The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car | Page 7

picked her up and carried her toward the stalled automobile.
CHAPTER III
STRANGELY MISSING
"Wait a minute," directed Betty, as she and her chums advanced,
carrying the unconscious girl. "We'll have to put her down here, where
the grass is soft."
"Why?" asked Amy, "she isn't heavy."

"No, but it will be better to get the auto out of the bushes, and into the
road before we put her in it. Something might go wrong, and jolt her."
"That's so," agreed Mollie. "I think I can do it. Oh, but I'm nervous!"
"Shame on you!" cried Betty. "Be an outdoor girl--be your own brave
self, Mollie!"
"I will!" and there was determination in her voice. "I'm sure I can get
the car out all right!"
Mollie took her place at the wheel, pressed the starting button, and then,
with a glance backward to see which way to steer, she slipped in the
reverse gear, and let the clutch come into place. Slowly, amid a tearing
away of vines and bushes, the car regained the highway.
"Good!" cried Grace. "Now, how shall we put her in, Betty?" for the
"Little Captain," as she was often called (as Mollie was called "Billy")
was generally looked to for advice in emergencies like these.
"You and Amy must hold her between you on the rear seat," Betty
directed. "Support her all you can. Mollie will drive slowly."
"But perhaps we ought to get her to a doctor right away," spoke the
owner of the car.
"Getting her to a doctor would not make up for any injury caused by a
jolt," said practical Betty. "Besides, I do not think she can be seriously
hurt. Her hair is so very thick that she could stand a very hard blow on
the head. There are no other signs of injuries; but of course there may
be internal hurts. She did not fall far, those branches were very close to
the ground."
"What she can have been doing up the tree is a mystery," remarked
Grace.
"Like the time when we found that five hundred dollar bill," added
Mollie.

"And the 'ghost' of Elm Island, and the missing papers in the saddle
bags," remarked Amy to Grace.
Mollie had brought her car to a stop, and alighted to help lift in the
unconscious girl. Between them Amy and Grace held her in the
tonneau, her head resting on Amy's shoulder, a damp handkerchief
covering the cut to keep any dirt from getting in it. Mollie again took
her place at the steering wheel, and when Betty had gotten in the girls
started off with their strange passenger.
"I couldn't imagine what it was, when I saw something white falling out
of the tree," spoke Mollie, driving along on high gear, but with the
motor well throttled down.
"Nor could I," added Betty. "And when you steered out so suddenly, I
thought surely we would crash into the stone fence, just beyond the
bushes."
"So did I, but I knew there was only one thing to do, and that was to put
on the brakes as hard as I could."
"And you did," said Grace. "I didn't know you could move so quickly,
Mollie."
"You can do many things when the emergency comes," replied Mollie,
as she turned out to avoid a rut in the road.
"This is better than a dozen lessons in the art of managing an auto,"
commented Betty. "Practical problems are what count--not theoretical
ones. Does she seem all right, Grace?" and she looked around at the
unconscious girl.
"Yes, and her breathing is better. I think she will soon come to."
"That's good. See, there's a house. We can take her in, and ask where
the nearest doctor is," and Betty pointed ahead.
Presently the auto stopped before it, and to a motherly-looking woman

who came out, Betty and the girls quickly explained what had
happened.
"Of course! Bring the poor dear in!" the woman directed. "The men
folks are over in the far meadow salting the cows, or I'd send one of
them for Dr. Brown. He's most likely to be home too, now. He lives
down the road a piece--about a mile."
"I can go for him in the car, and bring him back," said Mollie.
"That's good. Bring the poor dear in the bedroom, and we'll look after
her until the doctor comes. I'll get the camphor bottle. That's good for a
faint."
The girl seemed to have again sunk into a stupor, as they carried her in,
and placed her on a comfortable lounge. Then the woman of the house
brought out a bottle of camphor, of generous size, and it was held to the
nostrils of the unconscious one.
The sufferer turned her head away from the pungent odor, and seemed