The Motor Girls on the Coast: or, The Waif From the Sea

“I really couldn’t be sure. Margaret was never much of a writer, and I can hardly see to read print, let alone writing, even with my glasses. So I couldn’t say as to that. However, I’ll be there.”

“And so will we,” added Jack, “out if sight, of course.”

“This is getting more and more complicated,” declared Bess. “Oh, I do hope it won’t turn out to be that horrid Mr. Cross, or any of his men.”

“Hush!” said Cora, in a low voice. “Don’t make Nancy nervous. She is alarmed enough now.”

It seemed as if night would never come, and the boys and girls hardly had the heart for amusements to make the time pass more quickly. They remained near the bungalows, going in bathing when the tide was right. Belle was learning to swim with considerable confidence.

“You are getting quite brave,” Cora told her when she had gone out to the float and back all alone.

Eline, who was rather daring in spite of her timid manner, made a half-suggestion that the girls go out in autos to see what happened at Shark’s Tooth, but Mrs. Chester, exercising her authority, vetoed the scheme.

Mr. Haley started off alone, and was followed later by the boys, who arranged to conceal themselves where they could have a view of the ledge of rock that was uncovered at low water.

There was a half-moon that night and by the light of it Jack and his chums could see the long, black ledge extending out into the bay. They had a glimpse of Mr. Haley walking slowly up and down the beach, now and then looking at his watch to note the time. Jack and the others did likewise.

“It’s nine now,” whispered Walter, after a long–a seemingly long–wait, though it was really only a few minutes.

“And nothing seems to be happening,” remarked Jack.

“Look!” suddenly exclaimed Ed, pointing to the sandy stretch. A dark figure was seen gliding over it–a figure of a woman–alone!

The light keeper heard the approaching footsteps, and turned quickly. He stood for a moment The woman had halted. Then Mr. Haley cried:

“Margaret!”

“Jim!” she responded, and they clasped each other close.

“I guess it’s all right–they don’t need us,” whispered Jack. “It’s his sister. She wrote the note. It’s all right, we’ll go tell the girls the mystery is solved and the missing one found.”

“That’s right,” was the answer. “Say, this is great, isn’t it?”

“It sure is.”

“Now that they are together – ”

“Come on, they may hear us.”

“All right, I’m with you.”

But, as they started away, Mr. Haley called to them:

“Boys, come here. I want – ”

“No, no, Jim dear! Don’t call anyone!” interrupted Mrs. Raymond. “I dare not be seen. You don’t know the stigma I am under. I even hesitated to come and see you in this secret way, but I am in need of help. It was the only way I could think of. I am so–so afraid of arrest.”

“Well, you needn’t be!” cried her brother. “We can prove your innocence!”

“Prove my innocence! How? Only Nancy Ford can do that, and she can’t be found, I have been searching for her so long–so long!” Her sobs prevented her from talking.

“But Nancy Ford is found!” cried the keeper of the light, “and the boys I called to–or rather their girl friends–found her. It’s all right, Margaret. Your name will be cleared, and you will be happy with me. It’s all right, Sister!”

“Oh, thank the dear Lord for that!” she sobbed.

CHAPTER XXX

HAPPY DAYS

The sun was shining on a shimmering sea. Little waves were breaking on the white sands. The gulls were wheeling about in big circles. Gathered in the old-fashioned living room of the lighthouse were the motor girls, and two other girls, Rosalie and Nancy Ford. Also the boys were there, Mrs. Raymond, her brother, and Mr. Beacon, the Kimballs’ lawyer. He had just concluded some remarks. It was the day after the strange night scene at the Shark’s Tooth.

“And to think how it all came about,” spoke Cora. “It is like a play, or a book.”

“It fits together like one of those Chinese puzzles,” remarked Jack. “At first it seems as if it never will, but one little touch, and–there you are!”

“And it was Cora who supplied the one little touch,” said Belle.

“Oh, I didn’t do it all,” remonstrated Cora.

“Well, your finding Mrs. Raymond in the burning garage started the whole affair,” insisted Ed. “But for that we never would have known of Nancy Ford, nor how important she was in this puzzle.”

“I don’t want to be important,” answered Nancy, with a smile. “I just want to go off somewhere quietly.”

“And you may,” spoke Mr. Beacon, the lawyer, with a smile. “The court proceedings will not take long, now that your guardian is arrested. The judge will require no further proof than his commission of the crime to remove him from having charge of you and your property, and some one else will be named in his place.”

“I wish the judge would name you!” exclaimed Nancy impulsively.

“Thank you!” laughed Mr. Beacon.

Mrs. Raymond had told her story. On up to the time she had fled from the office, when the two men came in, and her wanderings until she went into the Kimball garage, my readers need no enlightenment. After leaving Cora’s house so suddenly, for fear she might be suspected of having accidentally set the fire, the poor woman wandered from place to place, vainly seeking Nancy Ford. It was Mrs. Raymond whom the sheep herder had met that night when he spoke kindly to her. After that she kept moving about, getting work in various offices, for she was an expert in her line. But she could not find Nancy, for reasons very well known to my readers.

“And oh, how kind one of you girls was to me!” exclaimed Mrs. Raymond. “Your money saved my life I believe,” and she held out the little silver purse.

Finally, she explained, matters reached a point where she could get no more work, and she had to appeal to her brother. She had refrained from doing that fearing she might be traced through him, for she still feared she would be arrested for the crime she had never committed. But, growing desperate, she made the night appointment with her brother, hiring a boy to leave the note at the lighthouse, intending to explain matters to Mr. Haley, get some money, and go away again.

But it all ended happily.

“And so they caught Cross?” remarked Jack.

“Yes,” said the lawyer, “one of the private detectives got a clue and followed it up. They got his crony, too, the other man who came in the office when you ran out, Nancy. And they both confessed, after pressure was brought to bear on them. It is not the first crime Cross has been guilty of. He has a bad record, I am told. I learned of his arrest after I started here this morning, following your telegram,” he said to Cora, for, on learning of the arrival of Mrs. Raymond, Cora had wired to her mother’s lawyer to come in haste.

“Then my name is cleared?” asked Mrs. Raymond.

“Absolutely,” answered Mr. Beacon. “You will not even have to appear in court.”

“I wish I didn’t have to,” said Nancy, nervously.

“I can arrange to have a private hearing,” went on the lawyer. “It will be no ordeal at all.”