"Oh," sighed Hazel, "I felt something would happen to you, Paul, dear.
You must give up this position."
"Well, we will see about that," he replied. "Perhaps I won"t have anything to say about it--if the mailpouch is gone."
"Then they brought you out here?" asked Cecilia, determined to hear all the story.
"Carried me like a baby," replied Paul, "and in sheer humane consideration they put me near the road, so that my call might be heard."
"And the umbrella?" asked Cora.
"Oh, they went to a barn for that. It was raining, and my polite friends did not want me to take cold."
His tone was bitterly cutting; taking cold would evidently have been of small account to him.
"And they sat you upon that log?" put in Maud.
"Like any ordinary b.u.mp," he rejoined. "I never knew the misery of a b.u.mp on a log before."
"And, you are not hurt?" Hazel pressed close to his side and looked up lovingly at the tall boy.
"Not in the least--that is, physically. But I am seriously hurt mentally."
Cora could not but recognize how handsome Paul was. The excitement seemed to fire his whole being, and throw some subtle human phosphorus--a light from his burning brain certainly brightened in his eyes and even in his cheeks.
"Come along, girls," he said hurriedly. "Never mind the paraphernalia.
Some lonely goat might like the rags. Let"s get out on the road."
His anxiety was of course for the mail. That leather bag meant more to him than the mere transference of Uncle Sam"s freight--it meant his honor--his position.
Over the rough fields the girls followed him. Hazel clung to his hand like a little sister indeed, while the others were content to keep as close as the uncertain footing would allow.
Presently they reached the road, then the stage coach. The other girls, who had not run to Paul"s rescue, were standing around breathless.
Paul jumped into the car--thrust his hand into the box under the floor, where he always put the government pouch.
He brought up the mailbag.
CHAPTER VII
A CHANCE MEETING
Paul lost no time in reaching Cartown with the belated mail, and so was obliged to leave the girls an the road with scant ceremony, hardly pausing to discuss why he had been bound when no apparent robbery had been perpetrated.
Hazel appeared so agitated that Cora insisted upon her returning to the Kimball home to dinner, and also had succeeded in getting a promise from Paul that he would come there as early in the evening as it would be possible for him to do so.
Then, when the mail car was lost sight of, and the motor girls started again on their homeward way, Clip insisted upon leading.
"I know the variety of bandit," she declared, "and I want to meet him personally. He is sure to fall dead in love with me on the spot. And, oh, girls! Think of it! Me and the bandit!"
Even Hazel laughed. The suggestion called up a picture of the disgraceful Clip in robber uniform, with the proverbial red handkerchief on her head, and all the rest of the disreputable accessories. Clip would "look the part."
But the Thayer machine was not noted for its beauty or service--it had the reputation of bolting always at the "psychological moment," and when Clip dashed forward to meet her fate, the fate of the Turtle (as her car was called) intercepted her.
With a jerk the Turtle tossed up its head, bounced Clip off her seat, and then stopped.
"Oh!" exclaimed the girl. "Isn"t this the utmost! And I about to meet my bandit! Now I suppose I will have to leave Turtle here to afford the foe a means of escape. I say, girls, isn"t that the utmost?"
She jumped out of the car and, with a superficial glance at the fractious machine, waited for Cora"s car.
"Come on, Ray," she said to her companion. "No use sitting there. That car will never, move unless it is dragged. I know her. No use monkeying with tools. When she stops, she stops, and we may as well make up our minds to it."
"But," argued Ray, "you have not even attempted to find out what is the matter. Perhaps we could fix it up--"
"No use attempting. I would find the whole thing the matter. Just feel," she suggested, putting her ungloved hand on the radiator. "You could make beef stew on any of her lids. Oh, I know this kind of hot box! I"ve boiled the water, and the cylinders are stuck."
By this time the other girls had come along. Cora insisted upon looking over the disabled machine, and, while she did so, Clip deliberately made herself comfortable in the Whirlwind.
"Get in with Daisy," she called to Ray. "This will do me."
"Can"t we tow it?" asked Cora. "Why should you leave your machine out here? And it is almost dark!"
"That"s the reason," replied Clip. "It is almost dark, and I prefer to leave the machine here as a little token of my love to the bandit.
Suppose I want to be "run in" for traveling without a glimmer"?"
Cora saw that argument was useless. Reluctantly she turned from the Turtle. Ray climbed in with Daisy and Maud. Bess and Belle were ready to start "from the seat," without cranking up. Cora gave the Whirlwind a few turns.
"I hope we get home without any further trouble," came from the folds of Ray"s blue veil. "I think we have had enough for one day."
"Enough!" echoed Clip. "Why, I could stand ten times that much! I love trouble--in the abstract."
"Suppose you call this the abstract," almost sneered Daisy, who evidently did not relish being crowded.
"Certainly I do," declared Clip. "Just gaze on the abstracted Turtle!"
"Who"s that?" whispered Hazel nervously. A step could be heard in the roadway.
"My bandit!" breathed Clip. "Oh, my darling, desperate bandit!"
"Hush!" cautioned Cora, for she felt the possibility of Paul"s captors being about still. Then two figures appeared from the sharp turn in the road. Cora wanted to start, but hesitated. The figures came closer. They were those of two well-dressed men; that was easily discernable.
Clip put her hand over her heart.
"Oh-h=h!" she groaned audibly. "Isn"t he handsome!"
Hazel clutched at her sleeve. "Do stop!" she begged. "They may be--"
"They are!" answered Clip, and, as the men halted beside the Turtle, she deliberately jumped out and approached them.