A STRUGGLE WITH THE WAVES
When Ed, Jack and Walter ran down the sandy beach, directly into the
water, and then attempted to rescue from the waves a lady and her
daughter, who were in the ocean-going auto, the girls were not afraid
to follow them--to the extent of walking into the water knee deep.
The helpless woman was a cripple, and when she, with an exhausting
effort, managed to turn to one side and fall over the rim of the
runabout seat into the water, she dropped like a stone into the surf.
The daughter jumped, but in her frantic efforts to reach her mother,
she crawled under the car, and was in very great danger of being lost
herself.
Suddenly the helpless form of the crippled woman rose to the surface.
Jack threw his arms about the invalid, and, after shouting for Walter
to help him, as the force of the rollers threatened to take him off
his feet, the two young men managed to make their way safely to the
sand with the unconscious form.
Meanwhile the anxious motor girls hastened to offer what assistance
they might be able to give.
"Lay her down here," said Cora, as her brother escaped from the fury
of one great, dashing mountain of water, that broke into foam as it
spread out over the sand.
"I think we will have to take her into the bungalow," he replied. "But
where is Ed? Look for Ed! He has not found the girl yet!"
And indeed neither Ed nor the girl could be seen!
Cora and Bess left Belle with Jack and Walter to attend to the woman,
while they again stepped forward as far into the water as it seemed
safe to go.
"There is Ed!" shouted Cora, and without doing more than unclasping
the leather belt that confined her waist, she struck out boldly toward
a point considerably farther out than the spot where the stalled car
stood in the water.
"Oh, you can't swim--that way, Cora!" called Bess. "Cora! Cora! come
back!"
But with arms over her head Cora plowed her way through the waves,
stroke after stroke, until she was beside Ed, who was struggling to
beat back the rollers that fought for the very life of the girl he had
just brought up from under the heavy blanket of smothering water.
"Mother! Mother!" wailed the girl. "Let me get--mother. She
is--down--down there!"
"No--she is--safe!" gasped Cora. "Come! Let us help you--out!"
"Oh is--she safe! I--I am all right! I--can swim!"
"But you are too weak!" called Ed. "Let us help you!"
A shriek--and the girl again disappeared.
Ed went down after her, and while Cora kept in motion to sustain
herself, Ed came up with the girl again in his arms.
"Take hold!" he gasped to Cora. "She is hurt and cannot swim."
Cora, with one well trained arm, conquered the waves, while with the
other she helped support the form of the almost fainting girl, as Ed,
swimming in the same way, and almost carrying the girl with his free
arm, made for the shore.
Forgetting everything but the danger to her friends, Bess, too, ran
into the waves to meet the swimmers.
"Go back!" shouted Ed. "If you lose your footing we can't help you."
Scarcely had he uttered the words than Bess stumbled and fell, head
foremost, into the roller that was rushing up on the shore!
Fortunately the incoming water brought Bess in--fairly tumbling her out
on the sand. The same power assisted Ed and Cora to land with the
strange young girl. Meanwhile Jack and Walter had made their way to
the bungalow, assisting the crippled woman.
"Oh!" shrieked Bess, scrambling to her feet. "Oh, I--am smothered!"
"So are we!" Cora managed to say. "Come, Bess. Help us revive the
young lady."
"Oh I--am--all--right now----" murmured the girl. "Only let me--get to
mother!"
A sorry looking sight indeed were the motor girls--all four of them,
for the strange girl should be classed with Bess, Belle and Cora, as
she, too, owned a car and drove it. True she did allow it to get
beyond control, and, by a sudden wrong turn of the wheel, sent it in
the ocean. Still she was a motor girl for all her inexperience.
"Where are you hurt?" asked Ed, as they all stood for a moment on the
beach. The strange girl was working her shoulder with evident painful
effort.
"I must have injured my neck or shoulder blade when I dove under the
machine," she replied. "Something--is very stiff."
"Let us get up to the bungalow," suggested Cora, for the strange girl
seemed like one dazed. "Your mother is there, and I hope by this time
she has revived."
Even in their discomfiture our friends could not help noticing what a
pretty and pleasant mannered girl the stranger was. Every little
nicety of good breeding was perfectly evident in her gentle gratitude
to her rescuers, and in her earnest solicitation for her mother.
Ed led the way to the camp, while the girls followed. Belle met them
at the door.
"How is she?" asked Cora, knowing how anxious was the girl about her
invalid mother.
"She is quite revived," replied Belle, "but she wants her daughter. I
am so glad you have come," hurried on Belle, without waiting for any
formality. "She seems greatly worried about--Beatrice."
"Oh, let me see her," exclaimed the girl. "Dear, little, darling
mamma," and before the others could show the way Beatrice (for such
was her name) had the crippled form clasped lovingly in her arms.
What a strange sight in the musty little bungalow! Belle was the only
person who was not dripping wet--and the girls were so far from Clover
Cottage, and from an auto to take them there, that there was a
prospect they might dry out before fresh garments could be secured.
Beatrice looked up from the face of the trembling woman. "I wonder if
we can--use the car?" she ventured. "I must get mother back to the
hotel."
"If we can get the machine out and the magneto is not short circuited
from the water," said Jack, "I don't see why you couldn't run it."
"There are the life guards," exclaimed Cora, who stood by the open
door. "And they have a coil of rope."
"Good!" declared Jack. "We will have something to pull with, and some
one to help us now. Come along, boys. Girls, you will find a basket of
provisions some place. There may be, in it, something of use," and
with this he ran out to the beach where like two bronzed figures the
life guards stood regarding the auto in the ocean. It did not take the
boys long to explain the situation, and to show what needed to be done
to haul out the ocean-going car. Fastening the heavy ropes about the
machine the three boys and the two men pulled--pulled--and pulled!
At first the car would not budge. Then the soft sand, in which the
tires were buried, slid away some, under the urgent pressure, and
finally, when the car once moved, all hands at the ropes gave a
concerted pull, and the machine rolled slowly, but more and more
surely, toward the edge of the shelving beach.
"Good!" exclaimed Ed. "Don't stop! Keep it up!"
It was heavy work, but at last the auto was clear of the water.
"There!" gasped Jack, almost breathless. "That's all to the gasolene!
Now to look her over."
Half an hour of steady work and then Ed grasped the handle and started
to crank up. It was stiff at first but presently the familiar
whir-r-r-r--of the motor sounded, and Walter from the seat threw in the
clutch with the lever set at low speed. The magneto was all right.
The little car swung out as gracefully as if it had "never tasted salt
water," as Jack put it.
The girls were eagerly watching every move.
How thankful they were, for the woman in the bungalow had need of
immediate medical attention.
In less time than it would seem possible to accomplish so much, Jack
and Ed lifted the light form of the sick woman into the car, and,
while Beatrice supported her mother on the right, Jack took his place
at the wheel, and started off toward the hotel.
"We will send the auto back for you young ladies," called Beatrice.
"It won't take any time to get to the hotel."
The car once out of sight, Walter and Ed rushed into the bungalow,
smashed a couple of dry boxes, and thrust them into the little stone
fireplace, put a match to a bundle of paper, and then all four, who
had assisted in the rescue, stood before the blaze, while steam
sizzled up from the water that fell in puddles on the floor from the
soaked garments.
"We _did_ get it," remarked Ed. "I never swam before--this way."
"Is there anything wetter than wet clothes?" asked Cora.
"Oh, yes," replied Bess. "I think the wettest thing I have ever found
is the--bottom of the sea! Mercy, but I did think I was gone!"
"You were," replied Walter, swishing a few drops of the too plentiful
water in her eyes. "You were gone, but not forgotten, and you came
back like--the famous penny!"
"Oh, you can joke!" retorted Bess. "But I tell you I was almost washed
out."
"Worse than the laundry," teased Ed. "Well, Bess, you look a lot
better. I do believe you've gotten thin!"