The Motor Girls at Lookout Beach Part 26

Jack recoiled at this.

"Go ahead. Be a sport," urged Ed.

Then Walter burst into a laugh.

"Why, they're dummies!" he gasped. "Straw figures!" And so they proved.

"All over!" announced a man. "Have another wash. It will do you good."

"Not for mine," declared Jack. "I'm clean enough to last a month."

"I'm going to have some more," announced Walter.

"So am I," declared Ed. "I'll go through with the girls this time."

"And there's Paul yet to be initiated," added Walter.

They hurried back to where they had left their friends.

"The greatest ever!" declared Jack. "I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Go ahead, girls. It's the greatest fun!"

"But those wringers?" faltered Bess. "Aren't you pressed flat?"

"Try it--and see," replied Jack, all unconscious of the joke he was perpetrating at the expense of the plump girl.

"Were they rubber?" asked Belle.

"Go through and see," was all Jack would answer.

"I'll try it," volunteered Paul.

"So will I," added Cora bravely.

"Oh, don't!" begged Belle.

"Of course I will. I'm not afraid, after Ed, Walter and Jack have been through it. Besides, look at all the other girls and ladies who venture in."

"That's the way to talk," said the attendant admiringly. "In you go, young lady," and he a.s.sisted Cora upon the narrow footpath of the first "tub." Cora went through it all, with Paul close behind her. It was all perfectly proper, and not too rough, and the girl thoroughly enjoyed it, even to the two rolling machines. She came back with her cheeks flushed from the exercise and excitement.

"Go ahead, girls!" urged Cora to her chums. "It is a most novel experience."

"I would, only for the wringers," agreed Bess.

"And I would--only--only for the slide," declared Belle, and no amount of urging could induce her or her sister to venture the novelty. But they had lots of fun watching others get "washed," and even Hazel took a trip, with Jack to keep her company, for he reconsidered his determination not to take another "dip."

Jack, his chums, the boys, and Cora and Hazel were such a merry party, and attracted so much attention that the man in charge of the machine, after they had each enjoyed two trips through it, came up, and said:

"Say, go through again--for nothing."

"Why?" inquired Jack.

"Oh, because you're such a jolly bunch that you are drawing a big crowd in here," was the explanation. "The man outside is turning 'em away. That's good business for us. Have another dip or two for nothing. Only keep up the laughing and shouting."

"No, thank you," responded Cora, with a smile. "We are not human advertis.e.m.e.nts, if we have gone through a human washing machine," and, to the man's evident disappointment, they walked out of the place.

Bess laughed so uproariously at the sight of a stout woman essaying a trip through the machine, that the motor girl had to sit down on a box to get her breath.

"Oh, I never laughed so much in all my life," she said.

"Laugh and grow fat," commented the attendant, meaning no harm.

Bess stopped her mirth suddenly, and gave the man such a look, that, as Jack said, if glances could kill, the poor chap would have been "crippled for life."

"I wish he was!" snapped Bess, who was very sensitive about her weight. "I never heard of such a thing--just because I laughed a little."

"You should have gone through the rolls," ventured Cora. "Though they looked hard, they were as soft as a feather pillow. Come on; there's time yet."

But even the inducement of "feather pillows," would not tempt Bess or Belle to try the machine.

"Well, what next?" asked Jack, as they stood out on the big pier, and listened to the mournful swish of the incoming tide underneath. "What do you say to another moving picture show, or the band concert, or some salt-water taffy or even a lobster supper? I'm game."

"I vote for lobsters," called Ed.

"Because they're such friends of yours," retorted Walter.

"Mighty good friends, at the prices they charge down here," commented Paul. "I haven't dared look one in the face."

"Silly--a lobster hasn't a face," said his sister.

"Well, their eyes, then," amended Paul.

"I think my sister and I must really go," came from Paul. "It is getting late--for us."

"Yes, it is too late for anything more to-night," was Cora's retort.

"If we don't get in on good time, you know, boys, our liberty on other occasions may be restricted."

"Well, have your way about it," answered Jack, good-naturedly. "There are other nights coming."

"Yes, let's go home," added Belle, and Bess tried to hide a sleepy yawn, for they had traveled about considerable that day, and she was tired.

So Paul and Hazel said good-night, and the others, entering the autos, turned into the ocean boulevard and started toward Clover Cottage.

"We'll drive up, and put the machines away later," suggested Jack, when they were near their home quarters. "We really have been quite a long time away."

They found Mrs. Robinson and Miss Steel waiting on the porch.

"Why, mamma has not retired yet," exclaimed Bess. "I wonder at her sitting out of doors in the damp."

But the reason of this was soon made plain. Mrs. Robinson was too frightened to go indoors!