When the young people reached the bathing beach, they were surprised not to find Frieda and Marjorie already there. Nor was there a sign of a Ford car.

“A puncture, I’ll bet!” laughed Ruth. “Harold always does have the worst luck. Remember that time, Jack——”

“Indeed, I do!” he replied. “And weren’t we mad, though! Marj profited by the delay then, didn’t she? But not this time.”

“Well, she and Frieda can easily walk, unless they insist on helping Harold,” said Lily. “I hope they come soon.”

But when half an hour had passed, and they had not put in an appearance, Lily grew anxious.

“Suppose that crazy fool got them again,” she said.

“Oh, Harold could easily beat him up,” remarked Ruth; “he’s strong.”

“But crazy people are supposed to have extraordinary strength!”

213 “Everybody in to shore!” called Mr. Remington at this moment. “Time to go home.”

One by one, the members of the party came out of the lake and prepared to leave the beach.

“What time is it, Mr. Remington?” asked John Hadley.

“Five minutes after one.”

“Something has happened!” cried Lily, in a terror-stricken voice. “Oh, why did we ever let them out of our sight?”

All this time Ruth could hardly suppress the feeling of exultation that was taking possession of her. Was Harold really succeeding? Might she win after all? Then she felt a momentary pang of fear lest the accident, whatever it was, might be too obvious, and Marjorie’s keen mind might discover an underlying motive. But after all, the possibility of such a thing was slight; Harold was too clever for that.

All the joyousness of the breakfast party had vanished when the guests assembled for their noon-day meal. The subject was all absorbing; no one talked of anything else.

“What I can’t understand is why we didn’t pass them on the road,” said Jack. “If anything had happened to the machine, we ought to have seen it.”

“That’s true, unless they went for a little spin,” said Ruth.

“And what time is the meet?” asked David, un214consciously voicing the question that was uppermost in everybody’s mind.

“Three o’clock,” replied Mrs. Andrews.

“Felton,” said John Hadley; “will you go out on a search party with me after lunch? You were successful before——”

“I’ll be only too glad to go,” replied the other, without the least hesitation.

Ruth glanced up, disappointed at this suggestion, for it would probably mean that John Hadley would not see the meet. A large part of the fun in victory was, to her way of thinking, the satisfaction of having her success witnessed and applauded. She had always longed, too, to be admired by John Hadley. However, she remembered that she need not regret his absence too deeply, for Griffith would be there. And undoubtedly, the commendation of the latter meant more to her at present than anything else in the world.

At half-past two all of the girls except Doris and Alice, who had decided not to enter the meet, retired to their rooms to dress.

“Lily Andrews, you move about like an old woman,” teased Ethel. “And if you don’t get any more pep than that, you surely won’t win.”

“If you keep on crying, the lake will overflow the town,” put in Ruth.

Lily smiled through her tears. “I can’t help it, girls, I’m scared about Marj and Frieda!”

215 “Oh, I guess they’re all right,” said Ruth. “Try to brace up, Lil.”

By quarter of three the young people had all assembled on the porch, ready to get into the cars that stood waiting at the steps. They were gazing doubtfully at the sky, for the clouds which had been gathering for the last half hour now hung dark and threatening above them.

“I guess Bob was right,” remarked Jack. “We’re due for a down-pour!”

“Maybe it will pass over,” said Ruth, optimistically. She longed for her chance to prove herself the victor; now it seemed impossible that some unforseen circumstance like rain might spoil it all.

“You can’t any of you go a step!” announced Mrs. Andrews, suddenly appearing in the doorway. “There’s going to be an awful storm!”

Ruth was about to open her mouth in another utterance of protest when the rain began to pour down in torrents.

“Well, that settles it!” said Mr. Remington. “No more argument now!”

“But it might clear in time,” said Ruth hopefully.

“It doesn’t look much like it,” said Miss Phillips.

Ruth turned away, dismayed, angered, and disheartened. Harold had been successful, but all to no purpose. Curling up in the corner of the hammock, she gave herself up to her own gloomy thoughts.

216 “And I wonder where Marj and Frieda are now,” observed Do............