The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake | Page 4

get
the papers as well as I can. Grandmother expects one of the family over
after them to-day, and she has them all ready.
"You can go just as well as I can-- better, in fact, and dad won't care as
long as he gets the papers. You're to take them to his office. Will you
do it for me, Sis? Come on, now, be a sport, and say yes."
"But it's so hot, and Betty, Amy, and Mollie are here with me. I don't
want to go all the way over to grandmother's after some tiresome old
papers. Besides, it was your errand, anyhow."
"I know it, Sis, but I don't want to miss that game. It's going to be a
dandy! Come on, go for me, that's a good fellow. I'll make it three
pounds."
"No, I'm not going. Besides, it looks like a thunder storm."
"Say, Sis, will you go if I let you ride Prince?"
"Your new horse?" asked Grace, eagerly.
"Yes, you may ride Prince," came over the wire. Will was a good
horseman, but for some time had to be content with rather an ordinary
steed. Lately he had prevailed on his father to get him a new one, and
Prince, a pure white animal, of great beauty, had been secured. It was
gentle, but spirited, and had great speed. Grace rode well, but her
mount did not suit her, and Mr. Ford did not want to get another just
then. Will never allowed his sister to more than try Prince around the
yard, but she was eager to go for a long canter with the noble animal.

Now was the chance she had waited for so long.
"You must want to see that ball game awfully bad, to lend me Prince,"
said Grace.
"I do," answered Will. "But be careful of him. Don't let him have his
head too much or he'll bolt. But there's not a mean streak in him."
"Oh, I know that-- I can manage."
"Then you'll get those papers from grandmother for me, and take them
to dad?"
"Yes, I guess so, though I don't like leaving the girls."
"Oh, you can explain it to them. And you can 'phone down for the
chocolates and have them sent up. Charge them to me. The girls can
chew on them until you come back. It won't take you long on Prince.
And say, listen, Sis!"
"Yes, go on."
"Those papers are pretty valuable, dad said. There are other parties
interested in this deal, and if they got hold of the documents it might
make a lot of trouble."
"Trouble?"
"Yes. But there's not much chance of that. They don't even know where
the papers are."
"All right, I'll get them. Have a good time at the game, Billy boy."
"I will, and look out for Prince. So long!" and Will hung up the receiver,
while Grace over the private wire, telephoned to the groom to saddle
Prince. Then she went out to tell her friends of her little trip.
And while she is doing this, I will interject a few words of explanation
so that those who did not read the first volume of this series may have a

better understanding of the characters and location of this story.
The first book was called "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale; Or,
Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health." In that is given an
account of how the four chums set off to walk about two hundred miles
in two weeks, stopping nights at the homes of various friends and
relatives on the route. At the very outset they stumbled on the mystery
of a five hundred dollar bill, and it was not until the end that the strange
affair was cleared up most unexpectedly.
The four girls were Betty Nelson, a born leader, bright, vigorous and
with more than her share of common sense. She was the daughter of
Charles Nelson, a wealthy carpet manufacturer. Grace Ford, tall,
willowly, and exceedingly pretty, was blessed with well-to-do parents.
Mr. Ford being a lawyer of note, who handled many big cases. Mollie
Billette, was just the opposite type from Grace. Mollie was almost
always in action, Grace in repose. Mollie was dark, Grace fair. Mollie
was quick-tempered-- Grace very slow to arouse. Perhaps it was the
French blood in Mollie-- blood that showed even more plainly in her
mother, a wealthy widow-- that accounted for this. Or perhaps it was
the mischievous twins-- Dodo and Paul-- whose antics so often
annoyed their older sister, that caused Mollie to "flare up" at times.
Amy Stonington was concerned in a mystery that she hoped would
some day be unraveled. For years she had believed that John and Sarah
Stonington were her father and mother, but in the