The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car | Page 5

my head hit the robe-rail I guess," said Amy. "But that isn't
anything. Oh, let's hurry to that poor girl."
Leaving the auto where it was, half-way through a patch of briars and
brambles, the four girls approached the quiet figure lying under the tree.
They looked up and down the road in case help would be needed, but
not a person or vehicle was in sight.

"Oh--oh! I'm--I'm afraid to--look," spoke Mollie, shrinking back, as
Betty bent over the figure of the strange girl. The latter's eyes were
closed, and her loosened hair was in a mass about her head--even
tossed as it was the girls could see there was a wonderful wealth of it.
Betty gently pushed aside the locks from the forehead, and, as she did
so she started back. Then bravely repressing her feelings she said:
"It's a cut, but it doesn't seem to be very deep."
"Oh, the blood--the blood!" murmured Mollie, putting her hands before
her eyes. "And--I--I did it!"
"Nonsense! Stop it!" cried Betty. "Perhaps you did not do it at all--it
may have happened in the fall."
"She is unconscious," said Grace.
"Yes, and we must get her to a doctor, or bring a doctor here as soon as
possible," spoke Betty. "I think we can get her to a doctor more quickly.
Will your machine run, Mollie? Can you operate it?"
"Oh, it will run all right. Nothing is broken, I'm sure of that. But I----"
"You've just got to run it," declared Betty, firmly, "even if it only
crawls. Now if we can find some water to bathe her head we can tell
how badly she is hurt. Girls, look for a spring. One of you bring me a
lap robe."
Thus Betty issued her orders, and while the girls are preparing to lend
aid to the injured stranger I will take a moment of your time--my new
readers--to explain briefly some facts about the characters of this story.
In the first book, entitled, "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale; Or,
Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health," I told how Mollie, Betty,
Amy and Grace, four girls of Deepdale, a town in the heart of New
York State, organized a little club for camping and tramping. They
went on a tour of about two hundred miles, stopping at night with
friends or relatives, and on that tramp they solved a queer mystery

having to do with a five hundred dollar bill--solved it very much to the
satisfaction of a certain young man.
In the second volume, called "The Outdoor Girls at Rainbow Lake; Or,
the Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat Gem," I related what good times
the girls had when Betty's uncle gave her a fine gasoline craft. Stirring
times the girls had, too, when there was danger from a burning hay
barge; and jolly times when they took part in races and went to dances.
That Mollie's little sister Dodo was in distress because of a peculiar
accident, which involved Grace, and caused the loss of valuable papers,
detracted somewhat from the happiness of the girls for a time.
But in the end a "ghost" led to the finding of the missing documents,
and Dodo was cured, so that all came out right. Then had followed
more delightful times cruising and camping, and now, with the advent
of fall, and Mollie's touring car, more glorious times were in prospect.
The girls had not been long back from Rainbow Lake when Mollie
received her auto.
I might mention that Betty Nelson was the daughter of a wealthy carpet
manufacturer, with a large plant near Deepdale, while Mollie Billette
was one of three children, her mother being a widow. Little Paul and
Dodo I have already mentioned. Grace--the "Gibson girl," as she was
often called, had a peculiar longing for sweets, and not being stinted as
to pocket money--her father being a wealthy lawyer--she indulged her
taste rather too much, so some of her friends thought.
There was a mystery about poor Amy Stonington, for the details of
which I must refer my readers to the first book. Sufficient to say that
since a baby she had been cared for by her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs.
John Stonington. Amy had lived in the West, and had been rescued
from a great flood when an infant. What became of her parents, or her
brothers or sisters--if she had any--no one seemed able to say. In a way
this mystery embittered Amy's life, but she was of too sweet and good a
disposition to allow it to make a difference with her friends.
The four girls had been chums since grammar school days, being now
High School students. In addition to the "inseparables," as they were

often called, my former readers will recall