CHAPTER VI.--UNDER THE STARS.
All day long the Comet had been plodding faithfully, and although he didnot know it, and his five mistresses did not know it, it was reallyuphill work. Very gradual uphill work, only at the rate of ten feet amile as they went westward, but the Comet was tired.
For the last fifteen miles Billie had noticed a complaining, whininglittle sound in his interior mechanism, but she urged him on with themercilessness of one who drives machines, for they must reach a certainsmall village that night, which the map purported to be still ten milesdistant.
About them, as far as the human eye could see, and many, many milesfarther still where the human eye could not reach, rolled an infinitestretch of prairie. Like a misty, blue sea it spread before them. Hereand there were groups of cattle grazing, and far back along the roadthey could see a black speck which they took to be a human being.
The five travelers were no longer homesick, and they were not tired. Thepeace of the plains had entered into their souls, and when the Cometsuddenly gave an exhausted croak and stopped short, they exchangedgood-natured smiles as if it were the commonest thing in the world forfive lonely ladies from the East to be stranded on a Western plateau.
"There's a screw loose somewhere," said Billie calmly, jumping out andlooking critically at the outer workings of the car. "Ladies, I must askyou to descend while I take a look at the Comet's organs. His heartbeats are not regular and his liver seems to be very torpid. The truthis, I think his condition is run down."
"I should think it would be," observed Miss Campbell, stepping nimbly tothe ground. "Since eight this morning he's been running it down."
"There's a screw loose somewhere," said Billie.]
Billie, and Mary, who had been her pupil on the trip and was fastlearning all that Billie could teach her, donned their "puncture coats,"as they called them. These were two long, brown linen dusters, thesleeves of which were secured at the wrists with rubber. They buttonedup from top to toe, and every vestige of dress underneath was protected.
Billie now became chief mechanician and Mary was her assistant. Togetherthey opened up the front of the car and spreading a linen cover on theground, Billie crawled under and fell to work.
You may think that Billie was unusually wise in her generation, but shehad had a long training as a chauffeur and could pass muster with thebest of them. However, she was not wise enough that evening to diagnosethe Comet's trouble. The two girls poked their inquisitive noses intoevery part of the machinery. They screwed and unscrewed and performedmiracles of investigation in the Comet's interior, but he persisted inthe stand he had taken of suddenly becoming an invalid.
"I believe it's the steering gear," said Mary.
"No, child, listen to your grandmother talk. It's this screw here that'sworn out."
While they tinkered and worked, evening set in. There was a chill in theair, as there is always on these western plateaus after sunset. Firstone pale star and then another glimmered in the depths of the sky. Andall the while the black speck on the road was drawing nearer.
At last the peace of the plains which had entered their souls becamesomewhat disturbed.
"This won't do," suddenly exclaimed Miss Campbell, breaking the longsilence that had settled upon them. "This will never do in the world.Billie, child, can't you fix that thing? It's getting dark. We mustn'tbe left in this lonely place all night. Hurry up, children. Do screw upsomething or other and let us be getting on."
"I only wish we could," exclaimed Billie ruefully. "I thought there wasnothing about this machine I did not know, but I can't find thetrouble."
"Besides," pursued Mary, defending her captain, "it's so dark we can'tsee what we are doing."
"What's to be done?" cried Miss Campbell, spreading out her hands with agesture of helplessness.
The girls looked at each other. What was to be done? In their infiniterespect for Billie's powers as a chauffeur, they had never conceived ofa danger like this.
"We could make a tent for Cousin Helen of one of the rugs and usecushions for a mattress, and the rest of us could roll up in our steamerblankets and sleep on the ground," suggested Billie with a certainthrill of anticipation in her voice. Deep in her secret soul she couldnot help enjoying this little adventure.
"Then, in the morning," pursued Nancy, who was likewise a silent partnerin this guilty pleasure, "we can go to the nearest farmhouse or ranchand ask for help."
"But--" objected Miss Campbell and Elinor in one voice, and then pausedfor want of a better suggestion.
In the ocean of shadows, somewhere an immense distance away, one littlelight twinkled and blinked at them tantalizingly.
"Nancy and I might go over and ask for help where that light is," beganBillie.
"Never! never!" cried her cousin. "Oh! my child, what are you thinkingof? Could you imagine for a moment I would let you and Nancy gowandering off into the wilderness? Better die together than apart."
"But we won't die at all, dearest cousin," Billie assured her. "We'llall live to tell what a wonderful night we spent together under thestars."
"I think we'd better build a fire and get supper," put in Mary.
This was an agreeable suggestion and settled the discussion without morewords. In this high, dry climate appetites were too big to mention inpolite society, and each one yearned for the comfort of her eveningmeal.
In another twenty minutes Miss Campbell and the Motor Maids had goneinto camp. At the side of the road was a group of scraggy pine trees,and under these they pitched the blanket tent. While Billie and Nancy,armed with a hatchet, went in search of firewood, the other girlsunpacked the alcohol stove and the tea basket and Mr. Moore's box ofprovisions. In a little while the two foragers returned with their armsloaded with firewood. Their cheeks were glowing with exercise and therewas a sparkling freshness in their happy laughter.
"We've turned wood choppers," cried Nancy. "We found a dead pine tree,and lo and behold, we've converted it into logs."
Together they built a fire on a most scientific plan and presently thefragrance of broiled ham filled them with pleasurable but subduedanticipation.
"Scramble the eggs now, Mary," ordered Elinor as she brewed the tea.
"I think my girls are very capable," observed Miss Campbell, watchingthe proceedings with much pride from her cushion seat near the fire. "Ifwe live through this night we shall have much to tell about."
"Just imagine you're a gypsy, Cousin Helen," called Billie, as shespread a lunch cloth on the ground. "And nothing ever happens togypsies, although they live this way all the time."
Nancy set the table with the jam pot in the middle for decoration, andpresently they sat down like a company of hungry boys eager to behelped.
"Oh, how good things taste," exclaimed Elinor. "I'm not a bit afraid outhere in the dark. My only sensations are hunger and sleep."
"Wasn't it lucky we brought our steamer rugs?" cried Nancy.
"Wasn't it lucky we came?" said Mary, going her one better.
"Aren't we glad we're living?" added Billie.
Miss Campbell tried to pinch herself awake. Was it possible that she,Helen Eustace Campbell, spinster, accustomed to every luxury in life,was about to lie down on the ground and sleep in a far Western, lonely,unprotected spot? She thought it was highly possible, and her heavyeyelids and unconquerable drowsiness urged her to hasten the business ofgetting ready for the night.
The four girls put on their polo coats and after building a big firethey rolled themselves into their steamer rugs and presently weresleeping as deeply and soundly as they had ever slept in their lives.
And now the moon rose and shed its radiance on them. The fire died downand the night grew deeper and stiller. A chill crept into the air andthey snuggled closer under their blankets and slept and slept anddreamed.
Billie dreamed that the black speck she had seen on the road in thedistance evolved itself into a man. He was riding a pony. She was sureof it, because in her dream she heard the
sound of horse's hoofs as theycame nearer. Then the sounds stopped and all was silent again, a long,long silence. She remembered sitting up to see if the horseman hadpassed, but the invisible chains of sleep bound her closely and back shesank into slumber. But always in her dream she felt that some one wasnear. Had a light been flashed across their faces or was it the rays ofthe moon which hung in the center of the heavens like a great lantern,illuminating the landscape for miles around?
At last, after slipping into the immeasurable distances of time andspace, which only a dream can compass, there came the sound of a motor.For a moment it was quite near, and then gradually it died away and thenight was all serene again.
As the dawn crept up, Miss Campbell waked. But she waited, not wishingto disturb her sleeping companions. She lay with her back to the road,her face turned toward the limitless prairies which were now suffusedwith a rosy light. Then, trailing clouds of glory after him, the sunburst into view over the edge of the world. Never before had MissCampbell seen a sunrise.
"Girls, girls!" she cried, "you must wake up and see this marvelloussight."
They jumped up and stood in a silent, wondering row as the plains wereflooded with light.
Suddenly Billie turned her face toward the road.
Throwing her hands over her head with a gesture of despair, she began toweep bitterly.
"Oh! oh!" she cried, "the Comet, my beloved Comet! He has been stolen!"