The Automobile Girls at Chicago; Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds

by Laura Dent Crane

  CHAPTER XX

  CONCLUSION

  THE next morning after breakfast, the girls, bundled in furs, left thehouse for their ride to Treasureholme. Mr. Stuart had done what he couldby telephone, but had not yet gone downtown, for there was nothingfurther to be accomplished until the opening of the market. Just beforehe helped the girls into the car he thrust a finger into his vest pocketand said:

  "I almost forgot. The men at the garage found this in the bottom of thecar. I think it's your lost memorandum, Barbara."

  "Oh, thank you! I'm so glad!" cried Bab.

  "Ruth," said Barbara, after the girls had reached the outskirts of thecity, "do you think there really is a hidden treasure and if we couldfind it your father----"

  "I haven't much faith in the treasure, and if one should come to light,it would be Mr. Presby's and not father's."

  "Mr. Presby would use it to help himself, and that would draw yourfather out, too."

  "Bab, you ought to be on the Exchange; you'd make a good trader,"laughed Ruth. Then she went on: "No, Bab, I'm afraid we'll lose all wehave. I don't care for myself. I can be poor, just as daddy and mymother were once. But I grieve for father."

  "Ruth, darling," whispered Bab.

  On their arrival at Treasureholme the girls found that Mr. Stuart hadtelephoned to Miss Sallie about what Bab had tried to do for her twohosts. The girls tried to make a heroine of her, but she steadfastlyrefused to think she had done anything extraordinary.

  When Barbara was finally alone in her room she drew out of her pocketthe slip of yellow paper, spread it on her lap and regarded it intently.

  "'The span of a minute is sixty seconds,'" she read. "What can thatmean?"

  She got up and paced the floor thinking deeply, trying to solve themeaning. She at last went to a window and spread the paper on the panefor the purpose of getting a better light on it. Her gaze, at firstcareless, suddenly became keen. All at once she whirled about and dashedfrom the room.

  "Girls, I have it!" she screamed, bursting in on the others, who were inRuth's room. "I've solved the mystery! I've found the key! We must getMr. Stevens! We mustn't lose a minute! Everything's at stake!"

  "What is it, Bab? Are you certain?" demanded Grace, springing to herfeet.

  "Oh, I can't tell you now! Let's get Mr. Stevens, can't we?"

  "Mr. A. Bubble!" cried Ruth, and flew from the room.

  The girls rushed pell-mell for the car, dragging Miss Stuart with them,none knowing what Bab had in mind, but all eager and excited. Ruth droveat top speed, and the girls burst in on Bob Stevens whom they found inhis shop.

  "See this!" cried Bab, holding the bit of paper out to the young man."Put it against the window." He did so wonderingly, then turned andlooked at the girls. "What did you see?" demanded Bab impatiently.

  Bob had seen a line drawn from the top of a toadstool extending to theright. At the end of the line was the sign "60".

  "What do those little marks after the sixty mean?" demanded Bab.

  "On building plans they would mean inches. Expressing time, they wouldindicate seconds."

  "You have it! If we face the woods and start to measure from the top ofthe 'toadstool,' that undoubtedly represents the mound under which liesthe big chief, and measure off 'sixty seconds' which means sixty inches,or five feet, we'll find the treasure."

  No one stopped to question the probability of Barbara's deductions. Bobsummoned a man who worked for him, sent a boy to get two more fromTreasureholme, and, taking picks, shovels, and a coil of rope, drove offwith the girls in Mr. A. Bubble as fast as they could go to the Indianburying ground. It was nearly dark when they reached there and sprangfrom the car, neither Bab nor Bob waiting for it to come to a full stop.

  "William, bring me something I can drive in here for a marker," Bobcalled to his man who was hurrying toward them from the direction of thewoods.

  "There's a fellow over there in the woods," announced William. "He waskind of hiding."

  "Never mind that. Let's get to work here."

  The two hands from Treasureholme arrived, and, the measurements havingbeen taken, the men set to digging. Lanterns had been brought and whendark fell these were lighted and held by the girls.

  In an hour's time the men had opened a hole six feet deep, as broad atthe top, narrowing toward the bottom.

  "It begins to look dubious," said Bob. "Say, Barbara, we'll try anotherway!"

  Following Bob's directions, Bab placed one end of the steel tape in themiddle of the big mound and again the exact distance was measured. Bobtook the stake that William had brought up to measure with and drove itwith the back of his shovel little by little down in the exact center ofthe hole he had dug. He had forced the stake down about three feet whenhe uttered an exclamation.

  "What is it?" cried the girls in chorus.

  "Maybe a stone. I hardly think it is," and he began to dig frantically.In a few moments came the shout: "I've struck metal! There is somethinghere!"

  The girls danced with impatience, but a half hour went by before the menunearthed an iron box with bands of the same material about it and thecover soldered to the box to make it air tight.

  Bab put her arms about Ruth and whispered:

  "It will be all right now, Ruth. Oh, I'm so glad!" while the other girlslaughed and shouted in their excitement.

  It was the work of another half hour before the four men got a ropearound the heavy box and, by the aid of the automobile, drew it out ofthe deep hole, after which, with great labor, it was got into the car.

  Once at the house, it was left to Mrs. Presby, as the representative ofthe family, to say what should be done with the chest.

  "Open it," was the command.

  This was not easily done, but when the work was finally accomplished,what a sight met their eyes!

  There was at least a bushel of gold coins. There was valuable familyplate. In a sealed receptacle they found a quantity of jewels and abundle of papers. The papers Mrs. Presby put away until her husbandshould have an opportunity to go over them.

  "There's a fortune here. I think Treasureholme need not be lost now,"said Stevens.

  "It comes too late," said Mrs. Presby bitterly. "Mr. Presby telephonedme after the close of the market that to-morrow would end all, as he andRobert could not meet their obligations when it opened in the morning."

  "To-morrow morning!" exclaimed Bab. "Then we must get this treasure tothem to-night! We must do it some way!"

  "Impossible," said Olive.

  "No, it's not!" declared Ruth. "I'll take the chest to Chicago in thecar."

  "But it's nearly midnight, Ruth. You can't do it," protested Mrs.Presby.

  There was little time for discussion and objection, and in the end thechest was again loaded into the car and the four "Automobile Girls" andBob Stevens set off for Chicago, Miss Sallie promising to telephone toMr. Stuart that the girls were on their way.

  It was a wild midnight ride into Chicago. The girls became convincedthat they were being followed, but by turning off her lights and drivinginto a private lane until the following car had flashed by and thentaking a longer but little-used road into the city, Ruth evaded thepursuers, if such they were. Nor did they see the car again until theydrew up in front of the Stuart house in the brilliantly light street andwith a policeman in plain sight.

  Mr. Stuart and Mr. Presby spent the night in making an inventory and themorning before the opening of the market in calling up their bankers andlawyers. They were tired and worn when the opening hour came, but theday was saved, and while neither made the fortune he had anticipated,each had added materially to his wealth. For this they gave credit toBarbara Thurston, but she steadfastly refused the reward they offeredher. The money reward she refused, but she could not refuse theadmiration and love they gave her.

  They learned later that Nathan Bonner had had a private detective on thegrounds of Treasureholme, and it was he who had followed Mr. A. Bubbleinto the city. Bonner lost heavily in the crash, but still retainedeno
ugh of his fortune to be a financial power.

  A week of pleasure followed the finding of the treasure. On the eveningbefore the departure of Bab and Mollie and Grace for Kingsbridge, Ruthgave a large reception in honor of her guests.

  On the evening of the affair the four girls, when they repaired to theirrooms in the Stuart home to dress for the reception, found fourexquisite frocks, the gifts of Mr. Stuart and Mr. Presby, who would notbe denied this method of showing their appreciation. The gowns werewhite filmy chiffon over soft white silk. White shoes, white silkchiffon hose, everything needed to complete their toilet that night layready at hand. None of the three girls from Kingsbridge had dreamed thatthey would ever possess such beautiful and exquisitely designed dresses.

  But this was not their only surprise. A great box of roses was deliveredto the house while the girls were dressing. It was addressed to MissBarbara Thurston. With it there was a note reading:

  "I always did love a fighter. What a trader you would make! It was a fair fight, and you won. NATHAN BONNER."

  "No, it wasn't a fair fight. It was distinctly an unfair one," declaredBarbara. "I think I shall send these flowers back."

  "I don't believe I would do that," advised Miss Sallie. "The flowers areplainly intended as a tribute to you as a fighter, Bab, and theacceptance of flowers is unlike the acceptance of any other gift."

  So Barbara kept the roses.

  The next day the "Automobile Girls'" party was broken up. The time forGrace, Bab, and Mollie to return to Kingsbridge had arrived, to the keenregret of both the young people and their elders. Mr. Stuart, with atwinkle in his eyes, kept talking vaguely about "Easter," but what hisplans were, he would not say.

  The wonderful Easter vacation that these plans developed into may beread about in a following volume entitled, "THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALMBEACH; or, Proving Their Mettle Under Southern Skies," a vacation neverto be forgotten by the "Automobile Girls."

  THE END

  _And There Are Others!_

  You will find other books listed on the three following pages that will prove just as interesting reading as this book. They can all be procured at the same store where you got this book.