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Outdoor Girls on Pine Island

<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> <h3>THE JET NECKLACE REAPPEARS</h3> The girls and boys stared at each other, dismay written on their faces. The road closed and the rain pouring down in torrents—a nice predicament! It was Mrs. Irving's calm voice which first broke the silence. "There must be some way around," she said. "It will take us a little longer, that's all." "Oh, of course we shall be able to strike the main part of the road again if we go a couple of miles out of our way," Frank agreed, a worried frown on his forehead. "The only question is, how are we going to find our way? I didn't bring a chart with me—worse luck." "Perhaps Roy has one," Betty suggested. "He usually carries a lot of junk like that around with him." "Well, if he has this particular species of junk it will come in mighty handy just now," said Frank, hopefully. "I'll stick my head out and yell at him. Gee, it sure is raining some!" and[61] he craned his neck toward the other car, squinting his eyes to keep out the stinging drops. "Hey, Roy!" he shouted. "Do you happen to have anything like a map of the surrounding country in your inside vest pocket? If you have, throw it over. We are stuck good and plenty." "I don't get you, old man," Roy shouted back. "Say the first part of that speech over again, will you?" Frank drew in his head and mopped his face and hair with a huge silk handkerchief. "Two minutes before the next plunge," he announced to the amused occupants of his car. "Allen, if he doesn't get me this time you will have to change places with me. I'll be almost drowned," then he thrust his head out once more and shouted in the direction of Mollie's car. "I said, have you a map of this here countryside?" he repeated. "Betty says you usually carry such things with you." "Sorry I can't oblige," came his disappointing answer. "I left that home in my old coat this morning." "Of course, just when you knew we would probably need it!" Frank retorted scathingly. "Now we'll have to hike along and trust to luck. Nobody knows where we will end up." "Well, you needn't blame it on me," Roy[62] shouted wrathfully. "I couldn't be expected to see twenty miles down the road from Deepdale." "Nobody accused you of it," Frank answered, in the same belligerent voice. "But as long as you had the chart you might have thought far enough——" Grace seized Frank's arm and pulled him back into the machine. "For goodness' sake, what is the use of making such a fuss about that old map?" she said. "And in the rain, too!" "Yes, if that were you and I, Grace," said Betty, "the boys would say something about 'isn't that just like a woman,' or, 'aren't girls the limit—always arguing about nothing?'" "Votes for women!" Allen shouted. "Since when have you taken to stump oratory, Betty?" "Oh, she is just naturally eloquent," said Grace languidly and they all laughed, even Frank—although his brow clouded anxiously a minute later. "However, all this isn't getting us anywhere," he said. "We can't stay out here in the rain all night, you know." "I don't believe any of us expect to," said Allen, dryly. "What do you say we take that side road we passed a little way back, Frank? We can at least see where it leads and we can inquire our way as we go along."[63] "I don't know whom we shall find to inquire of," said Frank, who, contrary to his usual custom, persisted in looking at the gloomy side of everything. "We didn't pass a soul on the way down." "Please cheer up, Frank," laughed Betty. "You ask us to make a suggestion and then when we do you scout it. Suppose you tell us what you would like to do." "I know what I should like to do," he added, readily. "I should like to break down that board that is in our way and go ahead whether they like it or not. Nothing would give me greater pleasure." "However?" suggested Allen. "However, I know we'd get pinched—pardon, ladies—I mean, pulled in. That doesn't sound just right, either, does it?" and he regarded them with laughing eyes. "I imagine 'arrested' is the word you want," said Betty, demurely. "That's it, thank you," he said, all irritability gone as suddenly as it had come. "So, as long as that is understood, perhaps we might do worse than follow Allen's suggestion, after all." "Genius always triumphs in the end," said Allen, with a gravity that set them laughing. "Perhaps it would be better if we hurried a[64] little," Mrs. Irving suggested, when they had had their laugh out. "With no delay it would take us almost till sundown to reach The Shadows and I don't want to be too late." "All right, here goes to try to back the old bus out of this mud-hole and turn her around," Frank agreed. "I don't know how long it will take us, though." "You had better tell Roy what you are going to do," Grace suggested. "We don't want any collisions." Frank obediently thrust out his head, only to jerk it back quickly the next instant with a startled exclamation. "They are gone!" he said. "Gone!" the others cried together. "But they couldn't have gone far," Mrs. Irving added. "Probably they have motored back to the crossroads to wait for us," Allen suggested. "When they saw the blockade they knew there was just one thing to do and they did it." "Well, they might at least have told us where they were going," Frank grumbled. "They should have known Mrs. Irving would be worried." "They probably thought they'd decamp before the mud got so bad," said Betty. "Just the same, they should have told us."[65] "You are right," Mrs. Irving agreed. "However, the only thing to do now is to follow them as quickly as possible." For answer, Frank threw in the clutch, and the big machine very slowly and painfully plowed its way through the clinging mud of the road and turned its face toward the crossroads and, in all probability, Mollie's runaway car. "No wonder they want to repair the road," said Frank when they were well under way. "If the rest of it is any worse than this I should think they would need a new one." "There's Mollie's car, straight ahead," said Grace a moment later. "I wager they are just sitting there as large as life, laughing at us." "Let them laugh," said Frank savagely. "It's good to see somebody happy." "Well, if that's all you want," sang Betty, cheerily, "just look at Grace and Mrs. Irving and Allen and me. I, for my part, am having the time of my life. And look, everybody," she added, "it isn't raining nearly so hard as it was. We will be seeing the sun next!" "There is just one thing that is better to have along than the sun," said Allen, softly. Mrs. Irving, hearing, smiled knowingly to herself. When they overtook the car ahead, Roy explained that they had gotten out of the way to[66] make room for Frank's big car to turn around. "You surely gave us plenty of it," Frank remarked dryly, upon hearing the explanation. "But we will have to hurry now if we expect to get anywhere before dark." As they all heartily agreed to this, especially Mrs. Irving, there was no further discussion and the cars swung down the narrow side road at a very good pace—good, that is, considering the going. They had been riding for half an hour when suddenly Betty's prediction came true. The rain stopped entirely and the sun peeped out from behind the clouds, touching the leaden sky with gold. "I knew it, I knew it!" cried Betty in delight. "Now we can take down the top, can't we, Frank? Oh, let's do it!" "Mighty good suggestion, Betty," Frank agreed, bringing the car to a stop once more. "The good old sun sure does change everything, doesn't it?" Five minutes later the cars started on again, with the breeze fanning the faces of the occupants and the sun pouring down goldenly upon them. As Frank had said, "The world was a different place to live in." A moment later those in Frank's car were sur[67]prised to see Roy stop his automobile and signal them to draw up alongside. "Did you see that gypsy girl who just passed in front of us?" Mollie whispered when they had done as they were desired. Then, as the girls nodded assent, she continued excitedly: "Well, I am almost sure she had on that jet necklace that disappeared with mother's silver! Oh, if we could only follow the girl we might find that too! Oh, can't we—can't we?" she added, fairly dancing with excitement. "Sure, come ahead, fellows!" cried Allen, who was always ready for adventure. "Did you see which way she went, Roy?" "Over this way, I think," Roy answered. "We may be able to trace her to the gypsy camp. There must be one near here, and it is probably the same." "We'll be back in a minute," called Will, and then the boys disappeared in the underbrush. "Oh, I'm afraid to have them go," whispered Betty fearfully. "Suppose one of those murderous-looking gypsies should stab them in the back!" "One gypsy couldn't do it all," said Grace with a little nervous laugh. "I guess they can take care of themselves, Betty. We needn't worry." "What do you think, Mrs. Irving?" Amy[68] asked quietly. "The boys went off in such a hurry they didn't give you a chance to say anything if you had wanted to." "I imagine talking wouldn't have done much good anyway," answered Mrs. Irving with a smile. "Besides, there should not be any danger if they only keep their wits about them." "Oh, mother will be the happiest woman in the world if they can only find her silver for her." Mollie was so agitated she was actually trembling. "Girls, do you think they will?" "There, there, don't get so excited about it, Mollie, dear," cautioned the Little Captain. "You may be sure the boys will do the very best they can." At the end of the hardest hour they had ever spent, for inaction was not easy for Outdoor Girls, they heard the welcome sound of masculine voices and the regular tramp-tramp of the boys' feet. "Oh, oh," they cried together in whole-souled relief, while Mollie added eagerly: "Did you get it—did you?" Allen, who was in the lead, shook his head regretfully. "We couldn't find a sign of anything," he said. "Not even the camp." "But if you didn't find anything, what ever in the world kept you so long?" Betty demanded.[69] "We imagined all sorts of horrible things happening to you." "Oh, you couldn't get rid of us," said Will, cheerily. "We hated to come back empty handed—that's all." "Well, we are mighty glad to get you back," said Mollie, who, after the first disappointment, had become resigned to the inevitable. "That's the way to make them appreciate us; eh, fellows?" said Frank, as he flung himself into the car. "They don't realize how good we really are till they think we are gone." "Right you are, Frank," said Roy. "What do you say to full speed ahead?" "Full speed ahead it is," Frank agreed, and they were off like a shot down the road.[70] <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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