up and git.”</p> +<p>“You’ve got a treat waiting for you, then, +Joel,” laughed Jack. “Some day we’ll take you +riding, and you’ll go so fast you’ll have to hold +on to your hair to keep it from being blown off.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_69">[69]</div> +<p>“I ain’t prezactly pinin’ fur no sich speed as +that,” said Joel. “I sh’d think them gals w’u’d +be skeered to death to ride in one uv them.”</p> +<p>“They drive them as well as ride in them,” +returned Jack. “My sister can handle one of them +as well as any man can. You ought to have seen +the race she gave me yesterday.”</p> +<p>“Ye don’t say so!” replied Joel, and it was evident +that his respect for the feminine members of +the party had gone up several degrees.</p> +<p>They were soon equipped with a lantern and +three axes. In addition, Joel took along some +sticks of resinous wood to serve as torches, and +they came around to the front porch, where they +found the girls impatiently waiting for them.</p> +<p>All started out in high spirits, Joel leading the +way. The road was muddy, but they found fairly +good footing on the turf that bordered it. The +rain had now entirely ceased.</p> +<p>It was not long before they reached the fallen +tree, and they found the cars standing where they +had left them.</p> +<p>“Ye needn’t hev bin much skeered,” grinned +Joel. “There ain’t many folks come along this +way, an’ them that do is giner’lly honest. It’s only +when the gypsies come round thet we hev to keep +a tight grip on things, specially hosses. Them +gypsies suttinly is light-fingered, an’ they kin beat +a weasel in gittin’ into places where they ain’t got +no business to be.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_70">[70]</div> +<p>“We saw a camp of them to-day,” said Cora, +in whom the word “gypsy” just now woke an +instant response.</p> +<p>“Is thet so?” asked Joel in surprise. “Then +they’re probably headed up this way. I heven’t +seen ’em around these diggin’s fur sev’ral years +now, and I wuz hopin’ I’d never see their ugly +faces ag’in.”</p> +<p>“I’d like to see Joel go to the mat with that +pirate that took the girl away from us to-day,” +grinned Jack.</p> +<p>“It would be some scrap,” agreed Walter, as +he took in the brawn and bulk of the backwoodsman. +“I’d bet on Joel unless the other fellow +used a knife.”</p> +<p>In order to see more clearly what they were +doing, the torches were lighted and placed where +they would do the most good. Then Joel surveyed +the scene of action.</p> +<p>“There’s jist one thing to do,” he finally announced, +“an’ thet is to cut through this tree an’ +git it off uv the road. It might be a leetle bit +easier to git the cars around through the brush, +but the tree can’t be let to stay there blockin’ up +the road, an’ I might ez well git it out of the way +fust ez last.”</p> +<p>He took off his corduroy jacket and rolled up +the sleeves of his shirt, showing the mighty biceps +beneath.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_71">[71]</div> +<p>“You’re not going to do it all alone,” protested +Jack. “Let us help. There are two axes +besides yours.”</p> +<p>“Why,” said Joel a little dubiously, “you boys +ain’t used to this kind uv work, an’ I’m afraid +it’ll use ye up too much. It ain’t only the strength, +but there’s a knack about usin’ a woodsman’s ax +thet it takes time to git on to. Still, ye kin try +it fur a while if ye want to.”</p> +<p>Jack and Paul took off their coats, while the +girls, who were perched like so many birds in +Jack’s car, clapped their hands in mock applause.</p> +<p>“Behold the gallant foresters,” sang out Belle.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“‘Woodman, spare that tree,</p> +<p class="t0">Touch not a single bough!’”</p> +</div> +<p>quoted Bess.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“To-day it threatened me,</p> +<p class="t0">I’ve no use for it now,”</p> +</div> +<p>improvised Cora.</p> +<p>“Listen to the trilling of the merry songsters,” +said Jack, with impressive sarcasm. “They toil +not, neither do they spin. They mock and fleer +at us sons of honest toil. They——”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_72">[72]</div> +<p>“Get to work, Jack,” Cora interrupted him +heartlessly. “I love to see you work. It’s so unusual. +Joel will have the trunk cut through before +you boys get started.”</p> +<p>Thus adjured, Jack and Paul started in with a +right good will, each attacking the trunk at a +distance of about ten feet on either side of Joel.</p> +<p>Both boys were strong and sturdy, and they +worked the more vigorously because they were +under the appraising eyes of the girls. But their +work was nothing compared with Joel’s. Nowhere +could there have been found a more striking +illustration of the advantages of the professional +over the amateur.</p> +<p>Joel’s work was the very poetry of motion. +Back and forth his flashing ax swung tirelessly, +biting with resistless force into the very heart of +the tree, and in a surprisingly short time he had +cut the trunk entirely through.</p> +<p>Walter took his turn with the other boys and +did valiant execution. But all were soon winded +with their unusual exertions, and were forced to +rest, while the perspiration poured down their +faces in streams.</p> +<p>“This has got it all over a Turkish bath,” muttered +Jack.</p> +<p>“I’ll bet I’ve lost five pounds in as many minutes,” +growled Paul.</p> +<p>“There’s an idea for you, Bess,” said her sister +mischievously. “Talk about reducing. You’d be +a sylph in half an hour.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_73">[73]</div> +<p>“I’d be a corpse, you mean,” responded Bess. +“No, thank you. I’ll take my reducing in homeopathic +doses.”</p> +<p>Joel at this point insisted on finishing the job. +He had not turned a hair in his previous exertions, +and he seemed as fresh as ever when the +work was completely done.</p> +<p>“Now how are we going to get the logs off the +road?” asked Jack.</p> +<p>“What’s the matter with making the car do its +share of the work?” asked Cora. “We’ll fasten +a rope to each one of the logs and with you men +guiding them we can drag them to one side of the +road.”</p> +<p>The plan met with instant approval and in a +very few minutes the road was clear.</p> +<p>“Good idea, sis,” said Jack approvingly. “Now +we’ll bundle these tools into the cars and go to +Camp Kill Kare in style.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_74">[74]</div> +<h2 id="c9">CHAPTER IX +<br /><span class="small">THE “WATER SPRITE”</span></h2> +<p>The next morning dawned clear and beautiful. +The storm of the day before had washed the dust +from plants and trees, and seemed to have washed +the very air itself, for it was as clear as crystal +and had a tonic quality that set the blood to +dancing.</p> +<p>Cora had awakened early and stolen to her +window, where she sat entranced by the beauty of +the view. But she was not allowed to enjoy it +long, for there came a thundering knock on the +door that made her jump.</p> +<p>“Come along, you sleepyheads!” sounded +Jack’s voice from outside. “It’s too fine a morning +to waste it in sleep.”</p> +<p>“Let us now be up and doing!” chanted Walter.</p> +<p>“The day is one to stir the sluggard blood!” +added Paul.</p> +<p>“You boys just trot along,” sang out Cora defiantly. +“We’re going to take our time.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_75">[75]</div> +<p>“You always do,” retorted Jack. “If time were +money you girls would be millionaires.”</p> +<p>“Let them rave,” remarked Belle, as she opened +her sleepy eyes.</p> +<p>“I’m going to have another forty winks,” said +Bess, as she turned over on her pillow.</p> +<p>“No, you’re not!” declared Cora, as the boys +went clattering down the stairs. “It’s a perfectly +gorgeous day, girls, and it’s simply a crime to +waste it in bed. The view from these windows is +enough to make you gasp. Besides, we don’t want +to keep breakfast waiting.”</p> +<p>Bess still protested, but yielded to the laughing +threat of being dragged from bed if she did not +get up of her own accord, and the girls hurried +with their dressing.</p> +<p>They found the boys already at the table, making +huge inroads on the food.</p> +<p>“You see we’re waiting for you,” remarked +Jack, as he passed his plate for another helping +of bacon and eggs.</p> +<p>“Yes,” replied Cora, “I see you are.”</p> +<p>“You’re a gallant lot!” reproached Belle.</p> +<p>“We didn’t think you’d get up till noon,” defended +Walter.</p> +<p>“Besides,” added Paul, “we’ve heard of something +that makes us want to hustle.”</p> +<p>“What is that?” asked Bess with lively interest, +as the girls took their seats.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_76">[76]</div> +<p>“Aunt Betty tells us that there is an old motor +boat down on the lake,” replied Jack. “It hasn’t +been used much for the last two or three years, +and it’s probably a good deal out of repair. We +thought we might be able to tinker it up and take +you girls out for a sail on the lake.”</p> +<p>“You see, we’re always thinking of how we can +give you girls a good time,” observed Paul.</p> +<p>“Of course you weren’t expecting to have a good +time yourselves,” mocked Cora.</p> +<p>“I didn’t know that there was a lake so close +at hand,” said Belle delightedly.</p> +<p>“Hadn’t I told you about it?” said Cora. +“We’ve had so much to talk about that I must +have omitted that from my description. But there +is a beautiful mountain lake not more than five +minutes’ walk from here. I didn’t know that there +was a motor boat anywhere round, though. I’m +wild to have a look at it.”</p> +<p>“Don’t spend too long a time at the table then,” +admonished Jack.</p> +<p>“That’s pretty good, coming from you,” countered +Belle. “But don’t worry. You boys live to +eat, while we eat to live.”</p> +<p>“None of you seems to be wasting away,” retorted +Jack. “But hurry along now and all will +be forgiven. We fellows have got to go out and +see if Joel has the tools we’ll need for tinkering +up the boat.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_77">[77]</div> +<p>They excused themselves and went out, while +the girls, who were all agog with the new pleasure +promised them, hurried through their meal +and were ready for the trip when the boys returned.</p> +<p>A few minutes of brisk walking brought them +to the borders of a lake whose blue waters shimmered +in the morning sun. An exclamation of +delight broke from them as they gazed upon its +beauty.</p> +<p>The lake stretched for about four miles in one +direction and was perhaps a mile and a half in +width. Near the center of it they could see a +small island that appeared to be heavily wooded.</p> +<p>Not far from where they were standing was a +small boathouse with a pier projecting into the +lake. Near the end of the little dock a motor +boat was moored.</p> +<p>“There’s the boat!” cried Jack, and they all +made a rush for it.</p> +<p>“The <i>Water Sprite</i>,” read Cora from the partly +effaced letters on the stern.</p> +<p>“It has good enough lines,” said Walter, as he +ran his eyes over the boat, “but it seems as though +it had been pretty well neglected.”</p> +<p>“The owner never used it much,” explained +Jack. “He didn’t care much for the water, and +when he was here spent most of his time in hunting +on land.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_78">[78]</div> +<p>“Looks pretty much like junk to me,” admitted +Paul, as he took in the dilapidated appearance of +the boat.</p> +<p>The others could not help agreeing that Paul’s +criticism seemed justified.</p> +<p>“Doesn’t look as though she’d be worth taking +much trouble for, does she?” remarked Jack +doubtfully.</p> +<p>“Well, you wouldn’t say that she’d just come +from a motor-boat show,” observed Paul; “but +just the same she may be a well made boat and +capable of speed too if she’s put in decent condition. +Of course she looks like a total loss now, +but it’s wonderful what a little work will do. +Let’s take a look at the engine anyway.”</p> +<p>They boarded the little craft and removed a +tarpaulin that had been spread over the engine. +The boys then proceeded to give the latter a +thorough inspection, first, however, bailing out +the water that had collected in the bottom of +the boat.</p> +<p>“Say, fellows!” exclaimed Jack, as his eyes lit +on the manufacturer’s name plate, “this is a good +little motor, no doubt of that. You know that +any engine these people put out is bound to be +first class, don’t you?”</p> +<p>“That’s true enough,” agreed Paul, “but the +best engine ever built can be ruined by carelessness +and neglect.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_79">[79]</div> +<p>“Yes,” assented Walter, “but there may not be +so much the matter with this chugger after all. +First thing to do is to turn the old engine over and +see how it sounds.” He had already put in some +oil and gasoline.</p> +<p>“A fine idea,” panted Jack after applying all +his strength to the flywheel without result. “The +trouble is that it won’t turn at all.”</p> +<p>“Here,” said Walter, taking it from his hand, +“let me try. Only you mustn’t mind if I pull the +whole engine out of the boat. I’m mighty apt +to if I really let myself go, you know.”</p> +<p>“Listen to Samson talking!” gibed Cora.</p> +<p>“Go ahead,” said Jack. “Look out for flying +splinters, Paul. Sampson is going to tear things +wide open.”</p> +<p>“He’s mighty strong,” mocked Paul. “He +doesn’t ask you to prove it. He admits it.”</p> +<p>There were no flying splinters, however, for in +spite of all Walter’s exertions, the engine remained +immovable.</p> +<p>“Well, that proves that she’s a good solid boat +to stand the strain,” grinned Walter, at last giving +over the attempt.</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“The muscles of his brawny arms</p> +<p class="t0">Are strong as iron bands,”</p> +</div> +<p>jeered Cora.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_80">[80]</div> +<p>“Guess there’s nothing to do,” continued Walter, +“but take the engine down and see what’s +wrong. It feels as though the parts had grown +together.”</p> +<p>“Must be if you couldn’t move it,” said Jack +scathingly. “But let’s get busy, fellows. I suppose +the first thing to do is to get the cylinders +off.”</p> +<p>They fell to with a will, and soon had the +smaller fittings dismounted. The motor was of +the two-cylinder, two-cycle type, and according to +the makers’ plate was rated at six horse power. +The exterior was in fairly good condition, only a +few patches of rust showing here and there where +the paint had been chipped off, leaving the metal +exposed.</p> +<p>With some difficulty, the boys got the cylinders +off. As they removed the front one, Jack gave +a long whistle.</p> +<p>“I’ll bet there’s the cause of the trouble,” he +said, pointing to the front cylinder.</p> +<p>The others examined it and Paul remarked:</p> +<p>“Guess it’s a case of broken piston ring, eh, +Jack?”</p> +<p>“No doubt of it,” was the response.</p> +<p>And indeed this would have been plain even to +the most inexperienced eye. One of the grooves +cut in the piston to receive a compression ring +was packed with broken bits of metal and metallic +dust, many of the fragments having actually +been reduced to powder.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_81">[81]</div> +<p>“That’s a bad job,” remarked Walter, shaking +his head. “I wonder if the cylinder itself is damaged +much.”</p> +<p>“Easy to find out,” said Jack. “Let’s have a +look.”</p> +<p>They were relieved to find that the cylinder was +very little scored, considering the condition of the +piston.</p> +<p>“Looks to me as if a new set of piston rings +would be necessary,” judged Paul.</p> +<p>“That’s what,” replied Jack. “But it would +probably take a week to get them from the manufacturers.”</p> +<p>Cora gave a little exclamation of dismay.</p> +<p>“And wait all that time before we can have a +ride in the <i>Water Sprite</i>?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Unless you can wave a magic wand and make +the pistons come running,” said Jack.</p> +<p>“I’m going to rummage through these lockers,” +declared Cora, jumping up and going into the +little cabin. “Perhaps there are some spare parts +on hand.”</p> +<p>A moment later she gave an exclamation of +triumph.</p> +<p>“Here they are!” she cried, holding up a pair +of the much desired rings.</p> +<p>“Oh, I’m so glad!” exclaimed Bess.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_82">[82]</div> +<p>“Takes a woman to do things,” said Belle in +a superior way.</p> +<p>The boys looked a little sheepish, but at the +same time delighted.</p> +<p>“She’s a fairy all right,” conceded Walter.</p> +<p>“You’re the real thing, sis,” beamed Jack, as +he held out his hand for the rings. “And now +for the dirty work.”</p> +<p>They adjusted the rings and overhauled the rest +of the engine, which proved to be in fairly good +condition. There were no radical defects, and by +dint of hard work they soon had the entire machinery +in what seemed to be good working order.</p> +<p>“There,” panted Jack, as he straightened up, +“I guess we’re some little machinists, all right.”</p> +<p>“We ought to be able to get a union card,” said +Walter.</p> +<p>“Toil has no terror for us!” declared Paul, +striking an attitude.</p> +<p>“Those boys just hate themselves, don’t they?” +laughed Bess.</p> +<p>“They’ve worked pretty hard—for them,” admitted +Cora. “And as a special reward, boys,” +she added generously, “we’ll let you take us for +our first ride in the <i>Water Sprite</i> this afternoon.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_83">[83]</div> +<h2 id="c10">CHAPTER X +<br /><span class="small">SPRINGING A LEAK</span></h2> +<p>“You do us too much honor,” said Paul, making +a low bow in his best Chesterfieldian manner.</p> +<p>“I know that perfectly well,” replied Cora; +“but I happen to feel in a condescending mood.”</p> +<p>“Good gracious, girls!” exclaimed Belle, consulting +her watch, “do you know that it’s nearly +twelve o’clock? We’ve been working here all the +morning.”</p> +<p>“<i>We’ve</i> been working!” repeated Jack with +marked emphasis. “I can see that you’re all out +of breath.”</p> +<p>“‘Those also serve who only stand and wait.’”</p> +<p>“That’s the kind of job I’d like,” said Walter, +wiping the perspiration from his face.</p> +<p>“No chance,” opined Paul. “The girls have +got in ahead of us.”</p> +<p>“Well, I notice you wouldn’t have been very far +ahead if Cora hadn’t found those rings,” retorted +Bess.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_84">[84]</div> +<p>“You boys are well enough where only muscle +is concerned,” said Belle patronizingly, “but when +it comes to a matter of brains you’re not in the +same class with us.”</p> +<p>They hurried back to the house, where they +found a substantial meal ready for them. Then +the girls put on their boating togs, and they +started out to try the sailing qualities of the rejuvenated +<i>Water Sprite</i>.</p> +<p>The boys cast off the moorings, and Cora, who +could run a boat as well as any one, took her +place at the wheel. Jack stayed near the engine, +where he could keep an eye on its workings, and +the rest disposed themselves wherever they could +be most comfortable.</p> +<p>There was hardly any wind blowing and the +water was scarcely stirred by a ripple. It was an +ideal day for boating and they were prepared to +enjoy it to the full.</p> +<p>The boat darted away from the dock as though +it shared the jubilant spirits of the party, and +Jack observed with great satisfaction that the engine +was chugging away without missing a beat.</p> +<p>“She’s working like a dream,” he announced.</p> +<p>“And look at the way she minds the wheel,” +said Cora. “She yields to the slightest touch. +It’s no trouble at all to handle her.”</p> +<p>“That’s where she differs from most members +of the fair sex,” hazarded Walter.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_85">[85]</div> +<p>“And see how fast she’s going,” said Bess, ignoring +the gibe. “We’re half a mile from shore +already.”</p> +<p>“Let’s hug the shore and go all the way around +the lake. We may be able to pick out some splendid +spots to go picnicking in.”</p> +<p>“And on the way back let’s land on the island,” +suggested Bess. “I wonder if anybody lives +there.”</p> +<p>“Joel told me that there was a man who had a +cabin over there and comes up here almost every +summer,” replied Jack. “He lives all alone, and +spends his time in collecting plants and flowers. +Joel can’t understand that. Thinks he’s a bug. I +suppose he’s a botanist or something of the kind.”</p> +<p>“Well, he ought to have plenty of chances on +that island,” remarked Cora as her eye took in +the luxuriant verdure of the place.</p> +<p>“Perhaps he wouldn’t care to have us break in +upon him,” observed Belle. “He may be of the +crank or hermit type.”</p> +<p>“Or a woman-hater,” laughed Bess.</p> +<p>“If he is, you’ll cure him,” declared Walter gallantly.</p> +<p>“I guess he won’t object,” said Paul. “Anyway, +he doesn’t own the island. He just camps +out on it, and we have as much right there as he +has.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_86">[86]</div> +<p>They had quickly reached the further end of +the lake, and kept up a running fire of delighted +exclamations at the beauties that nature had flung +about this favored place with reckless prodigality.</p> +<p>“If a painter could only put it on canvas,” sighed +Cora.</p> +<p>“He never could!” exclaimed Belle. “The best +he could do would be a poor imitation.”</p> +<p>Suddenly Bess drew up her foot.</p> +<p>“Oh,” she exclaimed, “my foot is soaking wet!”</p> +<p>Jack looked at the bottom of the boat.</p> +<p>“It’s a little water that’s seeped in,” he remarked. +“We’ll get the bailer from the cabin +locker and throw it out.”</p> +<p>Walter bestirred himself and got the bailer. But +after he had used it for a minute, a puzzled look +came into his face.</p> +<p>“It’s coming in faster than I can get it out,” he +said.</p> +<p>Belle uttered a little cry, and Bess became a +trifle pale.</p> +<p>The other boys crowded around Walter.</p> +<p>“It is coming in pretty fast for a fact,” muttered +Paul.</p> +<p>“We’ll all have to get at it,” said Jack soberly.</p> +<p>There was only one bailer in the boat, and there +was nothing else in the shape of a can or pail.</p> +<p>“Take off your sweaters,” said Jack to the boys. +“Soak up the water and wring them out over the +side of the boat. Lively now!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_87">[87]</div> +<p>A moment more and the boys were working +like beavers.</p> +<p>“It must have been the straining of the engine,” +explained Jack. “It’s started a board in the old +tub. Work like the mischief, boys!”</p> +<p>Bess and Belle were huddled together in alarm, +but they said nothing to betray the panic that was +growing upon them.</p> +<p>Cora’s lips were pressed a little more tightly +together and her cheeks were a trifle pale. But +her eyes were glowing like stars, and were full of +courage and determination.</p> +<p>She gave the wheel a turn and headed straight +for the island, which was the nearest land.</p> +<p>The water continued to gain, and as the boat +settled a trifle in consequence of the added weight, +its progress was necessarily slower.</p> +<p>The boys were working frantically. Bess and +Belle would have gladly helped, but in the narrow +limits of the boat they would only have been +in the way.</p> +<p>The open space in the bottom of the boat was +yawning now. Jack doubled up his sweater and +thrust it into the opening, while the others continued +to bail.</p> +<p>Still the water gained, and the boat was perceptibly +settling. But they were near the island now, +and Cora turned the bow toward a low, shelving +part.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_88">[88]</div> +<p>A moment more and, with a sensation of infinite +relief, they felt the bow slide into the mud +of the bottom. Jack leaped to the engine and +stopped its chugging. Then all took a long breath +and looked at each other.</p> +<p>The faces of the boys were white and in the +eyes of the girls there was more than a suspicion +of anxiety.</p> +<p>“Land ho!” exclaimed Jack, giving his sister a +hug.</p> +<p>“Castaways!” cried Paul dramatically.</p> +<p>“But not on a desert island, thank heaven!” +said Bess.</p> +<p>“But how are we to get on shore without getting +wet?” queried Belle, a lesser anxiety seizing her, +now that the greater one was dispelled.</p> +<p>“Can you ask that,” said Walter reproachfully, +“when there are three husky sailors here who ask +nothing better than to carry you to the shore?”</p> +<p>“It’s only a foot deep near the bow,” declared +Jack. “Over we go, boys,” and he set the example, +that was instantly followed by his comrades.</p> +<p>Each took one of the girls and landed her +safely on the shore. With the exception of Bess’ +wet feet, the girls were almost as fresh and unruffled +as ever, but the boys with their dripping +trousers clinging closely round them presented a +comical picture.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_89">[89]</div> +<p>“That’s right, laugh at us!” said Walter, as the +girls looked at them with mirth in their eyes. +“Here we risk our lives for you and that’s all +the reward we get. Suppose a shark had bitten +us when we were wading to the shore with our +cargo of beauty. Suppose——”</p> +<p>But his diatribe was interrupted by the appearance +of a man who stepped from the trees that +came down near to the water’s edge.</p> +<p>He looked at the party with a whimsical smile.</p> +<p>“Why, it’s Mr. Morley!”</p> +<p>“So it is,” echoed Bess and Belle.</p> +<p>“The very same,” smiled the newcomer. “And +you are the young ladies that came to my help the +other day when I ran my car into a tree. Who +would have supposed that we would meet again so +soon and under such different circumstances?”</p> +<p>He shook hands heartily with the girls, and +then was introduced to the boys.</p> +<p>“You’ve had something like a shipwreck, I see,” +he said, as he looked at the boat.</p> +<p>“Nothing very serious,” replied Jack. “Although +it might have been, if we’d had much +farther to go to reach shore.”</p> +<p>“It’s too bad,” returned Mr. Morley. “However, +I’m very glad it wasn’t worse. But come +up to my cabin. It’s only a little way from here. +You can build a fire outside and stand about it +until your clothes are dry. I live rather simply +here, but I can offer you some refreshments. After +that, we’ll see what we can do toward patching +up your boat.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_90">[90]</div> +<p>He led the way, chatting with Cora, and the +rest followed. A few minutes’ walk brought them +to the cabin. It was a small, one-story structure, +with three rooms. One served as a living room, +dining room and kitchen combined, while the +others consisted of a sleeping room and a room +where Mr. Morley kept his specimens.</p> +<p>“‘A poor place, but mine own,’” quoted their +host, with a smile. “I spend most of my summers +here looking for specimens. The rest of the year +I teach botany in a college. Now I’m going to +bring out some cakes and tea and put the young +ladies in charge, and we’ll have a regular afternoon +tea.”</p> +<p>While the girls fluttered about inside, preparing +the refreshments, Mr. Morley and the boys built +a fire a little way from the door, and in a little +while the youths were dry and comfortable again.</p> +<p>It was a gay party that a little later sat around +the table where the girls had spread the refreshments. +Mr. Morley seemed genuinely glad to +have them with him, and the boys and girls were +in the highest spirits. What might have been a +disaster had developed into a lark.</p> +<p>While the girls were clearing up the things later, +their host went down with the boys to the boat.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_91">[91]</div> +<p>He had brought along some boards and oakum, +together with necessary tools. His own rowboat +enabled them to board the <i>Water Sprite</i> without +getting another wetting. Once there, the boys +took off their shoes, rolled their trousers to the +knees and set to work. In less than an hour they +had repaired the damage. Then they bailed out +the water and watched anxiously to see if any more +came in.</p> +<p>But their anxiety was needless. The work had +been well done, and the boat floated high and dry +on the water.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_92">[92]</div> +<h2 id="c11">CHAPTER XI +<br /><span class="small">CORA MAKES A DISCOVERY</span></h2> +<p>The boys, followed by Mr. Morley, retraced +their steps to the cabin and told the good news.</p> +<p>“And now,” said Cora, “I suppose we must go. +It was awfully good of you, Mr. Morley, to take +us shipwrecked travelers in and treat us so nicely.”</p> +<p>The others echoed this sentiment, but Mr. Morley +put in a vehement disclaimer.</p> +<p>“It’s nothing compared to what you did for me +the other day,” he declared. “And I can’t tell +you how much good it has done me to have you +young people here. It’s a long time since I’ve +had youth in my home. But that’s my own fault. +I drove it——”</p> +<p>He brought himself up with a sharp turn.</p> +<p>“Perhaps you’d like to take a look at my specimens +before you go,” he remarked tentatively.</p> +<p>“We’d dearly love to,” replied Cora.</p> +<p>Mr. Morley led the way into the specimen +room.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_93">[93]</div> +<p>“Just now I’m making a collection of vampires,” +he remarked.</p> +<p>“No accounting for tastes,” whispered Walter +to Paul, in a voice too low to be heard by their +host.</p> +<p>“Do you keep them in a cage?” asked Jack.</p> +<p>Mr. Morley looked up in surprise.</p> +<p>“What do you mean?” he asked.</p> +<p>“Why,” replied Jack, “you spoke of vampires, +and I thought you meant vampire bats. They’re +the only kind of vampires I know anything about.”</p> +<p>“I was referring to the plant this leaf was taken +from,” smiled their host, as he held it up for them +to see.</p> +<p>It was a long, rounded leaf that seemed to be +covered with tiny hairs, on which glistened something +that resembled honey and gave forth a fragrant +odor. On looking more closely they saw +what appeared to be fragments of small insects.</p> +<p>“We call it the sun-dew,” explained Mr. Morley. +“It’s common enough, and you’ve seen it in +the fields many a time. But instead of living on +elements drawn from the soil, it feeds on flies and +other insects. They are attracted by the honey +that it spreads out temptingly to bring them within +its reach. But as soon as they light on it, the +leaf tightens around them and crushes them to +death. Then it eats them at leisure. That’s why +it’s called a ‘vampire.’”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_94">[94]</div> +<p>“But,” objected Cora, “any one would think +from that that the plant had intelligence and knew +just what it was doing, just as an animal does +when it hunts for prey.”</p> +<p>“Exactly,” agreed Mr. Morley. “Who are we +to say that plants don’t have intelligence? What +proof is there in nature that they don’t suffer and +enjoy, feel and plan, as men and animals do, only +on a lower plane? We humans are too conceited. +We assume that we possess intelligence almost exclusively. +We grant some to animals, though we +slur even that by calling it only instinct. But we’ve +been inclined to deny it altogether to plants.</p> +<p>“Now I don’t agree with this at all. And there +are lots more of the newer school of naturalists +who feel just as I do about it. Wherever there is +life there is intelligence. Plants can be cunning +and patient and cruel and deceitful. If they can’t +get enough of one kind of food, they hunt for +another. When men and animals do these things +or show these qualities, we admit that it is the +result of thought. What is it, then, that makes +a plant do precisely similar things with similar +ends in view?</p> +<p>“But there,” he interrupted himself with a smile, +“one might almost think that I was in my lecture +room, talking to a class! It’s a hobby of mine, +and I forget sometimes that others may not be so +interested in it as I am.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_95">[95]</div> +<p>“But we <i>are</i> interested, keenly interested,” protested +Cora.</p> +<p>“I never thought of plants in that way before,” +declared Bess.</p> +<p>“It’s opened up an entirely new way of looking +at things,” said Paul.</p> +<p>“Are there many kinds of vampire plants?” +asked Belle.</p> +<p>“Lots of them,” replied Mr. Morley. “And +they use all kinds of devices—hooks, claws, poison, +honey, snares and shocks.”</p> +<p>“Desperate characters,” whispered Walter to +Jack.</p> +<p>“Worse than gunmen,” murmured Jack.</p> +<p>“There, for instance,” continued their host, “is +the ‘devil’s snare’ that is found in South America. +It has long, snaky tentacles that sweep the ground +for many yards in every direction, for all the +world like the long suckers of the devil-fish. It +gobbles up anything that comes within its reach, +insects, mice and larger animals. Once it gets its +deadly grip on a victim, it keeps on tightening and +tightening until it chokes the life out of it. It has +been known to grasp and kill a good-sized dog.”</p> +<p>“The horrid thing!” exclaimed Bess with a little +shudder.</p> +<p>“The S. P. C. A. ought to get after it,” laughed +Walter.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_96">[96]</div> +<p>“There are plants, too,” continued their mentor, +“that show intelligence by the way they adapt +themselves to changed conditions. The bladderwort, +for example, used to live on insects. Perhaps +it got a hint somewhere that it could do better +on water than on land. At any rate, it became a +water plant. It lies just under the surface and +imitates the wide-open mouth of a mother fish. +The little minnows swim into it to avoid their +enemies and as soon as they’re well inside, the +mouth closes and the plant regales itself with a +fish dinner.</p> +<p>“Then there are the cannibal plants. There are +hundreds of trees that have the life juices sucked +from them by the parasitic plants that twine +around them until they give up the ghost.”</p> +<p>“Just as the trusts do to the common people,” +observed Jack.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Cora, drawing a long breath, “I’ve +always known that nature was cruel, but I’ve never +connected that idea with plants.”</p> +<p>“Cruel everywhere,” assented Mr. Morley, +“from man, creation’s crown, to plants, creation’s +base.”</p> +<p>They looked with a new interest and a heightened +respect at the other specimens he showed, and +the time passed so quickly that they were startled, +on glancing out of doors, to see how rapidly dusk +was coming on.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_97">[97]</div> +<p>“When I get to mooning along on my pet theories, +I never know when to stop,” said Mr. Morley +apologetically.</p> +<p>“It’s been a real treat to listen to you, Mr. +Morley,” said Cora with her winning smile.</p> +<p>“Truth is not only stranger but more interesting +than fiction,” smiled Belle.</p> +<p>They separated with cordial good wishes and a +hearty invitation to Mr. Morley to visit them at +Camp Kill Kare. He stood at the cabin door, +watching them as they hurried down to their boat.</p> +<p>“This is the end of a perfect day,” sang Bess +gaily, as they stepped on board the <i>Water Sprite</i>, +which the boys had brought around to the little +dock at which Mr. Morley’s rowboat was tied.</p> +<p>“It certainly has been a crowded one,” said +Belle.</p> +<p>“Isn’t Mr. Morley an unusual man?” asked +Cora. “I’m more and more convinced that there’s +a mystery about him.”</p> +<p>“He’s a fine chap,” said Jack, “but I didn’t +notice anything especially mysterious about him.”</p> +<p>“That’s because you’re a man,” said Cora.</p> +<p>“I can’t help belonging to that despised sex, +can I?” inquired Jack in an injured tone.</p> +<p>“I suppose it’s your misfortune rather than your +fault,” dimpled Bess.</p> +<p>“What do you suppose he meant when he said +‘I drove it,’ and then stopped so suddenly?” asked +Belle thoughtfully.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_98">[98]</div> +<p>“Probably thinking of his car when he drove it +into a tree,” remarked Jack flippantly.</p> +<p>If he had not been hardened, he would have +succumbed before the exasperated glare of three +pairs of girlish eyes.</p> +<p>“Better get in out of the wet, Jack,” counseled +Paul.</p> +<p>“Come over here and I’ll protect you with my +life,” adjured Walter.</p> +<p>“Don’t pay any attention to those idiots, girls,” +advised Cora. “We’ll wait until we get by ourselves +and can talk sense without being interrupted.”</p> +<p>The <i>Water Sprite</i>, as though repenting of its +lapses that afternoon, was now on its good behavior, +and she kept “dry as a bone” on the short +passage from the island.</p> +<p>They found Mrs. King a little worried at their +late coming, and she threw up her hands at the +story of their narrow escape from sinking.</p> +<p>“You’ve had a lively brood wished on you, +Aunt Betty,” laughed Cora, as she threw her arm +affectionately around her aunt’s waist.</p> +<p>“I can see that already,” was the reply. “My +only comfort is that you girls seem to bear a +charmed life.”</p> +<p>“Call it ‘charming,’” said Walter gallantly, +“and we boys will agree with you.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_99">[99]</div> +<p>They had some music after dinner, but as all +were tired from their strenuous day they went to +their rooms early.</p> +<p>“Girls,” exclaimed Cora, as soon as they were +alone, “I’ve found out whom that gypsy girl resembles! +It’s Mr. Morley!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_100">[100]</div> +<h2 id="c12">CHAPTER XII +<br /><span class="small">AN UGLY CUSTOMER</span></h2> +<p>“Mr. Morley!” exclaimed Bess and Belle in a +breath.</p> +<p>“Isn’t it so?” demanded Cora. “I was struck +by it when we first saw him just after we got off +the boat.”</p> +<p>“When I come to think of it, I believe you’re +right,” replied Belle slowly.</p> +<p>“He has a way of holding his head like hers,” +agreed Bess.</p> +<p>“But it’s the eyes,” went on Cora. “They’re +blue like hers, and there are times when they have +exactly the same expression. Girls, I believe we’re +on the edge of a mystery!”</p> +<p>“Don’t talk so loud,” cautioned Belle, “or the +boys may catch something of what you’re saying +and they’ll tease us to death about it.”</p> +<p>“But, after all, what does it all amount to?” +asked Bess. “It doesn’t prove that they have the +slightest connection with each other.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_101">[101]</div> +<p>“And even if they have, what could we do +about it?” asked Belle. “It’s like the dog running +after the train. What would he do with it +if he caught it?”</p> +<p>The girls laughed.</p> +<p>“It is a tangle,” admitted Cora. “We couldn’t +go to Mr. Morley and tell him that we’d seen a +gypsy girl who reminded us of him.”</p> +<p>“He mightn’t take it as a compliment,” suggested +Bess.</p> +<p>“Or he might think we’d gone crazy,” said +Belle.</p> +<p>“There are probably ten million people in the +world that the gypsy girl looks like in one way or +another,” said Bess, with difficulty suppressing a +yawn. “Let’s go to bed and forget all about it.”</p> +<p>But Cora, as she slipped between the sheets, +was far from intending to dismiss the subject in +such cavalier fashion.</p> +<p>At breakfast the next morning, Paul proposed +that they should visit an old logging camp that +Joel had told him was located a few miles away.</p> +<p>“Of course it isn’t in operation now,” he said. +“You’d have to visit it in winter to see it running +full blast. But it will be interesting to see the +bunk-houses and the flumes, and get an idea of +the way the work is carried on.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_102">[102]</div> +<p>“We won’t have to do much walking,” said +Jack. “Joel says that the road between here and +there is a pretty good one for the cars. We can +take our lunch along and make an all-day picnic +of it.”</p> +<p>The girls fell into the plan with enthusiasm, and +in a short time the cars were brought to the front +of the house, and they were ready to start.</p> +<p>Joel stood by, looking on with lively curiosity, +as Cora took the wheel.</p> +<p>“How about a little spin for a mile or two?” +laughed Cora.</p> +<p>Joel grinned a little sheepishly.</p> +<p>“Come along,” urged Cora, “and I’ll show you +what fast going is really like.”</p> +<p>“Better make your will, Joel,” laughed Jack. +“That sister of mine is some speed demon.”</p> +<p>“I’m afraid it will put ye out in yer plans,” objected +Joel, though it was plain he was tempted.</p> +<p>“Not a bit of it,” returned Cora cheerily. “We +have all day before us. The rest will stay here, +while you and I go down the road for a mile or +two and back.”</p> +<p>Joel looked at Mrs. King, and as she smiled +her approval, he climbed clumsily into the car and +sat in the back seat. Cora threw in the clutch, +and the car started off.</p> +<p>“Hold on to your hair, Joel,” Jack shouted +after him.</p> +<p>The road was fairly good right there, and Cora +increased the speed until the car was going well.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_103">[103]</div> +<p>Joel gasped and held on tight to the sides of +the car. He had never traveled on anything +faster than the little narrow-gauge railroad train +that wheezed along at about ten or fifteen miles +an hour. Now he was moving at the rate of forty +or more.</p> +<p>After about two miles had been covered, Cora +eased up and prepared to turn the car.</p> +<p>“How about it, Joel?” she asked mischievously, +as she straightened out for home.</p> +<p>“It’s—it’s scrumptious, miss!” gasped Joel, “but +ain’t ye feared ye’ll wreck yer car? Doesn’t seem’s +if anything on four wheels c’u’d stand it.”</p> +<p>“Don’t worry about that,” replied Cora, and +again Joel was treated to a burst of speed that set +his heart thumping violently against his ribs.</p> +<p>It was with a sigh of relief that he climbed +down from the car when it had come to a full stop.</p> +<p>“Sufferin’ cats!” exclaimed the old backwoodsman, +as he faced his grinning audience, “I’ve faced +b’ars an’ painters an’ catamounts, but I wuz never +so plumb skeered in all my life!</p> +<p>“An’ to think uv a gal havin’ the spunk to drive +like that!” he muttered to himself, as he made +his way back to the barn. “She suttinly is some +gal!”</p> +<p>“A little rich for Joel’s blood, I guess,” laughed +Jack, as the gay party started off.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_104">[104]</div> +<p>“He’ll grow to like it, though,” prophesied +Cora. “He’ll be ready for another one by the +time we get back.”</p> +<p>The cars moved along now at a moderate pace, +for they had ample time before them and were +not at all anxious to reach their destination.</p> +<p>Suddenly Jack’s car, which was in advance, +came to a full stop. He turned about and motioned +for Cora to drive up as softly as possible.</p> +<p>“What is it?” she asked as she drew up alongside.</p> +<p>For answer, Jack pointed ahead, and the girls +saw a big rattlesnake sunning himself in the road.</p> +<p>The girls gave a shriek that roused the snake. +He reared his ugly triangular head, saw the cars, +and with an angry rattle threw himself into position +for attack or defense as the case might call +for. His forked tongue played back and forth +like lightning and his wicked eyes sparkled with +rage.</p> +<p>“Beauty, isn’t he?” asked Jack.</p> +<p>“Oh, let’s get back!” cried Belle. “He may try +to climb into the car!”</p> +<p>“A black snake does that sometimes, but a +rattler never does,” declared Walter. “He’ll +leave us alone if we leave him alone.”</p> +<p>“For goodness’ sake, leave him alone, then!” +pleaded Bess.</p> +<p>“I’m going to get a closer look at him,” said +Jack, preparing to jump from the car.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_105">[105]</div> +<p>“Don’t, Jack, don’t!” cried Cora, and there +was such fear in his sister’s voice that Jack yielded, +though reluctantly.</p> +<p>“We’re not going to let him get away, are we?” +he grumbled.</p> +<p>“Why not?” replied Cora. “He wasn’t doing +anything to us.”</p> +<p>“He ought to be killed on general principles,” +said Paul.</p> +<p>“He’s an enemy of the human race,” added +Walter.</p> +<p>But this viewpoint did not appeal to the girls.</p> +<p>“He has a right to his life,” said tender-hearted +Bess.</p> +<p>“To be sure he has,” acquiesced Belle. “Besides, +you boys haven’t any weapons, and you +might get bitten.”</p> +<p>“There are plenty of rocks and sticks around +here to kill him with,” said Walter.</p> +<p>But the girls insisted, and while they were excitedly +talking, the snake himself, seeing that he +was not attacked, solved the matter by uncoiling +and gliding away into the bushes at the side of +the road.</p> +<p>“A perfectly good bunch of rattles gone to +waste,” said Jack disgustedly, as they prepared to +start on again.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_106">[106]</div> +<p>“He’s given us a tip anyway to be on the lookout,” +warned Walter. “Where there’s one there +may be others. Joel says they’re not very plentiful +about here, but he does run across them +sometimes. I wonder what Joel would say if he +knew we had a chance to kill one and didn’t do it.”</p> +<p>“It doesn’t matter what Joel thinks,” said Bess. +“I’m glad we let him go.”</p> +<p>“You can’t help handing it to the old boy for +pluck,” said Jack, with grudging admiration. “He +was ready to fight the whole six of us.”</p> +<p>“If it had been a regiment, it would have been +just the same,” remarked Paul.</p> +<p>“He kept that old buzzer of his working overtime,” +laughed Walter. “No striking on the sly +for him. He keeps telling you just what he hopes +to do to you.”</p> +<p>“It’s the first time I’ve met a rattler under such +circumstances, and I hope it will be the last,” said +Bess.</p> +<p>“I guess his snakeship feels the same way about +us, so honors are even,” laughed Paul.</p> +<p>The party kept a sharp lookout from that time +on, but no other snakes were encountered, and a +few minutes later the logging camp came into +view.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_107">[107]</div> +<h2 id="c13">CHAPTER XIII +<br /><span class="small">A MOMENTOUS STEP</span></h2> +<p>The camp, which consisted of a sawmill, an +immense bunk-house capable of accommodating +more than a hundred men, and a number of scattered +outbuildings, was picturesquely located in a +depression between two great hills. A mountain +stream that came tearing down the side of one of +the hills furnished power for the mill. Later on, +some of its waters would be diverted to the giant +flumes, down which the logs would come hurtling +to the valley below.</p> +<p>Just now it was by no means the scene of busy +life that it would become in the late fall and +throughout the winter. Then would come the +bearded lumberjacks, hardy, red-faced giants +of the woods, Swedes, Norwegians, Irishmen, +Frenchmen, hard workers, hard fighters, hard +drinkers, and the wood would ring with the clang +of axes and the crash of falling trees.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_108">[108]</div> +<p>At present there was little work going on. The +sawmill, with a small force of men, was running +in a languid sort of way, clearing up some of the +by-products of the season before. The camp +might be said to be in a state of suspended animation.</p> +<p>A sort of deputy foreman who was in charge +gave the party a cordial greeting and showed +them about the various points of interest, explaining +volubly the processes through which the lumber +passed from the standing tree to the shaped +and finished product of the mills.</p> +<p>“We’ve got only a small force working in the +woods just now,” he explained. “They’re nicking +the trees, so that the men will know which ones +are to be cut down this coming fall and winter.”</p> +<p>“Sort of passing sentence of death, as it were,” +said Jack.</p> +<p>“I suppose you might call it that,” smiled the +foreman.</p> +<p>“It seems a pity that they should have to die,” +said Cora, as her eyes took in the stately trees +that decked the mountain side.</p> +<p>“Especially after what Mr. Morley was saying +yesterday about the trees being alive,” remarked +Bess.</p> +<p>“You girls are the limit,” laughed Paul. “First +you let the snake go, and now you want to save +the trees.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_109">[109]</div> +<p>“They’ll be afraid to pick a nosegay after a +while for fear that the flowers will bleed,” mocked +Jack.</p> +<p>“I wish my folks had believed in that plant +theory when I was a kid,” drawled Walter. “Then +I wouldn’t have had to weed the garden for fear +of hurting the weeds.”</p> +<p>“There’s not a bit of poetry in you boys,” said +Belle reproachfully.</p> +<p>“You’re mistaken there,” denied Paul. “We +love beautiful things. If we didn’t we wouldn’t +be chasing after you girls.”</p> +<p>There was only one other visitor to the camp, +a sharp-eyed reticent man, who loitered about +without betraying interest in anything especially. +He made no attempt to join the party, but kept +by himself.</p> +<p>“Who is our unsociable friend over there?” inquired +Jack.</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” replied the foreman. “He’s +been hanging around off and on for several days. +He doesn’t talk much to the men, but he and I +have chinned a little together. About all I know +of him is that his name is Baxter. He doesn’t let +on about his business.”</p> +<p>“Maybe he’s an author in search of local color,” +hazarded Bess.</p> +<p>“More likely a detective,” remarked Jack. +“You’d better look out, girls. He’s closing in +upon you, knowing you are desperate criminals.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_110">[110]</div> +<p>After the foreman had left them, they climbed +the slopes of the hill, and enjoyed the magnificent +view from the summit. Then, as it was nearing +noon, Jack suggested lunch.</p> +<p>“I’m keen to see what Aunt Betty has had put +up for us,” he remarked, “and what I’ll do to it +will be a sin and a shame.”</p> +<p>“Let’s go out into the woods to eat it,” suggested +Cora.</p> +<p>“Isn’t this woods enough for you?” asked Paul, +as he looked around.</p> +<p>“Not while we’re in sight of the mill,” returned +Cora. “I want to go right out into the wild wilderness.”</p> +<p>“Mightn’t we get lost?” inquired Belle rather +doubtfully.</p> +<p>“It’s easier to get into the wilderness sometimes +than it is to get out of it,” added Bess.</p> +<p>“I guess it’s safe enough,” remarked Jack. “We +won’t go very far, and I have a compass with me, +anyway.”</p> +<p>There was no further protest. The boys went +back to the cars and got the lunch basket. Then +they rejoined the girls, and the party plunged gaily +into the woods.</p> +<p>“We don’t know where we’re going, but we’re +on the way,” chanted Walter.</p> +<p>There was a trail that had evidently been used +by the lumberjacks, and the walking was easy.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_111">[111]</div> +<p>So easy, in fact, and the balsam in the air was +so stimulating and delightful, that the party had +gone a good deal farther than they had first intended +to before they came to a halt in a mossy +glade that seemed to be especially designed by +nature for a picnic party.</p> +<p>A little brook ran near by, and the boys brought +drinking water from this, while the girls brought +out the napkins and spread on them the host of +good things that Aunt Betty had had put up for +them.</p> +<p>There were no dyspeptics in the party, and the +food vanished in amazing fashion, to the accompaniment +of a running fire of chaff and jokes.</p> +<p>When the last crumb had disappeared, Walter +filled one of the drinking cups with the crystal +water and raised it up.</p> +<p>“A toast,” he cried. “I drink to Camp Kill +Kare!”</p> +<p>They all responded merrily.</p> +<p>“I’m going to look around this place a little,” +exclaimed Cora, rising to her feet.</p> +<p>“I’m just too comfortable to move,” said Bess.</p> +<p>“So am I,” echoed Belle.</p> +<p>“You’re setting an example of pernicious activity,” +said Jack.</p> +<p>“I won’t go far,” Cora assured him.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_112">[112]</div> +<p>She strolled about for a little while, picking an +occasional flower and observing with interest the +nicks made in the trees by the woodchoppers. The +woods closed around her and shut her out of sight +of the others. But she gave no thought to this, +for she knew that they could locate her by a call, +even though she was invisible.</p> +<p>From the bushes in front of her, a mother bird +darted out and ran along the ground, twittering +sharply as though in pain or alarm. Cora gazed +at her, and noticed that her wing was trailing as +though broken.</p> +<p>Her sympathies were aroused in an instant.</p> +<p>“Poor little thing,” she murmured to herself. +“I wonder if I can’t catch her and perhaps help +set that wing.”</p> +<p>She followed the bird for some distance, but it +managed to keep just a little out of reach of her +outstretched hand.</p> +<p>So much of design appeared in this that at last +the truth dawned upon Cora, and she laughed outright.</p> +<p>“You little fibber!” she exclaimed. “You +haven’t any broken wing at all. You’re just trying +to draw me away from your nest, so that I +sha’n’t find your babies.”</p> +<p>To make sure that her guess was correct, she +followed the bird a little farther. Then the little +creature seemed to realize that she had accomplished +her object, and rising from the ground, +she soared swiftly away.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_113">[113]</div> +<p>“Sold!” laughed Cora to herself. “I’ll have +to tell the others about that. They’ll have the +laugh on me, of course, but it’s too good to keep. +But I’d better go back or they’ll begin to get worried +about me.”</p> +<p>She turned in the direction of the picnic party, +as she thought, and began to walk rapidly. But +at the end of five minutes she saw no trace of +them and a vague uneasiness began to take possession +of her.</p> +<p>“That little cheat must have led me a good deal +farther than I thought,” she said to herself. “I +guess I’d better call out to them.”</p> +<p>She sent out a loud yodel, such as she and the +other girls were accustomed to use as a call, and +waited expectantly for an answer.</p> +<p>But no answer came.</p> +<p>She repeated the call, but with the same result.</p> +<p>“It must be these trees,” she assured herself. +“They smother the sound so that it can’t go more +than a few rods. I’ll go on a little farther and +try again.”</p> +<p>She almost ran now, stumbling occasionally in +her haste, and trying to crowd back an awful fear +that was rapidly taking form.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_114">[114]</div> +<p>Once more she stood still and called at the top +of her voice, called desperately, frantically, repeatedly. +But for all the response she received +she might as well have been in the center of the +Sahara desert.</p> +<p>Then she stumbled over a tree root and rolled +over and over down the mountain side, to bring +up at last in a wilderness of brushwood.</p> +<p>She was dazed for a few moments by the fall, +but soon realized that she was not hurt. She arose +and pushed her way in a zigzag course, trying to +mount the hillside down which she had fallen.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_115">[115]</div> +<h2 id="c14">CHAPTER XIV +<br /><span class="small">IN THE WILDERNESS</span></h2> +<p>Cora was lost!</p> +<p>For an hour past she had refused to admit it +to herself. The utmost that she would concede +was that she had become separated from her +party. But that of course often happened, was +bound to happen again and again, when one was +out in the woods.</p> +<p>Jack and the rest must be looking for her as +eagerly as she was for them. How heartily they +would laugh and joke over the needless fears that +had assailed her when she first realized that she +was alone.</p> +<p>So she had reasoned with herself, thrusting +resolutely into the background the terrible dread +that kept trying to get possession of her mind, +marshaling all the pathetic sophistries by which +those in similar plight have tried to delude themselves +from the beginning of the world. But with +every moment that passed she grew more certain +of the truth, until she seated herself on a fallen +tree, and, burying her face in her hands, gave +way to the tears she tried in vain to hold back.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_116">[116]</div> +<p>There was no use in blinking the fact. She +was lost in the Adirondack wilderness, cut off for +the time being from her friends, doomed perhaps +to suffer incredible hardships before she should +be rescued. She shuddered as she recalled instances +of others, lost in that vast region, strong +men, some of them, for whom rescue had arrived +too late.</p> +<p>She pressed her fingers into her throbbing +temples and tried to think. But her head swam, +and it was only by a strong exertion of her will +that she was able to pull herself together. It was +some minutes before she had herself well in hand +and was able to bring all her powers to bear on +the problem before her. That problem had suddenly +assumed gigantic proportions. Unless she +solved it correctly, her life might pay the penalty.</p> +<p>“What shall I do?” she asked herself. “What +shall I do?”</p> +<p>North, east, south, west, wherever she looked +she could see nothing resembling a trail. In all +that tangle of trees, rocks and undergrowth there +was no indication that the foot of man had ever +disturbed its solitude. And as Cora looked wildly +about her, the forest seemed to mock her with a +lurking smile as though taunting her helplessness.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_117">[117]</div> +<p>But she resolutely crushed back the feeling of +panic that clutched at her heart and hunted about +desperately to get her bearings. It was ridiculous, +she told herself, that she should not find +something that would give her the needed clue.</p> +<p>She knew in a general way that the bungalow +lay a little north of east. It was not much to go +by, but if she could keep in that line it might make +all the difference between safety and disaster.</p> +<p>But how was she to find the cardinal points? +She had no compass with her. And then her +heart gave a great bound as she thought of her +watch!</p> +<p>Like all the Motor Girls, Cora, in her frequent +journeyings, had picked up a good many points +of woodcraft. Among others, she knew how by a +simple device to locate the south, and with this as +a starter find the other points of the compass.</p> +<p>Where she sat, the trees were so thick that a +perpetual twilight reigned beneath. A little to the +right, however, they thinned out somewhat, and +rays of light fell through the foliage. Here was +her chance to get an idea of the sun’s location.</p> +<p>She went hurriedly to the spot and opening her +watch carefully turned it until the figure twelve +pointed directly at the sun. Then she measured +half the distance between twelve and the hour +hand and knew that this central point indicated +due south. Directly opposite, of course, was +north. Standing, then, with her face to the north, +it followed that the east was on her right hand +and the west on her left.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_118">[118]</div> +<p>She had a tiny penknife with her, and with this +she cut two strips of bark and dovetailed them in +the form of a cross, so that each of the four ends +stood for one of the cardinal points. On these +she cut the appropriate initials and carefully +planted it in the ground at her feet. Then she +put back her watch with a sigh of satisfaction.</p> +<p>Now she had at least a point of departure. All +she had to do was to start in the right direction +and depend upon further glimpses of the sun to +correct her course from time to time.</p> +<p>From the beginning her progress was slow, +owing to the absence of a trail and the necessity +of forcing her way through the underbrush. At +times she had to make a considerable detour, to +avoid brush so thickly matted that she could not +penetrate it. This of necessity threw her out of +the course she was trying to keep. And her consternation +was great to find, on reaching a more +open spot, that the sun was now hidden by thick +clouds.</p> +<p>Still she went doggedly on for two hours or +more, taxing every ounce of courage and resolution +that she possessed, finding a mental relief in +the physical effort that kept her from dwelling +too intently on her desperate plight. The afternoon +was rapidly waning and the gloom of the +forest was deepening into dusk. And just then, +panting with fatigue and exhaustion, her eye +caught something familiar close to her feet.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_119">[119]</div> +<p>It was the cross of bark that she had made +two hours earlier!</p> +<p>This, then, was the reward of all her exertions. +Obeying that inexorable and malign law that seems +to hound desert and forest wanderers, she had +worked around in a circle to the very point from +which she had started!</p> +<p>For a moment it seemed to Cora that she must +be dreaming. She could not bring herself to admit +that all the toil and effort of the afternoon +had come only to this. It was absurd, ridiculous! +She rubbed her eyes and looked again. It was +only too surely the fact. There was the little +cross with the edges still raw from the blade of +her knife.</p> +<p>Fate had played a cruel joke on her—a joke +that might prove to be deadly. She had taxed +her muscles until she was dropping with weariness, +kept up her courage with the thought that she +was making progress, only to find that all was +utterly wasted, and that she was no nearer safety +than when she had started. The reaction came on +her with a rush and for a moment she thought +she was going to faint.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_120">[120]</div> +<p>Now, for the first time, the full horror of her +situation dawned on her. As long as she had +kept in motion, she had been buoyed up by the +thought that at any minute she might win her way +to safety. But now her chance, for the day at +least, was gone. She was alone, cut off from all +human companionship in that vast wilderness, and +night was coming on!</p> +<p>What was to be her fate? She had everything +to live for, youth, health, friends, home and love. +She was just on the brink of womanhood, and life +ran at full tide through her veins. The future +stretched before her, glowing with promise and +with hands heaped high with treasures. She was +just getting ready to drink the wine of life. Was +the cup to be dashed rudely to the ground, just +as she was lifting it to her lips?</p> +<p>For a little while she surrendered to these +gloomy imaginings. The shock had been too +severe for her to rally all at once. Then she +took a grip on herself.</p> +<p>For it was not in Cora’s nature to yield tamely +to despair. Her heart was naturally brave and +she came of fighting stock. It was good red blood +that ran in Cora’s veins, and now, as the first depression +passed, it began to assert itself.</p> +<p>Not that she attempted longer to deceive herself. +She admitted that her plight was desperate. +But it was not hopeless. It never would be that, +she told herself, as long as a spark of life was +left. She would work, plan, struggle and never +give up.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_121">[121]</div> +<p>But where would she find shelter for the night? +In some dense thicket? In a hollow tree? She +shuddered as she thought of spending the night +entirely in the open. What wild animals might be +abroad, coming out, soft-footed and wary, to make +their nightly kill? She knew that there were bears, +wolves and lynxes in these forests, and also rattlesnakes. +Without anything approaching a weapon, +what chance would she have in case of attack?</p> +<p>If she only had some matches! None of the +beasts would dare to touch her if she were seated +close to a roaring fire. They might prowl about +and eye her hungrily, but no matter how famished +or savage they were, they would not venture into +that zone of flame.</p> +<p>But a fire was impossible. And as Cora realized +this, she looked about her wildly, as though +she expected even in the twilight to hear a stealthy +footfall or see a pair of phosphorescent eyes glaring +at her. She could almost hear the pounding +of her heart.</p> +<p>She must find shelter in the few minutes of +daylight that remained. There was nothing to +gain and everything to lose by staying where she +was. With a little prayer on her lips, she set off, +choosing no particular direction, but trusting to +Providence to direct her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_122">[122]</div> +<p>Five minutes later she gave a joyous cry, and +ran forward to a tiny hut that stood in a little +clearing.</p> +<p>It was a rude cabin of a single room. +Its weather-beaten and dilapidated appearance +showed that it had been knocked together a long +time previously, probably by some trapper or +hunter. Part of the thatched roof had sagged in, +leaving rifts open to the sky.</p> +<p>On the earthen floor within were the ashes of +a fire and several rusty pans and skillets, abandoned +or forgotten by the last occupant. In the +center was a bunk, consisting of four uprights, to +which were fastened ropes that crossed and criss-crossed +each other to form a rough mattress. A +door swung loosely from the rusted hinges.</p> +<p>From all appearances, no one had been in the +place for years. Cora rushed inside, pulled the +door shut and slipped a bar that she found within +into place. Then she sat down on the cord mattress +and cried with thankfulness.</p> +<p>From all the terrors of a night spent in the open +forest she was safe.</p> +<p>Night had fully fallen now, and the myriad +voices of the forest were in full swing. It was +nature’s symphony on a colossal scale. Locusts, +crickets and katydids sought to outdo each other. +From the trees came the hoot of owls and the +mournful notes of the whippoorwill.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_123">[123]</div> +<p>Now that she was temporarily safe, Cora was +conscious of being hungry. She had been so absorbed +in her attempt to escape from the captivity +of the forest that she had not even thought of +food. Now she realized that her healthy appetite +was clamoring for satisfaction.</p> +<p>Suddenly she remembered that she had slipped +a tablet of chocolate in the pocket of her blouse +that morning, to nibble at on the trip. She had +forgotten all about it till now, and she thanked the +fates for the oversight.</p> +<p>She drew it out, and as she did so she felt two +other objects that she had not known were there. +She drew them out and found that they were two +cubes of compressed soup stock, wrapped in little +pieces of waxed paper.</p> +<p>How on earth had they gotten there? Some +trick played by Bess or Belle probably. They +had slipped them in when she had not been looking, +just for the sake of seeing her perplexed expression +when she should discover them. That +must be the explanation.</p> +<p>Her spirits rose with the discovery. If she +could only have had a can of water and a fire, +she could have made a delicious soup. But this +was out of the question, and she had to content +herself with putting one of the precious cubes in +her mouth and letting it slowly dissolve. It was +rather dry eating, but the nourishment was there.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_124">[124]</div> +<p>She was sorely tempted to let the other cube and +the tablet of chocolate take the same course, as +all of them together would have made but a +slender meal. But prudence spoke more loudly +than appetite and she crushed down the temptation. +Although it taxed her resolution sorely, she +thrust them back into her pocket.</p> +<p>She lay down on the rude mattress, although she +was sure that she would not close her eyes the +whole night through. But she was utterly used +up by the terrible strain of the day’s experience, +and tired nature demanded her rights. Sleep laid +its soothing fingers on her eyelids, and all her +troubles were, for the time being, forgotten.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_125">[125]</div> +<h2 id="c15">CHAPTER XV +<br /><span class="small">CONSTERNATION</span></h2> +<p>It may have been the drowsy charm of the day, +the soothing murmur of the brook, or the satisfying +quality of the lunch, or perhaps a combination +of the three, that made the little party under the +trees so content to sit still or lie still for a considerable +time after Cora left them.</p> +<p>“This is <i>dolce far niente</i> for fair,” murmured +Jack lazily.</p> +<p>“I’d agree with you,” drawled Paul, “if I only +knew what you meant. Talk United States.”</p> +<p>“Why, it means something like ‘the happiness of +doing nothing,’ I believe,” explained Jack.</p> +<p>“It seems to make a hit with you,” remarked +Belle.</p> +<p>“It does,” admitted Jack brazenly.</p> +<p>“I declare, you boys are like so many stuffed +anacondas stretched out there,” observed Bess.</p> +<p>“We’re members of the Amalgamated Order +of the Sons of Rest,” said Walter.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_126">[126]</div> +<p>“Come along, Belle,” said Bess, rising. “If we +stay here much longer we’ll grow to be as lazy +as they are. Let’s go and find Cora. She’s the +only real live wire in the whole party.”</p> +<p>“You do yourselves an injustice,” Jack called +after them.</p> +<p>The girls went off in the direction that Cora had +taken, keeping a sharp lookout as they went +along.</p> +<p>“It’s queer that she hasn’t come back of her +own accord by this time,” remarked Belle.</p> +<p>“She’s probably gathering flowers,” replied +Bess. “There are so many beautiful varieties +around here.” But Belle grew more uneasy every +second.</p> +<p>“I’m going to call her,” she said, and gave the +familiar yodel on which Cora herself had relied +in vain.</p> +<p>But no answer came back, and the girls looked +at each other with unrest in their eyes.</p> +<p>“Do you think she’s teasing us by pretending +not to hear?” asked Belle.</p> +<p>“No,” replied her sister, “that wouldn’t be like +Cora. She knows how that would worry us.”</p> +<p>“Let’s try both together,” suggested Belle, and +they gave out a call in unison.</p> +<p>Again there was no response, and thoroughly +frightened now, the girls ran back to their companions.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_127">[127]</div> +<p>“Oh, Jack,” exclaimed Belle, “we can’t find +Cora!”</p> +<p>“What!” cried the boys, leaping to their feet.</p> +<p>“It’s true,” confirmed Bess. “We’ve called her +again and again, and we can’t get any answer.”</p> +<p>Jack grew pale beneath his coat of tan.</p> +<p>“It can’t be!” he cried. “You didn’t call loud +enough. Cora, oh, Cora!” he shouted at the top +of his voice.</p> +<p>Paul and Walter joined in with stentorian yells, +but their united efforts had no result.</p> +<p>“There’s got to be some quick work here, fellows!” +cried Jack, a cold perspiration breaking +out all over him. “You girls stay right here,” he +commanded. “Don’t stir from this spot. We +three fellows will spread out in a semicircle, and +beat up the woods in the general direction that +Cora started out in. We’ll spread out as widely +as we can, but we mustn’t get so far apart that we +can’t hear each other shout. We’ll keep calling +out all the time, so as to keep in touch with each +other. If at the end of half an hour we haven’t +found any trace of her, we’ll know that she isn’t +in this section and we’ll hurry back to the girls +here. Then we’ll raise a hue and cry and get the +whole district out searching for her. Come along +now and keep your voices going. And keep your +eyes open, too. She may have met with an accident. +Work, fellows! Work like mad!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_128">[128]</div> +<p>The others needed no urging, for they were +wild with fear for Cora’s safety.</p> +<p>For the next half-hour they yelled until they +were hoarse, and covered as much territory as +they could. They peered into every bush and +thicket. Not one of them but thought of the ugly +monster they had seen in the road that morning. +Suppose one of this tribe had attacked the girl +who was so dear to all of them? Suppose at that +very moment she were lying somewhere helpless +and dying?</p> +<p>They looked everywhere in an agony of apprehension, +but Cora’s wandering feet and her fall +down the mountainside had already carried her +far beyond sound or sight.</p> +<p>At the appointed time they rejoined the girls.</p> +<p>“No use,” announced Jack, in a voice that he +tried to keep firm, despite the working of his features. +“I’ll tell you what we’ll do. You stay +here, Paul, until further notice. If Cora comes +back, you have an easy trail from here to the +mill. There’s a telephone there, and of course +you’d call up Kill Kare at once with the good +news. Walter and I will go back with Bess and +Belle to the mill. Then Walter can drive the +girls to Kill Kare in one of the cars, leave them +with Aunt Betty, and bring Joel back with him to +the mill. I’ll get all the men that I can at the +mill to join in the search. Those lumberjacks +know the woods thoroughly. Then, too, I’ll telephone +to all the neighboring towns and camps and +call for volunteers. We’ll comb these woods all +day and all night until we find her.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_129">[129]</div> +<p>He and Walter hurried off with the girls, leaving +Paul behind. They reached the sawmill in +record time, and leaving Jack there to explain the +situation and carry out the plans agreed upon, +Walter drove the girls home.</p> +<p>It had been thought at first that it would be well +to leave Aunt Betty in ignorance of the affair, in +order to spare her misery. But on second +thought this idea had been dismissed. It would not +be fair to her, in a matter of such moment, to +treat her as a child, even with the best of motives. +Besides it was morally certain that the girls +would not be able to conceal their grief from her, +no matter how hard they tried.</p> +<p>She was waiting for them as they drove up and +greeted them with her usual kindly smile.</p> +<p>“Where are the others?” she inquired. “And +what on earth is the matter with you two girls?” +she added in quick alarm as she saw their eyes +red and swollen with weeping.</p> +<p>“Don’t be alarmed, Aunt Betty,” said Walter, +as lightly as he could. “The girls are a little worried +because Cora strayed off a little way into the +woods and we haven’t found her. But she can’t +have gone very far, and we’ll find her and have +her back to Kill Kare in a jiffy. Jack and Paul +are looking for her now, and I’m going back to +help them.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_130">[130]</div> +<p>Aunt Betty gave a frightened exclamation and +put her hand to her heart.</p> +<p>“Cora lost!” she ejaculated. “And in those +awful woods! Oh, why did you let her get away +from you? The poor darling girl!”</p> +<p>“We boys ought to be kicked from here to +Jericho for letting her out of our sight,” said +Walter in savage self-reproach. “But the mischief’s +done now, and we’ve got to remedy it as +best we can. You take care of the girls, Aunt +Betty, while I go and hunt up Joel. I’m going +to take him back with me.”</p> +<p>He hurried away, leaving the three to condole +with each other. He was lucky enough to find +Joel in the barn, and hastily explained the state +of affairs.</p> +<p>The big backwoodsman was thoroughly +alarmed. Better than any one else at Kill Kare, +he knew the dangers that threatened any tyro that +ventured into that wilderness. There had been +cases within his own knowledge where hapless +wanderers had perished, even while the woods +were alive with searching parties.</p> +<p>He put his hunting knife in his belt, grasped +his rifle and hurried back with Walter to the +sawmill.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_131">[131]</div> +<p>Meanwhile, Jack told his story to the foreman, +and received his instant sympathy and promise to +help. He called for volunteers, and a number of +the men who were working in the mill responded +promptly. Some of them had already started out +when Walter arrived, and others quickly followed.</p> +<p>Baxter too was stirred by the story and came +out of his shell of reticence. He volunteered to +take charge of the telephoning, leaving Jack to +go out with the searching parties.</p> +<p>“I know personally the authorities in the nearest +towns,” he said, “and they’ll be glad to oblige +me in this. You’re too excited and on edge to +stay here, and I don’t wonder. You go ahead and +look for your sister and leave this to me. Before +long I’ll have a dozen parties out on the +trail.”</p> +<p>Jack gladly availed himself of the offer, and, in +company with Walter and Joel, hurried with +feverish haste up the hillside and plunged into the +woods.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_132">[132]</div> +<h2 id="c16">CHAPTER XVI +<br /><span class="small">HELP FROM THE SKY</span></h2> +<p>It was full day when Cora awoke.</p> +<p>For a moment she looked around her, dazed. +Then, as she realized where she was, she sprang +from the rope mattress to the floor. All the +events of the previous day rushed over her mind +like a flood.</p> +<p>She was greatly rested and refreshed, although +her muscles ached from contact with the rude mattress +on which she had slept.</p> +<p>A sickening sense of her position sought to take +possession of her, but she resolutely thrust it +back. She would not begin this new day by being +a coward.</p> +<p>She looked at her watch, but in the excitement +of the day before she had forgotten to wind it, +and it had stopped. She set it at a guess, and +held it up to her ear a moment before she returned +it to its place. Its lively ticking seemed to say: +“Cheer up! cheer up! cheer up!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_133">[133]</div> +<p>She threw open the door and stepped outside. +The sun had risen and was flooding the wilderness +with glory. The cool morning air was delicious +with the odor of the pines. She drank it +in in great draughts, and it put new life and hope +into her.</p> +<p>There was no sign of a stream anywhere near, +and her ablutions had to be scanty. She found a +little pool of water in a slight depression, and was +able to wash her face and hands. She did not +dare to drink of the standing water, but its external +use refreshed her. Then she thought of +breakfast.</p> +<p>It seemed a grim joke to call it that, when her +whole food supply consisted of a soup cube and a +chocolate tablet. But she hunted around in the +vicinity of the cabin, and found some blackberry +bushes that were fairly well laden. She picked the +berries with great care, for she knew how fond +snakes were of such localities, and she had a lively +memory of the encounter with the rattlesnake the +day before.</p> +<p>The berries and the chocolate tablet furnished +her morning meal. It was not a substantial or +satisfying one, and it required considerable self-control +not to supplement it with the remaining +soup cube. But after looking at it longingly, she +put it back in her pocket. A time might come +when it would be worth a king’s ransom to her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_134">[134]</div> +<p>And now that she had eaten, Cora bent all her +thoughts on the problem of escape.</p> +<p>What ought she to do? Ought she to leave +the cabin that had proved an ark of safety and +try once more to find her way through the trackless +woods? Suppose night came on again, and +she still found herself not only in the woods but +far from the cabin.</p> +<p>Or would it be wiser to stay right where she +was until her friends should find her? She knew +perfectly well how desperately they were hunting +for her. Her heart ached as she realized the +agony they were suffering. She could see the wild +distress on the features of Jack and the other boys, +the tear-stained faces of Bess and Belle. She +knew that by this time they would have raised a +hue and cry that would set scores of people searching +for her. Would they not have as good a +chance of finding her where she was as anywhere +else in the woods? In fact, would not some of +the lumberjacks know of this lonely cabin in the +forest, and think perhaps that she had sought +refuge there?</p> +<p>To stay where she was meant inaction, the hardest +thing in the world for her just then. She +would have nothing to do but to think, and she +would eat her heart out with anxiety.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_135">[135]</div> +<p>On the other hand, she faced the perils of the +woods if she left the shelter of the cabin. Bears +and panthers roamed the forest in the daytime as +well as at night. Lynxes and wildcats, too, though +less dangerous, were not to be despised, and there +was the ever-present danger of snakes.</p> +<p>While she was pondering the best plan to pursue, +she heard the humming of a motor.</p> +<p>She jumped to her feet in wild delight. Could +that be the motor of a car with people searching +for her? It must be. What else could it be?</p> +<p>But the next instant she realized, with a sinking +of the heart, that no car could possibly penetrate +those tangled woods.</p> +<p>Still the strident buzz persisted. It was a motor. +She was too familiar with the sound to be mistaken.</p> +<p>She sprang to her feet, and as she did so a +branch caught in the veil that was wound round +her hat. She reached up to disentangle it, and her +eyes rested on a tiny spot in the sky that was not +a cloud, and that was momentarily growing larger.</p> +<p>Then she understood.</p> +<p>The motor was that of an aeroplane!</p> +<p>She ran to a more open spot where she could +get a better view.</p> +<p>The aircraft was flying at a height of perhaps +a thousand feet, and was moving at a high rate +of speed. Nearer and nearer it came from out +of the west, while Cora watched it with fascinated +eyes.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_136">[136]</div> +<p>Here was something that spoke of the great +world that she seemed to have left behind. It was +a link that brought her once more, if only for a +moment, in contact with civilization.</p> +<p>And up there on a precarious perch, a mere +atom in the blue immensity of the sky, was the +aviator. How Cora envied him! No forest held +<i>him</i> in its iron clutch. He was free as the bird +whom he resembled in his flight. He could choose +what path he would. He was free while she was +a prisoner. Perhaps he was flying now straight +toward friends and home and love. His roving +eyes could perhaps at that moment see Camp Kill +Kare, which she perhaps might never see again.</p> +<p>She dashed the tears from her eyes and +looked again.</p> +<p>Now the aviator was flying lower. And his +speed had perceptibly lessened. What did it +mean? Was he seeking a more favorable current +of air? Was he in doubt as to his course?</p> +<p>Louder and louder grew the buzz of the motor, +and lower and lower came the plane. Like a giant +bird, it was now describing great circles, and with +every one its distance from the earth was lessened.</p> +<p>Cora’s heart seemed as though it would leap +out of her body. There was no doubt now of the +aviator’s intention. He was looking for a place +to descend!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_137">[137]</div> +<p>But where? If he came down anywhere near +where she was standing, he would be caught in +the trees. But somewhere there must be an open +spot that his keen eyes had descried, and it was +there that he intended to make a landing.</p> +<p>Cora ran in the direction indicated by the plane.</p> +<p>She had gone perhaps two hundred yards, when +she came to a large plateau which bore marks of +having been swept at some time by a fire. So +fierce had been the conflagration that trees and +undergrowth alike had been burned to ashes in the +holocaust. Even the stumps had crumbled into +ashes, and there were several places in the wide +expanse where a skillful aviator could make a +landing without danger of injuring his machine.</p> +<p>As Cora came out into the open she saw that +the choice had already been made. There was one +long, graceful swoop, and then the giant flyer +settled on the ground with scarcely a jar, ran for +fifty feet or so on its wheels and stopped.</p> +<p>The aviator climbed out, rather painfully, as +though cramped from long sitting. He rubbed +his legs and flung his arms about vigorously as +though to restore the circulation. Then he took +some tools from a box under the seat and began +to make some repairs in the motor.</p> +<p>His back was toward Cora, and the latter was +running across the field to him when she suddenly +stopped.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_138">[138]</div> +<p>Who knew what this man might be? She was +alone in this wilderness. Could she trust him?</p> +<p>But her hesitation was only momentary. Most +men were chivalrous.</p> +<p>The aviator was on his knees as she approached. +He heard her coming and sprang to his feet, very +visibly startled.</p> +<p>“I didn’t mean to startle you,” panted Cora, +with an attempt to smile. “I saw you come down +here and I ran over as fast as I could. I had to +see you, because I’m lost out here in the woods, +and I was sure you would help me.”</p> +<p>He was of medium height. The garments in +which he was wrapped to protect him from the +intense cold of the upper air made it impossible +to tell whether his form was large or slender.</p> +<p>“You poor child!” exclaimed the stranger in +great surprise and sympathy. “Don’t be afraid +to tell me all about it,” he said. “Look!”</p> +<p>He took off his hat, and Cora’s startled eyes +saw two large braids of hair coiled tightly about +his head.</p> +<p><i>The aviator was a woman!</i></p> +<p>The next moment she had her arms about Cora, +and the latter was sobbing as though her heart +would break.</p> +<p>“There, there, my dear,” said the newcomer, +patting Cora’s disheveled hair, “go ahead and cry +all you want to. It will do you good, and I know +just how you feel. But you’re all right now.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_139">[139]</div> +<p>The revulsion from despair to joy had been so +great that it was some minutes before Cora recovered +her self-control.</p> +<p>“Oh,” she exclaimed at last, as she smiled radiantly +through her tears, “I’m so happy that I can +hardly bear it! Surely God has sent you to me.”</p> +<p>“I believe so,” smiled the other, who herself +was a mere girl, not much older than Cora herself. +“But now go ahead and tell me just how +you came to be lost.”</p> +<p>She listened with the greatest sympathy and +interest while Cora narrated all that had happened +to her since the day before.</p> +<p>Then in her turn she explained that she was +making a cross-country flight from Chicago to +New York. She was bent on beating the best +record ever made for the distance by either man +or woman, and was in a fair way to do it.</p> +<p>“My engine began working badly a little while +ago,” she explained. “The ignition was balky and +I thought I’d better come down and fix it before +it got worse.”</p> +<p>Cora looked at her with admiration, and expressed +it warmly.</p> +<p>“I don’t see how you dare to take such risks,” +she said. “It must take a tremendous amount of +courage.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_140">[140]</div> +<p>“Oh, I don’t know,” said the other modestly. +“But there’s a lot of satisfaction in beating the men +at their own game,” she added mischievously.</p> +<p>“We women all owe you a lot for doing it,” +laughed Cora happily. “It does the men good to +have some of the conceit taken out of them. But +just the same I startled you when I appeared so +suddenly at your side,” she added, with a spark of +mischief in her eyes.</p> +<p>“Yes,” admitted the other. “I didn’t know that +I was within miles of anybody at all you see.”</p> +<p>“I’m sorry,” murmured Cora, but the sportive +look remained on her face.</p> +<p>“Well, now, I’ll just put the finishing touch on +the engine and then I’ll be ready,” said the aviatrix, +who had introduced herself as Ruth Moore. +“And you shall go with me.”</p> +<p>“Me! With you?” gasped Cora.</p> +<p>“Yes. Why not? My machine has an extra +seat. And you want to get out of this wilderness.”</p> +<p>Miss Moore set to work, Cora assisting her, +and the aircraft was soon ready to continue its +flight.</p> +<p>“I never thought I’d be taking my first ride in +an aircraft under such conditions,” remarked Cora +as her companion strapped her in.</p> +<p>“You’re sure you won’t be afraid?” asked Miss +Moore, looking at her searchingly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_141">[141]</div> +<p>“I’m so happy at getting away from these awful +woods that I’m not afraid of anything,” replied +Cora. “Then, too, I’m used to motor cars and +motor boats, and that ought to help me in keeping +my nerve. You needn’t be afraid. I won’t make +any fuss.”</p> +<p>“You’re a girl after my own heart,” laughed +Miss Moore, as she adjusted herself in her seat. +“Sit perfectly still now and leave everything to +me.”</p> +<p>She touched a lever and the aeroplane ran along +a few yards and then soared skyward.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_142">[142]</div> +<h2 id="c17">CHAPTER XVII +<br /><span class="small">A JOYFUL REUNION</span></h2> +<p>Cora gasped as the aircraft mounted into the +sky and she saw the earth falling away from her. +It was the newest and greatest thrill in her experience.</p> +<p>Her first sensation was that of detachment. She +seemed to be floating in a sea of ether. Everything +was impalpable, intangible. It seemed to +be her astral body that was moving through space. +All that was material seemed to have been thrown +aside like a cast-off garment.</p> +<p>Her next impression was that of silence. All +earthly noises had been stilled. The song of birds, +the rustling of leaves that had made the forest +vocal had died away. It seemed as though the +world had been suddenly stricken dumb. The +only sound was that of the motor with its monotonous +hum.</p> +<p>“Like it?” called out Miss Moore, looking at +her with a smile.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_143">[143]</div> +<p>“Do I?” replied Cora. “It’s just heavenly!”</p> +<p>The aviatrix gazed at her with approval. She +had found a kindred spirit.</p> +<p>“You’re a thoroughbred,” she said. “Many +girls would be frightened to death. They’d be +begging me to descend.”</p> +<p>“No danger of my doing that,” laughed Cora. +“I could go on like this forever, if I were not so +anxious to get back to my friends.”</p> +<p>They were flying now at a height of five hundred +feet, and the air, despite the August sun, was +cold. Miss Moore had given Cora a coat and a +pair of gloves from her kit, however, so that she +was fairly well protected.</p> +<p>“What a glorious view!” exclaimed Cora ecstatically, +as the vast panorama of field and forest +unrolled itself as far as the eye could see. +“Oh, how I envy you!”</p> +<p>Miss Moore smiled.</p> +<p>“It <i>is</i> beautiful,” she assented. “But I’m kept +so busy with listening to my engine and shaping +my course that I don’t have as much time to enjoy +it as I would like to. That’s one of the advantages +of being a passenger. But look around now, +and see if you can recognize your camp. I’ll make +a landing as near to it as I can.”</p> +<p>Cora looked eagerly about.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_144">[144]</div> +<p>“There’s the sawmill!” she exclaimed. “And +there’s the road that leads from there to Kill +Kare,” she added. “All you have to do is to +follow that road south for a few miles, and we’ll +come to the house. And there’s a big cleared +space around it that will make a splendid landing +place for the aeroplane.”</p> +<p>Miss Moore turned in the indicated direction, +and followed the road that Cora had pointed out.</p> +<p>“I can never thank you enough for rescuing me +as you have,” said Cora, her voice broken with +emotion.</p> +<p>“It’s made me almost as happy as it has you,” +returned Miss Moore. “It will be one of the +pleasantest memories of my life.”</p> +<p>“But it’s delayed you on your trip, hasn’t it?”</p> +<p>“Suppose it has?” replied Miss Moore. “Do +you suppose I would have hesitated on that account +to bring you home? But set your mind at +rest on that score. I was an hour or more ahead +of my schedule anyway. You see,” she added +gaily, “we girls can give the men a handicap and +yet beat them out.”</p> +<p>Cora laughed gleefully.</p> +<p>“Of course we can!” she exclaimed. “But oh, +Miss Moore, there’s dear old Kill Kare now! +See, over there among the trees.”</p> +<p>“I see it,” was the reply, as Miss Moore’s practised +eye looked out for the landing place.</p> +<p>She touched a lever and began to descend in a +sweeping curve.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_145">[145]</div> +<p>When Jack and Walter, together with Joel, +reached the picnic ground, they found that Paul +had not been idle. He had been searching for +Cora in ever widening circles during every moment +of their absence, but a glance at his disconsolate +face showed that he had learned nothing.</p> +<p>Some of the workers from the mill had already +scattered in the woods, going in different directions. +Other volunteers came straggling in until +the number had reached a score. Joel, because +of his knowledge of the woods, was put in general +charge of the search.</p> +<p>Anticipating that Cora might not be found before +dark closed in, torches were prepared in +large numbers and distributed among the men. It +was arranged that the place where they now were +should be the general rendezvous, at which all +the searching parties would report, and to which +Cora should be brought as soon as found.</p> +<p>Most of the men had either rifles or revolvers, +and a copious supply of ammunition was furnished +by the foreman of the mill. Joel had brought +from the barn a number of skyrockets that had +been left over from the previous Fourth of July +celebration, and it was arranged that one of these +should be set off every hour through the night. +By following the course of this and marking the +direction from which it came, the searching parties +could keep the location of the camp in mind. +It was hoped also that Cora might see them and +thereby be guided in the right direction.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_146">[146]</div> +<p>Paul had driven back to Kill Kare, and had secured +unlimited food and coffee for the refreshment +of the searchers, in case the hunt was prolonged.</p> +<p>All through the waning afternoon the search +continued. And with the coming of night it +doubled in intensity. Fresh parties took the place +of exhausted ones that came straggling back. The +woods were alive with torches.</p> +<p>It seemed certain that, with so many hunters, +success ought to have been almost certain. But +Joel knew that twenty times that number might +search in that vast wilderness without running +across the one they sought. At best it was a gamble, +with the odds against them.</p> +<p>Morning came and found the boys fairly dropping +with fatigue and torn with grief and disappointment. +Jack was almost out of his mind with +reflecting on his sister’s plight.</p> +<p>“We’ll drive back to Kill Kare and telegraph +for bloodhounds,” he said. “Joel says that there +are a couple he knows of at the county seat. If +they’re sent on the early train to the nearest town +they ought to get here by noon. We’ll put them +to work at once, and see what they can do.”</p> +<p>They left Joel in charge of the search, and +drove back gloomily to Camp Kill Kare.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_147">[147]</div> +<p>There was plenty of “care” there that morning. +Neither Aunt Betty nor the girls had been +able to sleep. The thought of Cora out in the +wilderness all through that long night had driven +them fairly frantic.</p> +<p>And their hearts sank still further when the +boys came back to report their failure.</p> +<p>“We ought to telegraph to your mother at +once,” declared Aunt Betty, wringing her hands.</p> +<p>“It would almost kill mother to get a telegram +like that,” said Jack moodily. “It wouldn’t do +any good, and in the meantime Cora may be +found. We’ll wait, anyway, until after we’ve +tried the bloodhounds.”</p> +<p>They ate briefly and scantily of breakfast, for +none of them had any heart for food. Then they +went outside to make ready for their trip to the +rendezvous.</p> +<p>The boys were piling into the car when Belle +gave a sudden exclamation and pointed upward.</p> +<p>“There’s an aeroplane!” she cried.</p> +<p>They followed her gaze and saw the aircraft +coming toward them at a rapid rate.</p> +<p>As they looked, they saw that it was beginning +to slacken speed and at the same time was coming +closer to earth.</p> +<p>“Looks as though it were going to land somewhere +about here,” remarked Jack. “Perhaps it’s +having trouble.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_148">[148]</div> +<p>As it drew closer they could see that there were +two people in it.</p> +<p>“And one of them’s a woman!” cried Walter, +as he noted the fluttering of a skirt.</p> +<p>“She’s waving at us!” exclaimed Belle excitedly. +Then her voice rose to a scream.</p> +<p>“It’s Cora! It’s Cora!”</p> +<p>“Cora!” shrieked Bess.</p> +<p>“Cora!” echoed Aunt Betty.</p> +<p>As for the boys, they gave one look and tumbled +out of the automobile, yelling, shouting, thumping +each other on the back. The girls sobbed and +laughed, and hugged Aunt Betty and each other. +None of them had the least idea of what they were +doing or saying, and none of them cared. They +were fairly mad with joy.</p> +<p>They ran out under the plane as it circled +around looking for its landing. And when it settled +down as gracefully as a swan and finally +stopped, there was a wild rush for it, and the next +second Cora was unstrapped, dragged from her +seat and was being devoured with hugs and kisses.</p> +<p>It was all incoherent and frantic and broken, +as great revulsions of feeling have a way of being. +It was impossible to find words adequate +to their delight, and it is safe to say that at that +moment there was no happier group of people +than that which wept and laughed on the lawn at +Camp Kill Kare.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_149">[149]</div> +<p>The aviatrix sat looking on through all this +tumult with a happy smile.</p> +<p>As soon as Cora could extricate herself from the +arms that clung about her as though they never +intended to let her go, she turned to her deliverer.</p> +<p>“You see what you have done for me,” she +laughed through her tears.</p> +<p>“They certainly seem glad to see you,” was the +response.</p> +<p>They all crowded around and showered her +rescuer with thanks, as Cora introduced them. +They were astounded to find that it was to a +woman that Cora owed her safety. Most of them +had heard her name in connection with flying exploits, +and they were earnest in their compliments +and congratulations.</p> +<p>When a few minutes later Miss Moore resumed +her flight, every eye remained fixed on the +plane until at last it melted into space. Then they +resumed their rejoicings over the wanderer who +had been so strangely brought back from the wilderness.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_150">[150]</div> +<h2 id="c18">CHAPTER XVIII +<br /><span class="small">GOOD NEWS TRAVELS FAST</span></h2> +<p>A perfect delirium of happiness reigned at +Kill Kare that morning. From being an abode of +deep gloom, it had suddenly been transformed into +a corner of Paradise.</p> +<p>For Cora was back again! Here she was, a +little trembly about the mouth, a little teary about +the eyes, her hands and arms bearing the marks of +scratches where they had come in contact with +thorns, her garments torn from pushing her way +through the underbrush, but with no damage that +a warm bath and a good breakfast and a long +sleep would not repair.</p> +<p>They brought her in triumph into the house and +seated her at the breakfast table that they had +just deserted, while Aunt Betty and the maid hurried +about to prepare her something hot and comforting.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_151">[151]</div> +<p>“I ought to go to my room first and freshen up +and change my clothes,” the girl objected, her +purely feminine instincts coming to the fore, now +that she was once more in touch with civilization. +“I must look a perfect fright.”</p> +<p>“Just at this moment you are the most beautiful +thing I’ve ever seen,” declared her brother fervently.</p> +<p>“That’s what!” confirmed Walter. “We’ve +been wanting to see you so badly that now we can’t +bear to take our eyes off you.”</p> +<p>“You’re not going to get out of our sight again +in a hurry,” maintained Paul.</p> +<p>As for Bess and Belle, their voices broke so +when they tried to speak that they had to content +themselves with pats and hugs.</p> +<p>As for Aunt Betty, she went around hardly +knowing, as she declared, whether she was awake +or dreaming, while she laughed and cried at the +same time.</p> +<p>“Such a hideous nightmare as this has been!” +ejaculated Jack, as he hugged his sister for the +twentieth time.</p> +<p>“You must be nearly starved to death, you poor +darling!” exclaimed Bess.</p> +<p>“Haven’t you had anything to eat since yesterday +noon?” asked Belle.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_152">[152]</div> +<p>“Not enough to give me indigestion,” laughed +Cora—she could laugh now, though a few hours +before she had thought she could never laugh +again. “A soup cube and a chocolate tablet can +hardly be called overfeeding, though I did have a +few blackberries to help out. But even at that I +have some provisions left,” and she took the remaining +soup cube out of her pocket.</p> +<p>Bess pounced upon it.</p> +<p>“One of the two I slipped into your pocket +for a joke yesterday morning!” she exclaimed.</p> +<p>“It was a very lucky joke for me,” smiled Cora. +“I’m going to have this one framed as a memento +of my escape.”</p> +<p>There was something more nourishing and +abundant before her now, and she did it full justice, +while the others looked on happily.</p> +<p>Then, when she had partially satisfied her hunger, +questions poured in upon her in a flood, and +she had to narrate all the details of her experience +from the moment she had been beguiled by the +shamming mother bird to the never-to-be-forgotten +moment when she had heard the humming of +the aircraft motor in the sky.</p> +<p>“If help ever came from heaven it did that +time!” she said tremulously, and they all agreed +with her most fervently.</p> +<p>“And, oh, girls,” she said to Bess and Belle, “if +you only knew how I felt when she spoke, and, almost +at the same moment, I saw those two braids +on the aviator’s head and realized that I was talking +to a woman!”</p> +<p>“We know,” the girls assured her soothingly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_153">[153]</div> +<p>“She’s a dandy!” exclaimed Jack emphatically.</p> +<p>“You bet she is!” declared Walter.</p> +<p>“She’s as plucky as they make ’em,” said Paul. +“I only hope she beats the record.”</p> +<p>“I’d like to be there at Governor’s Island to +greet her when she comes down,” said Jack.</p> +<p>“Even if she puts the men in the shade by beating +their time?” asked Bess mischievously.</p> +<p>“Even so,” said Jack stoutly.</p> +<p>“Cora’s got the start on all of us now,” laughed +Bess. “We’re only motor girls but now she’s an +aviator girl.”</p> +<p>“Weren’t you frightened just a tiny bit when +you felt yourself going up in the air?” asked Belle.</p> +<p>“Not a bit,” replied Cora. “Possibly I might +have been if the circumstances had been different. +But I was so delighted to get away from those +dreadful woods that nothing else mattered. I +think I’d have ridden on a lion’s back, if he’d +promised to bring me home.”</p> +<p>The girls took charge of Cora now, and although +the boys remonstrated, she was borne +away to her room to rest and bathe and change +her clothes.</p> +<p>“And now,” said Jack, drawing a long breath, +“it’s up to us to get busy and call off the searching +parties. I suppose I ought to have done it the +moment Cora landed, but for the life of me I +couldn’t tear myself away.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_154">[154]</div> +<p>“You’re excusable,” laughed Walter. “But you +stay right at home, old man, with your sister. +Paul and I will get on the job and attend to +everything.”</p> +<p>Jack protested, but they would take no denial. +They jumped into the car and whizzed down to the +sawmill.</p> +<p>They found the foreman and Baxter deep in +consultation. The latter saw at once from the +boys’ faces that they had good news, and hurried +to meet them.</p> +<p>“We’ve got her!” cried Walter.</p> +<p>“Safe and sound at Kill Kare,” added Paul.</p> +<p>“You don’t say!” exclaimed the foreman with +a broad smile.</p> +<p>“Bully!” cried Baxter in great relief.</p> +<p>“Where did you find her?” asked the foreman.</p> +<p>“We didn’t find her at all,” grinned Paul. “She +found us.”</p> +<p>“Came back by the sky route,” chuckled Walter.</p> +<p>Then, as they saw the mystified looks, they +hastened to explain.</p> +<p>“That aeroplane!” exclaimed Baxter. “We +were watching it fly over here a little while ago.”</p> +<p>“It was too far up for us to see that there were +two in it,” remarked the foreman. “Well, I guess +Miss Kimball can claim that she’s the only person +that has ever been brought out of the woods in +any such way as that.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_155">[155]</div> +<p>“And by a woman aviator, too,” observed Baxter. +“I’ve never had much faith in women taking +up flying, but I’m glad now they have. It beats +the Dutch what the women are doing these days.”</p> +<p>“They’ll make us men take to cover if we don’t +watch out,” laughed Walter. “But now we’ve got +to hustle and call off the men who are beating the +woods. We can’t thank you folks enough for all +you have done for us.”</p> +<p>“We’d like to leave some money with you to +pay the men for their trouble and time,” added +Paul.</p> +<p>“Not a cent,” said the foreman decidedly. +“Their wages go on just the same, and they’d +only feel hurt if you offered it. It’s just a case +of common humanity, and they’ve all been glad +to volunteer.”</p> +<p>“Well, anyway,” said Paul, “we’ll have a big +open air spread on the lawn at Kill Kare to celebrate +Miss Kimball’s safe return, and we want all +the sawmill crew up there to the last man.”</p> +<p>“That’s different,” grinned the foreman. +“They’ll all come to that. But you’re taking +a pretty big contract if you undertake to give a +spread to my lumberjacks.”</p> +<p>“You can’t frighten us,” laughed Walter. +“We’ll fill them up to the chin.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_156">[156]</div> +<p>Baxter undertook to telephone the news to all +those whom he had previously called upon for +help, and the boys, leaving their car at the mill, +hastened to the rendezvous in the forest.</p> +<p>Joel was in charge, and a number of weary +searchers who had dragged themselves in were sitting +about, munching sandwiches and drinking +coffee.</p> +<p>The boys whooped out a yodel as soon as they +came in sight, and waved their hats.</p> +<p>The men jumped to their feet, and Joel came +running out to meet the bearers of good news.</p> +<p>“Thank the good Lord!” he exclaimed, as he +saw their jubilant faces. “I don’t need to ask +what’s happened. You’ve found ’er.”</p> +<p>“We’ve got her,” beamed Paul.</p> +<p>“An’ wuzn’t she hurt none?” asked Joel.</p> +<p>“Nothing but a few scratches.”</p> +<p>The men crowded round with eager questions, +and their delight was unbounded, for none knew +better than they what risks Cora had run in those +trackless woods.</p> +<p>One of the men volunteered to stay behind and +notify the other searchers as they should come in, +and then, with hearts light as thistledown, the +boys and Joel retraced their steps to the mill, +jumped into the car and “burned up” the road on +the way to Kill Kare.</p> +<p>They had gone perhaps half the distance when +they saw a figure on the side of the road that +somehow seemed familiar.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_157">[157]</div> +<p>They slowed up a little as the man approached, +and then Paul gave a low whistle.</p> +<p>“It’s that old pirate that took the gypsy girl +away from us the other morning!” he ejaculated.</p> +<p>“So it is,” replied Walter, as he took a closer +look. “I wonder what the old rascal is doing +around here.”</p> +<p>“Up to no good, I’ll be bound,” remarked Joel, +his old antipathy toward the vagrant people +asserting itself.</p> +<p>“I’ve a good mind to speak to him,” said Paul, +who was driving, as he slowed up a little.</p> +<p>“What’s the use?” replied Walter. “You +won’t get anything out of him that he doesn’t +want to tell you. And that’ll be mighty little, or +I miss my guess.”</p> +<p>The gypsy had looked up as the car approached, +and it was apparent that he had recognized the +boys, for the same scowl came over his face that +they had seen on the first occasion of meeting.</p> +<p>“Hello, friend,” said Paul, as the car stopped +close beside the gypsy.</p> +<p>The man looked at him sullenly, but did not +respond.</p> +<p>“Is your camp anywhere around here?” asked +Walter.</p> +<p>The man shrugged his shoulders.</p> +<p>“No understand,” he said blankly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_158">[158]</div> +<p>They tried again with the same result, and as +there was evidently no chance of getting an answer, +they drove on.</p> +<p>“If we’d promised to give him a five dollar +bill, he’d have understood all right,” laughed +Walter.</p> +<p>“I’ll bet he’s prospecting around to find a good +location for the camp,” observed Paul.</p> +<p>“It’s time then to put double locks on houses +and barns,” growled Joel. “I’d hoped thet I’d +never see hide nur hair uv them light-fingered +varmints ag’in.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_159">[159]</div> +<h2 id="c19">CHAPTER XIX +<br /><span class="small">AN UNINVITED GUEST</span></h2> +<p>Cora was not visible when the party drove up +to the bungalow, for Aunt Betty and the girls +had put her to bed, with strict injunctions that she +should stay there for the rest of the day. She +had objected at first, but at last had yielded. And +to tell the truth, she was not sorry to yield to their +gentle compulsion, for although she was little the +worse physically from her adventure, she had been +under a terrific nervous strain that had taxed her +heavily.</p> +<p>But she appeared at supper time, fresh and radiant, +her eyes sparkling and her spirits high.</p> +<p>“I declare it’s almost worth being lost for the +sake of being made so much of when one gets +back,” she declared, with a loving look round at +the circle of friends, who could scarcely take their +eyes off her.</p> +<p>“Why shouldn’t we make much of one who +comes to us straight from the skies?” said Walter.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_160">[160]</div> +<p>“There’s one less angel up there now,” added +Paul.</p> +<p>“But don’t let me catch you running away +again, sis,” said Jack, with mock severity. “We’ll +forgive you this time, but once is plenty. I don’t +know but what I ought to put a ball and chain on +you as it is.”</p> +<p>“You needn’t worry,” answered Cora. “I’m +cured. I’ll stick to the rest of you now closer +than your shadows.”</p> +<p>“By the way,” remarked Walter, as he passed +his plate, “we met an old friend of yours on our +way back from the mill this morning.”</p> +<p>“Who was that?” asked Cora with interest.</p> +<p>“Give you three guesses,” teased Paul.</p> +<p>She ventured several names and then gave it up.</p> +<p>“It was that dark-skinned gypsy who interfered +the other morning, when you girls were going +to have your fortunes told,” said Walter.</p> +<p>Cora was all interest in an instant.</p> +<p>“And did you see the girl?” she asked eagerly.</p> +<p>“She wasn’t along,” replied Paul. “The man +was all by his lonesome.”</p> +<p>“A regular brigand he was, too,” commented +Walter. “I’d hate to meet him at night in a dark +alley.”</p> +<p>“We tried to talk to him,” explained Paul, “but +he shut up like a clam. Pretended he couldn’t +understand.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_161">[161]</div> +<p>“The rest of the gypsies can’t be far off,” observed +Belle.</p> +<p>“Wouldn’t it be fine if they camped somewhere +in this neighborhood?” said Bess.</p> +<p>“I wish they would,” replied Cora. “I’m crazy +to have another talk with that gypsy girl.”</p> +<p>“I’m afraid Joel doesn’t share your sentiments,” +laughed Walter. “To speak of gypsy to him is +like waving a red rag at a bull.”</p> +<p>“They’re not very likely to settle down here,” +declared Jack. “They usually pitch their tents +somewhere in the vicinity of a town, so that they +can have plenty of visitors. The nearest place to +this spot they’d be likely to fix on is Wilton. +That’s quite a good-sized town, and there’s a big +summer hotel there. But that’s as much as four +miles away.”</p> +<p>“What’s distance to us as long as we have the +cars?” said Cora. “For that matter, it wouldn’t +be too far to walk. I wish you boys would keep +your eyes and ears open and let us know if you +find out anything about them.”</p> +<p>They promised readily, but several days passed +without any scrap of news from the wandering +tribe.</p> +<p>One other bit of news, however, gave them +unqualified pleasure. They learned from a paper +that Jack secured on a trip to a neighboring town +that Miss Moore had safely landed at Governor’s +Island and had broken all records for a cross-country +flight.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_162">[162]</div> +<p>“Oh, I’m so glad!” exclaimed Cora, clapping +her hands. “I’ve been worrying ever since that +morning for fear I’d caused her to lose, and I +know how much her mind was set on winning.”</p> +<p>And forthwith she dispatched a telegram, care +of the Aero Club, that read:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“Your grateful passenger sends warmest love +and congratulations.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And it may well be guessed that few of the +messages that overwhelmed Miss Moore on the +completion of her wonderful feat brought her +more real satisfaction than this.</p> +<p>“I’m pining away for a trip on the lake,” announced +Belle, one beautiful morning a few days +later.</p> +<p>“Let’s picnic up at the farther end of the lake,” +said Cora. “I noticed the loveliest spot for an +outing the last time we were up there.”</p> +<p>“Your wish is our command,” said Jack with +exaggerated courtesy. “I’d have suggested it before, +if I hadn’t thought you girls might feel a wee +bit nervous about the <i>Water Sprite</i> after the narrow +escape we had last time. But we’ve spent a +good deal of time in fixing her up since then, and +now she’s perfectly safe.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_163">[163]</div> +<p>“We’re not a bit afraid,” was the unanimous +verdict of the girls.</p> +<p>“And let’s get a few fish on the way,” said +Walter. “There’s nothing that tastes better than +a fish fry under the trees. And I know a way of +broiling them on oak twigs that will make you +think you’re eating ambrosia. I’ll be chef and +Jack and Paul can clean the fish.”</p> +<p>“Such a chance!” exclaimed Paul. “You’ll do +your share of the cleaning, and don’t you forget +it!”</p> +<p>“You’d better catch the fish before you fall to +scrapping over them,” remarked Cora.</p> +<p>“You boys go ahead and get your bait,” commanded +Belle, “while we get on our boating suits.”</p> +<p>“We fellows seem to be unanimously elected to +do all the work,” remarked Jack. “I suppose you +girls will want us to put the worms on the hooks +for you, too.”</p> +<p>“Likely enough,” admitted Bess.</p> +<p>“Worms, little boys?” sniffed Belle.</p> +<p>“Bent pins, too, for hooks,” suggested Cora.</p> +<p>“Worms make a perfectly satisfactory bait, and +don’t you forget it!” declared Walter.</p> +<p>“Bet the fish swallow those worms so greedily +our arms will ache pulling them in so fast,” added +Jack.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_164">[164]</div> +<p>While the boys prepared the fishing tackle and +dug the bait, Aunt Betty saw to it that an ample +lunch was prepared, and by the time the girls +came down, dressed for the trip, everything was +in readiness.</p> +<p>They made their way down to the shore of the +lake, and a cry of surprise and delight broke from +the lips of the girls when they caught sight of the +motor boat.</p> +<p>For it was a new, a rejuvenated, <i>Water Sprite</i> +that met their eyes. She had been dowdy and +disreputable when she had taken them out on the +first trip. But the boys had made several surreptitious +trips to the nearest town, and had come +back laden with sundry cans of paint and varnish.</p> +<p>They had worked like troopers, painting the +boat from stem to stern, varnishing the deck and +the interior of the cabin, and cleaning every bit +of the brass work until it shone like gold.</p> +<p>The <i>Water Sprite</i> was a perfect picture now, +as she floated gracefully at the end of the little +pier, her ivory white coat of paint contrasting +beautifully with the rich brown of the deck tints +and her name showing in gold letters on her +stern.</p> +<p>“Isn’t she a darling?” exclaimed Bess ecstatically.</p> +<p>“She’s a dream!” asseverated Belle.</p> +<p>“So that’s what you boys have been up to on +these mysterious trips of yours, is it?” asked Cora, +shaking her finger at them.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_165">[165]</div> +<p>“Caught with the goods,” grinned Jack.</p> +<p>“Guilty, with extenuating circumstances,” admitted +Walter.</p> +<p>“We throw ourselves on the mercy of the +court,” laughed Paul.</p> +<p>“You see,” explained Jack, “it didn’t seem the +right thing to us that such pretty girls should sail +in such a shabby boat.”</p> +<p>“Well, all I have to say is that you boys are +perfect darlings to go to all this trouble for us,” +declared Bess emphatically.</p> +<p>“It looks like</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“‘An ivory shallop, silken-sailed,’”</p> +</div> +<p>quoted Belle.</p> +<p>“Except that there are no sails,” laughed Cora. +“But the ivory part is all right. Really, girls, it +looks almost too pretty to use. Talk about Cleopatra’s +barge!”</p> +<p>“There was only one queen on that, while we +have three,” grinned Walter. “But come along, +girls. I want you to catch those fish, so I can +show you what a peach of a cook I am.”</p> +<p>The girls went on board in high glee, Paul cast +off the moorings, Jack started the engine to chugging, +and Walter this time took charge of the +wheel.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_166">[166]</div> +<p>The <i>Water Sprite</i> darted off proudly, as though +conscious she was looking her best. The boys had +not been content with mere decoration, but had +made a thorough job of fixing the hull as well, +and this time there was no danger of wet feet.</p> +<p>They went down the lake some distance, and +then Jack stopped the engine, and the <i>Water +Sprite</i> floated about lazily, while they baited the +hooks and threw out the lines.</p> +<p>“I’ve got a bite,” said Jack suddenly.</p> +<p>“Does it hurt?” asked Walter solicitously.</p> +<p>Bess giggled, and the others joined in when Jack +hauled up a lot of dripping weeds.</p> +<p>“Old Izaak Walton had nothing on you as a +fisherman,” chaffed Paul.</p> +<p>But the laugh was on him a moment later, when +a voracious pickerel made off with his hook and +sinker, and he ruefully pulled up his broken line.</p> +<p>Cora was the first to score, landing a big flopping +perch to an accompaniment of little squeals +from Bess and Belle.</p> +<p>From that time on the luck was good, and before +long they had a number of perch and pickerel, +together with enough bass to supply all they +needed for an abundant dinner.</p> +<p>“I guess we’re pretty well fixed now,” said Jack, +as he eyed the pile of fish. “What do you say +now to hustling along and giving Walter a chance +to make good on that frying proposition? I +think he’s bragging, if you ask me.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_167">[167]</div> +<p>“You do, eh?” retorted Walter. “If you clean +the fish as well as I cook them there’ll be nothing +left to ask for.”</p> +<p>They started up the boat again, and before long +were near the end of the lake. They went along +slowly, trying to find the special place that Cora +had referred to.</p> +<p>“There it is!” she exclaimed at length. “See! +Right in that little cove.”</p> +<p>She pointed to a little indentation in the shore +where the trees had thinned out so as to leave an +open space carpeted with velvety, springing turf. +Near by, a tiny promontory extended into the +water, and here it was deep enough for the <i>Water +Sprite</i> to float without touching bottom.</p> +<p>“What a lovely spot!” exclaimed Belle.</p> +<p>“A little bit of Eden,” seconded her sister.</p> +<p>“And a dandy place to land,” commented Jack. +“We can fasten a rope to that tree and step +ashore without having to wade.”</p> +<p>The boys helped the girls ashore, and followed +them, bringing along their catch.</p> +<p>While the girls emptied the contents of the +lunch basket and spread the good things about in +a shady spot, Walter gathered some wood, dug a +hole in the ground and lighted a roaring fire. As +the flames died down he carefully raked the embers +into the hole, until he had a small furnace +that gave forth an intense heat.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_168">[168]</div> +<p>Then he prepared a skillet of oak twigs dexterously +twisted together, and was ready. Jack and +Paul in the meantime had been cleaning the fish.</p> +<p>“Hurry up, you common laborers,” ordered +Walter in a lordly tone. “Don’t keep an artist +waiting.”</p> +<p>A fish-head whizzed past his ear and he hastily +sought refuge behind a tree.</p> +<p>“Bad shooting,” he taunted.</p> +<p>“Good enough to make you duck,” retorted +Jack.</p> +<p>“While these rough-necks are disturbing the +peace,” drawled Walter, “it might be a good idea +to get some of those blackberries up there. +They’ll come in handy for dessert.”</p> +<p>He pointed to a group of bushes about a hundred +feet distant.</p> +<p>“I’ll go,” volunteered Belle, rising to her feet. +“You girls go on getting things ready. This lunch +basket is empty now and I’ll take it along for the +berries.”</p> +<p>She started to pick busily, while Walter, taking +the fish that had been cleaned, began to broil them +over the fire.</p> +<p>A delicious, tantalizing savor rose from the oak +skillets, and promised to justify all that Walter +had claimed for his cooking.</p> +<p>“Hurry up, Belle!” called Cora. “Walter’s +nearly finished now, and we’re all ravenous.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_169">[169]</div> +<p>“I’ll be with you in a minute,” sang out Belle, +“but there’s one big bush here that’s just dying to +be picked.”</p> +<p>She moved toward it, but stopped in fright as +she heard a grunt and snort on the other side of +the bush.</p> +<p>The next instant she found herself looking into +the eyes of a big black bear!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_170">[170]</div> +<h2 id="c20">CHAPTER XX +<br /><span class="small">THE GREEDY MARAUDER</span></h2> +<p>For a moment Belle stood paralyzed with +fright.</p> +<p>The bear gazed at her unwinkingly, and his hair +began to rise slowly on his head as he gave vent +to a savage growl.</p> +<p>Then Belle screamed wildly, dropped her basket, +which was half full of berries, and ran towards +the other members of the party, who had risen and +rushed to meet her.</p> +<p>“What is it?” they cried in chorus.</p> +<p>“A bear!” shrieked Belle, pointing to the thicket. +“Oh, run, run!”</p> +<p>And at this moment the bear emphasized the +wisdom of this advice by shambling into full sight.</p> +<p>The boys each possessed themselves of the arm +of one of the girls and hurried them to the boat. +They put them aboard, rapidly untied the rope +that held the <i>Water Sprite</i>, and themselves jumped +in.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_171">[171]</div> +<p>Then with a united push they sent the <i>Water +Sprite</i> away from the bank, Jack started the engine +going faster than he ever had before, and in +a moment more they were fifty feet out on the +lake.</p> +<p>Then only did they dare to draw breath.</p> +<p>It was perhaps lucky for them that Belle had +dropped her basket right in the path of the bear. +The piles of luscious fruit that had rolled out +proved a temptation too strong to resist. He +nuzzled into them luxuriously, and when he raised +his head his nose looked as though it were dripping +with paint.</p> +<p>They had a good view of him now, and they +shuddered as they saw what a large and shaggy +specimen he was. The bear looked at them too +and snarled as if with disappointment at their +escape.</p> +<p>“Beauty, isn’t he?” demanded Paul.</p> +<p>“Looks like a nightmare to me,” observed +Walter.</p> +<p>“How lucky that Belle saw him first and gave +warning,” said Cora. “It would have been nice, +wouldn’t it, to have been sitting at lunch and have +looked up to see him standing beside us?”</p> +<p>“I know what it means now to have your tongue +cleave to the roof of your mouth,” said Belle, who +was pale and shaken. “I thought I never would be +able to scream.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_172">[172]</div> +<p>The bear resumed his shambling gait and +meandered leisurely down to the pile of fish.</p> +<p>“The robber!” groaned Walter. “He’ll clean +up the pile. To think I’ve been cooking for that +old reprobate!”</p> +<p>“You ought to take it as a compliment,” said +Jack. “Just see how the old thief is wading into +them.”</p> +<p>The fish were indeed disappearing with magical +rapidity.</p> +<p>“He’s a magician,” said Jack. “He’s making +mutton of fish.”</p> +<p>“It’s well enough to joke,” murmured Bess. +“But what will we do if he eats all the rest of our +lunch?”</p> +<p>“We’ll have to grin and bear it,” said Paul, +whose disposition to pun could not be overcome.</p> +<p>“Perhaps he’ll be satisfied with the fish and +leave the rest of the food alone,” remarked Cora +hopefully.</p> +<p>“You’re a cheerful optimist,” replied her +brother. “You don’t know much about a bear’s +appetite. Besides, he must be awfully hungry, +otherwise he would run away—bears usually do.”</p> +<p>“Oh, if I only had a rifle here!” said Paul.</p> +<p>“A dynamite bomb would be good enough for +me,” growled Walter.</p> +<p>“Haven’t we anything on board we can soak +him with?” groaned Jack.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_173">[173]</div> +<p>“Nothing much, except some loose bolts and +nuts in the locker,” answered Cora, “and they +wouldn’t do any good, except perhaps to aggravate +him.”</p> +<p>“It might get his mind off the rest of the lunch, +anyway,” replied her brother. “Let’s get a handful, +fellows, and bombard the old brigand.”</p> +<p>They were all smarting for revenge, and they +equipped themselves with the missiles and began +to throw. Several of them hit the bear, but he +paid no attention.</p> +<p>“We’re too far off,” said Walter. “The force +of the bolts is spent before they get to him. Back +up a little closer to the shore, Jack, and we’ll have +a better chance.”</p> +<p>“Do you think we’d better?” asked Belle. “He +might get stirred up and come after us. Bears are +good swimmers, you know.”</p> +<p>“He couldn’t catch a motor boat in a thousand +years,” replied Jack. “If it were a rowboat now, +it might be different.”</p> +<p>He backed up until the boat was within ten feet +of the shore. Walter threw a bolt with such accurate +aim that it caught the bear right on the end +of his nose.</p> +<p>He reared up with an ugly roar, and his little +eyes shot flames of fire at his adversaries.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_174">[174]</div> +<p>He offered a fair mark as he stood erect, and +Jack had an inspiration. Hanging over the side +of the <i>Water Sprite</i> was one of the life-preservers, +the round type, a circle with a very large opening +in the center, so that it could be easily slipped +over the head.</p> +<p>Jack snatched it up and threw it with the motion +of a quoit-thrower. It covered the short intervening +distance and went over the bear’s head, +settling on his neck and looking for all the world +like a gigantic ruff. It gave the animal a most +grotesque appearance, and the spectators roared +with laughter.</p> +<p>It was easier for it to go on than it was for the +bear to get it off, and his antics were comical as +he rubbed his head against the trees and, failing +in that, took his paws to it. He succeeded at last, +but his naturally surly nature had not been improved +by the operation, and the instant the life-preserver +was dislodged, he rushed to the edge of +the shore and plunged into the water.</p> +<p>The action was so sudden that the party was +taken by surprise. The girls screamed, and the +boys had to do some quick work to get the <i>Water +Sprite</i> under way. They succeeded, however, and +once the engine was going, it was an easy matter +to keep out of the bear’s reach, although for so +clumsy a creature he swam with amazing swiftness.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_175">[175]</div> +<p>They could have distanced him without trouble, +but with deliberate purpose Jack kept just far +enough ahead of him to encourage him in thinking +that he might overtake his quarry. In this way, +he drew him down along the shore of the lake for +more than half a mile. By that time, Bruin’s +ardor had cooled and his strength began to fail. +He gave a wrathful snort and made for the shore.</p> +<p>The instant he did so, Jack turned the boat +about and made all speed back to the place where +they had been surprised.</p> +<p>“Now’s our chance, fellows,” he said. “We +can get there long before the bear does, even if +he makes a bee line for it as soon as he gets to +shore. I’ll hold her bow against the bank, while +you jump out and gather up the provisions and +bring them on board. That thief may have got +our fish, but he won’t have the laugh on us altogether.”</p> +<p>It was very quick work that Paul and Walter +did, for they had no mind to be caught there when +the bear should make his way back, as they had no +doubt he would. They regained the life preserver, +which was so scratched and torn that it was no +longer good for its original purpose, but they +wanted it as a memento of the adventure.</p> +<p>As the bear had not had time to meddle with +the food laid out by the girls, they were not so +badly off after all, although it was exasperating to +have to go without the fish, whose appetizing +aroma was still in the air.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_176">[176]</div> +<p>“Just when they were done to a turn, too,” said +Walter gloomily. “I wish the old rascal had +choked on the bones.”</p> +<p>Having recovered everything else, even to Aunt +Betty’s lunch basket, the picnic party pushed out +some distance, and ate their lunch with an appetite +that was the keener for their enforced waiting.</p> +<p>They were sure that Bruin’s instinct would lead +him straight back to the succulent repast that had +been so rudely interrupted, and they were right, +for a few minutes later he came loping along and +plunged into the remnants of his fish dinner. He +glared out over the water at his enemies, but his +one experience had been sufficient, and he made no +further attempt to take after them. He sniffed +around disappointedly at the place where the other +eatables had stood, and then lumbered away into +the woods.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_177">[177]</div> +<h2 id="c21">CHAPTER XXI +<br /><span class="small">THE DRIFTING BOAT</span></h2> +<p>“There’s gratitude for you,” observed Jack. +“We’ve given that bear a perfectly good dinner—even +cooked it for him—and the only thanks we +get is an attempt to kill us.”</p> +<p>“Oh, well,” said Paul, “we must forgive the old +fellow. Bear and forbear, you know.”</p> +<p>“You wouldn’t think it was so funny,” remarked +Cora, “if he’d gotten away with the rest of the +lunch, as well as the fish.”</p> +<p>“Even then we needn’t have gone hungry,” returned +Paul soberly. “The forest preserves are +all around us.”</p> +<p>“Even in the cities, one needn’t starve if he has +a sweet tooth,” added Walter. “He always has +the subway jams.”</p> +<p>“I declare,” said Cora, “it’s a pity the bear +didn’t get you boys after all.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_178">[178]</div> +<p>“<i>We</i> may get <i>him</i> yet,” said Walter. “I’m not +willing to let those fish of mine go unavenged. +Perhaps we can get some guns from Joel and +round this old fellow up. It certainly would do +me a lot of good to have his skin for a rug.”</p> +<p>“He may have his own ideas about that,” replied +Bess. “You’d better let well enough alone.”</p> +<p>“I see we’re not the only ones on the lake,” +remarked Cora, pointing to a small boat about a +mile away.</p> +<p>“Some fellow out fishing in a rowboat,” pronounced +Jack, after a moment’s examination. +“Let’s go down that way and see what luck he’s +having.”</p> +<p>“He doesn’t seem to be fishing,” observed Belle, +as the <i>Water Sprite</i> turned in the direction of the +rowboat. “In fact, he seems trying to attract our +attention. There, he’s waving at us. Let’s hurry. +Perhaps he’s in trouble.”</p> +<p>Jack sent the <i>Water Sprite</i> flying at full speed, +and the distance between the boats rapidly narrowed.</p> +<p>“Upon my word!” cried Belle, “I believe it’s +Mr. Morley.”</p> +<p>“So it is,” acquiesced Cora.</p> +<p>“I don’t see any oars in his boat,” said Paul.</p> +<p>“Looks as though he were adrift,” remarked +Walter.</p> +<p>When he was within a few yards, Jack shut off +the engine, and the <i>Water Sprite</i> drifted lazily +down alongside the rowboat.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_179">[179]</div> +<p>It was indeed the botanist, and he smiled cordially, +if a little sheepishly, as they shouted greetings +to him.</p> +<p>“I’m mighty glad to see you young people,” he +returned. “I rather thought it was your boat, but +she looks so gay in her new coat that I wasn’t +sure of it.”</p> +<p>“Where are your oars?” asked Jack.</p> +<p>“Thereby hangs a tale,” smiled Mr. Morley.</p> +<p>“Come aboard and tell us all about it,” replied +Cora. “We’ll fasten your boat to the stern and +pull it along.”</p> +<p>Mr. Morley climbed on board, helped by willing +hands, and Walter secured the rowboat by a +rope round a cleat in the stern.</p> +<p>“It’s a simple story,” laughed Mr. Morley. +“Indeed, simple is the only word that properly +expresses it. The fact is that I rowed over to +the other side of the lake to find some specimens +that I had reason to think were growing there. I +got them all right and rowed back to the island. +I put the oars out of the boat on the dock, and +was going to get out myself, when something +peculiar about one of the specimens attracted my +attention, and I sat down in the boat to examine it +more closely. I got so engrossed in it that I forgot +everything else. Then suddenly I woke up to +the fact that the boat had drifted away from the +dock, and I was in the middle of the lake without +oars. I was trying to paddle with my hands, but +wasn’t accomplishing much, when your boat came +in sight. I’m always glad to see you young folks, +but I don’t mind admitting that I’m especially glad +to see you to-day.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_180">[180]</div> +<p>“And we are to see you,” returned Cora +warmly. “How lucky it was that we made up our +mind to spend to-day on the lake.”</p> +<p>“We’ll take you right over to your island,” said +Jack.</p> +<p>“It’s awfully good of you,” returned Mr. Morley. +“I hope it won’t interfere with any other +plans you may have made.”</p> +<p>“Not a bit,” answered Cora. “As a matter of +fact, I was going to ask Jack to stop at the island +before we went home to-night. I wanted to scold +you for not having come over to see us at Kill +Kare, as you promised.”</p> +<p>“I ought to be scolded,” admitted Mr. Morley. +“It hasn’t been, however, because I didn’t want +to come. But I’ve had a very painful and difficult +problem that I’ve felt I must solve and that +has taken up all my time. But I shall certainly +give myself the pleasure of calling before long.</p> +<p>“But you have had some very stirring adventures +of your own since I saw you last, I understand,” +he continued. “What’s this I hear about +your being lost in the woods and rescued by an +aeroplane, Miss Kimball?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_181">[181]</div> +<p>“It’s true enough,” smiled Cora, and she gave +him some of the details. “But how did you come +to hear anything about it?” she asked curiously.</p> +<p>“I was talking with Mr. Baxter recently and he +told me about it,” replied Mr. Morley.</p> +<p>“Mr. Baxter!” exclaimed Cora in surprise. +“We know him very well and he was very kind +and helpful while the search was going on. But +I didn’t know that you were acquainted with him.”</p> +<p>“He’s doing some special work for me,” Mr. +Morley explained, “and we often have occasion +to consult together. He’s a very clever man in his +particular line.”</p> +<p>Cora would have given the world to ask just +then what Mr. Baxter’s line of work was, but she +felt that she might be prying. She waited expectantly, +hoping that the botanist would mention +it of his own accord, but he did not, and they were +soon talking of other things.</p> +<p>Of course they told him of their adventure with +the bear, and he laughed heartily at the way the +brute had made away with their fish dinner.</p> +<p>“If he didn’t leave you enough,” he said heartily, +“I’d be very glad to have you come up to the +cabin with me and let me knock you up a meal.”</p> +<p>“Oh, we had plenty without the fish,” laughed +Cora. “But thank you just the same. And by +the way, we’re going to have an outdoor spread on +the lawn at Kill Kare before long, in recognition +of the kindness of those who tried to bring the +prodigal daughter out of the wilderness. I expect +that your friend Mr. Baxter will be there, and I’d +dearly love to have you come, too.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_182">[182]</div> +<p>“When you’ve fixed on the exact date, let me +know, and I certainly will,” replied Mr. Morley. +“But here we are now, and there are the oars +lying on the dock as a proof of my foolishness,” +he added with a laugh.</p> +<p>“You’ve put me under a great obligation,” he +said in parting. “I might have drifted along the +greater part of the day, and perhaps the night, +before I touched shore somewhere.”</p> +<p>“One good turn deserves another,” returned +Jack, “and we haven’t forgotten how royally you +helped us on the day the <i>Water Sprite</i> got into +trouble.”</p> +<p>They waved to him as the boat drew away and +shaped its course for Kill Kare.</p> +<p>“It’s mighty lucky we came along, just the +same,” observed Belle. “Suppose, by any chance, +he had drifted ashore and found our friend the +bear waiting for him.”</p> +<p>“And he without any oars in his boat,” added +Bess, with a little shudder.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_183">[183]</div> +<h2 id="c22">CHAPTER XXII +<br /><span class="small">THE GYPSY CAMP</span></h2> +<p>Cora sat in a brown study as the boat hummed +its way to the home landing.</p> +<p>“A penny for your thoughts, fair lady,” said +Walter, as he lounged lazily on the cushions.</p> +<p>“Why,” said Cora, “I was wondering what were +the special business relations between Mr. Morley +and Mr. Baxter.”</p> +<p>“Hard to tell,” replied Walter lightly. “Perhaps +Mr. Baxter is an author or an illustrator, +and they’re getting up a book together on botany, +or something of the kind.”</p> +<p>“I hardly think it’s that,” put in Jack. “I told +you before that I thought he was a detective, and +something that he said when Cora was lost makes +me believe it all the more. He said that he knew +the authorities in some of the towns, and they’d +be glad to oblige him. That sounds to me more +like a detective than an author talking.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_184">[184]</div> +<p>“It does for a fact,” agreed Paul. “But what +do you suppose a detective and Mr. Morley have +in common?”</p> +<p>“Mr. Morley said that Mr. Baxter was doing +some special work for him and that he was very +clever,” said Cora.</p> +<p>“Mr. Morley may have been robbed, and he +may be trying to trace the robbers,” suggested +Belle.</p> +<p>“If it were only that, there wouldn’t be much +romance or interest about it,” mused Cora. “But +I have an idea it’s something more intimate and +personal than that.”</p> +<p>“It seems to me that a robbery is a pretty personal +and intimate thing,” laughed Walter.</p> +<p>“Cora means that there’s a heart interest somewhere +in Mr. Morley’s life,” put in Bess, “but of +course you boys are too sordid to understand anything +like that.”</p> +<p>As they passed the barn on their way to the +bungalow they met Joel, who had just put up his +horse. He seemed a bit out of sorts, and as this +was unusual for him, it attracted their attention.</p> +<p>“What’s the matter, Joel?” asked Jack.</p> +<p>“Nuthin’ much,” answered Joel. “But I jest +heerd thet them pesky gypsies hez pitched their +camp over near Wilton, an’ it’s kinda rubbed my +fur the wrong way. I won’t hev an easy minute +till I know they’ve packed up their kits an’ hit +the trail again.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_185">[185]</div> +<p>“The gypsies!” exclaimed Cora. “I wonder if +it is the same camp we saw before.”</p> +<p>“I suppose that’s likely,” returned Jack. “There +isn’t usually more than one camp in the same part +of the country. They spread out pretty thin and +keep apart. Besides, this fits in with the old +pirate we saw the other day. He was prospecting, +all right, and he picked out the vicinity of +Wilton because he saw good graft in the town and +the big hotel.”</p> +<p>“Are you sure the news is straight?” asked +Paul. “How did you hear about it?”</p> +<p>“Thet Baxter feller wuz drivin’ by, an’ he told +me,” replied Joel. “Wuss news I’ve heerd in a +dog’s age.”</p> +<p>But if the news disgruntled Joel, it gave immense +satisfaction to the rest of the party, especially +the girls. They restrained their jubilation, +however, until they got beyond Joel’s hearing.</p> +<p>“Isn’t it darling!” exclaimed Cora. “Now we’ll +have a chance to see that gypsy girl again!”</p> +<p>“All the good it will do you,” jeered Walter. +“That old horse thief will be on the job again, +and keep her from talking with you. For some +reason he seems to have it in for us.”</p> +<p>“Let’s drive over to-morrow,” suggested Bess.</p> +<p>“I’d like nothing better,” agreed her sister.</p> +<p>“Let’s give Joel a pleasure and take him along,” +put in Walter with a wicked grin.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_186">[186]</div> +<p>“It would make him froth at the mouth just to +look at them,” laughed Jack. “I guess in the interest +of the public peace we’d better keep Joel as +far away from them as possible.”</p> +<p>“I’m just going to make that girl talk!” declared +Cora emphatically.</p> +<p>“Not a very hard thing as a rule,” chaffed Walter. +“The difficulty is usually to keep the girls +from talking. But these gypsies are a canny lot. +For some reason or other they’re suspicious of us, +and they’ll keep their eyes on us as long as we’re +in camp.”</p> +<p>“Let’s go in disguise,” laughed Paul. “I’ll make +up as a clown.”</p> +<p>“That wouldn’t be any disguise,” jabbed Bess.</p> +<p>“That ought to hold you for a while, old man,” +laughed Jack. “But let’s go in to supper. I’m +ravenous. We’ll have plenty of time to think of +the gypsies later on.”</p> +<p>The next day was bright and clear, and shortly +after lunch the cars were brought out and the +party of young people started for Wilton.</p> +<p>There was a fairly good road most of the way, +but there were patches that led through the woods +that were rather rough, and over these the cars +had to move more slowly.</p> +<p>“Suppose that bear of ours should turn up +now,” suggested Walter, as they passed through +an especially dense portion of the forest.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_187">[187]</div> +<p>“Don’t speak of it,” shivered Bess, looking +fearfully on either side. “What on earth would +we do?”</p> +<p>“Run for it, I guess,” replied Paul laconically. +“He’d have to be pretty fast to overtake us.”</p> +<p>“But suppose he jumped out in front of us,” +said Belle.</p> +<p>“Then we’d have to put on full speed ahead and +bump him,” laughed Jack. “He’d be as surprised +as the bull that tried to throw the locomotive off +the track.”</p> +<p>“And about as badly mussed up, I imagine,” +added Walter.</p> +<p>But at the same time he reflected that it might +have been just as well to have brought Joel’s rifle +along, and in his secret heart he was relieved when +the cars got out again on the open road.</p> +<p>They slowed up a little as they drew near Wilton, +and scanned narrowly both sides of the road.</p> +<p>“There it is!” exclaimed Bess eagerly, pointing +to a large opening in the woods a little to the +right.</p> +<p>“So it is,” acquiesced Belle. “I can see the vans +through the trees.”</p> +<p>“And we’re not the only visitors, either,” remarked +Jack, as they caught sight of a number of +well dressed people walking about the camp.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_188">[188]</div> +<p>“So much the better,” replied Cora. “We won’t +be so conspicuous, and the gypsies will be so busy +with the crowd that they’ll take no special notice +of us.”</p> +<p>They left their cars under the shade of some +trees and mingled with the throng.</p> +<p>“I give them credit for having picked out a +good place,” remarked Jack.</p> +<p>“They seem to be doing a land-office business,” +observed Walter.</p> +<p>“I don’t see that old fellow around that has such +a grudge against us,” said Paul.</p> +<p>“Probably off somewhere cheating some farmer +in a horse trade,” grinned Jack.</p> +<p>They passed a group of rather fast-looking +young men, who were talking and laughing loudly, +and Bess suddenly plucked Cora by the sleeve.</p> +<p>“Don’t look now,” she murmured, “but after +we get behind that clump of trees, take a look at +that crowd we’ve just passed. There’s an old +acquaintance of yours there.”</p> +<p>Cora did as directed and gave a start of surprise.</p> +<p>“Why,” she exclaimed, “it’s the man who tried +to steal my purse!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_189">[189]</div> +<h2 id="c23">CHAPTER XXIII +<br /><span class="small">A TANGLED SKEIN</span></h2> +<p>Belle followed Cora’s gaze.</p> +<p>“Sure enough,” she ejaculated, “it’s that man +Higby!”</p> +<p>“What do you suppose he’s doing here?” wondered +Cora.</p> +<p>“I suppose he’s off on his vacation,” hazarded +Bess. “Likely enough he’s stopping at one of the +boarding houses in Wilton.”</p> +<p>“You girls seem to be hypnotized,” laughed +Jack. “We’ll get jealous if you keep looking at +those chaps any longer.”</p> +<p>“Do you see that man over there?” asked Cora, +indicating Higby.</p> +<p>“The fellow with the rainbow tie?” asked Jack. +“Yes, I see him. What of him?”</p> +<p>“That’s the man who tried to scrape acquaintance +with us, and nearly got my purse later on.”</p> +<p>“I’d like to pick a quarrel with him and punch +his head,” said Jack savagely.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_190">[190]</div> +<p>“You won’t do anything of the kind, Jack Kimball,” +warned Cora.</p> +<p>“So that’s our hated rival, is it?” asked Paul, +looking at the young man with some amusement.</p> +<p>“I’ll have his heart’s blood,” hissed Walter +tragically.</p> +<p>“It’s very queer,” mused Cora. “Don’t you +remember, girls, how the gypsy girl nearly fainted +when Bess happened to mention Higby’s name? +And here he is now in the same camp with her.”</p> +<p>“I’d like to be near by when they meet,” remarked +Belle.</p> +<p>“Still looking for a mystery,” chaffed Walter. +“It beats all how you girls can pounce on trifles +and make a mountain out of them.”</p> +<p>“Give them an ounce of fact and they’ll get a +ton of romance,” agreed Paul.</p> +<p>“We’re not asking for your approval,” retorted +Cora. “This is a case that requires brains +and naturally you boys are all at sea.”</p> +<p>“I don’t see that you’ve reached harbor anywhere,” +drawled Jack.</p> +<p>“Not yet,” admitted Cora, “but that doesn’t +say we won’t. I wonder where that girl can be,” +she continued, as she looked searchingly around.</p> +<p>“Perhaps they’ve sent her over to Wilton to +tell fortunes there,” suggested Paul. “These gypsies +don’t wait for business to come to them. They +hunt it up.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_191">[191]</div> +<p>“Oh, I hope not!” exclaimed Cora. “The only +reason I cared to come over here was to see her.”</p> +<p>But although they loitered about the place for +another hour or two, they saw no trace of the +gypsy girl.</p> +<p>They were agreeably surprised, however, to +run across Mr. Baxter, with whom their relations +had grown cordial since he had exerted himself +so strenuously in the search for Cora. But despite +the pleasant footing on which they stood, +there was still that baffling sense of reticence that +enveloped him in everything concerning himself.</p> +<p>“Come over to get your fortune told?” asked +Jack with a grin.</p> +<p>“Not exactly,” smiled Mr. Baxter, “though I’m +always in the market for exact information.”</p> +<p>“I hope you don’t mean to imply that there’s +anything phony about the dope they hand out +here,” laughed Walter.</p> +<p>“We saw your friend, Mr. Morley, yesterday,” +remarked Cora.</p> +<p>Mr. Baxter shot a sharp look at her.</p> +<p>“Is that so?” he inquired. “How did you happen +to know we were acquainted?”</p> +<p>“He told me so himself,” returned Cora +promptly.</p> +<p>“Well, that ought to be pretty good authority,” +replied Mr. Baxter.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_192">[192]</div> +<p>But he showed no disposition to pursue the subject, +as Cora had wished he would, and the conversation +turned into other channels.</p> +<p>Mr. Baxter excused himself shortly, and the +party strolled on. The girls bought bits of bead +and embroidered work from the women, and had +their fortunes told twice, spinning out the time in +the hope that they would meet the girl they sought. +But she did not appear, and at last they made +their way to the cars, sorely disappointed.</p> +<p>They had gone only a little way when Bess +exclaimed:</p> +<p>“Look! There’s some one behind those bushes.”</p> +<p>The others looked, but could see nothing.</p> +<p>“You’re dreaming, I guess,” remarked her +sister.</p> +<p>“Nothing of the kind!” replied Bess indignantly. +“I have eyes. And it was a woman, too. +I caught a glimpse of her skirts.”</p> +<p>“Well, suppose it is,” observed Jack nonchalantly. +“She has a right to be there if she wants +to. The woods are free.”</p> +<p>“I wish you’d get down and see,” pleaded Cora.</p> +<p>“Oh, very well,” replied Jack resignedly. +“Since you girls are determined to butt in, I suppose +I’ll have to be the goat.”</p> +<p>He got down from the car, but at that moment +the bushes parted, and a girl stepped out into the +road. She was gaily dressed and had a tambourine +in her hand.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_193">[193]</div> +<p>But there was no suggestion of gaiety in her +face, which was distressed and bore traces of recent +tears.</p> +<p>Cora uttered an exclamation of surprise and +pleasure.</p> +<p>“Why,” she cried, “it’s the gypsy girl!”</p> +<p>The girl looked up and tried to smile, but it was +a forlorn attempt.</p> +<p>The girls stepped down from the car and gathered +about her. The boys would have followed, +but Cora interposed.</p> +<p>“You boys drive on a little way and wait for +us,” she directed. “We’ll be with you in a few +minutes.”</p> +<p>The boys looked at each other and laughed, +but they obeyed. Then Cora turned to the girl.</p> +<p>“You seem to be in trouble of some kind,” she +said gently. “I wonder if we couldn’t help you?”</p> +<p>The gypsy hesitated.</p> +<p>“Don’t be afraid,” urged Cora. “We’re all +girls together here, and we’ll do anything we can +to help you if you’ll only let us.”</p> +<p>The girl started to speak in her gypsy patter, +and here Cora hazarded a bold stroke.</p> +<p>“Don’t talk that way,” she said with a winning +smile. “I’m sure you can use as good English +as we can if you want to.”</p> +<p>The shot went home, and the girl flushed under +the tan that bronzed her cheeks.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_194">[194]</div> +<p>“I don’t know why you think that,” she said in +a low voice.</p> +<p>“It was from something you said the other day +when you were off your guard,” replied Cora. +“Of course I don’t want to meddle with your affairs, +but I do want that we should be friends. +My name is Cora and this is Bess and this Belle. +What is your name?”</p> +<p>“They call me Nina,” replied the girl, who was +visibly melting under the charm of Cora’s personality.</p> +<p>“Now won’t you tell us just what the matter +is?” continued Cora. “I can see that you have +been crying.”</p> +<p>“I was frightened,” answered the girl.</p> +<p>“Do the gypsies treat you badly?” asked Cora.</p> +<p>“No,” replied Nina. “They’re rough sometimes, +but they’re kindly at heart. But there was +some one over at the camp to-day that I haven’t +seen for a long time, and that I hoped I never +would see. I’m afraid of him. He didn’t see me, +but I saw him, and I ran away to hide in the woods +till he should be gone.”</p> +<p>The girls looked at each other, and the same +name came to the minds of all three.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_195">[195]</div> +<h2 id="c24">CHAPTER XXIV +<br /><span class="small">THE KNOCKING AT MIDNIGHT</span></h2> +<p>“I think I know his name,” said Cora quietly.</p> +<p>The girl looked at her in surprise.</p> +<p>“How can you know?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Because you nearly fainted the other day when +you heard it mentioned,” returned Cora, “and we +saw that same man over at the camp to-day. His +name is Higby.”</p> +<p>The girl started violently, but whether she +would have admitted it they did not know, for +just at that moment a call came from the depths +of the woods:</p> +<p>“Nina, Nina!”</p> +<p>“My people are looking for me!” exclaimed +Nina. “It wouldn’t do for them to find me here +talking with you. They’re suspicious of everybody. +I’ll have to go.”</p> +<p>“But we must see you again,” said Cora. “We +simply must. Can’t you come over to our place +and have a long talk with us? We live at Camp +Kill Kare, only about four miles from here.” And +she hastily gave the needed directions for finding +the way.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_196">[196]</div> +<p>Again the cry arose from the woods, but nearer +this time.</p> +<p>“Nina, Nina!”</p> +<p>“Perhaps I will come,” said Nina hurriedly. +“But you had better not come over to the camp +again. If they suspect anything they will shut me +up in one of the vans until they go away. Good-bye,” +and she scurried away into the woods.</p> +<p>The girls looked after her regretfully and then +climbed into their car and drove ahead to where +the boys were waiting for them with more or less +patience.</p> +<p>“Well, how did you amateur sleuths make out?” +asked Jack, as they drew alongside.</p> +<p>“Foiled again, judging from their faces,” observed +Paul.</p> +<p>“The committee reports progress and asks to +be continued,” chimed in Walter in his best parliamentary +manner.</p> +<p>“I thought only women were curious,” said +Belle scathingly.</p> +<p>“You boys drive on,” directed Bess. “This is +a matter for us girls to settle.”</p> +<p>“We’re clearly in the second-fiddle class,” +grumbled Jack, as he threw in the clutch and took +the lead.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_197">[197]</div> +<p>“Wasn’t it the most exasperating thing?” observed +Bess, as the girls settled down for a +“comfy” talk. “Just as we were on the very +point of finding out perhaps about that Higby, she +had to go.”</p> +<p>“Goodness knows when we’ll see her again, if +ever,” sighed Belle pessimistically.</p> +<p>“I’m glad she has the Kill Kare address anyway,” +replied Cora. “She may come over to see +us. But if she doesn’t, I’ll find out some way of +getting in touch with her again.”</p> +<p>“Well, as Walter said, the committee has made +some progress anyway,” said Bess.</p> +<p>“I don’t see where,” put in her sister. “We +don’t really know any more of her story than we +did before.”</p> +<p>“Not of the real story, perhaps,” admitted +Cora, “but we know some things now, where formerly +we only suspected them. We know, for instance, +that Higby is the man she’s afraid of. She +didn’t actually admit it, though I think she was +about to, but his being there to-day and her hiding +make it practically certain. It just couldn’t be a +mere coincidence.</p> +<p>“Then too,” Cora continued, “we know that +she can speak perfect English when she wants to. +And she has the accent of an educated girl.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_198">[198]</div> +<p>“But that doesn’t prove she isn’t a gypsy,” said +Belle. “I’ve heard sometimes of gypsy fathers, +especially the chiefs of tribes, sending their daughters +to good schools. I suppose at the time they +intend to keep them away from gypsy surroundings +altogether. But then the wild feeling in their +blood comes out and they drift back to the camp +life again.”</p> +<p>“I know that happens sometimes,” agreed Cora +thoughtfully, “but it’s very rare, and all the +chances are against it’s being true in this particular +case. And then, too, the blue eyes the +girl has show that she isn’t of gypsy birth.”</p> +<p>“But even if that is true,” objected Belle, “I +don’t see what good we can do the girl by getting +mixed up in this. If she’s with the gypsies, she +may be there of her own accord. She seems to +be treated well enough. She didn’t say anything +about wanting to get away from them.”</p> +<p>“She hasn’t had time to tell us very much yet,” +answered Cora. “But we’re letting the boys get +too far ahead of us,” and she put more speed into +her car and soon caught up with them.</p> +<p>The next day the rain came down in torrents. +It beat in a perfect deluge on roof and windows, +and even swept in on the big capacious porch, so +that outdoor life of any kind was out of the +question.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_199">[199]</div> +<p>But it could not dampen the high spirits of the +party at Camp Kill Kare. They had been so constantly +on the go that the little interval of forced +inactivity was not after all unwelcome. The girls +were able to catch up with neglected bits of sewing. +Then there was the library stocked with +choice books, and one of the girls read aloud +while the others worked.</p> +<p>The boys ensconced themselves in the barn with +Joel, where the old backwoodsman regaled them +with stories of his adventures in the earlier days +when he had been one of the most noted guides +in the Adirondack region.</p> +<p>After supper a big wood fire blazed on the open +hearth and took the edge from the damp chill that +sought to invade the house. The girls furnished +music, and boys and girls together sang songs until +they were tired.</p> +<p>The girls had been asleep for an hour or more +when Cora was awakened by a knocking on the +front door.</p> +<p>“Who on earth can that be at this hour of the +night?” she wondered, as she raised herself on her +elbow to listen.</p> +<p>The knocking continued, and as nobody else +seemed awake to answer it, Cora slipped out of +bed, donned a kimono, and softly woke Bess and +Belle.</p> +<p>“What is it?” asked Belle drowsily.</p> +<p>“Go away and let me sleep,” murmured Bess, +turning over on her pillow.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_200">[200]</div> +<p>“There’s somebody knocking at the front door,” +explained Cora. “I’m going down to see who it +is, and I want you girls to go with me.”</p> +<p>“It may be a burglar!” exclaimed Belle.</p> +<p>“You might get hurt!” protested Bess, wide +awake now.</p> +<p>“Nonsense!” laughed Cora. “Burglars don’t +usually announce their coming by knocking at the +door. Besides, I’ll find out who it is before I +open. Slip on your kimonos and come along.”</p> +<p>They obeyed, not without some inward shrinking.</p> +<p>“Don’t you think you ought to wake the boys?” +asked Belle, hesitating on the landing.</p> +<p>“I couldn’t do that without waking the whole +house, Aunt Betty and all,” answered Cora. “Besides, +the boys would have the laugh on us and +try to patronize us. We don’t want to be looked +on as a lot of cowards.”</p> +<p>Both of the sisters seemed to be perfectly willing +just at that moment to be included in that +ignominious category, but they were accustomed to +follow where Cora led, and they went down the +stairs, their slippered feet making no noise.</p> +<p>The knocking still continued, though it seemed +weaker than at first.</p> +<p>Cora, with her lighted bedroom candle in her +hand, softly approached the door, which was secured +by a double lock and also by a heavy chain.</p> +<p>“Who is there?” she asked.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_201">[201]</div> +<p>“Please let me in,” came in a woman’s voice +from outside.</p> +<p>“Who are you?” Cora repeated.</p> +<p>“Nina,” was the answer. “Oh, please let me +in!”</p> +<p>Cora unfastened the chain and turned the key, +and as she opened the door the gypsy girl staggered +into the bungalow.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_202">[202]</div> +<h2 id="c25">CHAPTER XXV +<br /><span class="small">FALSELY ACCUSED</span></h2> +<p>The Motor Girls caught the gypsy girl as she +was about to fall and seated her in a chair.</p> +<p>“You poor, poor thing!” exclaimed Cora.</p> +<p>“Out in this pouring rain!” ejaculated Belle.</p> +<p>“And drenched to the skin!” added Bess.</p> +<p>The newcomer presented a pitiable appearance. +Her gaudy apparel was torn and bedraggled, her +wet hair clung about her face, and she was gasping +with exhaustion.</p> +<p>“I had to come!” she panted. “I was afraid!”</p> +<p>Cora had formed her plans with quick decision.</p> +<p>“We must keep this to ourselves for to-night, +girls,” she said in a low voice. “She’d be miserable +and embarrassed if the boys should come +down. We’ll tell them all about it to-morrow. +The first thing to do is to get her up in our rooms +and give her some dry clothes. Then we’ll get +her something to eat and drink and put her to +bed. She can tell us her story later.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_203">[203]</div> +<p>“Oh, you are so good!” exclaimed the gypsy +girl, covering her face with her hands.</p> +<p>As quietly as they could, they helped her up the +stairs and rummaged in their closets for towels +and clothes. Then they all set to work, and in a +little while the newcomer was dry and warmly +dressed in civilized garments.</p> +<p>She was of about the same size as Cora and +Belle, and they had no trouble in fitting her out. +Bess would have been equally willing to contribute +some of her belongings, but her “plumpness” forbade.</p> +<p>It was astonishing to see the difference wrought +in Nina by the assumption of the garments of ordinary +life. She looked in them, as Belle remarked, +“to the manner born,” and when they had dressed +her hair in the way they wore their own, there +was little trace of the gypsy left, except her +bronzed complexion.</p> +<p>She gave a little cry of feminine delight as they +made her look at herself in the mirror.</p> +<p>“Oh, it’s so long since I wore clothes like +these!” she murmured.</p> +<p>“And now,” said Cora, as she gazed with pleasure +on the transformation that had been wrought, +“we’ll all go down to the kitchen and see what we +can get in the way of something to eat.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_204">[204]</div> +<p>They stole downstairs and the girls ransacked +the larder. They found plenty of cold meat and +bread and preserves. Belle got out a chafing dish +and scrambled some eggs, and Cora brewed a +pot of fragrant coffee. Bess set the table and +they all gathered about it and ate heartily.</p> +<p>The girls thrilled with the romance of it all. +The drenching storm, the midnight hour, the gypsy +visitor, the feeling that they were involved in a +mystery made them tingle. Then, too, the knowledge +that all this was taking place while the other +occupants of the house were unconscious of it gave +a touch of the surreptitious and the clandestine +that was not without its charm.</p> +<p>The gypsy girl of course was somewhat self-conscious, +as she could not help being under the +peculiar circumstances, but the girls noticed that +her table manners were good, and they were more +and more confirmed in their conviction that she +was not what her dress and surroundings had +made her appear.</p> +<p>She spoke mostly in monosyllables and only +when addressed, and every once in a while they +could see the look of anxiety and fear come into +her eyes that they had noted the day before.</p> +<p>“Well,” said Cora at last, when they had finished +sipping their coffee, “I guess we’d better get +up to bed. You need a good night’s rest,” she +continued, addressing their guest, “and we’ll fix +you up a bed in our rooms. In the morning you +will be in better shape to tell us all you care to.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_205">[205]</div> +<p>“But you ought to know all about me before +you do that,” replied Nina. “It isn’t fair to you. +Perhaps after you have heard why I came you +may regret taking me in.”</p> +<p>“We’ll never be sorry for that,” declared Cora +emphatically; “and I feel sure you’ve never done +anything you ought to be ashamed of.”</p> +<p>Nina’s face glowed with gratitude at the generous +speech.</p> +<p>“Oh, I never have!” she cried. “But I’ve been +accused of doing it, and that sometimes in the +eyes of the world amounts to nearly the same +thing.”</p> +<p>She had dropped all pretence to gypsy speech +now, and spoke like any other American girl of +good breeding and education.</p> +<p>“I think I’ll tell you now,” she cried impulsively. +“That is, if you’re not too tired to hear it?”</p> +<p>“Not a bit,” answered Cora, who was inwardly +delighted.</p> +<p>“I’m just dying to hear it, to tell the truth,” said +Bess frankly.</p> +<p>“So am I,” echoed her sister.</p> +<p>“You are right,” began Nina, “in thinking that +I am not a gypsy. I am an American girl and I +was born in this State. And my name isn’t Nina +either. But it will have to do for the present, +because until this matter is cleared up, I don’t +want to tell my real name.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_206">[206]</div> +<p>“My mother and father died when I was quite +young, and I went to live with an uncle. He was +an unusual man, and though no doubt he was fond +of me in a way, our natures were too different +for us to get along well together. I was hot +tempered and hasty and we often quarreled. It +was after an exceedingly bitter quarrel that I made +up my mind that I would run away from home +and earn my own living.</p> +<p>“I got a position in a department store, with +just enough pay to keep body and soul together. +Again and again I was tempted to go back and +make things up with my uncle. But that silly +pride of mine kept me from doing it. Oh, how I +wish I had!</p> +<p>“There had been a number of thefts in the +store, and the manager was furious. He told all +the employees that the next one who was caught +would be sent to jail. Up to that time he had +usually been content with discharging them.</p> +<p>“One day I was called to his office and accused +of having picked up a lady’s purse that had been +laid on a counter. A man who was employed in +the store said that he had seen me take it.</p> +<p>“I was frightened nearly to death, for I had +never even seen the purse. But it was found +lying under my counter, as though I had hidden +it there. I cried and begged and protested, but +it did no good.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_207">[207]</div> +<p>“You poor child!” exclaimed Cora, deeply affected.</p> +<p>“The manager must have been a brute!” cried +Bess indignantly.</p> +<p>“I suppose he thought I was really guilty,” said +Nina, “and he was exasperated by the many other +thefts. I thought I should go mad. He took up +the telephone to call for a policeman, and in that +minute when his back was turned I slipped out of +the door down the stairs and into the street.</p> +<p>“Some way I got into the outskirts of the town, +where I found a camp of gypsies. I don’t remember +much after that. I suppose I must have collapsed. +But they took me in and nursed me, and +when I came to consciousness again some days +afterward, I found that the caravan had moved +on and was in a strange town a good way off from +Roxbury.”</p> +<p>“Roxbury!” exclaimed Cora.</p> +<p>“That’s where I had been employed,” went on +Nina. “When I found myself lying in a gypsy +van, with an old woman taking care of me, I did +a lot of hard thinking. With the gypsies I was +safe. Nobody would think of looking for me +there. But anywhere else I was likely to be arrested +at any minute. And I would rather have +died than gone to jail.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_208">[208]</div> +<p>“So I stayed on with them and learned to tell +fortunes. I didn’t know what else to do, and +gradually I got used to it. But I’ve never been +really happy there. And I’ve watched everybody +who came to the camp, for fear he might be an +officer.”</p> +<p>Cora reached over and took the girl’s hand +comfortingly in her own.</p> +<p>Quick tears evoked by the sympathetic action +sprang to Nina’s eyes, but she brushed them away +and went on:</p> +<p>“I never met anybody I really knew until yesterday. +Then I saw a man whom I had known in +Roxbury. That’s the reason you found me hiding +in the woods. I was relieved when I went back +to find that he had gone.</p> +<p>“But to-day he came upon me unawares, and he +knew me through all my gypsy disguise. He +threatened to expose me, to hand me over to the +police. I was wild with fright. You had been +kind to me and I thought of you. I waited to-night +till the camp was asleep, and then I slipped +out. And here I am.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_209">[209]</div> +<h2 id="c26">CHAPTER XXVI +<br /><span class="small">COUNCIL OF WAR</span></h2> +<p>The girl had told her story in such a simple +and straightforward way that, combined with the +candor in her eyes, it carried conviction to the +sympathetic hearts of her hearers. And their eyes +were moist as they listened to the pelting of the +rain and thought of the fugitive making her way +through the lonely woods, her footsteps dogged +with terror.</p> +<p>She sat looking from the eyes of one to the +other, and was comforted by what she saw there.</p> +<p>“You poor, dear girl!” cried Cora, springing +up and giving her an impulsive hug. “You’ve had +an awful time of it, but we’re going to do our best +to straighten things out and make you forget your +troubles.”</p> +<p>“Of course we know who the rascal was that +threatened you,” said Bess. “It was that man +Higby.”</p> +<p>“He was the one,” admitted Nina.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_210">[210]</div> +<p>“You say that he used to know you in Roxbury,” +put in Belle. “Was he employed in the +same store with you?”</p> +<p>“Not only that,” returned Nina, “but <i>he was +the man who said that he saw me take the purse!</i>”</p> +<p>“He, of all men!” exclaimed Bess. “When I +saw him in the very act of slipping back Cora’s +purse after he had taken it!”</p> +<p>“But why should he have tried to put the theft +on you rather than anybody else?” asked Belle.</p> +<p>“I think he had a grudge against me,” answered +Nina. “He had been too familiar in his manner +toward me, and I resented it. He was angry and +told me that I would be sorry. But I don’t think +that would have been enough to make him go as +far as he did. He worked in the same part of the +store that I did, and I have thought since that +perhaps he took the purse himself. Then, when +the search for it was coming close to him, he got +scared, and slipped it under my counter so that +the blame would fall on me.”</p> +<p>“A cur like that oughtn’t to be allowed to live!” +cried Bess in hot indignation.</p> +<p>“Of course, I don’t <i>know</i> that he stole it,” qualified +Nina; “but his eagerness to put the matter on +some one else makes me think he might have done +so. And even if he isn’t a thief, he knew that he +was telling a falsehood when he said he saw me +take it.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_211">[211]</div> +<p>“But why should he threaten you now?” asked +Belle. “The whole matter has blown over long +ago as far as he’s concerned, and he’s in no further +danger. I can understand how the coward might +have lied in a moment of fright to save his own +skin. But why should he be cold-blooded enough +to keep on persecuting you now?”</p> +<p>“He’s got some purpose in view,” replied Nina, +“and he wants to make me help him by threatening +to expose me if I don’t. I don’t know what it +is, but from what I know of him I’m sure it’s +something wrong. He said he’d see me again tomorrow +and tell me his plan. I told him I +wouldn’t have anything to do with him or his +plans, but he only grinned and said he guessed I’d +rather help him than go to jail. I ran away from +him then, and later on I made up my mind to +come here.”</p> +<p>“You did just exactly right,” declared Cora. +“We’ll take care of you until everything is made +all right. But you’ll have to keep close to the +house, so that nobody besides ourselves will know +you’re here.”</p> +<p>“How about the gypsies?” asked Belle. “Won’t +they make a search for you?”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_212">[212]</div> +<p>“I suppose they will,” answered Nina. “You +see,” she said with a little pitiful smile, “they regard +me as one of their assets. I make a good +deal of money for them from the visitors to the +camp. But apart from that, some of them are +really fond of me, and I feel the same way toward +them. They took me in when I was in extremity, +and in their way they have been kind. I never +want to go back if I can help it, but I will always +have a feeling of gratitude and affection for +them.”</p> +<p>“And so you ought,” returned Cora. “But all +the same your natural place is with your own +people, and you mustn’t have your life spoiled. +We’ll set things in motion the first thing to-morrow +morning—or rather this morning,” she +smiled, as she looked at her watch. “Good gracious, +girls, it’s after two now! We simply must +get to bed.”</p> +<p>They put out the light and stole upstairs, where, +after bestowing Nina comfortably, they were soon +sound asleep.</p> +<p>But Cora was astir early, for she wanted to +forestall the appearance of Nina at the breakfast +table by notifying Aunt Betty and the boys of all +that had happened in the night.</p> +<p>“A miracle!” cried Jack, as he came down the +stairs three steps at a time, followed by Paul and +Walter. “Cora is up before the rest of us!”</p> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="t0">“Fair goddess of the rosy-fingered dawn,”</p> +</div> +<p>quoted Walter.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_213">[213]</div> +<p>“You boys stop your nonsense now and listen +to me,” smiled Cora. “I’ve got something very +important to talk over with you.”</p> +<p>“The new fall styles, perhaps,” chaffed Walter.</p> +<p>“It’s about the gypsy girl,” began Cora.</p> +<p>“The gypsy girl!” exclaimed Jack, pressing his +hand to his brow. “Where have I heard that name +before?”</p> +<p>“She’s upstairs sleeping,” said Cora simply.</p> +<p>The effect was electric. The young men +dropped their foolery at once.</p> +<p>“What do you mean?” asked Jack, staring at +her.</p> +<p>“You’re joking!” cried Walter.</p> +<p>“How did she get here?” queried Paul.</p> +<p>“She came last night about twelve o’clock,” replied +Cora, quietly enjoying the shock she had +given. “I heard her knocking at the door, and +got up and let her in.”</p> +<p>“But why didn’t you call us?” asked Jack.</p> +<p>“I didn’t want to rouse the house,” Cora answered. +“I made sure that it was a woman before +I opened the door.”</p> +<p>“But that might have been a trap,” reproved +Walter. “She might have had confederates with +her who would have forced their way in as soon +as the door was opened.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_214">[214]</div> +<p>“I didn’t think of that,” admitted Cora. “I +knew it was Nina—that’s the name she goes by—and +I took her in. The poor thing was drenched +from head to foot and was nearly frightened to +death. We gave her dry clothes and something +to eat and put her to bed.”</p> +<p>And then to the boys and to Aunt Betty, who +had entered while they were talking, Cora told in +detail what she had learned of the gypsy girl’s +story.</p> +<p>The others listened intently, breaking in frequently +with questions. Aunt Betty was full of +sympathy, though a little dubious about this new +element brought into the life of Kill Kare.</p> +<p>The sympathies, too, of the boys were aroused, +though their feelings took the form of bitter indignation +against Higby. They would have +jumped at the chance to form a vigilance committee +and thrash him within an inch of his life, +if it could have been done without disagreeable +publicity for the girls.</p> +<p>As to the mystery itself, they were not as keenly +interested as the girls were in solving it. They +had a masculine hatred of seeming to pry, and +they foresaw a whole lot of possible complications +in the presence of the newcomer. But after all, +their chivalry was aroused by the girl’s plight, and +they cheerfully promised to do all they could to +get her out of it.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_215">[215]</div> +<p>“On general principles I object to Kill Kare’s +becoming an orphan asylum,” laughed Jack. “But +you can count on us, sis, to take off our coats and +work like beavers to set things right. Eh, fellows?”</p> +<p>“You bet!” replied Walter in his somewhat +slangy manner.</p> +<p>“Watch our smoke,” prophesied Paul, and +grinned broadly.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_216">[216]</div> +<h2 id="c27">CHAPTER XXVII +<br /><span class="small">A NARROW ESCAPE</span></h2> +<p>Cora, greatly relieved now that things had been +explained to the rest of the household, went upstairs +to find that the other girls were up and +nearly dressed.</p> +<p>Nina presented a very different picture from +that of the night before. No one looking at her +would think that she was different from any other +girl who might be staying as a guest at Kill Kare. +In a pretty white dress that Belle lent her, she +looked charming.</p> +<p>She was naturally diffident and nervous at the +prospect of meeting Aunt Betty and the boys. +But their good breeding and kindness of heart +smoothed over all difficulties. They laughed and +jested at the table as usual, including her at times +in the conversation, but taking care not to make +her feel conspicuous. By the time the meal was +over, they had succeeded very materially in putting +her at ease.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_217">[217]</div> +<p>For the benefit of the servants, it was given +out that Nina was a friend who had arrived rather +late the night before, and might stay at Kill Kare +for some time.</p> +<p>“Let’s hope that Joel doesn’t get wise,” remarked +Jack, when he was alone with his chums. +“I can imagine the old boy throwing a fit if he +learns that we’re harboring anybody connected +with the gypsies. He loves them as much as a +miser loves a tax collector.”</p> +<p>“I don’t think he’ll catch on,” replied Walter; +“but if he does we’ll tell him that our keeping +her here is making the gypsies sore. That’ll +square things with him.”</p> +<p>“I think it would be a good thing for one of us +to run over to the gypsy camp to-day, to see if +that Higby is hanging around,” suggested Paul. +“We might get a line on where he’s staying and +how long he’s likely to be in the neighborhood. +And then, too, we might be able to see whether +Nina’s absence has raised much of a stir in the +camp.”</p> +<p>“I’d like to get my hands on that Higby’s +throat,” growled Jack. “Of all the unspeakable +cads, he’s the limit.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_218">[218]</div> +<p>“He sure is,” agreed Paul. “But we’ll have to +put on the soft pedal if we hope to find out anything. +I’ll try to strike up an acquaintance with +him, ask him for a match, or something like that. +He’s a shallow rascal, and it ought to be easy to +worm something out of him.”</p> +<p>“All right, Mr. Detective,” laughed Jack. “Suppose +you take that part of the work on you. In +the meantime, I’ll write a letter to Tom Willis, +an old college pal of mine and Walter’s, who lives +in Roxbury, and ask him to make some discreet +inquiries about that matter of the theft. Tom’s +a good old scout and he’ll be glad to do anything +he can for us. I want to find out whether a warrant +was actually issued for the girl. If it wasn’t, +the girl is all right, and Higby can’t make good +on his threats. If it was, we’ll have to get a lawyer, +and try to have it quashed.”</p> +<p>“How are you going to find out whether a warrant +was issued for her, if you don’t know her +name?” asked Walter.</p> +<p>“That’s so,” replied Jack, a little dashed. “I’ll +go and have a talk with Cora. Maybe she can +get the girl to tell her.”</p> +<p>As a result of his hurried conference, Cora +spoke to Nina.</p> +<p>“Jack wants to look up that old matter at Roxbury, +Nina, and he can’t do it unless he knows +the date and also your name,” she explained. “We +don’t want to pry, but you can see yourself that +we can’t do much if we go groping round in the +dark.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_219">[219]</div> +<p>“It happened a year ago last May,” replied +Nina, “and the name to look for is Helen Holman. +It isn’t my real name, but it was one that +I chose to take when I was afraid my uncle would +be hunting for me.”</p> +<p>“And you don’t feel quite ready yet to tell me +your real name?” inquired Cora kindly.</p> +<p>“Please don’t ask me yet,” pleaded Nina. +“When once I know that there’s no danger of disgracing +it, I’ll be glad to tell you.”</p> +<p>Cora did not press her, but returned to Jack +with the information he wanted.</p> +<p>“Thank you, sis,” he said. “By the way, are +you girls planning to use your car to-day? If not, +Paul would like to drive over to the gypsy camp +in it. Walter and I want to take my car over to +the garage in town to-day to have a few repairs +made. These roads have played the mischief with +the tires. Besides, I want to lay in a stock of +gasoline. I noticed this morning it was running +low.”</p> +<p>“We won’t want to use my car to-day, and +Paul’s perfectly welcome to it,” replied his sister. +“And if you’re going over to Milford I wish you’d +bring back some things we’re short of for the +spread. You know that comes off to-morrow +night. I’ll give you a list of the things we want.”</p> +<p>“Sure thing,” replied Jack.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_220">[220]</div> +<p>But an hour later, when he and Walter drove +off, his mind was so full of the measures he meant +to take in behalf of Nina that he forgot all about +Cora’s list.</p> +<p>She herself did not remember it until Jack had +been gone for an hour or more. And by that time +Paul had driven off in her car to the gypsy camp.</p> +<p>“Oh, pshaw!” exclaimed Cora in deep vexation, +“how could I have been so careless? We +just can’t get along without those things.”</p> +<p>“Just for a lark let’s go over to Milford ourselves,” +suggested Bess.</p> +<p>“And walk?” asked her sister.</p> +<p>“Why not?” said Bess. “I haven’t done as +much walking as I ought to lately, and it’s a great +thing to help me reduce. Besides, I don’t believe +it is more than four miles, and it’s a splendid day +for walking.”</p> +<p>“We might follow the railroad through the +cut,” said Cora. “That takes off some of the distance. +Come ahead, girls, and let’s do it. We’ll +probably get there before the repairs are finished +on the car, and we’ll give the boys a surprise +party.”</p> +<p>Belle agreed after a little more urging, and the +girls put on their hats and sallied forth, leaving +Nina in charge of Aunt Betty, with strict injunctions +not to show herself at any of the windows.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_221">[221]</div> +<p>At a distance of a mile and a half from Kill +Kare ran a single track, narrow-gauge railroad +that served a number of tiny towns scattered +through that region. It was a leisurely, go-as-you-please +affair, and, as a railroad, was considerable +of a joke. The rolling stock consisted of +a couple of locomotives that had seen better days +and a string of dilapidated cars that had been discarded +on other roads. Time schedules were honored +in the breach rather than in the observance, +and one or two trains a day each way wheezed +along at their own sweet will.</p> +<p>But it served as a short cut to Milford, and +the girls chose to go by way of it on that account, +and also because it ran through a sort of gorge +that cut off the hot rays of the sun.</p> +<p>But if it was delightful overhead, as much could +not be said for the walking underfoot. The ties +were split and irregular, and the slag that lay between +them was trying to the feet.</p> +<p>“I feel sorry for any stranded actors who ever +have to walk these ties,” complained Belle.</p> +<p>“I think it’s smoother on the outside of the track +than where you’re walking,” suggested Cora. +“Suppose you try it.”</p> +<p>There was a switch in the track just at that +point, and as Belle tried to step over the rail as +Cora had suggested, her foot slipped and was +caught in the frog.</p> +<p>She would have fallen to her knees if Cora had +not caught and steadied her.</p> +<p>“Did you hurt yourself?” asked Bess.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_222">[222]</div> +<p>“Only scraped my ankle a little,” answered her +sister. “But I may have ruined a perfectly good +shoe.”</p> +<p>She tried to pull her foot from the frog, but +found that she could not.</p> +<p>“Pull a little harder,” urged Cora.</p> +<p>Belle tried again, but with no success.</p> +<p>“The sole seems to be caught in a spike or something,” +she explained.</p> +<p>Bess gave a little scream.</p> +<p>“Oh, hurry, hurry,” she cried. “Suppose a +train should come along!”</p> +<p>And just at that instant they heard a long shrill +whistle from up the track.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_223">[223]</div> +<h2 id="c28">CHAPTER XXVIII +<br /><span class="small">WAYLAID</span></h2> +<p>A scream broke from all the girls, and Belle +nearly fainted.</p> +<p>They could not see more than a hundred feet up +the track, for at that point the road curved round +a bluff. But they could see a column of smoke +rising high in the air and the humming of the +rails grew steadily louder.</p> +<p>Cora was pale as death, but she rose to the +emergency and took command.</p> +<p>“Run up the track as fast as you can, Bess,” she +directed, “and wave your hands to the engineer to +stop.”</p> +<p>Bess was off at once and Cora turned to Belle.</p> +<p>“We have plenty of time, dear,” she said soothingly, +“if you do exactly as I say. Keep your foot +perfectly still while I unlace your shoe.”</p> +<p>By a great effort of will, Belle did as she was +told, leaning her hand for support on Cora’s +shoulder as the latter knelt at her feet.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_224">[224]</div> +<p>Bess rushed madly up the track and around the +curve, and her eyes dilated with horror as she saw +the train, now only a few rods away.</p> +<p>She screamed wildly and waved her hands frantically.</p> +<p>Her voice could not be heard above the rattle +of the train, but fortunately her signals were seen +and the engineer shut off the steam and put on the +brakes.</p> +<p>With a great hissing and clamor the train swung +round the curve and bore down upon the girls.</p> +<p>Cora had been working desperately, but her +fingers seemed to fumble with the laces as though +she were in a nightmare. But she steadied herself +and finished her task. Then she sprang to +her feet and pulled with all her might, Belle aiding +her, and the foot slipped from the shoe, while +the girls fell back against the side of the gorge, +well clear of the track.</p> +<p>The train had slowed rapidly, but when it came +to a full stop it was not more than twelve feet +from the abandoned shoe.</p> +<p>The engineer and fireman jumped down and +rushed forward. A glance at the shoe told the +whole story.</p> +<p>“That was a narrow escape, ladies,” remarked +the grizzled engineer. “It’s lucky I saw those +signals. I hope that you’re not hurt.”</p> +<p>“More scared than hurt,” answered Cora.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_225">[225]</div> +<p>“I don’t wonder you were scared,” he replied; +“but you were mighty plucky just the same. Lots +of girls would have lost their heads and just +screamed or fainted. I’ll get this shoe out of the +frog for you.”</p> +<p>He handed the shoe to Belle, and he and the +fireman clambered back in the cab. The train +was a freight, for which the girls were grateful, +as they were spared the embarrassment of a trainful +of passengers crowding around.</p> +<p>They rested a little after the train moved on, +for the strain, though brief, had been very great. +Then Belle resumed her shoe.</p> +<p>“Don’t you think you had better go straight +home?” asked Bess solicitously.</p> +<p>“Oh, I guess not,” replied Belle, who was getting +back some of her color. “Besides, we’re much +nearer to Milford now than we are to Kill Kare.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps we had better go on,” judged Cora. +“The boys will bring us back in the car, and if +we should miss them, we’ll hire a rig of some kind +to get home in.”</p> +<p>“I guess Bess will need it more than any of the +rest of us,” said Belle.</p> +<p>“I never ran so fast in my life,” answered Bess. +“If exercise is all that is needed for reducing, I +ought to have lost pounds,” and she smiled, although +the smile was tremulous.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_226">[226]</div> +<p>They were lucky to find the boys still waiting +at the garage, and the surprise of the latter at +their appearance was only equalled by their consternation +at the danger Belle had run.</p> +<p>“You girls need a guardian,” said Jack severely, +“and Walter and I elect ourselves unanimously +for that position.”</p> +<p>“It’s a mighty hard job,” sighed Walter. “Our +hair will be gray before our time.”</p> +<p>“Don’t tell Aunt Betty about this adventure,” +warned Jack. “She must be on the verge of nervous +prostration already, and this would just about +cap the climax.”</p> +<p>They made the purchases for which Cora had +come, and drove rapidly back to Kill Kare.</p> +<p>They found that Paul had returned some time +before.</p> +<p>“Did you find out anything?” asked Cora eagerly, +as she stepped from the car.</p> +<p>“Not such an awful lot,” answered Paul. “The +gypsy camp was certainly stirred up about something—little +knots everywhere jabbering away in +that outlandish lingo of theirs. Didn’t seem as +keen on grafting from visitors as usual. I suppose +of course that Nina was the storm center. They’re +pretty badly roiled, I imagine.”</p> +<p>“But how about Higby?” asked Bess.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_227">[227]</div> +<p>“I saw him, too,” replied Paul. “Jostled +against him, excused myself in my well known +irresistible manner, and got into conversation with +him. He’s staying over at Wilton on a two weeks’ +vacation. He’s used up nearly a week of it now. +Doesn’t seem to be very keen about going back, +though. Knocks his job to beat the band. I guess +he’s sore on the management.”</p> +<p>“Probably the real reason is that they’re sore +on him,” said Jack.</p> +<p>“I noticed the manager looked at him very suspiciously +the day that Cora lost her purse,” observed +Belle.</p> +<p>“Perhaps he’s near the end of his rope and +knows it,” said Paul. “He was quite anxious to +know how far we were here from the Canadian +line. He may be getting ready to emigrate.”</p> +<p>“He’d be a great loss to the United States,” +sniffed Bess contemptuously.</p> +<p>“We could probably stagger along without +him,” drawled Walter.</p> +<p>“Did he have anything to say about Nina?” +asked Bess.</p> +<p>“Only in an offhand way,” returned Paul. “He +remarked that there seemed to be a great hullabaloo +among the gypsies, and that he understood +one of the girls was missing. But I noticed that +he kept looking sharply all around as though he +was hoping to see some one.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_228">[228]</div> +<p>“Well, there’s just one thing to do,” remarked +Cora, “and that is to keep Nina close inside the +house until the coast is clear. Higby will be gone +in another week, and the gypsies never stay long +in one place. And in the meantime we may get +word from Roxbury that will tell us what the next +step must be.”</p> +<p>The following night was the one set for the +celebration of Cora’s safe return, and the weather +was all that could be asked for. The spread itself +was a great success. The girls had decorated the +lawn with strings of Chinese lanterns on lines that +swung from tree to tree, and the tables were abundantly +spread with food that both in quantity and +quality roused the enthusiastic appreciation of the +men from the sawmill, who composed the major +portion of the guests. Mr. Morley made a little +speech and Mr. Baxter came out of his shell long +enough to offer a witty toast to Cora and the +other girls. The boys sang some rollicking college +ditties, and the phonograph, brought out on +the porch, discoursed such music as was not commonly +heard in that remote region. It was a +jolly, sparkling evening that they all enjoyed, and +it was late when the gathering dispersed with three +rousing cheers for their hosts.</p> +<p>The days flew swiftly by until a week had +passed. Nina had fallen readily into the life at +Kill Kare and the girls had become greatly attached +to her.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_229">[229]</div> +<p>The danger that threatened her seemed to be +vanishing. The gypsies, after unavailing search +and inquiries that had reached as far as the bungalow, +had departed. Paul had motored over to +Wilton and found that Higby had left the place +where he had been boarding, and the presumption +was that he had returned to Roxbury.</p> +<p>Under these circumstances the restrictions that +had held Nina to the house seemed unnecessary. +Besides, she felt the confinement more on account +of the outdoor life to which she had been accustomed.</p> +<p>Soon she ventured into the woods round about, +though seldom going far from the house. But as +her sense of security increased, she occasionally +went farther. And one afternoon, when her temerity +had taken her far beyond her usual limit, +she turned a bend in the path and came face to +face with—Higby!</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_230">[230]</div> +<h2 id="c29">CHAPTER XXIX +<br /><span class="small">THE PLOT</span></h2> +<p>The girl screamed and tried to run, but Higby +was too quick for her and seized her roughly by +the arm.</p> +<p>“No, you don’t!” he cried. “You’re not going +to get away from me as easily as all that, after +I’ve been watching you for days. You’ve got to +listen to what I have to say.”</p> +<p>“Let me go!” cried the girl, pulling away from +him.</p> +<p>“Go where?” he leered. “To jail? You’ll go +there mighty quick if I care to have you go. All +I have to do is to notify the police at Roxbury and +you’ll be behind the bars in forty-eight hours.”</p> +<p>The girl turned white as the awful vision that +had haunted her for a year past seemed to be +assuming form and substance. She had no doubt +that he could do as he threatened.</p> +<p>“What do you want with me?” she asked in a +trembling voice.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_231">[231]</div> +<p>“Now you’re getting a little more sensible,” he +remarked. “Sit down on that bank and I’ll tell +you what I want.</p> +<p>“Those folks you’re staying with are pretty +well off, aren’t they?” he inquired.</p> +<p>“How do you know where I’m staying?” she +asked.</p> +<p>“That’s my affair,” he said brusquely. “I know +you’re staying at a place they call Camp Kill Kare. +Quite a change from the gypsy camp,” he sneered. +“You’re flying high these days. But that’s neither +here nor there. Those boys and girls there seem +to have plenty of money. There’d be quite a haul +there in the way of cash and watches and diamond +rings and other jewelry, I suppose.”</p> +<p>She grasped his meaning and drew away from +him in horror.</p> +<p>“You don’t mean to say that you’re thinking of +robbing the house!” she exclaimed.</p> +<p>“You’re pretty squeamish for a jailbird,” he +sneered.</p> +<p>“I’m not a jailbird!” she cried passionately. “I +never did a dishonest thing in my life!”</p> +<p>“They say differently at Roxbury,” he taunted.</p> +<p>“Yes!” she blazed out. “But why? Because +you told a falsehood about me! You know you +didn’t see me steal that purse!”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_232">[232]</div> +<p>“Let’s cut this short,” he said impatiently. +“I’ll put the whole thing in a few words. I’m not +going back to Roxbury. I need money, and need +it bad! Those folks at Kill Kare have plenty of +it, or what can be turned into money, and I want +you to help me get it.”</p> +<p>“I never will!” she cried defiantly.</p> +<p>“It’s either that or jail,” he said menacingly. +“And I know that you won’t choose jail when you +come to think it over. I’ll give you a day to +make up your mind. You be here at this same +time to-morrow, or it will be the worse for you.”</p> +<p>She pleaded with him to renounce his purpose +and leave her in peace, but he laughed at her and +went away with a parting threat.</p> +<p>Nina retraced her steps to the house in a state +of great agitation. She felt sure that Higby was +in desperate earnest and would denounce her to +the authorities if she should fail to do his bidding. +But she would have died before helping him +to rob her benefactors.</p> +<p>What resource then was left? Flight! Once +more to become a fugitive—to live under the ban +of the law—to fear any moment the touch of an +officer’s hand upon her shoulder.</p> +<p>The castle of dreams that she had been building +in the last few happy days seemed ready to dissolve +in mist.</p> +<p>She tried to assume her usual cheerful manner +when she entered the house, but the girls noticed +at once that she was pale and anxious.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_233">[233]</div> +<p>“What’s the matter, Nina?” asked Bess. +“You’re as white as though you’d seen a ghost?”</p> +<p>“I hope you haven’t run across any of the gypsies!” +exclaimed Cora, in quick apprehension.</p> +<p>“Nothing like that,” Nina asserted.</p> +<p>“Nor Higby?” asked Belle.</p> +<p>Nina faltered, and at this the others jumped to +their feet in great excitement.</p> +<p>“Do you mean to say that that cur is lurking +around here yet?” demanded Cora.</p> +<p>Nina broke down then, and told them all the +details of her meeting with Higby.</p> +<p>The girls were aghast at the plan to rob the +house.</p> +<p>“He’s getting along fast,” remarked Belle bitterly. +“He’s graduating from the sneak thief to +the burglar class.”</p> +<p>“I wonder what we ought to do,” said Bess. +“It’s too bad the boys are away to-day. I suppose +the police ought to be told about it.”</p> +<p>“There’s nothing yet to tell,” said Cora. “He’d +simply deny that he ever suggested anything of +the kind to Nina. It would be only her word +against his, and she has no witnesses. Besides, +for revenge, he’d blurt out all about that Roxbury +matter.”</p> +<p>At this moment the maid announced a visitor, +and Nina vanished as Mr. Baxter entered the +room and greeted the girls cordially.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_234">[234]</div> +<p>“Sort of an Adamless Eden here, I see,” he +laughed, as he noted the absence of the boys.</p> +<p>“Yes,” smiled Cora, “they’re out for a spin to-day +by themselves. But I expect that they’ll be +back before long.”</p> +<p>“I’m rather sorry they’re not here,” said Mr. +Baxter, “as I wanted to talk over a matter in +which you’re all interested. I refer to the young +lady who has been staying with you for the last +week or two.”</p> +<p>For a moment the sickening fear came to Cora +that Mr. Baxter might be an emissary from the +Roxbury authorities.</p> +<p>“Well, what about her?” she asked warily. +“She’s a dear friend of mine who is paying me a +little visit.”</p> +<p>“But not a very old friend,” said Mr. Baxter +quietly, “since two weeks ago she was telling fortunes +in a gypsy camp.”</p> +<p>A cry broke from the lips of the girls, and they +looked at each other in great trepidation.</p> +<p>“Now, now,” said their visitor with a genial +smile, “she hasn’t the slightest thing to fear from +me. In fact, I think I’m going to prove one of +the best friends she has.”</p> +<p>“Oh,” breathed Cora in relief, “I hope you will! +The poor girl is sadly in need of all the help she +can get.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_235">[235]</div> +<p>“I have been looking for her for a long time +past,” said Mr. Baxter. “At least I feel reasonably +sure that she’s the girl I’m after. And my +only object in finding her is to restore her to the +home and relative that she ran away from in a fit +of youthful anger. I suspected that I had found +her in Nina the gypsy girl. But now that I have +seen her dressed in civilized clothes and compared +her with the pictures in my possession, I feel practically +sure of it. Still, I won’t know positively +until I bring her and my client face to face.”</p> +<p>“O,” cried Cora, “is your client——”</p> +<p>“There, there!” Mr. Baxter checked her. “No +names, please. If I am right in my identification +you’ll know all about it before long.”</p> +<p>“I think I can name him now,” smiled Cora.</p> +<p>“Never jump at conclusions,” advised Mr. Baxter. +“But what I called for especially to-day was +to warn you that your house was to be robbed.”</p> +<p>“So we heard only a few minutes ago,” replied +Cora. “Thank you very much for the warning, +though.”</p> +<p>“So she told you?” remarked Mr. Baxter with +a gratified smile. “That’s good. I am glad that +she has defied that fellow’s threats. I was concealed +near by and heard the whole conversation.”</p> +<p>“What do you think we ought to do?” asked +Cora.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_236">[236]</div> +<p>“I think,” replied Mr. Baxter, “that the girl +had better meet Higby to-morrow and pretend to +fall in with his plans. I will be on hand and hear +all he says. In the conversation that goes on between +them, Higby may say something that reveals +her innocence and his guilt in that Roxbury +affair.</p> +<p>“She can arrange to let him into the house at +night, which is evidently the part he wants her to +play in the theft. We’ll be waiting for him when +he comes, and we’ll give Mr. Higby the surprise +of his life.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_237">[237]</div> +<h2 id="c30">CHAPTER XXX +<br /><span class="small">BROUGHT TOGETHER</span></h2> +<p>The plan met with the hearty approbation of +the girls, and they accepted it, subject to the approval +of the boys.</p> +<p>And when the latter reached Kill Kare and +learned what was afoot, they agreed to it enthusiastically. +They all felt toward Higby as they +would toward a particularly noxious reptile. And +this latest attempt to make the victim of his falsehoods +a criminal brought their feeling of detestation +to the highest pitch.</p> +<p>“Oh, won’t it do me good to get a whack at +him!” gloated Jack.</p> +<p>“He’ll be as safe with me as if he were on a +battlefield,” remarked Walter.</p> +<p>“We’ll fix him!” declared Paul.</p> +<p>Nina had been told that Mr. Baxter had overheard +the conversation with Higby, but had been +given no hint that the detective was looking for +her to restore her to her home.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_238">[238]</div> +<p>At the appointed time on the following day, +she met Higby, whose face lighted up with an evil +smile as he saw her appear.</p> +<p>“Thought better of it, did you?” he remarked +jeeringly. “I knew mighty well you would.”</p> +<p>“It’s vile of you to make me do a thing like +this,” protested Nina.</p> +<p>“You weren’t so particular at Roxbury,” he +taunted.</p> +<p>“Why do you harp on that?” she cried furiously. +“You know I didn’t steal that purse. I +believe you did it yourself.”</p> +<p>“Suppose I did?” he grinned mockingly, in a +way that was itself a half admission. “I deserve +credit for being smart enough to make somebody +else the goat. But let’s get down to business. I +want you to tell me all about the way the rooms +are laid out and where the cash and jewelry are +kept.”</p> +<p>She gave him an idea of the plan of the bungalow, +and promised to leave a door open from the +back leading into the kitchen. He was to come a +little after midnight.</p> +<p>That afternoon and evening, life took its ordinary +course at Kill Kare, as far as external signs +were concerned. They knew that Higby was probably +watching the house from the shelter of the +adjoining woods, ready to take flight at anything +which might indicate the betrayal of his plans.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_239">[239]</div> +<p>Not that he anticipated betrayal. He was confident +that the deadly fear that Nina had of jail +would keep her his accomplice, even though an unwilling +one. But one could never be too careful +when engaged upon such a venture as his.</p> +<p>He noted the girls sitting on the porch with +their sewing, or picking flowers in the garden, saw +the boys go motoring and return, heard the party +singing songs after supper on the steps of the veranda. +There was nothing to excite suspicion in +the slightest degree and he exulted as he thought +of the rich haul he expected to make.</p> +<p>His jubilation would have been less keen, however, +had he noted the care with which Joel loaded +his favorite revolver and had he seen three men +who slipped into Kill Kare under cover of the +darkness.</p> +<p>One of the three was an officer who had been +brought over from Milford to make the expected +arrest. The other two were Mr. Morley and Mr. +Baxter.</p> +<p>The botanist had been told of the robbery that +had been planned, and had been invited to be “in +at the death.” But he had not received the slightest +hint of the presence of Nina in the house. The +detective did not care to risk a possible disappointment. +Then, too, he had a sense of the dramatic, +and schooled himself to wait.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_240">[240]</div> +<p>As for Nina herself, she kept carefully out of +view, as she always did when there were visitors +at Kill Kare.</p> +<p>Eleven o’clock was the usual hour of retiring at +the bungalow, and no deviation from the custom +occurred on that night. A few minutes after eleven +the lights were out, and Kill Kare seemed to be +peacefully sleeping.</p> +<p>The door at the rear had been left unlocked, as +arranged. The members of the party, all fully +dressed, waited in different rooms the outcome +of the drama.</p> +<p>“He’ll probably stop in the dining room to look +over the silver,” remarked the officer, Thompson +by name, to Mr. Baxter. “Do you think we’d +better nab him then?”</p> +<p>“Don’t be in too much of a hurry,” advised +Baxter. “He’ll probably look for his biggest haul +in the sleeping rooms upstairs. Give him plenty +of rope and let him hang himself. Besides, the +farther he gets into the heart of the house, the +harder it will be for him to escape in case any of +our plans go wrong.”</p> +<p>The girls were seated in the dark in their own +rooms, their hearts beating fast with excitement.</p> +<p>“I suppose we’ll be only lookers on,” remarked +Bess in a low tone. “The men will do all the +work.”</p> +<p>“I’m not so sure of that,” replied Cora. “We +may come in somewhere.”</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_241">[241]</div> +<p>“What was it you put in that cedar chest you’re +sitting on?” asked Belle curiously.</p> +<p>“I’ll tell you later,” replied Cora. “And, girls, +stay right where you are, whatever happens.”</p> +<p>In the dark she busied herself with something +at the entrance of the room.</p> +<p>Shortly after midnight, Higby slipped in through +the rear door. He had taken off his shoes and +was in his stocking feet.</p> +<p>It was pitch dark within, and he moved with +such feline stealthiness that he had reached and +stolen up the stairs before the watchers were sure +that he was not one of themselves.</p> +<p>The jewelry of the girls was the chief object +that he had in view, and he went to their rooms +first. But as he stepped inside, he tripped over +a wire that extended from one side of the door +to the other, at the height of a foot, and fell +headlong with a crash that jarred the house.</p> +<p>Cora reached into a chest, and clutching an +acetylene lamp that was already lighted, turned +its blinding glare right into Higby’s eyes.</p> +<p>“Don’t dare to move!” she commanded.</p> +<p>Higby, not knowing how many weapons were +turned upon him, and unable to see anything in +that pitiless blaze, lay perfectly still. The next +instant he was in the grasp of the men and boys, +who handled him none too gently and jerked him +to his feet.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_242">[242]</div> +<p>“Trapped by a woman!” he growled, as he saw +the wire over which he had fallen and the lamp +that Cora still held.</p> +<p>“You’re trapped all right,” declared Thompson, +as he snapped a pair of handcuffs on his +wrists.</p> +<p>“And in for a good long term in the State +Prison,” added Mr. Baxter. “We have you dead +to rights, Higby, and you haven’t a show in the +world. But you may be able to have some years +cut from your term if you help now to undo a +wrong.”</p> +<p>“What is it?” muttered Higby, his craven soul +clutching at straws.</p> +<p>“That theft at Roxbury that you charged Helen +Holman with committing,” Baxter reminded him. +“You stole that purse yourself, didn’t you? Speak +up now. Nothing but the truth will help you.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” admitted Higby, sheepishly.</p> +<p>“I thought as much,” remarked Baxter. “Take +him away, Thompson.”</p> +<p>There was a wild hubbub after the officer had +driven away to Milford with his prisoner. All +the boys and girls were laughing and talking at +once.</p> +<p>“Who is this Helen Holman you were talking +of?” asked Mr. Morley.</p> +<p>A sudden hush fell on Cora and the others, as +they listened for Mr. Baxter’s answer.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_243">[243]</div> +<p>“A girl that has lately been leading the life of +a gypsy,” replied Mr. Baxter. “She’s a very interesting +character. Miss Kimball,” he continued, +turning to Cora, “will you ask Miss Holman to +step here for a moment?”</p> +<p>Cora darted into the adjoining room, and returned +an instant later leading Nina.</p> +<p>She and Mr. Morley looked casually at each +other. A startled look leaped into the eyes of +each. There was a gasping cry, and the next instant +she was in his arms, sobbing as though her +heart would break, while he held her tight as +though he never intended to let her go.</p> +<p>“Alice!”</p> +<p>“Uncle!”</p> +<p>The girls were sobbing openly, while Mr. Baxter +blew his nose vigorously, and even the eyes of +the rollicking boys were momentarily dimmed.</p> +<p>Mutual explanations followed, together with +mutual requests for forgiveness. Both had reaped +the bitter fruit of hasty tempers, and had been +made to realize during their separation how really +dear they were to each other. The reconciliation +was complete, and the Motor Girls were delighted +beyond measure at the part they had played in +bringing it about.</p> +<div class="pb" id="Page_244">[244]</div> +<p>During the remainder of her stay at Kill Kare, +Alice Morley grew more and more deeply attached +to the girls to whom she owed so much, +and when she finally went back with her uncle to +Saxton, it was with the promise that she would +soon make a long visit to them at their homes in +Chelton.</p> +<p>“Dear old Chelton!” remarked Belle, as, shortly +after the departure of Alice, they themselves +turned their faces homeward. “How glad I’ll be +to get back.”</p> +<p>“Yes,” agreed Cora. “But you must admit that +we’ve never spent such a glorious outing as this +one at Camp Kill Kare.”</p> +<p>And with this delightful memory as their cherished +possession, we bid farewell to the Motor +Girls.</p> +<p class="tbcenter"><span class="small">THE END</span></p> +<h2>Transcriber’s Notes</h2> +<ul><li>Silently corrected several palpable typos in spelling and punctuation</li> +</ul> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Motor Girls in the Mountains, by +Margaret Penrose + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS *** + +***** This file should be named 39063-h.htm or 39063-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/0/6/39063/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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