The Motor Girls | Page 4

they had not left the auto salesrooms until five minutes before the time Cora had appointed for her brother to meet her, they had actually managed to reach home before Jack called, so that he could have no suspicion of their visit to the garage.
Paul Hastings, the young man whom they had encountered on their visit to the automobile place, had proved a most interesting youth--he appeared to know many things besides the good and bad points of the average car.
Mr. and Mrs. Perry Robinson, parents of the Robinson twins, happened to be out that evening, so that, even to them, the visit to the garage was a profound secret, and there was no need of making any explanations.
That night, in her sleep, Elizabeth was heard to mutter "The clutch! Throw in the clutch!"
And Isabel actually answered, also in dream language:
"Jam down the brake!"
But Cora, across the fields, in her own cool, out-of-doors sleeping apartment, built on a broad porch, did not dream. She just slumbered.
It was a delightful morning in early June, and the air seemed sprinkled with scented dew, when Cora Kimball drove up to the Robinson home in her new automobile.
"Come on! Come on!" she called as she stopped at the curb and, tooted the horn. "Hurry! I want to overtake Walter. He and Jack have just gone out!"
"Oh, of course, you want to overtake Walter," answered Isabel, with the emphasis on "Walter."
"Well, never mind about that, but do come," urged Cora. "What do you think of my car?" she asked as the girls hastened to her. "Isn't it a beauty?"
She handled the machine with considerable skill, for she had had some practice on Jack's car.
"Think of it!" exclaimed Elizabeth. "Why, it's simply beyond thoughts; it's--overwhelming!"
"A perfect dream," agreed Belle. "Aren't you the lucky girl, though!"
"Guess I am," admitted Cora. "See, I can start it without cranking"; and to prove it, when the engine was quiet, she threw forward the spark lever, shifted the gasolene one a trifle, and the motor began to throb and hum rapidly.
"Good!" cried Isabel.
"Paul told me about it," went on Cora. "The Paul, you know. He said when a charge of gas is in one of the cylinders all you have to do is to send a spark to the cylinder, and--"
"It didn't take you long to learn," complimented Bess, while Isabel said:
"Paul--er--is he--"
"Yes, he is," admitted Cora with a laugh. "The youth of the garage."
"Well, I don't remember a thing he said," confessed Elizabeth; "but Paul--who could forget Paul? Didn't he have nice teeth?"
"And so polite," added Belle.
"Wasn't he just splendid?" concluded Cora. "And such a number of things that he told me. But come on, get in," and she slowed down the motor somewhat, while, removing a pair of buckskin gloves from her long, tapering hands, she produced a small, dainty handkerchief and rubbed a spot of black grease from her aristocratic nose.
"Got that when I was oiling the rear wheels," she explained.
The twins entered the tonneau, neither of them caring to risk riding on the front seat just yet.
Cora speeded the motor up a bit, glanced behind to see that the tonneau door was securely fastened, and then pulled the speed lever and threw in the clutch. The car started forward as smoothly as if Paul himself were at the wheel.
Elizabeth's hand flew to her hat, which tilted backward in the wind. They had not yet secured their motor "togs," and regulation hats were so difficult to manage.
"Oh, isn't this glorious!" cried Isabel.
"Every one is looking at us," announced Elizabeth.
"Now I wonder which road Jack and Walter took?" said Cora as she swung the car around a curve in good style. "I heard Jack say he was going for some fishing-tackle."
"Perhaps they went to Arden," ventured Isabel.
"Maybe. Well, we'll take a nice little spin down the turnpike," decided Cora as she threw in the high gear, the cogs grinding on each other rather alarmingly.
"Gracious! What's that?" asked Elizabeth.
"Only the gears," replied Cora calmly. "I hope I didn't strip them, but I might have done that changing a little better. I wasn't quite quick enough."
The car was going rather fast now.
"Don't put on quite so much speed," begged Isabel. "I'm so--"
"Now please don't say you're nervous," interrupted Cora.
"But I am."
"Well, you needn't be. I know how to run the car."
"Of course, since Paul showed her," put in Elizabeth.
The speed was a trifle too fast for an inexperienced hand at the wheel, but Cora grasped the wooden circlet firmly, and with a keen look ahead prepared for the descent of a rather steep hill.
Coming up the grade were a number of autos, containing Chelton folks, who had been to the depot with early city commuters. Chelton was a great place for commuters and autos.
"Please don't put on any more speed, Cora,"