The Automobile Girls at Chicago Part 9

"Then I'll drive in in style and make one of my flying stops," answered Ruth. "We'll make them think a train has left the C., B. & Q. track and is going to smash the house down. I think they will be surprised. I'll open up the exhaust just as we get to the house, make a flying stop and the noise will wake up Olive's scalped ancestors."

"Be careful that you don't hit the house in reality," laughed Olive.

"Remember it is old. It might tumble down. I don't care so much about the house, but I shouldn't like to see it tumble down on father and mother."

"Oh, it will not be quite as bad as that. We shall simply be making a big noise."

"I was only joking," replied Olive. "You don't think I thought for a minute you would run into the house, do you?"

"That is exactly what I am going to do."

"Ruth Stuart!" exclaimed Bab sternly.

"After I have stopped the car," finished Ruth, with a merry laugh. "But look here, young ladies, if you keep on talking to me and making me laugh, I am likely to pile you all in the ditch right here."

"Can you see the road?"

"Yes. Between snow flurries. I can't miss the road. The turn into the grounds is enclosed in stone fences, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I'll pick it up all right. You girls look out when I give the word. I am going to make the turn wide and at full speed. Hold fast!" she cried, giving the steering wheel a sharp turn. For one giddy moment Mr. A.

Bubble appeared to be uncertain whether to turn turtle or go on the way he was headed. He decided upon the latter course, and settling down on all four wheels shot straight ahead. The light was uncertain, but Ruth's eyes were on the road, all her attention centred on her work. Suddenly she uttered a sharp little cry. The emergency brake went on with a shock. Then came a mighty crash. To the girls in the car in their brief instant of consciousness, it seemed as if the universe were going to pieces.

CHAPTER VII

THE MYSTERY OF THE IRON GATES

INSTEAD of running into the Presby home, as she had laughingly threatened to do, Ruth Stuart had dashed at almost full speed into the closed heavy iron gates at the entrance to the Treasureholme grounds.

These gates were supposed to be open. As Olive had said, they had not been closed in some months. Why should they be closed now when the "Automobile Girls" car was looked for to arrive at any moment?

None of the girls was thinking of this at the moment. None was in condition to think at all. Ruth had discovered the obstruction in time to throw on the emergency brake, but not quickly enough to stop the headway of the automobile.

The car crashed against the gates with great force. The heavy iron bars of the gates buckled under the impact, then with a great creaking and rattling the hinges gave way, the old brick columns to which the hinges had been attached crumbled and fell in a cloud of dust and mortar.

Accompanying the crash was the sound of breaking gla.s.s. But not a cry had been raised from the interior of the car, save Ruth's warning.

That cry of warning had set Barbara instantly on the defensive. She threw both arms about Mollie and Olive. Grace was on the front seat with Ruth. Bab braced her feet with a mighty effort. Then the crash came.

It seemed to Barbara Thurston as though her arms were being torn from their sockets. Then the three girls on the rear seat were jerked to their feet. They toppled over the back of the seat ahead of them, plunging head first into the forward part of the car, where the operating mechanism was located.

Ruth and Grace had been hurled against the storm curtain, securely fastened down between themselves and the gla.s.s wind shield. Fortunately for them, the curtain held for a few seconds until the shower of gla.s.s from the shield had fallen into the roadway, then the curtain gave way and the two girls tumbled out in the wake of the gla.s.s.

The automobile, after the first impact, had recoiled several feet. It essayed to plunge forward again, but the emergency brake held it motionless while the motors began to race, making a noise that was heard in the house, which stood at some distance from the fallen gates.

The "Automobile Girls" lay where they had fallen, Ruth and Grace in the roadway, Bab, Mollie and Olive in the forward end of the car.

"There they come," cried Mrs. Presby. "Why, what a frightful noise," she exclaimed, starting for the door, followed by Mr. Presby, with a painful limp.

Tommy's face turned white when he heard the crash. With a bound he pa.s.sed his father and mother, tore down the steps and off down the drive.

"Something has happened, Richard," cried Mrs. Presby.

"Something will happen to my gout, too, if I have to remain out in this chill atmosphere," declared Mr. Presby irritably.

"Hurry, hurry!" wailed the distant voice of Tommy.

"Oh, what is it?" cried Mrs. Presby, picking up her skirts and running down the drive.

"They're killed! They're killed!" howled Tommy. "They've smashed into the gates. Everything's done. Finished!"

"Run, Richard! Quick! Get help! An accident has occurred," begged Olive's mother.

The woman was almost beside herself with terror. Tommy's face was ghastly.

"Here's Ruth," he said, almost brusquely, lifting the girl by main strength and staggering toward the house. He bore the burden only a few feet, however, then hastily deposited it on the ground. Ruth was senseless.

A neighbor had witnessed the accident and with rare forethought telephoned for a doctor. By this time a general alarm had been sounded.

The old fire bell on Treasureholme had been rung by Mr. Presby as the quickest method of summoning a.s.sistance. Neighbors came on the run. They were appalled when they first looked upon the wreck of the old gates.

The wreck at first sight appeared to be much worse than it really was.

The automobile motors were still racing, the exhaust emitting frequent explosions that sounded like the discharge of a Gatling gun. It was almost as though Mr. A. Bubble were summoning a.s.sistance on his own responsibility.

No time was lost, however, in attending to the five girls. Ruth and Grace being nearest at hand, were quickly lifted by strong arms and borne to the house. The three girls still in the automobile were tenderly lifted out and also carried in. Each girl was placed in the room that had been set aside for her. The doctor was on hand almost by the time the girls had been placed on their beds. He made a hasty diagnosis of each case, announced that no bones had been broken and, a.s.sisted by Mrs. Presby, administered restoratives to the victims of the accident, who soon recovered consciousness.

No one had thought to send word to Mr. Stuart. The household was too much upset to think of anything save the accident that had occurred.

Grace and Ruth really had the front storm curtain to thank for saving their lives. Had they been hurled through the heavy gla.s.s wind shield they undoubtedly would have been killed instantly. Mollie and Olive no doubt were saved by Barbara Thurston's presence of mind. But Barbara by devoting her whole effort to saving her companions had been badly bruised and shaken.

Someone in the meantime had shut off the motors and pushed the car out of the way. The wreckage of the gates was also cleared away at the direction of Mr. Presby, so that no one else should collide with it.

The doctor remained at Treasureholme until nine o'clock in the evening.

Before taking his departure, however, he gave strict orders that none of his patients were to be allowed to leave their beds until he called the next morning, and p.r.o.nounced them able to rise and dress.

Mrs. Presby broke down and cried after she learned that the girls were not seriously injured. Tom went out in the woodshed and wailed so loudly that he was heard in the rooms upstairs. Mr. Presby hobbled about irritably. He did not care to have those in the house know how much affected he really was.

Early the next morning he sent for one of his men. The old gentleman was now in a fine temper. Owing to the excitement caused by the accident, and a particularly painful attack of the gout, he had pa.s.sed a sleepless night and was therefore in a most unamiable frame of mind.

"Who closed those gates?" roared Mr. Presby the instant the man appeared in the doorway of the dining room, where the master was hobbling back and forth.

"I--I don't know, sir."

"You closed them!" thundered Richard Presby.

"I did not. They were open when I last saw them."

"When was that?"