The Outdoor Girls in a Winter Camp Part 26

"Have you had any trace of your sister?"

"None at all," he said despondently. "I seem to be up against a stone wall, and so do the lawyers and searchers I have engaged. We get to a certain point, and there we stick. After that, all traces of her are lost."

"Poor little sister! I wonder what she will look like, and what she will be like?"

"Then you never saw her?"

"Only when she was a baby, and I a small chap. I do not remember her.

But I have not given up hope yet. Now, how are you all, and what has happened since I went away?"

Betty told him, including the news about the new auto ice boat.

"That sounds interesting," declared Mr. Blackford. "I want a ride in that."

"That's more than I do," spoke Mollie. "I'd rather go in an airship."

"So would I," agreed Grace.

But when the next day, after several false starts, and a breakdown, the motor was finally set in motion on the _Spider_, the girls were interested enough to come down to look at it.

"All aboard!" cried Will, who was quite proud of his apparatus. "Come on, girls!"

"Wait until we see you try it," suggested Betty.

"Well, then, get in, fellows!"

Allen, Frank and Mr. Blackford took their places, Allen to steer while Will looked after the motor. Looking to see that all was running smoothly, the big notched wheel at the stern revolving swiftly, Will cautiously lowered it. There was a shower of icy particles as the teeth chipped into the frozen surface of the river, and then the _Spider_ slowly forged ahead, under the influence of the motor instead of a sail.

"Oh, they're actually moving!" cried Grace.

"And how fast!" agreed Mollie.

"That's fine!" declared Betty.

"I--I'm going to ask them to give me a ride!" exclaimed Amy. "Oh, it must be glorious!"

"Well, if she's brave enough to risk it, I am!" said Grace positively.

"Shall we go, girls?"

"Wait a bit and see what happens," suggested Mollie. But nothing seemed to be going to happen. On up the river went the auto ice boat at ever-increasing speed.

CHAPTER XIX

MAROONED

"Dare we take it out ourselves?" asked Grace.

"I don't see why not," replied Mollie. "I can run a motor car, Betty can manage a motor boat, and this is sort of between them both. Of course we can run it!"

"Will you promise to go slow?" asked Amy, timidly.

"Of course," agreed Betty. "Anyhow the ice is so soft that we can't get as much speed out of it as the boys did the other day."

The outdoor girls were grouped about the auto ice boat at the little dock near their cabin. The boys had gone off on a hunt, a rumor of a bear having been seen about five miles off coming to them by a friendly lumberman.

The girls were discussing the advisability of going out for a little trip in the queer craft that Will and his chums had made. For a week past the boys had run it at various times, taking the girls out on trips, and explaining how the motor and notched wheel operated. The girls had even run it for short distances themselves, under the tutelage of the boys.

A week has pa.s.sed since it was first run and, though it was voted "great sport," the boys had rather tired of it, especially when the rumor of the bear reached them.

"Will said we could take it whenever we wanted to," spoke Grace, as she arranged some fur rugs in the c.o.c.kpit. "But are you sure you can run it, Mollie--or Betty?"

"It's simple," replied Betty noncommittally. "It will do no harm to try."

"And it's easy to stop," said Mollie. "Even if we forget to shut off the engine, by pushing down on this handle, the wheel will be raised, and won't cut into the ice. Then it will stop."

"Just as when you throw out the clutch on your auto," suggested Betty.

"Exactly. Come on girls. We'll go for a little run. There's nothing else to do in camp."

The week had been rather a monotonous one, for the weather had turned warm, and the ice was not in good condition for skating. It was almost too soft for the boat, and the boys had rather given it up. But the girls wanted to do something, and the auto ice craft offered them a chance.

They had visited a hunters' camp a few days before, and seen some novel sights, though game was not as plentiful as the hunters had wished.

"Well, if we're going--let's go!" cried Betty in a jolly voice, as she b.u.t.toned her sweater more closely about her, and saw that her cap fitted snugly.

"You must expect to get some speed out of it," returned Amy. "But remember you promised to go slow."

"We can't do much else--it's so soft," declared Mollie, digging the toe of her shoe into the surface of the ice.

"Well--let's mote!" exclaimed Grace. "I've got some chocolates, so that if the wind does out----"

"Wind! You forget we don't use a sail," cried Betty with a laugh. "We can get home in a dead calm. So if that's your only excuse for bringing chocolates----"

"We might run out of gasoline," Grace interrupted. "I'll take them, anyway."

"That's right, angel child!" murmured Mollie, "and I'll help you eat them," and she calmly appropriated the box Grace had produced, and selected some choice confections.

Just as the girls were about to leave, having shoved the ice boat out away from the dock so as to get a good start, Mr. Franklin, the camp care-taker, who had been over to a distant section, came running down to the dock.

"Do you think your father is back from his Western trip yet, Miss Ford?"

he asked.

"Yes, I had a letter from home to-day, saying he would be home to-night.

Why?"