The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI
A TOUR PROPOSED
Betty was the first to rush from the house. She was closely followed by Grace, who seemed to rise to the emergency in a manner not usual.
"Can we stop him? Can we stop him?" cried Mollie, over and over again, as she clung to Amy and hurried on after Betty and Grace. "Oh, if mother were to see him now!"
"Perhaps we can reach him in time," suggested Amy, consolingly. "Don't worry, Mollie."
"Oh, whatever possessed him to do a thing like that? I have told him time and again never to get into the car alone."
The four girls ran swiftly across the lawn—yes, swiftly, for no such creations as "hobble skirts" hindered them. Fortunately Mrs. Billette, whose French nature was easily excited had not seen the happening. Dodo was out with the maid.
"Paul! Paul!" cried Mollie. "Put on the brake! Stop the car!"
"It doesn't seem to be going very fast," panted Betty, as she kept on beside Grace.
"He hasn't thrown in the gear—that's one good thing," exclaimed Grace. "He doesn't know how"
She paused, for from the car came a laugh of childish delight, and a change in the sound of the motor told that something new had occurred.
"He has the gear in now!" cried Betty.
She was running diagonally across the lawn, trying to intercept the car. In her mind it was plain what had happened.
Paul had, with the impishness of childhood, climbed up in the auto. It was a simple matter to even blunder on pushing the button that would set the self-starter in operation. The car had been left standing on a level bit of road, but, just ahead of it, was a rather steep slope. Mollie had neglected to leave the emergency brake set, and when the motor started there was vibration enough to send the car over the little space that separated it from the slope. Then it simply rolled down. That was what had happened first.
But now had entered a new complication.
It seemed that Paul had a tricycle, worked by foot pedals and hand levers, and he was quite expert in its use. He had now put into practice what had been told him about his toy, and had added his observations of Mollie's operation of her car.
After starting the motor Paul had somehow managed to slip in the low gear, and the marvel of it was that he knew enough to disengage the clutch while he did this. Afterward he told how he had heard the demonstrator impress many times on Mollie the need of doing so.
"Oh, we'll never get him now!" cried Mollie, as she realized that the auto was moving under power now, and not merely by momentum. "Oh, Paul!"
The child was actually steering—the girls could see that, for the auto swerved in and out, narrowly missing the curbstone, as he turned and twisted the wheel too much.
"Paul! Paul!" cried his sister. "Stop it! Stop it!"
But Paul only laughed. He was having too much fun to want to stop.
It was hopeless for the girls to try to catch the auto now. They were far behind it, but still Betty ran on. Several narrow escapes had Paul on that perilous journey, and then in the nick of time he was saved from what might have been a serious accident.
WILL KICKED HIS WHEEL FROM UNDER HIM AND WAS AT PAUL'S SIDE.
Up the road was coming a racing car, going at high speed. The man, crouched almost under the steering wheel, if he saw Mollie's car at all, probably imagined that a motorist of experience was guiding it. But Paul was on the wrong side of the road, and there was no telling at what moment he might shift the course.
Then, riding like the wind, out from behind the racing car shot a bicyclist. At the sight of him Mollie screamed:
"Will—Will Ford! Save Paul! He's in my car—there ahead of you!"
Will Ford was riding directly toward Paul. In an instant Grace's brother had sensed the situation. Skillfully going around the racing car, which had fortunately slackened speed as the driver evidently realized that something was wrong, Will guided his wheel toward Mottle's auto.
Then he turned, so as to ride in the direction in which it was advancing, with ever-increasing speed. Will gauged his progress to that of the car, rode up alongside the run-board, and, in another instant, kicked his wheel from under him and was at Paul's side. In another second he had snapped off the power and applied the brakes.
"What for oo 'top me widing?" demanded Paul, rather indignantly.
Will's heart was beating fast, and he panted for breath, but he managed to answer:
"Too bad, Paulie, but you haven't any license to drive a car, you know, and a policeman might take you."
"Yes?"
"Sure. You mustn't do it again," and Will's voice was sufficiently stern.
"All wight—I won't. But I tan wun a tar, all'e same; tan't I?"
Paul was evidently proud of what he had done.
"Yes, you can, but you mustn't—you mustn't! Do you understand?"
"Yes. Dot any tandy?"
Will laughed.
"No," he said, "but maybe the girls have. Here they come."
Half hysterical, Mollie and her chums came running up. They were all rather "limp," as they confessed later.
"Oh, Paul, you naughty boy!" cried his sister. "Mamma will punish you for this."
His hig eyes opened wide.
"I ikes to run tar," he said, and his lip quivered.
"Don't be too harsh with him," murmured Grace.
"I can't help it—he must know how dangerous it is," insisted Mollie. "You won't ever do it again; will you, Paul?"
"Nope. Dot any tandy?"
Their laughter relieved their strained feelings.
"Oh, Will, I can't thank you enough!" declared Mollie. "I thought I would die when I saw that racing car coming toward him."
"I just saw him in time," exclaimed Will. "I had to act quickly, for there was no telling when he'd try to cross the street."
Paul was contentedly chewing a candy Grace had produced and the little crowd that had gathered, on seeing Will's act, began to disperse, understanding what had happened. Then Mollie, assuming the wheel, directed the car back to her house, taking the girls and Paul in it. Will went back to get his bicycle and the excitement was over. But it took some time for the girls to quiet down.
To impress on him the danger of what he had done, Mrs. Billette sent Paul to bed. He cried and protested, but it was necessary, for he was too daring a little chap.
Three days passed. The girls were at Mollie's house, having assembled in answer to her telephone message.
"Well, it's all settled!" she exclaimed, as the trio came in together.
"What?" asked Betty.
"Our auto tour. That's what I've been working on. I wanted to plan a nice route—one that would take in a good stretch of country, enable us to see new places, and be comfortable. Now I have it all mapped out. You'll come; won't you—all of you?" and she looked appealingly at her chums.
"But what's it all about?" asked Grace, wonderingly.
"Why, since I have a car, we must get the best use out of it we can. So why can't we four—and a chaperone, if we think we need one—go for a tour, the same as when we walked—only this time we'll ride? We can make five hundred, or a thousand, miles, if we choose, stopping over night in different places. Won't it be fun?"
"Jolly!" cried Amy.
"Scrumptious!" was Betty's contribution.
"Mollie, you're a dear!" declared Grace, with a hug. "When can we go?"
"Soon now. I think" A maid knocked at the door.
"Yes; what is it?" asked Mollie.
"If you please, Miss Billette, there's a gentleman to see you."
"A gentleman?"
"Yes, rather elderly, and he keeps making up verses, Miss. I'm not sure about him. Will you see him?'
"Verses? Oh, it must be that dear old Mr. Lagg the storekeeper!" exclaimed Mollie. "Of course I'll see him. But, girls, what do you imagine he wants?"