The Motor Girls on the Coast; or, The Waif From the Sea

It was Walter who mis-quoted this couplet.

“Oh, boys, please do be quiet!” begged Cora. “We will never get anything done if you don’t!”

“It strikes me we got considerable done a short time ago, when we put that fire out,” remarked Jack. Cora looked sharply at him.

“I’ll be good, Sis–don’t shoot–I’m coming down,” he exclaimed, and he “slumped” at Eline’s feet and made a fruitless endeavor to hold her slim, pretty hand.

“Stop!” she commanded with a blush.

“That’s my privilege!” called Ed, as he made a quick move, but the visitor from the Windy City escaped by getting behind Bess, who was in the Roman chair.

“If you don’t—” began Cora determinedly, and then she changed her tone. “Please—” she pleaded.

“After that–nothing but silence!” came from Walter. “Go easy, boys!”

Silence did reign–or, considering the shower, might one not say “rain” for a moment? Cora resumed.

“We are to start as early in the morning as possible,” she said. “I figured–or rather Jack and Ed did–that the trip to Sandy Point Cove would take about three days–perhaps four if–if anything happened like tire trouble. But we are in no hurry, and we can spend five days on the road if we like.

“My cousin, Mrs. Fordam, will go along with us as a chaperone, so that stopping at hotels will be perfectly–proper.”

“I thought it was always proper to stop at a hotel–when you had the price!” ventured Jack.

“You don’t understand,” declared his sister, giving him a look. “So Cousin Mary will be on the trip with us. I guess you all know her, except Eline and Norton. She’s jolly and funny.”

“Why can’t she go right on to the Cove with us, and chaperone there, too?” Belle wanted to know.

“Because Mamma’s aunt–Mrs. Susan Chester–is to look after us there. You’ll like Aunt Susan, I’m sure.”

“Are we to call her that?” Ed asked.

“Of course–she won’t mind,” spoke Cora. “Well, as I said, we’ll go to the Cove–taking whatever time we please. There are two bungalows there, you know, and we girls are to have the larger one, so—”

“Well, I like that!” cried Jack, sitting up. “As if we fellows could dress in a band-box.”

“Oh, your place is plenty big enough–you know it is!” retorted his sister. “And you know when you and I went down to look at them you said you liked the smaller one best, anyhow.”

“Did I?” inquired Jack, slightly bewildered.

“You certainly did!”

“Now will you be good?” laughed Walter.

“We girls need more room anyhow,” was the opinion of Bess, calmly given.

“Nothing more to say,” declared Ed, sententiously. “I know how many dresses each of you is going to take now. Slay on, Macbeth!” and he closed his eyes resignedly.

“Everything will be ready for us at the bungalows,” went on Cora. “Aunt Susan has promised to see to that.”

“How about–er–grub–not to put too fine a point upon it?” asked Jack.

“The refreshments will be there,” Cora answered, pointedly.

“Oh my! Listen to that!” mocked Ed.

“We’ll have to put on our glad rags for dinner every night, fellows–notice that–I said dinner! Ahem!”

“Please be quiet!” begged Cora. “Now we’re at the bungalows,” and she consulted her list.

“Come out for a swim” cried Walter, imitating a seal, and barking like one.

“I mean in imagination,” added Cora. “There, I think that is all. Our trunks and suit cases are nearly packed, Cousin Mary will be here later to-night, ready to start in the morning with us. Our route is all mapped out, and I guess we can count on a good time.”

“Are the bungalows near the beach?” asked Eline.

“Almost on it,” answered Cora. “At high tide and with the wind on shore the spray comes on the porches!”

“Oh dear!” exclaimed Belle, apprehensively. “I know—”

“You’re going to learn to swim, you promised!” cried Cora. “Can anyone think of anything else?”

They all could, and promptly proceeded to do so, a perfect babel of talk ensuing. Some forgotten points were jotted down and then, as it was getting late, the young people dispersed, promising to meet early in the morning. It had stopped raining when they went out, so there was no need to hunt up umbrellas.

“Cora,” said Jack, a bit solemnly, as he was helping her lock up for the night, “was there anything about that strange woman that you didn’t tell us?”

“Not a thing, Jack, except that I discovered her in the stairway that time I screamed, and I let you think it was a rat. Then I told her to hurry in the house without being seen. I saw she was in no condition to talk then. That was all.”

“Good for you, Sis. You managed it all right. But I would like to get at the bottom of her trouble.”

“So would I. Perhaps we may–later. Good-night,” and they separated.

The next day was all that could be wished for. The sun shone with revived and determined energy, as it always seems to after a rain, when it “has been deprived of its proper set the night before,” to quote Jack. The roads had dried up nicely, and everything pointed to a most delightful trip.

An investigation by Jack in the daytime proved that the fire had done very little damage to the barn. A close inspection seemed to indicate that spontaneous combustion of some gasoline carelessly left in an open can had caused it. Jack’s car was not enough scorched to be more than barely noticeable from the rear.

Cousin Mary had arrived on time, and helped Cora get ready. Jack ran the three cars out of the stable before his friends arrived, and had them ready for the passengers. Gasoline and oil tanks had been filled the day before, and the motors gone over to insure as perfect service as possible. Tires had also been looked after.

Jack and Ed were to go together in the former’s Get There, Cora, in her big maroon Whirlwind would have Eline as her passenger, the tonneau being taken up with luggage.

Norton Randolf, who owned a small, but powerful car, had invited Walter to go with him, Norton being included in the invitation to go “bungaloafing by the sea,” as Jack characterized it. He was really good company after one had become used to some of his mannerisms. The Robinson twins, of course, would use their own car. The girls, including Cora, were no longer amateur motorists, but could drive their machines with a skill equal to that of the boys.

Norton arrived soon after Walter and Ed, coming up in his car, which was kept in a public garage.

“Where is your cousin going to ride, Cora?” asked Belle, as they hurried the final preparations. “I don’t see how you can get her in your machine, with those trunks and things in the tonneau.”

“That’s so!” exclaimed Cora, with a tragic gesture. “I knew I had forgotten something. I had down on my notes ‘Cousin Mary–where?’ and I took it to mean where would I put her to sleep. I see now it was where should I put her to ride.”

“Let her come with us!” exclaimed Bess. “You can take one of our suit cases in your car, and that will leave plenty of room for your cousin.”

“I guess that’s all we can do now,” said Cora. “Oh, dear, I thought I had fixed everything!”

“Don’t fuss, my dear!” exclaimed Mrs. Fordam. “It will be all right. Your car is so big that I’m really afraid of it.”

So it was arranged, and when a few other forgotten matters had been settled, Cora gave the last instructions to the care-taker of the Kimball home, and blew a blast on her auto horn as a signal to start.

“At last we are off!” sighed Eline, as she sat beside Cora. “It seems as if time moves slowest of all at the end.”

“It really does,” agreed Cora. “I’m glad we are able to start. When I saw that blaze in the garage–Oh, my dear, you’ve no idea how my heart sank. It almost stopped beating.”

“I can imagine so. What a pretty suit you have,” and she glanced admiringly at Cora’s smart motoring costume. It was a light biscuit shade, of a material that would stand wear, and not show the stains of travel.

“Your own is fully as pretty–perhaps a little too nice,” returned Cora. Eline had made rather elaborate preparations for her Eastern trip, as regarded dress. But she was within good taste, for she ran much to harmonizing shades–perhaps too much so.

“Are we going at this snail’s pace all day?” cried Jack to his sister. “Can’t you move faster?”

“We want the good people of Chelton to have a chance to admire us,” called Belle.

“Shall we pass her?” asked Norton of Walter. “My car can easily get ahead of the Whirlwind.”

“Don’t do it,” Walter advised. “I don’t believe Cora would like it. And really, she arranged this affair, so she ought to make the pace.”

“All right,” assented the new lad, and he had the good sense to see the wisdom of the advice.

They passed the Robinson home, the twins waving and being waved at, and then the four autos turned out on the main road that led into a glorious country–a country doubly glorious this morning because of the rain of the night before.

They were really on the road at last, and as Cora glanced down it, her gloved hands firm on the steering wheel, she could not help wondering if it was this road that the strange and perhaps misunderstood woman had taken when she fled so silently from the Kimball house. Also Cora wondered if she would ever meet her again. The chances were against it and yet—

“Really so many strange things have happened to us on some of our auto trips,” she explained to Eline as they talked it over, “that I would not be surprised if we did see her again–and perhaps—”

“Even that Nancy Ford!” supplied Eline.

“Oh, that would be too much to expect, my dear!” said Cora, with a laugh. “We turn here!” she added, “just hold out your hand, Eline.”

“Hold out my hand?” Eline asked, wonderingly, as she stretched it straight out in front of her. “What for?”

“No, I mean out at the side of the car,” explained Cora. “It is a sign to whoever is coming behind that you are going to turn. It prevents accidents.”

“Oh, I see,” and this time the Chicago girl did it properly.

CHAPTER V
A FLOCK OF SHEEP

“I’m sorry I can’t stop steering long enough to pass you a chocolate candy!” exclaimed Bess. “Belle, you will have to do it for me. Such compliments!”

“No, I really mean it,” declared Mrs. Fordam, earnestly.

“Wait until the boys begin to cut up,” warned Cora.

“Oh, I know Jack of old,” returned the chaperone. “He can’t do anything very bad.”

“They seem to be hatching up some sort of a plot back there,” remarked Eline, as she looked to the rear where Jack’s gaudy red and yellow car was careening alongside the Beetle–that owned by Norton. It had been so christened because of its low, rakish appearance, and the fact that it was painted a dead black. It was not a pretty car, but it had speed, as Norton often boasted.

“Oh, I’ve no doubt they will do something,” conceded Belle. “But we can do things too!”

They ran on for some distance, this stretch of the road being particularly fine. They were under a perfect arch of maple trees, which, being planted on either side of the road, mingled their branches over the centre, affording a delightful shade. It was needed, too, in a measure, for the sun, creeping higher and higher in the blue sky, was sending down beams of heat, as well as light. There was gentle wind, which was accentuated by the motion of the machines.

“Is it hard to learn to drive a car?” asked Eline, as Bess and Belle combined in telling Mrs. Fordam something of the excitement of the previous night, she not having arrived until it was over.

“It is, my dear, at first,” Cora explained. “Then it all seems to come to you at once. Why you’d never believe it, but first I used to imagine I was going to hit everything on the road. I gave objects such a wide berth that everyone laughed at me. But I did not want to take chances. Now watch!”

She speeded up a little, and turning to one side seemed to be headed straight for a tree.

“Oh!” screamed Eline, and Bess and Belle echoed the cry.

“There!” cried Cora, as she skillfully passed it, far enough off for safety, as even the most careful motorist would admit, but near enough to make an amateur nervous. “You see what it is to have confidence,” she added to Eline.

“Yes,” was the somewhat doubtful comment.

“Cora, dear, I wouldn’t take those risks if I were you,” rebuked her Cousin Mary, gently.

“Oh, it wasn’t a risk at all! I had perfect control. I just wanted to show Eline what practice will do. I am going to teach her to drive.”

“I’ll never learn!” was the nervous protest.

The road narrowed about a mile farther on, but before the cars lengthened out into single file again, Belle asked:

“Where are we to lunch, Cora?”

“I planned on stopping at Mooreville. There is a nice, home-like restaurant there. We’ll be in Churchton soon, and we can stop there and ’phone in to have a meal ready for a party of nine.”

“That would be a good idea.”

Churchton was soon reached, and Jack found he had a puncture. While he stopped to put a new inner tube into service Cora got the restaurant on the wire and made arrangements.

“Now will you please be good?” Jack begged of his car, when the tire had been pumped up again. “This is a bad beginning for you, old Get There.”

“If it makes good you can tack on another title when we’re in Chelton again,” suggested Ed.

“What?”

“Call it Get There and Back.”

“I believe I will!” laughed Jack. “Sorry to delay you,” he said to the others, for they waited for him after Cora had finished telephoning.

“It’s all right,” spoke Walter, good-naturedly. “We have plenty of time.”

Once more they were under way. The road was now not so good, and in places positively bad. But they knew they would soon be on better ground, and on a fine highway leading into Mooreville.

Later they were on a narrow thoroughfare, so narrow, and with such deep ditches on either side, that it would take no small skill to pass another vehicle in certain places. Then, as Cora made a turn, the road ahead being hidden by a thick growth of trees, she saw straggling along the highway a big flock of sheep, tended by a man and two beautiful collie dogs. The fleecy animals straggled and spread out over the whole road.

“Oh dear!” Cora cried, as she slowed down. “Isn’t this provoking! We can’t get past them.”

“Why not?” asked Eline.

“Because they are so–so straggly. They take up the whole road, and if I tried to pass I’d be sure to run over one of them. Oh! what a shame!

“We’ve got to take it slowly!” she called back to the twins, who were just behind her. “I can’t take a chance of threading my way through all these animals.”

“This is tough luck!” complained Jack, as he saw what the trouble was.

The herder looked up stolidly, puffing on a short pipe, and called to one of the dogs, who leaped off to drive back into the flock a sheep that showed a propensity to lag behind.

“Can’t you try to pass them?” asked Eline. “I’m sure you could do it.”

“I’d rather not,” answered Cora.

“Don’t you dare!” cautioned Bess, who heard what was said.

“But we’ll be late for lunch–and it has been ordered,” wailed Belle. “And I’m so hungry!”

Cora resolved on an appeal.

“Do you think you could drive your sheep to one side, and keep them there until we passed?” she asked the man. “It will take us only a minute to shoot by.”

“It would be a risky undertaking miss,” the herder answered respectfully enough. “Sheep is queer critters. You think you’ve got ’em just where you want ’em, when, all to once they break out, and if one goes the others follow.”

“Yes, I know!” Cora was genuinely distressed. “But we simply must get past!” she exclaimed. “Can’t you think of a way?” She looked ahead at the sheep. There were a hundred or more–quite a flock. The herder took off his cap and scratched his head reflectively–looking the while meditatively at his pipe.

“It might be done–it might,” he murmured.

Cora brought her car to a stop.

“Oh!” cried Bess and Belle together, and Bess, who was driving, jammed on the foot and emergency brake quicker than she ever had in her life before. As it was her fender struck the rear tires of Cora’s car.

“Oh dear!” wailed Eline, clutching at Cora, while Belle, recovering from her momentary fright, had the presence of mind to raise her arm in the air as a signal for the boys to come to a halt.

“Cora Kimball!” cried Bess. “What did you stop so suddenly for, and not signal us? We might have broken your car!”

“I’m sorry. But I just thought of something, so didn’t think of signalling. Any damage done?”

“No, but there might have been.”

“All right then. Will you please come here?” she called to the man. “I want to speak to you–that is, if the sheep will be all right.”

“Yes, miss, the dogs will look after ’em,” and, calling a command to the intelligent collies, he advanced toward Cora’s car.

CHAPTER VI
JACK IS LOST

“To say nothing of swallowing all that dust!” exclaimed Belle, pointing to a cloud of it that hung over the flock of sheep, which the dogs were skillfully herding. “Oh, it’s awful!”

“That’s why I’ve thought of a way out,” spoke Cora.

“Then out with it, Sis!” exclaimed the irrepressible Jack. Once more his sister turned her attention to him–this time it was only a look, but it sufficed.

“Do you see that field over there?” asked Cora of the sheep man, pointing to one rich and luxuriant in deep, green grass.

“Yes, miss, I see it,” and he pointed with the stem of his pipe to be sure he made no mistake.

“Yes. Well, now, could you take your sheep in there, and keep them–er–quiet–until we passed in our autos. You see it is impossible for us to get by on the road, for even if you did get the animals to one side one might leap out, under the wheels of a car and there would be an accident.”

“I see, miss. The sheep might be killed.”

“Yes, and we’d be wrecked,” growled Jack. “What’s the game, Sis? If we stay here much longer that dinner will be eaten by some one else.”

“Be quiet Jack–please! Now could you not drive your sheep into the field?” she asked. “Then we could get past. Of course we might turn around and go back to some other road, but it would delay us. Could you?”

Certainly no mere man could withstand the appealing glance thrown at this humble sheep herder. He capitulated.

“I guess I could do it, miss. But what if the man who owns this field was to see me? You see I’m a stranger in these parts–I’m only hired to drive these sheep to the man that bought them.”

“I see. Well, if we gave you a dollar or so, you could give it to the man who owns that pasture in case he made objection. It would be worth two dollars to get past.”

“More,” Jack framed with his lips, but he did not speak aloud, being a careful and frugal youth.

“The sheep could not eat much grass in the short time you drove them into the field, kept them there until we got past, and then let ’em out again; could they?” she asked, with a winning smile.

“No, miss, I guess I can do it. Sheep is queer. They is easily frightened, and maybe it would be the best way. Why, only last night, when I had turned ’em into a pasture they near ran off on me.”

“Why?” asked Jack, rather idly.

“Well, you see it was this way. I had ’em all settled for the night, a matter of several miles back, when a woman came running along the road. She was takin’ on somethin’ bad, cryin’ like, and mutterin’ ‘Kin I ever find her? Kin I ever find her?’ You see—”

“Was that what she said?” cried Cora excitedly.

“She did, miss!”

“What sort of a woman was she?” With her eyes Cora signalled to Jack to remain quiet. She knew the girls would.

“Well, I couldn’t rightly say, miss, as it was so dark right after the storm. But before I knew what she was doin’ she had come into the pasture that I hired for the sheep over night, and run toward a hay stack. She stumbled over a lamb, fell down, the dogs barked, and it took all I could do to quiet them sheep.”

“What became of the woman?” asked Cora, making a motion with her lips to signify that she thought her the same mysterious one who had been in her barn.

“Well, she was real sorry for having made me so much trouble, and it was trouble. She said she didn’t see the sheep in the field, and she was as scar’t as they was, I reckon. I asked her what she was doin’ out and she said looking for a girl.”

“A girl?” asked Jack, sharply.

“Yes. I ast her if it was her girl–thinkin’ she might be a farmer’s wife from around there, but she didn’t say any more. Only she kept sort of moanin’ like, an’ sayin’ as how her life was spoilt, an’ how if she could only find a girl–well, I couldn’t make much head or tail of it, an’ anyhow I was worried about the sheep, for one got torn on a barbed wire fence. But I was sorry for the woman. I ast her if she intended to spend the night out-doors, and she said yes.

“I couldn’t hardly stand for that–for by her voice I could tell she wasn’t a common kind. So I ast her if she had any money. I was goin’ to give her some myself, so she could get a night’s lodging anyhow. She put her hand in her pocket–sort of absent-minded like, and then she got a surprise, I guess, for she pulled out a silver purse, that she didn’t seem to expect to find there. I could see it plain for I was lightin’ my pipe just then to quiet my nerves.”

“A silver purse?” cried Cora.

“Ahem!” coughed Belle, meaningly, and Cora, looking at her, understood there was something to be told–later.

“Yes, a silver purse,” went on the man. “She didn’t appear to know she had it, and when she opened it and saw some bills and silver, she was more struck than ever. She said something about not knowing it was there, and then she cried out: ‘Oh, it must have been them dear girls! God bless ’em!’ That’s the words she used, miss. I remember ’em well.”

The others had left their cars now, and come up to hear the recital. The boys looked meaningly at one another, and the girls exchanged glances.

“What happened next?” asked Cora.

“Why, nothin’ much, miss. You see the woman had money though she didn’t know it, which I took to be queer. But it wa’n’t none of my affair. She gave me good-night and went back to the road, walkin’ off in the direction of the town. I guess she got lodging all right–she could go to a hotel with that money. It was more than I carry. But the sheep was all right by then, quieted down, so I left ’em to my dogs and crawled under the hay. I slept good, too.

“But now, miss, I want to oblige you an’ your friends, so I’ll just drive my animals into that field. I don’t believe the owner will care.”

“Well, take this in case he does,” said Cora, passing over a two-dollar bill. “Get ready now, people!” she cried gaily. “We’re going to move!”

With the aid of the beautiful collies, who seemed to be able to do everything but talk, the herder drove his sheep through the lowered bars of the pasture.

Then, with the bars up again, so they could not come out, the man waved for the auto to proceed, swinging his cap at the boys and girls in token of good will. Cora’s Whirlwind speeded up, followed by the others, and soon they were on the broad, level highway that led to Mooreville.

“Cora, I simply must speak or I’ll—” began Bess.

“Don’t burst!” cautioned Jack, running his car up alongside his sister’s. The road was wide enough for three for a short distance.

“Wasn’t that the same woman who was at your house?” went on Bess.

“I’m sure of it,” assented Cora. “Only I didn’t want to speak of it before him, Poor creature! What a plight to be in! No place to stay!”

“But that silver purse!” cried Bess. “And the money—” She stopped suddenly and looked at her sister. “Belle Robinson, you never gave that to her!” she cried.

“Yes I did,” admitted Belle. “I slipped it into the pocket of her cloak. I could see she needed it.”

“‘Bread upon the waters,’” quoted Cora. “I was wondering where she got it when the man mentioned it. To think of hearing about her again. Girls, I’m sure she must be, in some way, tragically mixed up in our lives. We are destined to meet her again, I’m sure.”

“Well, I can’t afford another silver purse,” said Belle, smiling. “It will have to be plain leather next time.”

“We’ll all chip in,” declared Jack.

“Well, we must make time now,” asserted Cora.

They found a rather anxious restaurant keeper looking down the road up which they came, but he became all smiles when he saw the merry party, and soon they were sitting down to a plain, but well-cooked and substantial meal. And they all had appetites, too!

“We will spend the night at the Mansion House, in Fairport,” spoke Cora, consulting a list after dinner. “I will telephone for rooms.”

“Perhaps you had better let me,” suggested Cousin Mary, and she made the arrangements over the wire.

Once more they were under way again, and all went well until Jack shouted that his tire had gone flat and would have to be pumped up.

“Go ahead–don’t wait for us!” he called to his sister. “We can speed up and catch you.”

“Don’t take the wrong road,” Cora cautioned, and then Jack and Ed got out the repair kit. The work took them longer than they had expected, and it was getting dusk when they were ready to proceed.

“We’ll never make it before dark, old man,” said Ed.

“Oh, I guess we will. I’m going to fracture some speed limits,” and Jack opened wide the throttle. The Get There did make good time, but it was not worthy of its name. For, after going for some time, Jack felt that he must be nearing Fairport. He got out to look at a sign post, lighting a match to distinguish the directions. Then he uttered an expression of dismay.

“What is it?” asked Ed, anxiously. “Something else gone wrong, Jack?”

“Yes–we’ve gone wrong!”

“How so?”

“Why, we’re on the Belleville turnpike, and to my certain knowledge we’re about fifteen miles off the right road for Fairport. I thought that fellow we asked, about sunset, didn’t seem very sure of his directions. He told us wrong–maybe not on purpose–but wrong just the same. Ed, old man, we are lost in a dismal country with night coming on. Please groan and shiver for me, while I think of the proper thing to say. We’re lost!”

“Well, the only thing to do is to go back,” remarked Ed, philosophically. “Come on. Luckily the roads are good.”

“Hark! Some one is coming!” exclaimed Jack, as he heard footfalls on the hard highway. “I’ll ask him. Maybe there’s a short cut to Fairport.”

The figure advanced out of the darkness into the glare of the lights on Jack’s car. Then he exclaimed involuntarily:

“It’s a girl!”

CHAPTER VII
WORRIES

“It was delightful, my dear, purely delightful; but I will own that I shall be glad to walk again.” She alighted from the car of the twins. The two sisters got down, and Belle went around to look at one of the rear tires. She had a suspicion, amounting to a conviction, that it had gone flat. It had.

“I’ll let the garage man attend to it,” she said. “I’m too anxious now to get some nice warm water, soap and a large towel.”

“Me for a large, juicy towel!” exclaimed Walter, coming up with Norton. “Will you have yours boiled or stewed?”

“Silly! I don’t call that a joke!”

“You don’t need to; it comes without calling.”

“That’s worse,” declared Bess, trying to get some of the road dust off her face with a very small handkerchief.

“Well, we’re here, anyhow!” put in Norton, “I don’t think much of the hotel, though.”

“It will do very nicely,” answered Cora somewhat coldly. She was not quite sure whether she was going to like Norton or not. He did not seem to improve upon acquaintance, and she was a little sorry that Jack had asked him on the trip. Still, she reflected, one can easily be mistaken about boys. Perhaps his flippant manner might be due to nervousness, or a diffidence in not knowing how to say the right thing at the right time.

“We’re here–because we’re here!” exclaimed Walter. “That’s more than can be said for Jack and Ed.”

“Are they in sight?” asked Cora, looking down the long straight road–the main street of Fairport–by which they had entered the town.

“Not yet,” answered Bess. “Oh, do let’s get into the hotel!” she exclaimed. “A crowd is collecting, and I do so want a drink of cold water.”

“Hot tea for me,” spoke Belle. “Hot tea with a slice of lemon in it.”

“Since Belle went to that Russian tea-fest last winter she always takes lemon in her tea,” explained her sister. “Ugh! I can’t bear it!” Bess was nothing if not certain in her likes and dislikes.

“It’s really the only way to drink tea, my dear,” said Belle, with an affected society drawl. “It’s so–so mussy with cream and sugar in it,” and she spread out her hands in æsthetic horror–or something to simulate that.

“I think I shall be satisfied with just plain tea,” voiced Cora, as she took another look down the road for her brother. “Come on, girls–and boys!” she added.

A little throng was beginning to gather in front of the hotel, somewhat blocking the sidewalk, for the sight of the cars drawn up in front of the hostel and perhaps the sight of the four–well, it might as well be said–pretty motor girls, had attracted attention.

“Shoo–shoo–chickens!” exclaimed Mrs. Fordam with a laugh as she brought up back of the girls. “Let’s get in and freshen up for supper.”

“Dinner!” cried Walter. “It’s not allowed to say supper on this tour. Dinner; isn’t it, Cora?”

“As you like,” she assented a bit wearily, for now, after the excitement of the day, the work and worry, much of which had necessarily fallen to her, Cora was beginning to feel the reaction. The fire, too, and the strange woman, all had added to it. But she knew they could have a good rest that evening.

“Jack must be having trouble with that tire,” she went on, as they entered the hotel. “I think he had better put on an entirely new one.”

“Oh, he’ll be here pretty soon,” said Walter. “Really we haven’t been here long, and we ought to allow him half an hour anyway. The Get There will go—”

“Once it does go,” interrupted Norton. “I wonder where we register?”

“There’s the desk,” said Walter, pointing to where the hotel clerk stood behind the counter waiting for the party. He smiled a welcome.

“I’ll register for the girls,” said Mrs. Fordam. “I want to see how the rooms are arranged before we commit ourselves to them.”

The suite was satisfactory and soon the girls had gone to their apartments, their suit cases having been brought up by the bell boys. Walter and Norton, after putting their names down on the register, took the three cars to the garage around the corner, leaving them there for the night.

“Unless we want to take a little spin this evening,” suggested Norton, as they were on their way back to the hotel.

“I guess the girls will be too tired,” returned Walter. “We might take in a show, however. That would be restful.”

“Not any moving pictures!” exclaimed Norton, hastily. “I’m dead sick of them.”

“So am I. There are a couple of good theatres in town, I think. However, we’ll leave it to the girls.”

“Did you see anything of Jack?” asked Cora, anxiously, as the two young men came in. There was a worried look in her eyes.

“No, he hasn’t come yet,” answered Walter. “But it’s early yet. Dinner won’t be served for an hour, the clerk told me. Say, you girls look all right!” and there was genuine admiration in his eyes.

“Why shouldn’t we?” asked Eline. She had put on a fawn-colored dress that set off her complexion wonderfully well. Cora had put on her new brown, while Belle in blue and Bess in mauve added to the charm. The girls had freshened their complexion with cold cream and a thorough rinsing, and all traces of the rather dusty trip had been removed.

“It’s up to us for our glad rags,” said Norton. “Come on, Walter. There’s no use letting them carry off all the honors,” and he started for the elevator.

“I wish you’d give just a look, and see if Jack isn’t coming,” went on Cora. “I’m really a little worried. He may have had an accident.”

“Now don’t you go to worrying,” counseled Walter, in his best brotherly manner. “Jack and Ed can take care of themselves, all right.”

“No, don’t worry,” went on Mrs. Fordam. “It will spoil your pleasure, Cora.”

“But I just can’t help it. Come on, girls, we’ll get our wraps and go outside. I simply can’t sit still.”

“No, we had plenty of sitting all day,” admitted Bess. “I believe it would be nice to walk up and down out in front for a change. It’s rather stuffy in here,” and she glanced about a typical hotel parlor.

“All right, go ahead and we’ll be with you in a little while,” directed Walter, he and Norton going to their rooms while the girls and Mrs. Fordam went outside.

All the injunctions of her companions not to worry did not drive anxiety from Cora. Time and again she glanced down the road her brother must come, but the Get There was not living up to its name.

Dusk came, but no Jack. The promise of good appetites for the dinner was not carried out, for Cora’s worry affected all of them more or less. And it began to look as if something really had happened.

“I simply must do something!” Cora exclaimed after dinner. “I’m going to see if I can’t telephone to some one along the road, and ask if there has been an accident.”

They tried to persuade her not to, but she insisted and started toward the booth.

CHAPTER VIII
THE GIRL

“That is–well, I’m not exactly lost,” and Jack could see her smile faintly. Yet behind the smile there seemed to be sorrow, and it was evident, even in the difficult light of the gas lamps, that she had been crying.

“You’re lost–but not exactly lost,” remarked Ed, with a laugh. “That’s–er–rather odd; isn’t it?” He was anxious to put the girl at her ease. Clearly a strange young girl–and pretty, too, as the boys could see–would need to be put at her ease when alone, after dark, on a country road.

“I–I guess it is,” she admitted, and Jack made a mental note that he liked her voice. Quite discriminating in regard to voices Jack was getting–at least in his own estimation.

“Then you can’t help us much, I’m afraid,” went on Ed. “If you’re a stranger around here—”

“Oh, yes, I’m a stranger–quite a stranger. I don’t know a soul!”

She said it so quickly–bringing out the words so promptly after Ed’s suggestion, that it almost seemed as though she had caught at a straw thrown in her way by a chance wind. Why did she want to make it appear that she was a stranger? And that she did want to give that impression–rightly or wrongly–was very evident to both young men.

“Then we are both–I mean all three–lost,” spoke Jack, good-naturedly. “I guess there’s no help for it, Ed. We’ll have to go back the way we came until we strike the road to Fairport.”

“I suppose so. But it will bring us in pretty late.”

“No help for it. What is to be–has to be. Cora will worry–she has that habit lately.”

“Naturally. Well, maybe we can get to a telephone somewhere, and let them know.”

“You could do that!” exclaimed the girl, impulsively. “I know what it is to worry. I saw a telephone not more than a mile back. I mean,” she explained with a smile, “I saw a place where there was a telephone pay station sign. It was in a little country store, where I stopped to–to—”

She hesitated and her voice faltered.

“Look here!” exclaimed Jack. “Perhaps we can help you! Are you going anywhere that we can give you a lift? We’re bound to be late anyhow, and a little more time won’t matter. You see my sister and some friends–other girls and boys–are out on a trip. We are going to Sandy Point Cove, and are taking it easy on the way. My machine developed tire trouble a while ago–quite a while it is now,” he said ruefully, “and the others went on. I thought I could get up to them, but I took the wrong road and–well, here we are. Now if we can give you a ride, why, we’ll be glad to. Ed can sit on the run-board, and you—”

“Oh, I couldn’t trouble you!” the girl exclaimed. “I–I am going—”

She stopped rather abruptly and Jack and Ed each confessed to the other, later, that they were mortally afraid she was going to cry.

“And if she had,” said Jack, “I’d have been up in the air for fair!”

“Same here!” admitted Ed.

But she did not cry. She conquered the inclination, and went on.

“I mean that I don’t know exactly where I am going,” the girl said. “It isn’t important, anyhow. It doesn’t much matter where I stop.” There was a pathetic, hopeless note in her voice now.

Again Jack took a sudden resolve.

“Look here!” he exclaimed, “I’ve got a sister, and Ed here, and I, have a lot of girl friends. We wouldn’t want them to be out alone at night on a country road. So if you’ll excuse us, I think it would be better if we could take you to some of your friends. We won’t mind in the least, going out of our way to do it, either.”

“Of course not!” put in Ed.

“But I–I—” she seemed struggling with some emotion. “I love to be in the country!” she said suddenly–as though she had made up her mind to rush through some explanation of her plight “I take long walks often. I think I walked too far to-day. I–I expected to reach Hayden before dark, but I stayed too long in a pretty little wood. I–am going to stop at the Young Women’s Christian Association in Hayden. But that’s only a mile further, and I can be there before it’s very much darker.”

“If it can get any darker than this, I’d like to see it,” remarked Ed, staring at the blackness which surrounded them.

“If it’s only a mile or so farther then we’re going to take you there!” exclaimed Jack. “We’re bound to be late anyhow, and we might as well be killed for a sheep as a lamb. Ed, it’s you for the run-board.”

“With pleasure,” and he bowed to the girl.

She laughed–just the least bit.

“Oh, but I couldn’t think of troubling you!” the girl exclaimed. “Really, I–I—” She did not know what to say. Jack saw her clasp her hands convulsively. He had a good look at her face. Really she was quite pretty, he decided, an opinion in which Ed coincided.

“Look here!” cried Jack, purposely rough. He had found that tone advisable to take with Cora sometimes. “Look here, we are going on to Hayden anyhow, so you might as well ride with us as walk. I know my sister, Cora Kimball–perhaps you know her—?”

“I don’t believe I do,” she answered.

“Well, no matter–anyhow, she’d never forgive me–nor Ed either, if we left you like this. And I know Ed would fuss more about Cora not forgiving him than I would. So you’ve just got to ride,” and he smiled frankly.

“But I thought you said you were going to Fairport,” spoke the girl.

“We are,” answered Jack. “But I’m not going to chase back all those fifteen miles we came by mistake. It would take too long, especially after dark. So if we can’t take a short cut over from Hayden, we’ll stay there all night, and go on in the morning. I can telephone my sister. I suppose there are ’phones in Hayden.”

“Oh, yes, it–it’s quite a town–a small city, I believe,” said the girl. “I inquired about it at the last stop I made, and they told me of the association where I could stay.”

“Then come on!” invited Jack. “I’ll crank up, and you can ride with us.”

“You’re sure it won’t be any trouble?”

“Not a bit–it will be a pleasure to have you. But perhaps we ought to look for a nearer telephone, and send word to your friends,” Jack suggested.

“No–no,” she spoke rapidly. “I haven’t any–I mean they won’t worry about me. I am used to looking after myself.”

Truly she seemed so, and now she appeared even more self-reliant as she stood there in the glare of the lamps of the auto. Her face had lost some of the traces of hopeless despair, and she had somehow managed to get rid of the evidences of the tears. The boys wondered how she did it, for it was rather like a magician’s trick, “done in full view of the audience.” Jack and Ed paid a mental tribute to her accomplishment in using a handkerchief.

“Are you sure you are comfortable there?” the girl asked Ed, as he crouched partly on the floor of the car, with his feet on the run-board.

“Quite,” he affirmed, not altogether truthfully, but at least gallantly.

“It seems so selfish of me, that really—”

“Say, Ed’s all right!” cried Jack, gaily. “He’d rather ride on the run-board than anywhere else; wouldn’t you, old man?”

“Sure!”

“In fact, he often sits there when there’s a vacant seat. It’s a hobby of his. I’ve tried to break him of it, but he is hopeless!”

“Now I know you’re poking fun at me!” she exclaimed, and she laughed lightly. “I’ve almost a notion—”

She made a motion as though to alight.

“Don’t you dare!” cried Jack. “Here we go!” He let in the gear, and the clutch came into place. The car moved forward slowly, and gathered speed.

“We’ll be there in no time,” Jack went on. “It’s rather unpleasant for you, isn’t it, going about by yourself?” he asked the girl.

“Oh, I’m used to it. I have been working in an office, but I–I decided on a vacation. I took it rather suddenly, and I haven’t made any plans since. I decided to go off–and, yes, lose myself for a time. That’s why I’m in a part of the country I have never visited before.”

“I see,” remarked Jack. “It is sometimes good to do things on an impulse. I know how tiresome the dull routine and grind must be.”

“He never worked a day in his life!” exclaimed Ed.

“No knocking, old man!” laughed Jack. “I think I’d like to be in an office myself,” he added. Mentally he decided that one where this girl was employed might not be a half-bad place.

“Yes, he’d want an office where the hours were from ten to twelve, with an hour for lunch,” grunted Ed, as the car went over a bump, jolting him.

“I really liked the work,” said the girl. “Of course there were some unpleasant features–in fact, that is why I left so suddenly. Now I am–free!”

She took a long breath of the night air rushing against her cheeks, as though the idea of being free was most delightful.

They talked of various subjects as the car shot along in the darkness. Both Jack and Ed were quite curious to learn more about this stray girl, but they had the good sense not to ask leading questions. Nor did she volunteer much information.

Finally the lights of Hayden glimmered into view, and soon the car had stopped in front of the Y. W. C. A., which Jack had located through a policeman.

“Now I shall be all right,” the girl exclaimed as Jack helped her out. “Thank you a thousand times. I really–I don’t know what I should have done had I not met you. I–I was just beginning to–get afraid.”

“Are you sure you will be all right now?” asked Ed.

“Can’t we do anything more for you?” Jack wanted to know. “I’m Jack Kimball, of Chelton, and this is Ed Foster. We are pretty well known in these parts, though we’ve never been in Hayden before. We auto around a good bit. If we can do anything—”

“Oh, no, thank you ever so much. I shall be all right.” She gave Jack her hand, in a warm clasp, and then turned to Ed. “Thank you–so much!” She smiled, showing her white, even teeth, and ran up the steps of the building–a place where a lone girl could always find a safe shelter. She turned on the top step, waved a good-bye to them, and disappeared behind the doors.

CHAPTER IX
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

“But them as is wrong; eh? Well, we’ll soon be with you. We had quite an adventure.”

“You did? Were you hurt?”

“No, can’t a fellow have an adventure without getting hurt? We met a pretty girl, and gave her a ride–that’s all.”

“Jack! You never did!”

“Oh, yes, we did. Ed’s here, and he’ll tell you all about it. It was a great time.”

“Jack Kimball, I believe you’re just teasing me! You’re not in Hayden at all!”

“Where am I, then?” he challenged.

“Right in town, and just as like as not you’re calling up from across the street here.”

“Well, I’m not then. You ask central. We really were lost on the road, and had quite a time. I don’t know now whether we can be with you to-night or not.”

“Oh, Jack, you must!”

“But if we can’t–we can’t. If we can find a short cut we’ll take it. Otherwise we’ll stay here all night and come on early in the morning.”

“Well, that will have to do then,” said Cora, with a sigh. “Oh, but we have been so worried. Who was that girl, Jack?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

“Does Ed?”

“Not guilty.”

“The idea! And you gave her a ride?”

“Why not? We met her on the road–she was all alone–it was dark. What else could we do?”

“That’s so, I suppose. Where is she now?”

“In the Y. W. C. A.”

“Oh, that’s all right then. Listen, you will try to come on to-night; won’t you?”

“Sure, Sis.”

“I’m so tired, and it’s more of a responsibility than I thought it would be.”

“Well, don’t worry, Sis. We’re going to get something to eat, and then we’ll see what we can do.”

“Eat! You don’t mean to say, Jack Kimball, that you’re going to stop to eat?”

“Well, I guess we are. Haven’t had a bite since noon.”

“Why can’t you get dinner after you get here?”

“It might be more like breakfast than dinner if we waited,” and Jack laughed. “No, we’re going to eat here and then we’ll see what we can do. Don’t worry any more. The Get There will go somewhere, anyhow. Now take it easy.”

“All right. I will, only do try to come.”

“Want to talk to Ed?”

“What for?”

“Oh, only to say ‘how de do,’” and again Jack laughed.

“Certainly I’ll speak to him.”

Ed on the wire.

“Hello, Cora. It’s all right. I listened to what Jack said.”

“And it’s all–I mean did you really help a girl?”

“Sure.”

“Who was she?”

“That’s telling. I’ve got her name, only Jack doesn’t know.”

“Don’t you believe him,” interjected Jack sideways into the transmitter.

“Try and make him come on to-night!” said Cora. “Your rooms are all engaged.”

“I will. Are the girls all right?”

“Yes.”

“And your cousin?”

“Surely.”

“Walter making himself useful as he always does, I suppose?”

“Of course. Don’t be silly.”

“I’m not. I’m only trying to think of something else to say.”

“You needn’t try then!” and Cora’s voice had a tint of snap in it.

“Don’t get mad,” Ed advised her. “Give my love to the girls, and tell ’em we’ll be with ’em soon. Do you want to talk to Jack again?”

“No, only tell him to please come to-night. I want to talk to him.”

“About that girl, I expect.”

“I don’t believe a word about her.”

“Ha! I’ll show you a lock of her hair.”

“Then I’d surely know you were fooling. Say, listen, you will make Jack come; won’t you, Ed?”

“Surest thing you know. Shall I say good-bye?”

“If you can’t think of anything else to say.”

“All right. See you soon.”

“You’ll have a sweet telephone toll to pay.”

“I’m going to make Jack do it. He’s asking the clerk here how to get to Fairport the quickest way. The clerk’s another girl.”

“Oh, I’m not going to talk another word. Good-bye,” and a click in his ear told Ed that Cora had hung up the receiver. He laughed and joined Jack, who had gone away from the booth.