The Motor Maids Across the Continent Part 29

"Nothing lives in it, you know," said Billie. "No fish of any kind. It's salty beyond words to tell."

Hundreds of people were scattered about on the beach, but their voices and laughter sounded m.u.f.fled and far away. It was all very strange to the travelers who seemed to have fallen under the spell of the enchanted lake on whose waters they presently floated in a dreamy state, as if a magician's wand had changed them into so many human boats.

They sat on the sands for a long time after their bath, chatting in low voices. Then, after another dip, they dressed and lunched in the restaurant of the splendid bathing pavilion, one of the finest structures of its kind in the world. Again they sat on the beach watching the opalescent mountains. They felt intensely drowsy in the warm, dry air, and by and by sleep descended on them, and they lay like so many enchanted victims by the still waters of that mysterious lake.

At last the sun set in a blaze of red and gold, wonderful to behold, and the five sleepers sat up and rubbed their eyes.

"Dear children, it's been a remarkable experience," announced Miss Campbell; but whether she referred to the nap or the bath or the entire splendid day she did not explain.

It was seven o'clock when they reached the hotel in a blissful state of irresponsibility, like human beings who had wandered unexpectedly into fairy land.

There would be lots to tell Daniel Moore that night at dinner, they were thinking. And perhaps he would have news for them.

All this time Billie and Nancy had carefully kept secret the meeting with Evelyn Stone.

Letters awaited them at the hotel, and last of all, Miss Campbell opened a note from Daniel Moore, so certain was she that they would see him in ten minutes in the dining room. Suddenly, without warning, she burst into the next room where the four girls were engaged in a quartette of b.u.t.toning up.

"Oh, my dears, my dears, something dreadful has happened," she cried.

"Mr. Moore has been arrested and put in jail for receiving stolen goods from the train robbers. He expects to get bail, he says, very soon, but he advises us to leave this town at once. It's that dreadful Stone man who has done it. Poor Mr. Moore says-'I look for trouble for you and dread your being involved in anything disagreeable. Don't lose a moment in leaving Salt Lake City. They have no case against me, of course, but I am afraid the old villain will keep me here until after Evelyn's marriage. He's a very powerful man in this town. I beg of you not to make any efforts to see Evelyn. He is capable of most anything, I think, and it is too late to stop the wedding now.' Now, wasn't I right not to let you deliver that note, Billie, dear?" she added triumphantly. "I tell you it is most dangerous interfering with other people's affairs."

Billie smiled faintly and exchanged a frightened look with Nancy.

"We had better leave town to-morrow morning," she said. "We can't leave to-night. The Comet isn't quite ready."

"Leave town, indeed!" exclaimed Miss Campbell. "We have nothing on our consciences. We shall stay as long as we choose. This is a free country, and I am not in the least afraid of that dreadful Mormon. Let us go down to dinner and forget all about him."

And down she went presently, sweeping into the dining room like a haughty little queen, the Motor Maids following behind her. Elinor held her head high. She was a princess and feared no man, neither Mormon nor Gentile. Mary walked innocently at her side. Her conscience was clear, and she was not afraid to look the whole world in the face. Then came the guilty ones, pale and silent. Oh, heavens! What it is to have a black secret on one's soul. The food had no taste. The music clashed inharmoniously, and the murmur of the conversation of other diners grated on their nerves.

"Nancy, dear, you have no appet.i.te," Miss Campbell was saying, when a waiter approached bearing a long, official-looking envelope on a tray.

"Another communication from our poor friend, I suppose," she observed, breaking the seal and drawing out the letter without noticing the inscription on the envelope which announced that it came straight from the Department of Police, Salt Lake City.

As Miss Campbell read the communication contained within this formidable cover, a deep scarlet flush spread over her face, which gradually faded into a deadly white pallor. She tried to speak, but her lips refused to frame the words.

The girls were very much frightened and several of the waiters drew near with evident curiosity. It was Elinor who had the presence of mind to say:

"Dear Miss Campbell, won't you take my arm? I am quite through dinner."

And the two walked slowly from the room, taking the mysterious letter with them.

"We had better wait a moment," whispered Billie to the other girls. "It would be less conspicuous than if we all rushed out at once. People are already looking at us."

She tried to b.u.t.ter a piece of bread, but her hands trembled and she felt that the color had left her cheeks. Nancy was the picture of misery.

"What is it, girls?" whispered Mary in a frightened voice.

"I don't know," answered Billie; "but something dreadful has happened, I feel sure. The letter was from the Chief of Police, I think. I did deliver the note to Evelyn Stone, Mary. I know it was wrong to have disobeyed, but I couldn't see the harm of giving one person a letter from another person."

"Oh, Billie!" exclaimed Mary, "there is no telling what that dreadful man will do to us. He may put us in jail, too."

The notion was too much for their endurance, and with one accord they rose and fled from the room.

They found Elinor sitting on the floor beside Miss Campbell holding her hand. The doc.u.ment was spread out before them, and Miss Campbell was reading it aloud.

"'You are regarded as suspicious characters,'" she read in a voice that had a tone of shrillness in it the girls had never heard before. "'As suspicious characters,'" she repeated, hardly able to take in the meaning of the words, "'and, therefore, as persons undesirable in this city, you are requested to leave the town within twelve hours. If not, you will be compelled to give an account of certain actions not regarded as lawful in the State of Utah. Signed, Chief of Police.'"

The girls were breathless with amazement and horror. Driven out of town like criminals, and all for having s.h.i.+elded a poor, repentant thief who had returned what he had stolen.

Without a word Billie went to the telephone and called up the garage wherein the Comet was temporarily stabled.

"What time does the sun rise?" she asked while she waited for the number.

"At about five o'clock, I think," answered Mary.

"Have Miss Campbell's motor car at the hotel to-morrow morning at five o'clock," she ordered.

Miss Campbell rose. The girls looked at her timidly. They had never seen her angry before.

"I won't try to talk with you to-night," she said in a voice that was almost a whisper. "I shall not attempt to speak again until we leave this hateful city far behind us."

She had hardly left the room when there was a light tap on the other door.

Billie opened it and a chambermaid gave her a note, and quickly departed down the corridor.

This is what the note said:

"I accept your invitation, and will meet you to-morrow at the railroad station in Ogden. Send a line by the chambermaid, who will wait around the corner of the hall, letting me know what time you intend to start. With a heart full of grat.i.tude from one who is most unhappy,

"E. S."

CHAPTER XX.-THE ELOPEMENT.

The morning mists still clung to the mountains and the citizens of the Mormon city appeared to be wrapped in a profound slumber when the Comet flashed joyously along the quiet streets.

How good it seemed to settle back among his comfortable cus.h.i.+ons and hasten to leave this unfriendly town.

Billie at the wheel looked straight in front of her. Her heart was unquiet and her gray eyes troubled.

"If I only had the nerve to break the news to Cousin Helen that I have invited Evelyn to come with us," she thought. "By seven o'clock we shall be there. Oh, dear! oh, dear! I have asked her, so I suppose I'll have to stand by my own deeds, and I'm glad she's going to run away, but I do wish she had eloped in another direction."

The other Motor Maids were likewise troubled in their minds, and sat in uneasy silence. Miss Helen herself finally broke the quiet. First she removed a black veil, a thing she rarely wore, and replaced it with her usual blue one. Her face had resumed its normal happy expression, and the dimple had returned to her left cheek. Salt Lake City lay behind them.

"If I were not afraid of turning to a pillar of salt," she said, smiling her old, natural smile, "I should like to look back just once on this strange town that turns its visitors from its doors, for I shall never come here again unless I'm brought in irons."

The girls smiled, somewhat relieved that their beloved chaperone had emerged from the one fit of rage in which they had ever seen her.