The Motor Girls on the Coast: or, The Waif From the Sea

“Perhaps–perhaps the missing money is in–that bag, girls!” whispered Belle.

The doctor turned around.

“Please keep a little quiet,” he suggested. “She will revive in a few seconds, and I don’t want her to have too much of a shock. She will be all right, I think.”

“To think that we have found Nancy Ford!” exclaimed Cora in a tense voice, but the room was so silent just then that it sounded louder than it otherwise would have done.

“Who is calling me?” came suddenly from the girl on the sofa. She sat up, looked around with big, staring eyes, in which the wonder grew as she noted the room and those in it.

“Who said Nancy Ford?” she demanded again.

“Easy, my dear, easy,” said Dr. Brown, softly. “You are with friends and you are all right. Drink this,” and he held some medicine to her lips. The girl drank unresistingly and then lay back again on the pillows.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE STORY OF NANCY FORD

“When do you think we can talk to her–question her?” asked Cora of Dr. Brown. It was some hours after Nancy had regained her senses. She had been fed some nourishing broth, and moved into a spare bedroom, where she was made comfortable.

“Is it absolutely necessary to question her?” the physician asked in turn.

“It seems to be important,” returned Cora. “If she is really Nancy Ford a great deal depends on it. She may be able to clear the name of a woman who has suffered much. If we could question her, learn her story, we might be able to help both her and the woman in question, Mrs. Raymond, who is a sister of Mr. Haley.”

“Oh, yes, the light keeper. I understood there was some mystery about his sister.”

“She has disappeared, and is searching for this very girl we rescued from the sea,” went on Cora. “I do not wish to make her ill, or disturb her, but if we could hear her story we might be able to act.”

“Hum, yes!” mused Dr. Brown. “Well, I think by evening she will be strong enough to talk. I want her to rest now. Yes, you may question her then. I shall leave some medicine for her, but principally she needs rest, and light but nourishing food. There is nothing serious the matter with her. She has received no injury that I can find. The shock and the fright caused her to lose her senses–that and being almost starved.”

“Poor girl! Out all alone–all night–on the ocean on that raft,” remarked Cora.

“I should have died!” sighed Belle.

“Oh, human nature can stand more than we think,” spoke the doctor. “Well, I must be going. I don’t know how I am to get around without my car.”

“Use mine!” offered Jack, quickly. “I shan’t need it. The old Get There needs running to keep her in good humor.”

“Very well, I will, and thank you.”

Dr. Brown looked in on his patient.

“She is sleeping,” he said.

“That is good,” murmured Cora. “But, oh! I do wish we could hear her story.”

“The fellows are anxious, too,” said Jack, he being alone allowed in his sister’s bungalow at this time.

There was a period of anxious waiting by Cora and her friends. Rosalie had gone back to the lighthouse to see if there was a duplicate list of the passengers on the wrecked schooner. She had come back to report that her father had none, and did not know where one could be obtained. The few members of the ship’s company remaining in the village could throw no light on the waif of the sea who had been so strangely picked up. Undoubtedly she was the girl supposed to have been washed overboard.

“She is asking for you,” reported Mrs. Chester, coming from the room of the girl that evening after supper. “She wants you, Cora.”

“Are you sure she said me, Aunt Susan?”

“Yes, she described you. She seems to be worried about something.”

“I will see her.”

Cora went into the room softly. The girl–Nancy Ford–to give her the name on her valise, which had not been opened, was propped up amid the pillows. She had some color in her cheeks now, and there was eager excitement in her eyes.

“How are you–Nancy Ford?” greeted Cora, pleasantly.

“I am not Nancy Ford–how–how–why do you call me that name?”

“It is on your valise.”

The girl started.

“My valise! Oh, yes! Was that saved? Oh, dear, I am so miserable! Yes, I am Nancy Ford. I don’t know why I said I was not. But I have been in such trouble–I haven’t a friend in the world, and–and – ”

She burst into tears.

Instantly Cora was beside her, putting her arms around the frail figure in the bed.

“I am your friend,” said Cora, softly. “You may trust me–trust all of us. We are so glad we found you. Mrs. Raymond will be glad, also.”

“Mrs. Raymond!”

It was a startled cry.

“Yes.”

“Why–why, isn’t she still in the office? When–when I ran away she was there, and, oh! I didn’t dare go back. I–I was so afraid of those men. One of them – ”

“Wait, my dear,” said Cora, gently. “Perhaps it will be too much for you to talk now.”

“No, that is why I sent for you. I wanted to tell you all. At first I decided that I would say nothing, but you have been so kind that I decided I must. Oh, that dreadful wreck! I shall never forget it. Poor Mrs. Raymond! And she is gone?”

“Yes, and we do not know where. Suppose I tell you how I came to meet her, and what happened?”

“Then I can tell you my story,” answered Nancy. “Please do.”

“First drink this,” and Cora gave some of the medicine that had been left by the doctor.

As briefly as she could Cora related the incident of the fire, and story told by Mrs. Raymond.

“That is just how it happened,” said Nancy, with a sigh. “Oh, I little thought when I ran out of the office that I would cause such suffering to an innocent woman.”

“Then she is innocent?” asked Cora, eagerly.

“Of course she is!”

“Oh, I am so glad! I thought she was all the while. Now, dear, if it won’t tire you too much, please tell me as much as you wish to. Then I will let the other girls know.”

“Well, I am Nancy Ford. I am sorry I denied it, but – ”

“That’s all right, my dear. I understand.”

Nancy struggled with her emotion for a moment, and resumed slowly, with frequent pauses to compose herself.

“My parents died some time ago, and left considerable property to me,” said Nancy. “Not a big fortune, of course, but enough so that I had to have a guardian appointed by the court. And that made all the trouble. At first Mr. Rickford Cross, my guardian, was very nice. He helped me by advice, and suggested that I go to a boarding school.

“I did so, and spent some years there. Then, as the securities papa had left me increased in value, I began to think that perhaps I ought to know more about my own affairs, and not leave everything to my guardian. So, without consulting him, I left the boarding school, and went to a business college. He did not find it out for some time, as he was abroad.

“Perhaps I did wrong, but I wanted to know how to attend to my business when I had to. Oh, but Mr. Cross was very angry when he found it out. He wanted me to go back to boarding school, but I refused. I said I wanted some practical experience in an office, and, after some argument, he consented, and got me in the place where Mrs. Raymond worked. I liked her very much.

“I think my guardian must have had some business dealings with the man who ran the office. They were often together and finally I began to suspect that all was not right. I think Mrs. Raymond did also.

“Then my guardian and Mr. Hopwood, the man I worked for, had a violent quarrel. My guardian threatened to take me out of the place, and send me back to boarding school, for he was angry at me because I would not give him certain papers from my employer’s desk.

“Then my guardian insisted that I come to live with him and his wife. I did not want to, for I did not like either of them. But they made me go, and oh, the life I led!”

“It must have been hard,” said Cora.

“It was, dreadfully so. I was virtually a prisoner. Finally I decided to run away, and do anything rather than submit to my guardian. I hated and feared him. I got together what money I could, and it was a good sum, for my quarterly allowance had just been paid. Usually after I got it my guardian would take it away from me and dole out small sums. But this time he had no chance.

“So I ran away! It was hard to do, but it was harder to stay. I left the house one morning, taking my suitcase with me. I stopped in the office, intending to say good-bye to Mrs. Raymond, and when I had been there a little while my guardian suddenly came in with another man. I did not know him, but I feared my guardian had come to take me back. I screamed and ran out in fright before they could detain me. I have never been back, so of course I don’t know what happened to poor Mrs. Raymond. I did not tell her my story, and she did not know that the man I so feared and ran away from was my guardian. Oh, I didn’t know what to do!”

“Of course not,” agreed Cora, soothingly. “I can piece the story together now.

“After you left Mrs. Raymond either fainted, or was made unconscious by one of the two men–your guardian or the other. She doesn’t quite know what happened except that when she came to her senses you were gone, the money was missing and the men had vanished. She told all she knew, but her story was not believed, and her employer suspected her of taking the money. In great distress she hurried away, and, after some happenings she was found in our burning garage. I did not have a chance to ask all the particulars. But she did so want to find you, to know why you ran away, and who the men were you seemed to fear. She may still be searching for you.”

“But I don’t want to meet her!” cried Nancy.

“Why not?”

“She may–she may be in league with my guardian.”

“No, indeed–impossible!” cried Cora. “We will see that you are fully protected. I will communicate with my mother’s lawyer at once, if you will allow me. There is such a thing as having a guardian removed, you know. The courts will protect you.”

“And oh, I do seem to need protection!” sighed Nancy.

“You poor girl!” and again Cora’s arms went around her. “I will telegraph mother at once. We will have the lawyer come here!”

“Oh, can you do that?”

“Certainly I will, my dear. You need a new guardian most of all.”

“Oh, if I may only have one. Then I will be happy again. And I can clear the name of Mrs. Raymond, for I am sure either my guardian, or the other man, took that money.”

“They must have. But you have not told how you came to be in the wreck.”

“Oh, that was a mere accident. After I ran away I went from place to place, fearing my guardian might trace me, for I am sure his object was to get all my property into his hands. I heard of this sailing voyage, and I put my name down in the passenger list. I thought a sea trip would do me good, for I love the water. Then came the terrible storm–and they said the ship was sinking. Some of the sailors made a raft, but did not launch it.

“I was afraid to go in the boats, and more afraid of being pulled in on the rope. So I got a little food together, took my suitcase, and tied myself to the raft. I knew it would float, and I hoped to be picked up. Then the storm grew worse. The vessel was all in confusion, for the rescue was going on. No one noticed me. Then the ship went to pieces, and I lost my senses. The raft must have launched itself, and I floated on it. That is all I know until I found myself here. Oh, I can never thank you enough for all you did!”

“It was nothing,” said Cora. “If we could only find Mrs. Raymond now we could complete the story; and she will be so glad to know that you can clear her name.”

“Oh, but I shudder when I think I have to meet my guardian to do it.”

“You will not have to,” promised Cora. “I will see to that, Nancy dear!”

“You are too good!”

“Nonsense. Anyone would be good to you after all you have suffered. Now rest, dearie, and I will tell the others all about you.”

“They won’t blame me; will they?”

“Indeed not! They are all so interested in you, even the boys.”

“Have you boys here?”

“Yes, my brother and his chums. I will tell you about them later. You will like them, I think.”

“I am sure I shall. Oh, but it is such a relief to tell this to you!”

“I am glad it was, my dear. Now rest. I am sure you must be tired. The doctor will be here this evening.”

CHAPTER XXVII

A BOLD ATTEMPT

“Isn’t it romantic?”

“And to think of all that poor girl suffered!”

“I’d like to get hold of that miserable guardian of hers.”

“She has pluck, all right, to get out and hustle for herself.”

“Isn’t she pretty!”

“I do hope she gets all over her exposure.”

“Oh, yes, she is coming on finely.”

Rather disjointed talk, I am afraid, but that is exactly the way it went on–the motor girls and the boys discussing the story of Nancy Ford.

It was evening, and the boys had called to see the girls in the bungalow of the latter. Nancy had been visited by the doctor, who had reported her much improved. The telling of her story seemed to have taken an anxiety off her mind, and with food and medicine she was rapidly regaining her healthy young strength.

There had been rather a dramatic scene when Jack and Ed were first allowed to see Nancy. They both started back, and Jack exclaimed:

“It’s the girl!”

“And you are those nice boys–how odd,” Nancy had said.

“Please explain,” begged Cora.

“You know,” said Jack. “The night Ed and I got lost. It was Nancy we met and gave a ride in my auto.”

“I suspected it all the while,” said Cora, with a smile. “But I said nothing.”

“It was a mere accident,” explained Nancy. “I was just on one of the little trips I took after I ran away from the office, and I miscalculated my distance. It was awfully nice of your brother to help me.”

“Oh, Jack is always nice,” said Cora, smiling.

“That means you buy the candy, old man,” spoke Ed, with a laugh.

“Well,” drawled Jack, as he stretched out lazily on a sofa, later on, “now the only thing left to do is to find that Mrs. Raymond, and everything will be cleared up.”

“That, and putting that mean Mr. Cross in–in jail!” said Bess, with a vehement gesture.

“Would you be so cruel?” asked Walter.

“What else can you do with him?” demanded Belle. “He has certainly been mean enough to warrant being sent to prison.”

“‘In a prison cell I sit!’” chanted Ed.

“Stop!” commanded Cora. “Nancy may be sleeping, and the doctor said it was very important for her to sleep.”

“Then we’d better clear out of here,” was Norton’s opinion. “She’ll never get any rest while this crowd holds forth. Come on, Eline, I’ll take you to a moving picture show.”

“Not after what has happened to-day,” declared Mrs. Chester. “You young people have had your own way all day, and now I want you to quiet down. Boys, you will have to go home soon. Girls, it’s almost time you were in bed.”

“Aunt Susan is asserting herself,” remarked Jack, sotto voce. “But don’t count on me, Aunt Susan. I am immune.”

“You’ll go with the rest,” she told him.

They sat about for some time longer, discussing the strange tale related by Nancy. Then came good-nights.

Cora went to see Mr. Haley, the light keeper, next day. She told him what Nancy had related.

“Lobsters and crawfish!” he exclaimed, clapping together his brown hands. “Begging your pardon, of course, for using that sort of language, miss, but my feelings sure did get the best of me. And so this Nancy Ford can clear my sister’s name?”

“She can and she will. I have wired for mamma’s lawyer to come down, and he will arrange matters. There is only one difficulty.”

“What is that?” and the keeper of the light looked worried. “You mean that there is a possibility that my sister may even yet be guilty?”

“No; but where are we to find her?”

“That’s so. Poor Margaret! Where can she be keeping herself? If she would only come to me–or write, I could let her know that it was all right. And so those men were the robbers, after all?”

“It seems so, from what Nancy says.”

“Strange. I knew Margaret could not be guilty, but how to prove it was the hard part. When can we arrange it?”

“As soon as we can find your sister.”

“Oh, dear! And I haven’t the least idea where to look for her.”

“Don’t worry,” suggested Cora, gently. “We found our waif from the sea most unexpectedly, and I am sure we will find your sister the same way.”

“Not in a wreck, I hope,” said the light keeper, with a smile. “We don’t want any more wrecks on this coast. Which reminds me that I must see to the light.”

“It was no fault of your light that this wreck came,” said Cora. “Everybody says that.”

“I’m glad of it. If I had thought that my light failed, I–I’d never want to live longer,” and his voice trembled.

“The steering gear got out of order,” said Cora. “Nancy told me that. They could not control the vessel in the storm.”

“That’s always bad. Well, if we can find my sister all will yet be well. I can’t thank you enough for bringing me this good news.”

“I am glad I had it to bring,” said Cora, brightly.

Nancy Ford continued to gain in strength, and the day came when she could go out. There was a little celebration and the boys wanted to get up an auto or a motor boat party, but Cora drew the line.

“Some other time,” she said. Her mother’s lawyer came to Sandy Point Cove, and looked over some papers that Nancy had brought away with her. His opinion was that the dishonest guardian could be removed by the court, and he promised to take charge of matters. Nancy was much relieved.

“But where can we find Mrs. Raymond?” she asked.

“It will take time,” said the lawyer. “I will set some private detectives to work, and advertise, advising her that she can be proven innocent if she will come forward.”

Then came happy summer days. Nancy was adopted by the motor girls, and stayed with them in the bungalow. They went on long runs, or in trips in the boats on the beautiful bay.

They were always welcome at the lighthouse, and Mr. Haley liked nothing better than to sit and talk with the boys and girls, telling them sea stories, or listening to their little adventures.

But the search for Mrs. Raymond did not progress very rapidly. Nothing was heard from her. In the matter of removing Mr. Cross as Nancy’s guardian, the procedure had to be slow, as there were complications. But the lawyer was attending to matters, and promised that soon all would be straightened out.

By means of his representatives the lawyer, a Mr. Beacon, heard indirectly from Mr. Cross, but could not capture him. The latter was furious at the escapade of his ward, and threatened to have her brought back to him. In the matter of the robbery he insisted that Mrs. Raymond was guilty.

It was one glorious summer day when Cora had taken the whole party out for a spin. In her auto were Eline and Nancy, the others distributing themselves in the various cars as suited their fancy.

Several times, as they motored along the roads, they were passed, or passed themselves, a low, rakish motor car, of a dull dust color. Two men were in it, and once or twice they favored the occupants of Cora’s car with rather bold stares.

“I wonder who they can be?” asked Eline.

“Well, if they keep up this monkey business much longer I’ll find out,” declared Jack.

“Go easy, please,” suggested his sister.

The only incident, or, rather, accident that marred the trip, was when Cora’s car suffered a puncture. It was on the run home.

“You go on,” she called to the others. “I can fix it.”

“No, I’ll do it,” offered Jack. Perhaps the presence of Nancy in the car induced him to linger, together with Ed, who rode with him.

“All right,” assented Cora, not sorry to be relieved of the task.

As Jack was struggling with the tire irons, the rubber shoe being a most obstinate one, the low racing car that had several times passed them, again hove in sight. Cora was helping Jack, and Eline and Nancy had strolled down the road to gather a few wild flowers.

The racing car stopped, one of the men leaped out, and made a dash toward the two girls. Eline, looking around, screamed, and Nancy, hearing her, added to the exclamation.

“My guardian! My guardian!” she cried. “I won’t go–I won’t go!”

“Quick, Jack!” cried Cora. “They’re trying to take Nancy away. You must stop them!”

Jack, holding a heavy tire iron in his hand, leaped forward toward the two girls. The man had almost reached them, when there was heard the loud honk of an auto horn coming around the bend of the road.

CHAPTER XXVIII

A STRANGE MESSAGE

Nancy and Eline clung to each other. Nancy had started to run off into the woods, but found herself unequal to the task. A nervous tremor seized her.

“Oh, Eline, Eline!” she begged. “Don’t let him take me away! Don’t!”

But Nancy’s guardian was not destined to get her into his control this time. No sooner had the honk-honk of the other car been heard and it had swung into sight around the bend of the road, than the man in the other auto–the man who had accompanied Mr. Cross–called out:

“Look out, Rickford, this may be a trap!”

“You’d better believe it’s something to stop you!” cried Jack, still swinging forward on the run.

Cora, too, had started toward Eline and Nancy. She saw that the big car probably had nothing to do with the attempted abduction of the shipwrecked girl, and that it was only coincidence that brought it there at that moment. But it was a fortunate coincidence, for it frightened away the two men.

Like a flash Mr. Cross turned, sped back to his car, and in another instant he and his crony were speeding down the road.

“Oh, he’s gone–he’s gone,” sobbed Nancy on the shoulder of Eline.

“Of course he’s gone!” cried Jack. “If he hadn’t–” and he glanced significantly at the tire iron in his hand.

“Jack, dear,” said Cora, gently, with a warning glance at Nancy. Cora did not want her disturbed any more than was necessary.

“Well–” blustered Jack, and let it go at that.

“Was that really your guardian, Nancy?” asked Cora, when her new friend had somewhat composed herself.

“Yes, it was. Oh, has he gone?”

“Far enough off by this time,” declared Jack.

“I didn’t know him at first, for he has grown a beard,” said Nancy, “but when he came toward me I could tell by the look in his eyes that it was he. Oh, what an escape!”

“A very fortunate one,” said Cora.

The big car, the appearance of which had been instrumental, perhaps, in preventing the taking away of Nancy, drew near to the group of young people and stopped. There were two middle-aged men in it, and they looked at our friends curiously.

“Has anything happened–can we do anything?” asked the one at the wheel.

“Nothing but some tire trouble, thank you,” said Cora, quickly. “And my brother can manage that; can’t you, Jack?”

“Sure, Sis,” and he winked at her to show that he understood nothing was to be said about the affair that had so nearly been a real “happening.”

“If you want any help, don’t hesitate to ask us,” put in the other man. “We are in no hurry.”

“Oh, thank you, I can manage,” Jack answered. “I had the repairs almost made when the girls–thought they saw something, and screamed.” He winked at Cora again.

“Oh, I see!” exclaimed the steersman with a laugh. “A snake. We heard your screams, and thought perhaps – ”

“It was just–nothing,” Cora said with a smile. Eline and Nancy had turned and were walking back toward their car, so the tear-stained face of Nancy could not be observed.

With renewed offers of aid, which were courteously declined, the two men proceeded, and Cora and the others were free to discuss the recent happening.

“Do you really think he meant to take you away–your guardian?” asked Cora of Nancy.

“I really do. Oh, he must be desperate! He must be trying to get my property away from me.”

“We’ll soon have him attended to!” said Jack, fiercely. “Our lawyer says the case will come before the courts soon, and then good-bye to Mr. Cross!”

“I wonder how he knew where you were?” asked Eline.

“You forget that the rescue of Nancy was told of in the papers,” spoke Cora. “Doubtless he read of it, and came on. He, or some of his men, may have been spying around and knew just when we went for a ride.”