The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson Part 17

"None," said Barbara, "At least I haven't. You may, however, when you hear that Ruth won the championship at Newport last summer."

"You look to me like a pretty good player, too," said Stephen.

Just then Jimmie Butler appeared, bearing a hammock and a book.

"You can get in the next set, Jimmie," called Stephen. "We are just starting in on this one."

"I don't care for the game," replied Jimmie. "I prefer a book 'neath the bough, especially as this house party seems to go in companies of twos.

Every laddie has a la.s.sie but me, so I've taken to literature."

He waved his hand toward the garden, and then toward the walk leading from the house.

In the old-fashioned flower garden, a stone's throw from the court, could be seen Miss Sallie and the major strolling along the paths, stopping occasionally to examine the late roses and smell the honeysuckle trained over wicker arches.

In the direction of the house appeared Mollie and Grace, followed by Martin and Jose. The sound of their laughter floated over to Jimmie as he swung in his hammock.

"Keep away, all," he called as he spread himself comfortably among the cushions and opened his book. "I intend to enter a monastery and take the vow of silence, and this is a good time to begin. It's easy because I have n.o.body to talk to."

"What are you grumbling about, Jimmie?" asked the major, who came up just then with Miss Sallie.

"Oh, nothing at all, Major," replied Jimmie. "I was only saying how delightful it was to see all you young people walking around this sylvan place in couples. It reminds me of my lost youth."

"Jimmie's lonesome," exclaimed Martin. "We'll have to get up some more excitement if we want to keep him happy."

"Very well," replied the major. "We will. The most exciting thing I can think of, just now, is to take a long ride in the automobiles, or go driving, whichever the ladies prefer, and wind up at the forest pool for tea. How does that strike you, Jimmie?"

"It sounds fine," said Jimmie, "if you mean the haunted pool. It is a beautiful spot, and it has a new haunt since last you saw it, Major.

It's haunted by water nymphs now."

"Only nymphs in wading," cried Mollie, blushing. "Jimmie caught us in the act yesterday morning."

"Oho!" exclaimed the major. "You really are little girls, after all, are you?"

"Think of going in wading in that lonesome spot," said Grace, "and actually meeting somebody as casually as if you were walking up Fifth Avenue?"

"You're likely to meet Jimmie anywhere," said Martin. "He's a regular Johnnie-on-the-spot. He is the first person to get up and the last one to go to bed. Excitements have a real attraction for him. Haven't they, Jimsy?" and Martin gave the hammock such an affectionate shake that Jimmie nearly fell out on his face.

The luncheon gong rang out in the summer stillness, and they started toward the house, leaving the players to finish the game.

"Jose," asked the major, putting his arm through the young Spaniard's, "have you any theories about last night?"

"Yes," replied Jose. "I do not think it will do any good to hunt for the one who threw the knife. I have, in my country, an enemy. I believe it was he."

"What?" cried the major. "He has followed you all the way to America, and your life is constantly in danger?"

"I do not think he will come again," answered Jose. "At any rate, I am not afraid," he added, shrugging his shoulders, "and I can do nothing."

"You could have him arrested," said Miss Sallie.

"Yes, Madam, I could. But it would not be easy to catch him."

"Dear, dear!" exclaimed Miss Sallie. "What a dangerous country Spain must be to live in!"

"No more dangerous than America, Madam, I find," replied Jose.

"True enough," a.s.sented Miss Sallie, "since this is America and not Spain, and we find ourselves in a perfect hotbed of criminals. My dear John, I think we shall need a body-guard if we go out in the open this afternoon."

"Well, Sallie," answered the courteous old man, "you shall have one in me and my nephews and their friends-a devoted body-guard, I a.s.sure you."

At luncheon the feeling of good will which comes to friends who have just found each other, so to speak, had spread itself. Enjoyment was in the air and there were no discordant elements. All their troubles were of the past, and Bab determined to cast aside her suspicions and regard Jose in the light of a mysterious but otherwise exceedingly attractive foreigner. When she looked across the table into his clear, brown eyes, which regarded her sadly but without a single guilty quiver of the lids, she could not but believe that there had been some bitter mistake somewhere. He was lonely and strange, and there was something about him that aroused her pity. Everybody liked him; even Miss Sallie was attracted by his graceful and gentle manners.

Luncheon over, everyone made ready for the auto trip, and it was not long before the two autos carrying a merry party, had set forth.

CHAPTER XIII-CROSS QUESTIONS AND CROOKED ANSWERS

After a long ride through the country, skirting the edge of the forest in which the highwayman had lurked, and where the smoke from the Gypsies' camp fire could be seen curling up in the distance, the two automobiles took to the river road.

Ruth was steering her own car with Alfred beside her; behind them on the small seat sat Jose and Mollie, and on the back seat were Bab and Stephen. As they skimmed over the bridge, which had been repaired by the major's men, Mollie said to Jose:

"Was the bridge all right, Mr. Martinez, when you came over it the other day?"

The Spaniard flushed and his eye caught Bab's, who was gazing at him curiously.

"Yes, no-or rather, I do not know," he stammered. "I did not come by the bridge but through the forest."

"But how did you find the way?" asked Mollie, wondering a little at his embarra.s.sment.

"I asked it," he replied, "of a Gypsy."

"Oh, really?" cried Mollie. "And did she tell you?"

"It was not a woman," went on Jose. "It was a man."

"And did he know the way? Because they told us they did not, perhaps because they didn't want to be disturbed so late in the evening."

"Perhaps," said Jose, and changed the subject by asking Stephen whose was the large estate they were now approaching. It was that of a famous millionaire, and their attention was for the moment distracted. Jose seemed to breath a sigh of relief and engaged Mollie in conversation for the rest of the ride, telling her about his own country, the bull fights and carnivals and a hundred other things of interest until the little girl had quite forgotten his confusion at the mention of the damaged bridge.

On the way back the automobiles turned into the wooded road, but before they reached the Gypsy camp they turned again into another road pointed out by Martin in the first car. The road led directly through the forest to the haunted pool, where the automobiles drew up. The pool, in the late afternoon sunlight, was more enchanting than ever.

"This is a famous spot in the neighborhood," observed the major. "When I was a boy it was the scene of many a picnic and frolic. People in these parts were more neighborly in those days. The girls and boys used to meet and ride in wagons or on horseback over here. We ate our luncheons on this mossy bank; then strolled about in couples until dark and drove home by moonlight."

"The Gypsy girl told us it was really haunted, Major," said Ruth. "She even said she had seen the ghost."

"Indeed," replied the major, looking up a little startled, "and what sort of ghost was it?"