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Well, said Agnes, I hope we can help bring those auto thieves to book.
Guess Mr. Collinger is more worried about his maps if they got them.
Oh, Neale! suppose they should steal our car? Wouldnt it be dreadful? We must catch them.
Neale laughed. Youre going to be a regular detective when you grow up, Aggie. I can see that, he said.
Put up the hammer, little boy, advised Agnes. Do you know that it has been decided when we are to start on our tour?
No. When?
Mrs. Heard telephoned that she will be ready to-morrow. We shall start some time the following day, so Ruthie just said.
Good! declared the boy. Say, Aggie! were bound to have a dandy time.
Even if we werent, I should be glad to get away from this place, said the girl, suddenly a little cross.
Why? asked Neale ONeil, in surprise.
Because of that pest, Sammy Pinkney.
What about him?
He is fairly hounding us to death, said Agnes, with a sigh.
What about?
He has begged to go with us every hour almost since he first heard we were going on a long trip in our auto. Then she suddenly giggled. Oh, Neale! He has decided that it would be more fun to be an auto pirate than a salt water buccaneer of the old school.
One great kid that, chuckled Neale, appreciatively.
But he is an awful nuisance. He bothers the little girls whenever they go out of the house. Hes told his mother hes going with us and I suppose Mrs. Pinkney half believes we have invited him.
Cricky! chuckled Neale again. I imagine shed be glad to get rid of him for a few weeks.
My, goodness, me! exclaimed the startled Agnes. She shant get rid of him at our expense no, sir! I wont hear of it. Neither will Ruth. And, besides, there isnt going to be breathing space in that car after we all pile in with Tom Jonah and the baggage, too.
I have an idea! said Neale, wickedly, that we ought to have an auto truck trailing us with all the furbelows and what-nots you girls will think it necessary to carry.
Mr. Smarty! Agnes scoffed. Remember we went camping last summer and we know something about what to take with us and what not to take.
Thats all right, said Neale. But the Corner
House girls are not going to live under canvas this time that is, not much. At the fancy hotels youll all want to cut a dash. How are you going to do it?
Agnes laughed at him. Dont you suppose all that has been thought of? she demanded. Mrs. Heard will send a trunk, and so shall we, by express to the Polo House at Granthan. That is going to be our first fancy hotel, as you call them. Then, when we leave there, the trunks will be shipped on to our next fashionable roosting place. But, oh, dear me! I dont care much about the hotels. I want to be moving, declared this very modern young American girl.
Cricky! grumbled Neale. I bet if you have your way well get pinched for speeding in every county in the state.
Every waking hour thereafter, until, on the second day, the car was brought to the side gate of the Corner House premises, was a busy hour for the four Kenways and Neale ONeil. Mrs. Heard came over with her personal baggage, for the route the party was to follow would not take them anywhere near her home. Besides, it was better to pack the car carefully before the start was made, and thus find out where every piece of baggage as well as every passenger was to be placed.
The car was roomy and comfortable; but bags and suitcases of all descriptions to say nothing of an excited Newfoundland dog were bound to occupy much space.
Neale declared he had groomed the car to the nines and it looked it. It was new enough, in any case, for everything about it to shine and glisten. A good mechanician from the public garage had been over it the day before and pronounced every part in perfect working order.
But that doesnt mean that we cant get a blow-out before going a mile, growled Neale, who had worked so hard that he was rather pessimistic. But, come on, girls, bring out the rest of the household furniture. You seem to have half the contents of the Corner House packed in already.
Ruth calmly ignored this, and went about final arrangements in her usual capable manner. Nothing would be forgotten, nothing overlooked when Ruth Kenway was in charge.
The little girls were just as busy in their way as their sisters. Tess and Dot were too much excited and far too much taken up with their own affairs, to pay any attention to Sammy Pinkney.
But that hopeful youngster stuck to Ruth and Agnes like a burr and a very annoying one.
Aw, say! let a feller go! was his mildest way of pleading for space in the automobile for his own small self. I wont get in your way.
No, said Ruth, with the same decision she had expressed from the first. No.
Aw, Aggie! you know me! If you say I can, I can.
Youre the biggest bother in the world, Sammy Pinkney! declared the second oldest Corner House girl.
Wont bother you a mite. Ill help. Ill run errands
What errands, Id like to know? scoffed Agnes.
Well youll want somebody to run em when the car breaks down