



Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed
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[Illustration: Sometimes they were on the edge of such dizzy heights
that Miss Campbell held her breath.]




                            THE MOTOR MAIDS
                               ACROSS THE
                               CONTINENT

                                   BY

                            KATHERINE STOKES

       AUTHOR OF "THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS," "THE MOTOR MAIDS
                        BY PALM AND PINE," ETC.

                                NEW YORK
                            HURST & COMPANY
                               PUBLISHERS




                            Copyright, 1911,
                                   BY
                            HURST & COMPANY




                                CONTENTS

             CHAPTER                                      PAGE
                  I. Westward Ho!                            5
                 II. Peter                                  22
                III. In Search of a Dinner                  33
                 IV. The Three Wishes                       48
                  V. An Incident of the Road                67
                 VI. Under the Stars                        81
                VII. Barney M'Gee                           92
               VIII. Cutting the Bonds                     106
                 IX. The Girl from the Golden West         117
                  X. Steptoe Lodge                         130
                 XI. The Hawkes Family                     146
                XII. Into the Wilderness                   156
               XIII. Hot Air Sue                           168
                XIV. On the Road Again                     177
                 XV. In the Robbers' Nest                  190
                XVI. In the Rockies                        206
               XVII. Salt Lake City                        218
              XVIII. David and Goliath                     229
                XIX. A Day of Surprises                    242
                 XX. The Elopement                         258
                XXI. A Meeting in the Desert               270
               XXII. A Bit of Old Italy                    280
              XXIII. A Change of Heart                     292
               XXIV. San Francisco at Last                 301




THE MOTOR MAIDS ACROSS THE CONTINENT




CHAPTER I.--WESTWARD HO!


"At my age, too," began Miss Helen Campbell, leaning back in her seat
and folding her hands with an expression of resignation.

"At your age, what, dear cousin?" demanded Wilhelmina Campbell,
superintending the strapping on at the back of the car of five extra
large suit cases and other paraphernalia for a long trip. "Why should
not things happen at your age as well as at ours? But at your age,
what?"

"At my age to turn emigrant," exclaimed the little lady. "At my age to
become a gypsy vagabond. Oh, dear, oh, dear! What would grandpapa have
said?"

"He would have been delighted, I am certain, Cousin Helen," answered her
young relative, "since he was a soldier and a jolly old gentleman, too,
papa has always said."

"But such an up to date gypsy-vagabond-emigrant, Miss Campbell," pursued
Elinor Butler, "one who rides in a motor car and wears a silk traveling
coat and a sky-blue chiffon veil."

"And has four ladies-in-waiting," continued Nancy Brown.

"And hotels all along the route to sleep in instead of tents," finished
Mary Price.

"Very true, my dears. I admit all you say; but now at the last moment,
when we are about to start on this amazing journey, I cannot help
thinking it is a wild adventure. But I shall be over it in a moment, I
daresay. Have the machine cranked-up, Billie. Do I use the correct word?
and let us be off before my courage fails me altogether."

With a happy laugh, Billie jumped into her seat behind the wheel. The
other girls were already in their accustomed places. One of the
attendants from the hotel gave the crank a dexterous twist; there was a
throbbing sound of machinery in action, and off shot the Comet like a
spirited horse, eager to be on the road.

Miss Campbell's spirits rose with the sun, for it was still very early
when the Motor Maids started on their famous journey across the
continent from Chicago to San Francisco. And all the world seemed to be
in league to make the start a happy one. It was a glorious morning
toward the last of May, the air just frosty enough to make the blood
tingle and bring color to the cheeks. Up to the very day before, an icy
gale had blown across the windy city of the plains, but through the
night it had gradually tempered into a springtime breeze. The red car
sped through the sunshine with all the vigor of machinery in perfect
order, and the polished plate glass of the wind guard reflected the four
happy faces of the Motor Maids off on a lark, which, when all is said
and done, and the last page of this volume filled, will have carried
them through