The Motor Girls at Lookout Beach; Or, In Quest of the Runaways

by Margaret Penrose

  CHAPTER XXI

  BOYS AND GIRLS

  A half hour later the entire party at Clover Cottage sat in the cozydining room, engaged in earnest consultation.

  The frightened Mrs. Robinson, and the timid Miss Steel, had finallyconsented to come indoors, after the situation had been described,punctuated and emphasized to them, although they really did want toput up at the hotel in the Circle.

  The subject under discussion was the note that was found dangling fromthe hanging lamp. It was from Nellie Catron, and was not addressed toany one in particular.

  Cora had read it, and was now re-reading it.

  "If you don't stop hounding us," she read, "we will surely drownourselves. We could get along if you would leave us alone, but wethink that balky-horse-trick played on us the other night is about thelimit."

  Cora stopped. "Now," she said, "it is perfectly plain that a girlnever wrote that note. In the first place, it is not a girl's writing,and in the next, no girl would speak that way about putting a matchunder her nose!"

  In spite of the seriousness of the matter every one was forced tolaugh at the remark. Certainly it did seem like the old-fashionedtrick used to start a balky horse--light a match under his nose.

  "Then who do you suppose did write it, if not one of the girls?" askedBess.

  "Why, perhaps the driver of the automobile," replied Cora.

  "I would not bother myself about those two foolish girls, longer,"said Mrs. Robinson. She was quite exhausted from the evening'sexperience, and anxious to have her cottage put in its normalcondition.

  "Mother, dear," interceded Belle, "you are nervous and worried. Justlet me take you upstairs, and the others can settle it all to suitthemselves."

  This offer was promptly accepted, and presently the young folks wereleft to decide whether or not they would further endeavor to find therunaways.

  "It seems to me," said Cora, "that they need our help now, more thanever. They may have gotten in with some unscrupulous persons--and whocan tell what may happen?"

  "Certainly working girls do not drive autos," put in Ed, "and I justsuspicion that the manager of that show wants to keep the girls forthe song business. They can sing a little, and talent is scarce justnow. That is, if they really were in the show."

  "Right!" exclaimed Walter. "He would have to look around considerableto get girls to sing now, for all the schools are not closed, and theseason of fun has not really begun yet. Later, I suppose there will bea regular drift this way."

  "That is why father thought we ought to come down early," put in Bess."He thinks it is so much pleasanter at the seaside late and early,rather than in the regular season."

  "Of course," said Cora, "the girls are afraid of that robberybusiness; otherwise they would not try to keep away from us, for I amquite sure they know we would not turn them over to that aunt."

  "I wonder how they are making out on that robbery?" asked Walter."Wasn't there something doing the day we left Chelton?"

  "Something, and then some more," replied Jack, with a sly wink. "Iexpect a report from 'headquarters' on it very soon."

  "And poor little Andy! I do wonder what became of him?" added Cora.

  "Ice cream became of him the last I saw him," retorted Jack, "and Imust say the brown part of the cone was really very becoming to him,for it matched his complexion."

  "Then," went on Ed, "we will start on a regular search to-morrow. Nouse letting them slip away, when you girls feel that it is really upto you to find them. We will put up at the hotel to-night, and earlyto-morrow start in bunga-loafing. Then, when we get things torights--we will be pleased--ahem--to--ahem--meet you at the pergola,ladies!"

  "No, at the pavilion," replied Bess. "I am just dying to see all thesights there. And then we will be directly in the centre of everythingto start out from there."

  This obtuse remark gave the boys no end of fun. It was so like Bess--aregular "Bessie," they declared, and, to discover its meaning Jack, Edand Walter put their heads together literally, although Jack accusedEd of doing all the knocking, and he had to withdraw from theconference because of a rather too vigorous bump.

  Bess was so vexed that she ran upstairs, and left Cora alone to lockthe door after the young fellows.

  "You really must go, boys," Cora insisted. "Mrs. Robinson is going tokeep model hours, and I am only a guest here."

  This was taken as the ultimatum, and reluctantly the trio left withthe promise of a "big day" on the morrow.

  Cora and Bess chatted a while before retiring. They had many things totalk of, but the lateness of the hour prevented a lengthy discourse.

  "Mother is so worried because our maid Nettie does not come," Besswhispered. "She is always so reliable, and so prompt, we cannotimagine what can have detained her."

  "She may be ill," suggested Cora.

  "Father would send a message in that case," replied Bess.

  "Perhaps you will get a message on the morning mail," continued Cora."At any rate, I would not worry about matters at home."

  With this hopeful assurance the girls said good-night, and soon closedtheir eyes on that day's experience at Lookout Beach.

  The "morning dawned auspiciously," as Belle would say, but accordingto the boys it was a "peach of a day." Either way the morning wasdelightful, clear ocean air seeming to provide both eating anddrinking to those who breathed deep of its salt tanginess and ozone.

  And this was the day that our boy friends were to go housekeeping!

  Before any of the other patrons of the hotel were stirring Ed, Jack,and Walter were roaming about the verandas, waiting for an earlybreakfast. Nor did they depend upon waiting, alone, for they spokepleasantly to the dining-room maids, who were arranging linen andflowers, and in response to entreaties the boys did get an early meal,and of the very best there was in the hotel.

  The melons were exactly cold enough, the omelette was done to a turn,and had the turn, the coffee was fragrant and strong, and the hot buns"talked," Walter declared.

  Of course, in recognition of this special favor, the boys left sometokens, in coin, at their plates, but their politeness andpleasantries were even more appreciated by the young women, who musttake frowns and smiles day after day, and who must ever reply to thesevariable conditions, with smiles and good nature.

  "And now for the bungalow!" called out Ed, as the three strolled offtoward the irresistible beach. "Gosh! but it was a lucky thing that wetrailed after the girls. Here we are, taking a vacation that can't bebeat, and yet we just flopped right, plumb into it."

  "You may have flopped," remarked Walter, "but it strikes me that someof us have worked for this. I hired the bungalow."

  "And we paid the rent!" from Jack.

  "And us--us are going housekeeping!" added Walter.

  Each of the young men contributed his share to these expletiveexclamations.

  They were running along in the sand, stopping occasionally to writetheir names, or leave an address for some mermaid.

  "Wah-hoo! Wah-hoo!"

  The call came from the rocks at the end of the water tongue. Presentlythree sprites appeared. They might have been humans, but to the boysthey looked like nothing more or less than water sprites. All threehappened to be gowned in white, Bess, Cora and Belle, and as theygamboled over the rocks, making their way to the water's edge, theboys were compelled to draw in long breaths of admiration.

  "'Low there!" greeted Ed. "Wait till I become Ulysses. Hey there!Circe! Not so fast else thy feet will have to follow thy heads!"

  "Ulysses!" mocked Walter. "More like Jupiter! Just watch him make thewater roll off of his head. He is going to dive!"

  Scarcely had Walter uttered the words than Ed plunged over the end ofthe water tongue, and could not stop until he had actually splashedinto the shallow water. The tongue ran to a fine point, and the pointwas not discernible from the viewpoint available to Ed.

  "Whew!" he spluttered. "Circe had me that time! Now, what do you thinkof that for a new pair of shoes!"


  By this time the girls had reached the water's edge.

  "Better stick to plain Chelton and the motor girls," said Cora with ahearty laugh, in which the other girls joined. "You will find that themyths are dangerous brands of canned goods--won't keep a minute afterthey are opened up for review!"

  Ed was running the water out of his shoes. They were thoroughlysoaked, and the salt effect was too well known to be speculated upon.Jack stood on his head in the deep sand--he was exulting over Ed's"downfall."

  "Wait! Wait!" prophesied the unfortunate one. "You are not back homeyet."

  "Oh, there's the bungalow!" suddenly called out Bess, who was somepaces in advance. "How I wish we girls could camp!"

  "Aren't you?" asked Walter. "What do you call that place where thenotes grow on the gas jets?"

  "Why, that's a regular up-to-date cottage, including----"

  "Mother and chaperone," added Belle. "I cannot see why the mostneedful adjunct does not arrive in the person of Nettie, our starmaid. I had to dry dishes this morning," and she looked gloomily ather white hands.

  "That's what is called camping," advised Jack. "I am going to do thesupper dishes, Ed will do the dinner dishes, his hands are nice andsoft for grease, and Walter will 'tend to the tea--things. Don'tforget, Wallie, the tea things for yours!"

  "It usually rains at night," Walter remarked. "I don't mind puttingthe things in a dishpan outside."

  "And have them dried in the sunny dew! Oh, back to nature! Youwonderful back-to-nature faker!" cried Ed.

  "Nature must have an awful 'back-ache,'" finished Jack. "I would hateto have her job these days."

  "Here we are!" announced Ed, as they reached the cabin on the beach."Isn't this the real thing?"

  "Oh, what a fine bungalow!" exclaimed Cora.

  "Isn't it splendid!" added Belle.

  "My, but it is----"

  "Sweet and low!" Jack interrupted Bess. "I like that tune for abungalow!"

  They were following Jack, who had the big, old-fashioned key, for thelock had been constructed to add to the novelty of the hut.

  It took some time to open the low door, but it did finally yield tothe pressure of the three strong young men.

  "Enter!" called Jack, bowing low to the girls, "Pray enter, prettymaidens. Are there any more at home like you?"

  "There are a few, and pretty, too," responded Cora, taking up thestrain of the familiar song.

  Then such antics! And such discoveries! What is more resourceful thana strange house filled with strange things, strange corners andstrange--spider webs!

  "Don't open the trunk!" shrieked Belle. "There may be a----"

  "Note in it!" finished Walter. "Now, nixy on notes. I want the goodsor nothing, in our house."

  Boxes were being pulled from their salty corners, hammocks weredragged out, lanterns were being "swung," and altogether it seemedmerely a question of who could upset the place most thoroughly.

  "Halt! Avaunt! Ship ahoy!" yelled Jack. "If you breaks the stuff youpays fer it. This stock is inventoried."

  But the girls ran from one thing to another, regardless of dust ordampness.

  "Oh, just look at the funny kettle!" exclaimed Belle. "I'm sure thatis for an outdoor fire."

  "Certainly it is," replied Ed, just as if he knew what he was talkingabout. "That also has to rest on Nature's back."

  Something rumbled close to the cottage, then a shriek from outsidestartled them.

  "What's that!" cried Cora.

  Ed pushed open the door.

  "An auto in the ocean!" he yelled, dashing out of the bungalow, whilethe others followed as quickly as they could make after him.

  Ed threw off his coat as he ran. A few paces down the beach, in thevery face of the rollers, was a small runabout, the terrifiedoccupants of which were vainly struggling to get out, into a dangerousdepth of water.

  "Quick, boys!" shouted Ed. "The engine is still running! Maybe we canback it up!"