The Motor Girls on Crystal Bay Part 16

"No!" replied Freda, cheerfully. "It isn't so bad out there. But we knew what it was on this bar, and could tell by the wind just about where you were drifting. If Jack will let me take the wheel I will follow Denny's orders and ride into it. Then we can go around the island--and see a blue sky!"

"Blue sky!" came the exclamation from the girls in unison.

"Certainly. But I must have the wheel, Jack."

Having satisfied them that she could run the boat, Freda changed places with Jack, while Cora let her brother take up her watch beside Kent. Then Cora went to the steering wheel with Freda.

"Don't be afraid," the latter said. "I have ridden out worse storms than this with Denny. They have a way of turning things upside down, but you are all right as long as you can keep well on top."

She was driving directly into the smother. The girls shut their eyes, and it must be admitted that more than one put their fingers in their ears, for indeed the roar was deafening.

"There are Denny and the man getting into the _Dixie_!" breathed Cora.

"Oh, I am so glad, for it must have been dreadful to row that boat."

"It _was_ no joke, but Denny likes hard work," Freda answered. "Now here is where we ride it out!"

Every bit of power was turned on and with one well directed plunge the _Chelton_ was shot through what seemed to be a "comber" as if she had been a submarine.

"Oh!" gasped Cora. Freda dropped into the "V" s.p.a.ce at the base of the wheel. Still, she did not take her hands from the spokes. It was a serious moment. What if the boat could not ride those waves? The time it took to get out of the harder waves could not be estimated by the hands of a clock or watch; but in gasping breaths, thumping hearts, pale faces and fears--for boys as well as for girls--it must have been a long, long time.

Finally Freda stood up.

"There!" she exclaimed. "What did I tell you?"

"Sky!" they all shouted, clapping their hands like children.

"And--it--took a girl--to--do it!" exclaimed Jack, who would not have been blamed for hugging Freda had the opportunity offered. Instead, however, he made his way back to the wheel and allowed Freda and Cora a chance to look at their blistered hands, for both girls had been tugging at the spokes.

"Who would believe a storm would end like that?" said Belle, with the relief that comes so quickly upon intense strain.

"We have got to keep in out of the rain for a while," Cora cautioned.

"There are enough water-loaded clouds over there yet to dampen our enthusiasm."

This proved to be true, for torrents of rain followed in the wake of the vanishing thunder clouds.

But the wind had ceased, and the waves soon quieted. With more than a sigh of relief the _Chelton_ girls and boys fell into the course made now by the _Dixie_, for in that boat Denny Shane was at the wheel.

CHAPTER XII

THE CALM

A more delightful scene than Crystal Bay presented, two hours after the squall, could scarcely be imagined. To the motor girls it was particularly effective, as may easily be imagined. Coming back around the island the _Dixie_ picked up the lost canoe, so this left nothing to be worried over in the record of adventure.

"How do you feel, Lottie?" Cora asked, when all had landed safely and stood looking over the waters that could be so deceptive.

"Oh, I am all right, really," answered Lottie, a little ashamed that she should have allowed herself to give way.

"But be careful," cautioned Cora. "Take it easy for the rest of the day, at least. It doesn't do to try too much."

"Grandmother!" Lottie answered, with an affectionate squeeze of Cora's arm. "What about you? Who did all the engineering in the storm? And who is still 'on deck' giving orders?"

"Oh, I am strong," replied Cora, though strong as she was the last few hours had told in the paler tint of her cheeks.

The return of the storm-stricken ones attracted crowds of bungalowers and campers to the beach; for, of course, craft of all sorts had been caught in the gale. The center of interest, however, was the _Chelton_, for that boat had already gained a reputation at Crystal Bay.

Not one person came in from the bay in dry clothes; in fact, many were drenched, and naturally the girls showed the effects of the storm more conspicuously than did the boys. Bess happened to be the one "who got the worst of it," among the motor girls--perhaps because there was more of her for the waves to hit.

"You are certainly a beauty," commented Belle, who had been more fortunate in dodging the water. "You look like a swimming lesson in the first stage."

"I feel as if I needed artificial respiration," replied Bess, good-humoredly, "but I want to forget it all--all but this. Isn't this wonderful?"

"Almost enough to make up for the danger," Belle returned. "But wasn't Freda splendid? What good training she must have had to be able to manage that boat. No one else except Cora could have done it, and she was unfamiliar with the tricks of the bay. I do feel so sorry for Freda and her mother!" This last was said with a wistful sigh, for all the members of the Mote were now much attached to the motherly Mrs.

Lewis.

"Cora must have known those men were going to put the 'for sale' sign on the cottage, when she hurried so to get Freda and her mother over to our place the other night," went on Bess. "I knew there was something more important than merely taking care of us."

"Oh, of course, that's just like Cora. Fancy Mrs. Lewis never hearing a word about it. If she had been in the house when they tacked that sign on----"

"It must be perfectly awful to lose everything that way; to feel it is all an injustice, yet not to be able to prove one's own claim," said Belle. "Tricky business men are worse to watch than spiteful girls, and we always thought _they_ were about all that we could handle.

There's Ted and Jean. Just look at their boat!"

Among the last of the storm-bound ones to "enter port" were Ted and Jean, members of "Camp All Alone." They certainly presented a sorry spectacle, as they came up to the dock.

"How do you feel?" asked Lottie, who was down near the water's edge, in spite of Cora's admonition.

"I feel like playing a spaghetti obligato on a big hot bowl of soup,"

replied Jean. "That would be the song to reach my heart."

"The sun is clucking, girls," announced Walter. "She may set at any time. Is there aught to eat at the Mote? Let us thither. We intended to go to the store before tea."

"After giving you your lunch!" exclaimed Cora, in surprise.

"But, don't you see, that is why we didn't get to the store. You are really liable for our suppers. Don't you think so, fellows?" he asked.

"Not only liable, but accountable," added Ed. "Of course we will go home and dress. I wonder what on earth the squall did to headquarters?"

he asked, suddenly realizing that the camp had had need of secure moorings during the last two hours.

"Let's look," suggested Dray, who had now moored the _Dixie_ securely, while Jack and Cora had attended to the _Chelton_.

"Oh, you ought to see your tent," sang out a little fellow, who wore little beside a shirt and bathing trunks. He had been out in the squall and had, very likely, enjoyed it immensely.

"What's the matter with it?" inquired Jack.

"Oh, it's all flippy-floppy," replied the urchin. "But some lady saw it goin' and she tied it back to the stakes."