The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car
L >> Laura Lee Hope >> The Outdoor Girls in a Motor CarThe 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.