The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires; Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's Trail

e are lost!" cried

epth of a New Jersey woods on

urs ahead of us. Surely such clever woodsmen as we are can find our way out of woods which are but a few miles from home. Suppose we s

iss Mollie Thurston;

nxiously scanned the marshy gro

more than you do, if I were not so horribly afrai

ly. "The snakes in these woods are harmless. How can a girl as brave as you are be su

ngs toward the timid mouse! Just the same, I should like to play 'Maid Marian' for a while and dwell in the heart o

think they will ever come back? I can hardly believe it has been only three weeks since they left Kingsbridge, and onl

a visit before she goes home to Chicago, and she is a girl of her wor

es, "I know I am nearly dead to see her. Gr

out something? When I was talking yesterday about how crazy I was to go to Vassar some day, mother looked as though she wanted t

is tired out and needs a complete change. She had a long letter from Cousin Betty in St. Paul yesterday, asking her to make a visit.

re even lower than usual, where is the money to come from for such an expensive

vely, trying to forget

eet trembling inside my boots; I am so afraid o

while they were talking. Barbara jumping from the twisted root of one tree to another half a yard away, felt something writhe and wriggle under her foot. Without stopping to loo

nly have gone and done it this t

k and raked in the l

ut, a tiny garter snake, that couldn't hurt a t

" she asked, as she caught a glimpse of her sister's face. "Wh

white as a sheet, an

elf. I'm afraid I have turned my ankle. Here, take my hand. Sittin

down again. The second time Mollie pulled with all her might. Barbara, summoning her courag

. "I will try and find you a stick. Then if you lean on me and us

the narrow path. Barbara insisted she was better with each step, but Mollie knew otherwise. With every foot of ground they covered Bab limped more and more painfully. Now and then when he

re the shade was less dense. "I think I see a place over there that must lead

ent; her pulses were throbbing. She was almost crying, but she would never mention

un. As soon as her back was turned, Bab closed her e

sar College. In two years more she would be ready to enter, but where was the money to come from? Barbara realized that her mother would never be able to pay her expenses from their small income; nevertheless, she meant to go. The Kingsbridge High Sch

persuade Ruth to go to college with me?" Th

that journey in Ruth Stuart's motor car. There were many adventures along the way, including mysterious encounters with a gentlemanly young rascal, known to the police as "The Boy Raffles." The same "Raffles" afterwards turned u

tuart had given a dinner in their honor, and at the close of the meal, he formally presented each of th

nows what luck they may bring to us? Remember this isn't a real brea

her brother. Later, Mr. Stuart and his sister, Miss Stuart, bore Ruth

o Bab her grief

ave to go back to Chicago, and leave you here in New Jersey. Other people are

b made Ruth solemnly promise to pay t

uth? She could almost hear her voice and laugh. Some one was coming al

a!" Was it Mollie's

," cried B

her, her eyes shining, her cheeks aglow,

you done to your silly little self? Never mind; here is

ome from?" inqui

nds and explain to you. I simply couldn't wait for them. Another dear friend of you

Three days ago I told father I simply couldn't bear to be away from Kingsbridge twenty-four hours longer. So he and I decided that as soon as manners would permit we should put the automo

Mollie were app

ifting her from the ground. "Can you manage to walk? Ruth, you help from the other side. It is not far t

when she was at last safely stowed away in the automobile. Her lame foot was propped up on soft cushions

be at the right place just at the right moment? And how did Mollie find you to tell you

y proper, as we were hoping to make our way before dusk to the home of a charming lady, Mrs. Thurston, who lives with her two attractive daughters, in Laurel Cottage, Kingsbridge. What did we see? A small, excited girl ahead of us, who seeme

tress Mollie from the front

iliar chug, chug, chug, sounded up the road. "I must be dreaming," she thought. "I am so worried at the girls being out late that I

and a well-known, crimson motor car rapidly approached her gate. Mrs. Thurston rubbed her eyes. It was the Stuart's automobile a

s a girl she threw open her gate and was waiting on the sid

nd kissing Ruth on both cheeks. "Where did you find my daughters? But what's

rained my ankle a little, not very much. I would like to get into the house to take off my shoe.

ou are not going to take Ruth up to the hotel with you for even one nigh

rry about at present. Aunt Sallie is coming back, day after to-morrow, and she is

t, you can go to your hotel, if you wish to engage your room, but you must come back and have tea with us. We have

ed into his car. "I will come back with pleasure. On my way to the hotel I sha