The Motor Girls on Cedar Lake | Page 3

indeed too close! Cora was frantically trying to turn the auxiliary steering wheel, but Bess in her fright was turning the more powerful bow wheel in the very direction of danger!
"Oh! Mercy!" shrieked Belle. "We are lost!"
Another wave almost submerged them. The passengers on the steamer had all run to one side of their boat.
"Turn right!" shouted Cora as she jumped up and fairly jerked from Bess the forward wheel. "Turn to the right!"

CHAPTER II
THE HAUNTED ISLE
For some seconds no one seemed to know just what had happened. The steamer was clear, and the motor boat was running safely. Three very wet girls were thanking their good fortune that the water was their only damage--and water in the shape of a shower of spray is not much of a matter to complain of, after you escape a collision.
"What happened?" asked Belle, when she had the courage to uncover her eyes.
"Bess turned wrong," said Cora.
"I couldn't tell which way to go," put in the frightened girl. "I was simply stage-struck. But what saved us?"
"I jerked the wheel just enough to get a little to one side, and then the steamer had a chance to turn away," replied Cora. "I tell you we had a close shave, but that makes our first trip all the more interesting. Bess, can I trust you now to take my place while I look at that wheel? The rope may have slipped?"
"Oh, don't do anything," pleaded Belle. "Call to that boat over there, and let us have help. See, they are coming this way."
"Why, it's the boys--our boys!" exclaimed Cora. "Why have they gone out without telling me, when they knew I wanted to use my boat?"
In a canoe that looked like a big eel as it slipped over the water could be seen Jack, Ed and Walter.
"Well!" called Jack. "I like that! Where did you get the--ocean liner, Cora?"
"Don't say anything about the accident," she had a chance to whisper to the girls before replying to her brother. "I found my boat tied up at the dock," she answered gaily. "Isn't she a beauty?"
"What are you going to call her?" asked Walter.
"The Whirlpool, I guess," replied Cora, "that would go nicely with my Whirlwind, don't you think?"
"Oh, no, don't," objected Belle. "I should always feel that we were going to be--"
"Whirlpooled?" finished Jack. "Better make her the Petrel, Cora, for two reasons. We bought it from Mr. Peters, and she can walk on the water like the old original sea-fowl. Just see how she does saunter along."
"All right. Petrel will do, but it will be Pet for short," said Cora as now she allowed the boat to drift a little way from beside the boys' canoe.
"What was the matter with the steamer folks?" asked Ed. "Thought I heard something as we passed."
"Yes, you might have heard them talking about us if your ears had on their long distance," replied Cora quickly. "The Blakes are aboard."
"I saw their trunks at the station," said Jack "and they were tagged to The Burrow."
"That's the hole in the hill, isn't it?" asked Walter. "Well, I'm glad they have come up--the Benny Blakeses. I like a lot of folks around here. It is apt to have a depressing effect upon me if company is scarce and fishing shy."
"Or weather wet," put in Ed. "But say, Cora, I'd like to try the Pet." He remembered he was in a blue bathing suit, ever the most appropriate costume for a canoe. "But I'll wait until later, though I hate to. We have, as a matter of fact, an engagement at Far Island. Have you heard?"
"No, what?" asked the girls in chorus.
"Just a suspicion yet, but it may be true. We think--shall we give it away boys?"
"No; sell it," suggested Jack. "They sold us on this first trip, why should we give them anything?"
"Oh, Jack! You know I expected you to take me out the first time," said Cora reproachfully.
"Yes, and you know all about a boat, and start out without giving a fellow the slightest warning."
"But why didn't you come up when you knew the boat had arrived?" questioned the sister.
"Because--but that was what Ed was going to give away. It's a mysterious secret, and it is situated on Far Island. So long girls, I suppose you know how to land."
"Oh, yes indeed," said Cora in spite of the protest that was trembling on Belle's lips. "We started out, and we will get back all right. Wish you luck in whatever you are after," and she winked at Bess, who was now beside her at the engine, as Cora had concluded to guide the boat by the auxiliary steering wheel.
The boys veered off.
"I wonder what they are up to?" asked Cora. "As soon as we can do so, without being noticed, I