The Motor Girls at Lookout Beach; Or, In Quest of the Runaways

by Margaret Penrose

  CHAPTER XX

  THE GAIETY OF GOING

  "Oh, Glorious gaiety!"

  "Oh, delightful dissipation!"

  "Oh, luscious loafing!"

  "Oh, wayside wanderings!"

  These remarks emanated from the exuberant spirits of Jack Kimball,Paul Hastings, Ed Foster and Walter Pennington.

  It was a few evenings after the moving picture performance had endedso abruptly, and the young men insisted that this time they would"take in" some other attractions. The young ladies were almost equallyenthusiastic, and therefore it was decided that the beautiful Juneevening be spent in the perfectly innocent sport of furthersight-seeing at the select summer colony centre.

  On the other evening when Ed thrust the light under the eyes of thelittle singer, who was following the manager's instructions to "singfor all she was worth, to catch the crowd," and the girl had dartedaway, frightened at the rather daring act of attempt at recognition,Cora insisted that the singer was none other than Rose Catron.

  But the darkness and confusion of the place made it impossible foreven the Chelton boys to make their way back of the stage andinvestigate further.

  Jack did try it, but the tangle of boxes and heaps of stage fixings soblocked his way that he was forced to give up before he reached whatought to be the stage entrance. Ed and Walter searched for the managerwith equally unsatisfactory results, and so, for the time being, thequest had to be abandoned; although Cora was keenly disappointed inhaving to leave the place with no clue as to the real identity of thelittle singer.

  That the girls had not drowned themselves was all the assurance thatBelle needed to restore her peace of mind on that subject, while Bessinsisted she would take the _Flyaway_ and run down to the place soearly next morning that if the performer should prove to be Rose, shewould scarcely have had time to pick up her things in daylight, andagain escape. Hazel was also interested when told of the girls'strange story, and in her gentle yet decisive way, she offered to dowhat she could while at the beach to discover the possible whereaboutsof Rose and Nellie. But the search was unavailing, as no one inauthority at the moving picture theatre would answer questionssatisfactorily.

  "To-night," said Walter, as they started out again, "let the girlschoose the attraction."

  They sauntered along the brilliantly-lighted boardwalk. All the styleavailable at the colony seemed to be on parade, and, as far as ourgirl friends were concerned, they would really have preferred toremain in the procession, but for the knowledge that the boys wantedto see what was going on in the big building at the end of the pier.

  "The Human Washing Machine!" shouted Jack, after a glance at the sign."Now there is a practical attraction and I am willing to pay the billfor 'doing up' every one in the crowd."

  To this novelty the party betook themselves. Outside the entrance werepeople deliberating upon going in, but hesitating because thebillboards announced that "each person would be put through the mostnovel and most complete process of washing to be obtained anywhere, atthe low cost of ten cents the person."

  But the Chelton folks were not afraid--they might have halted at theironing possibility, but nothing in the way of washing had any terrorsfor the motor girls and their friends.

  "Oh, my!" exclaimed Belle. "I could never go in that!"

  "Why?" demanded Walter. "It looks perfectly tempting. Smell that soapsuds!" A whiff came out of the building to them.

  "And look at the blueing," cried Cora, pointing to a mass of bluewater flowing from a pipe outside the structure. "If we never had the'blues' we will have them now--all ready-made."

  "If never you've been blue, prepare to be blue now," quoted Ed, withsemi-tragic effect.

  "Come along! Come right along!" shouted the "barker," or man who wasbooming the attraction. "This way for the greatest sensation outsideof flying! Step this way--everybody! You pays your money and you gets agood wash! Satisfaction guaranteed. The servant problem solved. Hereyou are, young ladies and gentlemen--right this way!" and he looked atour friends in a humorous manner.

  "Hear that?" called Jack. "He has us spotted, all right. He knows weneed it, maybe. I'm going in first."

  "That's the way to talk," commented the barker. "You'll never regretit, my friend. Step this way to the ticket office. Remember, ladiesand gentlemen," he went on, in louder tones, "this is the only humanwashing machine on the beach. There are washing machines run by humanbeings but this is absolutely and without doubt the onlyself-regulated, double acting, six cylinder, four speeds forward andreverse machine, that washes human beings in the short space of tenminutes--one sixth of an hour--six hundred seconds, and I say thatwithout fear of successful contradiction. This way--everybody!"

  "Here goes," went on Jack, as he purchased a number of tickets from aroll unwound by a woman in a little cage of an office. "I'll try itfirst, and if I survive the bleaching process the rest of you can comein."

  "Oh!" cried Bess. "I'll never, never do it!"

  "Me, either," added Belle.

  "Wait until we see what it is," suggested Cora. "It may be great fun,and, as long as it's not vulgar I'm going in, if Jack says it's allright."

  "Come one, come all!" the barker could be heard droning. The party ofboys and girls went into the place, and found themselves in the midstof an excited and jolly crowd. Some had been washed, others neededwashing, some wanted washing, and others desired it, but feared toundertake the ordeal.

  "Good-bye!" called Jack, gaily, as he walked along a narrow passage,protected by a railing on either side, for an attendant directed thereall who wanted to indulge in the new sensation.

  "Hold on!" cried Ed and Walter. "We're coming, too!"

  "Get a hustle on," ordered Jack. "The water is just right now."

  The girls stood where they could watch the process. Suddenly Jack andhis chums could be seen bobbing up and down, as if they were in a boaton a choppy sea, and then the girls noticed that the lads were on asort of endless, moving sidewalk, that did all sorts of queer "stunts"while, underneath, water rushed and bubbled along, seemingly all aboutthe boys, but never touching them.

  "You are now in the tub of soapy water," announced a man who wasevidently there for that purpose. "You are getting the first layer ofcontamination off."

  Faster and faster went the moving, endless sidewalk. It surged up anddown, and from side to side. The boys were laughing and joking, andthey had to cling to the railing to maintain their footing.

  "This is great!" cried Jack.

  "All to the la-la!" added Ed.

  "It most----" began Walter, but, at that minute all three came to theend of the first scrubbing process, and were precipitated upon ahighly polished slide--somewhat like the bamboo ones that are sopopular at summer resorts. It was like glass, and, as there were onlya few lights at this point, whereas the "tub" was brilliantlyilluminated, the boys went down in a heap, and slid along.

  "Part of the game," commented Jack, grimly.

  "You are now on the washing board," came from the announcer. "Keepperfectly still--there is no danger."

  In front of, and behind, the boys came other persons--slipping,sliding, shouting, yelling, laughing, gasping and struggling.

  "Wow!" yelled Ed. "Here comes another tub to go through!"

  They had reached the end of the "washboard" and once more the threeboys were tossed up and down, and from side to side, while rushingwater under them seemed to give the effect of being put through aboiler of suds.

  "Look out! Here's something new!" yelled Ed, a moment later, and, sureenough, they emerged, after a trip up and down, and around corners,upon a scrubbing board, made of glass, under which water was rushingwith such effect that it seemed as if they were going to be soaked.

  "This is great!" cried Jack, as he reached it. "I thought I was in forit that time, but it's all to the soap and starch; that's what!"

  His companions, and many others, followed, and, a moment later, theywere facing what looked like two rolls, such as collars and cuffs arerun through.r />
  "Do we go through them?" gasped Jack, halting a moment as he got onhis feet after the slide down the scrubbing board.

  "Sure--go ahead," said Walter.

  "Oh, mercy! He won't really go through those rolls, will he?" gaspedBelle.

  The rolls did look formidable, and they were whirling around at arapid rate.

  "Be a sport," called Ed. "When you've been rolled out you'll be allright, Jack."

  "All right--you go ahead," retorted Jack, stepping back. "You can havemy place."

  "It's all right, fellows--go ahead," one of the attendants assuredthem. Jack faced the revolving rolls. The attendant gave him a gentlepush, and, before Jack knew it he was swallowed up in the whirlingcylinders.

  "Oh!" screamed Bess. "He'll be killed!"

  But neither she nor the others could see what happened, for Jackvanished, and, after him went Walter and Ed.

  Once through the rolls, they were tossed with considerable force intoa wringer ten times the size of the one through which they had justpassed. Like the first the rolls were upright, and not horizontal.They seemed to be made of rubber, and were more real than the first.Jack tried to hold back, but it was of no use. He had been tossedfairly into the big wringer, and, a moment later, he found himselfbeing drawn through. To his surprise the rolls were of straw, coveredwith cotton-batting, and they compressed sufficiently to allow him togo through easily.

  "Come on, fellows!" Jack tried to call to his chums, but his mouth wasstopped for an instant by the soft rolls. Besides, there was no needfor his invitation, since Ed and Walter, whether they wanted to ornot, found themselves being drawn in with irresistible force.

  By this time the girls had run up, not without some little alarm, andthey saw the boys come through the rolls.

  "Oh--they--they're all--all right," gasped Belle, her hand on her heart.

  "Of course," cried Jack, with a laugh. "We're most done, ladies. Thenit will be your turn."

  "Never!" declared Cora.

  "Oh, you'll like it, ladies," the attendant assured them. "Next comesthe blueing water," and Jack and his friends, together with a numberof other persons who were undertaking the ordeal, were once more on amoving sidewalk, sliding up and down, from side to side, and over amass of blue, rushing water, which, seen through the sections of thewalk, looked as if, every minute, it would surge up all about theirfeet. But they were as dry as the proverbial bone.

  "Now if you will kindly step this way you will be hung out to dry,"called the attendant, and a door opened, and the boys with severalothers were fairly shot out into a yard, where they saw what theysupposed were persons hanging over clothes lines.

  Jack recoiled at this.

  "Go ahead. Be a sport," urged Ed.

  Then Walter burst into a laugh.

  "Why, they're dummies!" he gasped. "Straw figures!" And so theyproved.

  "All over!" announced a man. "Have another wash. It will do you good."

  "Not for mine," declared Jack. "I'm clean enough to last a month."

  "I'm going to have some more," announced Walter.

  "So am I," declared Ed. "I'll go through with the girls this time."

  "And there's Paul yet to be initiated," added Walter.

  They hurried back to where they had left their friends.

  "The greatest ever!" declared Jack. "I wouldn't have missed it foranything. Go ahead, girls. It's the greatest fun!"

  "But those wringers?" faltered Bess. "Aren't you pressed flat?"

  "Try it--and see," replied Jack, all unconscious of the joke he wasperpetrating at the expense of the plump girl.

  "Were they rubber?" asked Belle.

  "Go through and see," was all Jack would answer.

  "I'll try it," volunteered Paul.

  "So will I," added Cora bravely.

  "Oh, don't!" begged Belle.

  "Of course I will. I'm not afraid, after Ed, Walter and Jack have beenthrough it. Besides, look at all the other girls and ladies whoventure in."

  "That's the way to talk," said the attendant admiringly. "In you go,young lady," and he assisted Cora upon the narrow footpath of thefirst "tub." Cora went through it all, with Paul close behind her. Itwas all perfectly proper, and not too rough, and the girl thoroughlyenjoyed it, even to the two rolling machines. She came back with hercheeks flushed from the exercise and excitement.

  "Go ahead, girls!" urged Cora to her chums. "It is a most novelexperience."

  "I would, only for the wringers," agreed Bess.

  "And I would--only--only for the slide," declared Belle, and no amountof urging could induce her or her sister to venture the novelty. Butthey had lots of fun watching others get "washed," and even Hazel tooka trip, with Jack to keep her company, for he reconsidered hisdetermination not to take another "dip."

  Jack, his chums, the boys, and Cora and Hazel were such a merry party,and attracted so much attention that the man in charge of the machine,after they had each enjoyed two trips through it, came up, and said:

  "Say, go through again--for nothing."

  "Why?" inquired Jack.

  "Oh, because you're such a jolly bunch that you are drawing a bigcrowd in here," was the explanation. "The man outside is turning 'emaway. That's good business for us. Have another dip or two fornothing. Only keep up the laughing and shouting."

  "No, thank you," responded Cora, with a smile. "We are not humanadvertisements, if we have gone through a human washing machine," and,to the man's evident disappointment, they walked out of the place.

  Bess laughed so uproariously at the sight of a stout woman essaying atrip through the machine, that the motor girl had to sit down on a boxto get her breath.

  "Oh, I never laughed so much in all my life," she said.

  "Laugh and grow fat," commented the attendant, meaning no harm.

  Bess stopped her mirth suddenly, and gave the man such a look, that,as Jack said, if glances could kill, the poor chap would have been"crippled for life."

  "I wish he was!" snapped Bess, who was very sensitive about herweight. "I never heard of such a thing--just because I laughed alittle."

  "You should have gone through the rolls," ventured Cora. "Though theylooked hard, they were as soft as a feather pillow. Come on; there'stime yet."

  But even the inducement of "feather pillows," would not tempt Bess orBelle to try the machine.

  "Well, what next?" asked Jack, as they stood out on the big pier, andlistened to the mournful swish of the incoming tide underneath. "Whatdo you say to another moving picture show, or the band concert, orsome salt-water taffy or even a lobster supper? I'm game."

  "I vote for lobsters," called Ed.

  "Because they're such friends of yours," retorted Walter.

  "Mighty good friends, at the prices they charge down here," commentedPaul. "I haven't dared look one in the face."

  "Silly--a lobster hasn't a face," said his sister.

  "Well, their eyes, then," amended Paul.

  "I think my sister and I must really go," came from Paul. "It isgetting late--for us."

  "Yes, it is too late for anything more to-night," was Cora's retort."If we don't get in on good time, you know, boys, our liberty on otheroccasions may be restricted."

  "Well, have your way about it," answered Jack, good-naturedly. "Thereare other nights coming."

  "Yes, let's go home," added Belle, and Bess tried to hide a sleepyyawn, for they had traveled about considerable that day, and she wastired.

  So Paul and Hazel said good-night, and the others, entering the autos,turned into the ocean boulevard and started toward Clover Cottage.

  "We'll drive up, and put the machines away later," suggested Jack,when they were near their home quarters. "We really have been quite along time away."

  They found Mrs. Robinson and Miss Steel waiting on the porch.

  "Why, mamma has not retired yet," exclaimed Bess. "I wonder at hersitting out of doors in the damp."

  But the reason of this was soon made plain. Mrs. Robinson was toofrightened to g
o indoors!

  "Oh, we have had such a dreadful time," she sobbed. "I cannot see howyou could have gone and left us in this lonely place all this while."

  Bess instantly had her arms around the trembling little woman. Mrs.Robinson had always been "babied" by the girls, and that she was verynervous her whole family knew too well.

  "Mother dear," began Bess, "we did not think it too late. You said wemight stay until--after nine----"

  "But, daughter! How did I know we were to be frightened to deathby--burglars!"

  "Burglars!" chorused the boys.

  "Yes," put in Miss Steel, "we distinctly heard them in the diningroom, and when I had the courage to attempt to go in they--blew out thelamp!"

  "Mercy!" exclaimed Belle, recoiling from the window she had beenleaning against.

  "It might have been--a draft of wind," suggested Walter.

  "But a draft could not knock over a chair," Miss Steel told him,somewhat indignantly. "We would have gone over to the hotel if wecould have left any word for you, but, you see, we could not goinside, even to write a note."

  A thought flashed through Cora's mind. The mention of "note" hadinspired it. She drew Bess and Belle aside.

  "I wouldn't wonder if these runaway girls came back," she whispered."We must go inside and see if they--left a note."

  "Go inside!" repeated Belle. "I guess not."

  "Come on, boys! Let's investigate," said Walter to the others, openingthe hall door and striking a match as he did so. He lighted thehanging lamp in the little hall, while the women, with Bess and Belle,actually left the porch and went out on the sidewalk to be at a safedistance.

  Cora followed the boys.

  "Who's here?" asked Jack as he entered the dining room.

  "Light up!" commanded Ed. "We might step on somebody's fingers."

  The dining-room light was soon burning. Yes, a chair had beenoverturned, and another!

  "The flower vase is broken!" exclaimed Cora, seeing the wreck in thecentre of the table.

  "And I gathered those posies!" said Ed. "Just my luck!"

  "Come right along, gentlemen," invited Walter to the invisibleintruders. "Come along! This way to the refrigerator!"

  "Be careful, Walter," cautioned Cora, for although she had undertakento follow the boys she had not counted on seeing things thus upset.

  "There are candles in the pantry," suggested Ed. "I know, because Iput them there, after I found the oil can in the cellar."

  Jack and Walter each lighted a candle. They then undertook asystematic search. Closets, cupboards, corners and stairways wereransacked, every door was opened and closed, to make sure no one swungon the hinges. Then the searching party went upstairs.

  The same thoroughness was observed on the second floor, but no hint ofwhom the intruders might be was brought to light. It took some time togo over all the smaller rooms, and, when every nook had been finallyexplored, Cora sat down for a moment on the hall seat.

  "Listen!" she whispered.

  A sound from the dining room had caught her attention.

  "It's the girls," said Walter, as he, too, heard something downstairs.

  "They would never come in until we assured them everything was allright," objected Cora.

  "Let's go down," said Ed, at the same moment, almost falling over thebannister in his haste to get down quickly.

  "There they go!" called Walter, who was just back of Jack, and, as hesaid this, a figure darted out the rear door, and made away, beforethe boys could get out of the house to follow.

  "This way!" shouted Jack to Ed, as they finally did reach the openyard. "I saw them go over that fence."

  A light from the street at the rear of the cottage was now to be seen.

  "An auto!" yelled Ed. "They are ready to start! Quick, Walter! Headthem off at the corner!"

  But the first buzz of the strange machine was of that determinedquality that usually indicates great power, capable of spurting somerods away with one great, grand whizz! The car was out of sight, andout of sound, while Walter was struggling with the stickers of abarbed wire fence. A dark stretch of road, that at once united andseparated two summer resorts, made the flight of the intruders' cartoo simple to speculate upon.

  "If our garage was not so far away," complained Walter, returning fromthe fence with bleeding fingers, "we'd have a race."

  "Hanged funny, isn't it?" commented Ed.

  "As if that--person--we saw get away was a robber! Why, that was agirl--she crawled under the fence!" declared Walter.

  "She may have left me a bunch of violets," remarked Jack with a sigh,as they all three went back to the cottage, where, at the steps, Corawas waiting. "Say, sis," her brother went on, "let's go in and lookover things now. I have an idea that our visitor came to wash up moredishes!"

  "And I also have an idea that the visitor--had been here before,"replied Cora. "They--he--she, or it--knew how to open that funny catch onthe screen door!"

  Re-entering the house the boys made all sorts of fun of each other,for each and all of them allowing the "burglar" to escape.

  "But, joking aside," said Cora, "I know I heard the noise in thedining room, and I'm going to look there first."

  "For my violets," whimpered Jack, with a sniffle.

  "June violets!" mocked Cora.

  "Well--daisies then. I saw daisies as we came out, and I'd just as soonhave daisies."

  Ed and Jack held their candles high above their heads as they tiptoedinto the dining room.

  A bit of paper fluttered from the hanging lamp!

  "More directions on 'How to Use This Cottage!'" roared Jack. "There,didn't I tell you! This is the second note left this way. Must havecome by a homing-pigeon. Well, I'd just as soon have a dove as abouquet of violets."