Laura Dent Crane

“ Eunice shook her head. “There are no bogie men in the woods. Wood fairies are all good.”
“Well, I am no kind of fairy, Eunice. I am an uncle. Do you know what an uncle is?” Mr. Latham inquired.
Eunice shook her head again.
“O Eunice, an uncle can be the nicest person in the world!” Mollie exclaimed. “And that is what Mr. Latham is going to be to you. Kiss him, and tell him you mean to be good.”
Mr. Winthrop Latham and little Indian Eunice kissed each other shyly and solemnly. ”

“ It makes me feel as though I were a character in a book, to even meet such clever people. Dear me, what a lot you and Ruth have done for us!”
“Barbara, dear,” replied Miss Stuart, kindly, “we have not done much more for you than you girls have done for us in a different way. True, through my brother, we happened to have the money to pay for our good times; but poor Ruth and I couldn’t have had those good times without the other three ‘Automobile Girls.’ How is Grace’s headache? Will she be able to see our friends this afternoon?” ”

“ The girls stood arm in arm on their front porch. The evening wind swept up the hill and rustled through the pines. The brook near their house hurried down the slope into the valley 152 as though it were late for a night’s engagement.
“Ruth,” Barbara declared solemnly, “whatever happens to ‘The Automobile Girls,’ one thing is certain, nothing can ever be lovelier than the weeks we have spent together on this beautiful hill. Let us kiss all around. Call Aunt Sallie. She must be a party to the agreement. We will never forget our little log cabin—never, no, never, in all our lives.” ”

“ There were tears streaming from Mollie’s eyes as she looked up at Bab. The child’s arms were around a little figure that had fallen in the underbrush, a little figure in brown and scarlet, with a wreath of scarlet autumn leaves in her hair.
“I have been afraid of this,” said Naki, pushing the others aside.
“It’s my little Indian girl!” Mollie explained. “She couldn’t bear to keep away from us, and at first I thought her the ghost of Lost Man’s Trail. I have seen her around our hut nearly every day; but I promised not to tell you girls about her. Is she much hurt, Naki?” ”

“ How can a girl as brave as you are be such a goose about a poor, wriggly little ‘sarpint,’ that couldn’t harm you if it tried.”
“O-o-o!” shivered Bab. “One’s own pet fear has nothing to do with sense or nonsense. Kindly remember your own feelings toward the timid mouse! Just the same, I should like to play ‘Maid Marian’ for a while and dwell in the heart of a woodland glen. If ever I have a chance to go on a camping trip, I shall get rid of my fear of snakes, somehow.”
“Bab,” said Mollie, after a moment’s pause, “hasn’t it been dreadfully dull since Ruth and her father went away? ”

“ She told of Reginald Latham’s plan to carry Eunice away that afternoon.
“Now, Mother Eunice,” Mollie ended, “won’t you let little Eunice go away with us this afternoon, instead? We will take good care of her, and will bring her home to you in a few days. But Eunice must see her uncle, Mr. Winthrop Latham. You will not stand in the way of little Eunice’s happiness, I know!” Mollie laid her hand on the old squaw’s arm.
But the squaw had bowed her head. She did not notice Mollie.
“It is the end!” The old woman spoke to herself. “I give up my child. The white blood is stronger than the Indian. ”

“ That is why she was always haunting our cabin. I don’t believe Eunice is more than part Indian, anyway!” Mollie ended impressively. “I’ve a feeling that we shall do her more good, in the end, from this accident than we have done her harm.”
“You are a dear!” cried Bab, already comforted by her sister’s prophecy.
“You are all against me!” quoth Ruth, rising. “I surrender, as usual, to my beloved aunt. I want to go to Lenox, but—I want to be here on the hill, too. So runs the world. We can’t manage to have all the things we want at the same time; so hurrah for Lenox and the gay world again! ”

“ Ruth nodded with her eyes straight in front of her. She kept her car moving swiftly ahead.
“Barbara, it is quite idle to talk to Ruth,” broke in Miss Sallie, who had not heard just what Bab had said. “She is her father’s daughter. Once her mind is made up to accomplish a thing, she will do it or die! So we might as well resign ourselves to our fate. She will reach ‘her mountain,’ as she calls it, by noon, even if we have to jump a few of these embankments to succeed.” ”

“ Ruth glanced up from her steering wheel. “Did some one speak to me?” she queried. “I am so sorry I did not hear. I am afraid I am both deaf and dumb to-day. But we simply must get to our mountain by noon. Driving a car over these mountain roads isn’t the easiest task in the world.”
Barbara laughed back over her shoulder at the occupants of the end seat in the car. “Miss Sallie Stuart,” she said in solemn tones, “please, let our chauffeur alone! Suppose the dark descends upon us in the woods and you have ‘nary’ a place to lay your head!” ”

“ Eunice was obstinate. “Indians do not need doctors,” she asserted.
But Naki came and took her in his arms. “We will take you to your own tent,” he declared. “She will rest better there,” he explained to the girls, “and I know the way over the hills. You may come with me. The Indian squaw, her grandmother, will be hard to manage.”
“But how shall we get a doctor up there?” asked Grace.
“I will go down for him later,” Naki answered briefly. “You need have no fear. An Indian knows how to treat a wound. They have small use for doctors.”
“Is your guide an Indian?” asked Reginald Latham of Ruth. ”

“ Ruth laughed. “Remember, if you please, that Grace and I are going in for a much more serious undertaking. These ribbons are the reins that we intend to use for our extraordinary race to-day. I shall endeavor to drive my turkey with blue strings. Grace considers red ribbon more adapted to the disposition and appearance of a rooster.”
“Well, you girls certainly have nerve to take 200 part in such a wild goose chase!” ”

“ Barbara motioned silence. “Listen to me,” she said. “We have no way of knowing if those men on the outside are friends, whatever they may say. Here is my scheme! Remember the story of the women in a town near here, who once defended their fort against an attack by the Indians, when the men were all away at work in the cornfields? The women dressed up in their husbands’ clothes and frightened the Indians away. Ruth, let’s disguise ourselves as men and then let Ceally open the door.”
“Bab, you and Ruth are both crazy!” protested Mollie, half-laughing, and half-frightened. ”

“ Why Eunice is not an Indian name!”
“But it is what Mollie called her,” protested Ruth. “And Mollie seems to know who she is.”
Reginald Latham’s face had turned white.
Ruth felt her dislike of him slipping away. He seemed very sympathetic. Mollie, Bab and Grace were hurrying along after Naki, over 135 whose broad shoulder hung the little Indian girl. Her black hair swept his sleeve, her broken arm drooped like the wing of a wounded bird.
Once she roused herself to say. “My grandmother will not like these people to come to our tent. We live alone like the beasts in the forest.” ”

“ Ruth urged. “And won’t you go down to the village, and stay with Naki and Ceally until Eunice comes back?”
“Take the child, when you will,” assented the Indian woman. “She is mine no longer.”
“Then come, hurry, Eunice. We must be off,” Bab cried.
Eunice got her new coat and hat. Then she flung her arms around her grandmother, and kissed her in the way Mollie had taught her.
The old Indian woman hugged the child to her for one brief instant; then she relaxed her hold and went back into her wigwam.
“The Automobile Girls” and Eunice ran down the hill. ”

“ Looking down, they could see their log cabin, where Miss Sallie and Ceally stood at the open door. There was no sign of Mollie.
“It is harder work than I expected to find the young lady,” Naki apologized to Ruth. “I am sorry, but you had better go back to your aunt. I must go down to the farm for help. It will take a number of people to make a thorough search of this place to-night. The underbrush is so thick that it is hard work traveling about.”
“Oh, I can’t go home without Mollie!” sobbed Bab. “I am not a bit afraid to stay up here alone. Leave me, Ruth, you and Grace. ”

“ Indians have no need for white men’s doctors.”
“You are alone, aren’t you?” inquired Miss Stuart, gently. “Are not you and your grandchild the last of your race? Perhaps, if you had allowed it, the doctors might have kept other members of your family for you.”
The Indian woman shivered. Miss Stuart had touched some chord in her memory. She raised her black eyes to Miss Sallie and spoke mournfully. “You are right!” she asserted. “My grandchild and I are the last of a great race. I am very old and I am now afraid. Let your white medicine man make my Eunice well again. ”

“ Barbara noticed that Grace, Ruth and Mollie 253 were smiling broadly. Mr. Winthrop Latham, Aunt Sallie and Eunice had drawn near.
“Why shouldn’t Dorothy Morton sell Beauty to a girl who cares more for the horse than Dorothy does?” Ruth inquired.
Bab shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, very well!” she pouted. “If Dorothy thinks there is any other horse in the world to compare with Beauty, she deserves to lose her. My sweet little Beauty, good-bye!” Barbara cried. ”

“ Ruth kissed Bab for comfort. Then she turned to Grace. “Grace,” she asked, “will you be a perfect dear? I know Naki is right; he must get some one to help him search for Mollie, and one of us must go to Aunt Sallie, who is terribly worried. See! she has already seen us, and is waving her hand. But if you will go tell her what has happened, I shall stay up here with Bab, and Ceally can bring us some dinner. You can come back afterwards. By that time Naki will have returned with assistance and we can go on with our search again.” ”

“ Stuart. “Ruth and I would like to be regarded as angels dropped from the sky, but the truth must be told! She and I were speeding along this very road, a little faster than is perfectly proper, as we were hoping to make our way before dusk to the home of a charming lady, Mrs. Thurston, who lives with her two attractive daughters, in Laurel Cottage, Kingsbridge. What did we see? A small, excited girl ahead of us, who seemed to be trying to run faster than our auto could travel. Nevertheless, we caught up with her. Who do you think she was? Miss Mollie Thurston! ”

“ Only the little Indian girl is exquisite, like a flower growing in some horrid place. I don’t believe you will ever be equal to the trip.”
“Ruth,” insisted Miss Stuart in stately tones, “since I have thrown in my fortunes as chaperon to ‘The Automobile Girls’ I have had many strange adventures. Doubtless I shall have many others. Persuading an obstinate woman to do what is best for the child she loves is not an impossible task. It does not matter in the least whether the woman is white or an Indian. Tell Naki to take me to the wigwam at once.”
“Aunt Sallie, you are an angel!” ”

“ Naki shall go down the hill and send a doctor up here to look at Eunice’s arm.”
“Ugh!” grunted the squaw. “An Indian has no need of the white man’s doctor. I shall tend my child. Begone, all of you!”
Reginald Latham moved back a few paces; but Bab, Grace and Ruth did not stir.
“Naki,” Ruth gave her order quietly, “go down the hill at once and see that a doctor comes up to look at this child’s arm. An Indian’s treatment for a bullet wound may be a good one. ”

“ The Automobile Girls in the
Berkshires
CHAPTER I THE REUNION
“Mollie Thurston, we are lost!” cried Barbara dramatically.
The two sisters were in the depth of a New Jersey woods one afternoon in early September.
“Well, what if we are!” laughed Mollie, leaning over to add a cluster of wild asters to her great bunch of golden rod. “We have two hours ahead of us. Surely such clever woodsmen as we are can find our way out of woods which are but a few miles from home. Suppose we should explore a real forest some day. Wouldn’t it be too heavenly! Come on, lazy Barbara! ”

“ I am told that everyone goes for his own letters in Lenox. We shall see all the social lights. They say titled foreigners line up in front of the Lenox postoffice to look for heiresses. Ruth, you are our only heiress. Here’s a chance for you!” teased Grace.
Ruth looked provoked. “I won’t be called horrid names, Grace Carter!” she asserted, indignantly. “Heiress or no heiress, when my turn comes for a husband I won’t look at any old foreigner. A good American citizen will be a fine enough husband for me!”
“Hear! hear!” laughed Mollie, putting on her hat. ”