CHAPTER IX
IN SHADOW VALLEY
The boy, who was endeavoring--and by gentle urging, be it said to hiscredit--to get the horse to pull the wagon out of the mud-hole, lookedup on hearing his name spoken by Betty. At first he did not recognizethe girls, and his face plainly showed this.
"Don't you know us?" asked Mollie, as she brought her car to a stop.
The boy shook his head. Then, as he looked from face to face, a lightcame over his own.
"Oh, yes!" he cried. "You found the little lost child when you were onyour walking tour, and turned her over to me."
"Exactly," agreed Betty. "But you seem to be in trouble, Jimmie," forthe bony horse had given over the attempt to move the mired wagon andwas patiently resting between the shafts, awaiting developments.
"I am in trouble," Jimmie admitted, frankly.
"Have you given up your business, and are you working for some oneelse?" Grace wanted to know. "Why have you the wagon? The last time youcarried your own pack."
"I'm still my own boss," he replied, with a smile. "I am trying for alarger trade, that's all. I got the chance to buy this outfit cheap, andI took it. I guess I got it too cheap," he added, ruefully, "for thishorse isn't strong enough to pull me out of this mud-hole. I shouldn'thave come this way."
He looked down at the soft, miry road. The one wheel seemed to besinking deeper and deeper into the clay, and the others showed apropensity to follow its example.
"Where did you come from?" asked Will, whose sister had explained to himand the other boys under what circumstances they first met the youngpeddler.
"Up Shadow Valley way," was the answer, and instinctively the auto partyof boys and girls started, and looked at one another.
"Er--was trade good up that way?" asked Frank.
"Oh, not very. You see, there are not enough folks living there. So Ithought I'd take a short cut over to Limeburg. I generally do prettywell there. But I guess I'd have done better to have gone the long way.I'm stuck for fair. Go 'long there, Stamp!" he called to the horse."See if you can move the boat."
"Stamp? Is that his name?" asked Betty.
"I just christened him that, Miss," replied Jimmie, with a smile.
"Why?" asked Grace, who was always the last one to see a joke.
"Because, Miss, he's--stuck!" was the answer, and the others, who hadanticipated this, laughed at poor Grace.
"I don't care!" she said. "I was thinking of something else then."
"Well, I guess I'll have to stay here until this mud dries up," went onJimmie, "or I might feed up Stamp until he is strong enough to pull meout. Only that would take too long, I'm afraid. He's been kept on a dietof carpet tacks, lately, to judge by the many fine points about him," headded, whimsically.
Will alighted from the auto, and, going as far as the edge of the muddyroad, looked critically at the stalled wagon. Then he asked:
"Have you a long rope?"
"Not a very long one," said the boy peddler, "but I have one that maydo. I'll get it," and he delved in the rear of his vehicle.
"What's the game?" asked Frank.
"I was going to see if we couldn't pull him out of the hole," repliedWill. "If the rope is long enough to reach from his wagon to the auto,and the rope holds, and his wagon doesn't pull apart with the strain, wecan do it."
"Oh, I hope we can!" cried Mollie. "We must try."
Jimmie produced the rope, and, tossing one end of it to Will, provedthat it was long enough. It looked sufficiently strong, too.
"Now, Mollie, if you'll turn around, and back down as near as you can,we'll see what we can do," proposed Will.
While the car was being manipulated to the proper position, Will tiedsome knots in the rope.
"Fasten this end to the middle of the whiffle-tree," he called toJimmie, tossing the loop to him. "In that way you won't have to unhitchthe horse, nor get out in the mud yourself."
"Oh, I won't mind that--if I can get out of this hole."
"Might as well take it as easy as you can," went on Will. "That's theticket. Be sure your knots are firm."
"Yes, don't tie granny ones the way I did the night the _Gem_ gotadrift," murmured Grace.
The rope was soon fast to the wagon and backed-up auto.
"Go ahead slowly," cautioned Will. "We don't know what will give wayfirst, the horse or the wagon. Take it easy, Mollie."
Slowly the auto started. There came a strain on the rope. There was acreaking to the old vehicle, and then it slowly began to emerge from themud. The old horse, who had almost gone to sleep, roused up at thisstrange activity, and was literally forced to stir out of his tracks. Ina few seconds the wagon was on the firm road, the auto having pulled itin a diagonal direction from the mud-hole.
"Thanks, ever so much!" exclaimed Jimmie. "I'm sure I can't thank youenough. If ever you get stuck----"
"You'll pull us out!" finished Mollie.
"Not until Stamp is better able to do it," the boy answered with alaugh. "But I'll do all I can."
"And so you didn't like Shadow Valley?" asked Will, as the boy madeready to proceed on his way.
"No, it's too gloomy for me. Hardly anyone lives there."
"Did you see that big mansion up there?" asked Grace.
"The one that rich man built, you mean? Yes, I passed near it a whileago. It's only about three miles from here. The grounds are pretty wellin ruins now, but the house is good."
"See anything strange about it?" asked Will.
"Strange? What do you mean?"
"Oh, well, I mean--er--any tramps in it--or anything like that?"
"No, not a thing," and Jimmie looked curiously at his questioner. "Well,I must be going. No more muddy roads for me!"
The auto party took their places again, Betty succeeding Mollie at thewheel, and Will being promised a chance later. Then they started off.
"Where are you going?" asked Grace, as Betty turned up a road on whichthey seldom journeyed. "This doesn't take us anywhere in particular."
"It goes to Shadow Valley," answered Betty.
"Are--are you going there?" gasped Amy.
"Just to get a glimpse of it," was the reply. "Surely you're notafraid--in broad daylight."
"And with us along?" demanded Will, heroically. "Shame!"
"Oh, well----" began Amy, but she did not finish.
"This side road leads right into the valley," said Mollie, a littlelater.
"Then we'll take it," decided Betty, and she swung the car about. Alittle later they were looking down from a height into the strangevalley.
One end--that nearest them--was laid out in a number of small farms, onwhich were substantial houses. But the other end, where "Kenyon's Folly"had been built, was in the narrower part, and was almost deserted asregards residences. This section of the valley was narrower, thehills--almost mountains--rose high on either side, hemming it in. Thisproduced deep shadows early and late in the day, and gave the valley itsname.
"There's the ghost house!" said Will, in a low voice, pointing toward amansion, perched on one of the side hills, on a natural ledge. "I cansee the ghost now!"
"Oh!" screamed Amy.
At that moment from the dense underbrush near the auto there came a loudcry, and some one fairly tumbled down a little declivity into theroad--the figure of an old man with long, white hair.
The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car; Or, The Haunted Mansion of Shadow Valley Page 9