The Motor Girls on a Tour

  THE MOTOR GIRLS SERIES

  by MARGARET PENROSE

  Author of the highly successful "Dorothy Dale Series" 12mo.Illustrated. Price per volume, 75 cents, postpaid.

  Since the enormous success or our "Motor Boys Series," by ClarenceYoung, we have been asked to get out a similar series for girls. No oneis better equipped to furnish these tales than Mrs. Penrose, who,besides being an able writer, is an expert automobilist.

  THE MOTOR GIRLS ON A TOUR

  CONTENTS

  I A SPOILED DINNER.

  II THE WOODLAND CONFERENCE.

  III "NO BOYS!"

  IV THE STRANGE PROMISE.

  V A LITTLE BROWN WREN

  VI THE HOLD-UP

  VII A CHANCE MEETING.

  VIII JACK AND CLIP

  IX THE MYSTERIOUS RIDE.

  X "THEY'RE OFF!"

  XI THOSE DREADFUL BOYS.

  XII THE GIRL IN THE DITCH

  XIII AT THE GROTTO

  XIV THE PROMISE BOOK LOST

  XV ROB ROLAND

  XVI A STRANGE MESSAGE

  XVII THE ROAD TO BREAKWATER

  XVIII THE CLUE.

  XIX PAUL AND HAZEL

  XX AT THE MAHOGANY SHOP

  XXI PERPLEXITIES

  XXII THE CHILDREN'S COURT

  XXIII THE MOTOR GIRLS ON THE WATCH.

  XXIV CORA'S RESOLVE.

  XXV A WILD RUN

  XXVI LEGAL STRATEGY

  XXVII AGAINST THE LAW

  XXVIII CONFIDENCES

  XXIX MERRY MOTOR MAIDS

  XXX THE PROMISE KEPT

  THE MOTOR GIRLS ON A TOUR

  CHAPTER I

  A SPOILED DINNER

  The big maroon car glided along in such perfect rhythm that CoraKimball, the fair driver of the Whirlwind, heard scarcely a sound ofits mechanical workings. To her the car went noiselessly--theperfection of its motion was akin to the very music of silence.

  Hazel Hastings was simply sumptuous in the tonneau--she had spreadevery available frill and flounce, but there was still plenty ofunoccupied space on the luxuriously cushioned "throne."

  It seemed a pity to passers-by that two girls should ride alone on thatsplendid morning in the handsome machine--so many of those afoot wouldhave been glad of a chance to occupy the empty seats.

  Directly following the Whirlwind came another car--the little silverFlyaway. In this also were two girls, the Robinson twins, Elizabethand Isabel, otherwise Belle and Bess. Chelton folks were becomingaccustomed to the sight of these girls in their cars, and a run of themotor girls was now looked upon as a daily occurrence. Bess Robinsonguided her car with unmistakable skill--Cora Kimball was considered anexpert driver.

  Sputtering and chugging close to the Flyaway came a second runabout.In this were a girl and a boy, or, more properly speaking, a young ladyand a young gentleman. As they neared the motor girls Bess called backto Belle:

  "There come Sid and Ida. I thought they were not on speaking terms."

  "They were not, but they are now," answered Belle with a light laugh."Why should a girl turn her back on a young man with a brand newmachine?"

  "It runs like a locomotive," murmured Bess, as, at that moment, theother car shot by, the occupants bowing indifferently to the Robinsongirls as the machines came abreast.

  Cora turned and shook her head significantly when the third car hadforged ahead. She, too, seemed surprised that Ida Giles should beriding with Sid Wilcox. Then Bess rolled up alongside the Whirlwind.

  "My, but they are going!" she called to Cora. "I thought Ida said shewould never ride with Sid again."

  "Why not?" flashed Cora merrily. "Isn't Sid's car new and--yellow?"

  "Like a dandelion," put in Belle, who was noted for her aesthetictendencies. "And, precisely like a dandelion, I fancy that machinewould collapse without rhyme or reason. Did you every try a bunch ofdandelions on the table?"

  The girls all laughed. No one but Belle Robinson would ever try suchan experiment. Everybody knew the ingratitude of the yellow fieldflower.

  "I can never bear anything of that color since my valentine luncheon,"declared Belle bravely. "That's why I predict disaster for Sid's newcar."

  "They have dropped something!" exclaimed Hazel as she peered ahead atthe disappearing runabout.

  Bess had taken the lead.

  "Let's put on speed," she suggested, and, pulling the lever, her carshot ahead, and was soon within close range of the yellow runabout.

  "Be careful!" called her sister. "You will run over--"

  It was too late. At that moment the Flyaway dashed over something--thepieces flew in all directions.

  "Their lunch-hamper!" exclaimed Belle.

  The runabout had turned to one side, and then stopped. Bess jammed onthe brakes and also came to a standstill.

  "Well!" growled Sid Wilcox, approaching the wreck in the road.

  "I--couldn't stop," faltered Bess remorsefully.

  "I guess you didn't try," snapped Ida Giles, her cheeks aflame almostto the tint of her fiery tresses.

  "I really did," declared Bess. "I would not have spoiled your hamperfor anything."

  "And your lunch was in it?" gasped Belle. "We're awfully sorry!"

  Bent and crippled enameled dishes from the lately fine and completelyequipped auto-hamper were scattered about in all directions. Here andthere a piece of pie could be identified, while the chicken sandwicheswere mostly recognizable by the fact that a newly arrived yellow dogpersistently gnawed at one or two particular mud spots.

  "Oh, we can go to a hotel for dinner," announced the young man, gettingback into his car.

  "But they ought to pay for the hamper," grumbled Ida, loud enough forthe Robinson girls to make sure of her remark.

  "We will, of course," called Bess, just as Cora and Hazel came up, andthen the Wilcox runabout darted off again.

  "Table d'hote?" called Cora, laughing.

  "No, a la carte," replied Bess, picking up a piece of damaged celery,putting it on a slice of uninjured bread and proffering it to Hazel.

  "What a shame!" sighed Hazel. "Their picnic will be spoiled."

  "But look at the picnic we've had," put in Belle. "You should haveseen Ida's face. A veritable fireless cooker."

  "And Sid--he supplied the salt hay," declared Bess. "I felt as if Iwere smothered in a ton of it."

  "And that was the peace-offering hamper," declared Cora, alighting fromher car and closely viewing the wreck. "Jack told me that Ida gave Sida handsome hamper for the new car."

  "I told you that the yellow machine would turn--"

  "Dandelion," Hazel interrupted Belle. "Well, I agree with you that wasan ungrateful trick. To demolish the lunch, of all other availablethings to do, on a day like this!"

  "Souvenirs?" suggested Cora, removing her glove to dig out of the mud aknife, and then a fork.

  "Oh, forget it!" exclaimed Bess. "I am sure I want to. Let's getgoing again, if we are to make the Woodbine Way in time to plan thetour. I'm just crazy about the trip," and the enthusiastic girlexpended some of her pent-up energies on the crank at the front of theFlyaway.

  Cora was also cranking up. "Yes," she said, "we had best be on theroad again. We are due at the park at twelve. I expect Maud will havethe family tree along and urge us to stop overnight at every gnarl onthe 'trunk.'"

  "We might have asked Ida and Sid," reflected Belle aloud,sympathetically.

  "Yes," Bess almost shouted, "and have them veto every single plan.Besides, there are to be no boys on this trip; Lady Isabel please takenotice!"

  "As if I wanted boys!" sneered her sister.

  "As if you could h
ave them if you did!" fired back Bess in thattantalizing way that only sisters understand, only sisters enjoy, andonly sisters know how to operate successfully.

  "Peace! peace!" called Cora. "If Belle wants boys she may have them.I am chairman of the acting committee, and if boys do not act I wouldlike to know exactly what they do."

  "No boys!" faltered Hazel, who, not owning a machine, had not as yetheard all the details of the proposed three-days' tour of the motorgirls.

  "Nary a one!" returned Bess, now about to start.

  "If we had boys along," explained Cora, "they would claim the glory ofevery spill, every skid, every upset and every 'busted tire.' We wantsome little glory ourselves," and at this she threw in the clutch, and,with a gentle effort, the Whirlwind rolled off, followed closely by theFlyaway.

  "I suppose Sid and Ida are licking their fingers just about now,"remarked the good-natured Bess.

  "Very likely," rejoined her sister, "for I fancy their meal was made upof buckwheat cakes and molasses, as Sid had to pay for it."

  "Oh, I meant sheer deliciousness," corrected her sister. "I'fawncy'"--and she imitated the dainty tones used by Belle--"they havehad--"

  "Backbiting and detraction," called Cora, who had been close enough tohear the sisters' remarks. "I would not have been in your place atthat table, Bess, for a great deal."

  Bess tossed her head about indifferently. She evidently knew what toexpect from Ida and Sid.

  "Now for a straight run!" announced Cora, throwing in third speed. "Wemust make the bridge by the quarter whistle or the Maud Morris familytree may have been consumed for luncheon. I particularly want a peg atthat tree."

  "We're off!" called Bess, following with additional speed.

  Then the Whirlwind and the Flyaway dashed off, over the country roads,past scurrying chicks and barking dogs, past old farmers who turned into give "them blamed things" plenty of room, out along Woodbine to thepretty little park where the plans for the first official run of themotor girls were soon to be perfected.