CHAPTER XXVII

AGAINST THE LAW

Two hours later Cora almost fell into the arms of her brother--so

overstrained were her nerves after the exciting ride.

"Oh, Jack," she exclaimed, "I had the awfullest time! It is very well

to be a girl and imitate boys in the matter of risking; but I say,

Jack, it is always risky."

"Well, I am glad you have found that out, little girl," answered the

brother, putting her comfortably down in the big armchair. "What's the

particular risk now? No more stolen girls?"

"Oh, that was your part," she said, laughing. "And, by the way, I hear

you are quite a successful kidnaper."

"Not so bad. But you should have seen the time we had to get Wren to

the sanitarium. She didn't want to leave here, and had a mortal fear

of a hospital. But how are you?" and he looked into her flushed face.

"I declare it seems moons since I've seen you."

"And all the other planets since I saw you, Jack. I wonder will I ever

have the courage to tell you all about it?"

"Wouldn't the courage just naturally come on my side? I would have to

listen--"

"Oh, no. You don't have to--"

"There you go! Home ten minutes and picking a fight--"

"Jack Kimball!"

"Cora Kimball!"

Then they both laughed. It was jolly even to play at quarreling, and

be real brother and sister again.

"Well, I have so little time, Jack, I must be serious. You know we

have to get back to Breakwater to-night. We are to fetch you, and Ed

and Walter and Clip--"

"Oh, you don't say! In a suit case or a la hamper? Ed is literally

cut up about all the girls being out of town at once. He would fit in

the shirt box, I fancy. But Wallie--he seems to have expanded. I

doubt if you could manage him--"

"Oh, you ridiculous boy! Come on. Run after me while I get through

the house. I must see dear old Margaret. How is she treating you?"

"First-rate, for Margaret. She only starved me out of the midnight

rations twice--"

"You should not eat after ten, Jack. But come along. I must look over

the place, and talk at the same time," and with that intention Cora

started on her tour of home inspection, while Jack made all the noise

he possibly could make (which was not a little), running through the

house after her.

Margaret, of course, knew what the tumult was about. She always

declared that boys went to college to learn how to make unearthly

noises.

Cora found little out of place. Margaret was an old and trusted

servant, and, in the absence of her mistress, could always be depended

upon to look after the "children."

"And now I must go and get the folks together," remarked Cora. "Can you

come, Jack?"

"And help you pick up the humans? Well, guess I may as well, as I am

to be in the collection. But what is it all about?"

In a girl's way Cora told of the plans for the auto fete, and of Dr.

Bennet wishing to have the Chelton boys meet his student friends.

"First rate!" responded Jack, when Cora paused for breath. "I rather

fancy the idea of going after some of the girls. I cannot help but

agree with Ed that all the girls should not leave town at once--you

should take turns."

"But how about Clip? The others imagine that she makes up for quite a

number--with you and Walter."

"There you go again, picking a fight," and he laughed honestly. "Now,

Cora, Clip is just Clip, no more and not one whit less, but she has

been so busy--oh, so tremendously busy!" He was getting into his motor

togs, and Cora was already equipped for her ride about Chelton. "Say,

sis," he added, "did I tell you I have my suspicions about the loss of

Wren's book? Did she describe to you the pair who last signed the

contract?"

"No," answered Cora, now fully interested.

"Well, she told me it was a fellow with bent shoulders, and a girl with

red hair. Now, who does that fit?"

Cora thought for a moment. Then her face showed quicker than her words

that she guessed who might answer those descriptions.

"Sid Wilcox and Ida Giles!" she exclaimed. "But what motive could they

have?"

"Sid Wilcox and Rob Roland are termed the Heavenly Twins, they are so

often together. Now, Rob Roland has been the paragraph and the period,

so to speak, in this story," said Jack meaningly.

"But why should Ida stoop to such a thing?"

"Didn't you run over her dining-car one day early this summer?" Jack

reminded her. "Or was it Bess? No matter just who, it was one of the

motor girls. And, besides, you did not ask her to go on the run."

"If I thought Ida Giles knew anything about that book I would go

directly to her house and demand an explanation," said Cora, flushing.

"Ida is too apt to be influenced by Sid Wilcox. I thought she had seen

enough of the consequences of such folly."

"Oh, Ida is ambitious in that line," replied the cool, deliberate Jack.

"Well, let us start," suggested Cora. "I have quite some ground to

cover. Dr. Bennet has agreed to find and fetch Clip."

"Has, eh? Smart fellow, Doc Bennet! I tried all afternoon yesterday

to locate the lithersome Clip. Took a coy little jaunt of two miles

afoot--some one said she had a friend out Bentley way, but I did not

locate her. Hope Doc has better luck."

Jack said this in a way that opposed his words to their own meaning.

He evidently meant he hoped Dr. Bennet would not have better luck.

"I am so anxious about the report on Wren," commented Cora, as they

finally started off in Jack's runabout. "It will mean so much to her

mother, and to her, of course."

"Well, if Clip has had any influence, I should say Wren would turn out

an artist's model, physically. Clip has just about lived with the

child since you went away. Of course, we had Miss Brown, and if she

isn't Brown by nature as well as by name. I wouldn't say so. I never

got one single smile to cut across her map."

"Shall we look for Ed first?" and Cora could not control a most

provoking flush that threatened her cheeks.

"Just as you say, lady. But I have not told you--let the last moment

be the hardest. Ed has taken to the ram. He is training the ram.

Can't get him away from the ram. Mary's little lamb is a 'bucking

bronco' to it."

"Oh, I have been wondering about that," said Cora. "I thought I was to

wear the ram's fleece as a sort of real baby-lamb coat next winter."

"Nothing of the sort, girl. Ed's ramifications are the talk of the

town. He is to give an exhibition at college when we get back. A

clear case of the lamb and Mary's school days."

"Well, where shall we hope to find him?" and she glanced at her watch.

"I must find some one soon."

"Come along. I'll hunt him up. He is likely at this very moment

giving Minus his morning ablutions. He called the ram Minus because

the animal takes away so much of his time. Joke, eh?"

Jack directed his machine toward the same little creek that figured in

my first story of the motor girls, when Ed rescued them from a sorry

plight, the Whirlwind having run into a mudhole.

"Now, I'll bet we find him by the brookside with Minus chewing daisies

and, incidentally, Ed's stray clothing," declared Jack.

Along the way people appeared surprised to see Cora, and their

greetings were a mixture of query and astonishment.

"There's Ida!" suddenly exclaimed Jack. "Don't let on you see her. I

don't want to stop here to talk to her."

"Why?" asked Cora curiously.

"Because in about one minute you will see her trailer, the insufferable

Sid, and I am not in Sid's humor.

"I would like to speak with Ida," objected Cora. "I really wanted to

ask her something."

"Save it," commanded the ungovernable brother. "A thing like that gets

better with time."

So they passed along, Cora having to be content with a bow and a smile

to Ida Giles, who returned both promptly.

"Jack," said Cora, when they were also up to the hill behind which they

hoped to find the idler by the brook, "do you know I think I have an

actual clue to Wren's table. An antique man out Breakwater way has an

order for one. I am watching that order."

"That's easy. When you know that Reed has been in and out of the place

for some days. That's the best of being a girl. You can trace around

after the most important clues and no one would ever suspect you of

knowing what you are after. Now, I rather think when the fete is

'pulled off,' if I may use the term," and he laughed his apology, "then

there will be some doin's. I just want to see rocky Rob rumpled."

"Let us not delay talking long with Ed," proposed Cora, "for I must be

at Hazel's at one--I am so anxious about Paul."

"About Paul? Why, he's all right. He's out and has been to the

office," was the brother's surprising answer. "Didn't you hear about

Mr. Robinson wanting to send him away for his health? Robinson has

taken a great fancy to Paul. The stolen document business is also near

a climax. I had a fine time trying to keep Clip's name out of the

paper, the day they had the hearing about Wren. You see, I--the great

first person--ran into the courtroom just as the judge was dismissing

the absurd case set up against Mrs. Salvey. Of course, that was

nothing more or less than a trick to get information for the other

side. Well, Mr. Robinson was hurrying to court and he has passed his

running days creditably, I believe when he met me. I took up his run

at a moment's notice, reached the courtroom, waved my hands wildly in

the air--"

"Oh, Jack!" interrupted Cora; "don't be so absurd. You know I am just

dying to hear what happened."

"Then don't die until you do hear," and he slowed up at the hill. "The

fact is, I just caught the whole City News force red-handed with a

great story about Clip. The reporters had called her the modern Clara,

and all that, but I got it away from them. I know one of the best of

them, and he agreed, so they all had to. It was a good little story,

for the lawyers were matched against a motor girl. That made it

interesting from a newspaper viewpoint. Hello! Didn't I tell you?

Say, there, Mr. Foster! Chain up the ram, Ed. We want to approach."

Just as they rounded the hill, Ed could plainly be seen as Jack had

foretold--idling by the brook with the ram in the same picture, but at

a polite distance from its owner.

"I thought Walter wanted the ram," remarked Cora as they neared the

spot where Ed was "getting himself together."

"Oh, he did. But do you remember what the man said about having to put

his overcoat on to feed that animal? Well, he wouldn't even stand for

Walter, with or without the ulster. He tried his best raincoat and

all, but the ram just went for him. But look how he purrs around

Ed--tame as a kitten."

"I am not going to trust him, though," decided Cora. "One experience

with Mr. Minus is enough for me. Shout to Ed to come over. I must

hurry."

Cora's invitation to go to Breakwater came almost as a shock, Ed

declared, but coming from Cora he would accept. Consequently he

hurried the ram to its quarters, and, agreeing to look up Walter, the

girl was left to pay her visit to Hazel.

"We fellows will start from here about daybreak," Jack decided, "and we

will reach Breakwater about ten o'clock. That's the time Doc Bennet

gave me for the official gun to go off."

It happened that Ed knew the young doctor slightly, so that he took

Jack's urgent "appeal" as coming from the actual host.

"I told you he would be glad to join the Motor Girls' Club," remarked

Jack, while Ed was exchanging civilities with Cora. "He's just been

pining around here like a lost--"

"Now, Jack, be square," interrupted the handsome young man, whom Cora

thought had actually grown handsomer in the days since she had last

seen him. "I never pine. I growl--just plain growl."

"You take me over to Hazel's, Jack?" asked Cora. "Then you may go

along and help look for Walter. I must meet Dr. Bennet at two-thirty.

And then, I wonder, will we be able to get back to Breakwater by six."

She was thinking of her experience coming out to Chelton; also she kept

on the lookout for Mr. Reed. He had hinted that there were interesting

things developing in Chelton just then. He had said openly that his

interest and Cora's were mutual. Would he again molest her?

With this thought she determined not to get too far away from Jack.

She would have him call at the Hastings' house for her.

And the Roland, Reed & Company lawyers knew that Cora Kimball was a

leader among the motor girls the club that had avowed its purpose of

finding the book, as well as the table.

All this was complicated and involved, but to the shrewd lawyers, Cora

knew the working out of the details was merely a matter of opportunity.

Having failed to prove Wren a subject for some "shut-in" institution,

these same lawyers were now engaged on another scheme, that of trying

to show that the child was detained against her will, and was actually

in the possession of Cora Kimball.

Jack had told Cora all this, trying to make it a matter of small

importance, and laughing at Rob Roland's initial performance, as Jack

put it; but Cora felt that it was no laughing matter, and that at least

the happiness of two persons--Mrs. Salvey and her delicate little

daughter--was involved.

Cora and Jack were on the road, and Jack had cranked up. Ed, having

made the ram secure in the field, was about to walk to his own

lodgings. Suddenly a flash of red swept across the streak of brown

highway. Cora recognized it instantly as Dr. Bennet's car.

He was coming at such a pace that in drawing up the gears and brakes of

his machine protested with unpleasant, grinding sounds.

Dr. Bennet seemed flushed and excited. He began, without any

preliminaries, to tell Cora that she must get into his car, and hurry

back to Breakwater.

"I have been on the wildest hunt," he said, smiling an acknowledgment

to Cora's introduction to Ed, and bowing to Jack, whom he had met

earlier in the day. "I have been all over Chelton, but of course did

not expect to locate you out here."

Duncan Bennet possessed that manner which is at once persuasive and at

the same time courteous combination of the doctor and the man.

"You see," he continued, "I happened to overhear that you are to be

subpoenaed in that Robinson patent case. In fact, I heard Reed say he

would have you in an hour, so I determined to beat him back home--get

you over the State line before he can serve the papers. Now, you had

best jump right in. Clip is waiting for us at Wiltons'. We will pick

her up and then fly."

"Oh!" gasped Cora, seizing at Jack's arm. "I am not going to run away.

I will stay right at home--with my brother." Cora was as near crying

as any young lady with the reputation of strength of character might

safely venture. But Jack knew more of the case than he had confided to

her, and he instantly agreed with Dr. Bennet.

"Run along, sis," he advised, with the jollity that makes a brave boy

ever a girl's hero. "I'll be after you with the others, and it will be

no end of fun. Clip's going, and I'll try to have Paul and Hazel

join--if Paul is fit. Then with Ed and Walter-- Say, we will have the

time of our young lives! Get in with Dr. Bennet, and I'll turn back

and stop in front of the ice cream place. Of course, Reed or Roland

will come along that way, and of course you will be inside eating

frapped subpoenas."

Cora was now climbing in beside Dr. Bennet.

"And that is why that horrid man tried to get me to ride in town with

him!" cried Cora. "He wanted to make me take those papers--"

"Certainly," interrupted Duncan. "But we have fooled him thus far. Be

sure to come to the show, boys," this to Ed and Jack. "My crowd will be

out there to-night, but I suppose we will not see the Chelton throng

until to-morrow. Excuse haste--and a bad pen," he added, laughing,

while Tom gave a signal on the horn. "This is the time we make a run

against the law."