The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake | Page 8

Grace laughed.
She found that she really would have to race when, a little later, out on
the main road, the distant rumble of thunder was heard.
"Come, Prince!" she called. "We must see what we can do. Your best
foot foremost, old fellow!" The horse whinnied in answer, and swung
into an easy gallop that covered the ground well.
The clouds gathered thicker and faster. Now and then their black
masses would be split by jagged flashes of lightning, that presaged the
rumbling report of heaven's artillery which seemed drawing nearer to
engage in the battle of the sky.
"Prince, we are going to get wet, I'm very much afraid," Grace
exclaimed. "And yet-- well, we'll try a little faster pace!"
She touched the animal lightly with the crop, and he fairly leaped into

greater speed. But it was only too evident that they could not escape the
storm. The clouds were more lowering now, and the bursts of thunder
followed more quickly on the heels of the lightning flashes. Then came
a few angry dashes of rain, as though to give sample of what was to
follow.
"Come, Prince!" cried Grace.
Suddenly from behind there came another sound. It was the deep
staccato of the exhaust of an automobile, with opened muffler. It was
tearing along the road.
Grace glanced back and saw a low, dust-covered racing car, rakish and
low-hung, swinging along. It was evident that the occupants-- two
young men-- were putting on speed to get to some shelter before the
storm broke in all its fury.
Prince jumped nervously and shied to one side at the sound of the
on-coming car.
"Quiet, old fellow," said Grace, soothingly.
The car shot past her, and at the same moment Prince waltzed to one
side, or else the car swerved, so that only by the narrowest margin was
a terrible accident averted. Grace heard the men shout, and there was a
wilder burst of the opened muffler. Then she felt a shock, and she knew
that the machine had struck and grazed Prince.
She glanced down and saw a red streak on his off fore shoulder. He had
been cut by some part of the car.
The next moment, as the racing auto swung out of sight around a bend
in the road, Prince took the bit in his teeth and bolted. With all her
strength Grace reined him in, but he was wildly frightened. She felt
herself slipping from the saddle.
"Prince! Prince!" she cried, bracing herself in the stirrups, and gripping
the reins with all her might. "Prince! Quiet, old fellow!"

But Prince was now beyond the reasoning power of any human voice.
The thunder rumbled and crashed overhead. Grace, above it, could hear
the whining decrease of the exhaust of the big car that had caused her
steed to run away.
"Prince! Prince!" she pleaded.
He did not heed. Farther and farther she slipped from the saddle as his
wild plunges threw her out of it. Then there came a crash that seemed
to mark the height of the storm. A great light shone in front of Grace.
Myriads of stars danced before her eyes.
She flashed towards a house. From it ran two little tots, and, even in
that terror she recognized them as Dodo and Paul, the two Billette
twins. They were visiting a relative who lived on this road, she dimly
recalled hearing Mollie say. Evidently the children had run out in the
storm. A nursemaid caught Paul, but Dodo eluded the girl, and ran
straight for the road along which Grace was plunging.
"Go back! Go back!" screamed Grace. "Go back, Dodo!"
But Dodo came on. The next moment the child seemed to be beneath
the feet of the maddened horse, which, a second later, slipped and fell,
throwing Grace heavily. Her senses left her. All was black, and the rain
pelted down while the lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled and
roared.
CHAPTER IV
THE MISSING DOCUMENTS
"How do you feel now? Do you think you can drink a little of this?"
Faintly Grace heard these words, as though some one, miles away, was
repeating them through a heavy fog. Myriads of bells seemed ringing in
her ears, and her whole body felt as though made of lead. Then she
became conscious of shooting pains. Her head ached, there was a
roaring in it. This was followed by a delicious drowsiness.

"Try and take a little of this. The doctor does not think you are badly
hurt. Fortunately the horse did not fall on you."
Again it seemed as though the voice came from the distant clouds.
Grace tried to think-- to reason out where she was, and discover what
had happened; but when she did, that same ringing of bells sounded in