Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Copyright, 1919, by Cupples & Leon Company
CHAPTER PAGE I. Breaking the Speed Limit 1 II. Quick Thinking 12 III. The Missing Purse 21 IV. The Sterner Sex 29 V. A Group of Vagabonds 39 VI. A Perplexing Problem 47 VII. The Mountain Camp 54 VIII. Fun in the Open 64 IX. The “Water Sprite” 74 X. Springing a Leak 83 XI. Cora Makes a Discovery 92 XII. An Ugly Customer 100 XIII. A Momentous Step 107 XIV. In the Wilderness 115 XV. Consternation 125 XVI. Help From the Sky 132 XVII. A Joyful Reunion 142 XVIII. Good News Travels Fast 150 XIX. An Uninvited Guest 159 XX. The Greedy Marauder 170 XXI. The Drifting Boat 177 XXII. The Gypsy Camp 183 XXIII. A Tangled Skein 189 XXIV. The Knocking at Midnight 195 XXV. Falsely Accused 202 XXVI. Council of War 209 XXVII. A Narrow Escape 216 XXVIII. Waylaid 223 XXIX. The Plot 230 XXX. Brought Together 237
“Say, girls, isn’t this the best thing ever?”
Cora Kimball, the girl whose hand was on the wheel of the motor car as it sped swiftly along a sun-flecked country road, put the words in the form of a question, but they were really an exclamation drawn from her by sheer delight in living. She was gloriously indifferent as to an answer, but the answer came just the same from the two pretty girls who occupied the seat behind her.
“It’s perfectly grand!” cried Belle Robinson, the more slender of the two, as she snuggled down still more luxuriously in the soft cushions of the automobile.
“It seems to me yet as though it must be a dream,” declared her twin sister Bess, who was considerably larger than either of her companions. “Pinch me, somebody, so that I can be sure it’s real.”
Cora reached over mischievously and took her at her word.
“Ouch!” she exclaimed. “You took a piece out that time!”
“Well, what if I did?” laughed Cora. “You can spare a little without missing it.”
“You ought to be thankful to Cora for helping you to reduce,” put in her sister slyly.
Bess flushed a trifle, for her “plumpness”—she abominated the word “stout” and avoided it as if it were the plague—was rather a tender point with her.
“I don’t care for such drastic methods,” she retorted. “I’d rather take the flesh off more gradually. Besides,” she added with a show of pride, “I’m going down quite fast enough as it is. I’m two pounds lighter than I was last week.”