CHAPTER VII--SHOWING THEIR METTLE
"Girls!" Aunt Sallie said solemnly next morning, as Mr. Cartwright andtwo footmen helped her into the motor car, while Barbara, Grace andMollie stood around holding her extra veils, her magazines andpocketbook. "I feel, in my bones, that it is going to rain to-day. Ithink we had better stay in town."
"Oh, Aunt Sallie!" Ruth's hand was already on the spark of her steeringwheel, and she was bouncing up and down on her seat in her impatience tobe off. "It's simply a splendid day! Look at the sun!" She leaned overto Mr. Cartwright. "Do say something to cheer Aunt Sallie up. If sheloses her nerve now, we'll never have our trip."
Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright both reassured her. "The paper says clearweather and light winds, Miss Stuart. You'll have a beautiful day of it.Remember we shall meet you in New Haven to-morrow, and you have promisedto wait for us."
Aunt Sallie settled herself resignedly into her violet cushions, holdingher smelling bottle to her nose. "Very well, young people, have it yourown way," she relented. "But, mark my words, it will rain before night.I have a shoulderblade that is a better weather prophet than all yourbureaus."
"You're much too handsome a woman," laughed Ruth, the other girlsjoining her, "to talk like Katisha, in the 'Mikado,' who had the famousshoulderblade that people came miles to see."
Ruth was steering her car through Fifth Avenue, so Aunt Sallie merelysmiled at her own expense, adding: "You're a very disrespectful niece,Ruth."
"I'd get on my knees to apologize, Auntie," declared Ruth, "only thereisn't room, and we'd certainly be run into, if I did."
Barbara was poring over the route book. Her duty as guide to theautomobile party really began to-day, and she was studying every inch ofthe road map. What would she do if they were lost?
"You may look up from that book just once in every fifteen minutes,Guide Thurston," Ruth said, pretending to be serious over Barbara'sworried look. "We promise not to eat you if you do get us a little outof our way. The roads are well posted. What shall we do if we meet somebandits?"
"Leave them to me," boasted Barbara. "I suppose it's my fate to play manof the party."
"And what of the chauffeur?" Ruth protested. "I wonder what any of uscould do if we got into danger."
The day was apparently lovely. The girls were in the wildest spirits.
"I never believed until this minute," announced Mollie, "that we wereactually going on the trip to Newport. I felt every moment somethingwould happen to stop us. I even dreamed, last night, that we met a greatgiant in the road, and he roared at us, 'I never allow red motor carswith brass trimmings to pass along this road!' Ruth wouldn't pay theleast attention to him, but kept straight ahead, until he picked up thecar and started to pitch us over in a ditch. Then Ruth cried: 'Hold onthere! If you won't let a red car pass, I'll go back to town and havemine painted green. I must have my trip.' Just as she turned around andstarted back, I woke up. Wasn't it awful?"
"You are a goose," said Grace, rather nervously. "It isn't a sign ofanything, is it? You ought not to tell your dreams after breakfast. Youmay make them come true."
Barbara and Ruth both shouted with laughter, for Mollie answered just asseriously: "You're wrong, Grace; it's telling dreams before breakfastthat makes them come true. I was particularly careful to wait."
The car passed swiftly through the town in the early morning. Soon thespires and towers of the city were no longer visible.
"Hurrah for the Boston Post Road!" sang Barbara, as the car swung intothe famous old highway.
"And hurrah for Barbara for discovering it!" teased Ruth. "Now, clearthe track, fellow autoists and slow coach drivers! We know where we'regoing, and we're on the way!"
It had been decided to make a straight trip through to New Haven, and towait there for Mrs. Cartwright. Miss Sallie had insisted on some rest,and the girls were wild to see the college--and the college men.
"It will be sure enough sport," Ruth confided, "to have one dance withall the partners needed to go round." Men were as scarce at theKingsbridge Hotel as they were in other summer resorts, and Ruth wastired of Harry Townsend and his kind, who liked to stay around thehotel, making eyes at all the girls they saw.
"Yes," said Barbara thoughtfully, "it will be fun. Yet, Ruth, suppose weare sticks and no one dances with us?" Barbara didn't like the thoughtof being a wall-flower. Ruth laughed and quickly replied, "Oh, Mrs.Cartwright is awfully jolly and popular, so we will have plenty ofinvitations to dance."
"Ruth," said Miss Sallie, a little after noon, when they had passed,without a hitch, through a number of beautiful Connecticut towns, andwere speeding along an open road, with a view of the waters of LongIsland Sound to the right of them, "I have not looked at my watchlately, but I've an impression I am hungry. As long as we have made upour minds to eat the luncheon the hotel has put up for us, why not stopalong the road here, and have a picnic?"
"Good for you, Aunt Sallie!" said Grace, emphatically. "This is a beautyplace. Ruth can leave the car right here, and we can go up under thatelm and make tea. What larks!"
The girls all piled out, carrying the big lunch hamper between them. Onthe stump of an old tree the alcohol lamp was set up and tea was quicklybrewed. Then the girls formed a circle on the ground, while Miss Sallie,from her throne of violet silk pillows, gave directions about settingthe lunch table.
No one noticed how the time passed. No one could notice, all were havingsuch a jolly time; even Miss Sallie was now in excellent spirits. Shehad been in Newport several times before, and the girls were full ofquestions.
Mollie leaned her head against Miss Sallie's knee, so intimate had shegrown in a day and a half with that awe-inspiring person. "Is it true,"she inquired in a voice of reverence, "that every person who lives inNewport is a millionaire?"
"And are the streets paved with gold, Miss Sallie?" queried Grace. Shewas Mollie's special friend, and fond of teasing her. "I read that thewater at Bailey's Beach is perfumed every morning before the ladies goin bathing, and that all the fish that come from near there taste likecologne."
Miss Sallie laughed. "There are some people at Newport who are notsummer people," she explained. "You must remember that it is an old NewEngland town, and there are thousands of people who live there the yeararound. My brother has persuaded some old friends of ours, who used tobe very wealthy when I was a girl, to take us to board with them. Thereare very few hotels."
Several times during their talk Ruth's eyes had wandered a littleanxiously to the sky above them. Every now and then the shadows darkenedunder the old elm where they were eating their luncheon, bringing asudden coolness to the summer atmosphere.
"Aunt Sallie made me nervous about the weather with that story of hershoulderblade," Ruth argued with herself. So she was the first to say:"Come, we had better be off. What a lot of time we've wasted!"
"No hurry, Ruth," Aunt Sallie answered, placidly. "New Haven is no greatdistance. We shall be there before dark."
It was fully half after two before the automobile girls had gathered uptheir belongings and were again comfortably disposed in the car.
"It certainly is great, Ruth, the way you crank up your own car," Gracedeclared. "It must take an awful lot of strength, doesn't it?"
"Yes," admitted Ruth, as she jumped back into her automobile and the carplunged on ahead. "But I've a strong right arm. I don't row and playtennis for nothing. Father says it takes skill and courage, as well asstrength, to drive a car. I hope I'm not boasting; it's only that fatherbelieves girls should attempt to do things as well as boys. Girls coulddo a lot more if they tried harder. 'Sometimes,' Dad says, 'gumptioncounts for more than brute force.'"
"Whew, Ruth! You talk like a suffragette," objected Grace.
"Well, maybe I am one," said Ruth. "I'm from the West, where they raisestrong-minded women. What do you say, Barbara?"
"I don't know," replied Barbara. "I would not like to go to war, and I'mawfully afraid I'd run from a burglar in the dark."
"Who'd have
thought Barbara would confess to being a coward?" Gracebroke in, just to see what Bab would say. But Bab wouldn't answer. "Idon't know what I would do," she ended.
"Anyhow," said Miss Ruth, from her position of dignity on thechauffeur's seat, "I should be allowed to vote on laws for motor cars,as long as I can run a machine without a man."
"My dear Ruth," interposed Miss Sallie at last, "I beg of you, don'tvote in my lifetime. Girls, in my day, would never have dreamed of sucha thing."
"Oh, well, Auntie," answered Ruth, "I wouldn't worry about it now. Whoknows when I may have a chance to vote?"
Ruth was worried by the clouds overhead, so she ran her machine at fullspeed. It took some time and ingenuity to make their way throughBridgeport, a big, bustling town with crowded streets. By this time theclouds had lifted, and, for the next hour, Ruth forgot the rain. She andBarbara were having a serious talk on the front seat. Mollie and Grace,with their arms around each other, were almost as quiet as Aunt Sallie;indeed, they were more so, for that good soul was gently snoring.
"If we should have any adventures, Bab," said Ruth, "I wonder if we'd beequal to them? I'll wager you would be. Father says that when people arenot too sure of themselves before a thing happens, they are likely to bebrave at the critical minute."
The car was going down a hill with a steep incline. Ruth's hand was onthe brake. Biff! Biff! Bang! Bang! A cannon ball seemed to have explodedunder them. Miss Sallie sat up very straight, with an expression ofgreat dignity; Grace and Mollie gave little screams, and Barbara lookedas though she were willing to be defended if anything very dreadful hadhappened.
Only Ruth dared laugh. "You're not killed, girls," she said. "You mightas well get used to that racket; it happens to the best regulated motorcars. It is only a bursted tire; but it might have been kind enough tohave happened in town, instead of on this deserted country road. Oh,dear me!" she next ejaculated, for, before she could stop her car, ithad skidded, and the front wheel was imbedded in a deep hole in theroad.
"Get out, please," Ruth ordered. "Grace, will you find a stone for me? Imust try to brace this wheel. Did I say something about skill, insteadof strength, and not needing a man?" Ruth had taken off her coat androlled up her sleeves in a business-like fashion.
"I have helped father with a punctured tire before." She tugged at theold tire, which hung limp and useless by this time. She was talking verycheerfully, though Aunt Sallie's woeful expression would have made anygirl nervous. At the same time dark clouds had begun to appear overhead.
"You'd better get out the rain things," Ruth conceded. "I can't get thisfixed very soon. Queer no one passes along this way. It's a lonesomekind of road. I wonder if we are off the main track?"
"It is a country lane, not a main road. I saw that at once," said MissSallie.
"Then why didn't you tell us, Aunt Sallie?"
"My eyes were closed to avoid the dust," replied Aunt Sallie firmly.
Poor Ruth had a task on her hands. If only the car had not skidded intothat ugly hole, she could have managed; but it was impossible for her,with the help of all the girls, to lift the car enough to slip the newtire over the rim.
Mollie and Grace were taking Miss Sallie a little walk through the woodsat the side of the road to try to make the time pass and to give Ruth achance. Grace had winked at her slyly as they departed.
"Barbara," Ruth said finally, in tragic tones, "I'm in a fix and I mightas well confess it. I know it all comes of my boasting that I didn'tneed a man. My kingdom for one just for a few minutes! Do you supposethere is a farmhouse near where we could find some one to help me getthis wheel out of the rut? I'd surrender this job to a man withpleasure."
"I don't believe we are on the right road, Ruth, dear." Barbara felt soresponsible that she was almost in tears. Ominous thunder clouds wererolling overhead, and Bab tried not to notice the large splash of rainthat had fallen on her nose.
"Don't worry Bab, dear," urged Ruth. "I should have looked out for theroad, too. It can't be helped."
"But I am going to help. You can just rely on that," announced Barbara,shaking her brown curls defiantly. She had taken off her hat in theexertion of trying to help Ruth. "We passed a sleepy-looking old farm alittle way back, but I am going to wake it up!"
She heard Miss Sallie and the girls returning to the shelter of the car,for the rain had suddenly come down in torrents. Down the road sped Bab,shaking her head like a little brown Shetland pony.
Miss Sallie was in the depths of despair.
"Child," she said sternly to Ruth, "get into the car out of that mud. Wewill remain here, under the shelter of the covers until morning. Then,if we are alive, I myself will walk to the nearest town and telegraphyour father. We will take the next train back to New York." Miss Salliespoke with the extreme severity due to a rheumatic shoulder that hadbeen disregarded.
"Please let me keep on trying, Aunt Sallie," pleaded Ruth. "I'll get thetire on, or some one will come along to help me. I am so sorry, for Iknow it is all my fault."
"Never mind, Ruth; but you are to come into this car." And Ruth, coveredwith mud, was obliged to give in.
"Where, I should like to know," demanded Miss Sallie, "is Barbara?"
Through the rain they could hear the patter, patter of a horse's hoofs.
On Came Barbara, Riding Bareback.]
"Cheer up, Ruth, dear," whispered Grace. "What difference does a littlerain make? Here is some one coming along the road!"
Ruth's eyes were full of tears; Aunt Sallie's threat to stop their tripwas more than she could bear; but she was soon smiling.
"Why, Barbara Thurston," the girls called out together, "it can't beyou!" On came Barbara, riding bareback astride an old horse, theanimal's big feet clattering, its mane and tail soaked with rain.
"Great heavens!" said Miss Sallie, and closed her eyes.
Barbara rode up to the automobile, her hand clasped tightly in thehorse's mane.
"I'm as right as can be, Miss Sallie. I went back to that sleepy oldfarm, knocked and knocked for help, and called and called, but nobodywould answer. Just as I gave up all hope, old Dobbin came to the porchand neighed, as if inquiring what I was doing on his premises. Like aflash I put out my hand, as though to pat him, grabbed him by the mane,hopped up here, and now you see the best lady bareback rider fromRinkhem's Circus. I led you into this mess; now I'm going to get youout. I shall ride old Dobbin into town and come back with help." Babdeclaimed this, ending out of breath.
"Never mind, Miss Sallie," Mollie explained, seeing her consternation."Bab never rode any other way than bareback when she was a little girl.Do let her go!"
"Very well; but she may be arrested as a horse thief. That is all I haveto say in the matter." Miss Sallie sank back on her cushions, butBarbara had clattered off before she could be forbidden to go. Shecaught the words, "horse thief," as she rode as fast as old Dobbin wouldcarry her.
"It's Barbara to the rescue again!" Ruth shouted after her.