The Motor Girls

  CHAPTER III

  A SUDDEN ACQUAINTANCE

  Despite the tense moment of anxiety, the almost certainty that theauto would crash into the train, Cora's quick eye had seen somethingthat she hoped would enable her to avert the accident.

  She knew that she could not stop the machine in time, by any meansat her command. There was but one other thing to do. That was tosteer to one side.

  To the left there was a solid stone wall. To dash into that wouldmean almost as horrible an accident as if she collided with thetrain. To the right there was a field, but it was fenced in, andbetween it and the road was a little miry, brook.

  In some places the brook widened almost into a pond. The bottom wastreacherous, and to steer into it meant to sink down deeply into themud. To run into the fence might mean that one of the rails wouldbecome entangled in the mechanism of the motor, tearing it all topieces. Or one of the long pieces of wood might even impale theoccupants of the car.

  Cora's eyes swept down the length of the barrier with a flash.

  There was just what she wanted! A gap in the fence!

  She could go through that in safety. But suppose the machine wasbrought to too sudden a stop in the mud? They would all be thrownout and perhaps injured. But it was the only thing to do.

  With a firm grasp of the wheel Cora sent the auto from the road.

  Elizabeth screamed as she felt the swaying of the car. She had tohold her sister from being tossed but, for Isabel was incapable oftaking care of herself.

  Straight for the field rushed the car, the engineer of the train nowtooting his whistle as if in gladness at the narrow escape.

  Splash!

  The auto fairly dived into the brook, and gradually slackened speed.Right toward a clump of willow trees it surged, throwing a spray ofwater in advance. Then it became stationary in the middle of a spotwhere the brook widened into a pond.

  Cora was dimly conscious of a figure on the opposite bank of thestream. A figure of a young man, with a fishing-pole in his hands.She saw a spray of water, cast up by the auto, drench him. She evenheard him cry out, but at that moment she gave him not a thought.

  Everything centered on her narrow escape, the condition of her twochums, and, last, but not least, whether her new auto had beendamaged.

  Cora leaned over the side and looked at the water flowing past themud guards.

  "Safe!" she exclaimed. "I--I thought we were doomed, girls. Didn'tyou?"

  "Doomed?" echoed Elizabeth. "I never want to go through thatexperience again."

  "Me either," added Cora fervently. "Has Belle fainted?"

  "I'm afraid so."

  Cora leaned over, scooped some water up in her hand, and dashed itinto the white face of the girl. Isabel opened her eyes.

  "Are we--are we--" she gasped.

  "We're all right, you little goose," said Cora with a laugh, thoughher voice trembled and her hands shook. "I guess it wasn't nearly asdangerous as it looked."

  "It was bad enough," spoke Elizabeth.

  "Anyhow, the auto stopped," went on Cora. "Don't you see where weare? In the middle of Campbell's Pond. And we won't have to swimout, either. It's not very deep. But, Bess, you look like a sheet,and Belle, you seem like--"

  "A pillow-case, with the pillow out," added Isabel with a wan smile."I never was so glad to get a ducking in all my life."

  "And I guess we're not the only ones who got a ducking," said Coraas she shook some drops from her hair.

  "Why?" inquired Bess.

  "Look!" and Cora pointed across the pond. A very much drenchedfigure was standing up. The man with the fishing-pole was wiping thewater from his face. He looked at the girls in the auto.

  "Oh, dear!" exclaimed Elizabeth. "I should think we did give him aducking!"

  "I'm awfully sorry, but--but we couldn't help it," said Cora,standing up and looking at the young man.

  He approached closer, began wading out into the pond toward theauto. The water was not very deep, hardly up to his knees. Corafound herself wondering how he had managed to fish in it.

  He was very good-looking, each of the girls was thinking to herself.

  "Can't I help you?" he asked, smiling broadly, in spite of the mudand water splashed all over him. There was actually a little globuleof mud on the end of his nose. He seemed as much amused over his ownpredicament as he was over that of the motor girls. "Do you need anyhelp?" he went on.

  "I'm sure I--er--that is, I hardly know," stammered Cora. She wasnot altogether certain about the state of the auto. "I'm afraidwe've been very--very impolite--to splash water, and--er--mud allover you," she added.

  "Not at all--not at all," he assured her. "I never saw a better--abetter turn, so to speak. You are very plucky, if I may be permittedto say so. I--er--I almost said my prayers when I saw you racingdown toward the train. Then I saw you turn in here. But whathappened that you couldn't stop before?"

  "The brake," replied Cora. "It refused to work. This is a newcar--our first trip, in fact."

  "Oh, I see," replied the young man. "Well, I know a little aboutcars. Perhaps I can run her out for you. Just let me try."

  Cora shifted over to the other side, leaving the wheel free. Theyoung fisherman cranked up, from a very insecure and muddy footingin the middle of the pond. There came a welcome "Chug! chug! chug!"

  The auto was all right, after all.

  The young man climbed in. The spot of mud was still on his nose,and Cora felt an insane desire to laugh. But she nobly restrainedit. He took the wheel and threw in the low speed gear. There was agrinding sound, the Whirlwind seemed to shiver and shake, and thenit began to move. A few seconds later, after running slowly throughthe pond, it ran up the soft bank, and, under the skilful touch ofthe stranger, came to a stop in a grassy meadow.

  "There!" exclaimed the young man. "I guess you're all right now.But let me look at that brake. Perhaps I can fix it."

  Then it occurred to Cora that she might attempt to introduce herfriends and herself. The twins had not yet spoken a word to thefisherman.

  The same thought "wave" must have surged into the stranger's brain,for he said:

  "My name is Foster--Edward Foster," and he raised his wet cap. "Iwas just trying to kill time by fishing, but it was a cruelty totime. I don't believe a fish ever saw this pond."

  "Mr. Foster, my name is--er--Kimball--Cora, Kimball," said the ownerof the auto, imitating the young man's masculine style ofintroduction, "and these are my friends, the Misses Robinson."

  The young man bowed twice, once for each of the twins. Mr. Fosterhad a most attractive manner--that was instantly decided by thethree girls.

  "I know your brother," he remarked to Cora. "Jack Kimball, ofExmouth College."

  "Oh, yes, of course. I've heard Jack speak of you, I'm sure."

  "Yes, he was on our team--"

  "Oh, you are the great football player," interrupted Elizabeth. Shemade no secret of her admiration for "great football players."

  "Not exactly great," answered Mr. Foster, "but I have played some.My interest in sports has rather kept me away from society. Thataccounts for me not being better acquainted in Chelton, orperhaps--"

  "Hello there!" came a hail from the road.

  "Jack and Walter!" exclaimed Cora, as at that moment another machinecame along and drew up alongside the fence which separated thehighway from the meadow. "Now, won't they laugh at us!"

  "Well, I declare!" exclaimed the mud-bespattered young fellow. "Ifthat isn't Jack! And Walter Pennington is with him!"

  "What's up?" called Jack, leaping from the car and running acrossthe meadow, after a quick climb over the fence.

  "A great deal is up," said Cora.

  "Well--Ed Foster! Where in the world did you come from?" Jack addedas he saw the young man about to alight from Cora's car.

  "From the ditch," was Ed's laughing answer, as he looked down at hissplattered garments. "I just got but in time to--"

  "Never mind--shake!" interrupted Jack,
extending his hand. "When Iwas a youngster, and our big Newfoundland dog came out With thestick from the pond--"

  "Now! now!" cautioned Ed. "I may be big, and I may have justcrawled from the pond, but I deny the stick."

  "I'm sure we would have been here forever if Mr. Foster hadn't--"began Cora.

  "Been here first," interrupted Jack. "That's all very well, sis.But I told you so! A brand-new, spick-and-span car like this! And torun it into a muddy ditch!"

  "Indeed!" exclaimed Elizabeth. "We were almost killed! Cora justsaved our lives!"

  "Mercy me!" cried Walter, who had left the car and joined Jack."Now, Cora," he added mockingly, "when you start out to save lives,why don't you give a fellow the tip? There's nothing I do so love asto see lives saved--especially nice young ladies," and he made a lowbow.

  "Oh, you may laugh," said Cora somewhat indignantly, "but I don'twant anything like it to happen again. The brake would not work,and--"

  "The train was just in front of us, and we were running right init," put in Isabel, her voice far from steady, and her face stillvery white.

  At this point Ed insisted upon telling the whole story, and hedescribed the plight of the motor girls so graphically that bothJack and Walter were compelled to admit that Cora did indeed knowhow to drive a car in an emergency, and that she had acted mostwisely.

  "Good for you, sis!" exclaimed Jack, when the story Was finished."I could not have done better myself."

  "Such praise is praise indeed," spoke Ed with a laugh.

  He went around back to look at the brake, and found what had causedthe trouble. A loose nut had fallen between the brake band and thewheel hub, and prevented the band from tightening. The trouble wassoon remedied, and the brake put in working order.

  "There--you are all ready for the road now," remarked Ed.

  "Thank you--very much," said Cora quietly, but there was a world ofmeaning in her tones.

  Ed looked into her eyes rather longer than perhaps was necessary.

  "Come on; get in with us, Ed," invited Jack. "Haven't seen you inan age. Let's hear about the Detroit team."

  "Oh, I'm--I'm too dirty to get in the car, I'm afraid," objected Ed,with a glance at the mud spots that were now turning to light-graypolka-dots on his clothes, in the strong sunlight.

  "Nonsense!" cried Jack heartily. "Come along. Walter will drivefor Cora, in case she is nervous. It needs a strong wrist in thissoft ground."

  "Oh, yes! Do please steer for us," begged the still tremblingIsabel. "I'd feel so much safer--"

  "Well, I like that!" cried Corm with a light laugh. "Is that theway you treat me, after having saved your life?"

  "But it was you-who--who almost ran us into the train, Cora,"answered Isabel, giving her friend a little pinch on her now rosycheek. "So you see it was your duty to save us."

  "Well, I did it," replied Cora, glad that she had come out of theaffair with such flying colors.

  Walter took Ed's place at the steering wheel of the Whirlwind, andthe fisherman seated himself beside Jack. Then Walter ran Cora's carout of the mire of the meadow and into the road, the three girlsremaining in the machine.

  "I suppose if the young ladies hadn't run you down we wouldn't haveseen you the entire summer," said Jack to Ed as he ran the smallermachine along behind the touring car.

  "Oh, indeed you would," answered Ed. "I really intended looking youup in a day or two. You see, I have been very busy. What are youlaughing at? Because I said I was busy? Well, I guess I have thebusiest kind of business on hand. Say, let me whisper," and heleaned over confidentially, though there was no need for it, as theother auto was some distance ahead. "I'm going into finance."

  "Finance?"

  "Yes. Stocks--bonds--and so on, you know. Bank stocks. Think ofthat, Jack, my boy!"

  "Good for you! Three cheers for the bank stock!" exclaimed Jack ina half whisper. "In the new bank, I suppose?"

  "The correct supposition," answered Ed. "I have been invited tosubscribe for some of the new issue of stock, and I've decided to.I'm going over to get it in a day or two. I'm to pay partly in cash,and turn over to them some of my bonds and other negotiablesecurities that I inherited from father, who was a banker, you know.I think I am making a good investment."

  "Not a bit of doubt about it," said Jack. "I wish I had thechance."

  "I hear that Sid Wilcox wanted to get some of the stock, Jack," wenton Ed. "He comes of age soon, and he will have some cash to invest.But, somehow, there's a prejudice against Sid. He has not been askedto take stock, though the directors rectors know he has money."

  "Well, I guess the trouble is he can't be depended on. He'd bepeddling the stock all over the State, or putting it up for doubtfultransactions, and I guess the directors wouldn't like that. He's areckless sort. I shouldn't mind his fits of crankiness, if he wouldonly leave girls out. But when he goes in for some kind of mischiefharmless in itself, he invariably brings some girl into it, and shehas to suffer in the scrape with him. It's not right of Sid.But--speaking of angels--there he is now."

  Jack's runabout, called the Get There, had been climbing the hillback of the Whirlwind, and both machines were now on a level stretchof road and approaching Fisher's store--an "emporium," as the signcalled it, and a place where one could get anything from a watch toa shoestring, if old Jared Fisher only knew that it was wantedbefore he went to town.

  It so happened, however, by some strange intervention of providence,that he never did know in time. But, at any rate, you could alwaysget soda water--the kind that comes in the "push-in-the-corkbottles," and that was something.

  As the two autos drew up, the occupants beheld, standing on thesteps of the store, Sidney Wilcox and Ida Giles. Jack halted his carbehind the Whirlwind.

  "Hello there!" called out Ed. "Seems to me I'm bound to meet all myfriends to-day. How are you, Sid?"

  Ed leaped from Jack's car and up the steps to greet Sid.

  "Oh, I'm so-so," was the rather drawling answer. "But what's thematter with you? Been clamming?"

  "Not exactly," replied Ed, glancing down at the mud spots; "but Icaught something, just the same."

  "So I see," responded Sid, chuckling at his wit. "Pity to take itall, though. You should have left some for the turtles. They likemud."

  Jack, who followed Ed, said something in conventional greeting toIda. But the girl with Sid never turned her head to look in thedirection of the Whirlwind. Cora remarked on this in a low voice toIsabel and Elizabeth.

  "I hear that you are going in for--er--Wall Street," said Sid to Edin rather a sarcastic voice.

  "Oh, no. Nothing like that. No chance for a lamb like me in WallStreet. It's too much of a losing game."

  "Oh, I don't know," drawled Sid. "A fellow might make good, andthen do--well, better."

  Ed glanced at Jack. How did Sid know about Ed's plan to take stockin the new bank? That was a question that each youth flashed to theother.

  There was something unpleasant in the manner of Sidney Wilcox. Allin the party seemed to feel it. And as far as the girls wereconcerned, they noticed much of the same manner in Ida, though Jackand Ed were not quite so critical. As for Walter, he did not seem tobe giving Ida a thought. But it is doubtful if she was soindifferent toward him. Still, she would not look in his directionwhile Cora and her two chums were with him.

  Corn walked slowly up the broad store steps; Bess and Bellefollowing.

  "I'm simply choked," said Cora with a laugh. "I never had such athirsty run."

  Ida seemed very much interested in the distant landscape.

  "The roads are awfully dry," she murmured.

  "And so am I," added Elizabeth as she followed her sister and Corainto the store. Walter and Jack trailed in after them, while Edstayed for a moment outside with Ida and Sid. The latter did notintroduce Ed to Ida. It was a habit Sid had, of never presenting hisyoung men chums to his "girl," unless he could not avoid it. Ida,perhaps, knew this, and she strolled to the other end of the porch.

>   "How'd you make out in your exams?" asked Ed of Sid, for the latterattended college with Jack. That is, he was in his study class,though not in the same grade socially.

  "Oh, pretty fair. I cut most of 'em. I finish next year, and Idon't intend to get gray hairs over any exams now."

  "You cut 'em?" repeated Ed.

  "Sure," and Sid started toward his car, Ida following. "So long."

  "Well, you're not going away mad, are you?" asked Ed with a laugh,wondering the while over the identity of the striking-looking girlwhom Sid so obviously refrained from introducing to him.

  "Oh, not's so's you could notice it," was Sid's answer as he beganto tuck the dust robe over Ida's lap.

  Then Sid cranked up his car, which he had named the Streak, thoughit didn't always live up to the name, and soon he and the girl wereout of sight around a turn in the road.

  "Humph!" exclaimed Ed as he entered the store. "I wonder where heheard about my plan to take--bank stock? I wish he didn't know ofit. And I also wonder who that pretty girl was?" For Ida was pretty,in spite of her reddish hair and her rather jealous disposition,which was reflected in her face.

  Ed shook his head. He was puzzled over something.