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diff --git a/32024.txt b/32024.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a08b7c --- /dev/null +++ b/32024.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7097 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Motor Girls on the Coast, 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 on the Coast + or, The Waif From the Sea + +Author: Margaret Penrose + +Release Date: April 17, 2010 [EBook #32024] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR GIRLS ON THE COAST *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.com + + + + + + + + + + THE MOTOR GIRLS ON THE COAST + Or + The Waif From the Sea + + BY + MARGARET PENROSE + + The GOLDSMITH Publishing Co. + Cleveland Ohio + + Made in U.S.A. + + + + +Copyright, 1913, by + +Cupples & Leon Company + + + + +CONTENTS + + Chapter Page + I. A FLASH OF FIRE 1 + II. THE STRANGE WOMAN 13 + III. A STRANGE STORY 29 + IV. ON THE ROAD 41 + V. A FLOCK OF SHEEP 52 + VI. JACK IS LOST 59 + VII. WORRIES 68 + VIII. THE GIRL 75 + IX. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 85 + X. REUNITED 90 + XI. THE GIRLS RETALIATE 97 + XII. AT THE COVE 106 + XIII. THE LIGHTHOUSE MAID 113 + XIV. SETTLING DOWN 122 + XV. LAUNCHING THE "PET" 130 + XVI. SUSPICIONS STRENGTHENED 138 + XVII. THE LIGHT KEEPER'S STORY 145 + XVIII. BELLE SWIMS 154 + XIX. GATHERING CLOUDS 158 + XX. THE STORM 166 + XXI. THE WRECK 172 + XXII. THE RESCUE 179 + XXIII. THE FLOATING SPARS 187 + XXIV. SAFE ASHORE 194 + XXV. A SURPRISE 199 + XXVI. THE STORY OF NANCY FORD 206 + XXVII. A BOLD ATTEMPT 216 + XXVIII. A STRANGE MESSAGE 224 + XXIX. AT THE SHARK'S TOOTH 231 + XXX. HAPPY DAYS 237 + + + + +THE MOTOR GIRLS +ON THE COAST + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A FLASH OF FIRE + + +Filled was the room with boys and girls--yes, literally filled; for they +moved about so from chair to chair, from divan to sofa, from one side of +the apartment to the other, now and then changing corners after the manner +of the old-fashioned game of "puss," that what they lacked in numbers +they more than made up in activity. It was a veritable moving picture +of healthful, happy young persons. And the talk----! + +Questions and answers flew back and forth like tennis balls in a set of +doubles. Repartee mingled with delicate sarcasm, and new, and almost +indefinable shades of meaning were given to old and trite expressions. + +"You can depend upon it, Sis!" drawled Jack Kimball as he stretched out +his foot to see how far he could reach on the Persian rug without falling +off his chair; "you can depend upon it that Belle will shy at the last +moment. She's afraid of water, the plain, common or garden variety of +water. And when it comes to ripples, to say nothing of waves, she----" + +"Cora, can't you make him behave?" demanded the plump Belle in question. + +"Belle's too--er--too--tired to get up and do it herself," scoffed Ed +Foster. "May I oblige you, Belle, and tweak his nose for him?" + +"Come and try it!" challenged Jack. + +"Let Walter do it," advised Bess, who, the very opposite type of her +sister Belle, tall and willowy--aesthetic in a word--walked to another +divan over which she proceeded to "drape herself," as Cora expressed it. + +"Well, let's hear what Jack has to say," proposed Walter Pennington, +bringing his head of crisp brown hair a little closer to the chestnut +one of Bess. "He has made a statement, and it is now--will you permit +me to say it--it is now strictly up to him to prove it. Say on, rash +youth, and let us hear why it is that Belle will shy at the water." + +"It's a riddle, perhaps," suggested Eline Carleton, a visitor from +Chicago. "I love to guess riddles! Say it again, Jack, do!" + +"Why is a raindrop----" began Norton Randolf, a newcomer in Chelton. "The +answer is----" + +"That you can bring water to a horse, even if you can't make him stand +still without hitching," interrupted Walter. "Go on, Jack!" + +"I don't see much use in going on, if you fellows--and I beg your +collective pardons--the ladies also--are to interrupt me all the while." + +"That's so--let's play the game fair," suggested Eline. "Is it a riddle, +Jack? Belle is afraid of the water because--let me see--because it can't +spoil her complexion no matter whether it's salt or fresh--is that it?" +and she glanced over at the slightly pouting Belle, whose rosy complexion +was often the envy of less happily endowed girls. + +"I'm not afraid of the water!" declared Belle. "I don't see why he says +so, anyhow. It--it isn't--kind." + +"Forgive me, Belle!" and Jack "slumped" from his chair to his knees +before the offended one. "I do beg your pardon, but you know that ever +since we proposed this auto trip to Sandy Point Cove you've hung back on +some pretext or other. You've even tried to get us to consent to a land +trip. But, in the language of the immortal Mr. Shakespeare, there is +nothing doing. We are going to the coast." + +"Of course I'm coming, too," said Belle. "Stop it, Jack!" she commanded, +drawing her plump hand away from his brown palm. "Behave yourself! Only," +she went on, as the others ceased laughing, "only sometimes the ocean +seems so--so----" + +"Oceany," supplied Walter. + +"Now Jack--and you other boys also," said Cora in firm tones, "really +it isn't fair. Belle is nervous about water, just as the rest of us are +about some other particular bugbear, but she is also reasonable, and she +has even promised to learn to swim." + +Cora brushed from the mahogany centre table a few morsels of withered +lilac petals, for, in spite of the most careful dusting and setting to +rights of the room, those blooms had a persistent way of dropping off. + +"Belle swim!" cried Jack, rising to his feet, since his advances had +been repulsed, "why she would have to be done up in a barrel of life +preservers, and then she'd insist on being anchored to shore by a ship's +cable. Belle swim!" + +"Indeed!" retorted his sister, "you'll soon find that the more nervous a +girl is, the more persistent she is to learn to swim. She realizes the +necessity of not losing her head in the water." + +"If she lost her head she wouldn't swim very far," put in Ed with gentle +sarcasm. + +"Put him out!" ordered Walter. "But say, when are we going to get down to +the horrible details, and make some definite plans? This sort of a tea +party suits me all right--don't mistake me," he hastened to add, with a +glance at Cora, "but if we are going, let's--go!" + +"That's what I say," came from Belle. "You won't find me holding back," +and she crossed the room to look out of the parlor window across the +Kimball lawn. + +"My! That's a stunning dress!" exclaimed Jack. "Fish-line color, isn't it?" + +"He's trying to make amends. Don't you believe him," echoed Walter. + +"Fish-line color!" mocked Cora. "Oh, Jack, you are hopeless! That's the +newest shade of pearl." + +"Well, I almost hit it," defended Jack. "Pearls are related to fishes, +and fish lines are----" + +"Oh, get a map!" groaned Ed. "Do you always have to make diagrams of your +jokes that way, old man?" + +"Let's go outside," proposed Cora. "I'm sure it's getting stuffy in +here----" + +"Well, I like that!" cried Belle. "After she asked us to come, she calls +us stuffy! Cora Kimball!" + +"Oh, I didn't mean it that way at all," protested the young hostess. +"But it is close and sultry. I shouldn't wonder but what we'd have a +thunder-shower." + +"Don't say that!" pleaded Jack, in what Walter termed his theatrical +voice. "A shower means water, and Belle and water----" + +"Stop it!" commanded the pestered one. "Do come out," and she linked her +arm in that of Cora. "Maybe we can talk sense if we get in the open." + +The young people drifted from the room, out on the broad porch and thence +down under the cedars that lined the path. It was late afternoon, and +though the sky was clouding over, there shot through the masses now and +then a shaft of sun that fell on the walk between the tree branches, +bringing into relief the figures that "crunched" their way along the +gravel, talking rapidly the while. + +"Looks like a rare old reunion," spoke Jack. "I guess we'll do something +worth while after all." + +"Don't distress yourself too much, old man," warned Ed. "You might get a +sun-stroke, you know." + +"That's the time you beat him to it," chuckled Walter. "Do they do this +sort of thing out your way?" and he addressed pretty Eline. + +She blushed a charming pink under her coat of tan--a real biscuit brown, +it had been voted by her admirers. She reminded them of a little red +squirrel, for she had rather that same timid appearance, and she nearly +always dressed in tan or brown, to match her complexion. + +"Sometimes," she murmured. + +"Chicago----" began Jack in rather judicial tones. + +"You let Chicago alone!" advised Walter. "I'm looking after Eline. I won't +let them hurt you," and he moved closer to her. She seemed to shrink, +whereat the others laughed. + +They walked about for a little while, strolling out to the Kimball +garage--a rebuilt stable, where three fine machines now stood, two of them +having brought the visitors. Then when they had acquired the necessary +breath of air, they went back into the house. + +Eline matched herself up to a Chippendale chair, while Belle, always fond +of plenty of room, found it on a divan. Bess had secured one of those +Roman chairs curved up at both ends, seemingly intended to prevent anyone +from sitting anywhere but in the exact center. She assumed a graceful +pose--everything Bess did had that attribute. + +"My! it is certainly getting warmer!" complained Walter. "Maybe we should +have stayed out." + +"We can talk better in here," was Cora's opinion. "We'll need all the +breeze that we can get on high gear if this keeps up," said Ed, with a +sigh. + +"Oh, but the dust!" exclaimed Bess. "I know I'll simply choke, and----" + +"Chew gum!" broke in Cora. "That absorbs the dust." + +"Couldn't we chew chocolates as well?" asked Belle. "I would rather +swallow half the dust of the roads from here to Sandy Point Cove and +have my throat macadamized, than chew gum." + +"We'll allow you to make yours chocolate," conceded Jack, "though +chocolates do not allow space for----" + +"Gab," put in Norton Randolf, who seldom said anything really nice to +the girls. Yet he always managed to interest them with his drawl and +indifference. "We ought to get out something that would stop the talk +when we get to a close turn," he proceeded. "I'm always afraid some one +will release the emergency brake on a down grade, with a rude remark." + +"He's real bright!" chuckled Ed. "I don't think!" + +"Now, please, let's get down to business," suggested Cora, crisply. "The +time passes so quickly, and we have a lot of matters to arrange. Bess, I +put an extra wrench in your tool-box. I remembered your ability in losing +those handy little articles." + +"Thanks," drawled Bess. "But why stop at a wrench? Why not duplicate +all the fixings? What I don't lose Belle does. But then," and she turned +mocking, pleading eyes on Jack, "your brother is such a dear for fixing +us up. I guess the _Flyaway_ will be there at the finish." + +"Is it very far where you are going--to Sandy Point Cove?" asked Eline. + +"Oh, yes," answered Walter, "it's miles and miles, and then more miles. +But we are all going, little girl, so don't worry," and he struck a +stiffly-heroic attitude to show his valor. + +"It is a good thing you have a livery-stable-sized garage," remarked Ed +to Cora. "It holds all the cars very nicely." + +"Yes, there isn't another in Chelton, except the public ones, so well +arranged," added Walter. "But we might have waited until morning to bring +the machines here." + +"No, I thought it was best to have them here the night before we were +to start," explained Cora, who was to assume the leadership of the +prospective trip. "Some of us might have been tempted to go out on a +little spin this evening, and an accident might have occurred that would +delay us." + +"Did the _Petrel_ get off safely?" inquired Ed. + +"Yes," replied Jack. "It's in a regular motor boat crate that the man said +would stand the journey. I saw it put in the freight car myself, and well +braced. It will be there waiting for us when we get to the Cove." + +"I hope it runs," murmured Walter. + +"Don't be a pessimist--or is it an optimist? I never can tell which from +what," spoke Belle. "I mean don't be one who's always looking on the dark +side. Look for the silver lining of the clouds." + +"Say, it's clouding up all right," declared Jack, as he glanced from the +window. + +A distant rumble was heard at that moment. + +"That's thunder!" exclaimed Belle, "and we have no umbrellas." She glanced +at her sister and Eline. + +"Better have it rain to-night than to-morrow, when we want to start," said +Cora, philosophically. + +"Sit by me, Belle," pleaded Jack. "I won't let the bad thunder hurt you." + +"We'll all sit by each other!" proposed Walter. + +This was a signal for a general change of places, each boy pretending to +protect a girl. + +"Now don't let's get off the track," went on Cora, when quiet had been +restored. "Are you all sure that you want to go directly to the Cove, +and don't care for a little side trip before reaching there? Of course +it's going to be fine at the shore, and there's enough variety so that +each one can find something she or he likes--rocks, ocean, sandy beach, +a lighthouse----" + +"Where they do light housekeeping?" asked Ed, softly. + +"Please don't," Cora begged. + +"Any nice girls down there?" asked Jack, making eyes at Eline. + +They all started as a particularly loud clap of thunder followed a vivid +flash of lightning, and the wind rose suddenly, moaning through the trees. + +"I don't believe it will amount to much," was Walter's opinion. "Probably +only a wind storm." + +"But I guess I'd better put down the windows on the West side," remarked +Cora. "I'll be back in a moment----" + +As she spoke there came a dash of rain against the side of the house, and +another flash of lightning was followed by a vibrating peal. + +Cora screamed. + +"Oh, what is it?" demanded Bess, nervously. Jack clasped her hand. + +"Look!" cried Cora. "The garage--it's on fire. I just saw a flash of +flame! Our autos will be burned!" + +"We've got to get 'em out!" declared Jack. "Come on, fellows!" + +He made a dash for the door. Ed leaped through the low, open window. +Walter followed Jack. The girls stood uncertain what to do. + +"The lightning struck it!" gasped Eline. + +"We must help to get out the autos!" cried Cora. "We must help the boys +to fight the fire!" + +"Telephone in an alarm!" suggested Bess. + +"The autos first! The cars first! We must get them out!" Cora cried as +she hurried out of the door, the three other girls trailing after. "If +we get the cars out the barn can go!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STRANGE WOMAN + + +Only for an instant had Cora Kimball hesitated. Usually she was even +more prompt than her brother Jack to get into action, but the flash of +fire she had seen in the garage, and the thought of the valuable cars +stored there--cars in which they were to make their delightful summer +trip--seemed to paralyze her for the time being. Then she was galvanized +into life and action. + +"Cora, there comes your car out!" cried Bess, as the _Whirlwind_, the +powerful Kimball auto, was seen to poke its hood from the now blazing +barn. Ed had been the first to reach the structure, and, quickly switching +on the self-starter, had run the machine out. + +"I guess they can get out the others!" said Belle, as Walter and Jack +dashed inside. + +Cora suddenly turned and ran back toward the house. + +"Where are you going?" asked Eline. "Oh dear! The whole place will soon +be afire!" + +"That's what I'm afraid of!" Cora called back, over her shoulder. "I'm +going to get some extinguishers! Maybe the boys can't reach the one in +the barn. It's our only chance--an extinguisher. Water is the worst thing +you can put on a gasoline fire. Get some pails of sand, girls!" + +"That's right--sand!" yelled Ed, as he leaped from Cora's car, having +taken it a safe distance down the drive. He went back on the run to help +Jack and Ed. The rain was now pelting down, but unmindful of it, the girls +drew nearer the burning barn, while Cora sped toward the house. + +"Sand--pails?" asked Belle. + +"Yes!" cried Bess. "There are some pails over there!" and she pointed +toward a pile of gardening tools. "The watering can will be good, too. +Scoop up the sand--use your hands!" + +She rushed over and picked up one of the pails, an example followed by +her sister and Eline. + +"Oh, why don't those boys come out!" cried the latter. "Maybe they +are--burned!" she faltered. + +"Perhaps they can't get our car started," said Bess. "Sometimes it just +won't respond!" + +Quickly they filled the pails with sand, and while this is being done, and +other preparations under way to fight the fire and save the autos I will +take just a moment to tell my new readers something about the characters +in this story, and how they figured in previous books of the series. + +The first volume, in which Cora Kimball and her chums were introduced, was +entitled "The Motor Girls," and in that they succeeded in unraveling a +mystery of the road, though it was not as easy as they at first thought +it might be. + +Then came "The Motor Girls on a Tour; Or, Keeping a Strange Promise," +and how strange that promise was, not even Cora realized at the time. But +in spite of difficulties it was kept and a restoration was made. In the +third book, "The Motor Girls at Lookout Beach," there came the quest for +two runaways. + +That girls--even young girls--do things on impulse was made clear to Cora +and her friends when they sought after the rather foolish creatures who +ran such a risk. That only good came of it was as much due to Cora as to +anyone else. + +"The Motor Girls Through New England" gave Cora and her companions a +chance to see something of life under strange circumstances. That one +of them would be captured by the gypsies never for a moment entered their +heads. But it happened, and for a time it looked as though the results +might be serious. But once again Cora triumphed. + +The volume immediately preceding the present one is entitled "The Motor +Girls on Cedar Lake; Or, The Hermit of Fern Island." Who the hermit was, +and the strange secret he kept so long, and how it was finally solved +you will find set down in that book. Then came the return to normal life, +but with the prospect of more adventures, on the verge of which we now +find Cora and her friends. + +They were ready for the summer vacation, and had voted to spend it at +Sandy Point Cove--a resort on the Atlantic coast. It was the evening +before the start, and they had gathered at Cora's house to arrange final +details. + +They were to motor to the cove, taking their time, for it was no small +distance from Chelton where our friends lived. The motor boat _Petrel_ +sometimes just called _Pet_ for short, had been shipped on ahead. + +I think I have already mentioned the names of the young folks. Cora +generally came first, by reason of her personality. She was a splendid +girl, tall and rather dark, and had somewhat of a commanding air, though +she was not at all fond of her own way, and always willing to give in +to others if it could be made plain that their way was best. Her mother +was a wealthy widow, and there was Jack, Cora's brother, taller than +she, darker perhaps and was he handsomer? Cora had, some time before, +been given a fine large touring car, and Jack owned a small runabout. + +Walter Pennington was Jack's chum, both of them attending Exmouth College, +where, of late, Ed Foster had taken a post-graduate course. Ed was +very fond of hunting and fishing, and considered himself quite a sportsman. + +The Robinson twins were daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Perry Robinson, the +father being a wealthy railroad man. He had given the girls a fine +car--the _Flyaway_ it had been christened--while Jack called his the +_Get There_. Sometimes it did, and sometimes it didn't. To go back to +the girls. Belle, or Isabel, as she had been christened, was plump and +rosy, and her sister Bess, tall, willowy and fair, her rather light +hair contrasting with the brown locks of Belle. + +Eline Carleton, from Chicago, a distant cousin of Cora had been invited +to spend the summer with the Kimballs, and was to go to the Cove. Norton +Randolf was a newcomer in town, said to be of a wealthy family. He had +only lately made the acquaintance of Jack and his chums, but was rather +well liked. + +Chelton, as my previous readers know, was a most charming semi-country +town, nestling in a bend of the Chelton River, a stream of picturesque +beauty. The location was in New England, not so far from the New York line +that the trip to the metropolis was a fatiguing one. The young people +had often taken it on pleasure bent. And now, not to keep you any longer +from the story, which I am afraid I interrupted at a rather critical +point, I will merely remark, in passing, that other characters will be +mentioned from time to time, some of whom have appeared in previous books. + +In the excitement attending the fire, Bess was puffing on her way to the +garage, carrying a pail of wet sand that she had scooped up from the +driveway. She was followed by the other girls. + +"Oh, see the smoke!" cried Eline. "That must be gasoline burning!" + +"It is," assented Belle. "Oh, do hurry--somebody!" + +Cora came running out of the house, carrying long tin extinguishers, one +in each hand, and one under her right arm. She had just bought a new lot, +and had intended hanging them in the garage, but had forgotten it. + +"These will be just the thing!" she cried. "Don't be frightened! There's +not much gasoline in the barn. If we can get out the cars----" + +"Something must be the matter!" cried Bess. "The boys--they are in there +yet--they may be overcome!" + +As if to deny this startling suggestion Jack fairly shot out of the smoke +in the _Flyaway_--the car of the twins. + +"They have left their own car to the last!" gasped Belle. + +"They had to!" Cora panted. "They could only take them as they stood, you +know. They were in line. Mine was first, then yours. Oh Jack! is it very +bad?" + +"A mean little blaze, Sis! Did you 'phone in an alarm?" He wiped his +streaming eyes, and, bringing the car up alongside the _Whirlwind_, leaped +out to go back to his chums. + +"Here! Take these extinguishers!" his sister cried. "I'll get the +department in a minute!" + +She tossed the tin tubes to Jack, who, catching them, ran back toward +the barn. It was raining harder than ever now, but no one seemed to mind +it. The girls were totally oblivious of their smart gowns, now badly +bedraggled. + +"Take this sand!" wailed Belle. "I don't know what to do with it!" + +"Grab this sand from the girls!" yelled Jack to Ed, Walter and Norton, +who, at that moment came out in Jack's car. "Throw it on the blazing +gasoline! What kept you?" + +"Your car wouldn't crank!" cried Walter. "It's all right now, though--just +scorched a little in the rear!" + +The three lads, Norton clinging to the run-board, got the car to safety, +and then raced back, grabbed the sand from Belle, Bess and Eline, and +followed Jack into the garage, which was now under a pall of smoke. + +The tin tops of the extinguishers were yanked off, and the chemical powder +sprinkled toward the blaze. Sand was also cast on it, but the fire had +spread more than the boys had thought. The choking fumes, too, drove the +amateur blaze-fighters back. + +Again Cora came running from the house through the drenching rain. + +"I can't get the fire department on the wire!" she cried. "Something is +wrong with the telephone!" + +"It's the storm, I guess," answered Jack, coming to the door of the old +barn that had been converted into a garage. He had to have a breath of air. + +"Oh, can we help?" cried Eline. + +"Better stay out," gasped Ed, as he too, came for a little relief. "I +guess we can keep it from spreading." + +By this time several men had run in from the street. + +"Where's your water?" asked one. + +"Don't want any!" cried Jack. "It's gasoline. Get more sand if you want +to--dry, if you can find it!" + +He kicked one of the empty pails toward the men. A flash of lightning +blazed over the structure, and the thunder rumbled as the rain came down +harder than ever. + +"This rain'll put it out soon enough!" shouted one of the men helpers. +The boys had gone back into the barn, leaving the girls outside. + +"I can get some sand in that!" cried Belle, as she saw a pan in front +of the dog's kennel--it was used to contain his dinner. The girl began +scooping up in it some of the damp gravel from the drive. + +"Don't! Don't!" cried her sister. "Drop it. You mustn't hold metal in a +thunder storm." + +"Oh, I'm going in!" exclaimed Eline. "I can't bear to be in the open when +it lightens." + +She darted toward the garage. Instinctively the others followed. There +seemed to be less smoke coming out now, and no blaze could be seen. + +"I guess they can stop it," murmured Cora. "Oh, I do hope they can!" + +"Let's go in and help!" cried Bess. "They may need us!" + +Bravely the motor girls entered the garage. A shift in the wind had blown +the smoke away from the door. They could see the boys and men fighting +the flames that were in a far corner of the main room. + +Belle suddenly ran forward and dashed on the blaze the pan of sand that +she had not relinquished. + +"Bravo!" cried Jack. "You're a heroess!" + +He held his hand to his smarting eyes. + +"Let me take that extinguisher!" begged Belle, plucking a half-emptied one +from him. + +"Here's one for me!" exclaimed Bess, picking it up off the floor. It had +not been opened. She knocked off the top and, doing as the others did, +she sent the powder in a sweeping motion toward the flames. Some of the +men ran out for more sand. The blaze was being well fought now. There was +really no need for the fire department. + +Above the place where the autos were stored were rooms formerly occupied +by the coachman and his family, before Mrs. Kimball disposed of her +horses. The stairs to these rooms were boxed in, a door leading directly +to the path that went to the driveway. + +"I can go up there and get another extinguisher!" cried Cora, indicating +the stairway. "I know there's one there." + +"No need to!" exclaimed Ed, who again had to get a breath of fresh air. +But Cora was already in the enclosed stairway. + +The next moment she shrieked: + +"Oh, what is it? Oh dear! Who is it? Come quick--someone!" Everyone was +startled--even the danger of the now almost extinguished fire spreading +again could not detract from the import of danger they recognized in +Cora's voice. + +Some one seemed to answer her from the stairway. + +"Don't! Please don't! I did not do it! Let me go! Please do!" + +"What is it, Cora?" called Jack, preparing to go to her. + +His sister had found a woman in the hallway--a strange woman who seemed +much excited. Her pleading tones as she confronted Cora touched the girl's +heart. + +"Don't let them know I am here--not yet!" begged the stranger. "I can +explain--everything. Oh, so much depends on this! Please do as I say!" + +"All right!" said Cora, making a sudden resolve. "I'll let you explain." + +"But keep the others back--they are coming!" + +"I'll send them back." Cora took a few steps toward the door. She could +hear some one running across the garage floor. + +"It's all right!" cried Cora. "Go back and fight the fire, boys. I'll be +there in a minute. I want to get that other extinguisher to make certain. +But I thought a rat----" + +She knew that would be explanation enough for her cries, and from where +they were the boys, girls, and men now in the garage could not see her +or the strange woman. + +"A rat!" cried Jack, with a laugh, as he heard his sister's word. "The +idea of being frightened at a rat in a time of fire!" + +"I guess the rodents will make short tracks," was Ed's opinion. "Come on, +we've got to give it a little more, Jack!" + +The boys went back to the fire, Bess, Belle and Eline, who had taken +shelter in the garage, watching them. It was pouring too hard to stand +outside, and, now that the smoke had mostly disappeared, there was not +much discomfort. The danger, too, was practically over, as a can of +gasoline that had not burned had been set outside. There had been really +more smoke than fire from the first. + +Cora went back to the strange woman. + +"You need not be afraid," spoke the girl, in a tone that gave +encouragement. "We will not blame you too much--until we have heard your +story. But of course I must know who you are." + +"Yes--yes," answered the woman. She sank down on the stairs. The place +was free of smoke, and some distance from the blaze. Suddenly the stranger +arose, and clutching Cora's arm in a grip that hurt, and that showed the +nervous tension under which she was laboring, she whispered: + +"I know I can trust you--I can tell by your face. But the--others!" she +gasped. + +"Leave it to me," answered Cora. "I may be able to think of a way to help +you. Go over into the kitchen, and say Miss Cora sent you. It is so dark +now the others will not see you. Hurry." + +With her brain in a whirl--wondering upon what strange mystery she had +stumbled, Cora thrust the woman forth from the stable. Then, seeing that +she advanced toward the house, the girl groped her way up the stairs +to get the extinguisher. When she came down the fire was sufficiently +conquered as not to need more attention. + +"Did a rat get you?" asked Jack. "Say, you do look pale, Sis," for the +electric lights, with which the garage was illuminated, had been turned +on. Truly Cora seemed white. + +"There are some big ones up there," she remarked evasively, wondering if +the woman would really go to the house. + +With unsteady steps the stranger made her way to the kitchen, where two +rather frightened maids were watching the progress made in fighting the +fire. + +"Miss--Miss Cora told me to come here--and wait for her," faltered the +woman. She made no effort to ascend the steps of the back porch. + +"Come right in," urged Nettie. "Or perhaps you would rather sit out here +and watch. I'll get you a chair." + +"Yes, I would--thank you." + +She walked up and sat down. + +"I--I had rather be out in the air," she went on. + +Back in the garage the young people were seeing that no lingering spark +remained. + +"It is all out," remarked Bess. "Oh, but we're so soiled and--and smoky." + +"Regular bacon," remarked Jack with a grin. He looked like a minstrel +because of the grime. + +"Oh, wasn't it a narrow escape!" gasped Belle. "Could the lightning have +struck?" + +"It didn't seem so," remarked Cora, not now so nervous. But she was still +puzzled over the presence of that strange woman in the garage at the time +of the fire. + +"It was gasoline--whatever else it was," declared Jack. "I can tell +that by the smell. Maybe some of that we used in an open pan to clean +my machine exploded," he went on to his chums. + +"Could it go off by spontaneous combustion?" asked Ed. "It's possible," +admitted Walter. "Unless some one was smoking in here--some tramp." + +"Oh, no!" protested Cora quickly. The woman did not seem a +tramp--certainly she did not smoke. + +"We must get the cars back in here," said Jack. "The rain is slackening +now." This was so, for the shower, though severe, had not been of long +duration. "We want them in shape for to-morrow," he went on. + +"Are we going after all this?" asked Belle. + +"Certainly!" exclaimed Cora. "This fire didn't amount to much." + +"I'm much obliged to you," spoke Jack to the passing workmen who had come +in to help. Jack passed them some money. + +"We'll help you roll the cars in," suggested one. + +"Yes, it will be better to roll them by hand than take chances on starting +them up, and making sparks," said Jack. "Come on, boys!" + +"Come on, girls!" echoed Cora. "We'll go to the house." + +While her brother, his chums and the men were putting the autos back in +the garage the girls ran through the slackening rain to the rear porch. +There Cora found the strange woman sitting, pathetically weary, in the +chair Nettie had brought out. "Oh--some one is here!" gasped Belle, who +had nearly stumbled over the figure in the darkness. Then one of the maids +opened the kitchen door, and a flood of light came out on the porch. + +"Wait a minute, girls," said Cora, in a low voice. "I think I have a +little surprise for you." She motioned to the strange woman. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A STRANGE STORY + + +"Come inside," Cora said, while the others looked on in amazement. Who +could this strange, elderly woman be? Where had she come from? And Cora +appeared to know her. + +"One of Cora's charity-cronies," Ed whispered to Norton, who stood +inquisitively near. "Come on. She knows how to take care of that sort." +The boys after putting back the autos had come on to the house. + +Jack and Walter were evidently of Ed's opinion, for they also passed into +the house with not more than a glance at the woman. Bess lingered near +Cora. + +"We will go in here," Cora said kindly, as she opened from the kitchen a +door that led into a room used for special occasions, when many dishes +were served. "Then I can have a chance to talk with you. Perhaps you are +hungry?" she added. + +The woman looked about her as if dazed. Cora saw that she had a face of +rather uncommon type. Her deep-set gray eyes were faded to the very tint +of her gray hair, and her cheeks, though sunken, outlined features that +indicated refinement. Her clothes were very much worn, but comparatively +clean and of good material. She wore no hat, nor other head covering. + +"Yes, I am hungry, I think," the woman said. "But I need not keep you from +your friends. If you will just have a cup of tea sent in here to me." + +"Oh, they don't mind," Cora said, with a laugh. "My friends can be with me +any time." The other girls had gone to get rid of the grime of the fire, +as had the boys. + +"Very well," said the woman. "You are so kind." + +Cora scarcely heard this for she was out in the kitchen giving some +orders. She soon returned to the little room, and took a chair opposite +her guest. + +"How did you come to be in the barn?" she asked. + +"I went in--to rest," answered the woman wearily. + +"Of course," Cora said, as if that were an explanation. "But I won't +ask you to talk any more until you have had your tea. There," as Nettie +placed a tray of refreshment beside her, "let me give you your tea first, +then you will feel more like talking." The tea was poured when Jack +entered. He looked at Cora questioningly. + +"This woman was out in the storm," Cora truthfully explained without +making a clear statement, "and I insisted that she come in." + +"Why, of course," assented the good-natured brother. "But say, Cora," and +he changed the subject tactfully. "Wasn't it a good thing mother was not +at home? She would have been scared to death." + +"Oh, I know we always have to get mother off first," she replied. "When +we are arranging a trip I count on--happenings." + +"This is your brother?" asked the woman, who seemed to have revived under +the influence of that cup of tea. + +"Yes," Cora replied. "Have some of the ham. And some bread." + +A particularly sharp flash of lightning blazed through the room. The storm +was not over yet. The three girls from the parlor threw the door of the +pantry open, and stood there with very white faces. Even Belle, the rosy +one, had gone pale again. + +"Oh, do come in here," wailed Belle. "I am so frightened!" + +"With all the others near you?" Cora asked, smiling. Then, seeing the +actual terror of her friends she did stand up to comply. "I suppose it +was the fire," apologized Eline. "We are especially nervous to-night." + +"Yes, do go," begged the woman, "and when I have finished, I will show +my gratitude by telling you all a very strange story. One forgets fear, +sometimes, when a matter of deeper interest is brought up." + +"Very well," assented Cora. "I will be back in a few minutes, and then +we will all be primed for the wonderful story." + +"What is it?" whispered Jack in the passage-way, as the girls entered the +library. + +"Hush!" Cora cautioned. "I found her--in the barn." + +"The barn! Before the fire?" he gasped. "Did she----?" + +"After it was--going," Cora managed to say. Then she put her finger to +her lips. + +The young folks, at least the girls, insisted upon huddling in the very +darkest corner of the room. + +"Don't go near the phonograph," cautioned Eline. "Musical sounds are very +dangerous during a storm, I've heard." + +Then the absurdity of "musical sounds" from a silent phonograph occurred +to her, and she laughed as quickly as did the others. + +"Well it's metal at any rate," she amended, "and that is just as bad." +"Who's your friend, Cora?" Ed asked, in an off-hand way. + +"Oh, she is going to tell us a wonderful story," put in Bess before Cora +could reply. "Wait until she has finished her tea." + +"She looks like a deserted wife," Belle ventured softly, in her usual +strain of romance. + +"What's the indication?" asked Walter somewhat facetiously. "Now, do I +look anything like a deserted lover?" + +Cora got up and went out into the pantry again. She found the woman +standing, waiting for her. + +"I do not know if I was wise or foolish to have made that promise," she +said. "But as I have made it I will stand by it. I feel also that to talk +will do me good. And, after all, what have I to fear more than I have +already suffered?" + +"We have no idea of insisting on your confidence," Cora assured her. "But, +of course, I would like to know why you went in _our_ garage." + +"And I fully intend to tell you," replied the woman. "Are you all young +folks?" + +"Just now, we are alone," answered Cora. "We are going away to-morrow, +and were finishing our arrangements when the barn caught fire." + +"I scarcely look fit to enter your--other room," the woman demurred, with +a glance at her worn clothing. "But I assure you I have been no place +where there has been illness, or anything of that sort." + +"You are all right," insisted Cora. "Come along. I am sure the girls are +more frightened than ever now, for the storm is more furious." The thunder +and lightning seemed to be having "a second spasm," as Jack put it. + +A hush fell upon the little party as the strange woman entered. Even +the careless one, Norton, looked serious. Somehow the presence of a +gray-haired, lonely woman, in that unusually merry crowd, seemed almost +a painful contrast. + +"Sit here," said Cora, pulling a chair out in a convenient position. "And +won't you take off your cape?" + +"No, thank you," replied the stranger. "I must talk while I feel like +it, or I might disappoint you." This was said with a smile, and the young +folks noted that though the woman showed agitation, her eyes were now +bright, and her voice firm. + +"Very well," Cora acceded. Then the woman told her strange story. + +"Some time ago I was employed in an office. I had charge of the cataloging +of confidential papers. I had been with the firm only a short time, when +one day," she paused abruptly, "one day I was very busy. + +"A big piece of business had just been transacted, and there was a lot of +ready cash in the office. It was my duty to see that the record of all +finished business was entered in the books, and I was intent upon that +task." + +Again she paused, and in the interval there came a flame of lightning +followed by a roar of thunder. + +"My, what a storm!" gasped the woman. "I'm glad I am not out in it." + +The remark seemed pathetic, and served to distract the most nervous of +the girls from a fear that they otherwise would have felt. + +"We are glad you are with us," Belle ventured, as Cora hastened out into +the kitchen, to make sure that all was right there. + +The maids had been startled. Nettie was assuring a new girl that thunder +storms were never disastrous in Chelton, but the latter had suddenly +become prayerful, and would not answer the simplest questions. Assuring +herself that Nettie could take care of the girl and two newly hired men, +who had assembled in the kitchen, Cora went back to the library. + +"Well, that day," continued the woman, "marked my life-doom. As I worked +over my books, and counted the money, I saw two men standing in the door. +A young girl clerk--Nancy Ford--was nearest to them. As she saw them she +screamed, and darted past them out--out somewhere in this big world, and I +have never been able to find her since." + +The woman put up both hands to cover her pallid face, and sighed heavily. +No one spoke. Eline had shifted her chair, unconsciously, very near the +stranger, and sat with rapt attention waiting for the continuation of the +story. + +"Then," went on the woman, "when Nancy Ford was gone I saw the men come +toward me! I screamed, put my hand upon the cash I was counting--and +then--they hit me!" + +"Oh!" gasped Cora, involuntarily. "They robbed you!" + +"Yes, they robbed me!" repeated the woman. "Not only of my employer's +money, but of my reputation, for the story I told afterward was not +believed!" + +"How dreadful!" exclaimed Bess, clasping her hands. + +The boys, less demonstrative, did not interrupt with a single syllable. +But they were impressed, nevertheless. + +"Yes, I was discharged! I was shocked into a nervous collapse, and ever +since I have been searching for Nancy Ford. Why did she run before any +harm was done? Why did she flee at the sight of the men, who showed no +indication of being robbers? Why did Nancy Ford not return to clear my +name? I went to the hospital and was there for months. Oh, such terrible +months! I was threatened with brain fever, from that mental searching for +Nancy, but she never returned!" + +Belle was stirred to sympathy by the recital, and, while no one saw her, +brushed by the woman's chair and slid into the gaping pocket of her cape +her own little silver purse. + +"My name is Margaret Raymond--Mrs. Raymond. I am a widow," went on the +woman finally, "and I am not ashamed or afraid now to have the world know +who I am. I loved Nancy: she was almost like a daughter to me, and I would +have trusted her with anything. But now--she has deserted me! And no one +else can ever clear my name!" + +"No one else?" Cora repeated. + +"Some of the firm members believed my story, but it was vague and one +could scarcely blame them for doubting it," said Mrs. Raymond. + +"Didn't it look bad for the girl?" Jack asked. "She ran away?" + +"Yes, it did, but a girl somehow has a better chance than an old woman," +said Mrs. Raymond sadly, though she was not so very old. "They thought she +was scared into flight, and afraid to come back. Oh, when sympathy is on +one's side it is easy to make excuses! I was on my way to look for work +when the storm overtook me. I went in your garage. My hat blew away." + +"We will do anything we can to assist you," Cora declared. "Your story +seems true, and we have the advantage of some leisure time." + +"And a good heart, besides brains," the woman said emphatically. "My +child, you have a great chance in life. May no misfortunes rob you of it." + +The storm had moderated somewhat. The strain of the strange story made +a deep impression upon the listeners, and the young men, quick to realize +this effect upon their girl friends, now proposed that they all go outside +and see "what the weather looked like." + +Anxious to know the prospects for the long auto tour they were to take +on the following morning, all now hurried to the side porch, leaving the +woman alone. + +"My, isn't it beautiful!" exclaimed Eline. "How sweet everything smells!" + +"And that little breeze," said Ed, "will soon dry up the mud. I am glad it +did not rain longer." + +"If it did," added Walter, "we would have to load up with planks to bridge +over the bad places. Can't depend on rail fences over where we're going." + +For some time they stood admiring the newly-made beauties of the wonderful +out-doors, then Cora thought perhaps she might arrange for Mrs. Raymond +to stay in the servants' quarters over night. They had left the woman +rather abruptly, she feared. + +Cora asked Jack what he thought, and he agreed that the woman's story +sounded plausible, and that it was their duty to do what they could to +assist her, if they could. But he did not seem very keen. + +With the intention of asking Mrs. Raymond to remain, Cora left the others +and went back to the library. + +No one was in the room! + +"Perhaps she went into the kitchen," Cora thought, opening the door +through the hallway to that room. + +"Where's Mrs. Raymond; the strange woman?" she asked Nettie. + +"She did not come out here," replied the maid. "Isn't she with you?" + +"No, we left her in the library," Cora replied, and without further +inquiry she looked down the driveway and could just see a vanishing +shadow turn into the road. But it may not have been Mrs. Raymond. + +"I guess she's gone," continued Cora to Nettie. "And I am sorry, for we +wanted to keep her for the night. Well, I hope the poor creature was +cheered up some. She seemed to need encouragement. We did all we could, +perhaps." + +"Is she gone?" asked Bess, when they all had come in again, having +satisfied themselves that fine weather was promised for the morning. "I +hoped she would tell us more about the Ford girl--give us a description of +her, at least. We might run across her somewhere." + +"It all seemed rather weird," said Cora. "But really we must be on the +lookout. Who knows but we may help unravel the mystery?" + +"But why did the woman hurry off so?" asked Belle, as if any one present +knew. + +"Suppose she thought we might think she caused the fire," Ed answered. "It +looked strange for her to be in the barn at that time. But anyone could +see that it was a small explosion--too much gas somewhere." + +"Well, all we know about Nancy is her name," observed Cora. "We will have +to trust to motor girls' luck for the rest. But I love a mystery." + +"Of course," Eline declared, "if we could have the wonderful luck to find +that girl we might be able to clear the poor woman's name. It looked to +me as if the girl was in league with the robbers when she ran before they +entered the room." + +"No use speculating," Cora commented. "Better finish our arrangements. +It's getting late." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ON THE ROAD + + +There was more "finishing" to be done than even Cora had thought, and, +with her usual habit of looking after matters, she had counted on much. +But the thunder-shower, the fire, the finding of the strange woman, and +listening to her still more strange story all combined to make the affair +of getting ready for the trip in the morning no easy one. + +But Cora was determined to carry out the plans as agreed on, so when +her friends showed a disposition to delay, and dwell in conversation on +the recent happenings, she "brought them up with a round turn," as Jack +expressed it. + +"I just can't get over that queer woman," observed Belle, during a lull in +the talk, while Cora was jotting down in a pretty red leather notebook +some matters she did not want to forget. "She had such--such a patient +face." + +"Maybe she was tired of waiting for a new one," suggested Norton, who +was usually flippant. "I've heard that ladies can get new faces at +these--er--beauty parlors." + +"It's a pity there isn't some sort of a parlor where one can +get--manners!" murmured Eline. She seemed to have taken a distinct +dislike to the new young man. + +Belle and Bess, who had overheard the remark, looked rather askance at +Cora's relative, but said nothing. + +"Now then!" exclaimed the young hostess, "since you have all gotten rid +of as much of the effects of the fire as possible, we'll go over the main +points to be sure nothing will go wrong. Oh, that's something I almost +forgot. I must send mamma our address." + +Mrs. Kimball had gone to Europe for a summer tour, leaving her daughter +and son at home. When they went to the Cove the house would be in charge +of a care-taker. Cora had not fully determined on her vacation plans when +her mother went away, and now there was necessity for forwarding the +address. + +"I'll attend to that the last thing to-night," Cora went on. "I'll send +mother a long letter, and write again as soon as we get settled at the +Cove." + +"If we ever _do_ get settled," murmured Walter. "Say, boys, am I any +less--hammy?" and he sniffed at his coat about which still lingered the +smell of gasoline. + +"You're of the ham--saltiest--or hammiest!" declared Ed. + + "You may break, you may burn the garage if you will + The taste of the gasoline stays with it still." + +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 + + +"What a delightful road!" + +"Isn't it splendid!" + +"Too perfect!" + +It was Cora who made the first remark, Eline who answered and the Robinson +twins who chorused the third. The highway was so wide, and there was so +little traffic thus early in the morning, that the two cars could run +side by side. On high gear with the gas throttled down they made scarcely +any noise, so that conversation was possible. + +"I don't know what I have done to enjoy such pleasure," said Mrs. Fordam. + +"Are you really enjoying it, Cousin Mary?" inquired Cora. + +"Indeed I am, my dear! I wouldn't have missed it for a good deal. I never +knew before how delightful it was to be chaperone to such nice girls." + +"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 + + +"How many sheep have you?" asked Cora. + +"Well, there's just a hundred and ten, miss. I had a hundred and 'leven, +but one died on me," the man explained. + +"What is this--a class in arithmetic?" inquired Jack, who had left his +car and come up to where his sister sat in hers. + +"Now, Jack--please----" she said. + +"And how much farther does this road go before----" + +"The road doesn't go--it stays right here!" chuckled her brother. + +"Stop it!" she commanded in such a tone that he knew she meant it. + +"How far before there is a cross-road into which you could turn your +sheep?" went on Cora, fixing the man with what Jack said afterward was +"a cold and fishy glance." + +"A matter of four mile, miss." + +"I thought so. Then we'd have to tag along behind you all that distance, +losing time, and----" + +"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 + + +"Where shall we leave our cars?" asked Belle. + +"There's a garage just around the corner from the hotel," answered Cora. +"We can have the man look the machines over, too, and see that there is +plenty of gasoline and oil. Then we won't have to worry." + +The three cars had drawn up in front of the Mansion House at Fairport, +following a pleasant run after the sheep episode. Jack and Ed, of course, +were not present, and of them more presently. They were having, as Jack +might express it, "their own troubles." + +"Oh, but I'm warm and dusty!" exclaimed Eline as she "flopped" from the +car to the sidewalk. Flopped is the only word that properly expresses it. + +"Then you're not much used to motoring," remarked Cora with a smile, as +she disengaged herself from the steering wheel. "It is tiring, at first, +but one soon becomes used to it. How did you like it, Cousin Mary?" + +"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 aesthetic 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 + + +Jack and Ed, standing near the machine, under the sign post, peered at +the advancing figure of the girl. She had stopped short--stopped rather +timidly, it seemed, and she now stood there silent, apparently waiting +for the boys to say something. + +"It's a girl, sure enough," said Ed, in a low voice. "Out alone, too." + +Jack, who never hesitated long at doing anything, resolved to at once +plunge into the midst of this new problem. + +"Excuse me," he said, taking off his cap, and he knew she could see him, +for they were all in the glare of the auto's lamps now, "excuse me, but +can you tell us if there is any shorter way to get to Fairport than by +going back? We are lost, it seems." + +"So--so am I!" faltered the girl. + +"What?" exclaimed Ed. + +"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 + + +"What do you know about that?" + +"It's rather queer--all the way along." + +Jack asked and Ed answered. They stood by the machine and looked up at the +building into which the girl had gone. + +"Well, I guess there's nothing for us to do but to see if there isn't some +way to get to Fairport from here," remarked Jack, after a pause. + +"That's it--and telephone. There's a drug-store across the street. It has +a 'phone sign." + +"Come on, then." + +Presently they had been connected with the Mansion House, and Cora was at +the other end of the wire. + +"Oh, Jack, what happened?" + +"We got lost--on the wrong road--that's all." + +"Oh, Jack, I've been so worried!" + +"Pshaw! What was the use? Didn't I ever get lost before?" + +"Yes, I know----" + +"You're too fussy, Sis. How's everybody?" + +"All right--but----" + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +REUNITED + + +"Who was she?" + +It was Cora who demanded this when, an hour or so later, Jack and Ed had +been reunited to their party in the Mansion House at Fairport. + +"Who was she?" and Cora looked appealingly at her brother, who smiled in +a tantalizing fashion. + +"We told you everything," remarked Ed. "Over the wire, you know." + +"It's very easy to tell things--over the wire," remarked Belle, with a +laugh. "One doesn't have to--blush, you know." + +"And if one does, even the central operator can't see it," spoke Bess. +"Oh, you boys have given us a big scare!" + +"Scare? How?" demanded Jack, with a look at his sister. "We couldn't help +getting on the wrong road." + +"Perhaps not, Jack," said Mrs. Fordam, gently. "But Cora was quite +worried, and has been telephoning to police stations all along the route +to see if she could get any word about you and Ed." + +"Did you?" asked Ed, quickly. + +"There was one report of an auto accident," spoke Cora, "and I was so +frightened, Jack, until I heard that it was a big car, and then I knew +it couldn't be yours. But did it all happen as you've told?" + +"Exactly," exclaimed Jack. + +"Girl and all?" Walter wanted to know. + +"The girl _most_ of all," answered Ed. "How about it, Jack old man?" + +"I'm with you. She----" + +"Stop!" commanded Cora. "We don't want you to incriminate yourselves any +more than you have to. Besides it's getting late, and we must get some +rest to be ready for an early start to-morrow morning. + +"But I have been quite worried, Jack, and I couldn't get much satisfaction +by telephoning. However, you're here now, and we will forgive you. Did you +have supper?" + +"We had--dinner," answered Ed, with a tantalizing smile. "It was a good +one, too. Then we got on the right road and made pretty good time over +here." + +The little party of young people was in the hotel parlor. As Cora had +said, it was getting late, the hands of the clock approaching the midnight +hour, and they all had had rather a strenuous time that day. + +Jack and Ed had left their car in the garage with the others. + +"Me for the downy feathers!" exclaimed Jack, with a yawn. "You look +sleepy, too, Eline." + +"I'm not, even a little bit, really," and she smiled brightly. + +"They keep late hours--in Chicago," remarked Belle, with a laugh. + +"I really think we had better retire," said Mrs. Fordam. + +"That's what I'm going to do--in the morning," spoke Jack. + +"You're not going to stay up until morning, Jack!" cried Cora. + +"No, that was only a joke," he explained. "I mean I'm going to have a new +tire put on the _Get There_--have it re-tired you see. Get the idea? It +was a joke." + +"A tired one," yawned Ed. "Come on to bed." + +"Say, if we try to get off any more smart sayings we'll all have the +nightmare," suggested Walter. + +"And it's no fun to make a tour on one of those creatures instead of in +an auto," put in Norton. + +The young travelers were soon on their way to that part of the hotel set +aside for them. Mrs. Fordam had seen to it that the girls got the most +comfortable rooms. The boys were not so particular. + +"We'll try and get started by nine o'clock," suggested Cora, as she bade +her brother good-night. + +"That's too early," he protested. "Why, we'd have to get up and have +breakfast at seven. Make it ten, Sis, and that will give me time to have +that tire looked after. Otherwise I may be holding you back all along +the route." + +"All right," Cora assented. "We'll make it ten." + +"Say, old man, who was she?" asked Walter, as he and Jack strolled along +the corridor together. "Tell a fellow; can't you? I won't give you away +if you were stringing the girls." + +"I wasn't stringing them!" declared Jack. "It all happened just as I've +said." + +"But who was she?" + +"A mystery of the road," put in Ed. + +"Pretty?" Norton wanted to know, quickly. + +"Pretty--pretty," echoed Jack. "Really all she told us was that she had +been working in an office, had become tired of it and was traveling about +as a sort of vacation." + +"Did she look as though that might be the case?" asked Walter. + +"Eminently so, my august cross-questioner," answered Jack. "And that's +all I'm going to say. I'm dead tired. See you later," and he went to his +room. + +"Who do you suppose that girl could have been?" asked Bess of Cora a +little later, as they were putting up their hair for the night. + +"I haven't the least idea." + +"Why, how queer. I thought you did have!" and Bess looked at Cora in +rather a searching manner. + +"No. Why should I?" + +"Oh, I haven't any special reason for saying so, and yet--oh, well, it +doesn't make any difference I suppose, but----" + +"Bess Robinson, just what do you mean?" and Cora's eyes lost their +slumberous inclination as she faced her chum. + +"Why, Cora dear, nothing at all," and Bess spoke very sweetly. "Only, +from the way you spoke to Jack, and the way he answered, I fancied--oh, +really it's nothing at all. I shouldn't have said it." + +"I don't like those half-formed questions, Bess. If you think anything----" + +"No, really I'm too tired to think, Cora. I'm going to bed." They had +adjoining rooms. + +"Perhaps you have some theory yourself?" suggested Cora. + +"None in the least. I don't even know what a theory is. Is it that algebra +affair?" + +"No," answered Cora, with a laugh. "You are hopeless, Bess. Good-night!" + +Jack and the other boys were up early, despite the former's objection to +a too-soon breakfast. They ate before the girls had come down, and then +went around to the garage to see about the cars, Jack to get a new tire +for his, while Norton wanted the ignition system of his engine gone over. + +It was when these attentions had been given that Norton, with a twinkle +in his eyes, exclaimed: + +"Fellows, I've thought of a joke!" + +"What is it?" demanded Jack. + +"Hush! Listen, as the telephone girl says. Pray thee come hither," and +he led the three to a corner of the garage. Then ensued some whispering. + +"How's that?" demanded Norton, when he had concluded. "Won't it be rich? +The girls won't know what is up, for we can get Bess and Belle into the +car, without them seeing the rear of it." + +"It's a good trick all right," admitted Jack rather slowly, "I only hope +they won't get angry about it." + +"Angry!" cried Norton. "How could they be? According to your story they've +done worse than that to you fellows lots of times." + +"Sure they have," declared Ed. "Go ahead and do it." + +"I have my doubts," spoke Walter, deliberately, "but I'm not going to +be the kill-joy. Go ahead, I'll do my share," but he was not very +enthusiastic. + +"We can get the cloth and paint here," went on Norton. "I'll do the +lettering. You can make the pudding, Jack." + +"All right. But who's to get in the car with Belle?" + +"I will," exclaimed Norton, quickly. "You fellows can make some excuse. +I'll let Walter drive my car, and Bess can ride with him." + +"All right," assented Jack. "It's a go," and they proceeded to carry out +their little joke, over the outcome of which Walter and Jack, at least, +had some anxiety. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE GIRLS RETALIATE + + +"But why should we change our plans?" asked Cora, when, a little later, +the boys had brought their own cars up in front of the hotels and had +gone back for those of the girls. "I don't see why Bess should ride with +Walter." + +"No, but I see it," said Walter, quickly. "I want to talk to her, and----" + +"Oh, that's a different story," admitted Cora, with a smile. "But what +will Norton do?" + +"I'd like to drive the _Flyaway_, if I might," put in the latter. "There's +a bad stretch of road ahead, and perhaps Belle may not be equal to it." + +"Don't you dare intimate there's danger ahead," cried Belle. + +"Not exactly danger," returned Norton, with a wink at the other boys, "but +the road is rough. If Cora wants to I guess Ed could drive her car for +her, too." + +"Thank you, I'll wait until I see what sort of a road we are going to +encounter, and if I can't negotiate it, I'll let Ed take the wheel," +assented Cora. "But I've driven over some very hard stretches myself; +haven't I, Jack?" + +"Indeed you have, Sis. But it's all right if Belle wants Norton to drive +for her for a change." + +"Well," began the Robinson twin, "it all came so suddenly. I don't know +yet whether I want Norton to drive for me. Of course I'd like to have him +in the car, if Bess wants to go with Walter for a change, and----" + +"That's it," broke in Norton. "Just for a change. Hurry up now, girls, +get in the cars and we'll be off." He ran here and there, helping lift +in the luggage, and appeared anxious to make a start. In fact, the boys +had seemed in a hurry ever since they brought up the girls' cars, and +this very haste might have made the motor maids suspicious, but it did not +seem to. + +Then came the proposal for the change in companionship for a time, and +this took the attention of Cora and her friends. Jack had run his car +close up to the rear of the _Flyaway_, so that the back of the tonneau was +not easily seen. + +"All aboard!" cried Ed. "We're off!" + +Quite a little throng had gathered on the sidewalk in front to see the +start, and among the persons might have been noticed a certain number +of boys, with paper bags concealed in their hands. These same boys might +have been observed to be receiving signals--in the way of nods and winks +from Jack and his chums, from time to time. + +"I am sure those boys are up to something!" exclaimed Cora to Eline, as +they took their places. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean some trick." + +"How can you tell?" + +"Why, Jack's so anxious to get us off. He paid the hotel bill for me, +bought me a magazine and some candy. He never does things like that unless +there is something queer about to happen. Does anything seem wrong? Do I +look all right?" + +"Perfectly charming, Cora. That's a stunning sweater you have." + +"Yes, I like it. Then it can't be me that he's going to bother. I wish +I could tell what it was." She looked back to where Jack, with hurried +politeness, was helping Belle into her car. He did not want her to have +a glimpse at the rear of it. + +"Well, we'll see what develops," spoke Cora, as she slipped in first +speed, and prepared to set the clutch. She gave a last look back. The +little cavalcade of autos was all ready to start. That of Norton, with +Walter at the wheel, and Bess on the seat beside him, was directly behind +Cora's big maroon beauty, then came the machine of the twins and lastly +that of Jack. + +"Let her go!" shouted Jack. + +Cora's machine shot forward. Norton's jumped as Walter let in the clutch. +Then Jack, with a quick motion, pulled from the back of the Robinson +car, that Norton was driving, a strip of white muslin. It left revealed +another, containing the words: + + ON THEIR HONEYMOON + +"Let 'em have it!" cried Jack. + +Instantly the urchins with the paper bags opened them and a shower of rice +fell over Norton and Belle, being scattered liberally over Mrs. Fordam. + +"Mercy!" cried the chaperone. "What is this? Stop it at once!" she ordered +to the boys, but laughingly they persisted. + +"Good luck!" cried the street lads. + +"Hurray!" + +"Send us a piece of wedding cake!" + +Cora, turning, seeing the showers of rice and hearing the calls, guessed +what had happened. + +"This was Jack's trick!" she exclaimed. "He's given the impression that +this is a big wedding party. Oh, wait until I get a chance to retaliate. +Hurry up!" she cried back to Norton, who was grinning cheerfully, and +trying to summon a blush to his cheeks to make him fit the part of the +bashful bridegroom. + +Walter shot Norton's car ahead, and Norton guided that containing the +placard out into the middle of the street. There the words were more +plainly seen, and good-natured laughter came from the throng, who thought +they understood the situation. The rice continued to fall, for the boys +had bought liberally of it, and had bribed the street urchins to throw it. + +"This is terrible!" exclaimed Bess, in the car with Walter, seeing what +had happened. + +"It's only a joke," he said. "But I was afraid you girls wouldn't like it." + +"Like it? I should say not. I'm going to take that sign off our car at +once." + +She made a motion as though to alight from the moving auto, but Walter +detained her. + +"We'll take it off when we get around the corner," he promised. + +"What does this mean?" demanded Belle, rather indignantly, of Norton. + +"I guess they take this for a wedding procession," he replied. + +"And who are----" + +She stopped suddenly. + +"I see!" she exclaimed, as the meaning of the rice came to her. "Well, I +don't think this a bit nice. I'd rather have my sister back here with me," +she went on coldly. "Mrs. Fordam, is there anything on our car--any of +those silly white satin ribbons, or----" + +"Old shoes?" suggested Norton, rather abashed at the way his joke had been +received. + +The chaperone looked over the rear of the tonneau. + +"There's a strip of cloth on here, with some letters on it," she answered, +"but I can't read it upside down without my glasses. Surely----" + +She hesitated for a moment, and then cried: + +"The rice! Oh, I see! Boys, you shouldn't have done it!" but she laughed +nevertheless, and Norton felt more relieved. + +"It was only in fun," he protested. + +"A boy's idea of fun, and a girl's, often differ exceedingly," spoke Mrs. +Fordam. "I really think it had better be taken off." + +The crowd had been following along the sidewalk, tossing rice and +showering congratulations on those in the "bridal-car." Norton saw that +Mrs. Fordam meant what she said. So he stopped the machine and got out to +remove the placard, just as Cora was about to turn around to learn more of +the cause of the merriment. Norton ripped off the lettered muslin and +tossed it aside. + +"It may do for someone else to play a joke with," he remarked. "I guess I +got myself in bad here. I'll have to make up for it." + +"There, you needn't get out--Norton is fixing it," said Bess to Walter. +"But I think I'll ride in my own car, if you don't mind," and she prepared +to get out as he put on the brakes. + +"Not mad; are you?" he asked, and there was a note of anxiety in his voice. + +"No, not exactly," she replied with a smile. + +Cora, who had made the turn, and had learned what had happened, said +nothing. She looked at Jack rather reprovingly, however. Then, the crowd +seeing no more chance for fun, began to drop back. The autos went on, the +twins in their own, and Walter back with Norton, while Jack and Ed rode +together, Cora being with Eline up ahead--a pacemaker. + +There was a little coldness among the girls and boys--on the side of the +girls--when they stopped for dinner at a country hotel. Nothing of moment +had occurred on the road, save that Cora got a puncture, and Jack and the +other boys had no little difficulty in getting off an old shoe that had +not been removed in some time. + +A little later something went wrong with the carbureter on the car of +the twins. The boys took turns trying to adjust it, as they were far +from a garage. It was Norton who discovered the trouble--a simple enough +matter--and remedied it. + +"Doesn't that entitle me to a rebate of punishment?" he asked of Belle. + +"I'll see," she answered, but her glance was not as stern as it had been, +and she ventured to smile a little. + +With the offending placard removed, the cars proceeded onward again. They +had planned to take the trip leisurely, and to stop over night at another +hotel. The day following that would bring them to Sandy Point Cove in +good time to settle the bungalows before dark. + +"We're going to the theatre to-night," Jack announced, shortly after the +arrival in Duncan, where they were to spend the night. He had gone out +after reaching the hotel, and purchased the seats for a popular comedy +then running. + +"Oh, are we?" asked Cora with a lifting of her eyebrows, a signal, that +had Jack but known it, meant more than he suspected. "That's awfully nice +of you, really." + +"It's a fine show," declared Norton. "A friend of mine saw it in New York." + +"What time are we to be ready?" asked Belle, with a look at Cora. + +"It begins at eight, if you start now putting on your hats you'll be ready +in time, it's only a little after six," remarked Ed. + +"Smart!" exclaimed Bess. "We can be ready as soon as you!" + +After supper--or dinner whichever you prefer to call it--the boys went to +their rooms to get ready for the little theatre party. The girls, with +much whispering and not a little laughter proceeded, apparently, with the +same object. + +But a little later the motor maids, accompanied by their chaperone, Mrs. +Fordam, slipped down a rear stairway, out into the ladies' parlor of +the hotel, and thence into two big limousine cars that awaited them. The +girls had on semi-evening dress, with some flimsy chiffon veils over +their heads in place of hats, which might account for the speed with +which they got ready. + +"Isn't it nice we met those boys!" exclaimed Eline. + +"They came just in time to make it possible for us to retaliate," remarked +Cora. "And our boys need a lesson." + +In the somewhat luxurious autos that had drawn up in front of the +hotel were four young men in evening dress. They greeted the girls +enthusiastically. + +"It's awfully nice of you to come on such short notice," said one to Cora. + +"Oh, we were only too glad to" she answered. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AT THE COVE + + +"Well, what do you know about that?" + +"It--well, so long as there are none of 'em here I'll say it--it's the +limit!" + +"They got back at us all right!" + +"And to think we never suspected." + +"What will we do with these theatre tickets?" + +Four young men, in freshened attire after their auto ride, stood +disconsolately in the hotel parlor. Jack was fingering a note that a bell +boy had brought him. Walter, Ed and Norton, with the assistance of +Jack, had given voice to the expressions with which we have begun this +chapter. The note read: + +"Dear Jack: + +"We don't seem to care about the theatre this evening. I met Harry Dunn, +and his two cousins--also another young man--Ralph Borden--and they +asked us to go to a little private dance. Mrs. Fordam is with us. We +met Harry at Lake Como last year, you remember. He is that tall, dark, +distinguished-looking fellow. So we thought we'd prefer the dance to the +theatre, especially as Belle and Bess have seen the play. Sorry to have +to waste so many good tickets, but perhaps you boys will have time to +paint another honeymoon sign. + +"Cora." + +It was this note which had been handed to Jack as he and his companions +had been waiting in the parlor for the girls, that had caused all the +trouble. + +"So, that's their game!" exclaimed Cora's brother, as he crumpled the +paper up in his hand. "They've played a trick on us all right!" + +"To get back at us for that sign on the auto, and the rice," added Ed. + +"I wonder if they really did go off to a dance?" asked Walter. + +"Oh, yes, I know this Dunn chap--not half-bad," put in Jack. "Sis and I +did meet him last year. His folks have a country place somewhere round +here. But how did he meet the girls and get them to come?" + +"I have it!" cried Norton. + +"Pass it over!" commanded Walter. + +"You know that time my car developed a kink," he continued, "and you +stopped yours, Jack?" + +"Sure," assented Cora's brother. + +"Well, the girls went on, you know, and when we caught up to them I saw +a couple of autos speeding down the road, as though they had been acting +as escorts. I guess those fellows must have met the girls on the road, +proposed the dance, and the girls accepted." + +"That's it!" declared Jack. And so it proved, as they found out later. + +"Well, there's no help for it," sighed Walter. + +"We'll have to go to the show alone," added Ed. + +"If we could only find some nice girls," spoke Norton. + +"We don't know a soul in town," declared Jack. "If that Dunn fellow had +been half-way decent he'd have made some arrangement about us after he +stole away the girls. Well, there's no use wasting all the tickets. Come +on to the show." + +So the boys went, but they did not have a very good time by themselves, +and there was some amusement among the audience over four good-looking +boys occupying eight seats. + +As for Cora and the girls, they had a delightful dance. It had turned out +as Norton had said. The girls, proceeding on ahead with Mrs. Fordam, after +Jack and the boys had stopped to look after Norton's car, had met young +Dunn and his companions out for a spin. Cora knew them at once, and the +young men, delighted at the prospect of such charming partners at a dance +they had almost elected to forgo, invited the motor girls to it. + +Mrs. Fordam, who was a distant relative of young Dunn's father, had +consented to the arrangement. The girls and she slipped away after Jack +came in with the theatre tickets, proceeded to attire themselves most +becomingly, and had been met by their escorts, who lavishly hired big +cars to take their friends to the affair. Then Jack and his chums had +been handed the note which Cora left for them. It had all been very simple. + +"Wasn't it glorious!" + +"The floor was just splendid!" + +"And those boys knew so many nice fellows." + +"My card was filled almost before I knew it." + +"The music was lovely!" + +Thus chattered the motor girls as they came back to the hotel rather +late--or was it early? with Mrs. Fordam. They saw Jack sitting +disconsolately in the parlor, trying hard to keep awake by reading. + +"Well, so you're back!" he exclaimed to Cora, rather shortly. + +"Yes, brother mine!" she laughed tantalizingly. + +"Well, it's about time," he growled. + +"Why, how long have you been back?" she asked. "I hear that it was quite a +long and--tiresome--show. I'm sorry we had to disappoint you, but really +we had no other way of telling you where we were going. It was a lovely +dance!" + +"Yes," said Jack, coldly. + +"And we hope you had time to embroider another sign for our car," added +Bess. Really, she said later, she could not help it. + +"Um!" grunted Jack. "I sat up for you," he added to his sister. + +"There was no need, Jack. We had Mrs. Fordam. It was a very pretty dance. +I am glad the girls had a chance to go." + +The girls seemed glad too, and really looked quite effective in their +party growns, which were carried in the trunks that were strapped on the +autos. + +"Oh, it was lovely!" sighed Bess. + +"And that tall young fellow was such a fine dancer!" echoed Eline. + +"Huh!" growled Jack. "I'm going to bed." + +"I guess we're all tired enough to re-tire--joke!" exclaimed Cora. +"Good-night, Jack. Sorry we couldn't go with you, but we had a--previous +engagement!" + +The boys did not say much next morning, though the girls were enthusiastic +about their affair. + +"If we could only have one two or three times a week," sighed Belle, who +was a fine dancer. + +"We may, at Sandy Point Cove," spoke Cora. "There is a pavilion +there--also moving picture shows, to which the boys can take us," and she +glanced at Jack. He said nothing. + +Once more they were on their way. The roads were good, and save for the +fact that they took a wrong one shortly after lunch, and went a few miles +out of their route, nothing of moment happened. + +"Ten miles to Sandy Point Cove!" read Jack, as they stopped at a +cross-road, to inspect the signboards. "We'll make it in an hour." + +"And then for a bath in the briny deep!" cried Walter. + +"I hope the fishing is good," remarked Ed. "I haven't caught anything in +a month." + +"I hope the _Pet_ has arrived," Cora exclaimed. "I am just dying for a +motor boat ride." + +"Let us hope it has then; we don't want you to expire," came from Norton. + +In less than an hour they had reached the shore road and were spinning +down it toward the cove where they were to spend the summer. As they +mounted the bluff, around the end of the cove, from which a magnificent +view of the ocean could be had, Cora uttered a cry: + +"Look, that sailboat has capsized!" she exclaimed. And she pointed to a +small sloop that had jibed and gone over in a sudden squall. As the motor +girls and boys looked they saw a girlish form clinging to the rounded side +of the craft, her bright red bathing suit making her a conspicuous figure +against the dark hull. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE LIGHTHOUSE MAID + + +Jack Kimball had always said that his sister Cora only needed an +opportunity to prove that she could think quickly in emergencies, and +could demonstrate that she was courageous. Cora had done this on other +occasions, and now at the sight of the overturned boat, and the figure +of the girl clinging to it, there came the chance for Cora, as one of +the motor girls, to prove that her ability in this direction had not +lessened. + +Without another word Cora turned her car down a slight slope that led to +the sandy beach. It was a perilous road, rather too steep to negotiate +in a heavy car, but Cora had seen that it was encumbered with sand that +would act as a brake. + +"Where are you going?" gasped Eline, gripping the sides of the seat until +her hands ached. + +"Down to rescue that girl!" explained Cora, pressing her lips tightly +together. She was under a nervous tension, and she needed all her wits +about her. + +"But in the car--the water----" faltered Eline. + +"Don't worry. I'm not going to run my car into the bay. There's a boat +on shore--a rowboat--this was the quickest way to get down to it. Can you +row?" + +"Yes, Cora, but----" + +"You may have to!" + +The auto plunged down the steep, sandy slope to the beach. The others in +the motoring party had brought their machines to a stop, and were gazing +in wonderment at Cora. + +"What are you going to do?" cried Jack. "Come back! We'll get her, Cora!" + +But Cora paid no attention. She had reached the beach, and quickly shut +off the power. + +"Come on!" she exclaimed to Eline, leaping out. + +The two raced over the sand to where a light rowing craft was drawn up. +There were oars in it, and Cora knew she and Eline could launch it. The +girl on the overturned sailboat was making frantic gestures and calling: + +"Hurry! Hurry!" + +"Her boat must be sinking," gasped Eline, as she and Cora reached the +rowboat. + +"It can't be that," answered the motormaid, with a quick and critical +glance at the sailboat. "Probably there is some one else with her, who +is in danger. She isn't in any particular trouble that I can see. She +must swim!" + +By this time Cora and Eline had the boat in the water. The stern was still +on the pebbly beach. + +"Jump in!" called Cora. "I'll shove off!" + +"But you'll get your feet wet!" + +"What of it? As if I cared!" Vigorously Cora pushed off the boat, and +managed to get in, though not without getting rather wet. Then, seizing +one pair of oars, while Eline took the others, they rowed hastily out +to the capsized craft. Other boats were now hastening to the scene of +the accident, but Cora Kimball was the first to reach it. Jack and the +other boys and girls had left their cars on the main road, and were racing +down the beach. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you came!" gasped the girl on the sail boat. "I'm holding +him, but I can't seem to pull him up here. He's so heavy!" + +"Who is it?" gasped Cora. She was rather out of breath. + +"My little brother Dick. He got in the way of the boom, and the main sheet +fouled. That's why I jibed. I'd never have done it by myself. We both +went overboard, and I grabbed him. I got up here, but I can't pull him +up. Oh, please help me!" + +"Of course I will," cried Cora. + +"Then pull around on the other side, and you can lift him into your boat. +I can swim ashore." + +Directed by the girl on the sail boat, Cora and Eline sent their craft +around so that they were opposite the half-submerged deck, which was now +perpendicular in the water. There they saw the girl holding above the +surface of the bay the head of a boy about seven years old. He seemed +as self-possessed as though he were on shore, and calmly blinked at the +rescuing girls. + +"He's so fat and heavy," cried the girl in the bathing suit. + +"I'm very fat," confessed the boy in the water, calmly. + +Indeed he did seem so, even though only his head and part of his shoulders +showed. The wind was rising a little again, having subsided somewhat +after capsizing the boat. The surface of the bay was broken into little +waves, and they splashed into the face of the fat boy. But he did not +seem to mind. + +It was easier than Cora and Eline had thought it would be to get him +in the boat, for the buoyancy of the salt water aided them, as did the +rather large bulk of the boy himself, it being a well known fact that +stout persons float much more easily in the water than do thin ones. + +"Give yourself a boost, Dick!" directed the girl in the bathing suit, to +her brother. He did so with a grunt that would have been laughable under +other circumstances, and soon he was safe in the other boat, very wet, +but otherwise not hurt. + +"Did you swallow much water?" asked Cora, anxiously. + +"Nope," was the sententious answer. + +"I guess he'll be all right," remarked his sister. "If you will kindly row +him over there, I'll swim in," and she pointed to the lighthouse. + +"Do you live there?" asked Cora, gazing at the tall stone tower. With its +high lantern, which glistened in the sun, it stood on a point extending +out into the bay, just behind some menacing rocks that jutted far out into +the water in a dangerous reef that the light warned mariners against. + +"Yes, Dick and I live there," answered the girl. "My father, James Haley, +is keeper of the light. My name is Rosalie." + +"And you look it," said Cora, brightly, as she noted the damask cheeks of +the bathing girl. + +"Oh, thank you!" came quickly. + +"Won't you get in this boat--I don't know whose it is--I just appropriated +it," said Cora. "There is no need of your swimming." + +"Oh, I want to. I've gone clear across the bay, though Daddy had a boat +follow me. I've won prizes swimming. No, I'll just swim over." + +"Will your brother be all right with us?" and Cora looked at the small +dripping figure in the boat. + +"Oh, yes, Dick is as good as gold. He'll do just as you tell him. I guess +he was rather scared when he went over. But he can swim, only I was rather +afraid to let him try this time." + +"What about your boat?" asked Eline. + +"She will stay here. The anchor fell out when she went over, so she won't +drift. I'll get one of the men to tow her ashore and right her. She's a +good little old tub. She's capsized before." + +With that the lighthouse maid made a graceful dive and was soon swimming +alongside Cora's boat. The latter and Eline now rowed to the lighthouse, +the girl in the water following, and the autoists on shore breathing more +freely. + +"Wasn't that splendid of Cora!" cried Belle. + +"Just fine!" declared Bess. + +"Sis was right on the mark!" exclaimed Jack, with pardonable pride. "I +wonder who that girl in the red suit is?" + +"She's some swimmer; believe me!" declared Norton in admiration. + +"She is that," agreed Walter. + +"Say, it's going to be no joke to get Cora's car up that hill of sand," +declared Ed, glancing back to it. + +"We can pull her up with ropes if we have to," said Jack. "I wonder where +our bungles are, anyhow? Notice that 'bungles'--patent applied for!" + +"I fancy those over there," remarked Mrs. Fordam, pointing to two that +stood somewhat removed from a group of cottages. "Yes," the chaperone went +on, "I can see Aunt Susan in the door of one waving to us." + +"Me for Aunt Susan, then!" cried Jack. "I hope she has something to eat!" + +"Eat!" gasped Belle. "Do you boys think that Aunt Susan is going to cook +for you?" + +"Yes, wasn't that the arrangement?" inquired Jack, blankly. + +"Indeed not!" was the quick answer. "You boys are to do your own +providing." + +"Well, we can do it!" spoke Walter, quickly. "And, mind, don't ask us for +some of our pie and cake." + +"Don't worry," remarked Bess, with a shrug of her shoulders. + +The little accident in the bay had not attracted much attention. Several +who had run down to the water's edge, now that they saw the two rescued, +strolled away again, while the boats that had started toward the capsized +one veered off as the occupants saw the one containing Cora move away, and +noted the girl swimming. + +Of course Cora and Eline could have reached the lighthouse much quicker +than Rosalie Haley had they desired, but Cora was a bit diffident about +rowing up to meet a strange man with his rescued son, leaving the daughter +swimming out in the bay. + +"We'll just keep with her," whispered Cora to Eline, nodding toward the +swimmer, "and let her do the explaining." + +"Yes," agreed Eline. + +They rowed on for a time in silence, the recently submerged boy saying +nothing. Then Cora called to Rosalie: + +"Won't your father be worried?" + +"I don't believe so. He knows both of us can swim." She talked easily in +the water for she progressed with her head well out, being, in fact, an +excellent swimmer. "Besides," she went on, as she reached forward in her +side stroke, "poor Daddy has other things to worry about. His sister has +disappeared--our Aunt Margaret." + +"Disappeared!" echoed Cora. + +"Yes, gone completely. And not under the most pleasant circumstances, +either; but Daddy believes that it's all a mistake and will be cleared up +some day. But he is certainly worried about Aunt Margaret, and he's had +the authorities looking all over, but they can't find her. So that's why +I know he won't worry over a little thing like this. He's got a bigger +one," and she swam on. + +Cora wondered where she had heard that name--Margaret--before. She was +sure she had, and under peculiar circumstances, but so much had been +crowded into the last few minutes that her brain did not act quickly. It +was a puzzle that she reserved for future solution. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +SETTLING DOWN + + +When Cora, leading by the hand dripping Dick Haley, met his father, the +keeper of the light, she exclaimed impulsively: + +"I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before!" + +It was rather a strange greeting under the circumstances, considering that +Cora had just helped little Dick from the water. But the lighthouse keeper +did not seem to mind it. + +"I'm sure I can't remember it, miss," he made answer, "and I'm counted +on as having a pretty good memory. However, the loss is all mine, I do +assure you. Now what mischief has my fat boy been getting into?" + +"It was not his fault, I'm sure," spoke Eline. + +"Indeed not," echoed Cora. "Your daughter's boat upset and we went out +to help her. There she is!" + +Cora pointed to a dripping figure, in a red bathing suit climbing up on +a little pier that led to the beacon. Following the disclosure made to +Cora, as Rosalie swam beside the boat, they had reached the shore. Mr. +Haley had been off getting some supplies for the lighthouse and so had +not witnessed the accident. The first intimation he had of it was when +he saw his dripping son being led up by Cora and Eline. + +"Upset; eh?" voiced the keeper of the light. "Well, it has happened +before, and it'll happen again. I'm glad it was no worse, and I'm +very much obliged to you, miss. But I don't ever remember seeing you +before--either of you," and he glanced at Eline. + +"Oh, I'm sure you never saw _me_!" she laughed "I'm from Chicago." + +"Chicago!" he cried, quickly. "Why, I'm from there originally. I used to +be a pilot on the lakes. But that's years ago. Me and my sister came +from there. But Margaret--well, what's the use of talking of it?" and the +worried frown on his face deepened, as he went down to meet his daughter, +telling Dick to go up in the living quarters of the light to get on dry +clothes. + +Cora was sure she had seen the light keeper before, but, puzzle her brain +over the matter as she might, she could not recall where it was. And the +name Margaret seemed to be impressed on her memory, too. It was quite +annoying not to be able to recall matters when you wanted to, she thought. + +"But I'll just think no more about it," mused Cora. "Perhaps it will come +to me when I least expect it." + +The lighthouse maid and her father met, and in a few words she told of +the accident. He sent a man to tow in the overturned boat. + +"But you are wet, too!" he exclaimed to Cora, as he noted her damp skirts +and soaked shoes. + +"Oh, that's nothing!" said she. "I pushed off the boat. I don't know whose +it is, by the way." + +"It belongs to Hank Belton," said the keeper. "He won't mind you using +it. Do you live around here?" + +Cora told how they were coming to the bungalows for the summer. + +"Ah, then I'll see you again, miss," spoke Mr. Haley. "I can't properly +thank you now--I'm that flustered. This has upset me a little, though +usually I don't worry about the children and the water, for they look +after themselves. But I'm fair bothered about other matters." + +"I told her, Daddy," broke in Rosalie. "About Aunt Margaret, you know." + +"Did you? Well, I dare say it was all right. I can't see why she did it? +I can't see! Going off that way, without notice, and those people to make +such unkind insinuations. I can't understand it!" + +He walked up and down in front of the little dock. Rosalie looked as +though she would enjoy another plunge in the bay. Cora glanced over to +where her friends awaited her in a group on the beach. Eline was looking +at dripping Dick going up to get on dry garments. + +"But there!" exclaimed Mr. Haley, "I mustn't bother you with my troubles. +I dare say you have enough of your own. But do come over and see us; won't +you?" + +"Yes, do!" urged Rosalie. + +"We will," said Cora. "But now I must get back to my friends." + +"You had best take the boat and row over," said the light keeper. "It's +shorter that way. You can leave her just where you found her. Hank won't +mind." + +"I'll row you over," offered Rosalie. + +"No, indeed, thank you, we can do it," spoke Cora. "We are anxious to get +settled in our bungalows, so I think we had better go now. We will see +you again," and with a smile and a nod, she and Eline went down to the +boat, which had been left at the lighthouse float, and got in. A little +later they were with their friends. + +"Well, Cora, you certainly did something that time!" remarked Jack. + +"And you didn't lose any time," added Ed. + +"Weren't you frightened?" Belle wanted to know. + +"Not a bit--not even I," answered Eline, "and I don't know much about the +water." + +"Who was she? What happened? How did you get the boy out? Who keeps the +light? Tell us all about it!" + +Cora held up her hands to ward off the avalanche of questions, and told +as much as was necessary. She did not mention having spoken about thinking +she had met the keeper of the light before, nor about the insistence of +the name Margaret. Nor did it enter into Eline's brief added description +of the events of that strenuously-filled half-hour. + +"Well, here comes Aunt Susan," remarked Mrs. Fordam. "I think she couldn't +wait any longer to learn all about what happened, and I don't blame her. +I'll soon turn you girls over to her charge." + +"Oh, but you'll stay with us to-night!" exclaimed Cora. + +"Yes, and I'll go back home in the morning on the train. Really I have +enjoyed this trip very much, and I would like to stay longer, but I can't. +Perhaps I may come down during the summer to see you." + +"Please do," invited Cora. + +Aunt Susan proved worthy of her name, a home-like lady, with an easy +manner, that made one feel comfortable at once. She simply "oozed" +good things to eat, as Jack said, and Jack ought to know. Some of the +young people she knew, having met them at Cora's house. The others +were presented to her. + +"Well, the bungalows are all ready for you," she went on, after +explanations had been made. "I expect you're tired and hungry and----" + +"Wet," interrupted Jack, with a look at Cora. "But then you can't make +rescues from the briny deep without getting at least damp." + +"I should like to change," spoke Cora, glancing at her soaked shoes. + +"Then come on," said Aunt Susan. "I guess you boys know where your +quarters are," she added. "There is plenty to eat----" + +"Hurray!" cried Jack, swinging his hat, and clapping Walter on the +shoulder. + +"Perhaps you'll all have supper together," suggested Mrs. Chester. + +"If the girls let us," added Ed. + +"Oh, I guess we will," assented Cora. "That is, if you get my car up. I +didn't think, when I ran it down, that the sand was so deep." + +"We'll look after it--don't worry, Sis," said Jack. + +While the girls and the two ladies went on to the larger bungalow, the +boys managed, not without some work, to get Cora's auto up to the road +again. Then it was run along, with the others, to the big bungalow, where +there was a shed that would serve as shelter for the machines. + +The boys carried in the girls' trunks and suit cases, and transported +their own to their quarters. Then began a general "primping" time, as +the supper hour approached. + +"Oh, girls, isn't this just delightful?" exclaimed Cora, as she and the +others entered what was to be their home for the summer. + +"That window seat is a dear!" declared Belle, as she proceeded to "drape" +herself in it. + +"And see the porch hammocks," called Bess, "slumping" into one. + +"What a fine view of the bay we can get from here," added Eline, as she +stood in the bow window, a most graceful figure. Cora, in spite of her +damp shoes, had made a hurried trip through the bungalow to arrange, +tentatively at least, as hostess, the different sleeping apartments. + +"Oh, it's just the dearest place!" exclaimed Eline. "I know we will simply +love it here." + +"Now just put off your things, get comfortable, wash and comb if you like, +and then the boys will be over to supper," said Mrs. Chester, when the +girls had made a tour of the place. + +"Gracious! Here they come now!" cried Belle, as she saw Jack and his +friends tramping over the space that separated the two bungalows. + +The girls fled precipitately, for they had begun to lay aside their +collars and loosen their hair. Then the two ladies took charge of matters, +in the kitchen at least. The boys were bidden to remain out on the piazzas +until invited in, and they sprawled in various attitudes in chairs or +hammocks. + +Then the girls came down; there was noticed throughout the bungalow +various savory odors, at which the boys grinned in delight. There was +the clatter of plates, and the jingle of silver--more expansive smiles. +There were looks of pleased anticipation. Then came the clanging of a bell. + +"Supper!" announced Mrs. Chester, appearing in the door wearing a huge +apron. + +"That's us!" cried Jack. + +"Oh, I've just thought of it!" exclaimed Cora in a low voice to Eline, +as she walked beside her to the dining room. + +"Thought of what?" + +"The name 'Margaret!'" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LAUNCHING THE "PET" + + +"Pass the olives again, please!" + +"Aren't the lobsters delicious?" + +"Are you referring to us?" Ed bristled up, and looked rather aggressively +at Belle. + +"If the net fits----" she murmured. + +"Net being the sea-change from shoe," spoke Jack. + +"Please pass the olives," came again from Bess, waiting patiently. "I've +only had----" + +"A dozen!" interrupted Ed. + +"I have not!" + +"Children!" rebuked Cora. + +They were all at the supper table--I prefer, since we are now at sea, +which makes so many equal--to call the late meal supper, in preference +to dinner. No fisherman ever eats a "dinner" except at noon, and it was +now well on to six o'clock. And they were making merry, were the motor +maids and boys. + +Mrs. Chester had made bountiful provision for the party and they were +now enjoying it thoroughly. Over in the bungalow of the boys were ample +supplies for days to come, though such as would not keep had been laid +in sparingly. + +"You girls certainly look nice enough to----" + +"Eat, were you going to say?" asked Eline, who was particularly +"fetching," to quote Norton, whereupon Jack wanted to know what it was +she was expected to "fetch." + +"Well, at least nibble at," remarked Walter. "Some of you don't look as +though you would stand more than a nibble," and he looked particularly at +Bess. + +"Oh, but there is so much to do," sighed Cora, as she thought of the +arrangements for the night. "We really must hurry through supper and +straighten things out. Then we can rest to-morrow." + +"It doesn't take you long to straighten out," said Ed, with a jovial +smile. "One minute you're rescuing fat boys from the salty ocean, and +the next you look as charming as--er--as----" + +"As a mermaid," finished Walter. + +"How do you do it?" Norton wanted to know. "This is the first long motor +trip I've taken, and I'm wearing the collar of your brother, with the +necktie of Ed. I can't seem to find a thing of my own." + +"It is all done by system," said Cora. + +"Hear! Hear!" cried Jack, English fashion. "Sis will kindly elucidate the +system." + +"Finish your supper!" ordered Cora. "We want you boys to help carry around +some of our trunks. We're going to place them differently." + +"More work," groaned Ed. + +But the meal was finally over and the boys put the trunks in the rooms of +the various girls. Mrs. Chester had engaged the wife of one of the Cove +fishermen to come in to help with the house-work, so the two chaperones +could leave the dishes to her while they helped the girls settle their +apartments. The bungalow was of ample size, and they were sure to be +comfortable. + +The boys did some "straightening-out," but it was more honored in the +breach than in the observance. When they wanted a thing they "pawed" over +their suit cases until they found it, letting the other articles settle +where they might. + +They were all out on the porch, talking and laughing over the events of +the day, Cora being called upon to recount her experiences in making the +rescue. + +"Cora," spoke Eline softly, when some of the motor boys and girls had +voted for a stroll down to the beach, "what was it you meant when you +said you recalled the name Margaret?" + +"Oh, yes. I'm glad you spoke of that. Do you remember the name of the +woman I found in the garage the night of the fire?" + +"Mrs.--Mrs.----" Eline paused. + +"Mrs. Margaret Raymond," supplied Cora. + +"Yes, that was it. What of her?" + +"Well, the light keeper has a sister who is missing. Her name is Margaret, +too. She is the aunt of the girl in the red bathing suit." + +"Does anything follow from that?" + +"Suppose I told you that as soon as I saw Mr. Haley, the keeper of the +light, I was sure I had seen his face before?" + +"Ah!" Eline was quick to grasp at a suggestion. + +"Of course I have never seen him before," went on Cora. "But his sister +must bear some resemblance to him; don't you think, Eline?" + +"I should say so--yes." + +"Then take the name Margaret--the fact that his sister is named that--also +that the strange woman who ran away from the office, and whom I found +in our garage, was named the same--the fact that Mr. Haley's sister is +strangely missing, and under some sort of a cloud--which would also cover +Mrs. Raymond--and you see the coincidences; don't you?" + +"Indeed I do!" declared Eline. "Oh, Cora, if it should turn out that they +are the same person!" + +"It would be remarkable. But even if it were so we could not help him. +We could give him no clue as to his sister's whereabouts now." + +"Well, we must find out what his sister's last name is. He has invited +us over there, and I think I can speak to him on the subject. It is worth +trying, anyhow. Suppose we go and join the others." + +"Shall you tell them?" asked Eline. + +"Not yet." + +They found the rest of the party down on the shore of the cove. The moon +was up and the picture presented was an attractive one. Two points, +jutting out into the ocean, came near enough together to make a sort +of strait that led into the bay. + +Opening out of the big bay was a smaller cove--called Sandy--from the fine +extent of bathing beach it afforded. It was just back of this beach that +several cottages had been put up, also the two bungalows occupied by our +friends. + +The point on which the lighthouse was built was somewhat in the shape +of a shoe, and on the farthermost extremity were black rocks, extending, +as I have said, out in a dangerous reef from which the flashing light +warned vessels. The point was built up with fishermen's cottages, or +modest houses, and around the bay was located the village of Sandy Point, +a small settlement, but one that was gradually growing as the summer +colonists found out its beauty. + +"I hope the _Petrel_ is here, all right," remarked Jack, when they had +talked of many other matters. + +"We'll have to see the first thing in the morning," declared Ed. + +"Yes, I am anxious to get her afloat," spoke Cora. "The water is lovely +around here." + +"Well, you ought to know," came from Walter, "you were out on it to-day." + +"We'll have some fun bathing," said Norton. "You say that lighthouse girl +has won swimming prizes, Cora?" + +"Yes." + +"Maybe we can get up some races," came from Bess. "Do you swim, Eline?" + +"Some. That's what everyone says, I believe." + +They talked and strolled, and strolled and talked, until the lateness of +the hour sent them to their bungalows. + +There was some little excitement about getting settled for the night, for +it developed that one of the trunks containing some garments of the girls +had not arrived. But they "doubled up," and were fairly comfortable. As +for the boys, the sounds of merriment came from their quarters even at +a late hour. + +"I'm glad I don't have to chaperone them," remarked Aunt Susan. + +Morning came, as it generally does. Jack and his chums got their own +breakfast--in a more or less haphazard fashion--and then set off to the +railroad depot to see about the motor boat. + +It was safe in the freight office, and was eagerly inspected by the boys. +For, while Cora and her motor girl chums really owned the dainty little +craft, the young men felt that they had almost a proprietary interest in +it. + +"How are we going to get it over to the Cove?" asked Ed. + +"On a truck, of course," replied Jack. "Then we'll knock off the +cradle----" + +"Rocked in the cradle of the deep!" burst out Walter. + +"Where's your permit to sing?" demanded Jack. "Stop it. Your swan song +will come in handy when we launch the _Pet_." + +"Well, I guess this part of the work is strictly up to us," remarked +Norton, as he surveyed the boat. "And the sooner we get her into the +water the sooner we can have a ride." + +"Right--oh!" exclaimed Jack. "I'll ask the freight agent about a truck." + +That official told the boys where they could hire one, a certain man at +the Cove making a specialty of moving boats. + +A little later the boys were perched on a big wagon, containing the boat, +and moving toward a boat-repair dock whence most of the launchings were +made. + +The girls had word of the little ceremony that was to occur, and they +gathered at the place while the boys, with the help of one or two men, +arranged to slide the un-cradled boat into the water. + +All went well until toward the end. Then the boat seemed to stick on the +rollers. + +"Shove her hard!" cried Jack. "You fellows aren't putting half enough beef +into your shoves." + +"All together now, boys!" cried Walter. "Here she goes!" + +Just how it happened no one knew, but the _Pet_ suddenly shot down the +ways, sliding over the rollers. Jack, who had hold of her amidships, kept +his grip, and, as if not wanting to part company from the youth, or as +if objecting to taking the plunge alone, the motor boat shot into deep +water, carrying Jack with her. He clung to the gunwhale and shouted--not +in alarm, for he could swim, but in startled surprise. + +"Hold her, Jack, hold her!" shouted Walter. "Or she'll smash into that +other boat," for the _Pet_, under the momentum of the slide, was going +stern foremost straight toward an anchored sloop. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SUSPICIONS STRENGTHENED + + +The girls screamed. The boys looked on in startled amazement. The men +who had been hired to help launch the boat stood with their hands hanging +at their sides, as if unable to do anything. Finally Walter galvanized +himself into action long enough to exclaim: + +"We should have had a rope fast to her." + +"That you had, my lad!" agreed a grizzled old fisherman. "A rope and a +kedge anchor on shore. Howsomever----" + +"Can't something be done?" demanded Cora, clasping her hands impulsively. +"It must be! Our boat!" + +The spectacle of the fine craft, in which so many of the hopes and +expectations of the young people centered, about to be damaged, seemed +to send a chill of apprehension to the hearts of the girls--more so than +in the case of the boys. And it certainly looked as though a collision +was unavoidable. + +"And Jack!" cried Belle. "He'll be smashed!" + +"Not on that end," remarked Ed, grimly. "If he sticks there he won't be +hurt. He's as far away from the smashing-point as he can get." + +This was true, for Jack was now clinging to the stem of the boat, having +edged his way along from amidships. He did not seem worried, and in fact +was preparing to do the only thing possible to prevent a collision. + +While the boys--Ed, Walter and Norton--were racing about, looking for +an available boat to launch, regardless of the fact that it would be too +late for all practical purposes, and while the fishermen helpers were +disputing as to whose fault it was that a retaining rope had not been +provided, Jack was carrying out his plan of action. + +This was nothing more or less than to turn himself into a rudder. As a +usual thing the rudder is on the stern of the boat--necessarily so--but +in this case the stern of the _Pet_ was the bow, as far as motion was +concerned, and Jack, clinging to the stem, was on the stern, so to speak. +So, vigorously churning with his feet, as a swimmer might tread water, +he threw himself to one side, as a rudder might have been turned. + +The effect was immediate. The _Pet_ veered to one side, and the startled +owner of the sloop, toward which the motor boat was plunging, had small +use for the hook he had caught up in his excitement. + +In another moment the _Pet_ shot alongside the other craft, sliding rather +violently along the rub-streak, and careening the sloop and herself as +well. But no real harm was done save the removal of considerable paint +and varnish. Jack had succeeded in his design. + +"Well, what were you trying to do?" demanded the owner of the sloop, +rather angrily. + +"Trying to save your boat from harm," answered Jack quickly. "Throw me a +line, will you? and I'll come aboard. I don't want to get in the motor +boat, all wet as I am." + +"Sure thing!" the man exclaimed. "That was a neat trick you worked. Mighty +clever!" + +He flung Jack a rope's end, the two boats now having drifted apart. Jack +pulled himself to the deck of the sloop, letting go his hold on the _Pet_, +but Walter and Ed were now coming out to get her in a small boat. Soon +she was tied safely at the float, and Jack returned to shore. + +"How--how did it all happen?" asked Eline. + +"Well," said Jack, rather pantingly, for his breath was somewhat spent, "I +had an idea that I gave a fairly good imitation, a la the moving picture +performance, of how it happened. But if you'd prefer to have me play +a return engagement, I might----" + +"Don't you dare!" cried Cora, as Jack made a motion as though to plunge +into the water again. "Was that man very mad, Jack?" + +"Oh, only so-so. Say, I am some wet!" + +"Yes, you'd better go up to the bung, and change," suggested Ed--"bung," +I may explain, being a short cut for bungalow. + +"Guess I'd better," agreed the damp one. "Say, but she's leaking some!" +and he looked into the cockpit of the motor craft. + +"It will stop when the seams swell," was Walter's opinion. "Come on, +fellows, we'll look over the engine." + +"Yes, and please get some gasoline," suggested Cora. "We may be able to go +for a spin this afternoon. Come on, girls. Now that the _Pet_ is in her +element we'll take a stroll around, and look at--well, at whatever there +is to look at," she concluded. + +"Let's go over to the lighthouse," suggested Belle. + +"Not now!" exclaimed Cora, quickly. "We'll go some other time. Come on," +and leaving the boys to go over the intricacies of the motor boat, the +girls strolled along the sand. + +Jack hurried on the bungalow. + +"Why didn't you want to go to the lighthouse?" asked Eline of Cora, as +they walked on, arm in arm. "I think they are so romantic. And perhaps +that mermaid's father might show us through it in return for our rescue." + +"Doubtless he would, and probably he will--later," said Cora. "But, Eline, +I want to do some thinking first." + +"About what?" + +"About what that mermaid, as you call her, told me of her father's +worries. She----" + +"Here she comes now," interrupted Belle, catching part of what Cora and +Eline were saying. Walking along the strand, with the chubby little boy +who had been pulled from the water, was Rosalie. + +"How do you do?" she called pleasantly to Cora. "Are you all settled? +I think it must be lovely to live as you girls do, going about as you +please." + +"And I think it must be so romantic to live in a lighthouse," interposed +Belle. "Do you ever tend the light?" + +"Once in a while, when father is busy--that is, early in the evening. +Father and the assistant, Harry Small, stand the night watches." + +"Do you ever have storms here?" asked Bess. + +"Oh, often, yes; and bad ones too." + +"And are ships wrecked?" Eline queried. + +"Occasionally." + +"Did your light ever save any?" asked Cora. + +"Oh, yes, it must have, for the light can be seen for a long distance. +Of course, we can't say how many vessels have come in too close to the +black rocks, and have veered off. But I know once or twice father has seen +the lights too close in, and then, as the sailors saw the lantern flash, +they would steer out. So you see they were warned in time." + +"That's splendid!" cried Bess. "Think of saving a whole shipload of +people!" and her eyes sparkled. + +"How is your father?" asked Cora in a low voice, as she got a chance to +walk with Rosalie, the other three girls going on ahead. + +"Oh, he is still worried--if that is what you mean," was the answer. + +"That is what I do mean, my dear," Cora went on. "I wonder if you would +mind describing your aunt to us." + +"You mean the one who--disappeared?" + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +It was a challenge, and Rosalie looked curiously at Cora. + +"Well, my dear, I fancy--no, I will say nothing until I learn more. But +don't tell me about her unless you choose." + +"Oh, I'm sure I don't mind. Perhaps you would like to speak to father?" + +"Possibly--a little later. But was your aunt a delicate woman, with iron +gray hair, and rather a nervous manner?" + +"Yes, that's Aunt Margaret! But why do you ask?" + +"I will tell you later, my dear. Please don't say anything about it until +I see your father. Do you suppose he would show us through the light?" + +"Of course! I'll ask him; and that will give you the chance you want!" + +"Fine!" exclaimed Cora. "I'm afraid you will think this is rather a +conspiracy," she went on, "but I have my reasons. It may amount to +nothing, but I will not be satisfied until I have proved or disproved +something I have suspected since I came here." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE LIGHT KEEPER'S STORY + + +"Hurray! She's going!" + +It was Jack who cried this. + +"'She starts, she moves, she seems to feel----'" + +"As though we'd catch a wiggling eel!" + +Thus Ed began the quotation, and thus Walter ended it. The boys had +been working in the motor boat, and had only now, after several hours, +succeeded in getting it to respond to their labors. The motor started +with a sound that "meant business," as Jack expressed it. + +"Let's go for a run," suggested Norton. + +"Better wait for the girls--it's their boat," returned Walter. + +"And we'd better pump some of the water out of her," added Jack. "She +leaks like a sieve." + +"Pump her out, and by the time the girls are here she'll be ready," spoke +Walter. + +"It was that carbureter all the while," declared Ed. "I knew it was!" + +"I was sure it was in the secondary coil," came from Jack. + +"And you couldn't make me believe but what it was one of the spark plugs," +was Norton's contribution. "But it was the carbureter, all right." + +"All wrong, you mean," half grumbled Walter, whose hands were covered with +grease and gasoline. "Some one had opened the needle valve too far." + +"Well, let's get busy with the pump," Jack said. "It's too nice to be +hanging around the float." + +The _Pet_ was soon in as good condition as hasty work could make her, and +on the arrival of the girls the whole party went out for a spin, though +they were a bit crowded. Cora was at the wheel, a position her right to +which none disputed. + +"I don't know these waters around here," she admitted, "but Rosalie said +there was a good depth nearly all over the Cove, even at low tide." + +"Rosalie being the mermaid?" asked Norton. "I should like to meet her." + +"I have asked her over to the bungalow," went on Cora. "But I warn you +that she is a very _sensible_ girl." + +"Meaning that I am not?" challenged Norton. + +"Not a girl--certainly," observed Jack. + +"Not sensible!" exclaimed Norton. + +"Don't give them an opening, boy," cautioned Ed. "You don't know these +girls as I do." + +"Don't flatter yourself," was the contribution from Bess. + +"Why don't you talk?" asked Jack of Belle. + +"She's too interested in how deep the water is, and wondering if she will +float as well as dripping Dick," mocked Eline. + +"I am not!" promptly answered Belle. "And just to show you that I'm not +afraid I'm going to try to swim as soon as we go in bathing." + +"Which will be to-morrow," said Cora. + +They motored about the bay, winding in and out among anchored and moving +craft. Cora was as adept at the wheel of the _Pet_ as she was at that of +the _Whirlwind_, and many admiring comments were made by other steersmen +in the Cove, though Cora knew it not. + +"She stood her land journey well," remarked Bess, as she noted how well +the engine was running. + +"But you should have seen the trouble we had," complained Walter. "We +thought she'd never go!" + +The day was lovely, and it was a temptation to stay out, but Cora was +wise enough not to remain too long on the water. Already the effect of the +hot sun was evident on the hands and faces of all, and the girls were +secretly wishing for some talcum powder. + +They went back to the float, arrangements having been made to dock the +_Petrel_ there. Then came a hasty meal and another spin. + +They were getting matters down to a system in the bungalows now--at least +the girls were. The boys lived haphazard, as they always did, and perhaps +always would. Mrs. Chester--Aunt Susan--in the absence of Mrs. Fordam, who +had returned home--assumed charge of Cora and her friends to the extent +of seeing that meals were ready on time. + +It was their third day at the coast, the time having been well +occupied--every hour of it almost--and the girls were out alone in the +_Pet_--the boys having gone fishing--when Cora observed a figure in a +red bathing suit near the lighthouse float waving to them. + +"Rosalie--the mermaid!" exclaimed Bess. "What can she want?" + +"Perhaps her little brother is in the water again," said Belle. + +"No, she doesn't seem excited enough for that," spoke Eline. + +"We'll go see," was Cora's decision. + +The _Pet_ circled up to the float and came to a stop at its side, not a +jar marring the landing. + +"Well done!" said Rosalie to Cora. "There are not many girls who can run +a motor boat like that." + +"I have had some practice," was the modest reply. + +"Father will be glad to see you," went on the mermaid, with a smile. "He +has just been polishing the light, and I know he'll be glad to show you +through." + +She glanced meaningly at Cora, who returned the look. + +"Welcome, ladies!" greeted Mr. Haley. "I'm real glad to see you. Visitors +are always welcome. Are you good climbers?" + +"Why?" asked Eline. + +"Because we have no elevator, and it's quite a step to the top of the +tower." + +"Oh, we can do it," Cora declared. + +They were shown through the light, and the keeper explained how, by means +of clock-work, propelled by heavy weights, the great lens was revolved, +making the flashing light. It turned every five seconds, sending out a +signal that all the mariners knew, each lighthouse being in a different +class, and the signals they gave, either fixed or stationary, being +calculated to distinguish different parts of the coast where danger lies. + +On their return to the neat parlor, on the appearance of which the girls +complimented Rosalie, who kept house for her father--his wife being +dead--Cora saw a photograph lying on the centre table. At the sight of +it she exclaimed: + +"That is she!" + +"Who? What do you mean?" cried Mr. Haley. "That is my sister!" + +"And it is the woman who was in our barn!" Cora said. "I have thought all +along it was. Now I am sure of it. Mr. Haley, I am sure I do not want to +pry into your family affairs, but your daughter said something about her +aunt being missing, and how worried you were. I am sure we have met her +since--since her trouble. Perhaps we can help you." + +"Oh, if you only could!" exclaimed the light keeper. "My poor sister! +Where can she be?" + +"Suppose you tell me a little about her, and then I--and my friends--can +decide whether the woman we met is the one pictured there," and Cora +passed the photograph to Bess. + +"There isn't much to tell," said the keeper of the light, slowly. "My +sister is a widow. After her husband died she went to Westport to work in +an office. She had been a clerk before her marriage. Everything seemed +to go well for a time and she occasionally wrote to me how much she liked +it. A friend of hers was in the same building. + +"Then my sister's letters ceased suddenly. I got worried and wrote to her +friend. I got an answer, saying there had been a robbery in the office +where my sister worked, and that my sister had disappeared. A young girl +left at the same time, and there was some doubt about the robbery, though +two men were mentioned as being concerned in it. But my poor sister must +have felt that they would suspect her--and she never would take a pin +belonging to anyone else. But she went away, and I've tried all means to +locate her, but I can't. It has me worried to death, nearly." + +"What was your sister's name?" asked Cora. + +"Margaret Raymond." + +"That is the same woman!" spoke Cora, firmly. "Oh, to think we didn't ask +her more about herself!" + +By degrees she and the other girls told the story of the woman in the +burning barn. They did not so much as hint of their first suspicions about +the fire. + +"And what was the name of the girl who worked in the office with her?" +asked Belle. + +"Nancy Ford," answered Mr. Haley. + +"There can be no doubt of it," declared Cora. "That settles it. What a +coincidence! That we should find her brother here!" + +"Oh, can you tell me where my sister is?" asked the light keeper. + +"I am very sorry, but she went away in a hurry from my house," said Cora, +"and we have not seen her since. We feel sure she was the woman the sheep +herder met that same night," and she told about that incident. + +"Bless that kind man--he helped her some, anyhow, and bless you girls," +said Mr. Haley, fervently. His eyes were moist, and those of the girls +were not altogether dry. + +"How can we trace her?" asked Bess. + +"The only way I see," spoke Cora, "is to write to the town toward which +she went after the sheep man saw her. The authorities there might give +some information." + +"I'll do it!" cried the light keeper, as he made a note of the place. "I +can't thank you enough." + +"Oh, we have done scarcely anything," answered Cora. "We wish it were much +more." + +Further details and forgotten incidents were mentioned as bearing on the +case, and then the girls departed in the boat. It was a little rough going +back, and the spray flew over them. + +"Isn't it strange?" observed Belle. + +"Very queer how it all turned out," agreed Eline. + +"Poor woman," said Cora. "I feel so sorry for her!" + +The boys remained out fishing nearly all day, and when they returned, not +having had exceptional luck, Cora took Jack to one side and asked: + +"What was the name of the girl you and Ed met on the road the time of our +break-down?" + +"She didn't say." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Of course, Sis. If I knew I'd have sent her a souvenir postal. What's +the answer?" + +"Oh, nothing, I thought perhaps she had mentioned it." + +"Nary a word. Did you have a nice ride?" + +"Yes, we went to the lighthouse. And, Jack, what do you think? That +woman--the one in our garage--is Mr. Haley's sister!" + +Jack was properly astonished, and he and the other boys listened with +interest to the story of the identification. + +"Say," drawled Norton, "if we find Nancy Ford and Mrs. Raymond we'll be +doing a good thing." + +"If," observed Ed, significantly. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BELLE SWIMS + + +The tide was just right. In their newest bathing suits the motor girls had +assembled on the beach in the hot sun. Their white arms and necks showed +the winter of indoors, but their faces had already taken on the tan of the +seaside. Soon arms and necks would be in accord. + +The boys were out on the float, splashing about, occasionally "shooting +the chutes" and diving from the pier. + +"Is the water cold?" asked Cora, going down to where the waves splashed on +the pebbles. Daintily she dipped in--just a toe. "How is it, Jack?" + +Jack was tumbling about near the beach like a porpoise. + +"Sw--swell!" he managed to gasp, the hesitancy being because a wave +insisted on looking at his tongue, or trying to scrub his already white +teeth--Cora could not decide which. + +"Is it really warm?" + +"Of course!" + +"It feels cold." + +"I know. That's because you stand there and stick one toe in. Get wet all +over and--you'll feel----" + +Jack was suddenly plunged under water by Walter, who had come swimming +up, so the sentence was not finished. But Cora could guess it. + +"I'm going in; come on, girls!" she cried. + +"Oh, wait a little," pleaded Belle. + +"And you said you were going to learn to swim to-day!" challenged Eline. +She looked particularly well in her dainty bathing costume. + +"Well, I--I didn't know the water would be so deep!" + +"Deep!" echoed Cora. "It's getting shallower all the while. The tide is +going out. Come on." + +She waded out a short distance, bravely repressing the spasmodic screams +that sprang to her lips, and turning to the others said: + +"It--it's--fi--fine--co--come on--in!" + +"Listen to her!" cried Bess. "It must be like a refrigerator to make her +stammer like that." + +"It is not," said Cora. "It--it's real--real warm--when you--you--get used +to it." + +"I have heard said," remarked Eline with studied calmness, "that one can +get used to anything--if one only makes up one's mind to it." + +"Come--come on----" + +Cora did not finish. A wave splashed up on her, taking her breath. Then, +resolving to get it over with, she strode out, threw herself under water +and a moment later was swimming beside Jack. + +"Cora's in!" exclaimed Bess. "I'm going too." + +"So am I," added Eline. "Come on, Belle!" + +Belle hesitated. + +"I can only swim a few strokes," she said. "I learned at Lake Dunkirk." + +"It's much easier in salt water than fresh," insisted Eline, taking hold +of Belle's arm. "Do try!" + +Hesitatingly Belle waded out into the water. She gasped and choked as the +chill struck through her, then, resolving to be brave, she plunged herself +under. She gasped more than ever, but did not give up. + +"You are doing fine!" cried Eline, as she struck out toward the float. + +Suddenly Belle screamed. + +"Are you going down?" asked Eline in alarm, yet they were not out beyond +their depth. + +"No, she's going up!" asserted Walter, who was swimming near by. + +"Don't make fun of her!" commanded Cora. + +"I'm not. She's making fun of herself." + +Again Belle screamed. + +"Oh! Oh!" she cried. "Something has me! I--I'm sure it's a lobster." + +"None of us boys missing!" joked Ed, as he splashed up. + +"Lobsters are worth forty cents a pound! Save that one! Save it!" +commanded Norton, as he came alongside with strong, even strokes. + +"Oh dear!" screamed Belle. + +She really seemed in distress, but something nerved her to strike out as +she never had before, and before she knew it she was swimming. + +A figure in red guided to her side--a veritable mermaid. It was the girl +from the lighthouse--Rosalie. + +"Take it slowly--you are doing lovely!" she commended. "You are swimming!" + +"Oh--Oh--I--I'm so glad!" cried Belle. "I've always wanted to, but they +said I--I would be afraid!" + +Rosalie was half supporting her, but really Belle was doing well, and +gaining confidence every minute. As the lighthouse maid swam past Cora +she managed to whisper: + +"Father wants to see you. Come over when you can. I think he has had some +word from Aunt Margaret." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +GATHERING CLOUDS + + +The word which the lighthouse keeper had received was rather indefinite. +It was a letter from his sister, but it only confirmed that which he +already knew. + +"And it doesn't give me any address where I can write to her!" he +complained when Cora had paid him a visit, in response to the invitation +given by Rosalie during the swim. "It's postmarked at--maybe you can see +it, my eye-sight isn't what it used to be," and he held the envelope out +to Cora. + +"Edmenton," she read. "That's in this State." + +"Yes, but what good would it do to write to her there?" he asked. "She +evidently doesn't want me to know where she is. Just read the letter, +Miss." + +It was not long and in effect said that Mrs. Raymond would not come back +to her relatives until she had found Nancy Ford, and cleared her name of +the suspicion on it. + +"Don't try to find me," wrote Mrs. Raymond, "as I am going from place +to place, working where I can. I am seeking Nancy. I thought she might +have gone back where she used to live, but I wrote there and she had not +arrived. I must search farther. I am doing fairly well, so don't worry +about me. Some folks have been very kind--especially some young ladies. +I will tell you about them when I see you, brother--if I ever do." + +"She must mean you--the time of the fire," said the light keeper. "I'm +sure I'm much obliged to you for befriending my sister." + +"Oh, it was nothing," protested Cora. "I wish we could have done more. I +am sure we could have, had she not gone off in such a hurry. But we can't +blame her, for she was very nervous and excited." + +"Poor Margaret," murmured Mr. Haley. "She was always that way. She tells +me not to worry--but I can't help it." + +"I suppose not," agreed Cora. "You might try writing to Edmenton. The +postmaster there might give you a clue, or tell you some one who could +give information." + +"I'll do it!" exclaimed the keeper of the light. "It will give me +something to do, anyhow," and he set to the task. + +Cora had called at the light alone, not knowing what the nature of the +communication might be that the keeper wished to make to her. It was the +day after Belle had bravely struck out for herself in the water. + +Cora said good-bye to Rosalie, who was busy about her household duties, +and waved to little Dick, who was playing on the beach. Then, getting into +the _Pet_ in which she had come to the lighthouse float, Cora turned the +bow toward the little dock at the foot of the slope on which the bungalows +were perched. + +"Well, you were gone long enough!" complained Jack when she got back. +"I've been waiting for you." + +"What for?" she asked. "Has anything happened?" + +"Nothing except that we fellows have heard of a motor boat we can hire +cheap for the season, and we want to run over and look at it. The fellow +who has it is on the other side of the Cove. Can I take the _Pet_?" + +"Certainly, Jack. We girls are going to the life-saving station, anyhow. +You'll be back before lunch; won't you?" + +"I should guess yes!" exclaimed Walter, who had come up. "We wouldn't miss +our rations for anything." + +Jack and his chums were soon speeding across the bay. There was quite a +sea on, for the wind was rising, and there seemed to be indications of a +storm. But a number of boats were out on the water, and the _Pet_ was a +staunch craft. Also, Jack and the other boys were able to manage her, and +all were excellent swimmers. + +Cora and the girls went on to the life-saving station not far from their +bungalow. They were much interested in the method of launching the boat, +and the captain explained how it would right itself if capsized, and also +bail out the water that entered in a storm. + +"What do you do when you can't launch a boat?" asked Belle. + +"Use the breeches buoy," answered the grizzled old salt. He showed how +by means of a mortar a line was fired aboard the wreck, and how, by a +sort of pulley arrangement, the persons in danger could, one at a time, be +pulled ashore, sitting in the "breeches buoy." + +"It's just like some of those apartment house clothes lines on high +poles," said Bess; "isn't it?" + +"I never heard it called that afore," remarked the captain of the coast +guard, "but I s'pose you could call it that if you was a mind to. If +you'll stay around a bit you'll see our drill." + +The girls were delighted, and eagerly watched while the mortar was fired, +the cylindrical shot carrying the line out to an imaginary wreck. Then +one man played the part of a shipwrecked mariner, and was hauled over +the sand, while Cora took several photographs of him. + +"We've got her!" exclaimed Jack, as the girls returned to the bungalow. +"She isn't much for looks, but she can beat the _Pet_!" + +"Who?" asked Cora, thinking of something else. + +"The motor boat we hired. Come on out and we'll give you a race." + +"Let's!" exclaimed Belle. + +"My, but you're getting brave!" observed Ed. "The time was when a race +frightened you even if you read of it in the papers." + +"I did not!" + +"She can swim now," commented Bess. + +Motor maids and motor boys went out on the bay in the two motor boats. +The craft Jack and his chums had hired was not very elegant, and she +seemed to be rather uncertain about starting, and when she did the engine +appeared to be protesting most of the while. But the boat made good time, +and though it did not really beat the _Pet_ (much to the disappointment of +boastful Jack) it kept well up with Cora's speedy craft. + +For a week or more the young people enjoyed to the utmost the life on the +coast. More people came to the little summer resort, and several social +affairs were arranged. + +There were swimming races, in which the girls and boys participated, even +Belle entering in the novice class. But she won no prize, nor did she +expect to. + +"I just wanted to show Jack Kimball that I didn't have to wear a life +preserver nor be anchored to the shore!" she declared with spirit. + +"I humbly beg your pardon!" said Jack, with a bow. + +Then there were motor boat races, in which the _Pet_ did herself proud, +coming in first in her class. The boys had great hopes of the _Duck_, +as they had re-named the boat they hired, but when they were doing +well, and not far from the finish line, with every prospect of winning, +something went wrong with the ignition, and they were out of it. + +There were affairs on shore too, several dances to which the girls and +boys went. Then there was a moving picture performance semi-occasionally, +and some other plays. Altogether the summer was a happy one, thus far. + +Nothing was heard of Mrs. Raymond, though her brother wrote a number of +letters, and of course the missing Nancy Ford was not located. Though Jack +and the boys insisted on staring at all the pretty strangers they met, +playfully insisting that Nancy might be one of them. + +"Of course she's bound to be good-looking," said Ed. + +"Naturally," agreed Jack. + +"How do you make that out?" Cora wanted to know. + +"Everybody named Nancy is good-looking," asserted Norton, with his lazy +drawl. + +The girls laughed at this reasoning. + +"Let's go for a long run to-day, Sis!" proposed Jack one morning, when +he called at the girls' bungalow. "We can take our lunch, run around the +lighthouse point, into the Cove on the other side, and have a good time. +There's said to be good fishing there, too." + +"I'll go if the others will," she agreed, and when she proposed it to them +the girls were enthusiastic about it. Soon two merry boatloads of young +people were speeding over the sun-lit waters of the Cove. + +"We have to go right out on the ocean; don't we?" asked Belle with a +little shiver as she looked ahead at the expanse of blue water. + +"Only for a little way," said Cora. "Just round the lighthouse point. Then +we're in another bay again." + +"Are you afraid?" asked Eline. + +"N--no," said Belle, bravely. + +As they went on the sky became overcast, and Cora looked anxiously at them. + +"I'm afraid it's going to storm, Jack," she said. + +"Not a bit of it!" he cried. "I'll ask this fisherman," and he did, +getting an opinion that there would be no storm that day. Reassured, they +went on. + +The sea was not a bit rough and even Belle's fears were quelled. They +went past the light, close enough to see Rosalie waving at them. High +up in the tower they could note Mr. Haley and his helper cleaning the +great lantern and lens. + +They reached the other bay in due time, but the gathering clouds grew more +menacing, and Cora was for putting back. + +"No," urged Jack. "Let's stay and eat our lunch. If it gets too rough we +can leave our boats here and walk back over the point. It isn't far." + +So the girls consented. The clouds continued to gather. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE STORM + + +"Jack Kimball, I knew we stayed too late! Now look over there!" and Cora +pointed to the west, where a bank of dark and angry-looking vapor piled +up in contrast to the lighter-hued clouds that had caused apprehension +earlier in the day. + +"That's right--blame it all on me--even if it rains!" protested Jack. "You +wanted to stay as much as we did, Sis." + +"Well, perhaps I did," admitted Cora. "But really we should not have +stayed so long. I am afraid we will be caught in the storm." + +"Do you really think so, Cora?" asked Belle, and she could not keep a +quaver out of her voice. + +"If I'm any judge we're in for a regular old----" + +"You're it, old man!" and Walter interrupted Ed, who was evidently on the +verge of making a dire prophecy concerning the weather. "Don't scare 'em +any more than you have to," went on Walter in a low voice, nodding at the +girls in the _Pet_. "We may have our hands full as it is." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Look at those clouds!" + +It was enough. Indeed all were now anxiously scanning the heavens that +seemed to grow blacker momentarily. The little party, after having had +lunch on the beach of the smaller cove, around the lighthouse point, were +now on their way back in the two motor boats, and Cora, with a look aloft, +had made the observation to Jack that opened this chapter. + +"Well, turn on all the gas you can, Sis, and we'll scud for it," called +Jack to his sister. "We may beat it out yet. If not, we can go ashore +almost any place." + +"Except on the rocks," spoke Cora. "The worst part will be round the +point, in the open sea." + +"Oh, we'll do it all right," asserted Norton, confidently. "The wind isn't +rising much." + +The boats were close enough together so that talking from one to the other +was easy. They were headed out toward the open sea, and as Cora guided +her craft she could not help anticipating apprehensively the heavy rollers +that would be encountered once they were out of the land-locked shelter. +But the bow of the _Pet_ was high. She was a good craft in rough weather, +and as for the hired _Duck_, she was built for those waters. + +"Let's be jolly!" proposed Jack, for a glance at the girls in their boat +had showed him that they were on the verge of hysterics. "Strike up a +song, Ed." + +"Give us Nancy Lee," suggested Walter. + +"Nancy!" exclaimed Cora. "I wonder where that other Nancy is?" + +"No telling," declared Eline. "Oh dear! I hope it doesn't rain. This dress +spots so!" and she looked down at her rather light gown, which really +she ought not to have worn on a water picnic. Cora had said as much, but +Eline--well, it must be confessed that she was rather vain. She had good +clothes and she liked to wear them, not always at appropriate times. + +"It won't rain!" asserted Jack. "Go ahead, Ed--sing!" + +"'Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep' would be most appropriate," voiced +Norton. "We are rocking some." + +It was indeed getting rougher, and the motor boats bobbed up and down on +the long swells. But as yet none had broken over the bows. Cora dreaded +this, not because of any particular danger, but because of the effect it +would have on her chums, particularly Belle, who, try as she might, could +not conquer her nervous dread of the water. + +The boys started a song, and the girls joined in, but a sudden dash of +spray over the _Pet's_ stem brought a scream from Belle that made a +discord, and they all stopped. + +Jack, who was steering the _Duck_, stood up and looked ahead. They were +approaching the point around which they must go to reach their own cove. + +"Can we do it, old man?" asked Walter, in a low voice. + +"We'll try," answered Jack, equally low. "If we give up now the girls will +get scared. We'll keep on a bit longer, and see where we come out." + +"Can't you get a bit nearer in shore?" asked Norton. + +"It's risky," said Jack. "It's low tide now, and while this old tub +doesn't draw much there are a lot of rocks here and there, sticking almost +up at low water. If we hit on one of them we'll be in the pot for fair. +The only thing to do is to stand out, and trust to luck. Once around the +point we'll be all right." + +"They're coming in," said Walter, nodding toward Cora and the others. + +"Keep out! Keep out!" cried Jack. "It's dangerous." + +"But the girls want to land!" cried his sister. + +"You can't now. The shore is too rocky. You'd pound her hull to pieces. +Keep on around the point. The storm won't break for half an hour yet." + +Rather reluctantly Cora put the wheel over. Yet she recognized the truth +of what Jack had said. It would be dangerous to go ashore there. And to +turn back was equally out of the question, since the wind was rising. It +was at their backs, and to turn in the heavy sea now running might mean +an upset. To face the waves, too, would be dangerous. The only chance lay +in keeping on. + +Jack's prophecy about the storm was not borne out. With a sudden burst of +wind, that whipped the salty spray of the waves over those in both boats, +and a sprinkle of rain that soon became a downpour, the tempest broke. + +The girls screamed, and tried to get under some bits of canvas that Cora +had brought along to cover the engine. But the wind was so strong, and +the rain so penetrating that it was of little avail. + +"Head her up into the waves!" cried Jack. "Take 'em bow on, Cora!" + +"Of course!" she shouted back, and gripped the wheel with tense fingers. + +A little later they were out on the heaving ocean. Fortunately the point +cut off some of the wind, and, having the gale at their backs helped +some. But the two motor craft, separated by some distance now, had no +easy time of it. + +"Oh--oh!" moaned Belle. + +"Be quiet!" commanded her sister. "Look at Eline!" + +Eline was calm--that is, comparatively so. + +"But--but she can swim better than I." + +"Swim! No one will have to swim!" said Cora, not turning around. "I +wonder what's the matter with that man?" and she pointed to one in a +dory, who seemed to be signalling for help. + +Then there came a further burst of the storm, and the rain came down +harder than ever. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE WRECK + + +"There must certainly be something the matter with that man!" exclaimed +Cora. She had fairly to shout to be heard above the noise of the wind and +rain. + +"Well, we daren't stop to see what it is," said Belle. "Oh, do go faster, +Cora! Get in quiet water! I am getting seasick!" + +"Don't you dare!" cried Bess. "Think of--lemons!" + +"I'm going to see what is the matter," declared Cora. "He's waving to us!" + +"What about the boys?" asked Eline. + +"They don't seem to see him. Besides, they're past him now, and it would +be risky to turn back. I can easily pass near him." + +The man, who was in a power-driven dory, was waving and shouting now, but +the wind carried his words away. He seemed to be in some difficulty. + +"Why doesn't he row in out of the storm?" asked Bess. + +"Perhaps he has lost his oars," suggested Eline. + +"Maybe that is the trouble," remarked Cora. "Well, we'll soon see." + +She changed the course of the _Pet_, though it was a bit risky for the +seas were quartering now, and the spray came aboard in salty sheets. But +the girls could not get much wetter. + +Cora slowed down her engine by means of a throttle control that extended +up near the wheel. She veered in toward the tossing dory. + +"What is it?" she cried. "What's the matter?" + +"Out of gasoline! Can you lend me a bit so I can run in? I came out to +lift my lobster pots, but it's too rough." + +"Gasoline? Yes, we have plenty," said Cora. "I'll give you some." + +"Don't come too close!" warned the fisherman. "Can you put it in a can +and toss it to me? That's the best way." + +"I'll try," promised Cora, as she cut off all power. The _Pet_ was now +drifting, rising and falling on the swells. Belle looked very pale, and +Bess was holding her. + +"Find something, and run some gasoline into it from the carbureter drip," +directed Cora, as she clung to the wheel. + +"What shall I find?" asked Bess. + +"Would an empty olive bottle do?" asked Eline. + +"The very thing!" cried Cora. "Has it a cork?" + +"Yes, and one olive in it." + +"Throw out the olive, and poke your handkerchief down in the bottle to +dry it out before you put in the gasoline. Even a drop of the salt water +the olives come in will make trouble in the gasoline. Hurry!" + +"Look out!" cried the fisherman. "Fend off!" + +"You'd better do it!" directed Cora. "We have no boat hook!" + +"All right, I'll attend to it." + +The two boats were drifting dangerously close together. The fisherman +caught up an oar he carried for emergencies, and skillfully fended off +the _Pet_, which was drifting down on him. In the meanwhile Bess, with the +help of Eline, had dried out the olive bottle, and had filled it with +gasoline. + +"What shall I do with it?" she asked Cora. + +"Throw it to the man." + +"I never can throw it." + +"Then give it to me," and, holding to the wheel with one hand, with the +other Cora tossed over the bottle of gasoline. The lobsterman caught it, +called his thanks and gave the _Pet_ a final shove that carried her past +him. + +"Can you crank her?" asked Cora to Bess, nodding toward the engine. + +"I'll try!" + +It needed three tries, but finally the motor started, and the boat surged +forward again. Cora, bringing her head up to the seas, noted that Jack +had started to turn around to come back to her, but, seeing that the _Pet_ +was under way again, had gone on his own course. + +The wind continued to blow, the rain never ceased and the storm increased +apace. But finally, after a battle with the elements that made the hearts +of the girls quail, they passed the lighthouse point, and shot around +into the quiet and wind-protected waters of the bay. A little later they +were chugging into the even calmer cove. + +"Oh Cora! So frightened as I have been!" exclaimed Aunt Susan, as the +dripping girls trooped up the hill to the bungalow. "Oh, what a storm!" + +"But we weathered it!" laughed Cora, shaking back her damp hair. "It was +a bit scary at first, but we came out all right. It was fun at the finish." + +"I'm never going out again when it's cloudy!" declared Belle. "Never!" + +"Oh, you'll get used to it," said Eline. + +Dry garments, hot tea, and supper coming in the order named restored in +the girls their natural happy dispositions. But the storm continued. It +grew worse as darkness advanced, and the wind rose to a gale. The rain +came down in torrents, and the boys, in spite of rain coats and umbrellas, +were drenched a second time in the short trip from their bungalow to +that of the girls, when they came to pay a visit. + +"It's a wild night," declared Jack, as he and his chums got ready to go +back, about ten o'clock. + +"There must be quite a sea on," said Ed. + +"I wouldn't want to be out in it," remarked Walter. + +"And I beg to be excused," came from Norton. + +"Think of the poor sailors," said Eline, softly. + +"I tell you what I'd like to do," observed Jack. + +"What?" Ed wanted to know. + +"Go over to the lighthouse. It must be great up in the lantern room in +a storm like this." + +"Don't you dare to go!" cried Cora. "It might blow away." + +"No danger," said Jack with a laugh. "But I'm not going. Another thing +we might do." + +"What?" demanded Norton. + +"Go out and find a beach patrol. We could walk up and down with him, and +maybe sight a wreck." + +"Oh, don't speak of a wreck!" begged Bess. "A wreck on such a night would +be dreadful." + +"This is just the kind of a night when they have wrecks," observed Ed, +as a blast of wind and rain shook the bungalow. + +As the boys were going out into the storm there came a dull report, +reverberating on the night air. + +"What was that?" gasped Cora. + +"Sounded like a gun," said Jack. "Maybe a ship at sea----" + +There was a flash in the sky. It was not lightning, for there was no +thunder storm. + +"See!" exclaimed Eline. + +"The lighthouse," ventured Norton. + +"The light is over there," and Ed pointed to the flashing beacon in a +different direction. + +"Then it's a rocket from some ship in danger," declared Walter. "There +goes another!" + +It was unmistakably a rocket that went cleaving through the blackness. +It came from off the lighthouse point. + +"Some ship is in danger, or maybe off her course," spoke Jack. "Well, we +can't do anything, and there's no use getting any wetter. Come on to bed, +fellows." + +"Oh, the poor people--if that is a wreck," murmured Bess. + +"If it was only daylight we might witness some rescues," said Cora. "But +at least let us hope it is nothing serious." + +It was Rosalie who brought the news next morning. Through the driving +rain she came to the girls' bungalow, her face peering out from beneath a +sou'wester that was tied under her chin, her feet barely visible beneath +the yellow oilskin coat. + +"There's a wreck ashore!" she cried. "I thought maybe you might like to +see it! It's out in front of our light, and they're bringing the crew +ashore!" + +"Can they save them?" asked Cora, clasping her hands. + +"Most of 'em, I guess. Want to come?" + +"Of course we'll go!" cried Eline. "The boys won't want to miss this!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE RESCUE + + +Green masses of foam-capped water hurling themselves on the +sand--thundering and pounding. A spray that whipped into your face with +the sting of a lash. The wind howling overhead and picking up handfuls of +wet sand, scattering them about to add to the bite of the salt water. +The rain pelting down in torrents. A dull boom, repeated again and +again. The hissing of the breakers. And, out in the midst, out in a +smother of water, gripped on the sharp rocks that now and then could be +seen raising their black teeth through the white foam was the ship--a +wreck. + +It was this scene that Cora, the other girls, and the boys saw as they +hurried out to the lighthouse point. And it was one they never forgot. + +They had hurried out when Rosalie brought the news that in the storm of +the night a three-masted auxiliary schooner had come too far inshore +despite the warning of the light. + +"Father was up all night tending the lantern, too!" she shouted--she had +to shout to be heard above the roar. "I helped him," she added. "But in +spite of it the schooner worked in. She couldn't seem to steer properly. +We could see her red and green lights once in a while. Then the current +caught her and nothing could save her. She went right on the rocks. Her +back's broke, Captain Meeker of the life guards said." + +"Can they save the people?" Cora inquired, as she pulled her raincoat more +tightly about her, for the wind seemed fairly to whip open the buttons. + +"They're going to try," answered the lighthouse maid. "They got some of +'em off in the motor life-boat early this morning, but it's too rough for +that now." + +"What are they going to do, then?" asked Bess. + +"Use the breeches buoy. It's the only way now!" cried Rosalie. "They're +going to fire a line over soon." + +"We don't want to miss that," declared Jack. + +The wreck had gone on the rocks nearly opposite the lighthouse that +guarded them. In this case the guardianship had been in vain, and the sea +was hastening to wreak further havoc on the gallant ship. + +The boys and girls trudged down to the beach through sand that clung to +their feet. They could see the life-savers getting their apparatus in +order, and near them were huddled some men--evidently sailors. + +"Those are the men who were rescued from the ship," said Rosalie. "There +are more on board, and some passengers, I heard. Some women and children, +too!" + +"How terrible!" gasped Belle. "Oh, I don't see how any one can take a long +voyage. I am so afraid of the water." + +"I don't blame you--not when it acts this way," spoke Eline. "It makes +me shudder!" + +The big green waves seemed to be reaching hungrily out for those on the +strand, as though not satisfied with having wrecked the ship. The waters +fairly flung themselves at the men whose seemingly puny efforts were being +directed to save those yet remaining on board. + +"Is the ship's captain among them?" asked Walter, pointing to the group +of sailors. + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Rosalie. "He'll be the last one to leave. They're +always like that. My father was a captain once," and she seemed proud of +the fact, though now she was glad that her father was safe in the staunch +lighthouse. + +"That's so, I forgot," remarked Walter. "The captain is always the last +to leave." + +"But I thought women and children came first in a rescue at sea," +suggested Ed. + +"The women and girls--I heard there were some girls," went on Rosalie, +"wouldn't get in the boat. They were afraid. Of course the breeches buoy +is safer, but look how they have to wait. She may go to pieces any time +now." + +"It's dreadful," said Cora, in a low voice. + +She and her companions drew closer to where the life-savers were at +work. The boys and girls were wet, for the rain penetrated through coats, +and umbrellas were impossible. But they did not mind this, and Mrs. +Chester had promised to have hot coffee for them when they got back to +the bungalow. She had refused to go out to look at the wreck. + +"I just couldn't bear it!" she had exclaimed with a shudder. + +The guards were burying in the sand a heavy anchor to which the main +rope of the breeches buoy would be fastened. The other end would be made +fast to the highest part of the ship, so that the person being pulled +ashore in the carrier would be as far above the waves as possible. The +three masts had been broken off, but the jagged stump of one stuck up, +and could be seen when there came a momentary lull in the rain. + +It was not very cold, though much of the heat of summer had been +dissipated in the cool rain. + +"If it was winter, how terrible it would be," said Eline. "Sometimes I +have seen lake steamers just a mass of ice." + +"Yes, there is something to be thankful for," Cora agreed. "Oh, they are +going to fire, I think." + +She pointed to where some of the men were setting the mortar, or small +cannon, which is discharged to send a line to stranded ships. The mortar +fires a long, round piece of iron, to which is fastened a light, but +strong, line. When this falls aboard the vessel a stronger rope is hauled +from shore by means of it. + +"Yes, they're going to shoot!" agreed Jack. "They must have trouble +keeping their powder dry." + +Bess covered her ears with her hands and cried: + +"Oh, if they're going to fire I'm going to run!" + +"Silly! It won't make much noise!" exclaimed Norton. "They don't use a +heavy charge." + +"I don't care. I'm going to----" + +But Bess did not have time to do anything, for at that moment the captain +pulled the lanyard that set off the mortar. The report was loud enough, +though partly smothered by the storm. + +"It fell short!" exclaimed Rosalie, who was watching intently. "See, it +fell into the water!" + +"Does that mean they can't make the rescue?" asked Belle, in an awed voice. + +"Oh, no, they'll fire again," answered Rosalie. + +A guard was hauling in on the line, which had the weight attached to it. +Soon it was in the mortar again, the line coiled beside it in a box in +a peculiar manner to prevent tangling. + +Once more the shot was fired. + +"There it goes! It's going to land this time!" shouted Rosalie in her +excitement. A shout from the group of rescued seamen, in which the life +guards joined, told that the shot had gone true. + +Then began a busy time--not that the men had not worked hard before. But +there was need of much haste now, for it was feared the vessel would break +up. Quickly the heavy line was sent out and made fast. Then the breeches +buoy was rigged, and in a little while a woman was hauled in from the +wreck. + +"Poor thing!" murmured Cora. "We must help her. She is drenched." + +"Yes, we must do something!" cried Belle. + +"We'll take her up to our kitchen," proposed Rosalie. "There's a good fire +there, and I'll make coffee." + +The woman was helped out of the buoy, and the motor girls went to her +assistance. She seemed very grateful. She was the wife of one of the +mates, and he was not yet rescued. + +"I will stay here until Harry comes ashore!" she declared, firmly. + +"And you know he won't come, Mrs. Madden, until the rest of the women is +saved," explained one of the seamen. "Go with the young ladies. That is +best," and she finally consented. + +In a short time several other women and two girls came ashore, one much +exhausted. But by this time a physician had arrived, and he attended to +her in the lighthouse. + +Then the remainder of the sailors were brought from the wreck, the first +one to get ashore reporting that no more women or girls remained aboard. + +"There was one girl," he said, "but she seems to have disappeared." + +"Washed overboard?" asked Cora, with a gasp. + +"I'm afraid so, miss. It's a terrible storm." + +Finally the captain himself was hauled off, and he landed amid cheers +from the brave men who had helped save him. He said the vessel was now +abandoned, and would not last another hour. In less than that time the +wreck was observed to have changed its position. + +Then amid the upheaval of the mighty seas the ship broke in two and was +soon pounded into shreds of wood by the terrible power of the storm-swept +ocean. + +The shipwrecked ones were cared for among the different fishermen, some +staying in the lighthouse and some in the quarters of the life-savers. +The storm kept up harder than ever, and soon Cora and her friends decided +that it would be unwise to stay out longer in it. So they sought their +bungalows. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE FLOATING SPARS + + +Calm followed after the storm. The sea was sullen, and great waves broke +on the beach, but the rain had ceased, and the wind had almost died out. +But the tide heaved and seemed to moan, as though in sorrow for what it +had done. + +It was the morning after the wreck, and Cora and the girls had gone to +the lighthouse to look out over the ocean. All vestige of the schooner +had disappeared. The sea had eaten her up. + +"Where are the boys?" asked Eline, as she walked along beside Bess. The +girls had on rather make-shift garments, for they had become so drenched +in the rain that their clothes needed drying. + +"I guess they are--pressing their trousers," remarked Cora. "Jack said he +was going to, anyhow." + +"Vain creatures!" mocked Bess. + +"I noticed you doing your hair up more elaborately than usual," remarked +Belle, with a glance at her sister. + +"Oh, well, no wonder. It looked frightful--all wet as it was." + +"Vain creatures--all of us," murmured Cora. + +"Then the boys won't be out for some time," suggested Eline. + +"I think not," answered Jack's sister. "I wonder what has become of all +the shipwrecked people?" + +"A good many of them went on to New York last night," said Belle. "I met +Rosalie early this morning and she said only two of the women were over +at her place now. How did so many women, and those girls, come to be on +the schooner?" + +"It was a sort of excursion party," explained Cora. "The schooner had an +auxiliary gasoline engine. The company that owns it does a small freight +business, and also takes passengers who like to go for a cruise. It seems +that a party was made up, and tickets sold. Quite a number of women and +girls, as well as some men, went along." + +"I guess they are sorry they did," said Belle. "Oh, the dreadful sea. I'm +never going in bathing again." + +"Oh, it's safe in Sandy Point Cove," exclaimed Eline. + +"I wonder what happened to the missing girl?" asked Bess. + +"Missing girl?" echoed Belle. + +"Yes. Didn't you hear one of the sailors say a girl was missing--perhaps +swept overboard?" + +"Oh yes! Poor thing!" and Cora sighed. "She may be--out--there!" and she +waved her hand to the heaving ocean. + +The girls were on the beach where the rescue had been made. The waves were +still pounding away, but a life-guard who went past on his patrol remarked: + +"She'll be down a lot by night." + +"Were any of your friends hurt?" asked Belle. + +"Working yesterday, you mean, miss?" + +"Yes." + +"No. Bill Smith got his hand jammed a bit, but that was all. We get used +to rough treatment." + +"I suppose so. The sea is very rough--it's cruel." + +"Not always, miss. If you could see it--as I often do--all blue under the +sun, and shimmering like--like your hair, miss, if I may be so bold, and +with the gulls wheeling about, and dipping down into it--why, miss, you'd +say the sea was beautiful--that's it--just beautiful." + +"Oh, but it's so often the other way--terrible--hideous!" murmured Belle, +who seemed strangely affected. + +"No, miss, begging your pardon. Even in a storm I love the sea. It it's +just grand, miss!" + +"Well, I'm glad you can think so. I can't. It makes me--shiver!" and a fit +of trembling seized her. + +The girls walked on. Some refuse--bits of wood and part of the cargo from +the wreck--was coming ashore. The girls continued on down the strand, now +and then venturing too close to the water, and being compelled to run back +when a higher wave than usual rushed up the shingle. + +"I wonder if we couldn't go out in the boat?" spoke Cora at length. + +"Don't you dare suggest such a thing--to me!" cried Belle. "I'll never go +out again--after that terrible wreck!" + +"But I don't mean out on the ocean," said Cora. "I mean just around the +cove. It isn't at all rough there, and you won't mind it a bit." + +"Do come!" begged Eline. + +"There isn't a bit of danger," urged Bess. "Why, you've often been out +when there was more sea than this." + +"But not so soon after a wreck." + +"What has that to do with it?" Cora wanted to know. "The wreck is over. +It wasn't a bad one, except that the ship was lost. All the people were +saved. I think it was wonderful." + +"All but that poor girl," murmured Belle. + +"Well, we can't even be sure there was such a person," remarked Eline. +"It was only a rumor, and really, Rosalie said the captain could account +for everyone." + +"You never can tell when there are a number of people," supplemented Cora. +"Perhaps this girl had her name down on the list, and, after all, did +not go. Then, when she was looked for, and not found, they jumped to the +conclusion that she had gone overboard. I've often read of such cases." + +"So have I," declared Bess. "Come on, Belle. Let's go for a ride. It will +do us all good." + +"Oh, well, I don't want to be a spoil-sport I'll go; but, Cora, dear, you +must take along a couple of life preservers." + +"A dozen if you like, Belle." + +"And you'll promise not to go outside the bay--you'll stay where it's +calm?" + +"I promise!" exclaimed Cora, raising her right hand. + +Rosalie came out of the lighthouse in her bathing suit. + +"That girl fairly lives in the water," said Eline. + +"If I could swim as she does I would too," spoke Bess. + +"Hello!" called Rosalie, genially. "Isn't it lovely after the storm?" + +"Yes," said Cora. "Have they heard anything more about the missing girl?" + +"No. And no one seems to know who she was. Are you going for a spin?" + +"We thought of it. Would you like to come?" + +"I'd just love it! Only I haven't time to change, perhaps, and I don't +want to----" + +"Come just as you are--in your bathing suit," invited Cora, and Rosalie +did. + +The boys must have finished pressing their trousers, or attending to +whatever part of the personal attire needed attention, for when the +girls got back to the float, and were getting the _Pet_ in shape for +a spin, Jack and Ed hurried down to look over the _Duck_. Both boats +needed pumping out, for the water had rained in, and Walter and Norton +were good enough to attend to this tiresome work for the girls. + +Soon the two craft were moving over the sparkling waters of the Cove, +which seemed to be trying to make up for what the sea had done the day +before. + +The boats kept close together, and talk and gay laughter passed back and +forth. Then Jack and his chums, declaring they were going to see how +far out toward the sea they could venture with safety, speeded up and +left Cora and the girls in the _Pet_ somewhat behind. But they did not +mind--in fact, Belle insisted on keeping in safe waters. Nor was Cora +averse to this. + +The girls had been cruising about for perhaps an hour when Eline called: + +"What is that over there?" + +She pointed to a dark mass on the surface of the bay. Rosalie stood up to +look. + +"It's a lot of spars lashed together," she reported. "A sort of raft. +Maybe it is from the wrecked vessel." + +"Then if it's a raft there is some one on it!" cried Eline. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +SAFE ASHORE + + +"It's a girl!" + +It was Cora who said this as the motor boat drew close to the floating +logs. + +"A girl!" echoed Belle. + +"Yes; can't you see her long hair?" + +All the girls were standing up--even Cora, who had to bend over to +maintain her grip on the steering wheel. They all peered anxiously +toward the floating object. + +Certainly that was a figure on it--a figure of a girl--sea-drenched and +washed over by each succeeding wave. + +"She's tied fast to that raft!" cried Bess. + +"And her head is up on a sort of box--that keeps her mouth out of the +water," added Eline. "Oh, but she looks----" + +"Don't say it!" commanded Cora, sharply, and Eline stopped. + +"Oh, if only the boys were here!" breathed Bess. "They could help us--help +her," and she motioned to the limp figure on the raft. + +"We don't need the boys!" exclaimed Cora, sharply. "We can make the rescue +ourselves. That is if----" + +"Don't say it!" commanded Eline, thus "getting back" at Cora. + +"Oh, do steer over there!" begged Bess, as Cora did not seem to be +bringing the motor boat quickly enough toward the raft of spars. "We must +get to her!" + +"I am going to," answered Cora. + +"Oh, do you suppose she can be from the wreck?" asked Belle. + +"I think very likely," spoke Cora. + +"Those spars--they are from the ship," declared Rosalie. "They are broken +pieces of the masts, perhaps. Some one must have made a raft before the +vessel broke up, and she lashed herself to it. I have often heard my +father tell of such things." + +"Oh, do get her, Cora!" exclaimed Belle, clasping her hands. + +"Don't go too close," warned the lighthouse maid. "Some of those spars +have jagged ends, and a bump would mean a hole in your boat, Miss Kimball." + +"Don't, for mercy's sake!" voiced Bess, clutching Cora's arm. + +"And don't you do that to my arm or I can't steer," came the retort. "I'll +be careful." + +As the motor boat came nearer the girls could see more plainly the figure +on the raft. It was that of a young girl, with light hair, that was now +darkened by the sea water. She seemed to have wrapped herself in some +blankets, or rugs, tying them about her waist, and then had lashed herself +fast to the spars, or some seaman had done it for her. + +She sat with her head against a box, which seemed to be nailed to the +raft, and several turns of rope were passed about this in such a manner +as to maintain the girl in a half-reclining position. + +The waves broke over the lower part of her body, but her head was out of +the water, though whether this had been the case when the raft was in the +open sea was a question. Clearly much water must have washed over the +raft, and perhaps the buffeting of the waves had rendered her unconscious. + +"Look out!" warned Rosalie, as Cora sent the boat in a graceful sweep +toward the raft. "Don't go any nearer." + +"But we must save her!" + +"Then let me try. I'll dive overboard and swim to the raft. Then I can +loosen the ropes and we'll see what can be done toward getting her aboard. +But be careful of your boat." + +It was good advice and Cora followed it. Rosalie stood on the stern, +poised for a moment as Cora cut down the speed, and then gracefully dived +overboard. + +Up she came, shaking the water from her eyes, and struck out for the raft + +"She's alive--and--that's all!" called Rosalie to the girls in the motor +boat, as she bent over the one on the raft. "We must get her to a doctor +quick!" + +"How can we get her into the boat?" asked Cora. + +"I'll loosen the ropes, and then you can come up on this side. The spars +are smooth here and your boat won't be damaged!" + +"Poor creature!" murmured Belle, as she watched Rosalie in her dripping +bathing suit bending over the girl on the raft. + +The ropes were soon loosed, and then, with no small skill, Cora brought +the _Pet_ alongside the raft. It was not an easy matter to get the limp +and unconscious figure into the boat, but the girls managed it. + +"Now for shore and the doctor!" cried Eline. + +"Here is her valise," called Rosalie, casting loose a rope that held a +small suit case to the raft. "May as well take that, but I guess the +things in it are pretty well soaked. She must have been adrift ever since +the wreck went to pieces." + +She tossed the bag into the boat, and clambered in herself. Then Cora +steered away from the raft, as Belle started the motor. They covered the +rescued girl with her own wet rugs--it was all they could do. She was +breathing--that was all. + +Half an hour later they were safe ashore, and two fishermen on the beach +had carried the girl up to the bungalow. A doctor was telephoned for in +haste. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A SURPRISE + + +"Poor, poor girl!" murmured Cora. She was bending over the unknown who +had been rescued from the raft. The girl lay in a stupor on a couch in +the living room, having been made as comfortable as possible under the +circumstances, the girls having ministered to her with the aid of Mrs. +Chester. + +"I wonder who she can be?" said Belle. + +"We shall have to interview some of those who were saved from the wreck," +spoke Bess. "One or two of the women, and two of the men are still here, +staying with some of the fishermen, I think." + +"They might know," remarked Eline, "but if we could look at the passenger +list that would tell." + +"Where could we get it?" asked Cora. + +"The captain may have saved it, but of course he is gone. Perhaps he took +it with him." + +"I'll ask my father," said Rosalie. "The captain may have left it, or a +copy of it, at the lighthouse. I'll ask Daddy." + +The lighthouse maid had gotten out of her bathing suit on the arrival +of the motor boat in the cove, and, in her ordinary attire had come +over to the bungalow where the rescued girl was still in a state of +unconsciousness. + +"That will be a good idea," said Cora. "I wish you would. But I don't see +why that doctor doesn't hurry. Perhaps we had better telephone again." + +"I'll do it," offered Belle. "But perhaps we ought to try and revive her +ourselves--some ammonia--" and she looked at Cora questioningly. + +"I had rather not," was the answer. "We don't know what injury we might +do her. She may have been struck on the head, or something like that. I +had rather a doctor would examine her. Poor creature. Who can she be?" + +No one could tell. The strange girl was pretty, and her light brown hair, +now drying out, clustered around her pale face that looked so much like +death that the motor girls were greatly affected by it. + +"Her people must be terribly worried about her," said Eline, softly. +"Just think of it! They will read of the wreck in the newspapers, and +see the list of those saved. Her name will not be among them, and they +will think her drowned." + +"That is so," agreed Cora. "Oh, why doesn't that doctor hurry? If we could +revive her she would tell her name and we could notify her folks. I've a +good notion----" + +Cora started for the telephone just as the bell rang. Cora snapped the +receiver down from the hook. + +"Yes--yes!" the others heard her say eagerly. "Oh, that is too bad! Your +car has broken down while you were coming here? Yes, of course we want +you! We have a strange case here. Wait! I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll +come for you in my own car!" + +Cora turned to her friends. + +"Just think of it!" she cried. "Dr. Brown's car broke down while he was +on his way here. He's over at Siconset and I'll go over and get him." + +"Then take our car!" suggested Bess. "It's just been filled with oil and +gasoline. Yours may not have any in." + +"I will, thank you. You come with me, Bess; Belle and Eline can look after +things until we get back. It isn't far." + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed Belle. "What--what will I do if she wakes up?" + +"Oh, don't be nervous!" exclaimed Cora, vigorously. "If she comes to her +senses so much the better. Get her something warm to drink. She may be +starving." + +"Very likely she is," said Mrs. Chester. "Run along, Cora. We'll look +after things here. Bring the doctor as soon as you can." + +Outside Cora found Jack and the other boys anxiously waiting news of what +was going on. They cried: + +"Who is she?" + +"Has she come to yet?" + +"How did she happen to be on the raft?" + +"Has she told you her story?" + +"I can't stop to talk now!" she replied. "I've got to go for the doctor. +Jack, be a good boy, and run the _Flyaway_ out for me. Bess and I are +going in that for Dr. Brown. He----" + +"Didn't you telephone for him long ago?" + +"Yes, but his car broke down." + +"I see. I'll have the flyer here in a minute. Don't you want my car? It's +lighter." + +"Or mine?" asked Norton eagerly, anxious to be of some service. + +"Thank you both--no. Bess and I will make out all right. We don't know +who the girl is, nor what's the matter. Get the car, Jack, do." + +The boys, who had come back from their little trip shortly after the girls +had made the strange rescue, talked about the happening, while Jack ran +the _Flyaway_ out from the shed where it was kept with the other cars. +Soon Cora and Bess were on their way to pick up the physician. + +"She must have received a blow on the head. That is the only way I can +account for her long stupor. Or perhaps she has received some severe +mental shock. Of course the exposure and the fright of the wreck would +add to it." + +It was Dr. Brown who spoke this way after examining the girl from the +raft. Cora and Bess had made good time to get the medical man and bring +him back to the bungalow. + +"But she is coming around now," went on the physician. "We will have her +opening her eyes in a moment." + +"Perhaps the sight of this may help her when she begins to come to her +senses," suggested Rosalie, bringing in the suitcase that had been on +the raft with the girl. "She seemed to value it very much, to take it +with her in the time of the excitement of the wreck," she went on. The bag +had been lost sight of in the confusion of bringing the strange girl to +the bungalow and in sending for the doctor. In fact, the other girls had +almost forgotten that such a thing existed. + +Rosalie now brought it in, sodden and damp from the sea water. She placed +it on the floor near the couch on which the girl lay. + +Idly Cora glanced at the suitcase. Some letters on it caught her eyes. +They were partly obliterated, either by abrasion, or the action of the +sea water, but Cora could see that they formed a name. She leaned forward, +and read half aloud: + + "Nancy Ford." + +"Girls! Girls!" Cora exclaimed. "Look--we have found her--the missing girl +that Mrs. Raymond wanted so much to find. Nancy Ford! There she is!" and +she pointed to the girl on the couch. + +"Nancy Ford!" repeated Belle. "Who----" + +"You don't mean to say you don't remember?" cried Cora. "The fire in our +garage--the strange woman--the story she told--of the robbers--of Nancy +Ford disappearing. There is Nancy Ford!" + +"Look! her name is on the valise!" Cora pointed a slightly-trembling +finger at it. "She is our waif from the sea. Oh, if she will explain +things--if only everything is all right--and we could find Mrs. Raymond!" + +"Perhaps--perhaps the missing money is in--that bag, girls!" whispered +Belle. + +The doctor turned around. + +"Please keep a little quiet," he suggested. "She will revive in a few +seconds, and I don't want her to have too much of a shock. She will be +all right, I think." + +"To think that we have found Nancy Ford!" exclaimed Cora in a tense +voice, but the room was so silent just then that it sounded louder than +it otherwise would have done. + +"Who is calling me?" came suddenly from the girl on the sofa. She sat up, +looked around with big, staring eyes, in which the wonder grew as she +noted the room and those in it. + +"Who said Nancy Ford?" she demanded again. + +"Easy, my dear, easy," said Dr. Brown, softly. "You are with friends and +you are all right. Drink this," and he held some medicine to her lips. +The girl drank unresistingly and then lay back again on the pillows. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE STORY OF NANCY FORD + + +"When do you think we can talk to her--question her?" asked Cora of Dr. +Brown. It was some hours after Nancy had regained her senses. She had been +fed some nourishing broth, and moved into a spare bedroom, where she was +made comfortable. + +"Is it absolutely necessary to question her?" the physician asked in turn. + +"It seems to be important," returned Cora. "If she is really Nancy Ford a +great deal depends on it. She may be able to clear the name of a woman who +has suffered much. If we could question her, learn her story, we might be +able to help both her and the woman in question, Mrs. Raymond, who is a +sister of Mr. Haley." + +"Oh, yes, the light keeper. I understood there was some mystery about his +sister." + +"She has disappeared, and is searching for this very girl we rescued from +the sea," went on Cora. "I do not wish to make her ill, or disturb her, +but if we could hear her story we might be able to act." + +"Hum, yes!" mused Dr. Brown. "Well, I think by evening she will be strong +enough to talk. I want her to rest now. Yes, you may question her then. I +shall leave some medicine for her, but principally she needs rest, and +light but nourishing food. There is nothing serious the matter with her. +She has received no injury that I can find. The shock and the fright +caused her to lose her senses--that and being almost starved." + +"Poor girl! Out all alone--all night--on the ocean on that raft," remarked +Cora. + +"I should have died!" sighed Belle. + +"Oh, human nature can stand more than we think," spoke the doctor. "Well, +I must be going. I don't know how I am to get around without my car." + +"Use mine!" offered Jack, quickly. "I shan't need it. The old _Get There_ +needs running to keep her in good humor." + +"Very well, I will, and thank you." + +Dr. Brown looked in on his patient. + +"She is sleeping," he said. + +"That is good," murmured Cora. "But, oh! I do wish we could hear her +story." + +"The fellows are anxious, too," said Jack, he being alone allowed in his +sister's bungalow at this time. + +There was a period of anxious waiting by Cora and her friends. Rosalie +had gone back to the lighthouse to see if there was a duplicate list +of the passengers on the wrecked schooner. She had come back to report +that her father had none, and did not know where one could be obtained. +The few members of the ship's company remaining in the village could +throw no light on the waif of the sea who had been so strangely picked up. +Undoubtedly she was the girl supposed to have been washed overboard. + +"She is asking for you," reported Mrs. Chester, coming from the room of +the girl that evening after supper. "She wants you, Cora." + +"Are you sure she said me, Aunt Susan?" + +"Yes, she described you. She seems to be worried about something." + +"I will see her." + +Cora went into the room softly. The girl--Nancy Ford--to give her the name +on her valise, which had not been opened, was propped up amid the pillows. +She had some color in her cheeks now, and there was eager excitement in +her eyes. + +"How are you--Nancy Ford?" greeted Cora, pleasantly. + +"I am not Nancy Ford--how--how--why do you call me that name?" + +"It is on your valise." + +The girl started. + +"My valise! Oh, yes! Was that saved? Oh, dear, I am so miserable! Yes, I +am Nancy Ford. I don't know why I said I was not. But I have been in such +trouble--I haven't a friend in the world, and--and----" + +She burst into tears. + +Instantly Cora was beside her, putting her arms around the frail figure +in the bed. + +"I am your friend," said Cora, softly. "You may trust me--trust all of us. +We are so glad we found you. Mrs. Raymond will be glad, also." + +"Mrs. Raymond!" + +It was a startled cry. + +"Yes." + +"Why--why, isn't she still in the office? When--when I ran away she was +there, and, oh! I didn't dare go back. I--I was so afraid of those men. +One of them----" + +"Wait, my dear," said Cora, gently. "Perhaps it will be too much for you +to talk now." + +"No, that is why I sent for you. I wanted to tell you all. At first I +decided that I would say nothing, but you have been so kind that I decided +I must. Oh, that dreadful wreck! I shall never forget it. Poor Mrs. +Raymond! And she is gone?" + +"Yes, and we do not know where. Suppose I tell you how I came to meet her, +and what happened?" + +"Then I can tell you my story," answered Nancy. "Please do." + +"First drink this," and Cora gave some of the medicine that had been left +by the doctor. + +As briefly as she could Cora related the incident of the fire, and story +told by Mrs. Raymond. + +"That is just how it happened," said Nancy, with a sigh. "Oh, I little +thought when I ran out of the office that I would cause such suffering +to an innocent woman." + +"Then she is innocent?" asked Cora, eagerly. + +"Of course she is!" + +"Oh, I am so glad! I thought she was all the while. Now, dear, if it won't +tire you too much, please tell me as much as you wish to. Then I will let +the other girls know." + +"Well, I am Nancy Ford. I am sorry I denied it, but----" + +"That's all right, my dear. I understand." + +Nancy struggled with her emotion for a moment, and resumed slowly, with +frequent pauses to compose herself. + +"My parents died some time ago, and left considerable property to me," +said Nancy. "Not a big fortune, of course, but enough so that I had to +have a guardian appointed by the court. And that made all the trouble. +At first Mr. Rickford Cross, my guardian, was very nice. He helped me by +advice, and suggested that I go to a boarding school. + +"I did so, and spent some years there. Then, as the securities papa had +left me increased in value, I began to think that perhaps I ought to +know more about my own affairs, and not leave everything to my guardian. +So, without consulting him, I left the boarding school, and went to a +business college. He did not find it out for some time, as he was abroad. + +"Perhaps I did wrong, but I wanted to know how to attend to my business +when I had to. Oh, but Mr. Cross was very angry when he found it out. He +wanted me to go back to boarding school, but I refused. I said I wanted +some practical experience in an office, and, after some argument, he +consented, and got me in the place where Mrs. Raymond worked. I liked +her very much. + +"I think my guardian must have had some business dealings with the man who +ran the office. They were often together and finally I began to suspect +that all was not right. I think Mrs. Raymond did also. + +"Then my guardian and Mr. Hopwood, the man I worked for, had a violent +quarrel. My guardian threatened to take me out of the place, and send me +back to boarding school, for he was angry at me because I would not give +him certain papers from my employer's desk. + +"Then my guardian insisted that I come to live with him and his wife. I +did not want to, for I did not like either of them. But they made me go, +and oh, the life I led!" + +"It must have been hard," said Cora. + +"It was, dreadfully so. I was virtually a prisoner. Finally I decided to +run away, and do anything rather than submit to my guardian. I hated and +feared him. I got together what money I could, and it was a good sum, +for my quarterly allowance had just been paid. Usually after I got it my +guardian would take it away from me and dole out small sums. But this +time he had no chance. + +"So I ran away! It was hard to do, but it was harder to stay. I left the +house one morning, taking my suitcase with me. I stopped in the office, +intending to say good-bye to Mrs. Raymond, and when I had been there a +little while my guardian suddenly came in with another man. I did not know +him, but I feared my guardian had come to take me back. I screamed and +ran out in fright before they could detain me. I have never been back, so +of course I don't know what happened to poor Mrs. Raymond. I did not +tell her my story, and she did not know that the man I so feared and ran +away from was my guardian. Oh, I didn't know what to do!" + +"Of course not," agreed Cora, soothingly. "I can piece the story together +now. + +"After you left Mrs. Raymond either fainted, or was made unconscious by +one of the two men--your guardian or the other. She doesn't quite know +what happened except that when she came to her senses you were gone, the +money was missing and the men had vanished. She told all she knew, but +her story was not believed, and her employer suspected her of taking the +money. In great distress she hurried away, and, after some happenings she +was found in our burning garage. I did not have a chance to ask all the +particulars. But she did so want to find you, to know why you ran away, +and who the men were you seemed to fear. She may still be searching for +you." + +"But I don't want to meet her!" cried Nancy. + +"Why not?" + +"She may--she may be in league with my guardian." + +"No, indeed--impossible!" cried Cora. "We will see that you are fully +protected. I will communicate with my mother's lawyer at once, if you +will allow me. There is such a thing as having a guardian removed, you +know. The courts will protect you." + +"And oh, I do seem to need protection!" sighed Nancy. + +"You poor girl!" and again Cora's arms went around her. "I will telegraph +mother at once. We will have the lawyer come here!" + +"Oh, can you do that?" + +"Certainly I will, my dear. You need a new guardian most of all." + +"Oh, if I may only have one. Then I will be happy again. And I can clear +the name of Mrs. Raymond, for I am sure either my guardian, or the other +man, took that money." + +"They must have. But you have not told how you came to be in the wreck." + +"Oh, that was a mere accident. After I ran away I went from place to +place, fearing my guardian might trace me, for I am sure his object was +to get all my property into his hands. I heard of this sailing voyage, and +I put my name down in the passenger list. I thought a sea trip would do +me good, for I love the water. Then came the terrible storm--and they +said the ship was sinking. Some of the sailors made a raft, but did not +launch it. + +"I was afraid to go in the boats, and more afraid of being pulled in on +the rope. So I got a little food together, took my suitcase, and tied +myself to the raft. I knew it would float, and I hoped to be picked up. +Then the storm grew worse. The vessel was all in confusion, for the rescue +was going on. No one noticed me. Then the ship went to pieces, and I +lost my senses. The raft must have launched itself, and I floated on it. +That is all I know until I found myself here. Oh, I can never thank you +enough for all you did!" + +"It was nothing," said Cora. "If we could only find Mrs. Raymond now we +could complete the story; and she will be so glad to know that you can +clear her name." + +"Oh, but I shudder when I think I have to meet my guardian to do it." + +"You will not have to," promised Cora. "I will see to that, Nancy dear!" + +"You are too good!" + +"Nonsense. Anyone would be good to you after all you have suffered. Now +rest, dearie, and I will tell the others all about you." + +"They won't blame me; will they?" + +"Indeed not! They are all so interested in you, even the boys." + +"Have you boys here?" + +"Yes, my brother and his chums. I will tell you about them later. You will +like them, I think." + +"I am sure I shall. Oh, but it is such a relief to tell this to you!" + +"I am glad it was, my dear. Now rest. I am sure you must be tired. The +doctor will be here this evening." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A BOLD ATTEMPT + + +"Isn't it romantic?" + +"And to think of all that poor girl suffered!" + +"I'd like to get hold of that miserable guardian of hers." + +"She has pluck, all right, to get out and hustle for herself." + +"Isn't she pretty!" + +"I do hope she gets all over her exposure." + +"Oh, yes, she is coming on finely." + +Rather disjointed talk, I am afraid, but that is exactly the way it went +on--the motor girls and the boys discussing the story of Nancy Ford. + +It was evening, and the boys had called to see the girls in the bungalow +of the latter. Nancy had been visited by the doctor, who had reported her +much improved. The telling of her story seemed to have taken an anxiety +off her mind, and with food and medicine she was rapidly regaining her +healthy young strength. + +There had been rather a dramatic scene when Jack and Ed were first allowed +to see Nancy. They both started back, and Jack exclaimed: + +"It's the girl!" + +"And you are those nice boys--how odd," Nancy had said. + +"Please explain," begged Cora. + +"You know," said Jack. "The night Ed and I got lost. It was Nancy we met +and gave a ride in my auto." + +"I suspected it all the while," said Cora, with a smile. "But I said +nothing." + +"It was a mere accident," explained Nancy. "I was just on one of the +little trips I took after I ran away from the office, and I miscalculated +my distance. It was awfully nice of your brother to help me." + +"Oh, Jack is always nice," said Cora, smiling. + +"That means you buy the candy, old man," spoke Ed, with a laugh. + +"Well," drawled Jack, as he stretched out lazily on a sofa, later on, "now +the only thing left to do is to find that Mrs. Raymond, and everything +will be cleared up." + +"That, and putting that mean Mr. Cross in--in jail!" said Bess, with a +vehement gesture. + +"Would you be so cruel?" asked Walter. + +"What else can you do with him?" demanded Belle. "He has certainly been +mean enough to warrant being sent to prison." + +"'In a prison cell I sit!'" chanted Ed. + +"Stop!" commanded Cora. "Nancy may be sleeping, and the doctor said it +was very important for her to sleep." + +"Then we'd better clear out of here," was Norton's opinion. "She'll never +get any rest while this crowd holds forth. Come on, Eline, I'll take you +to a moving picture show." + +"Not after what has happened to-day," declared Mrs. Chester. "You young +people have had your own way all day, and now I want you to quiet down. +Boys, you will have to go home soon. Girls, it's almost time you were in +bed." + +"Aunt Susan is asserting herself," remarked Jack, _sotto voce_. "But don't +count on me, Aunt Susan. I am immune." + +"You'll go with the rest," she told him. + +They sat about for some time longer, discussing the strange tale related +by Nancy. Then came good-nights. + +Cora went to see Mr. Haley, the light keeper, next day. She told him what +Nancy had related. + +"Lobsters and crawfish!" he exclaimed, clapping together his brown hands. +"Begging your pardon, of course, for using that sort of language, miss, +but my feelings sure did get the best of me. And so this Nancy Ford can +clear my sister's name?" + +"She can and she will. I have wired for mamma's lawyer to come down, and +he will arrange matters. There is only one difficulty." + +"What is that?" and the keeper of the light looked worried. "You mean that +there is a possibility that my sister may even yet be guilty?" + +"No; but where are we to find her?" + +"That's so. Poor Margaret! Where can she be keeping herself? If she would +only come to me--or write, I could let her know that it was all right. +And so those men were the robbers, after all?" + +"It seems so, from what Nancy says." + +"Strange. I knew Margaret could not be guilty, but how to prove it was +the hard part. When can we arrange it?" + +"As soon as we can find your sister." + +"Oh, dear! And I haven't the least idea where to look for her." + +"Don't worry," suggested Cora, gently. "We found our waif from the sea +most unexpectedly, and I am sure we will find your sister the same way." + +"Not in a wreck, I hope," said the light keeper, with a smile. "We don't +want any more wrecks on this coast. Which reminds me that I must see to +the light." + +"It was no fault of your light that this wreck came," said Cora. +"Everybody says that." + +"I'm glad of it. If I had thought that my light failed, I--I'd never want +to live longer," and his voice trembled. + +"The steering gear got out of order," said Cora. "Nancy told me that. They +could not control the vessel in the storm." + +"That's always bad. Well, if we can find my sister all will yet be well. +I can't thank you enough for bringing me this good news." + +"I am glad I had it to bring," said Cora, brightly. + +Nancy Ford continued to gain in strength, and the day came when she could +go out. There was a little celebration and the boys wanted to get up an +auto or a motor boat party, but Cora drew the line. + +"Some other time," she said. Her mother's lawyer came to Sandy Point Cove, +and looked over some papers that Nancy had brought away with her. His +opinion was that the dishonest guardian could be removed by the court, +and he promised to take charge of matters. Nancy was much relieved. + +"But where can we find Mrs. Raymond?" she asked. + +"It will take time," said the lawyer. "I will set some private detectives +to work, and advertise, advising her that she can be proven innocent if +she will come forward." + +Then came happy summer days. Nancy was adopted by the motor girls, and +stayed with them in the bungalow. They went on long runs, or in trips in +the boats on the beautiful bay. + +They were always welcome at the lighthouse, and Mr. Haley liked nothing +better than to sit and talk with the boys and girls, telling them sea +stories, or listening to their little adventures. + +But the search for Mrs. Raymond did not progress very rapidly. Nothing +was heard from her. In the matter of removing Mr. Cross as Nancy's +guardian, the procedure had to be slow, as there were complications. But +the lawyer was attending to matters, and promised that soon all would be +straightened out. + +By means of his representatives the lawyer, a Mr. Beacon, heard indirectly +from Mr. Cross, but could not capture him. The latter was furious at the +escapade of his ward, and threatened to have her brought back to him. In +the matter of the robbery he insisted that Mrs. Raymond was guilty. + +It was one glorious summer day when Cora had taken the whole party out +for a spin. In her auto were Eline and Nancy, the others distributing +themselves in the various cars as suited their fancy. + +Several times, as they motored along the roads, they were passed, or +passed themselves, a low, rakish motor car, of a dull dust color. Two +men were in it, and once or twice they favored the occupants of Cora's +car with rather bold stares. + +"I wonder who they can be?" asked Eline. + +"Well, if they keep up this monkey business much longer I'll find out," +declared Jack. + +"Go easy, please," suggested his sister. + +The only incident, or, rather, accident that marred the trip, was when +Cora's car suffered a puncture. It was on the run home. + +"You go on," she called to the others. "I can fix it." + +"No, I'll do it," offered Jack. Perhaps the presence of Nancy in the car +induced him to linger, together with Ed, who rode with him. + +"All right," assented Cora, not sorry to be relieved of the task. + +As Jack was struggling with the tire irons, the rubber shoe being a most +obstinate one, the low racing car that had several times passed them, +again hove in sight. Cora was helping Jack, and Eline and Nancy had +strolled down the road to gather a few wild flowers. + +The racing car stopped, one of the men leaped out, and made a dash toward +the two girls. Eline, looking around, screamed, and Nancy, hearing her, +added to the exclamation. + +"My guardian! My guardian!" she cried. "I won't go--I won't go!" + +"Quick, Jack!" cried Cora. "They're trying to take Nancy away. You must +stop them!" + +Jack, holding a heavy tire iron in his hand, leaped forward toward the +two girls. The man had almost reached them, when there was heard the loud +honk of an auto horn coming around the bend of the road. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A STRANGE MESSAGE + + +Nancy and Eline clung to each other. Nancy had started to run off into +the woods, but found herself unequal to the task. A nervous tremor seized +her. + +"Oh, Eline, Eline!" she begged. "Don't let him take me away! Don't!" + +But Nancy's guardian was not destined to get her into his control this +time. No sooner had the honk-honk of the other car been heard and it had +swung into sight around the bend of the road, than the man in the other +auto--the man who had accompanied Mr. Cross--called out: + +"Look out, Rickford, this may be a trap!" + +"You'd better believe it's something to stop you!" cried Jack, still +swinging forward on the run. + +Cora, too, had started toward Eline and Nancy. She saw that the big car +probably had nothing to do with the attempted abduction of the shipwrecked +girl, and that it was only coincidence that brought it there at that +moment. But it was a fortunate coincidence, for it frightened away the +two men. + +Like a flash Mr. Cross turned, sped back to his car, and in another +instant he and his crony were speeding down the road. + +"Oh, he's gone--he's gone," sobbed Nancy on the shoulder of Eline. + +"Of course he's gone!" cried Jack. "If he hadn't--" and he glanced +significantly at the tire iron in his hand. + +"Jack, dear," said Cora, gently, with a warning glance at Nancy. Cora did +not want her disturbed any more than was necessary. + +"Well--" blustered Jack, and let it go at that. + +"Was that really your guardian, Nancy?" asked Cora, when her new friend +had somewhat composed herself. + +"Yes, it was. Oh, has he gone?" + +"Far enough off by this time," declared Jack. + +"I didn't know him at first, for he has grown a beard," said Nancy, "but +when he came toward me I could tell by the look in his eyes that it was +he. Oh, what an escape!" + +"A very fortunate one," said Cora. + +The big car, the appearance of which had been instrumental, perhaps, in +preventing the taking away of Nancy, drew near to the group of young +people and stopped. There were two middle-aged men in it, and they looked +at our friends curiously. + +"Has anything happened--can we do anything?" asked the one at the wheel. + +"Nothing but some tire trouble, thank you," said Cora, quickly. "And my +brother can manage that; can't you, Jack?" + +"Sure, Sis," and he winked at her to show that he understood nothing was +to be said about the affair that had so nearly been a real "happening." + +"If you want any help, don't hesitate to ask us," put in the other man. +"We are in no hurry." + +"Oh, thank you, I can manage," Jack answered. "I had the repairs almost +made when the girls--thought they saw something, and screamed." He winked +at Cora again. + +"Oh, I see!" exclaimed the steersman with a laugh. "A snake. We heard your +screams, and thought perhaps----" + +"It was just--nothing," Cora said with a smile. Eline and Nancy had turned +and were walking back toward their car, so the tear-stained face of Nancy +could not be observed. + +With renewed offers of aid, which were courteously declined, the two +men proceeded, and Cora and the others were free to discuss the recent +happening. + +"Do you really think he meant to take you away--your guardian?" asked Cora +of Nancy. + +"I really do. Oh, he must be desperate! He must be trying to get my +property away from me." + +"We'll soon have him attended to!" said Jack, fiercely. "Our lawyer says +the case will come before the courts soon, and then good-bye to Mr. Cross!" + +"I wonder how he knew where you were?" asked Eline. + +"You forget that the rescue of Nancy was told of in the papers," spoke +Cora. "Doubtless he read of it, and came on. He, or some of his men, may +have been spying around and knew just when we went for a ride." + +"And they followed us, that's one sure thing," added Jack. "Their car +passed us several times. They were just waiting for a good chance, and +they took the first opportunity." + +"I should have known him at once, when they passed, but for his beard," +said Nancy. "Oh, I feel so nervous and weak!" She was on the verge of +tears again. + +"Come, we will go back to the bungalow," suggested Cora. "I must tell the +lawyer about it. He may wish to take some action." + +A little later they were back in the summer cottage, where, to the +wonderment of the others, the strange story was told with all the details, +for when Cora's car developed the tire trouble the rest had continued +on, Jack and Ed remaining behind. + +"Oh, I'm glad I was not along!" breathed Belle. + +"And I wish I had been!" exclaimed Walter. "Jack, you and Ed had all the +fun." + +"I didn't do anything," said Ed. "Jack was the hero." + +"Only a near-hero," said Cora's brother. "I didn't get near enough to do +any damage." + +Mr. Beacon, the lawyer, on hearing the account of what had happened, at +once took steps to expedite the matter of the removal of Mr. Cross as +guardian of Nancy Ford. He declared that the attempted abduction would +operate against the unprincipled man. The matter of the loss of the money, +for which Mrs. Raymond was once suspected, had been gone into, and the +indications pointed in many ways to Mr. Cross and his crony. + +"But it doesn't seem as if Mrs. Raymond would ever be found," sighed Cora. +"Poor woman!" + +"Yes, my sister must be having a hard time," said the keeper of the light. +"I wish she would come to me. I could give her a good home now. The +work is almost too much for Rosalie." + +"Oh, I don't mind, Daddy!" exclaimed the little "mermaid." + +Summer was wearing on. It had been a most glorious one and the bungalow +residents had enjoyed it thoroughly. They went off on several motoring +trips, but they were careful always to remain in one party, and even then +Nancy could not forbear a nervous glance about whenever another auto +approached. + +But Mr. Cross appeared to have taken himself to parts unknown. Private +detectives who were looking for him, on an order of the court to which +Mr. Beacon had appealed, reported that they could get no trace of him. +Nor was the whereabouts of the missing Mrs. Raymond discovered. + +In their two motor boats the young people paid visits to many near-by +resorts, occasionally, when the weather was fine, even venturing out on +the ocean. But, save for Cora, the girls were always a little timid about +this, and so the ocean trips were not numerous. + +One day Mr. Haley came hurrying over to the girls' bungalow from the +lighthouse. He held a paper in his hand. + +"Where is Miss Kimball?" he asked of Belle, who answered his knock. "I +must see her at once." + +"Why, has anything happened?" Belle asked in sudden alarm. She looked down +on the beach, and was relieved to see Nancy safe there. + +"No, miss, nothing has happened--yet," replied the keeper. "But I received +a strange message just now, and I want to tell Miss Kimball." + +"Cora!" called Belle, and Cora, who had been in an inner room, came out. + +"What is it?" she asked, and Mr. Haley handed her the piece of paper. + +"I just found that on my doorstep," he explained. "I was home all alone, +my helper being in town buying supplies, and Rosalie and Dick being out in +the boat. Read it." + +"But how did it get there?" asked Cora, as she stepped over to a window +to see more plainly. + +"I don't know, except some boy must have brought it there, left it and +run away. It was weighted with a stone." + +"Then that's probably how it was left," suggested Belle. "But what is so +mysterious about it What does it say, Cora?" + +Cora read: + +"If you would have news of your sister come alone to Shark's Tooth at nine +to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +AT THE SHARK'S TOOTH + + +"What a strange note!" + +"Isn't it? And the odd way it was delivered!" + +"What is the Shark's Tooth, Mr. Haley?" + +The boys and girls were all together in the bungalow of the latter--or, +rather, were out on the broad porch, for, following the visit of the light +keeper, with the strange letter, they had gathered to discuss the matter. + +"The Shark's Tooth," said Mr. Haley, "is a long, low ledge of rock, +jutting out in the water about a mile above the light. It looks somewhat +like a big tooth--the end of it does, I mean." + +"Will you go there?" asked Jack. + +"I sure will, my boy." + +"Maybe it's a trap," suggested Ed. "This fellow Cross may be trying to +get hold of you, Mr. Haley." + +"I'm not afraid of him. I think I'll be his match," and certainly the +sturdy keeper looked able to take care of himself. + +"But he may not be alone," suggested Walter. + +"However, we could go with you," he added hopefully. + +"The note says to come alone, my lad, and alone I'll go. I'd do more than +that to get news of poor Margaret. I'm not afraid." + +"You boys might be within call," suggested Cora. "You need not be seen." + +"Well, I'd consent to that," agreed Mr. Haley. "And it might be a good +thing. And yet, somehow, I'm not worried." + +"This is certainly a trap!" declared Norton. "They want you to go there, +a lonely spot--after dark. Probably they'll take you off in a boat! Ha! +I have it! Wreckers!" and he struck a dramatic posture. + +"Wreckers?" questioned Jack. + +"Yes, don't you see. They want to get Mr. Haley in their control. Then +they'll carry him off, some of them will put out the light and lure +vessels ashore by means of a false beacon. Then they'll get the booty!" + +"Say, what sort of a dime novel have you been reading lately?" asked Ed, +with a laugh. "Wreckers!" + +"Sure!" maintained Norton, earnestly. + +"No, lad," said Mr. Haley, quietly, "it isn't wreckers, for the light +would be well defended by my helper, even if they got me. Besides it's +dead low water at nine to-night, and they couldn't get a boat within a +mile of the Shark's Tooth without staving a hole in her. The only approach +is from the beach. I'm not afraid." + +"Besides," added Cora, "this note was written by a woman. That's plain." + +"A trick!" declared Norton, who seemed to insist on the melodramatic +theory. + +"Is this like your sister's writing?" asked Belle. + +"I really couldn't be sure. Margaret was never much of a writer, and I +can hardly see to read print, let alone writing, even with my glasses. +So I couldn't say as to that. However, I'll be there." + +"And so will we," added Jack, "out if sight, of course." + +"This is getting more and more complicated," declared Bess. "Oh, I do hope +it won't turn out to be that horrid Mr. Cross, or any of his men." + +"Hush!" said Cora, in a low voice. "Don't make Nancy nervous. She is +alarmed enough now." + +It seemed as if night would never come, and the boys and girls hardly had +the heart for amusements to make the time pass more quickly. They remained +near the bungalows, going in bathing when the tide was right. Belle was +learning to swim with considerable confidence. + +"You are getting quite brave," Cora told her when she had gone out to the +float and back all alone. + +Eline, who was rather daring in spite of her timid manner, made a +half-suggestion that the girls go out in autos to see what happened +at Shark's Tooth, but Mrs. Chester, exercising her authority, vetoed the +scheme. + +Mr. Haley started off alone, and was followed later by the boys, who +arranged to conceal themselves where they could have a view of the ledge +of rock that was uncovered at low water. + +There was a half-moon that night and by the light of it Jack and his chums +could see the long, black ledge extending out into the bay. They had a +glimpse of Mr. Haley walking slowly up and down the beach, now and then +looking at his watch to note the time. Jack and the others did likewise. + +"It's nine now," whispered Walter, after a long--a seemingly long--wait, +though it was really only a few minutes. + +"And nothing seems to be happening," remarked Jack. + +"Look!" suddenly exclaimed Ed, pointing to the sandy stretch. A dark +figure was seen gliding over it--a figure of a woman--alone! + +The light keeper heard the approaching footsteps, and turned quickly. He +stood for a moment The woman had halted. Then Mr. Haley cried: + +"Margaret!" + +"Jim!" she responded, and they clasped each other close. + +"I guess it's all right--they don't need us," whispered Jack. "It's his +sister. She wrote the note. It's all right, we'll go tell the girls the +mystery is solved and the missing one found." + +"That's right," was the answer. "Say, this is great, isn't it?" + +"It sure is." + +"Now that they are together----" + +"Come on, they may hear us." + +"All right, I'm with you." + +But, as they started away, Mr. Haley called to them: + +"Boys, come here. I want----" + +"No, no, Jim dear! Don't call anyone!" interrupted Mrs. Raymond. "I dare +not be seen. You don't know the stigma I am under. I even hesitated to +come and see you in this secret way, but I am in need of help. It was the +only way I could think of. I am so--so afraid of arrest." + +"Well, you needn't be!" cried her brother. "We can prove your innocence!" + +"Prove my innocence! How? Only Nancy Ford can do that, and she can't be +found, I have been searching for her so long--so long!" Her sobs prevented +her from talking. + +"But Nancy Ford is found!" cried the keeper of the light, "and the boys +I called to--or rather their girl friends--found her. It's all right, +Margaret. Your name will be cleared, and you will be happy with me. It's +all right, Sister!" + +"Oh, thank the dear Lord for that!" she sobbed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +HAPPY DAYS + + +The sun was shining on a shimmering sea. Little waves were breaking on the +white sands. The gulls were wheeling about in big circles. Gathered in +the old-fashioned living room of the lighthouse were the motor girls, and +two other girls, Rosalie and Nancy Ford. Also the boys were there, Mrs. +Raymond, her brother, and Mr. Beacon, the Kimballs' lawyer. He had just +concluded some remarks. It was the day after the strange night scene at +the Shark's Tooth. + +"And to think how it all came about," spoke Cora. "It is like a play, or +a book." + +"It fits together like one of those Chinese puzzles," remarked Jack. "At +first it seems as if it never will, but one little touch, and--there you +are!" + +"And it was Cora who supplied the one little touch," said Belle. + +"Oh, I didn't do it all," remonstrated Cora. + +"Well, your finding Mrs. Raymond in the burning garage started the whole +affair," insisted Ed. "But for that we never would have known of Nancy +Ford, nor how important she was in this puzzle." + +"I don't want to be important," answered Nancy, with a smile. "I just want +to go off somewhere quietly." + +"And you may," spoke Mr. Beacon, the lawyer, with a smile. "The court +proceedings will not take long, now that your guardian is arrested. The +judge will require no further proof than his commission of the crime to +remove him from having charge of you and your property, and some one else +will be named in his place." + +"I wish the judge would name you!" exclaimed Nancy impulsively. + +"Thank you!" laughed Mr. Beacon. + +Mrs. Raymond had told her story. On up to the time she had fled from the +office, when the two men came in, and her wanderings until she went into +the Kimball garage, my readers need no enlightenment. After leaving +Cora's house so suddenly, for fear she might be suspected of having +accidentally set the fire, the poor woman wandered from place to place, +vainly seeking Nancy Ford. It was Mrs. Raymond whom the sheep herder +had met that night when he spoke kindly to her. After that she kept +moving about, getting work in various offices, for she was an expert +in her line. But she could not find Nancy, for reasons very well known +to my readers. + +"And oh, how kind one of you girls was to me!" exclaimed Mrs. Raymond. +"Your money saved my life I believe," and she held out the little silver +purse. + +Finally, she explained, matters reached a point where she could get no +more work, and she had to appeal to her brother. She had refrained from +doing that fearing she might be traced through him, for she still feared +she would be arrested for the crime she had never committed. But, growing +desperate, she made the night appointment with her brother, hiring a boy +to leave the note at the lighthouse, intending to explain matters to +Mr. Haley, get some money, and go away again. + +But it all ended happily. + +"And so they caught Cross?" remarked Jack. + +"Yes," said the lawyer, "one of the private detectives got a clue and +followed it up. They got his crony, too, the other man who came in the +office when you ran out, Nancy. And they both confessed, after pressure +was brought to bear on them. It is not the first crime Cross has been +guilty of. He has a bad record, I am told. I learned of his arrest after I +started here this morning, following your telegram," he said to Cora, +for, on learning of the arrival of Mrs. Raymond, Cora had wired to her +mother's lawyer to come in haste. + +"Then my name is cleared?" asked Mrs. Raymond. + +"Absolutely," answered Mr. Beacon. "You will not even have to appear in +court." + +"I wish _I_ didn't have to," said Nancy, nervously. + +"I can arrange to have a private hearing," went on the lawyer. "It will be +no ordeal at all." + +Nor did Nancy find it so. A kindly judge in his chambers, several days +later, listened to the story, and named Mr. Beacon as guardian of Nancy +Ford, whose property was, in the main, saved from the clutches of Mr. +Cross. He had embezzled some of it, and that crime, with others, brought +him severe punishment. + +As for Mrs. Raymond, she went to live with her brother in the lighthouse. + +"And now for some good times!" exclaimed Cora when all the legal matters +had been attended to. "We have had enough of mystery and wonderings. You +can spend the rest of the summer here with us; can't you, Nancy?" + +"If you want me, and have room." + +"Of course we want you!" cried Jack. "Remember you promised to ride in my +car when we go over to Stony Beach to-morrow." + +"I asked her first!" cried Norton. + +"But she promised me," cut in Walter. + +"Oh, what boys!" protested the blushing Nancy. + +"Don't mind them," suggested Cora, putting her arms around her new friend. +"You'll soon get used to them." + +"I think I can get used to almost _anything_--after that shipwreck," said +Nancy, with a smile. + +"Well, I like _that_!" cried Jack. "Comparing us to a shipwreck! Come on, +fellows, let's go fishing. The tide is right for crabbing, too," and they +went out, leaving the girls to themselves. + +"In spite of everything--the fire, the shipwreck and the many wonderings +it has been a wonderful summer," said Cora softly, as they sat on the +broad porch. + +"And I wonder what the winter will bring forth--and next summer?" remarked +Belle. But the further adventures of the little band of friends must be +reserved for another volume, which will be entitled "The Motor Girls on +Crystal Bay; Or, The Secret of the Red Oar." + +The summer vacation was almost at an end. There was one last motor boat +trip, and then the _Duck_ was returned to its owner, and the _Pet_ again +made ready for the land journey back to Chelton. + +"Good-bye, bungalows, good-bye!" recited Cora on the day of their +departure, as she got into her big maroon car. + +"Good-bye, my lighthouse, good-bye!" sang Bess. + +"And don't forget to write to us, little mermaid," called Jack to Rosalie. +Blushingly she promised. + +"What will Nancy say?" asked Eline. + +"Oh, Nancy is coming to our house to stay--she won't have to write," said +the bold Jack. + +There were more good-byes, to the light keeper and his sister, to many +fishermen and life-savers, whose friendship the boys and girls had made, +and then the autos started off on the long trip to Chelton. + +Gaily fluttered in the wind the flags they bore, the sea smiled under the +yellow sun at the motor girls, seeming to beckon them to return, but they +could not. And so, for a time, we will also say good-bye. + +THE END + + + + +PEGGY STEWART SERIES + +By GABRIELLE E. JACKSON + +Peggy Stewart at Home + +Peggy Stewart at School + +Peggy, Polly, Rosalie, Marjorie, Natalie, Isabel, Stella and Juno--girls +all of high spirits make this Peggy Stewart series one of entrancing +interest. Their friendship, formed in a fashionable eastern school, +they spend happy years crowded with gay social affairs. The background +for these delightful stories is furnished by Annapolis with its naval +academy and an aristocratic southern estate. + +The Goldsmith Publishing Co. + +CLEVELAND, O. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Motor Girls on the Coast, by Margaret Penrose + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR GIRLS ON THE COAST *** + +***** This file should be named 32024.txt or 32024.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/2/32024/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.fadedpage.com + + +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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