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.