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

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  THE MOTOR GIRLS AT LOOKOUT BEACH

  OR

  IN QUEST OF THE RUNAWAYS

  Margaret Penrose

  1911

  CONTENTS: CHAPTER I--SUMMER PLANS CHAPTER II--AT THE STRAWBERRY PATCH CHAPTER III--THE STRIKE CHAPTER IV--ARBITRATION CHAPTER V--TOO CONFIDENT CHAPTER VI--CORA'S QUEER PLIGHT CHAPTER VII--THE CLUE AT THE SPRING HOUSE CHAPTER VIII--A STARTLING DISCOVERY CHAPTER IX--COMPLICATIONS CHAPTER X--ALMOST--BUT NOT QUITE CHAPTER XI--ANDY'S WARNING CHAPTER XII--THE "UNPLANNED" PLANS CHAPTER XIII--GOING AND COMING CHAPTER XIV--LOST ON THE ROAD CHAPTER XV--BOYS TO THE RESCUE CHAPTER XVI--THE SHADOW IN THE HEDGE CHAPTER XVII--AT WAYSIDE INN CHAPTER XVIII--LOOKOUT BEACH CHAPTER XIX--THE MOVING PICTURE "MOVED" CHAPTER XX--THE GAIETY OF GOING CHAPTER XXI--BOYS AND GIRLS CHAPTER XXII--A STRUGGLE WITH THE WAVES CHAPTER XXIII--THE EXCURSION CHAPTER XXIV--THE TWO ORPHANS CHAPTER XXV--THE TRUTH! THE WHOLE TRUTH!

  CHAPTER I

  SUMMER PLANS

  Bess Robinson was so filled with enthusiasm that her sister Belledeclared there was serious danger of "blowing-up," unless there wassome repression. Belle herself might be equally enthusiastic, but shehad a way of restraining herself, while Bess just delighted in the"utmost" of everything. The two sisters were talking on the side porchof their handsome home in Chelton, a New England town, located on theChelton river. It was a beautiful day, late in spring.

  "Well, have you sufficiently quieted down, Bess?" asked Belle, after apause, which succeeded the more quiet girl's attempt to curb hersister's enthusiasm--a pause that was filled with just the hint ofpique.

  "Quieted down? I should think any one would quiet down after such acall-down as you gave me, if you will allow the use of such slang inyour presence, Miss Prim," retorted Bess, with a little tilt to herstubby nose.

  "Oh, come now, Bess----"

  "Well, don't be so fussy, then. We have always wanted to go to a realwatering place, and now, when we are really to go, Belle Robinson, youtake it as solemnly as if it were a message from boarding-school,summoning us back to class. Why don't you warm up a bit? I--I feel asif I could--yell! There, that's out, and I don't care! I wish I was aboy, and then--then I could do something when I felt happy, besidessitting down, and looking pleased. Boys have a way of showing theirfeelings. I know what I'm going to do. I'm just going to get out thecar, and run over to Cora Kimball's. She'll know how to rejoice withme about going to Lookout Beach. Oh, Belle, isn't it justperfectly--too lovely for anything! There, I was going to sayscrumbunctious, but I won't in your presence--Miss Prim!"

  "Why, Bess--you silly," retorted her sister. "Of course I'm glad, too.But I don't have to go into kinks to show it. We will have a glorioustime, I'm sure, for they say Lookout Beach is a perfectly idealplace."

  "'Ideal'! Oh, there you go!" and Bess made a grimace of her prettyface. "'Ideal'! Belle, why don't you take a private room somewhere,just off the earth, so you can be just as perfectly proper as youwish. 'Ideal!' Whoop! Why not sweet? Oh, I say--Burr-r-r-r! It's goingto be immense! Now there, and you can get mad if you want to," andwith this parting shot Bess hurried off to the little garage in therear of the house.

  "Is the car ready to take out, Patrick?" she asked the man of all workabout the Robinson place.

  "Yes, miss. I poured the gasolene in the little hole under the seatwhere you showed me, and I filled up the oil tank, and I give it adrink. I put in ice-water, Miss."

  "Ice-water? Why, Patrick?" for Patrick was a new acquisition, and whathe didn't know about automobiles would have made two large books ofinstructions to beginners. "Why ice water, Patrick?" and Bess raisedher pretty eyebrows.

  "Well, sure, an' Miss Belle said the other day, as how the waterb'iled on her, miss--that is, not exactly b'iled _on_ her, but b'iledin the tea kettle--I mean that thing punched full of holes--in the frontof the car."

  "The radiator," suggested Bess, trying not to laugh.

  "Yes, that's it, miss, though why they calls it a radiator, when theywant it to kape cool, is beyond me. Howsomever----"

  "About the ice water, Patrick."

  "Yes, miss, I'm comin' to that. You see when Miss Belle said as how itb'iled over the other day, I thinks to myself that sure ice-water willnever boil, so I filled the radiator with some as cold as I could bearme fist in it. Arrah, an' it's no b'ilin' water ye'll have th' day,when ye takes this car out, Miss Bess."

  "Oh, Patrick, how kind of you!" exclaimed the girl. "And what a novelidea. I'm sure it will be all right," and she placed her hand on theradiator. It was as cold as a pump handle on a frosty morning.

  "I blew up the tires, too, miss," went on the man, "an' here's a fourleaf clover I found. Take it along."

  "What for?" asked Bess, as she accepted the emblem.

  "Sure, fer good luck. Maybe ye'll not git a puncture now. Clovers isgood luck."

  "Oh, thank you," said Bess earnestly, as she cranked up, for Patrickhad not yet advanced this far in his auto-education.

  Then the girl, most becomingly attired in auto hood and coat, backedthe pretty little silver-colored runabout, _Flyaway_, owned by herselfand her sister, "the Robinson twins," out of the garage, and turned iton the broad drive.

  "Would ye mind that now!" exclaimed Patrick, admiringly. "It's as--asslick as a pig's whistle, miss, savin' yer presence."

  Bess laughed merrily.

  "I'm glad to see that some one besides myself uses a bit of--I mean anexpression that means something--once in a while, Patrick," she said,as she threw in the clutch, after adjusting the lever to low speed.

  "Yis, miss," answered the man, as he looked with admiration at thetrim and pretty figure in the little car. "Now I wonder what did shemane?" he asked himself, when Bess was out on the road. "Sure them istwo great gurls--Miss Isabel and Miss Elizabeth--great gurls!" andPatrick went to curry the horses kept by Mr. Robinson, this being workthat the genial and faithful Irishman understood perfectly well.

  Isabel, meanwhile, continued to sun her splendid hair over the railingof the side porch, in spite of the almost constant danger that itmight become entangled in the honeysuckle vine, or be mistaken by awandering bee or humming bird for some nest or hive in which tonestle.

  Isabel was always the "dreamer." She had "nerves," and she lovedeverything aesthetic. Bess, on the contrary, was always "on the spot,"as her boy friends declared, and, while she might be a trifleover-enthusiastic at times, there was this consolation, that she wasnever glum, as her personal supply of good-nature never seemed to belacking. Not that Isabel was moody, save at such times when she wasalone, and thought of many things--for, in company, she entered intothe fun with a zest equal to almost anyone's save her more volatilesister. So the Robinson twins were an interesting study--so differentin disposition--so unlike in taste--but so well matched on twopoints--their love for motoring and a good time during vacation, andtheir love for their chum and companion, Cora Kimball.

  While her sister was lazily dreaming away amid the honeysuckle vines,letting the gentle breeze riffle through, and dry her hair, Bess wasskimming along the fine Chelton roads, her mind intent on the goodtimes in prospect when she, with her mother and sister, were to go toa cottage at Lookout Beach.

  "Oh, I just know it will be perfectly bang-up!" exclaimed Bess, halfaloud, and smiling at the chance to use words that meant something,without shocking Belle. "We will have no end of good times. My! Itmakes me want to go fast to think about it," and, suiting the actionto the word, she pressed he
r foot on the accelerator pedal, and thecar shot forward, while the hand on the dial of the speedometertrembled around the twenty-five miles an hour mark.

  "I don't care!" thought Bess, as she kept her foot on the pedal. "I'mgoing to speed for once. Belle never will let me."

  As she suddenly swung around a turn in the road she was made aware ofhow fast the pace was, for the car skidded a bit dangerously, and, amoment later, without a warning blast of the horn, another auto,moving in the opposite direction, shot into view.

  By a quick twist of the steering wheel, nearly sending the car intothe ditch at the roadside, Bess avoided a collision.

  "Why didn't you blow your horn?" she shot indignantly at the occupantof the car--a young man, who had also turned out quickly.

  "Why didn't you blow your own?" he wanted to know, and then he smiled,for he, too, had slowed down. "I guess it's horse and horse," headded, good-naturedly, if slangily. "I was thinking of somethingelse."

  "So was I," admitted Bess with a half smile, and then, having sloweddown too much to allow going ahead on high speed, she had to throw outthe clutch just as she was about to proceed, and change back to lowgear. Quickly she threw into second, as a preliminary to third, butshe was not quick enough. The motor stalled, and the car came to astop, amid a grinding of the gears.

  "Can I help you?" asked the young man, jamming on his emergency brake.

  "No, thank you," answered Bess coolly and quickly. "I can manage,"and, before he could reach her car, for he had alighted from his own,she had gotten out, cranked up, and was in her seat again. Then shehurried off down the road, leaving a rather crestfallen young chapstanding in the dusty highway.

  "Remarkably pretty girl--that," he said, aloud. "I wish I could havehelped her. But she was cool, all of a sudden. Maybe she didn't likemy slang--I wish I could break myself of using it--hang the luck--there Igo again," and, with a shake of his head he went back to his car.

  "Adventure number one," mused Bess, as she swung along, not so fastthis time. "I wonder what will come next? I guess I am getting alittle too high-spirited. I must calm down. But I can't, when I thinkof Lookout Beach."

  She had not gone a hundred rods farther when a flock of chickenscrossed the road, just ahead of the machine.

  "Shoo!" cried Bess. "Shoo! Scat! Get out!" and she blew the hornvigorously. "I wonder why someone doesn't invent a horn or somethingto scare dogs and chickens?" she went on, as the fowls showed littledisposition to do more than run, fluttering and squawking, right aheadof the car. Then they darted to one side--all but one unfortunate, andthe big rubber tires passed over one leg, crippling it.

  "Hi, you! Stop!" commanded a woman's harsh voice, and Bess, who wasrunning slowly now, saw an unlovely personage rushing from the yard ofa dilapidated house, toward the machine. "I've got your licensenumber," went on the woman, "and I'll make a complaint if you don'tpay for my chicken. You automobile folks is allers running over 'em,and cripplin' 'em so they ain't fit fer nothing."

  "This is the first time I ever ran over anything," retorted Bessindignantly. "I guess I know how to drive a car!"

  "Well, it won't be the last time you run over somethin' if you scootalong like I seen you just now," went on the owner of the limpingfowl. "I want pay for my chicken, or I'll have th' law on ye," and sheplanted herself determinedly in front of the now stationary car.

  "Very well," answered Bess, not wishing to argue with such acharacter. "Here is fifty cents. The chicken is a small one, andthat's all it's worth. Besides it is hardly hurt at all."

  "It's wuth seventy-five cents, ef it ain't a dollar!" stormed thewoman, as she accepted the coin that the girl handed her. "I've a goodnotion to----"

  But her further words were lost, for Bess turned on the power, threwin the clutch, shifted the gear lever, and was off down the road.

  "Adventure number two," she remarked grimly. "I hope it isn't threetimes and out. Patrick's clover works by opposite, I guess," but shedrove along, her high spirits not a whit repressed by what hadhappened.

  For Bess was not a girl easily daunted, as those of you who have readthe previous volumes of this series know. She was almost the equal ofher chum, Cora Kimball, was Bess Robinson. In my first book, entitled"The Motor Girls," Cora Kimball, the tall, handsome, dark-haireddaughter of Mrs. Grace Kimball, and, likewise, the well-beloved sisterof Jack Kimball, had first secured her auto. It was a four cylinder,touring machine, capable of good speed, and the color was Cora'sspecial choosing--a handsome maroon. The story dealt with a mystery ofthe road, and told how Cora successfully solved it, in spite of theefforts of Ida Giles and Sid Wilcox to make trouble. As her guestsCora had, on many runs of her car, the Robinson twins, WalterPennington, Jack's college chum, and Ed Foster. The latter was one ofthe chief figures in the road mystery, for one day he suddenly missedhis wallet, containing money and negotiable securities to the amountof twenty thousand dollars. A little later the pocketbook, with themoney missing, was found in the tool box of Cora's car.

  Then there followed a "whirlwind" of excitement, which did not enduntil those responsible for the taking of the money had beendiscovered and the cash and papers returned. Among other troubles Coraand her friends had to contend with the meanness of Sid Wilcox and thejealousy of Ida Giles.

  In the second volume of the series, called "The Motor Girls on a Tour;or, Keeping a Strange Promise," there was related how Cora and herfriends were instrumental, after making a strange promise, inrestoring to a little cripple a long-lost table, containing a will.How the hunt for the strange piece of furniture, with a secret drawer,was made, while the girls were on a tour, how the Robinson twinsmanaged their car, which they had secured in the meanwhile, and howJack Kimball also succeeded in getting a runabout--all this is set downin the book. Paul Hastings, a young chauffeur, and his pretty sisterHazel, also had their parts to play, and well they did.

  Now it was coming on summer again, and, after much planning anddiscussing, the Robinson twins and their mother had decided on aseashore cottage. They hoped that Cora Kimball could be induced to gowith them, and, if Cora did go, why, of course, it meant that Jackwould come down, occasionally, or, perhaps, oftener. And Ed and Waltermight also happen to drop in--which would be very pleasant.

  "Oh, it's just glorious," thought Bess, as she continued to skimalong. "I hope the season will be miles long and years old. We willhave a gay time."

  Bess turned the _Flyaway_ into the gravel road that wound up to thehandsome and stately Kimball homestead. A toot of the horn broughtCora out of doors quickly, while Bess jammed on the brake and threwout the clutch, and then, as the car came to a squeaking standstill,she shoved over the spark and gasolene levers, with a ripping soundalong the ratchets, and turned off the sparking device.

  "Come on in and cool off," invited Cora. "It's very warm. Summer hasalmost arrived. I'm delighted to see you, Bess."

  "And I you. Indeed I am coming in. Such news--you'll never guess inyour whole life, Cora."

  "You're going to get a new machine!"

  "No, not yet, though I think we will next season. Papa is sort ofsoftening toward a six cylinder. No, but it's almost as good as that."

  "What is it, dear?" and Cora placed her arm around the waist of Bess,as they mounted the broad steps.

  "Cora Kimball, we're going to take a cottage at Lookout Beach! Such adelightful place--and Cora dear," she panted on, "can you come? _Will_you come?"

  "Shall I come? Should I come," went on Cora, teasingly. "Why, mydear," she went on, "do sit down, and catch your breath before itescapes further. The boys are around here somewhere, and they arealways on the still hunt for----"

  "Cora Kimball! I'm not one bit out of breath," panted Bess, "but I amjust dying to tell you----"

  "Oh, that is it! Well, let me make you comfortable so that thedeath----" She stopped, and swung back a porch chair for Bess. Thelatter threw aside her motor bonnet and "ripped off" her gloves.

  "No, but seriously, Cora," Bess said. "Will you go with us? We havetaken a c
ottage, and we are, of course, going to take our car, and wedo so want to take you!"

  "You dear!" exclaimed Cora. "I haven't planned for summer yet, but Ido think mother is going abroad, and I honestly feared I would have totag along. I just hate to think of Europe, so maybe I could inducemother to let me go with you. She has such confidence in Mrs. PerryRobinson."

  "Mother would take all sorts of care of you. I can assure you and yourmother of that," declared Bess. "And we have almost decided, withoutever asking you, that you shall come along. What fun would we havemotoring without you?"

  "Without me, or without Jack?" teased Cora. "Well, never mind, Bess,perhaps we can take turns. I am sure I would rather go to LookoutBeach and camp than to go to Europe and tramp--there I have made arhyme, and will see my beau before nine. Pray, Bess, come indoors withme while I complexion. I have been motoring all morning, in this stiffbreeze, and I feel as if my face will crack if I don't hurry to creamit. And then, that I am to see my beau----"

  The splendid color in Cora's cheeks belied her words. Nevertheless thegirls went indoors, and, while Cora removed a surprising amount ofgrit on each piece of cotton she daubed her cheeks with, Bess had abetter chance to talk over the plans for the summer at the seaside.

  Following her cream-wash Cora turned on her face the tiny spray oftepid water from her own little silver faucet in the corner, and then"feeling clean," as she expressed it, she just touched her cheeks andnose with another piece of cotton "to pat off the shine."

  "You know I have to go out again this afternoon, and I do find that itpays to keep in order. I suppose Belle would think this sort of fixingup not half thorough enough?"

  "Oh, she takes a regular Turkish when she has been out in a dustywind," declared Bess. "But, for my part, I prefer a thick veil, infront of a cream setting. Then I catch all the dirt in the cream andonly have to wash it off instead of----"

  "Washing it on. A good idea, Bess. But I can't breathe back of cream.It makes my lungs sticky," and Cora put a last touch to her heavy darkhair, just as her brother's voice was heard in the lower hallway.

  "There's Jack!" exclaimed both girls at once.

  "Let's tell him," suggested Bess, who was not always able to concealher interest in Cora's handsome brother.

  "Oh, no, don't," whispered Cora, as Jack was almost at the door of thesitting room. "It will be a joke to plan it all out, and surprise theboys!"

  But Jack was actually tumbling into the room before he saw Bess. He,too, was evidently "too full of good news to keep!"

  "Oh, sis!" he yelled, still unconscious of the presence of Bess, "takemy hand and squeeze it, or I shall 'bust.' It's too good to be true,and too good not to be true. We are going----"

  Then his eye fell upon Cora's visitor. Instantly and in a boy'sinimitable way he "pulled himself together" and finished: "We aregoing down to the post-office this evening!"

  "Oh, is that all you were going to say?" asked Bess, in somedisappointment, for it was evident that Jack had some news.

  "Well, not quite all," he replied with an air of mystery, "only Ihappened to hear certain peculiar whispers and admonitions as I wascoming in, and I guess girls aren't the only ones who can keep asecret. I'll tell if you'll tell," he added.

  "We've nothing to tell; have we, Cora?" and Bess looked as innocent aspossible.

  "How could you ever imagine such a thing, Jack?" inquired his sister.

  "Well, that's neither here nor there, then," was the young man's coolanswer. "But if you're going after the stuff to make jam tarts withthis winter, Cora, you'd better start," and at this somewhatenigmatical remark, Jack began whistling a tantalizing air, while Besswinked at her chum.