Both girls turned to their wheel again, and pretended to be deeply absorbed in their task as the brightly colored car drew up beside them. Neither looked up until one of the young men spoke.
“Pardon me,” he began, in a soft, drawling tone, “but isn’t there some way we could assist you young ladies?”
Florence and Daisy now had an opportunity to obtain a good look at these two youths, who had been so much in their minds during the previous day. Both were of blond complexion, with light eyes, which were covered by goggles; both were exceedingly well dressed in correct motor attire, their clothing bearing the unmistakable mark of the expensive tailor. In spite of themselves the girls were impressed.
“I’m awfully sorry,” replied Florence as graciously as she could, “but we are not allowed to accept help from any members of the opposite sex. You see—” she smiled as she saw a puzzled expression on the strangers’ faces—“you see we are travelling across the country with a party, and that is one of the regulations!”
“How queer!” exclaimed the other young man, who up to this time had not spoken. “It sounds like nuns in a convent—”
“No, not nuns,” returned Daisy; “only Girl Scouts.”
“Then you mean to say that we can’t even fix your puncture for you?” continued the stranger. “What utter nonsense! Why do you put up with any such fool rule?”
“Because the old lady who made it has arranged it to be worth our while to keep it,” explained Florence. She watched the young men narrowly to see whether they would show any signs of knowledge of the affair, as Alice believed. But they appeared only politely curious.
“We’re to receive run-abouts if we make the trip as our sponsor dictated,” she added. “So you better believe that we won’t let a little puncture stop us.”
While this conversation was going on, Daisy was racking her brain for a method of learning the young men’s names, so that she might put Alice’s theory to test. She could think of no way which was not abrupt; nevertheless she meant to risk anything for the sake of information.