!"

CHAPTER XXII

AT THE CABIN

"Girls," declared Cora Kimball, "I can't stand it any longer! I've got
to do something--or have nervous prostration."

"And that's just the way I feel!" said Bess. "Waiting is the most
nervous thing in the world."

"Have another chocolate," suggested Lottie, helping herself from the
box on a table near her.

"How dare you suggest such a thing?" demanded Bess. "As if I wasn't
trying to do all I could to reduce."

"Oh, well, I was thinking of your nerves," observed Lottie.

"But what is it you want to do, Cora, dear?" asked Marita.

"I want to go to Denny's cabin, and see what has happened," was the
answer.

"What!" cried Belle, with an exclamation of surprise and alarm. "Tramp
through the woods at this hour of night?"

"It isn't any such great, or late, hour of night," replied Cora,
calmly, "and the woods are not dark. There's a lovely moon. But I
don't propose to go through the woods. What is the _Chelton_ for if we
can't use her?"

"Cora Kimball, do you mean to say that you'd go out on the bay, and
over to Denny's cabin, after dark, with the prospect that some
desperate men are going to attack him?" asked Bess.

"The boys are going to be there," answered Cora, still refusing to
become excited. "Besides, they may need our help. We could take a
prisoner or two in our boat."

There was a chorus of screams.

"Cora Kimball--how dare you?" demanded Belle.

"Oh, I meant if he was tied hand and foot," went on the leader of the
motor girls. "Villains are always tied hand and foot, you know. They
can't move. They're gagged, too. I think I should insist on having our
villain gagged. It might happen to be that young man who raced with us
to-day, and he might get sarcastic if he could talk. Yes, I think he
must be gagged."

"Oh, Cora, you're hopeless," sighed Lottie. "What would my mother say
if she could see me now."

"She'd tell you to stop eating chocolates and come with me," returned
Cora, firmly. "I'm going to the cabin."

"I--I'll go with you," volunteered Marita, and then she blushed at the
attention she attracted.

"Well, if Marita isn't afraid to go, I'm not," announced Lottie, with
spirit. "Come on, Cora."

"Oh!" gasped Bess.

"Oh, dear!" echoed Belle. "Do we have to stay here all alone?"

"Either that, or come with us," invited Cora. "I'm going over to the
cabin in our boat."

There was a step at the door of the living room, and Mrs. Lewis looked