Ruth Fielding Down East | Page 9

running-board as well. There was room remaining,
however, for the ladies if they would sit there. But as Tom was to drive
the big car he insisted that Ruth sit with him in the front seat for
company. As for his racing car, he had turned that over to Marchand. It,
too, was well laden; but at the start Jennie squeezed in beside her
colonel, and the maroon speeder was at once whisperingly dubbed by
the others "the honeymoon car."
"Poor children!" said Aunt Kate in private to the two other girls. "They
cannot marry until the war is over. That my brother is firm upon,
although he thinks well of Colonel Henri. And who could help liking
him? He is a most lovable boy."
"'Boy!'" repeated Ruth. "And he is one of the most famous spies France
has produced in this war! And a great actor!"
"But we believe he is not acting when he tells us he loves Jennie," Aunt
Kate said.
"Surely not!" cried Helen.
"He is the soul of honor," Ruth declared. "I trust him as I do--well,
Tom. I never had a brother."
"I've always shared Tom with you," pouted Helen.
"So you have, dear," admitted Ruth. "But a girl who has had no
really-truly brother really has missed something. Perhaps good, perhaps
bad. But, at least, if you have brothers you understand men better."
"Listen to the wisdom of the owl!" scoffed Helen. "Why, Tommy is
only a girl turned inside out. A girl keeps all her best and softest
attributes to the fore, while a boy thinks it is more manly to show a

prickly surface--like the burr of a chestnut."
"Listen to them!" exclaimed Aunt Kate, with laughter. "All the wise
sayings of the ancient world must be crammed under those pretty caps
you wear, along with your hair."
"That is what we get at college," said Helen seriously. "Dear old
Ardmore! Ruth! won't you be glad to get back to the grind again?"
"I--don't--know," said her chum slowly. "We have seen so much greater
things than college. It's going to be rather tame, isn't it?"
But this conversation was all before they were distributed into their
seats and had started. Colonel Marchand was an excellent driver, and
he soon understood clearly the mechanism of the smaller car. Tom gave
him the directions for the first few miles and they pulled out of the yard
with Mr. Curtis, the station master, and his lame daughter, who now
acted as telegraph operator, waving the party good-bye.
They would not go by the way of the Red Mill, for that would take
them out of the way they had chosen. The inn they had in mind to stop
at on this first night was a long four hours' ride.
"Eastward, Ho!" shouted Tom. "This is to be a voyage of discovery, but
don't discover any punctures or blow-outs this evening."
Then he glanced at Ruth's rather serious face beside him and muttered
to himself:
"And we want to discover principally the smile that Ruth Fielding
seems to have permanently lost!"
CHAPTER VI
"THE NEVERGETOVERS"
After crossing the Cheslow Hills and the Lumano by the Long Bridge
about twenty miles below the Red Mill, the touring party debouched

upon one of the very best State roads. They left much of the dust from
which they had first suffered behind them, and Tom could now lead the
way with the big car without smothering the occupants of the
honeymoon car in the rear.
The highway wound along a pretty ridge for some miles, with farms
dotting the landscape and lush meadows or fruit-growing farms dipping
to the edge of the distant river.
"Ah," sighed Henri Marchand. "Like la belle France before the war.
Such peace and quietude we knew, too. Fortunate you are, my friends,
that le Boche has not trampled these fields into bloody mire."
This comment he made when they halted the cars at a certain overlook
to view the landscape. But they could not stop often. Their first
objective inn was still a long way ahead.
They did not, however, reach the inn, which was a resort well known to
motorists. Five miles away Tom noticed that the car was acting
strangely.
"What is it, Tom?" demanded Ruth quickly.
"Steering gear, I am afraid. Something is loose."
It did not take him long to make an examination, and in the meantime
the second car came alongside.
"It might hold out until we get to the hotel ahead; but I think we had
better stop before that time if we can," was Tom's comment. "I do not
want the thing to break and send us flying over a stone wall or up a
tree."
"But you can fix it, Tom?" questioned Ruth.
"Sure! But it will