k, Cora and the
chauffeur, was marked by the mishap of a blown-out tire, but that was
all. When the Junction was finally reached, there, true to his
promise, was the hackman, and to Cora's excited inquiries he gave
reassuring answers.

Yes, Freda was all right, and safe at his house. He directed Jack and
Cora there, and soon all were reunited. Then explanations were
offered, Freda's fears about her mother were quieted, and the trip
back to Hartford made, where the motor boat party was anxiously
waiting.

"And now for the bungalow!" sighed Cora, as she took her place at the
familiar wheel. A little later it was reached, and mother and daughter
were together again telling their stories, and speculating much about
Freda's strange message and the mysterious woman. But the puzzle could
not be solved.

CHAPTER XVI

A BAD CASE OF NERVES

"Would the boys have anything in their camp, do you suppose?" asked
Bess, with a long sigh.

"Anything for what?" asked Lottie, as she looked surreptitiously into
the mirror of her vanity box. Lottie was always worried about the
effect of late hours.

"Is it something to eat?" asked Marita in her timid way. "If you want
that, Bess, I'll go over and help you carry it."

"Gracious, I hope we don't need anything in the food line," said Cora.
"I thought we stocked up with enough to last the rest of the week."

"I want something for my nerves," went on Bess. "They're on the ragged
edge, and I jump at every sound."

"And no wonder," agreed Belle, as she went over to a hammock suspended
between two trees. "Get something for mine, while you're at it, Bess.
I think they use bromide, or something like that. But I doubt if the
boys would have any. They don't seem to have a nerve in their bodies,
though goodness knows they're 'nervy' enough at other times. Pardon
the colloquialism," she murmured as she sank back.

It was the morning after Freda's return, and the night had been rather
a troubled one. No one in the girls' camp felt much like eating
breakfast, though they managed to nibble at a bit of toast and drink
some coffee.

The alarm about Freda had giver the motor girls the keenest anxiety,
and while Jack and the boys tried to make Freda and the girls believe
the woman and the telephone message had been a joke, it looked to be
too serious a matter to be lightly passed off.

The odd woman who had met Freda at the country junction had shown, by
her questions, that she knew mu