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THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES
Or
The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail
by
LAURA DENT CRANE
Author of The Automobile Girls at Newport, The Automobile
Girls Along the Hudson, Etc., Etc.
Illustrated
[Illustration: The Splash Descended on Unsuspecting Bab. _Frontispiece._]
Philadelphia
Henry Altemus Company
Copyright, 1910, by Howard E. Altemus
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Reunion 7
II. New Light on Old Papers 20
III. Happiness, and Another Scheme 28
IV. In the Heart of the Berkshires 45
V. A Day in the Woods 58
VI. "The Great White Also" 66
VII. Mollie Follows the Trail 76
VIII. End of the Search 90
IX. Spirit of the Forest 95
X. A Knock at the Door 107
XI. The Coon Hunt 120
XII. The Wounded Bird 128
XIII. The Wigwam 135
XIV. Give Way to Miss Sallie! 144
XV. Society in Lenox 152
XVI. At the Ambassador's 166
XVII. A Visit to Eunice 181
XVIII. Plans for the Society Circus 190
XIX. The Old Gray Goose 198
XX. Barbara and Beauty 206
XXI. Eunice and Mr. Winthrop Latham 215
XXII. The Automobile Wins 230
XXIII. The Recognition 240
XXIV. What to Do with Eunice 251
The Automobile Girls in the
Berkshires
CHAPTER I
THE REUNION
"Mollie Thurston, we are lost!" cried Barbara dramatically.
The two sisters were in the depth of a New Jersey woods one afternoon in
early September.
"Well, what if we are!" laughed Mollie, leaning over to add a cluster of
wild asters to her great bunch of golden rod. "We have two hours ahead of
us. Surely such clever woodsmen as we are can find our way out of woods
which are but a few miles from home. Suppose we should explore a real
forest some day. Wouldn't it be too heavenly! Come on, lazy Barbara! We
shall reach a clearing in a few moments."
"You lack sympathy, Miss Mollie Thurston; that's your trouble."
Barbara was laughing, yet she anxiously scanned the marshy ground as she
picked her way along.
"I wouldn't mind being lost in these woods a bit more than you do, if I
were not so horribly afraid of snakes. Oh, my! this place looks full of
'em."
"They are not poisonous, Bab, or I might be more sympathetic," said
Mollie reassuringly. "The snakes in these woods are harmless. How can a
girl as brave as you are be such a goose about a poor, wriggly little
'sarpint,' that couldn't harm you if it tried."
"O-o-o!" shivered Bab. "One's own pet fear has nothing to do with sense
or nonsense. Kindly remember your own feelings toward the timid mouse!
Just the same, I should like to play 'Maid Marian' for a while and dwell
in the heart of a woodland glen. If ever I have a chance to go on a
camping trip, I shall get rid of my fear of snakes, somehow."
"Bab," said Mollie, after a moment's pause, "hasn't it been dreadfully
dull since Ruth and her father went away? Do you think they will ever
come back? I can hardly believe it has been only three weeks since they
left Kingsbridge, and only six weeks since we came back from Newport.
Anyhow I am glad Grace Carter is home again from her visit to her
brother."
"Cheer up, Mollie, do!" encouraged Bab. "Ruth has promised to pay us a
visit before she goes home to Chicago, and she is a girl of her word, as
you and I well know. I am expecting a letter from her every day."
"Well," Mollie ejaculated in heart-felt tones, "I know I am nearly dead
to see her. Grace and I were talking of it only yesterday."
"Mollie, I don't want to be a croaker," began Bab, after a little
hesitation, "but have you noticed that mother seems worried about
something? When I was talking yesterday about how crazy I was to go to
Vassar some day, mother looked as though she wanted to cry. I stopped
there and then. She has seemed so gay and cheerful until recently. I
wonder whether she is worried about money."
Mollie nodded her head and frowned. "Now you speak of it, Bab, I believe
I have noticed that she seems depressed at times. I think she is tired
out and needs a complete change. She had a long letter from Cousin Betty
in St. Paul yesterday, asking her to make a visit. I think mother should
accept. You and I are certainly big enough to look after ourselves until
school commences. Let's beg her to go."
"All right, Mollie, we will," said her older sister, "but if the family
funds are even lower than usual, where is the money to come from for such
an expensive trip? Just the same, I shall question mother, and find out
what's the matter."
Bab was walking on bravely, trying to forget her horror of snakes.
"I am sure," she thought, "that I can feel my feet trembling inside my
boots; I am so afraid of stepping on one of the wretched little pests."
It had rained the day before, and the ground under the thick tangle of
trees and underbrush being unusually marshy, the girls had to pick their
way carefully. Mollie walked ahead while they were talking. Barbara
jumping from the twisted root of one tree to another half a yard away,
felt something writhe and wriggle under her foot. Without stopping to
look down, she shrieked--"A snake! a snake!"--and ran blindly forward.
Before Mollie had time to look around, Barbara caught her foot under a
root and tumbled headlong into the wet mud.
"Bab," cried Mollie, "you certainly have gone and done it this time! How
wet and muddy you are!"
She picked up a stick and raked in the leaves near her sister.
"See, here's what you have made such a fuss about, a tiny garter snake,
that couldn't hurt a thing. You've crushed the thing with your heel."
Mollie turned suddenly. "Barbara, what is the matter with you?" she
asked, as she caught a glimpse of her sister's face. "Why don't you get
up? Can I help you?" She leaned over her sister.
Poor Bab's face was white as a sheet, and she was trembling.
"Yes, do help me if you can," she answered. "I can't get up by myself.
I'm afraid I have turned my ankle. Here, take my hand. Sitting here in
this mud I feel as if I had fallen into a nest of snakes."
Mollie gave Bab both her hands. Setting her teeth, Bab tried to rise,
but, with a groan, sat down again. The second time Mollie pulled with all
her might. Barbara, summoning her courage, rose slowly to her feet.
Without speaking she leaned against the trunk of the nearest tree.
"Wait here, dear," urged Mollie, more worried than she would show. "I
will try and find you a stick. Then if you lean on me and use the stick
in the other hand, perhaps we can get along all right."
They were several miles from home and in another hour the dusk would be
upon them. So the two girls struggled bravely on through the thick woods,
though it was difficult to walk abreast in the narrow path. Barbara
insisted she was better with each step, but Mollie knew otherwise. With
every foot of ground they covered Bab limped more and more painfully. Now
and then when her injured foot pressed too heavily on the rough ground,
she caught her breath and swallowed a groan. Mollie realized they would
not get home before midnight at the rate they were now moving.
"Rest here, Bab," she insisted, when they came to an opening in the woods
where the shade was less dense. "I think I see a place over there that
must lead into a road. I will run on ahead and find some one to come back
to help you."
Bab was glad to sit down. Her foot was swelling and growing more painful
every moment; her pulses were throbbing. She was almost crying, but she
would never mention surrender; she was not sorry, however, when Mollie
suggested that she should rest.
Mollie sped through the woods as fast as she could run. As soon as her
back was turned, Bab closed her eyes. "How glad I am to rest," she
thought gratefully.
In the half hour that Barbara Thurston waited alone her mind wandered to
many of her own hopes and fears. First, she couldn't help worrying over
her mother. Then, she thought of her own ambition. More than anything in
the world she longed to go to Vassar College. In two years more she would
be ready to enter, but where was the money to come from? Barbara realized
that her mother would never be able to pay her expenses from their small
income; nevertheless, she meant to go. The Kingsbridge High School
offered a scholarship at Vassar to the girl who passed the best final
examinations during the four years of its course. Barbara had won the
highest honors in her freshman and sophomore years, but she had two more
winters of hard work ahead of her.
"I wonder," she thought at last, "if I can persuade Ruth to go to college
with me?" Then she must have fallen into a little doze.
Readers of the preceding volume, "The Automobile Girls at Newport," will
remember how the famous little club, known as "The Automobile Girls" came
to be organized, and they are familiar with the exciting and humorous
incidents of that journey in Ruth Stuart's motor car. There were many
adventures along the way, including mysterious encounters with a
gentlemanly young rascal, known to the police as "The Boy Raffles." The
same "Raffles" afterwards turned up at Newport, where the girls for
several weeks led a life of thrilling interest. "The Automobile Girls" it
was who caught "Raffles" red-handed, and who saved Bab's snobbish cousin,
Gladys Le Baron, from falling in love with him.
Six weeks before, on their return from the trip to Newport, "The
Automobile Girls" had disbanded. Mr. Stuart had given a dinner in their
honor, and at the close of the meal, he formally presented each of the
girls with a miniature model of Ruth's motor car, forming pins of red
enamel about the size of a dime.
"You must wear them forever," Ruth insisted, almost in tears. "Who knows
what luck they may bring to us? Remember this isn't a real breaking up of
'The Automobile Girls'; it is only an '_auf wiedersehen_.'"
The morning after Mr. Stuart's dinner, Grace left Kingsbridge to visit
her brother. Later, Mr. Stuart and his sister, Miss Stuart, bore Ruth
away to spend several weeks with some relatives in northern New York.
Ruth confided to Bab her grief at leaving them.
"I perfectly hate to go," she protested. "Just think, Bab, how soon I
shall have to go back to Chicago, and leave you here in New Jersey. Other
people are well enough in their places, but they are not my Barbara,
Mollie and Grace!"
It was after this confidence, that Bab made Ruth solemnly promise to pay
them a visit before she returned home.
Barbara opened her eyes suddenly. Had she been asleep and dreamed of
Ruth? She could almost hear her voice and laugh. Some one was coming
along the path. She could hear the dead leaves crunch under flying feet.
"Barbara, my Barbara!" Was it Mollie's voice calling her?
"Here I am," cried Bab faintly.
Through the trees running straight toward her, her eyes shining, her
cheeks aglow, was Ruth Stuart. Barbara tried to leap up.
"Sit down, you poor dear, do," Ruth commanded. "What have you done to
your silly little self? Never mind; here is your friend and always
devoted slave come to your rescue."
"Where did you come from?" inquired Bab, weakly.
"Out of the everywhere into the here. Father and Mollie will be along in
a few seconds and explain to you. I simply couldn't wait for them.
Another dear friend of yours is up the road desiring to offer you
assistance. You may recall 'Mr. A. Bubble.'"
Ruth took out the flask of beef tea which she always carried on a motor
trip, and made Barbara drink a few swallows. "Now," she declared, "I will
try to tell you how I happen to be here. Three days ago I told father I
simply couldn't bear to be away from Kingsbridge twenty-four hours
longer. So he and I decided that as soon as manners would permit we
should put the automobile in commission and fly to you as fast as we
could. And here we are! Besides, just think how quickly the holiday time
is passing. I have another scheme--but here come Mollie and father!"
Mr. Stuart and Mollie were approaching quickly.
"Let me help you, Barbara," said Mr. Stuart, putting his strong arm
around the injured girl and nearly lifting her from the ground. "Can you
manage to walk? Ruth, you help from the other side. It is not far to the
road, and once we get you there, the auto will soon take you home to that
little mother of yours."
"I declare I would just like to kiss 'Mr. A. Bubble,' if I knew an
appropriate place," declared Barbara, when she was at last safely stowed
away in the automobile. Her lame foot was propped up on soft cushions
while close beside her sat her beloved Ruth holding her hand. Mollie was
sitting in front with Mr. Stuart.
"Tell me," Barbara continued, "no one has properly explained it to me how
you happened to be at the right place just at the right moment? And how
did Mollie find you to tell you I was concealed in the woods with a
sprained ankle? It's too much for me. Please explain?"
"Not so fast, Miss Thurston, if you please," pleaded Mr. Stuart. "Ruth
and I would like to be regarded as angels dropped from the sky, but the
truth must be told! She and I were speeding along this very road, a
little faster than is perfectly proper, as we were hoping to make our way
before dusk to the home of a charming lady, Mrs. Thurston, who lives with
her two attractive daughters, in Laurel Cottage, Kingsbridge. What did we
see? A small, excited girl ahead of us, who seemed to be trying to run
faster than our auto could travel. Nevertheless, we caught up with her.
Who do you think she was? Miss Mollie Thurston! We were all so surprised
that it must have taken us quite a minute to explain matters to each
other."
"You can imagine," added Mistress Mollie from the front seat, "how jolly
glad I was!"
For some time Mrs. Thurston had been anxiously awaiting her daughters'
return. She was standing at the gate of her home, when a familiar chug,
chug, chug, sounded up the road. "I must be dreaming," she thought. "I am
so worried at the girls being out late that I imagine I hear Ruth's
automobile bringing them home to me. How lonely it has been for us all
since Ruth and her father went away!"
"Chug, chug, chug," the noise sounded louder than ever. A splash of red
appeared at the turn of the road, a siren whistle blew, and a well-known,
crimson motor car rapidly approached her gate. Mrs. Thurston rubbed her
eyes. It was the Stuart's automobile and no other. Sitting enthroned in
it was that gentleman and his daughter. And, could it be possible?
Barbara and Mollie, as well!
Mrs. Thurston's gentle face glowed with pleasure. Switfly as a girl she
threw open her gate and was waiting on the sidewalk when the car stopped
in front of her with a flourish.
"I am so delighted to see you," she said, extending her hand to Mr.
Stuart and kissing Ruth on both cheeks. "Where did you find my daughters?
But what's the matter with you, Bab?" she asked, as she noticed her
child's pale cheeks.
"Nothing, now, mother," said Bab, hopping up, but sitting down again just
as promptly. "I have sprained my ankle a little, not very much. I would
like to get into the house to take off my shoe. It pinches until I feel
like the mean sister trying to squeeze her foot into Cinderella's
slipper."
"Come on in with me, every one of you," she pleaded. "Dear Mr. Stuart,
you are not going to take Ruth up to the hotel with you for even one
night. Remember, you promised she was to visit us, as soon as you
returned."
"Do let me stay, father," coaxed Ruth, dancing after them. "I have no
trunk to worry about at present. Aunt Sallie is coming back, day after
to-morrow, and she is to bring my trunk with her. Father and I traveled
all the way in the automobile."
Mrs. Thurston followed Mr. Stuart out as he was saying good-bye. He had
agreed to leave Ruth with them. "Mr. Stuart, you can go to your hotel, if
you wish to engage your room, but you must come back and have tea with
us. We have hot rolls, honey, and fresh milk for supper. There is no use
in your denying that is your favorite evening meal."
"I don't want to deny it, Mrs. Thurston," was Mr. Stuart's answer, as he
stepped into his car. "I will come back with pleasure. On my way to the
hotel I shall call at the doctor's and ask him to come around and look
after Bab's foot."