The Motor Girls on a Tour | Page 8

- ahem! At three-thirty, wasn't it?"
"Precisely," declared Ed. "So much obliged for the feed; and do we
make a party call?"
"Of course," answered the pretty Ray, attempting to tie her huge scarf,
without having any idea of doing so. "We shall expect - "
"The bunch?" interrupted Jack, knowing Ray's preference for the
handsome Ed.
"How - "
"Naughty," simpered Cecilia. "Jack, how can you use slang in the
presence of ladies?" and she assumed the characteristic "tough" walk,
which had always been one of Clip's most laughable capers.
"Loidies!" echoed Jack, tilting his cap and striking an attitude
appropriate to that assumed by Cecilia. He slipped his arm within hers,
and the pair "strutted off," in the fashion identified with the burlesque
stage.
"Here! here!" called more than one young lady. "Come back here, Clip!
There are to be no boys!"
"This isn't a boy," called back Cecilia, keeping up the performance.
"He's only a - "

"Don't you dare!" threatened Jack.
The girls began to gather the things up from the grass.
"Now don't hurry," remarked Ed coolly. "The fact is, we are not going
your way."
"Don't want us!" almost gasped Ray.
"Shook!" groaned Bess.
"Not at all," Walter hurried to add, "but the real truth is - well, let me
see. What's the real truth?"
Jack was fetching Cecilia back. At some secret sign the young men
actually took to their heels, and ran away before the girls realized what
was happening. But from a distance they waved a cheerful adieu.
"What do you think of that!" exclaimed Hazel.
"Oh, they are just up to some frolic, and could not take us in," said
Cora. "If we were not so busy with our plans we might follow them.
But I propose continuing the business meeting."
With some reluctance, for the time had been greatly enlivened by the
appearance of the young men on the scene, the girls once more got to
discussing the details of their proposed three days' tour.
As Cora had predicted, Maud wanted the stops along the way made at
the homes of her various and varied relatives. Daisy feared her mother
would insist upon a chaperone, and this almost absorbed Daisy's chance
of being eligible. Ray thought the motors should flaunt flags - pretty
light blue affairs - but Bess declared it would be infinitely more
important to carry plenty of gasoline.
So the girls planned and plotted, until, in the northwest, a great black
cloud came stealing over the silent blue, gathering fury as it came, and
coming very quickly at that.

"A storm!" shouted Belle. "Oh, I do hope it won't be the thundering
kind!"
There was a swirl of the leaves around them, and the wind gave a
warning howl. All ran for the cars.
"A tornado, likely," said Hazel. "And, oh, dear! this is just about the
time that Paul will be bringing the mail over. I am so nervous since his
firm undertook the mail route between New City and Cartown. This is
such a lonely road for an auto in a storm - especially when every one
knows Paul carries the mail."
Hazel was greatly agitated, but the other girls endeavored to reassure
her.
"Why, Paul will be all right," declared Cora, surprised at Hazel's alarm.
"What could happen to him? Why is a storm in the afternoon of such
consequence?"
"Oh, I don't know," sighed Hazel; "but having to manage a car, and be
personally responsible for the big mailbag - there is so much important
mail between Cartown and New City - I have been nervous about it
ever since Paul began carrying it."
"But it makes him all the more important to his firm," said Cora
convincingly, "and I am sure he will be all right."
"You read too many wild-west stories," commented Bess, who was still
alongside the Whirlwind with her Flyaway. "There are no stagecoach
hold-ups these days."
"I hope not," returned Hazel with a forced laugh.
Quickly the storm was gathering. With some apprehension Cora
directed the line of cars.
"You lead, Daisy," she said, "as your clothes are most perishable."
"Indeed," shouted Cecilia, "my `strained' nurse suit will have to go to

the laundry if it gets wet, and that adds to the price - reduces my
bargain."
"Well, hurry, at any rate," commanded Cora. "I know of a barn we may
be able to make."
"We ought to meet Paul at the bridge," remarked Hazel, evidently
unable to dismiss her concern for her brother.
"Now, Hazel," exclaimed Cora, her voice carrying something of
vexation, "one would think you suspected - "
"You don't really think those boys would play a trick on him?"
interrupted Hazel. "Somehow I didn't like the way they looked - as if
they were plotting