



Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
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THE MOTOR GIRLS
ON CRYSTAL BAY

Or
The Secret of the Red Oar

By
MARGARET PENROSE

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Copyright, 1914, by
Cupples & Leon Company

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER                             PAGE
     I.  A Worried Girl                1
    II.  Freda'S Story                15
   III.  Crystal Bay                  26
    IV.  The Red Oar                  36
     V.  Two Men                      47
    VI.  The "Chelton"                55
   VII.  In The Motely Mote           67
  VIII.  Frights Or Fancies           76
    IX.  A Merry Time                 83
     X.  Too Much Joy                 93
    XI.  The Rescue                  102
   XII.  The Calm                    109
  XIII.  Suspicion                   120
   XIV.  An Angry Druggist           129
    XV.  An Alarm                    141
   XVI.  A Bad Case Of Nerves        156
  XVII.  A Little Race               164
 XVIII.  More Suspicions             171
   XIX.  Odd Talk                    176
    XX.  The Night Plot              184
   XXI.  The Breakdown               196
  XXII.  At The Cabin                202
 XXIII.  Unexpected Help             208
  XXIV.  Denny'S Soliloquy           214
   XXV.  The Plotters Arrive         220
  XXVI.  Cora'S Brave Resolve        227
 XXVII.  The Red Oar Again           235
XXVIII.  The Discovery--Conclusion   241

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THE MOTOR GIRLS ON CRYSTAL BAY

CHAPTER I

A WORRIED GIRL


Four girls sat on four chairs, in four different corners of the room.
They sat on the chairs because they were really too tired to stand
longer, and the reason for the occupancy of the corners of the
apartment was self-evident. There was no other available space. For
the center of the chamber was littered to overflowing with trunks,
suitcases and valises, in various stages of being packed, and from
them overflowed a variety of garments and other accessories of a
journey.

"Oh, dear!" sighed Cora Kimball, as she gazed helplessly about, "will
we ever be finished, Bess?"

"I don't know," was the equally discouraging reply. "It doesn't seem
so; does it?"

"I'm sure I can't get another thing in my suitcase," spoke the
smallest girl of all, who seemed to shrink back rather timidly into
her corner, as though she feared she might be put into a trunk by
mistake.

"Oh, Marita! You simply must get more in your suitcase!" exclaimed
Cora, starting up. "Why, your trunk won't begin to hold all the rest
of your things unless you crowd more into the case."

"The only trouble, Cora," sighed Marita, "is that the sides and top
aren't made of rubber."

"There's an idea!" cried a plump girl, in the corner nearest the
piano. "A rubber suitcase! What a boon it would be for week-ends, when
one starts off with a Spartan resolution to take only one extra gown,
and ends up with slipping two party dresses and the 'fixings' into
one's trunk. Oh, for a rubber suitcase!"

"What's the sense in sighing after the impossible?" asked the girl
opposite the plump one. "Why don't you finish packing, Bess?"

"Why don't you?" and the plump one rather glared at her more frail
questioner.

"Now, sisters!" cautioned Cora, as she gazed at the Robinson twins,
"don't get on one another's nerves. Let's have another try at it. I'm
sure if we go at it with some sort of system we'll be able to get all
the things in. And really we must hurry!" she exclaimed, looking at
the clock on the mantel, which pointed to the hour of four. "I
promised to have all the baggage ready for the man at five. That only
gives us an hour----"

"Cora Kimball!"

"Only an hour!"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Thus the three girls exclaimed in startled tones as they fairly leaped
from their chairs in their respective corners, and caught up various
garments.

Then, as the