The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car | Page 3

Mollie, perhaps
with a desire to change the subject. "I'm going to take you for a nice
long spin."

"Aren't you nervous--to think of being at the wheel without some one
beside to help you in case of emergency?" asked Betty.
"Were you, in the Gem?" retorted Mollie.
"A little, but then, you know, a motor boat doesn't go as fast as a
car--somehow you seem to have a better chance in case of collisions, or
accidents."
"There aren't going to be any collisions or accidents," declared Mollie,
with conviction. "I'm going to be careful until I get a little more
accustomed to it, and then----"
"You'll scorch, like all the others, I suppose," put in Amy.
"Never! Now who's going to ride with me on the front seat?"
For a moment no one answered--Betty, Grace and Amy looked at one
another, and then they burst into laughter.
"Well, do you want to draw lots for it?" inquired Mollie, with a trace of
sarcasm. "I thought you'd feel honored."
"I will!" exclaimed Betty. "But you will be careful; won't you, Mollie
dear?"
"Of course. I'm no more anxious to get into trouble than you are. Oh,
what did I do with my handkerchief?"
"It's up your sleeve," said Grace, indicating a bulge in Mollie's sweater.
"Well, come on!" exclaimed the owner of the new car.
"She says it as though she were--going to--jail!" laughed Grace.
The demonstrator had alighted from the car, and was looking it over,
testing the tires with his hand.
"Is it all right, Mr. Ransom?" asked Mollie, a bit anxiously. "Is

anything the matter?"
"Not a thing, Miss Billette," he replied. "It is in perfect order. And I'm
sure you can run it alone very easily. You have had a number of lessons,
and you learned very quickly."
"If only I remember to let out my clutch before I change gears," Mollie
murmured.
"Oh, you'll remember that," returned the chauffeur, to give her the
confidence he saw she needed.
"I'll remind you of it," volunteered Betty.
The girls got into the car, and the man, impressing a few important
facts on the pretty girl driver, lifted his cap as Mollie pressed the button
of the self-starter.
"Here we go!" cried Grace, as the motor throbbed and hummed.
Carefully Mollie threw out the clutch, and slipped in first speed. Then
releasing the clutch pedal gradually she felt the car move slowly
forward. A flush of pleasure came to her face; for, though she had
several times performed this feat of late, the demonstrator had always
sat beside her. Now she was doing it alone.
"Fine!" cried Betty, as the car gathered speed.
"You're all right!" Mr. Ransom called after the girls.
From first to second gear, and then in another moment to high, was
performed by Mollie without a hitch. Then she advanced the spark and
gas levers.
"Well, so far--so good!" spoke Amy, with a sigh of relief.
"I knew Mollie could do it," declared Betty. "Look out for that wagon,
my dear," she cried, a second later.

"I see it," and Mollie gave it such a wide berth that she sent her car
needlessly to the grassy part of the country highway that led out of
Deepdale.
"I don't want more than my half of the road," good-naturedly called the
farmer who was driving the horse-drawn vehicle. "If all motorists were
as generous as you there'd be no complaints," and he smiled and lifted
his cap.
"It's better to be sure than sorry," said Mollie. "Well, girls, how do you
like it?" and she ventured to turn around for an instant to speak to
Grace and Amy in the tonneau.
"It's scrumptious!" declared Grace, between bites at a chocolate.
"Lovely," chimed in Amy.
"However did you prevail on your mother to get you the car?" asked
Belly.
"Well, you see, when poor papa died," explained Mollie, as she put on
a little more speed, "he provided in his will that on my seventeenth
birthday I should have a certain sum of money to use just as I
pleased--within reason, of course.
"He didn't say what it was for, but he had suggested that I take a trip to
Europe. But I want to do that later, when I can better appreciate what I
see, so I asked mamma if I couldn't use the money for a car, and she
allowed me to. The result--you now behold," and she patted the
steering wheel.
"We do more than merely behold it," said Grace. "It was sweet of you
to ask us for a spin."
"Why wouldn't I, when Betty has been having us off on a cruise in her
motor boat?" replied Mollie. Then she cried: "Oh, dear! There's a dog!"
for one was in the road ahead.

"He can't bite