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The Outdoor Girls
In A Motor Car
OR
THE HAUNTED MANSION OF
SHADOW VALLEY
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF "THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE," "THE
OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE," "THE BOBBSEY
TWINS," "THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY," ETC.
_ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
BOOKS FOR GIRLS
BY LAURA LEE HOPE
* * * * *
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume, 50 cents, postpaid.
* * * * *
=THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES=
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
=THE BOBBSEY TWINS BOOKS=
For Little Men and Women
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
* * * * *
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY
GROSSET & DUNLAP.
* * * * *
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR.
[Illustration: "TOPPLED FROM THE TREE, ALMOST IN FRONT OF THE CAR."
_The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car_ _Frontispiece_ (_Page 13_)]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I OUT OF A TREE 1
II A STRANGE GIRL 14
III STRANGELY MISSING 24
IV THE QUEER PEDDLER 31
V PAUL AT THE WHEEL 41
VI A TOUR PROPOSED 48
VII MR. LAGG'S OFFER 56
VIII IN THE MUD 68
IX IN SHADOW VALLEY 77
X OFF ON THE TOUR 84
XI A TRACE OF THE GIRL 93
XII A DISABLED CAR 104
XIII THE STORM 110
XIV AT THE HAUNTED HOUSE 121
XV QUEER MANIFESTATIONS 129
XVI "SO YOU HAVE COME BACK!" 138
XVII CONSTERNATION 147
XVIII THE PRISONER 153
XIX MYSTIFIED 160
XX SEEKING THE GHOST 168
XXI THE MISSING GIRL 177
XXII A SWINDLED FARMER 184
XXIII "THAT'S THE MAN!" 195
XXIV THE FAKER CAUGHT 199
XXV EXPLANATIONS 204
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
CHAPTER I
OUT OF A TREE
"Come on, girls, the car is here, and this time I'm going to run it
myself!"
"You never are, Mollie Billette!" exclaimed Grace Ford, as, with three
companions, she hurried to the window of the library of the Billette
home, and looked out toward the street, up which was coming a luxurious
touring car of the latest model.
"Aren't you afraid?" asked Amy Stonington, as she looked admiringly at
Mollie, whose cheeks were flushed with excitement.
"Oh, it simply gives me the creeps to think about it!" added Grace.
"I don't see why," spoke Mollie, as the car, in charge of a
demonstrator, came to a stop in front of her house. "I've taken enough
lessons, the garage man says; I have my license, and why shouldn't I run
my car? Are you afraid to come with me?"
"No--no, it isn't exactly that," said Amy, slowly as she fastened the
strings of her new motoring hood--all the girls had them, and very
becoming they were. "It isn't exactly that, Mollie, but you know----"
"If you weren't afraid to go with Betty in her motor boat, I don't see
why you should be afraid to come with me in the car," went on Mollie.
"Oh, what did I do with my goggles?" she asked as she hurriedly looked
about the room, lifting up a pile of books and papers on a table. "I
know I had them, and----"
"Look!" exclaimed Betty Nelson with a laugh. "Dodo and Paul are trying
to pull them apart. I suppose they think the goggles are big enough for
two," and she pointed to where the twins, Mollie's little brother and
sister, were seated on the velvety lawn, both having hold of a new pair
of auto goggles, and gravely trying to separate the two eye pieces.
"The little rascals!" cried Mollie, though she, too had to join in the
laughter of her chums. "Paul!" she called. "Dodo! Come here this instant
with my goggles!"
The children looked up, their dispute forgotten.
"Us hasn't any doddles--us got tecticals!" exclaimed Paul.
"Well, those are sister's spectacles--to wear in the auto so the dust
won't get in her eyes," explained Mollie, as she approached the twins,
"Give them to sister."
"Oo et us wide in tar us dive um to oo," stipulated Dodo, holding the
goggles behind her back.
"Not to-day, pet," said Mollie, sweetly--compromisingly.
Dodo arose, and backed away, limping slightly, for she was not quite
recovered from a recent operation as the result of a peculiar accident.
She held the goggles out of reach, and, walking with her eyes fixed on
her sister, she was in danger of stumbling.
"She'll fall and break them," cried Grace.
"That's what I'm afraid of," said Mollie. "Come, Dodo, give the glasses
to sister."
"Her dive um for tandy!" cried the crafty Paul, seeing a chance to make
capital out of his little sister's strategic move. "Us dive oo glasses
for tandy; won't us, Dodo?"
"Us will," assented Dora--or Dodo, as she was almost universally called.
"Us dive for tandy--lots of tandy."
"The little rascals," laughed Mollie. "I wish I dared rush at her and
take them away. But she might fall----" and with the recollection of
what little Dodo had suffered, Mollie gave up her plan of action. The
chauffeur tooted on the auto horn, as much as to say:
"Come, I'm waiting for you."
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mollie. "Have any of you----"
"Grace, will you kindly oblige?" asked Betty, with a laugh. "Surely you
are not without chocolates on this momentous occasion."
"I don't see why you assume that I always have candy," remarked the
tall, slender girl, whose willowy figure added to the charm of her face,
framed in a wealth of light hair.
"Oh, we know your failing," laughed Betty. "Come, Grace, you are
delaying the game, and if we are going for an auto ride with
Mollie--let--let's have it--over with."
"Well, I like the way you speak!" exclaimed Mollie, rather
sharply--Mollie had a failing in her quick temper. "If you girls are
afraid to come in my new car, just because I'm going to steer all alone,
why----"
"Oh, Mollie, I didn't mean it that way at all!" protested Betty. "I just
didn't want Grace to feel----"
"Where is tandy?" demanded Paul, as he approached his little sister,
evidently with the intention of again assuming the dispute over the
goggles in case no confectionery was forthcoming.
"Grace, have you any?" asked Mollie, beseechingly. "We _must_ get
started, and the day is so fine we don't want to miss any of it.
Paul--Dodo--don't you dare break my glasses!" She shook a warning finger
at them.
"I just _happen_ to have some chocolates," said Grace, with an air of
injured dignity. From the pocket of her sweater she produced a small
box, and held it out to Dodo. The child, with a glad cry, dropped the
goggles on the grass and sprang for Grace. Paul, too, joined in the
race, and while Mollie picked up her recovered property the twins, with
a new matter to contend about, gravely sat down on the lawn, and
proceeded to divide the candy.
"Now come on!" cried Mollie, "before something else happens. Be good
children!" she cautioned them, "and don't go away."
"No," they chorused, while Paul added:
"Bring us more tandy--not bery much here."
"Which speaks well for the appetite of Grace," murmured Amy.
"Oh, let me alone!" protested Grace, with as near a show of temper as
she ever indulged in. Mollie looked at her and remarked:
"You're getting my complaint, Grace dear."
"Well, I'm tired of always having candy thrown in my face--what if I do
like chocolate?"
"You should have thrown the candy in her mouth--not in her face,"
laughed Betty, and then Grace smiled instead of frowning, and the four
chums--the Outdoor Girls, as they had come to be called from living so
much in the open--walked across the lawn to the waiting car.
"It certainly is a beauty!" declared Grace, as her eyes, and those of
her friends, took in all the details of the auto. "Mollie, you are a
lucky girl, and so is Betty with her motor boat. Amy, I wonder what good
fortune is coming to us?"
"It will have to be an airship in your case, Grace," said Mollie. "One
boat and one car is enough. You had better pray for an aeroplane."
"Never!" assented Grace. "The land and water are enough for me."
"And as for Amy," said Betty, "she wants a balloon, perhaps."
Amy shook her head, and a strange look came over her face. Her chums
knew what it meant--that above everything else she would have preferred
having the mystery of her identity solved.
"Well, if we're going to mote--let's mote!" exclaimed Mollie, perhaps
with a desire to change the subject. "I'm going to take you for a nice
long spin."
"Aren't you nervous--to think of being at the wheel without some one
beside to help you in case of emergency?" asked Betty.
"Were you, in the _Gem_?" retorted Mollie.
"A little, but then, you know, a motor boat doesn't go as fast as a
car--somehow you seem to have a better chance in case of collisions, or
accidents."
"There aren't going to be any collisions or accidents," declared Mollie,
with conviction. "I'm going to be careful until I get a little more
accustomed to it, and then----"
"You'll scorch, like all the others, I suppose," put in Amy.
"Never! Now who's going to ride with me on the front seat?"
For a moment no one answered--Betty, Grace and Amy looked at one
another, and then they burst into laughter.
"Well, do you want to draw lots for it?" inquired Mollie, with a trace
of sarcasm. "I thought you'd feel honored."
"I will!" exclaimed Betty. "But you will be careful; won't you, Mollie
dear?"
"Of course. I'm no more anxious to get into trouble than you are. Oh,
what did I do with my handkerchief?"
"It's up your sleeve," said Grace, indicating a bulge in Mollie's
sweater.
"Well, come on!" exclaimed the owner of the new car.
"She says it as though she were--going to--jail!" laughed Grace.
The demonstrator had alighted from the car, and was looking it over,
testing the tires with his hand.
"Is it all right, Mr. Ransom?" asked Mollie, a bit anxiously. "Is
anything the matter?"
"Not a thing, Miss Billette," he replied. "It is in perfect order. And
I'm sure you can run it alone very easily. You have had a number of
lessons, and you learned very quickly."
"If only I remember to let out my clutch before I change gears," Mollie
murmured.
"Oh, you'll remember that," returned the chauffeur, to give her the
confidence he saw she needed.
"I'll remind you of it," volunteered Betty.
The girls got into the car, and the man, impressing a few important
facts on the pretty girl driver, lifted his cap as Mollie pressed the
button of the self-starter.
"Here we go!" cried Grace, as the motor throbbed and hummed.
Carefully Mollie threw out the clutch, and slipped in first speed. Then
releasing the clutch pedal gradually she felt the car move slowly
forward. A flush of pleasure came to her face; for, though she had
several times performed this feat of late, the demonstrator had always
sat beside her. Now she was doing it alone.
"Fine!" cried Betty, as the car gathered speed.
"You're all right!" Mr. Ransom called after the girls.
From first to second gear, and then in another moment to high, was
performed by Mollie without a hitch. Then she advanced the spark and gas
levers.
"Well, so far--so good!" spoke Amy, with a sigh of relief.
"I knew Mollie could do it," declared Betty. "Look out for that wagon,
my dear," she cried, a second later.
"I see it," and Mollie gave it such a wide berth that she sent her car
needlessly to the grassy part of the country highway that led out of
Deepdale.
"I don't want more than my half of the road," good-naturedly called the
farmer who was driving the horse-drawn vehicle. "If all motorists were
as generous as you there'd be no complaints," and he smiled and lifted
his cap.
"It's better to be sure than sorry," said Mollie. "Well, girls, how do
you like it?" and she ventured to turn around for an instant to speak to
Grace and Amy in the tonneau.
"It's scrumptious!" declared Grace, between bites at a chocolate.
"Lovely," chimed in Amy.
"However did you prevail on your mother to get you the car?" asked
Belly.
"Well, you see, when poor papa died," explained Mollie, as she put on a
little more speed, "he provided in his will that on my seventeenth
birthday I should have a certain sum of money to use just as I
pleased--within reason, of course.
"He didn't say what it was for, but he had suggested that I take a trip
to Europe. But I want to do that later, when I can better appreciate
what I see, so I asked mamma if I couldn't use the money for a car, and
she allowed me to. The result--you now behold," and she patted the
steering wheel.
"We do more than merely behold it," said Grace. "It was sweet of you to
ask us for a spin."
"Why wouldn't I, when Betty has been having us off on a cruise in her
motor boat?" replied Mollie. Then she cried: "Oh, dear! There's a dog!"
for one was in the road ahead.
"He can't bite us--up here," said Betty. "Unless you are afraid of your
tires."
"No, it isn't that, but I'm afraid I may run over him!"
However, the dog leaped away from the road, darted into an open gateway,
and from behind the safe vantage of the fence barked at the passing
auto.
"I don't mind you there," said Mollie, with a sigh of relief. "Oh, but
isn't this lovely!" and she inhaled deeply of the flower-scented air.
There had been a shower the night before, and the roads were in
excellent condition. Mollie had had the car about two weeks, and had
taken several lessons in driving. As the chauffeur had said, she had
proved an apt pupil, and now, being fully qualified, as her license
stated, to run it alone, she had, on this first occasion, invited her
friends for a run.
For several miles the girls rode along, enjoying to the utmost the
swift, silent and easy motion, and drinking in the sweet air. They
admired the views, too, for though they had been out with Mollie when
she was taking her lessons, they had been so much occupied with
watching her attempts to steer, and listening to the man's instructions,
that they had not fully appreciated the beauty of the country through
which they passed. And the country about Deepdale was beautiful.
"Are you going out Shadow Valley way?" asked Betty, as Mollie
successfully made a turn into another highway, off the main one.
"No, not this time, though we must go there some day. I thought we'd
motor to Farmington, and go home by way of Skillman."
"That's a nice way," said Grace. "Here, Mollie, open your mouth," and,
as her chum did so, Grace inserted a chocolate, for Mollie had not yet
enough confidence to take her hands from the steering wheel, except to
shift gears, with the right.
They were going along a well-shaded road now, the big maples on either
side meeting in an arch of green overhead. Some of the branches were so
low that care had to be taken in passing under them, as Mollie had the
top of the car up for protection.
As they approached one immense and ancient tree they saw a flutter of
white amid the branches near the ground.
"What's that?" cried Betty.
"Look out!" exclaimed Grace.
The white object--large and fluttering--toppled from the tree, almost in
front of the car, and with a little scream of fear Mollie gave the
steering wheel such a sudden twist that the auto swerved and nearly
upset. Across the road it shot on two wheels, and crashed into the
bushes and briars that lined the highway.
Instinctively Mollie jammed on the brake, and threw out the clutch, the
next instant shutting off the power, but so suddenly did she stop in the
excess of her zeal that Grace and Amy were thrown from their seats, and
Betty had to put out her hands to avoid hitting the wind shield.
CHAPTER II
A STRANGE GIRL
Mollie was the first to recover herself. Her position at the steering
wheel had given her an advantage, in that she had something to hold to,
and so was not tossed about as were her chums when the auto came to such
a sudden stop.
"Oh, dear!" Mollie exclaimed, ruefully. "Are any of you hurt?"
She gazed back at Grace and Amy, having assured herself by a look at
Betty beside her that the latter bore at least no visible injuries.
"I bumped my elbow--on the funny bone," said Grace.
"This is far from being funny," went on Mollie, half hysterical now.
"Stop it!" commanded Betty, getting control of her nerves, and then
taking the situation in hand, as she so often did. "No one is hurt, and
the car doesn't appear to be damaged, unless the stopping of the motor
indicates that."
"No, I shut it off," said Mollie. "Amy, how about you?"
"Oh, I'm all right. But what in the world happened?"
In concert they all looked back toward the big tree, which, to avoid
hitting something that fell from it, Mollie had steered away from so
suddenly, and with such unexpected results.
"Why--why, it's a--girl!" gasped Betty, as she saw a huddled figure
lying on the thick grass at the foot of the maple. "It's a girl,
Mollie!"
"Oh, my, I hope we didn't hit her!" gasped Mollie. "I'm all in a
tremble. Betty--I'm--I'm going to----"
"Don't you dare say faint!" commanded Betty. "Come, we must see what is
the matter. Poor thing!"
"Oh, if--if we struck her!" gasped Mollie.
"I don't see how we could have," declared Amy. "You steered out too
quickly."
"Yes, she did steer out quickly, all right," asserted Grace, rubbing her
tingling elbow. "Why, Amy, your forehead is all bruised!"
"Yes, my head hit the robe-rail I guess," said Amy. "But that isn't
anything. Oh, let's hurry to that poor girl."
Leaving the auto where it was, half-way through a patch of briars and
brambles, the four girls approached the quiet figure lying under the
tree. They looked up and down the road in case help would be needed,
but not a person or vehicle was in sight.
"Oh--oh! I'm--I'm afraid to--look," spoke Mollie, shrinking back, as
Betty bent over the figure of the strange girl. The latter's eyes were
closed, and her loosened hair was in a mass about her head--even tossed
as it was the girls could see there was a wonderful wealth of it. Betty
gently pushed aside the locks from the forehead, and, as she did so she
started back. Then bravely repressing her feelings she said:
"It's a cut, but it doesn't seem to be very deep."
"Oh, the blood--the blood!" murmured Mollie, putting her hands before
her eyes. "And--I--I did it!"
"Nonsense! Stop it!" cried Betty. "Perhaps you did not do it at all--it
may have happened in the fall."
"She is unconscious," said Grace.
"Yes, and we must get her to a doctor, or bring a doctor here as soon as
possible," spoke Betty. "I think we can get her to a doctor more
quickly. Will your machine run, Mollie? Can you operate it?"
"Oh, it will run all right. Nothing is broken, I'm sure of that. But
I----"
"You've just _got_ to run it," declared Betty, firmly, "even if it only
crawls. Now if we can find some water to bathe her head we can tell how
badly she is hurt. Girls, look for a spring. One of you bring me a lap
robe."
Thus Betty issued her orders, and while the girls are preparing to lend
aid to the injured stranger I will take a moment of your time--my new
readers--to explain briefly some facts about the characters of this
story.
In the first book, entitled, "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale; Or, Camping
and Tramping for Fun and Health," I told how Mollie, Betty, Amy and
Grace, four girls of Deepdale, a town in the heart of New York State,
organized a little club for camping and tramping. They went on a tour of
about two hundred miles, stopping at night with friends or relatives,
and on that tramp they solved a queer mystery having to do with a five
hundred dollar bill--solved it very much to the satisfaction of a
certain young man.
In the second volume, called "The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake; Or, the
Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat _Gem_," I related what good times the
girls had when Betty's uncle gave her a fine gasoline craft. Stirring
times the girls had, too, when there was danger from a burning hay
barge; and jolly times when they took part in races and went to dances.
That Mollie's little sister Dodo was in distress because of a peculiar
accident, which involved Grace, and caused the loss of valuable papers,
detracted somewhat from the happiness of the girls for a time.
But in the end a "ghost" led to the finding of the missing documents,
and Dodo was cured, so that all came out right. Then had followed more
delightful times cruising and camping, and now, with the advent of fall,
and Mollie's touring car, more glorious times were in prospect. The
girls had not been long back from Rainbow Lake when Mollie received her
auto.
I might mention that Betty Nelson was the daughter of a wealthy carpet
manufacturer, with a large plant near Deepdale, while Mollie Billette
was one of three children, her mother being a widow. Little Paul and
Dodo I have already mentioned. Grace--the "Gibson girl," as she was
often called, had a peculiar longing for sweets, and not being stinted
as to pocket money--her father being a wealthy lawyer--she indulged her
taste rather too much, so some of her friends thought.
There was a mystery about poor Amy Stonington, for the details of which
I must refer my readers to the first book. Sufficient to say that since
a baby she had been cared for by her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. John
Stonington. Amy had lived in the West, and had been rescued from a
great flood when an infant. What became of her parents, or her brothers
or sisters--if she had any--no one seemed able to say. In a way this
mystery embittered Amy's life, but she was of too sweet and good a
disposition to allow it to make a difference with her friends.
The four girls had been chums since grammar school days, being now High
School students. In addition to the "inseparables," as they were often
called, my former readers will recall Will Ford, the brother of Grace;
his chum, Frank Haley, and another friend, Allen Washburn, now a young
lawyer, with whom Betty--but there, why should I give away Betty's
little secret?
Quite in contrast to these boys was Percy Falconer, a rather foppish
lad, who greatly admired Betty--as who did not? But as for Percy--Betty
did not care for him in the least. She was too fine a character to
permit herself to be really angry at him, but Betty and Percy never
could get along well.
"Dear Deepdale," as the girls alliteratively referred to it, was a
charming country town, nestling in a bend of the Argono River, which,
some miles below the village, widened out into Rainbow Lake. It was on
this lake that the girls had cruised, and had such fun, and Betty's
boat was now docked in the new house constructed for it near Mollie's
home. The girls lived within short distance of one another, and were
continually visiting, or calling back and forth. Where you found one you
would find the others, and their parents used to say they never knew
when to expect their daughters home to meals--for they were like one
family in respect to dining out.
And, as usual, this beautiful summer day found the girls together in the
auto, when the accident had thrown them into such consternation.
"Did you find any water?" called Betty, who had made a pillow of the lap
robe, and supported on it the head of the unconscious girl.
"Yes," answered Mollie, her hand trembling as she extended a collapsible
cup of the fluid she had dipped from a nearby spring, "I'll get more
when she takes that."
"I'm afraid I can't get her to take much of it," said Betty. "But I can
bathe the cut and see how large it is."
She tried to get a little water between the lips of the strange girl,
while Amy and Grace held her head up; Mollie, with another cup provided
by Betty, going off after more water.
"She took a little," whispered Grace.
The girl turned her head to one side as though to avoid drinking. Then
she muttered a few words.
"What did she say?" asked Amy.
"I couldn't understand it," answered Betty.
Again the stranger murmured something, and this time the girls caught:
"No, no! I will not go back to him! Anything but the life I have been
leading. Oh, why must I do it? Why?"
There was pathetic pleading in the words.
"There, my dear, you will be taken care of," spoke Betty, soothingly.
"We will take you to your friends."
"I--I have none! Oh, I can't go back to--him!"
Her eyes did not open, and she appeared to be in a delirium.
"Poor thing!" said Amy, softly. "Bathe her head, Betty."
"Yes, I think that will be better than trying to force her to drink."
Dipping her handkerchief in the water Betty wiped away the blood from
the cut. It was seen to be a small one.
"That ought not to make her unconscious," said Betty. "More likely she
has some additional injury; possibly a blow on some other part of her
head. Girls, did you ever see such glorious hair!" Betty caressed it.
Truly there was a mass of it, and it was of beautiful silkness and
softness. It was still partly bound up, but the autoists could easily
tell that it must reach almost to the ground when the girl stood up.
"What in the world could she have been doing up the tree?" asked Grace,
as Mollie came back with more water.
"It is the oddest thing," agreed Betty, bathing the stranger's face and
wrists.
"Are you sure we didn't hit her with the auto?" asked Mollie,
tremblingly.
"I am almost sure you did not," spoke Betty, positively. "As she started
to fall you steered out. She just toppled to the ground. See, there is
not a mark of dust on her dress, as there would be if the tires had
struck her."
"Yes, but perhaps the mud guard, or----"
"But her dress isn't torn or much disarranged. No, Mollie, the auto
never struck her, of that I'm sure. But possibly she fell on her head,
and the blow and shock stunned her. Oh, we must get her to a doctor!
"Come, girls," went on Betty, "we can lift her into the auto, I'm sure,
and take her to the nearest house. Then we'll go for a physician."
"Try to arouse her, first," suggested Mollie. "I can't bear to see
her--this way."
Betty used more water, and succeeded in getting some between the pale
lips of the girl, but to no purpose. She was limp and half senseless,
though she continued to moan and talk incoherently. Then the four girls
picked her up and carried her toward the stalled automobile.
CHAPTER III
STRANGELY MISSING
"Wait a minute," directed Betty, as she and her chums advanced, carrying
the unconscious girl. "We'll have to put her down here, where the grass
is soft."
"Why?" asked Amy, "she isn't heavy."
"No, but it will be better to get the auto out of the bushes, and into
the road before we put her in it. Something might go wrong, and jolt
her."
"That's so," agreed Mollie. "I think I can do it. Oh, but I'm nervous!"
"Shame on you!" cried Betty. "Be an outdoor girl--be your own brave
self, Mollie!"
"I will!" and there was determination in her voice. "I'm sure I can get
the car out all right!"
Mollie took her place at the wheel, pressed the starting button, and
then, with a glance backward to see which way to steer, she slipped in
the reverse gear, and let the clutch come into place. Slowly, amid a
tearing away of vines and bushes, the car regained the highway.
"Good!" cried Grace. "Now, how shall we put her in, Betty?" for the
"Little Captain," as she was often called (as Mollie was called "Billy")
was generally looked to for advice in emergencies like these.
"You and Amy must hold her between you on the rear seat," Betty
directed. "Support her all you can. Mollie will drive slowly."
"But perhaps we ought to get her to a doctor right away," spoke the
owner of the car.
"Getting her to a doctor would not make up for any injury caused by a
jolt," said practical Betty. "Besides, I do not think she can be
seriously hurt. Her hair is so very thick that she could stand a very
hard blow on the head. There are no other signs of injuries; but of
course there may be internal hurts. She did not fall far, those branches
were very close to the ground."
"What she can have been doing up the tree is a mystery," remarked Grace.
"Like the time when we found that five hundred dollar bill," added
Mollie.
"And the 'ghost' of Elm Island, and the missing papers in the saddle
bags," remarked Amy to Grace.
Mollie had brought her car to a stop, and alighted to help lift in the
unconscious girl. Between them Amy and Grace held her in the tonneau,
her head resting on Amy's shoulder, a damp handkerchief covering the cut
to keep any dirt from getting in it. Mollie again took her place at the
steering wheel, and when Betty had gotten in the girls started off with
their strange passenger.
"I couldn't imagine what it was, when I saw something white falling out
of the tree," spoke Mollie, driving along on high gear, but with the
motor well throttled down.
"Nor could I," added Betty. "And when you steered out so suddenly, I
thought surely we would crash into the stone fence, just beyond the
bushes."
"So did I, but I knew there was only one thing to do, and that was to
put on the brakes as hard as I could."
"And you did," said Grace. "I didn't know you could move so quickly,
Mollie."
"You can do many things when the emergency comes," replied Mollie, as
she turned out to avoid a rut in the road.
"This is better than a dozen lessons in the art of managing an auto,"
commented Betty. "Practical problems are what count--not theoretical
ones. Does she seem all right, Grace?" and she looked around at the
unconscious girl.
"Yes, and her breathing is better. I think she will soon come to."
"That's good. See, there's a house. We can take her in, and ask where
the nearest doctor is," and Betty pointed ahead.
Presently the auto stopped before it, and to a motherly-looking woman
who came out, Betty and the girls quickly explained what had happened.
"Of course! Bring the poor dear in!" the woman directed. "The men folks
are over in the far meadow salting the cows, or I'd send one of them for
Dr. Brown. He's most likely to be home too, now. He lives down the road
a piece--about a mile."
"I can go for him in the car, and bring him back," said Mollie.
"That's good. Bring the poor dear in the bedroom, and we'll look after
her until the doctor comes. I'll get the camphor bottle. That's good for
a faint."
The girl seemed to have again sunk into a stupor, as they carried her
in, and placed her on a comfortable lounge. Then the woman of the house
brought out a bottle of camphor, of generous size, and it was held to
the nostrils of the unconscious one.
The sufferer turned her head away from the pungent odor, and seemed to
be struggling against some unseen force. Again she seemed to revive
somewhat, and muttered:
"Oh, I can't! I can't! I don't want to go back to him! Anything but
that! I don't like--I can't bear that life!"
Her voice trailed off into a mere whisper.
"You had better hurry for the doctor," said Betty, and Mollie hastened
out to her car.
"I'll come with you," volunteered Grace, and Mollie was grateful.
"Suppose we take her into the bedroom," suggested the woman. "It's
cooler there. We can manage her. I'm real strong."
With her help it was no great task to get the girl on the bed. Her
garments were loosened so that she might be more comfortable, and more
camphor was used, but it seemed to have no effect.
"Suppose we go out and let her be by herself; we can't do anything
more," suggested the woman. "Besides, she needs all the air she can get.
That's always best for fainting folks. She may come to by herself, I'll
open the window and shutters," and she proceeded to do so. Then coming
out, and closing the door, they left the strange girl alone, Betty and
Amy taking turns telling how the affair had happened.
"Land's sakes! Fell out of a tree!" exclaimed the woman. "What in the
world do you s'pose she was doin' up in it?"
"We haven't the least idea," answered Betty.
"And who is this man she says she won't go back to?"
"We have even less idea--she has repeated that several times," spoke
Amy. "Oh, I do hope they find the doctor!"
"Dr. Brown is real good," was the woman's opinion. "He cured my
rheumatism, and Hetty Blake--she lives over on the Melford road--she had
jaundice something terrible--she was as yellow as saffron tea, and he
brought her around when old Dr. Wakefield give her up. Yes, Dr. Brown is
right smart."
Thus she entertained the girls with remarks on the country life around,
until Betty ventured to remark:
"I wonder if we oughtn't to look in on her?" motioning to the room where
they had left the girl.
"No, best let her be," said the woman--Mrs. Meckelburn, she had said her
name was.
"Hark!" exclaimed Amy a little later.
"It's an auto!" said Betty, going to the window.
She saw Mollie and Grace in the car, a young man, with a professional
air about him, at the steering wheel.
"That's Dr. Brown!" exclaimed Mrs. Meckelburn, "but I didn't know he
could drive one of them things."
"I guess Mollie got too nervous," explained Betty.
The doctor caught up his bag and hurried toward the house, followed by
Grace and Mollie.
"An accident!" he exclaimed in brisk tones, bowing to Betty and Amy, and
taking in the woman in his greeting. "Where is she?"
"In my bedroom, Dr. Brown," said Mrs. Meckelburn. "I do hope there's
nothing much the matter with the poor dear."
They clustered around as the physician pushed open the door. Then he
turned to them with a queer look on his face.
"Must be some mistake," he said. "There is no one here."
"No one there!" cried Betty in strange tones. "Why----"
She looked over his shoulder. There in the bed was the imprint of a
human form, but the girl herself had vanished!
CHAPTER IV
THE QUEER PEDDLER
For a moment after this surprising discovery had been made no one spoke.
Dr. Brown looked oddly from one girl to the other, and at Mrs.
Meckelburn.
"There is evidently some mystery here," he said. "I supposed there was
really some one here who needed my services?" and he glanced
questioningly at Mollie, who had summoned him.
"Oh, indeed there _was_," she said, quickly. "A girl fell out of a
tree----"
"Out of a tree!" exclaimed the doctor, and for a moment it seemed as
though he believed a joke had been attempted on him.
"Yes," went on Betty, taking up the story, "didn't Mollie tell you that?
She really fell from a tree as our auto passed, and at first we thought
we had struck her." Betty shot a glance of inquiry at Mollie.
"No, I didn't tell that part," confessed the owner of the new car. "I
was so flustrated, and I guess Grace didn't say anything either."
"No," answered the willowy one.
"Well, I'm here, at all events, but there is no patient," said the
doctor, with a smile.
"Oh, we'll pay you for your call!" exclaimed Betty, quickly taking out
her silver mesh bag. "How much----"
"No, no!" said Dr. Brown somewhat sharply, "you misunderstand me. I
never accept a fee in a simple accident case. What I meant about there
being no patient was that she has evidently gone away, possibly in a
delirium, and in that case we had better search for her, for she may be
badly hurt, or do herself some injury. You say she was in this room?"
"Yes," answered Mrs. Meckelburn.
"And you sat here in view of the door all the while?"
"Yes," spoke Betty. "She never came out of that door, I'm sure." Amy
said the same thing.
"Then the only other possible solution is that she got out of the
window," went on the physician, "for there is no other door from the
room. We must look outside," and he crossed the apartment to the
casement. It had been raised, and the shutters were open when the
unconscious girl had been left alone.
"The window is low--she could easily have dropped to the ground," said
Dr. Brown. "It is not more than four feet."
He leaned out to look at the ground underneath, and uttered an
exclamation.
"That is what she did!" he cried. "There are the marks of feet landing
heavily--small shoes--and unless some of _you_ young ladies have been
indulging in gymnastics."
"And see!" added Betty, standing beside the physician, "here are some of
her long hairs," and she picked some from the window sill. "Oh, she did
have the longest, most glorious hair!" and Betty sighed in memory, for
Betty loved long tresses and her own, while they became her wonderfully
well, were not very luxuriant.
"But I don't see how she could have gotten away, unconscious as she was,
and injured," said Grace, with a puzzled air.
"She may have regained consciousness," spoke Dr. Brown; "or, as I said,
she may have wandered off in a delirium. In that case we must try to
find her. Again, she may not have been as badly hurt as you supposed,
and also she may have simulated an injury hoping she would get a chance
to escape unobserved. Was there anything strange about her?"
"Yes, there was," admitted Betty, slowly, and she gave the details of
the accident, how, most unexpectedly the girl had toppled from the
tree, the subsequent swerving of the auto, and how, several times, the
girl had murmured something about not going back to a certain man.
"Hum!" mused Dr. Brown, "it is rather odd, I must admit. What do you
suppose she was doing in the tree?"
"We haven't been able to guess," confessed Amy; "perhaps she climbed up
to avoid a dog--we have met several dogs to-day."
"It's possible," Dr. Brown commented.
"And the tree was an easy one to climb," spoke Mollie. "I am not a very
good climber, but that tree offered temptations."
The doctor smiled.
"Well, let us make a search," he proposed. "Is there any special place
where a girl, who might wish to escape observation for some unknown
reason, could hide around here, Mrs. Meckelburn?"
"There's the barn."
"Very good, we will search there, and we may be able to trace her
footprints. Please do not any of you walk under the window, nor in a
line from it until we have made some observations. We will play a little
detective game," and he smiled frankly at the girls.
But if he had hoped anything from the clue of the footprints he was
doomed to disappointment for, though there were plain indications where
the girl had landed when she jumped from the window, the marks were soon
lost sight of on the harder ground a short distance from the house.
A search of the barn revealed no trace of her, and one of the farm
hands, coming to the house a little later, joined in the search. He
reported that there had been seen no hatless, injured--or apparently
injured--girl crossing the fields.
"Then she must have made a circle about the house, and gone out on the
road," suggested Betty. "She is probably far enough away from here by
this time, poor thing!"
"Perhaps we ought to search for her," spoke Mollie. "Of course it was
not our fault, since we are sure the car did not hit her; but perhaps it
scared her so that she fell."
"I should not blame myself if I were you," said the physician, kindly.
"It was evidently not your fault. You did all you could for the girl. If
she did not want further treatment that is her lookout. Of course, if
she wandered away in a delirium, that is another story, and perhaps it
would be well to search down the road. She did not pass us, or we would
have seen her, coming from my office along the main highway as we did,"
he said to Mollie. "A search in the opposite direction would be the only
feasible thing to conduct."
"Then let's do it!" cried Mollie. "And you please drive, Dr. Brown, I
haven't yet gotten over my nervousness."
Mrs. Meckelburn refused an invitation to go in the car, but the four
girls started off, Dr. Brown at the wheel. They went as far back as the
tree which was the scene of the accident and saw no trace of the girl.
Nor had any of several other autoists, or drivers of horse vehicles, to
whom they appealed, seen her.
"She has just disappeared--that's all," said Betty. "I wonder if we had
better notify the police?"
"I will attend to that for you," responded Dr. Brown, kindly. "There is
no need for you to be mixed up in this. Sometimes, with the best
intentions in the world, one gets unpleasant notoriety in these cases. I
will notify the authorities to be on the lookout for the girl, for her
own sake alone. Later, if there is need of you----"
He paused suggestively.
"We will leave you our addresses," said Betty, quickly. "Thank you for
looking after this for us."
"I am only too glad to be of service. Well, as long as there is no
patient to be found here, I had better return to those waiting for me at
my office."
"Go there in my car," proposed Mollie, quickly, "and then I will take
the wheel again. I am feeling better now."
"Such a fine car as this ought to make anyone feel fine! It is a
beauty!" and he seemed to caress the steering wheel. "I am getting a
small runabout," he went on, "and that is how I happen to know how to
drive. I learned some time ago."
They flashed past Mrs. Meckelburn's house, calling to her of their
failure, and saying that they would be back soon. A little later, having
left the physician at his home, they were again in the pleasant farm
house, sipping tea which their hostess had thoughtfully made.
"Isn't it queer?" observed Betty.
"A strange enough happening," Amy commented.
"Quite a mystery," asserted Grace.
"And really she was a pretty girl," declared Mollie. "I wish I had her
hair," and she sighed as Betty had done.
Grace strolled into the room where the girl had been, and half idly she
looked about it, as though in that way she might solve the mystery. A
piece of paper in one corner caught her eye and she picked it up.
"I found this in there," she said, coming out. "It has some writing on
it. Perhaps this is yours, Mrs. Meckelburn," and she held out the scrap.
"No, I'll guarantee there was not a piece of paper in that room when you
carried that girl in," said the farmer's wife. "I had just swept," and
she tossed her head in pardonable pride of her housework.
"What does it say?" asked Amy.
"It's evidently a piece torn from a letter," answered Grace, as she
accepted the paper from the woman, "and all I can make out are the
words--'not go to Shadow Valley even if'--and that's all there is to
it."
"How odd!" exclaimed Mollie. "Shadow Valley is not far from here."
"And the queer girl evidently dropped that paper," declared Betty,
examining the scrap. "Well, the mystery deepens, but I do not see that
we can do anything to solve it."
They talked it over for some time, but could come to no other
conclusion. Grace saved the scrap of paper, and soon, having bidden
good-bye to Mrs. Meckelburn, they were on their way again, with Mollie
at the wheel.
Gradually their nerves, upset by their adventure, resumed their poise
under the influence of the fresh air and sunshine, and the gloomy
atmosphere raised by the girl's accident, passed away.
They had made the turn into a road that would lead them to Deepdale when
they came in sight of a man standing in the road beside a small, and
rather gaudily painted wagon. He seemed to be looking in the dust for
something, and Mollie, seeing him, slowed up, remarking:
"Perhaps he has a break-down. Let's ask if we can help him."
The appearance of the man, in some ways, was enough to invite the
confidence of four girls, and in others was not. He had long, and very
white hair, fluffy and wavy, and was dressed in a shabby suit of black,
but his face had hard, cruel lines in it, as though he were in the habit
of imposing his will on others.
A look at his wagon showed the character of his trade, for it was
brilliantly lettered with such devices and mottoes as--"Bennington's
Hair is All His Own." "Use His Restorer and Be Likewise." Another was:
"Bennington's Restorer Really Restores."
"Have you lost something?" asked Mollie, bringing the car to a stop. He
looked up quickly, and smiled, but the smile only seemed to make his
face harder, instead of softening it.
"Yes, ladies," he said with a smirk and bow, taking off his broad
brimmed hat, and running his fingers through his hair, making it fluff
out more than ever, "I have lost a bolt out of part of my wagon, and I'm
afraid to go on lest I break down. It dropped somewhere in the dust, but
I can't find it."
"I have a supply of spare bolts in my tool box," spoke Mollie, "I'll
give you one, and that will save you looking any more."
"Thank you, lady. It will be just what I want." From the tool box on the
run board he soon selected a bolt that fitted his wagon.
"And now let me repay your kindness," he said. "I am, as you see, a
traveling peddler of hair tonic. May I present you with a bottle?" and
he offered Mollie one.
"No, thank you," and she laughed merrily. "It is something that I never
use."
"You all have fine hair," returned the peddler; "but at that it would be
all the better for Bennington's Restorer--I am Bennington--I make it
myself," and he bowed. "Won't you take it. I can guarantee it harmless."
"No, thank you just the same," repeated Mollie. "And you are entirely
welcome to the bolt. Good-bye," and she started her car.
CHAPTER V
PAUL AT THE WHEEL
The girls looked back at the old peddler as they swept on. He was
standing beside his horse, evidently mending some part of the harness.
"It was rather a dilapidated outfit," remarked Betty. "I don't see how
he can cover much ground in a day."
"Probably he doesn't," answered Mollie. "He may sleep in his wagon, eat
there--dining on bread and cheese or herring--and so reduce the high
cost of living. Then he may make a big profit on his hair restorer. Ugh!
The stuff! I could not bear to use it."
"Nor I; and yet he had nice hair."
"Perhaps he'd have that anyhow. He meant it well enough--offering us the
bottle."
"Yes," agreed Betty. "But it was just as well not to take it. My! what a
day of adventures this has been!"
"It has started in almost the way some days did when we were on our
tramp," spoke Grace, from the tonneau.
"Or when we were at the lake, trying not to be afraid of the 'ghost',"
added Amy. "Do you intend to do any more cruising this fall, Betty?"
"We may. Would you like it?"
"Would we?" cried Grace, "just ask us!"
"Now please wait," broke in Mollie. "I may have a little plan of my own
to propose soon."
"What is it?" begged Amy.
"I haven't it all worked out yet. I'll tell you as soon as I have. It
may offer us a chance for some fun----"
"And adventures?" asked Betty, quickly.
"And adventures," assented Mollie. "But one thing I do want, and that is
to have each of you girls run the car. I don't want to be selfish and
drive all the while."
"I would like to learn," said Betty, eagerly. "It's good of you to want
us to, Mollie."
"No, I have rather a selfish motive back of it. Sometimes I want to sit
in the tonneau and not have to worry about running over a dog----"
"Look out!" suddenly cried Betty, impulsively grasping Mollie's arm.
"That child!"
A little toddler had run from the yard of a house near the road, and was
scampering across the highway, his mother in close pursuit.
Quickly Mollie put on both brakes, and threw out the clutch, but there
was no need; for the child, with the perverseness of youth, had turned
and was running back toward the gate, evidently frightened by the
frantic tooting of the horn, the bulb of which Mollie pressed
spasmodically.
"Oh my! What a scare!" panted Mollie, as she slipped in low gear, and
started up again, without coming to a full stop.
"Well, I don't want to seem mean, but he is getting just what he
deserves," said Grace, looking back, "and that is--a spanking. Toddlers
must be made to learn the danger of rushing blindly across auto roads."
"I suppose so," agreed Mollie. "I could just see little Paul then," she
went on. "If I had hit that child----"
She did not finish, but they all knew what she meant.
Deepdale was reached without further incident, and the girls agreed that
Mollie had piloted her car wonderfully well for a beginner.
"Of course I've got lots to learn," she said to her chums, "but that
will come gradually, the demonstrator said. One learns, after a while,
to steer instinctively, and to do everything almost automatically--like
slowing down, applying the brakes and so on. Now you girls must come
over to-night, and we'll----"
"Talk!" interrupted Amy. "We've got lots to talk about."
"We always have," said Grace, looking in vain for a chocolate. The car
had stopped in front of her house, and Mollie had said she would leave
the other girls at their residences.
"Oh, don't bother," Betty had protested. "You must be tired, and it's
only a step."
"No, we must do this in style!" decided Mollie. "What is the use of a
motor car if one can't bring one's friends home in the proper mode?" And
she had her way.
The auto was to be kept in a public garage until Mrs. Billette could
have one built on her own premises, and, leaving her machine with the
man in charge, Mollie walked home.
That night her three chums called, and the talk was almost entirely
devoted to the strange girl and her queer disappearance.
In the days that followed the four inseparables took many rides out into
the beautiful country around Deepdale. True to her determination, Mollie
insisted on Betty, Amy and Grace taking at least a few lessons. Betty
was quick to learn, but Grace was not quite strong enough to handle the
wheel properly, and Amy was too timid. Still, either of the latter could
manage the car on a straight, level road, but Betty was the only one
who persisted enough to be able to get a license, which she one day took
out on Mollie's suggestion.
"And what is the something you were going to tell us?" asked Betty of
Mollie one day, as they were returning from a short run, Betty at the
wheel.
"Oh, it isn't quite ready yet," she said. "I'll tell you in plenty of
time to prepare for it, though. Mind your wheel, Bet, there are two cars
coming back of us, and I think they're going to pass us close."
"Well, let them look out, I'm on the right side of the road."
Two cars, scorching, did pass them, throwing up a cloud of dust that
caused the girls to gasp choke.
"Horrid creatures!" cried Grace. "My new cloak will be spoiled!" and she
dusted off the auto garment she had recently purchased.
"It is such as they who give all autoists a bad name," remarked Mollie.
"One rule of our club must be never to scorch."
"Our club?" asked Grace, wonderingly.
"There--I've told part of my secret!" exclaimed Mollie, in some
confusion. "I was going to suggest that, as we have a sort of informal
Camping and Tramping Club, and as there is a kind of motor boat club
feeling existing among us, we form an auto club."
"Let's!" proposed Amy. "Bet has the boat, you have the car, Mollie, but
poor Grace and I----"
"That doesn't make a bit of difference!" broke in Mollie. "You don't
have to have an auto to belong to this club. Just as when you get your
airship, Grace, we'll join your aero club; though you'll be the only one
with a flying machine."
"No flies for me!" said Grace, determinedly.
They reached Mollie's house rather early that afternoon, not having gone
far.
"Do come in for a cup of tea," urged Mollie. "It will refresh you all.
No, no, Paul!" she called to her brother, "you must not get in sister's
auto when she is not in it," for the little fellow had started to climb
up in the front seat as the girls strolled toward the house.
"Oo dot any tandy?" he asked, coming toward them.
"Oh dear, I wonder if I will always have to bribe you, Paul?" sighed
Mollie. "Grace, will you kindly oblige again? I guess I shall have to
appoint you official candy distributor."
"That would suit me," laughed Grace. "Here, Paul, and don't get that on
your suit--the chocolate is so sticky and messy in warm weather," and
Grace daintily removed, with the tip of her tongue, some brown spots
from the ends of her rosy fingers that had passed the candy to the
little boy.
The girls were sipping tea in the library, and talking, when there came
from out in front the sudden throbbing of an auto motor. Mollie leaped
up and rushed to the window. Then she screamed:
"Oh girls! Paul is in my car and it's running away with him! Oh, stop
him, some one!"
They all saw little Paul--a mite in the seat--holding bravely to the
steering wheel, and the car moving down the hill in front of the
Billette home.
CHAPTER VI
A TOUR PROPOSED
Betty was the first to rush from the house. She was closely followed by
Grace, who seemed to rise to the emergency in a manner not usual.
"Can we stop him? Can we stop him?" cried Mollie, over and over again,
as she clung to Amy and hurried on after Betty and Grace. "Oh, if mother
were to see him now!"
"Perhaps we can reach him in time," suggested Amy, consolingly. "Don't
worry, Mollie."
"Oh, whatever possessed him to do a thing like that? I have told him
time and again never to get into the car alone."
The four girls ran swiftly across the lawn--yes, swiftly, for no such
creations as "hobble skirts" hindered them. Fortunately Mrs. Billette,
whose French nature was easily excited had not seen the happening. Dodo
was out with the maid.
"Paul! Paul!" cried Mollie. "Put on the brake! Stop the car!"
"It doesn't seem to be going very fast," panted Betty, as she kept on
beside Grace.
"He hasn't thrown in the gear--that's one good thing," exclaimed Grace.
"He doesn't know how----"
She paused, for from the car came a laugh of childish delight, and a
change in the sound of the motor told that something new had occurred.
"He has the gear in now!" cried Betty.
She was running diagonally across the lawn, trying to intercept the car.
In her mind it was plain what had happened.
Paul had, with the impishness of childhood, climbed up in the auto. It
was a simple matter to even blunder on pushing the button that would set
the self-starter in operation. The car had been left standing on a level
bit of road, but, just ahead of it, was a rather steep slope. Mollie had
neglected to leave the emergency brake set, and when the motor started
there was vibration enough to send the car over the little space that
separated it from the slope. Then it simply rolled down. That was what
had happened first.
But now had entered a new complication.
It seemed that Paul had a tricycle, worked by foot pedals and hand
levers, and he was quite expert in its use. He had now put into
practice what had been told him about his toy, and had added his
observations of Mollie's operation of her car.
After starting the motor Paul had somehow managed to slip in the low
gear, and the marvel of it was that he knew enough to disengage the
clutch while he did this. Afterward he told how he had heard the
demonstrator impress many times on Mollie the need of doing so.
"Oh, we'll never get him now!" cried Mollie, as she realized that the
auto was moving under power now, and not merely by momentum. "Oh, Paul!"
The child was actually steering--the girls could see that, for the auto
swerved in and out, narrowly missing the curbstone, as he turned and
twisted the wheel too much.
"Paul! Paul!" cried his sister. "Stop it! Stop it!"
But Paul only laughed. He was having too much fun to want to stop.
It was hopeless for the girls to try to catch the auto now. They were
far behind it, but still Betty ran on. Several narrow escapes had Paul
on that perilous journey, and then in the nick of time he was saved from
what might have been a serious accident.
[Illustration: WILL KICKED HIS WHEEL FROM UNDER HIM AND WAS AT PAUL'S
SIDE.
_The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car_ _Page 51._]
Up the road was coming a racing car, going at high speed. The man,
crouched almost under the steering wheel, if he saw Mollie's car at all,
probably imagined that a motorist of experience was guiding it. But Paul
was on the wrong side of the road, and there was no telling at what
moment he might shift the course.
Then, riding like the wind, out from behind the racing car shot a
bicyclist. At the sight of him Mollie screamed:
"Will--Will Ford! Save Paul! He's in my car--there ahead of you!"
Will Ford was riding directly toward Paul. In an instant Grace's brother
had sensed the situation. Skillfully going around the racing car, which
had fortunately slackened speed as the driver evidently realized that
something was wrong, Will guided his wheel toward Mollie's auto.
Then he turned, so as to ride in the direction in which it was
advancing, with ever-increasing speed. Will gauged his progress to that
of the car, rode up alongside the run-board, and, in another instant,
kicked his wheel from under him and was at Paul's side. In another
second he had snapped off the power and applied the brakes.
"What for oo 'top me widing?" demanded Paul, rather indignantly.
Will's heart was beating fast, and he panted for breath, but he managed
to answer:
"Too bad, Paulie, but you haven't any license to drive a car, you know,
and a policeman might take you."
"Yes?"
"Sure. You mustn't do it again," and Will's voice was sufficiently
stern.
"All wight--I won't. But I tan wun a tar, all'e same; tan't I?"
Paul was evidently proud of what he had done.
"Yes, you can, but you mustn't--you mustn't! Do you understand?"
"Yes. Dot any tandy?"
Will laughed.
"No," he said, "but maybe the girls have. Here they come."
Half hysterical, Mollie and her chums came running up. They were all
rather "limp," as they confessed later.
"Oh, Paul, you naughty boy!" cried his sister. "Mamma will punish you
for this."
His big eyes opened wide.
"I ikes to run tar," he said, and his lip quivered.
"Don't be too harsh with him," murmured Grace.
"I can't help it--he must know how dangerous it is," insisted Mollie.
"You won't ever do it again; will you, Paul?"
"Nope. Dot any tandy?"
Their laughter relieved their strained feelings.
"Oh, Will, I can't thank you enough!" declared Mollie. "I thought I
would die when I saw that racing car coming toward him."
"I just saw him in time," exclaimed Will. "I had to act quickly, for
there was no telling when he'd try to cross the street."
Paul was contentedly chewing a candy Grace had produced and the little
crowd that had gathered, on seeing Will's act, began to disperse,
understanding what had happened. Then Mollie, assuming the wheel,
directed the car back to her house, taking the girls and Paul in it.
Will went back to get his bicycle and the excitement was over. But it
took some time for the girls to quiet down.
To impress on him the danger of what he had done, Mrs. Billette sent
Paul to bed. He cried and protested, but it was necessary, for he was
too daring a little chap.
Three days passed. The girls were at Mollie's house, having assembled in
answer to her telephone message.
"Well, it's all settled!" she exclaimed, as the trio came in together.
"What?" asked Betty.
"Our auto tour. That's what I've been working on. I wanted to plan a
nice route--one that would take in a good stretch of country, enable us
to see new places, and be comfortable. Now I have it all mapped out.
You'll come; won't you--all of you?" and she looked appealingly at her
chums.
"But what's it all about?" asked Grace, wonderingly.
"Why, since I have a car, we must get the best use out of it we can. So
why can't we four--and a chaperone, if we think we need one--go for a
tour, the same as when we walked--only this time we'll ride? We can make
five hundred, or a thousand, miles, if we choose, stopping over night in
different places. Won't it be fun?"
"Jolly!" cried Amy.
"Scrumptious!" was Betty's contribution.
"Mollie, you're a dear!" declared Grace, with a hug. "When can we go?"
"Soon now. I think----" A maid knocked at the door.
"Yes; what is it?" asked Mollie.
"If you please, Miss Billette, there's a gentleman to see you."
"A gentleman?"
"Yes, rather elderly, and he keeps making up verses, Miss. I'm not sure
about him. Will you see him?"
"Verses? Oh, it must be that dear old Mr. Lagg--the storekeeper!"
exclaimed Mollie. "Of course I'll see him. But, girls, what do you
imagine he wants?"
CHAPTER VII
MR. LAGG'S OFFER
With a broad smile on her face, the maid came back, escorting Mr. Lagg,
who, at the sight of the girls, bowed low, and declaimed:
"I'm glad to see you,
I hope we'll agree,
That you are as happy
Now to see me!"
"Good!" cried Betty, clapping her hands until the palms were rosy. "We
are indeed glad to see you."
"Of course," added Mollie. "How could you leave your store long enough
to run down here, Mr. Lagg?"
"Well, it _is_ running a risk," he answered, as he took a chair Amy set
out for him. "But I have important business down here, so I though I'd
call. I worked out that little verse on the way down," he confided to
the girls.
"You are extending your range," remarked Grace, who was languidly eating
chocolates. "That is, your poetry is getting more elaborate."
"It is indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Lagg, brightening up on hearing this
praise. "I am glad you noticed that. Yes, I am gradually getting it
better, and on a higher plane. That is what worried me about leaving my
store alone."
"Did you leave it all alone?" asked Betty, for the girls knew he did
quite a trade with the summer colonists of Rainbow Lake.
"Practically so," was the answer. "I have a boy I hire occasionally, but
he hasn't the least talent in the line of poetry, and I know my
customers will miss that. However, they will have to put up with it for
a few hours. I am going back as soon as I can.
"Perhaps," he added, cautiously, "I should never have worked up my
versifying talent; but, somehow, I just couldn't seem to help it. I
started in a modest way, just as I did in my store, and it seemed to
grow of itself. Now my customers have come to look for it, and I know if
Johnnie--that's the boy I spoke of as being left in charge--I know he'll
rhyme the wrong words--that is, if he attempts anything at all, which he
is likely to do. And nothing displeases a customer more than to listen
to wrong rhymes; don't you think so?" and he appealed to the chums.
"Of course," assented Mollie, with a look at the others to ask their
opinion as to what Mr. Lagg had in view, and what his object could be in
calling.
The storekeeper appeared to be nervous, and ill at ease, and it was
evident that he had attired himself with care for the trip.
He was obviously uncomfortable in his "Sunday-go-to-meetin'" suit, and a
stiff shirt and a stiffer collar did not add to his ease. But he stood
it manfully. Sitting on the edge of the chair he looked from one to the
other, twirling his hat.
"How--how is trade?" asked Mollie, feeling that she ought to say
something, but scarcely knowing what. She seemed to recall that this was
a way to engage a business man in conversation.
"Not what it should be," replied Mr. Lagg, with a smile. He seemed to
feel that he was making progress now. At least he was in his own
element. "Not what it should be. I miss you girls. When you used to run
in now and then for something in my line I did better. You were good
customers, and I always shaded the prices all I could, besides reciting
all my newest poetry as soon as I made it up. It isn't everyone I do
that for," he added. "Why, to some customers I never speak more than a
line or two in a whole year. But you girls--well, you're different. I
miss seeing the _Gem_ tied at my dock. There isn't a chance that you'll
go cruising again; is there?" he asked, eagerly.
"Come, sail upon the bright blue lake,
You, of my goods a choice may make.
My prices you will find quite right,
I'm open until eight at night."
"You always did treat us right, Mr. Lagg," laughed Betty, "but I don't
believe we'll do any more cruising--at least, not right away. We're
going in for land cruising now."
"Land cruising?"
"Yes, Mollie has an auto, and we were just planning a tour when you came
in."
"So, you see, unless you could arrange to have a sort of traveling
store, we couldn't patronize you very often," went on Mollie, wondering
why Mr. Lagg did not come to the point. He had evidently called with
some special object in view, and leaving his establishment during the
height of the season would seem to indicate that the object was not a
trivial one. "But we'll stop in whenever we're near you," Mollie
concluded.
"Thank you, Miss Billette. So you are going on an auto cruise; eh?"
"A tour, yes."
"Then that may fit in with what I have called about," said Mr. Lagg,
quickly. "Yes, it may be just the very best idea yet. Excuse me a moment
while I think," he said, and he closed his eyes. His head nodded two or
three times in a satisfied sort of way, and occasionally he murmured to
himself. The girls looked at one another, unable to fathom the meaning
of this conduct. Then Mr. Lagg whistled and suddenly exclaimed:
"I have it! You can solve this mystery, too!"
"Another mystery?" queried Grace, rather languidly, as she took a more
comfortable position on the divan. "We seem to be having a monopoly of
them."
"What is it, Mr. Lagg?" asked Mollie.
"Were you much afraid of that ghost on Elm Island?" he replied, by
asking another question.
"Not at all!" declared Betty, quickly.
"Especially as it was only--what it was," said Grace, with a laugh.
"Then I've got another one for you to solve," went on the poetical
grocer. "It's a haunted house!"
He beamed on the girls as though he had proposed the most delightful
sort of an affair.
"A--a haunted house!" faltered Amy.
"That's it--a regular haunted house--groans, slamming doors--queer
lights, and all that sort of thing."
"Where--where is it?" asked Betty.
"In Shadow Valley."
Instinctively the four girls started.
"Why, we--we were near there the other day," said Mollie. "We didn't see
any house that appeared to be haunted, though."
"No, and that's just it," went on Mr. Lagg. "You see it's only recently
been haunted, and that makes it all the worse."
"Tell us about it," suggested Betty. "Girls, this is getting
interesting. We must take this in on our tour."
"Don't!" pleaded Amy, the timid one, shivering in spite of herself.
"You know that old mansion, at the far end of the valley; don't you?"
asked Mr. Lagg. "At least, you must have heard about it."
"You mean Kenyon's Folly?" responded Mollie, who began to have a
glimmering of what was meant.
"Yes," answered the storekeeper. "Mr. Kenyon, who was once a
millionaire, built that mansion after ideas of his own. Everyone said
Shadow Valley--at least that part of it--was too gloomy and out of the
way to be a good place for a mansion like that, and the folks around
here said it was foolish. They called it Kenyon's Folly from the start,
though he named it Kenyon's Woodland Lodge, or some such fancy name as
that."
"And did it turn out as the people said?" asked Amy.
"Yes," answered Mr. Lagg. "From the very first his wife took a dislike
to the place. She said it was too gloomy, and in spite of a lot of
entertainments and parties--elaborate affairs they were, too--life there
was dreary. They had lots of company, but Shadow Valley seemed to cast a
gloom over the big mansion.
"Then Mr. Kenyon died, and some said it was partly due to grief over the
fact that his wife refused to live in the place. At any rate, he closed
it up, and went abroad, I believe, not living long after he started to
tour Europe.
"Then there was trouble over his will, his whole estate was thrown into
court, and the heirs fought and squabbled over the mansion, as well as
over the rest of his possessions. No one could get title to it, and the
place fell into neglect."
"Yes, it certainly does look lonesome and forlorn around there," said
Betty. "I was close to it about a year ago, but I never heard that it
was haunted."
"It wasn't until recently," said Mr. Lagg, "and that brings me to this
part of the story, and that's why I called on you. I might say that I
now own that haunted mansion."
"You own it!" cried Grace. All the girls were interested now, whatever
they had been before.
"Yes. After years of litigation the courts, last spring, ordered the
mansion sold. I saw a chance to get a bargain, and as I had some money
put away I bought in the property. I got it cheap, but I purchased it
through an agent so that no one, except a very few, know that I own it."
"What are you going to do--live in it?" asked Mollie.
"Ugh! Fancy living in a haunted house!" exclaimed Amy, looking over her
shoulder as though she felt a ghostly hand laid on it.
"No, I don't intend to live there," said Mr. Lagg. "I didn't buy it for
that. But I thought it would be a good investment, and I had an idea of
forming a company, and turning it into a hotel. By making some changes
the surroundings could be made less gloomy, and the place would pay.
"But before I could do that I got an offer from some doctors, who wanted
to establish a sort of sanitarium for the treatment of nervous diseases.
They saw the mansion, and decided it would be just the thing, being so
quiet, and all that."
"I should think it would be," murmured Grace.
"But where does the 'haunt' come in?" Betty wanted to know.
"I'm coming to that," spoke Mr. Lagg, being now too interested to quote
a couplet. "Matters were going on well, and I expected to close the
deal, and make a pretty penny, when the doctors said they couldn't take
the property, as it was haunted, and of course a haunted house, with
queer noises in the night, would never do as a home for nervous
invalids. I could see that myself."
"But how did they know it was haunted?" asked Mollie.
"It seems that some of them were inspecting the place late one
afternoon, a day or so ago," said the storekeeper, "when a shower came
up, and they had to stay inside until it was over, which was after dark.
It was then they heard the queer groans, and saw strange lights, and
felt cold draughts of wind."
"Bur-r-r-r-r!" shivered Amy. "This is getting on my nerves."
"I guess it got on the nerves of the doctors," said Mr. Lagg, ruefully,
"for they called off the deal, and said they could not take the house
unless I would get rid of the haunt. Of course I laughed, and made an
investigation."
"And you didn't find anything?" put in Betty, quickly.
"Excuse me, Miss, but I did," replied Mr. Lagg, quietly.
"You did! What?"
"Just what the doctors said--queer groanings--strange lights--like
brimstone, and the same sort of smell--sulphur. I--I didn't stay long, I
don't mind admitting that."
For a moment the girls were silent, and then Mollie spoke.
"Did it ever occur to you, Mr. Lagg," she asked, "that those doctors
might be playing a trick on you to get you to part with the property
cheap? A haunted house isn't the best sort of real estate, you know; but
haunts and ghosts can easily be imitated, and those doctors might be up
to some such trick as that."
"I did think of that," went on the storekeeper, "and that is why I came
to you."
"You came to us!" chorused the girls.
"Yes. You see, you solved the mystery of the ghost of Elm Island, and I
don't see why you can't do the same thing for Kenyon's Folly."
"But that ghost, on the island--was a natural one," said Grace. "And the
boys helped us to discover what it was."
"Very well," said Mr. Lagg, calmly. "I've no objection to the boys
helping you in this case. In fact, it might be better. But what I want
to know is, could you--and would you--dare try to solve the ghostly
mystery?"
The girls looked at one another. Amy was shaking her head in the
negative. Betty and Mollie seemed interested, for they were born
leaders, Betty especially. Grace reached for another chocolate, always a
source of inspiration for her.
"Of course I'm not asking you to give up your time and go to a lot of
trouble for nothing," resumed Mr. Lagg, quickly. "I am willing to pay
you well. So I make you this offer. If you can discover what makes those
ghostly sounds and manifestations, and can show me a way to get rid of
them, if they are natural, which I am sure they are, why, I'll pay you a
good sum. I can afford to, for I can then sell the mansion to the
sanitarium doctors. Will you try it?"
"But if those doctors are interested in depreciating the value of the
property, by making it appear haunted, they would have a good object in
preventing us from finding out what causes the queer noises and lights,"
said Mollie.
"Exactly," agreed Mr. Lagg, "but you girls were smart enough to solve
that five hundred dollar mystery, and the mystery on Elm Island, so I
have hopes that you can help me out in this. That is why I called. Will
you help me?"
"Shall we, girls?" asked Mollie.
CHAPTER VII
IN THE MUD
Mr. Lagg looked hopefully from one to the other of the Outdoor Girls.
Clearly he was very much in earnest over his strange offer, and he saw
nothing out of the ordinary in it. But it must be admitted that it is
not every day four girls are asked to take a motor tour and solve the
mystery of a ghost-haunted house. Betty and her chums evidently realized
that.
Betty finally spoke.
"Well," she said, slowly, "we would like to do you a favor, Mr. Lagg,
and we wouldn't want you to pay us----"
"I won't have you undertake it on any other basis," he interrupted. "If
you solve that mystery for me it will be a big favor, and worth paying
for. I might make up a verse about that part of it, but I won't take
your time. But please consider it."
"If we did it at all," spoke Mollie, "we would do it as a favor to you,
for you have been very kind to us. But I don't like to promise to
undertake it. I'm sure mamma would object."
"I wouldn't want to stay all night in a haunted house," declared Amy,
with a shudder, whereat Grace cried:
"Don't do that! You'll have us all nervous before we know it."
"You might not have to stay there all night," said Mr. Lagg, "though of
course I know that is customary in solving mysteries of this kind. You
might be able to tell what it was without staying there long. I wouldn't
want you to run any risks, you know."
"Why don't you undertake it yourself?" asked Betty.
"I can't spare the time. I am needed at my store. That boy is sure to
wrap up the wrong kind of tea or sugar, and my customers are very
particular. And as for the poetry end of the business, he is no good at
that at all. No, I can't spare the time."
"But if you think those doctors have an object in making the mansion
appear haunted," spoke Grace, "why do you not go to the authorities and
complain? Surely they would do something for you."
"I thought of that," said Mr. Lagg, simply, "but you know what the
police are about ghosts. They would only laugh at me, and do nothing.
Besides, if these doctors are doing it, they are sharp enough to cover
their tracks well. I would have no chance. But they would never suspect
you girls, and they might betray themselves. Come now, will you look
into this for me?"
He was very much in earnest, and Mollie, who had at first been inclined
to laugh at the ghost theory, began to think that at least Mr. Lagg had
some basis for his alarm. If after all his work in getting the property,
that no one had cared for so long, it was to become useless on his
hands, he was to be pitied, for he had labored hard to accumulate his
savings.
Still the girls did not want to be rash, to run into danger, or
undertake something that would get them unpleasantly talked about, for
in no place other than in a country town is there so much gossip.
"You needn't answer me right away," went on the storekeeper. "Take a
little time and think it over. Speak to your folks about it, and tell
the boys, if you like. But if these ghosts, whatever they are, don't get
out of that place soon, I'll lose all the money I put in it."
"Did those doctors hint at taking it at a lower figure than you offered
it for?" asked Betty.
"No, they haven't yet. If that is their game they will wait a little
longer, I think," spoke Mr. Lagg. "But don't be in a hurry to decide
now. Think it over. I'll go now, for I must get back to my store.
"I'm glad to have seen you,
One and all.
When up my way,
Please make a call."
He bowed to them all in turn, and took his leave, the girls excitedly
talking about the object of his visit, as he went out.
"Did you ever hear of such a thing?" asked Grace.
"The haunted mansion of Shadow Valley," remarked Mollie. "It reads like
a book title."
"Maybe we could make a story of it," suggested Amy, whose taste ran
somewhat to literature, and who had won several prizes in school essay
work.
"We'd better solve the mystery first," said practical Betty, "then we'll
know what sort of a book to make. I wonder if we ought to take this up?"
and she gazed half-doubtfully, half-suggestingly, at her chums.
"Not right away, at any rate!" exclaimed Mollie. "Let's talk about our
motor tour. I'm just dying to get off on that. Afterward we can
consider Mr. Lagg's offer. Poor man, he seemed really worried! I'd like
to help him if we could."
"So would I!" declared Betty.
The girls alternated their talk between the proposed tour and the
haunted mansion. The latter was left in abeyance, but they tentatively
decided to take a long auto trip, as soon as they could arrange for a
chaperone to go with them on such occasions as they would stay over
night at hotels, while other nights were to be spent at the homes of
relatives or friends. In a way it would be a duplication of their
camping and tramping trip, except that they would cover a wider range of
country, and be more comfortable.
"And I only hope we have as much fun!" exclaimed Mollie. "Now, girls,
we've talked enough. Let's go for a run. I telephoned to have my car
brought here, and----"
"Here it is--quite marvelous!" interrupted Betty, as the large and
handsome auto drew up outside, in charge of a man from the garage.
Auto veils, bonnets, goggles and gowns were soon donned, Mollie's chums
having come partly prepared for a trip, and soon, with Mollie at the
wheel, they were riding down the pleasant main street of Deepdale.
"Hey there! Take us along!" came a voice as they turned off the main
thoroughfare into a smaller road that led to the farming country beyond.
"It's Will and Frank," said Grace, as she observed the two boys.
"And there comes Allen," added Amy.
"Now, Betty, maybe you'll talk more," for the Little Captain had been
rather silent.
"Shall we take them?" asked Mollie, as she noted Betty's blushing
cheeks. "There is plenty of room." Her car would seat seven with
comfort.
"Take us along!" pleaded Will. "We'll buy the chocolates, girls."
"Oh, let him come," petitioned Grace, for her candy stock had again run
low.
"That's all she thinks of!" declared Betty. "But I have no objections."
"Especially when Allen is around," taunted Mollie, as she slowed up her
car near the sidewalk.
"Come on, fellows!" exulted Will. "We're going to have a ride in the joy
wagon."
"The chocolates," Grace reminded him, coolly, as he started to get in
between her and Amy.
"We'll buy them when we get out a ways," he promised.
"Get them at Lee's," she stipulated. "His are best."
"Did you ever see such a sister!" cried Will. "She has no heart! Very
well, run us around to Lee's, Mollie. I'll get the candy if it--breaks
me," and he began searching through his pockets, picking up bits of
change on the way.
The other boys took their seats, and soon the machine was moving again,
a stop being made for the chocolates. Grace insisted on going into the
store with her brother.
"If I didn't he'd palm off the twenty-cent kind on us, and tell us they
were Lee's best," she said to her chums.
"You eat so many of them that you can't tell the difference--your taste
is jaded," taunted Will.
"Can't I, though?" replied Grace. "Well, I'm not going to give you the
chance to try me. We'll have the best!"
Again they were under way, Grace passing around the box of
confectionery.
"Shall we tell the boys about Mr. Lagg?" asked Betty of Mollie, beside
whom she rode on the front seat, the boys and other girls being in the
tonneau.
"Just as you like."
"Then I think I will." The story was soon told.
"Was he in earnest?" demanded Will.
"He seemed so."
"Then let's have a try at laying the ghost!" proposed Frank. "I wonder
what the union rates are for ridding haunted houses of the haunt? We
must have union wages."
"Of course," agreed Will. "Girls, will you transfer any rights you may
have as ghost-layers to us, if we pay you a commission?"
"We'll think about it," murmured Betty.
"I believe it's all foolishness!" declared Grace. "Maybe Mr. Lagg was
only making fun of us."
"No, there _is_ something in it," said Allen Washburn, quietly.
"How do you know?" demanded Will, quickly.
"Because I acted as Mr. Lagg's representative in some legal matters,"
replied the young law student, who was allowed to do some practice. "I
know that he owns the old mansion, and I heard, indirectly, that he was
having trouble disposing of it to the sanitarium doctors. Of course I
can't say as to the ghost, but there is some hitch over carrying out the
transaction. If you girls could solve the mystery, providing there is
one, I know you would be doing Mr. Lagg a service."
"Then let's do it!" cried impulsive Mollie.
"And we'll help," added Will.
Half-jokingly they talked about it as they motored over the pleasant
road. There had been a heavy shower the night before and the main
highways were in excellent condition, though a trifle muddy in spots. Of
course some of the less-used country roads would be well-nigh
impassable.
It was while crossing one of these roads, on a hard macadam highway,
that the girls and boys saw, stuck in the mud of the poorer path, a
peddler's wagon. The bony horse was doing its best to move the vehicle,
which had sunk down in a hole, one wheel being imbedded in the mud to
the hub.
"Why, it's that hair-tonic man!" exclaimed Mollie, as she slowed down to
avoid a rut in the road.
"No, his wagon is all painted with gaudy signs," said Betty. "That's a
boy driving that wagon. Why--why!" she exclaimed, as she caught sight of
the lad, "it's the same boy who took home the little lost girl for
us--the same one who told us about the man with the five hundred dollar
bill. It's Jimmie Martin!"