CHAPTER III
STRANGELY MISSING
"Wait a minute," directed Betty, as she and her chums advanced, carryingthe unconscious girl. "We'll have to put her down here, where the grassis soft."
"Why?" asked Amy, "she isn't heavy."
"No, but it will be better to get the auto out of the bushes, and intothe road before we put her in it. Something might go wrong, and jolther."
"That's so," agreed Mollie. "I think I can do it. Oh, but I'm nervous!"
"Shame on you!" cried Betty. "Be an outdoor girl--be your own braveself, Mollie!"
"I will!" and there was determination in her voice. "I'm sure I can getthe car out all right!"
Mollie took her place at the wheel, pressed the starting button, andthen, with a glance backward to see which way to steer, she slipped inthe reverse gear, and let the clutch come into place. Slowly, amid atearing away of vines and bushes, the car regained the highway.
"Good!" cried Grace. "Now, how shall we put her in, Betty?" for the"Little Captain," as she was often called (as Mollie was called "Billy")was generally looked to for advice in emergencies like these.
"You and Amy must hold her between you on the rear seat," Bettydirected. "Support her all you can. Mollie will drive slowly."
"But perhaps we ought to get her to a doctor right away," spoke theowner of the car.
"Getting her to a doctor would not make up for any injury caused by ajolt," said practical Betty. "Besides, I do not think she can beseriously hurt. Her hair is so very thick that she could stand a veryhard blow on the head. There are no other signs of injuries; but ofcourse there may be internal hurts. She did not fall far, those brancheswere very close to the ground."
"What she can have been doing up the tree is a mystery," remarked Grace.
"Like the time when we found that five hundred dollar bill," addedMollie.
"And the 'ghost' of Elm Island, and the missing papers in the saddlebags," remarked Amy to Grace.
Mollie had brought her car to a stop, and alighted to help lift in theunconscious girl. Between them Amy and Grace held her in the tonneau,her head resting on Amy's shoulder, a damp handkerchief covering the cutto keep any dirt from getting in it. Mollie again took her place at thesteering wheel, and when Betty had gotten in the girls started off withtheir strange passenger.
"I couldn't imagine what it was, when I saw something white falling outof the tree," spoke Mollie, driving along on high gear, but with themotor well throttled down.
"Nor could I," added Betty. "And when you steered out so suddenly, Ithought surely we would crash into the stone fence, just beyond thebushes."
"So did I, but I knew there was only one thing to do, and that was toput on the brakes as hard as I could."
"And you did," said Grace. "I didn't know you could move so quickly,Mollie."
"You can do many things when the emergency comes," replied Mollie, asshe turned out to avoid a rut in the road.
"This is better than a dozen lessons in the art of managing an auto,"commented Betty. "Practical problems are what count--not theoreticalones. Does she seem all right, Grace?" and she looked around at theunconscious girl.
"Yes, and her breathing is better. I think she will soon come to."
"That's good. See, there's a house. We can take her in, and ask wherethe nearest doctor is," and Betty pointed ahead.
Presently the auto stopped before it, and to a motherly-looking womanwho came out, Betty and the girls quickly explained what had happened.
"Of course! Bring the poor dear in!" the woman directed. "The men folksare over in the far meadow salting the cows, or I'd send one of them forDr. Brown. He's most likely to be home too, now. He lives down the roada piece--about a mile."
"I can go for him in the car, and bring him back," said Mollie.
"That's good. Bring the poor dear in the bedroom, and we'll look afterher until the doctor comes. I'll get the camphor bottle. That's good fora faint."
The girl seemed to have again sunk into a stupor, as they carried herin, and placed her on a comfortable lounge. Then the woman of the housebrought out a bottle of camphor, of generous size, and it was held tothe nostrils of the unconscious one.
The sufferer turned her head away from the pungent odor, and seemed tobe struggling against some unseen force. Again she seemed to revivesomewhat, and muttered:
"Oh, I can't! I can't! I don't want to go back to him! Anything butthat! I don't like--I can't bear that life!"
Her voice trailed off into a mere whisper.
"You had better hurry for the doctor," said Betty, and Mollie hastenedout to her car.
"I'll come with you," volunteered Grace, and Mollie was grateful.
"Suppose we take her into the bedroom," suggested the woman. "It'scooler there. We can manage her. I'm real strong."
With her help it was no great task to get the girl on the bed. Hergarments were loosened so that she might be more comfortable, and morecamphor was used, but it seemed to have no effect.
"Suppose we go out and let her be by herself; we can't do anythingmore," suggested the woman. "Besides, she needs all the air she can get.That's always best for fainting folks. She may come to by herself, I'llopen the window and shutters," and she proceeded to do so. Then comingout, and closing the door, they left the strange girl alone, Betty andAmy taking turns telling how the affair had happened.
"Land's sakes! Fell out of a tree!" exclaimed the woman. "What in theworld do you s'pose she was doin' up in it?"
"We haven't the least idea," answered Betty.
"And who is this man she says she won't go back to?"
"We have even less idea--she has repeated that several times," spokeAmy. "Oh, I do hope they find the doctor!"
"Dr. Brown is real good," was the woman's opinion. "He cured myrheumatism, and Hetty Blake--she lives over on the Melford road--she hadjaundice something terrible--she was as yellow as saffron tea, and hebrought her around when old Dr. Wakefield give her up. Yes, Dr. Brown isright smart."
Thus she entertained the girls with remarks on the country life around,until Betty ventured to remark:
"I wonder if we oughtn't to look in on her?" motioning to the room wherethey had left the girl.
"No, best let her be," said the woman--Mrs. Meckelburn, she had said hername was.
"Hark!" exclaimed Amy a little later.
"It's an auto!" said Betty, going to the window.
She saw Mollie and Grace in the car, a young man, with a professionalair about him, at the steering wheel.
"That's Dr. Brown!" exclaimed Mrs. Meckelburn, "but I didn't know hecould drive one of them things."
"I guess Mollie got too nervous," explained Betty.
The doctor caught up his bag and hurried toward the house, followed byGrace and Mollie.
"An accident!" he exclaimed in brisk tones, bowing to Betty and Amy, andtaking in the woman in his greeting. "Where is she?"
"In my bedroom, Dr. Brown," said Mrs. Meckelburn. "I do hope there'snothing much the matter with the poor dear."
They clustered around as the physician pushed open the door. Then heturned to them with a queer look on his face.
"Must be some mistake," he said. "There is no one here."
"No one there!" cried Betty in strange tones. "Why----"
She looked over his shoulder. There in the bed was the imprint of ahuman form, but the girl herself had vanished!
The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car; Or, The Haunted Mansion of Shadow Valley Page 3